A Faith Restored
This week, we've explored how our faith, when used as a shield, can inspire and support others, forming a unified front against life's challenges. Today, we look at how Jesus also locks arms with us to defend our faith.
Heavenly Father, open our hearts to Your truth today. Guide us in ways to strengthen our faith. Let us keep a perspective of others’ encouraging faith and help us model a genuine faith which encourages others. Remind us through trials that You have a good plan for our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Luke 22:31-32 (NLT)
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
Sifting wheat involves separating the edible grain from the inedible chaff. The idea of sifting aggressively shakes something to separate its qualities. Symbolically, it represents the process of testing. I came close to being physically sifted during my youth. During an unsupervised tubing trip at our local lake, I boastfully told my friend Jimmy, he couldn’t knock me off. My overconfidence turned reckless as Jimmy put the “SS Shenanigans” into overdrive. The last thing I remember was holding the tube while staring up at the sky. Apparently, my body was sifted by the lake. When I regained consciousness, the lifejacket was the only thing keeping me afloat. Have you ever felt sifted? Physically? Emotionally? Spiritually?
Considering today’s verse, satan’s request to sift our faith is alarming. This leaves little doubt that a spiritual battle exists. Yet, friends, take encouragement, as the reason we hold our shield also provides us with assurance. Jesus tells Simon Peter that He pleads in prayer for his faith to be upheld through the sifting. Jesus’s prayer is the same for you.
Recall that season of sifting. Jesus was praying for you through it. What is one thing you fear would sift your faith the most? Should that ever become a reality, Jesus is already praying specifically for you. In those moments of sifting, if there is hope nowhere else, it’s Jesus’s interceding prayers that should give us hope. It is the lifejacket keeping our faith afloat. How does knowing this affect your perspective of our trials?
The trials we endure, like the sifting of wheat, reveal our strengths and weaknesses, build character, and ultimately create powerful testimonies of God's goodness. It’s this testimony of being upheld by Jesus that encourages others’ faith journeys. When we use the sifting as an opportunity to glorify Jesus, we strengthen our brothers’ and sisters’ endurance and bolster their faith.
As we wrap up today’s devotional, talk to God on your own using the following prompt to help you get started.
God, guide me to endure, trust and glorify You to strengthen others.
May Jesus’ interceding prayers give peace and hope to you today.
Heavenly Father, open our hearts to Your truth today. Guide us in ways to strengthen our faith. Let us keep a perspective of others’ encouraging faith and help us model a genuine faith which encourages others. Remind us through trials that You have a good plan for our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Luke 22:31-32 (NLT)
31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. 32 But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
Sifting wheat involves separating the edible grain from the inedible chaff. The idea of sifting aggressively shakes something to separate its qualities. Symbolically, it represents the process of testing. I came close to being physically sifted during my youth. During an unsupervised tubing trip at our local lake, I boastfully told my friend Jimmy, he couldn’t knock me off. My overconfidence turned reckless as Jimmy put the “SS Shenanigans” into overdrive. The last thing I remember was holding the tube while staring up at the sky. Apparently, my body was sifted by the lake. When I regained consciousness, the lifejacket was the only thing keeping me afloat. Have you ever felt sifted? Physically? Emotionally? Spiritually?
Considering today’s verse, satan’s request to sift our faith is alarming. This leaves little doubt that a spiritual battle exists. Yet, friends, take encouragement, as the reason we hold our shield also provides us with assurance. Jesus tells Simon Peter that He pleads in prayer for his faith to be upheld through the sifting. Jesus’s prayer is the same for you.
Recall that season of sifting. Jesus was praying for you through it. What is one thing you fear would sift your faith the most? Should that ever become a reality, Jesus is already praying specifically for you. In those moments of sifting, if there is hope nowhere else, it’s Jesus’s interceding prayers that should give us hope. It is the lifejacket keeping our faith afloat. How does knowing this affect your perspective of our trials?
The trials we endure, like the sifting of wheat, reveal our strengths and weaknesses, build character, and ultimately create powerful testimonies of God's goodness. It’s this testimony of being upheld by Jesus that encourages others’ faith journeys. When we use the sifting as an opportunity to glorify Jesus, we strengthen our brothers’ and sisters’ endurance and bolster their faith.
As we wrap up today’s devotional, talk to God on your own using the following prompt to help you get started.
God, guide me to endure, trust and glorify You to strengthen others.
May Jesus’ interceding prayers give peace and hope to you today.
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