Fail Not Feller

Luke 22:31 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.

The Lord has saved us and yet continues to deliver.  The difference between these deliverances is that the former is from sin and unto glory while the latter gets us through.

Satan is used to a world of subjects without spirit.  They have no renewed spirit and without spirit are easy to manipulate.  We should foster sympathy for all those in Satan’s grip.  They, in ignorance, claim to have the ultimate spirit by being defiant to God.  Every lost person feels the Christian has given up and sold themselves out and has no will or spirit of their own.  On the contrary, the exact opposite is true.  Christians have been given a renewed spirit or will of God to defy the will of Satan and sin in their life.  A Christian’s submission by choice to God’s authority gains them the will to resist.  Should spirit be defined as the ability to resist evil or resist good?  Who would want a spirit to resist good?  Resisting good is Satan’s game.  The will in men to defy God is the dead spirit in man and the borrowed will of Satan.  Instead of having spirit they are without and fall for every whim and fancy of Satan’s design.  There is no holding back from any provocation in Satan’s court.  The Devil is not one to acknowledge freedom of choice.  It is not even uncommon for Satan to possess the reluctant or reticent subject to force his will with overpowering oppression.  Why should some of the lost be reluctant or reticent?  God has left them with a compass to know a better way; to at least know right over wrong or good over bad.  But, even with this built-in compass, Satan need exert only little effort of persuasion in the world. 

Christians, on the other hand, requires of Satan great effort and headache.  First, Satan must get permission to meddle.  Even though we trespass in Satan’s territory, we do it with immunity and impunity.  Being sons of God has advantages.  But, Satan is always looking to get one over on God by putting one over on us.  How often does God allow Satan to sift a Christian?  Satan sifts in an effort to separate the spirit of God from our carnal nature.  Satan sifts in the hopes of gaining a carnal Christian; a Christian who will give up on God.  Isn’t that what happened to Peter?  A carnal Christian is no threat to Satan’s plans.  But, was Peter forever fishing for nothing?  Satan is merely a tool by which God measures and tempers the true grit of Christians.  In this scripture Jesus did not pray that Simon not be sifted.  But, rather Jesus prayed for Simon’s faith to endure and sustain.  Satan wants carnal, God wants spirit.  Satan wants the flesh, God wants our mind. 

Oh, but we want to avoid the pain and suffering!  We pray to be removed from the sifter.  We pray for deliverance from Satan’s design and influence in our life.  Shouldn’t we pray the Lord’s prayer that He prayed for Simon?  Shouldn’t we pray our faith fail not that we may know great faith?  Why did Jesus want Simon to endure this hardship?  Why did Simon have to suffer shame and reproach?  Why was it necessary for Simon to fall so far from God?  It was for Simon’s faith.  It was for Simon to know without doubt we may fail but faith will fail not.  Faith will bring us back.  Faith will convert us into stronger, wiser, and more mature Christians.  We not only gain, but we strengthen our brethren.  Our endurance, repentance, and return show the power, mercy, and grace of God.  It demonstrates God’s will greater than our own.  Jesus never prayed that Peter be spared.  He did promise that Peter would be converted.  Jesus did not say “if” thou be converted, but “when” thou be converted.  We must pray for faith and we will return.  If we don’t pray for faith we have an intercessor in Jesus that does and will, just as he did for Peter.  Isn’t faith strengthened when we return from a fall? 

Would the prodigal have ever returned without faith in his father?  His faith did not tell him how his father would take him back, but that he would take him back.  Not once did he question that his father would take him back.  It never crossed his mind to question his faith.  His father could have had him killed for the transgression, but the prodigal did not care.  Even threat of death did not sway his faith.  At least in death he would be buried as his father’s son.  It was even this faith that sustained him.  It was not for want of food, fame, or possession the prodigal returned.  It was for a restoration of relationship.  He wanted to be his father’s son as never before, to be obedient and submissive, even if it killed him.    

Are we that desperate?  Must we wait to be sifted?  Shouldn’t we arrive at such an understanding without Satan’s gloating and gallivanting?  Submission and obedience is not the character of the weak and worthless, but of the strong and worthy.  It takes a greater will to submit and obey than to rebel and be defiant.  In our submission the wicked world and Satan lose while we gain.  Our gain gives us freedom to make the right choices.  Some would say that to always make the right choice is not freedom of choice.  It is freedom when we overrule the natural inclination to make the wrong choices rather than go with the flow of wickedness and evil in this world. 

Faith will fail not.