That Your Faith Not Fail

(Part 2 of 3 )

“Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered. He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”

Luke 22:35-36

Jesus, recognizing He was on the verge of His crucifixion, again, attempted to convey to His disciples the intense changes that were about to take place. Prior to this, when they had walked with Him, they had lacked nothing, but soon He would be crucified. Soon they would no longer have Him “physically” there to rely on. Soon, they would have to learn to walk by faith.

In this passage, He is encouraging them to make provision for what is about to take place:

“It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

Luke 22:37

Peter’s response was abrupt and forceful, as he swore his undying allegiance to Christ promising to go to prison and even die for his Lord. Jesus, however, knew precisely what Peter would face and prayed that his faith would not fail. Jesus warned them that they would soon face a great sifting. In ancient Israel, a sifter was used to separate the wheat from the rubble. It was placed in the sifter and shaken aggressively causing the wheat to fall through and the debris to remain within the sifter. Jesus uses this analogy to explain to His disciples what was about to happen to them. Satan was about to sift them as wheat. His objective? He would put them in the sifter and aggressively shake them in an attempt to separate them from their faith.

Satan knows that “without faith it is impossible to please God.” And so, he uses events, circumstances and weaknesses to separate us from our faith. In Peter’s case, he used Peter’s pride to sift him. Peter had proclaimed, “I will go to prison and death with you!” He was certain that even if all the rest of the disciples fled, he would stand strong. Later, when Peter is confronted by a servant girl outside the home of the high priest, Peter begins to deny that he even knows Jesus. When the rooster crowed at daybreak he recalled Jesus’ answer to his boasting:

“Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”
Luke 22:34
Peter’s story serves as a reminder that we face a real enemy who desires to separate us from our faith. Peter and the disciples were not immune to it. In fact, Jesus warned them it would come. What, then, is separating you from your faith? Are you trapped in the sieve of poverty, sickness, wealth, ambition, unbelief or unforgiveness? And, if so, how do you overcome?


Pastor Scott Burr http://faithandworshipseries.blogspot.com