knowledgeofgoodandevil

In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has demanded permission to sift Peter like wheat.

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat: but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers, ” (Luke 22:31-32)

I’ve been walking this valley for a year now. I continue to pray. I continue to seek God. My faith is being tested far more than I ever thought I could go. That’s why it’s been so long since I’ve written. I have good days and bad days. I have to keep my eyes on God. If I take them off of Him for any time, I collapse in a heap of hopelessness.

But onto this passage. I read this passage and what stood out to me was verse 32, “but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail…” Jesus is telling Peter, “I have prayed for you.” God has prayed for Peter!

So according to this passage, Satan has asked permission to sift Peter like wheat. He’s going to try Peter. And God in His infinite wisdom and knowledge knows exactly what’s going to happen. He even told Peter.

“And Jesus said to him “Truly I say to you, that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.” (Mark 14:30)

And of course we know the story, Peter does deny Jesus three times. And in dramatic fashion, just as Peter denies Jesus the third time, he hears a rooster crow and Peter sobs.

But God shows His deep, deep love and commitment to His children. “…but I have prayed for you…” Jesus, the God of the Universe, the Creator of all things, the Holy One, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords says He has prayed for Peter. He’s prayed for him. He knows what Peter is going to do. He knows Peter is going to deny Him, yet He’s prayed for him.

This fact brings me so much encouragement. If God prayed for Peter, He must pray for all of His children. I am His child. That means He prays for me too.

I dwell on this fact. Jesus prays for me. It pulls me out of the miry clay and sets my feet upon a rock. It gives me wings of an eagle-Jesus prays for me.

So Believer, if you are going through a valley right now, remember God prays for you. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords prays for His children. What an awesome thought!

We live in a very visual world. People hold in their hands little mini computers (cell phones). These computers allow you to watch a movie anywhere at anytime. You can see a video. You can listen to any song. You can get instant information with just a few touches on those mini computers.

Faith is the opposite. Faith is believing in things unseen. God asks us to believe Him, even though we can’t see Him. He asks us to trust Him. He tells us He will answer our prayers. So we pour out our hearts to an unseen God. Walking the Christian life we don’t have instant gratification. We are told to simply trust and obey.

But believer, don’t lose heart in practicing your faith. God is there. He does listen to our prayers. He takes our prayers and places them in golden bowls.

I’ve been going through this trial for over a year now. There are times I lose heart. Many times I have to turn to scriptures to remind myself how to think and how to feel. And scriptures don’t disappoint. But God sends other signs as well. He sends me things to let me know He is there.

A year ago I was distraught and upset. I went out to the park outside our place and sat down on a bench. I sat there deeply grieved. In my head I tried to figure out what to do. I had no solutions, so I began to pray. I told God about my grief. I told Him how deeply I ached. Nobody around would have known I was praying, I did it in my head.

You have to know this little tidbit. God has often sent me bluebirds to bring me encouragement. They aren’t very common around here, so when I see one, I am encouraged. I will take a walk around a nearby lake and pray. God has sent several bluebirds my way as a sign.

So sitting in the park, I cried out to the Lord. Suddenly, one bird, then two birds, then three and finally four birds flew and landed on the playground in front of me. They sat all in a row. When I looked at them I realized they were all bluebirds. Four bluebirds sitting in a row right in front of me. I knew they came from God. I’ve never seen four bluebirds together. And they stayed there a long time. God was sending me a sign. He was telling me He knows and He’s heard my prayers.

So if you are in a trial of any kind, keep your eyes open. Look for signs from God. God will send them. He loves His children.

“O taste and see that He is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalms 34:8

In Matthew 14, Peter walks on water.

“Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord save me!”

What was Peter’s big mistake? Why did he start sinking? Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and began to look at the wind. As soon as he did that,

I have to keep my eyes on God. I can’t stare at the problem, the trial I’m going through. If I do, like Peter, I began to sink. Two weeks ago I spent my day staring at the problem. In my head, I imagined what I could or couldn’t do to fix the problem. I started bargaining with the past. I thought to myself, “Well, what if I’d only done this or that?” As the day wore on I fell deeper and deeper into this overwhelming depression.

When I realized what I had done, I shook it all off, picked up my Bible and began to read. Through tears I read of God’s love for me. I read that He is near to the broken-hearted. He hears the prayers of His children. And like Peter when Jesus reached down to pull him out of the water, so God reached down to me and pulled me out of the pit I’d fallen into.

We’re always going to have trials. It’s what we signed up for as Believers. Once we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we joined a war. But that’s not to say that God is a big bully in the sky. He’s definitely NOT! It’s to show how temporary this life is. It’s to remind us that our future isn’t here, it’s in heaven-for eternity! So while we live our lives down on this planet, God refines us and shapes us. He reveals who He is and how much He loves us. And He does this through trials.

Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, they had to be reintroduced to the God that freed them. He showed Himself through each trial. He showed them He was the God who brings water out of rocks. He was the God who fed them with manna from heaven. He parted the Red Sea and gave them meat when they demanded it. Every step of the way, He was there revealing who He was.

In my own life, I see God’s hand upon me. As long as I keep my focus on God and not on the trial. Over and over again, God reaches down and touches my heart. He lifts me up. His word nourishes my soul. He speaks to me over and over again, reminding me how much He loves me. My job is to keep my eyes on Him.

So if you are going through a trial, turn your eyes to God, Believer. Focus on Him, and He won’t disappoint. He will be quick to rescue you. Quick to comfort you. The trial may not go away right away, but this is the time, to experience God’s great love for His children.

Does God answer prayers? What does He say about Himself and answering prayers?

As a believer, we go through valleys and mountain top experiences. In the valleys, is where our faith is tested. Do we believe God really loves us? Do we believe God answers prayers? We look around the valley, yet see nothing. We can’t see God. We can’t touch Him. How do we trust what He says?

That’s where faith comes in. Faith is believing in things unseen. As I struggle through this trial, I have to run to scriptures over and over to remind myself what God says. What does God say about answering prayer?

1 John 3:22 “and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.”

Matt. 21:21-22 “…Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to his mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing you will receive.”

John 9:31 “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him.”

Matt. 7:7-11 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him?”

According to His word, God does answer prayer. Yesterday, I was feeling low and losing heart in my prayers. I went to my room and closed the door. As soon as I did, a loud crow (and I mean loud) started cawing outside my window. He was so loud I couldn’t concentrate.

I prayed to bind up the enemy that is around me. As soon as that prayer left my lips I could hear the crow. He sounded like something was choking him and immediately he fell silent. I smiled and almost laughed out loud. God shut up the obnoxious crow.

There’s a Sunday school song I remember that keeps ringing in my head:

God answers prayer in the morning. God answers prayer at noon. God answers prayer in the evening, so keep your heart in tune. That’s just one part of the song. That song is so true. He’ll even shut the mouths of loud crows if you ask Him.

As I walk through this valley I am being refined. I listened to a pastor the other day, Jack Hibbs, and he said that gold is never as shiny or brilliant as when it’s heated up. Heated gold shines brighter than when it’s cold and solidified.

One of the big lessons I’m learning is to wait. That’s not easy in this day and age of instant gratification. Sometimes it feels excruciating to wait. In the waiting, I began to doubt, lose heart, that God is listening to my prayers. I wonder if He is doing anything. Does He even care?

I just recently learned a good lesson on the waiting. We’re getting new cabinet doors for our kitchen cabinets. Brand new cupboard doors. We’re going to replace the 25+ year old cabinet doors with their peeling edges and sticky stains that won’t seem to wash off. We’ve paid for them. But here’s the lesson.

The engineer came and measured all of our cabinet doors. He measured the widths and the heights. He took precise measurements on all of it. When he left, he said a project manager will contact us with dates and times.

Here’s where the lesson comes in. We haven’t heard anything from them. We can’t see what they are doing. It’s completely silent from this company. No they haven’t frauded us. They are busy building our cabinet doors. They have to cut them and shape them and foil wrap them. They have gone to work to prepare our cabinet doors, but we see none of that. After they are done, they will contact us for a time they can install them.

This is exactly like God. We pray for something. And then, nothing. We don’t hear anything. We don’t see anything. Yet, like the cabinet makers, God is busy working. The minute we prayed, He went to work on our problem. We can’t see all the work God is doing behind the scenes. It’s as if He is doing nothing. But just because we can’t see it, doesn’t mean He’s not working. God is working over here with this person and working over there on that person. God is more than a two for one God. He’s usually working on people all around you when we pray.

So Believer, don’t lose heart when you are in the waiting room of God. You can’t see what He’s doing, but He’s working. We can’t see the cabinets being built, but they are. We may be waiting, but God is not. So don’t lose heart. You can’t see all the work God is doing. That is where faith comes in.