"Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death. And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me" (Luke 22:28-34, KJV).
Many of you know of the late Kathryn Kuhlman, a mightily used healing minister from Pittsburgh. The Lord graciously allowed me to minister with her in that city for over five years, and during that time Gwen and I got to know her very well.
Something I remember clearly about her was the hushed tone of voice she used whenever we talked about Satan and the powers of darkness. On one occasion, I began telling her about our work with drug addicts and alcoholics in New York City. I suppose she thought I was being too nonchalant about the subject of satanic activity, because as I spoke she became very somber and in that hushed tone told me: "David, don't ever take lightly this subject of spiritual battles or the satanic powers. It's a sobering topic."
To my knowledge, not once did Kathryn fear Satan. But the subject of principalities and powers of darkness was no laughing matter to her. God had given her spiritual eyes to glimpse but a portion of the war being waged in the heavenlies for the souls of men.
When Jesus walked the earth, He knew all too well about the fierceness of the powers of evil and how Satan comes with every weapon in hell to sift the Lord's disciples. I don't think any of us knows or understands the great conflict raging right now in the spirit realm; nor do we realize how determined Satan is to destroy all saints who have fixed their hearts firmly on going all the way with Christ.
In our Christian walk, we cross a line — I call it the "obedience line" — that sets off every alarm in hell. The moment you cross that line into a life of obedience and dependence on Jesus, determined in your heart never to go back, you become a threat to the kingdom of darkness and a target of principalities and powers. The testimony of every believer who turns to the Lord with all his heart — hungering after holiness and a deeper walk with Jesus — includes the sudden breaking forth of strange and intense troubles, trials and testings!
Maybe you were once a part-time disciple: You loved the Lord, but you were spiritually lazy. You weren't an avid student of the Bible or inclined to spiritual things. You didn't want to be a fanatic, and things in your life went quite smoothly. The devil didn't bother with you much because you were a fence-straddler.
But now, you're all business for God. His Word has come alive to you — and you pray, you weep, you love lost souls. Everything has changed, including your testings. What great heart-change you've experienced!
Yet at the same time you've made waves in the unseen world. You've crossed the obedience line — and are now a prime target for the enemy.
We've all experienced this type of harassment from hell. I remember lying in bed one night trying to figure out all kinds of things that had come against me. Have you ever done that before? All I could say was, "Lord, it's no fun being tested. It sure does hurt. All I can do is lay it all on you and go to sleep."
One Sunday night here at Times Square Church I had to interrupt our music presentation to make this announcement: "Someone is trying to break into a yellow Mercedes on 41st Street right outside the door. If this car is yours, get out there quickly!" Thieves had already stolen the radio and were in the process of stealing the car. Thank the Lord they ran away and the car was rescued.
The owner of the car turned out to be a beautifully committed woman, a lawyer who attends our church. She called my office later that week and said, "Pastor, I knew immediately it was harassment from Satan to try and keep me away from the gospel being preached at Times Square Church. But I won't be put off!"
Another woman from New Jersey had her car fender pushed in, and on another occasion her car was stolen. I knew what was happening in that situation: This woman also was changing and growing in the Lord. She had crossed the line for Jesus — and Satan was bullying her, trying to discourage her from coming to church.
Times Square Church is planted right in the heart of modern Babylon — in the middle of Broadway, the seat of Satan in New York City — and it represents a great threat to the powers of darkness.
Recently, when the New York Times ran a story, "Times Square Church Gets Rave Reviews," newspapers in Sweden, Italy and various places overseas also picked it up. If these secular institutions have taken note of what's taking place here, then what do you think is going on in hell? Nothing less than a war council against us!
"Simon, Simon...Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke 22:31). It is here that Jesus Himself introduces the subject of the sifting of saints. Sifting means to be shaken and separated or to be shocked through the agitation of sudden trials.
In Christ's day, grain workers used the sieve just before they sacked grain. They shoveled wheat into a square box covered with netting, and then turned the box upside down and shook it violently. The grit and dirt would then fall through the netting until only the grain kernels remained. Jesus was saying this to Peter: "Satan believes you're nothing but grit and dirt — and that when he puts you in the sieve and shakes you, you will fall through to the ground!"
Peter's Sifting Came Right After a Revelation of Great Blessings To Come.
Peter had just received a promise of fruitful ministry. "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Luke 22:29-30). In Greek, the word "appoint" is taken from a root word meaning "to channel."
Jesus had made an incredible promise to the disciples, in essence telling them, "I am going to channel My kingdom through you — just as the Father made me a channel of His glory!" Not only would they be channels of Christ's glory, but they also would be given a seat at the Lord's table to enjoy a lifetime of intimacy with Him — as princes, ruling and reigning with Him!
Little did Peter know that while Jesus was speaking these precious promises to him, His heart was in prayerful agony because of what He saw in the invisible spirit world. Satan was at the Father's throne, accusing Peter and asking permission to get his hands on him, as he had done with Job. His accusation must have been something like this: "The Son of God calls this man Peter 'rock,' saying He would build a church on his kind of faith. He wants to make Peter a foundation stone of a new body of believers. I say he is not a rock of faith — I say he is chaff and unworthy to be a channel of Your glory. Let me shake him; let me put him to the test. He has an evil streak! He won't last! He's going to fall!"
Satan Cannot Sift A True Believer Except by Permission From God.
Satan asks to sift only those who threaten his work. But why did Satan desire to sift him now? Why was he so anxious to test him? For three years Peter had been casting out devils and healing the sick. Satan heard and knew what God had planned for Peter. In fact, those past three years were nothing compared to the greater works he and the other disciples would later perform. Satan had heard Jesus promise them another baptism — this time with Holy Ghost power. And he trembled!
Satan goes after the tree with the most potential to bear fruit. Somehow, Satan knew that this man Peter was set apart to bear much fruit — that God was going to give him power and authority that would be used greatly against his own kingdom of darkness. Having already pulled down Judas, the devil now thought he saw a measure of corruption in Peter that he could build on to make Peter's faith fail.
Right now, some of you are in the sieve — and you are being shaken and sifted. Why you? Why now?
First of all, you ought to rejoice that God has given you such a reputation in hell! Satan would never have asked God's permission to sift you unless you had crossed the line of obedience. Why else would the enemy want to spend his efforts on you, harassing you, troubling you, scaring and shaking you and all that you have?
Satan is sifting you because you play an important part in God's church in these last days. God is doing a new thing once again in this last, great revival. You have been set apart by God, set free and prepared to be a powerful witness to many. The greater your gifts, the greater your potential, the greater your surrender to the will of God — the more severe your sifting will be.
Peter Thought He Was Spiritually Strong Enough To Die for Christ.
Peter was not aware of a glaring weakness in himself. Listen to his testimony: "Lord! I'm ready to go with you! I've had three wonderful years of the best training in the Word possible. I've been around — I've got experience. I've seen demons run. I've moved crowds toward God. I've grown so much — I'm not the man I was three years ago. Praise God! I'm ready and I'm going all the way!"
Even the Lord's warning did not shake Peter's self-confidence. Jesus was trying to shake him, to wake him up to the danger just ahead. But it is as if Peter did not hear a word of this shocking warning. It made no impression on him because he had no discernment.
Peter was in grave danger, only hours away from committing an unbelievable sin. Yet he went confidently on his way, boasting, "I'm ready! I won't fail. If anybody is going all the way, it's me!"
Some of you reading this right now are just like Peter. God has His hand on you — you've grown in the Lord — you love Him with all your heart — but you don't think you can fall. You're not aware that Satan is about to sift you and that you're going to be greatly assaulted by the enemy.
One example comes to my mind: that of a powerful young evangelist, greatly used of God to heal the sick. He had a precious anointing and revelation in the Word and God's hand was heavy upon him. Then he and his wife began drifting apart — and finally, they separated.
About that time, this evangelist got his eye on a young woman, but knowing that it would be wrong to pursue her he decided to be "just a friend." He began calling her two or three times a day and every night for hours, "just talking about Jesus," he said. Eventually he ended up divorced and married to the other woman. Yes, he still has his ministry — but it is but a fraction of what it was meant to be. He missed God's best!
That example should serve as a sober warning to all of us. May God drive out any spiritual pride in our hearts, and may we heed His warnings from the Word and from the pulpit. You see, within 24 hours of Peter's boasting, he was to become a moral cripple, cursing, carried away by cowardice, denying Christ three times — doing something so evil and wicked he never even could have conceived it possible!
Jesus could not — and would not — stop the sifting process for Peter. There was something inside this disciple that three years of pure teaching could not touch; that miracles, signs, and wonders could not shake; that Christ's warnings could not dig out. There was nothing left for Jesus to do but to let Peter go into the fire — into the hands of Satan and an overwhelming flood.
Peter had to be broken and humbled — he had to see the pride lurking in his heart. And so it is with some of you reading this message. You may have such a lack of discernment, such blindness toward your self-confidence that, like Peter, the sifting of Satan is the only alternative left.
Jesus Set an Example of How To Treat Our Brethren Who Fall During Their Sifting.
"But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." I look at this wonderful example of Christ's love and realize I know almost nothing about how to love those who fall. Surely Jesus is that "friend that sticketh closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24).
Jesus sees both the good and the bad in Peter and concludes, "This man is worth saving! Satan desire him, but I desire him all the more." Judas could not be saved; he had no heart for the Lord. He was sold out to greed and covetousness, and this was an open door for Satan. But Peter truly loved the Lord.
Jesus said, "I have prayed for you!" not "I will pray!" Jesus had seen this coming for a long time. He probably had spent many hours with His Father talking about Peter — how He loved him, how needed he was in God's Kingdom, how He valued him as a friend.
Lord, give all of us that kind of love! That way, when we see someone compromising or heading for trouble or disaster, we will love them enough to warn them as firmly as Jesus did Peter. Then we will be able to say, "I'm praying for you!"
We need to say it in love, not in an accusing way such as "You are so bad, so compromised — you need all the prayer you can get!" Or, "I'm going to pray for you — you sure do need it!" No, we must say it with love — and then do it.
Take those people to God's throne, plead for them to come through their trials with their faith intact. Jesus did not lecture Peter. He did not say, "Peter, if only you'd listened. If only you'd stayed awake and prayed with me in the garden. If only you weren't so proud!" Rather, Jesus said simply, "I'm praying for you."
Someone once reported to me a rumor that a certain false prophet had to vacate his pulpit due to adultery. Without checking it out, I passed the rumor on. When my conscience pricked me, I thought, "Well, he deserves it — he's messed up so many lives. It was going to happen anyway!" Not once did I pray for him that God would bring him back to a true faith in Christ.
"I have prayed for you." In the Greek, "you" is plural, meaning "all of you." Jesus was speaking not only to Peter but to all the disciples — and to us today. "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou has given me; for they are thine.... Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me.... I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" (John 17:9, 11b, 14).
No matter what you're going through, no matter what lies ahead of you — if you have a heart full of love for Jesus, He's praying for you. Jesus did not pray that Peter would be spared from Satan's sifting; rather, He prayed only that his faith would not fail. And that is Satan's prime target: our faith. In the span of just a few short hours, he brought circumstances into Peter's life that severely tested his faith and love for Jesus.
There are tests and trials, yes — but then there is sifting! I see the latter as one major, all-out satanic onslaught to overthrow our faith. It is usually compressed into a short but very intense period of time. For Jesus it was 40 days and 40 nights, as Satan came at Him with every deception of darkness. For Peter, it would be but a few days. But those days would become the most faith-shaking, shocking and remorseful days of his life. Yet through it all, Jesus was praying!
Jesus Overcame the Devil's Onslaught With "It is Written!"
"It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:7). "For it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" (Matthew 4:10). When Jesus was confronted with the devil's schemes, He overcame them with God's Word.
Today we have yet another "It is written": "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." You can tell the devil. "You may have gotten permission to sift me, to attempt to tear down my faith, but you need to know this — my Jesus is praying for me!"
Peter's faith was tested, shaken — and because of his pride he stumbled. But in answer to the Master's prayer, the roots of his faith had not been destroyed. So in the end his faith did not fail. Just when Satan is shouting with glee and it looks like the Lord has lost a friend and an anointed one — with just one look into the eyes of Jesus, Peter melted! "And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter.... And Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (Luke 22:61-62).
"Wept bitterly" in Greek actually means "a piercing, violent cry." "And Peter remembered the Lord's words, how he had said unto him...thou shalt deny me thrice" (Luke 22:61). I picture this man walking toward the Judean hills, falling on his face with hands outstretched, crying, "Oh Father, He was so right! I did not listen. He warned me that Satan would attempt to destroy my faith. I'm not ready! Die for Jesus? Why, I couldn't even stand up to a maid! Forgive me! I love Him — to whom shall I go?"
I believe Peter's faith took hold of something else Jesus had said: "And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32). How many times did Peter play this over in his mind and heart, pondering to himself, "Didn't Jesus say 'converted,' brought back? Didn't He say I still had a ministry? After what I did, I'm supposed to help others?"
God answered His Son's prayer. I can see Peter standing up with the Spirit of God flowing through him, hands raised to the sky, saying, "Satan, be gone! I failed Him, but I still love Him. He promised — in fact, He prophesied — that I would come back and be a strength to others, a rock. I'm going back to my brothers and sisters!"
Peter was with the eleven disciples when Jesus appeared in their midst. He was there worshiping when Jesus was translated to glory. He was the first disciple to run to the tomb when it was told He had risen. It was Peter who stood as God's spokesman on the day of Pentecost — and what a sermon he preached!
Believe me, there is coming a flood of new converts, Jews and Gentiles alike, as well as many backsliders. Where will they find strength in the troubled times ahead? From converted, sifted saints — who can say with authority, "Don't trust yourself. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall" (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:12).
Is there a seductive pull in your life? Is some kind of trouble brewing? Better to hear the words of Jesus and realize that Satan may have been given permission to sift you. Don't take it lightly!
You don't have to fail as Peter did. In fact, we are to read his story and be warned by it. But if you've failed, if you've grieved the Lord Jesus — then look into His face as Peter did and remember He is praying for you. Repent, return and then share your experience with others who are being sifted.
I am asking the Lord to give me the same kind of word of hope to fallen brethren as Jesus did. He did not say, "If you come back or "if you are converted" but "when you are converted!" I want to be able to look at our weeping, broken, failing sheep and say with hope and confidence. "When this sifting is over — when your faith is stronger — when you come back — God will use you!"
I don't want to give up on those who fall. Remember, Satan wouldn't come against you — unless he had seen a glimpse of holiness and obedience in your heart!