Luke 22:32 “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail, and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
Dear God,
I thank You for every gift, blessing, provision and protection. It is such a reassurance to know that I am cared for by the Almighty God of heaven. Jesus my Creator knows me better than I know myself, and He wants me saved so much that He died for my sins, even though my sins put Him on the cross.
True love and wisdom abide with You God. I am so thankful that when I ask for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, I am filled with love and all the other gifts of the Spirit, needed for successful Christian living; none of which is possible in my human strength and abilities.
Today I ask that You God will be my strength and wisdom, so that I indeed will give You my will, and that I will be kept from all temptation. I thank You for hearing and answering my prayer, according to the promise which is recorded in scripture; and I believe all Your promises.
The disciple Peter was fervent and enthusiastic about Jesus and His work, and had no doubt that He would always be faithful to his Master. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, as was his practice, and as He was going off a little by Himself, said to the disciples (including Peter), “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Like myself so often, they instead slept and did not pray for themselves, being non-comprehending of the spiritual danger they were in. But Jesus knew, and He had prayed for Peter, that his faith would not fail, under the coming pressure and temptations.
Peter was distraught after he actually did deny Jesus three times, as Jesus had said he would, for this had never been his intention, and a great weakness in his faith had been revealed. The good thing Peter did not forever forsake Jesus, and was amongst the disciples, when Jesus revealed Himself to them after His resurrection from the tomb. Peter humbled, contrite and needy sought pardon from Jesus, who freely forgave Peter.
After this experience, Peter had learnt a good deal about himself and the wiles of Satan, and was more ready to be a shepherd for the early Christians. Actually he went on to become a mighty force for Jesus and did strengthen his brethren, or as Jesus said ‘feed my sheep’.
Thank You that our potential in every area is clear to You (when not to ourselves) and that we are never dismissed as worthless, even when we thoroughly mess up. I look at the case of Peter, and see many parallels in the experience of many of us, in waywardness. I hope that many of us, also listen to Your ‘still small voice’ and come back to You in contrition, and go on to achieve the potential that You plan for us.
Lord, rescue me from arrogance and presumption, so I do not fail to be true to You, when under pressure and temptation.
Amen