On the night before He died Yahshua was eating supper with His friends in an upper room in Jerusalem. As they shared together, He unexpectedly warned Peter, ”Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the power and keeping of (Yahweh)], that he might sift [all of] you like grain” [Luke 22:31, Classic Amplified]. Doesn’t that sound dreadful? Yahshua must surely have been heavy-hearted on this final evening, knowing the challenges that would face them the following day, and in the future. Interestingly, He added a personal note, “But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail” [v.32, italics added].
Yahshua didn’t pray that Peter would be delivered from all the bad and difficult things that would come his way, but that his faith would hold up! Later that evening, in the Garden of Gethsemane, He would pray a similar prayer for Himself. “Now my soul is troubled. What should I say—Father, save me from this hour? But that is why I came to this hour” [John 12:27]. As the heartbreak intensified we know He cried, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” [Matthew 26:39]. But His faith held up, and on an agonising cry of “Nevertheless…” He went on to fulfil all He’d been sent to accomplish.
As servants of Yahshua, we’re engaged in warfare - it comes with the territory. What difficulties are you facing right now? What release from undesired or unexplained circumstances are you crying for? Scripture assures us Yahshua is “always living to make intercession for us” [Hebrews 7:25, Douay-Rheims 1899]. However, “He will not pray weaker prayers, easier prayers, for us than He prayed for Himself,” writes Amy Carmichael. His prayers will strengthen us to hold onto faith as we navigate the conflict.
Talented poet, Annie Johnson Flint (1866-1932), inspired by Isaiah 43:2, wrote: “Seas of sorrow, seas of trial, Bitterest anguish, fiercest pain, Rolling surges of temptation Sweeping over heart and brain —" would be unable to defeat us because “We shall not go down, or under, For He saith, ‘Thou passest through’!”[1]
[1] ‘Passing Through’ by Annie Johnson Flint
Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay
https://pixabay.com/photos/storm-nature-seascape-sky-clouds-4285399/
You Are The BranchesClick to see the whole passage:
1 timothy 3:16 NIV - Beyond all question, the mystery from - Bible Gateway
Lives have been changed. People from all walks of life have been born again through the gospel. Our message does work.
Roger Thomas
The Congregation Of Yahweh
Head Office (UK)
27A Carlton Road
Nottingham
Nottinghamshire
United Kingdom
NG3 2DG
T: 0115 837 8083
E:
W: www.congyah.co.uk
Registered Charity No. 245132
© Copyright 2024 The Congregation Of Yahweh
