When Jesus was preparing to go to the Cross, he was surrounded by his own disciples who had walked with him for 3 years.  They had all felt his presence in the most tangible way possible, witnessed his miracles, and were taught one-on-one by him.  They were there when he multiplied the fish and the loaves of bread to feed the 5,000.  They were there when he healed so many people and drove out demons.  They had pledged their loyalty to him and made great swelling statements of how they would stand by him.  Yet, not one did when the going got tough.

Simon Peter even said that he would go to his death for him.  Yet Simon temporarily failed in his weak and fearful flesh when things got really rough, and he even denied knowing Jesus.

Luke 22:31-34 “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.” But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” And He said, “I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me.”

Oh, Simon still believed that Jesus was who he said he was – but he couldn’t hang onto the courage to stand up for him with other men when his own life was threatened.  He lied when he said he didn’t know Jesus – he failed in his confession because he was afraid.  He went from fearless to fearful in a matter of hours.

Before all this happened, Jesus told Simon that it was going to happen – and it did – just the way he said it would.  He also told him something that saved his spiritual life.  Jesus told Simon that he had prayed for him that his faith would not fail as a result of his own sinful failure and lack of courage.  Denying that Jesus was the Christ was a terrible blasphemous sin, especially considering that Simon had pledged his life to defend Jesus just hours before.

Satan wanted to destroy Simon by causing him to lose his faith because he had lost his courage.  Simon had wept bitterly when he realized what he had done.  He was completely broken – and that’s when Satan would have finished the job with a great big heap of condemnation if Jesus would have allowed it.  Condemnation is always the first response of a wicked agenda.  Complete destruction of one’s faith can result by condemning an already broken-hearted sinner.

The trials of the Revelation Days ahead are going to get rough.  People who have stood strong and powerful in their faith in earlier times, may be assaulted by Satan himself.  Our brothers and sisters are a huge target of a common enemy.  We need to keep in mind that “but for the grace of God, there go I.”

We need to pray fervently and beseech the Lord for our brothers or sisters that have grievously failed.  That should be our first response.  Our hearts should break and our spirits should grieve that a comrade has fallen.  There should never by any other response from Christ followers except to intercede so that their faith not fail, as Jesus set the example with Simon Peter.

Then Jesus said something wonderful to Simon.  He said “when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  Jesus knew that Simon would deny him, then repent and turn around, then preach a few days later at Pentecost and 3,000 would get saved by one message!  He knew that his faith would not fail and that he would then have the opportunity to strengthen others in the same way Jesus had strengthened him – by praying for him!

You can come back again from any kind of failure.  You can be forgiven and you can, once again, operate in the fullness of your anointing and calling.  Peter did – you can too.  Don’t be deceived by angry and proud voices if they tell you that you can’t come back.  We have a very relatable story about one who did – in Simon Peter.  Losing your way is not the same as losing your faith.

Let’s remember how to go to war in the spirit for one another, even when we fail.  Failure doesn’t mean that we are condemned – it means that we are weak.  Yet, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus.  If Jesus is interceding for us, should we not do the same for one another?

God is going to use the weak and the foolish things of this earth to confound the wise in the days ahead.  I have a rock-solid witness in my spirit that he will.  When God showed me in prison that he still loved me after my failures and that he would never, never, never leave me or forsake me, I knew that my faith was not going to fail.  It had been shaken but it had not failed.  It didn’t fail because of the prayers of God’s people – and the faithfulness of a loving God.

In the days ahead, let’s all remember to pray for one another that our faith not fail.  Let’s remember that we are but flesh too, and that given different circumstances, it could be that “it’s not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

Jesus is pulling for you, and we are too!

Love,