Luke 22:31,32
The Lord Will be Strong For You
H Lee Clay
I remember as a youth in the Church that when and if a person claiming faith was struggling with some area of temptation in his or her life and sought the encouraging counsel of an elder in the church that he or she would be told that, “they should go back to the alter”.
And in like manner when I myself had an inclination or a proclivity to do something wrong they would send me to the alter as well. And the general under-standing was that if one who was “claiming Christ” was struggling with temptation that he or she was not yet truly saved.
The ideal that this church was trying to covey was
that if I was saved and if indeed I was really a child of God that I should not be struggling with unholy desires. The truth of the matter was that I was still attracted to good-looking women and sin and wanted what I wanted. Just because I was now saved did not stop them from looking good to me.
Those Elders misled me. The truth of the matter is that you will never get too far in this life walking around in this tabernacle of flesh without being tempted. Just because those of us who are saved and have come to believe on the name of Jesus Christ to the glory of God doesn’t mean that we stop having feelings or find ourselves no longer being tried by our impulses.
I want to talk to some real folks. Have you ever been in a battle seeking to resist a temptation with everything you had just to lose the battle and it broke your heart?
Even though I’m saved and have the Holy Spirit, that does not stop me from still having these feelings. You see feelings don’t go away. I don’t care how Spirit-filled you claim to be,if you are human your feelings won’t go away but they can be controlled.
God gives to those who trust Him an advantage when it comes to dealing with the issue of being tempted. And sometimes He Himself will step in and block what you are about to do.Sometimes God will send somebody to come and knock at the door. If He hadn’t sent them it would have been over.
I need God to give me an advantage. I need Him to help me in my decision making. That’s why He lives inside of my heart through His Spirit. If I start thinking about giving in to the temptation long enough God will start speaking to my heart and seek to talk me out of what my flesh is trying to convince me to give in to.
I bless God for the Holy Spirit giving me the counsel and encouragement to fight and resist the devil and his tempting spirits. Because I don’t want to deny God. John would declare this when he having been moved by the Holy Ghost said, “Greater is He, etc”.
Nor do I want to deny or betray myself or my faith. You see the greatest enemy that I have is not the world or the devil. My biggest enemy is me. The Apostle Paul backs me up when he declared in Rm 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:”.
So you see “the flesh” if given the opportunity by “the spirit” of a child of God can direct the soul to deny the Spirit of God. And let me suggest to you that the struggle that you had on yesterday will not be your last struggle.
At times when I was defeated as a younger Christian in my spirit through my flesh by the temptations of the enemy I felt as though that not only had I “denied the Lord” but at times I was so convicted by my sin that I felt as though I had also “betrayed” the Lord. But then I came to realize that there is a difference between “betrayal” and “denial”.
Judas betrayed Jesus and Peter denied Jesus. Now, betrayal and denial are both horrific; but there is a difference between betrayal and denial. “Betrayal” in the Greek in the context of Judas and Jesus means, “to give over treacherously; to turn against”. When Judas “betrayed” Jesus he did it with a kiss. He did it with affection.
The question then begs to be asked, “when did he turn”? Isn’t it interesting to know that in the number of people that appear to be with you and affectionate towards you there will always be someone who can be sold out to turn you over.
Another thing that’s interesting is that Jesus prayed for Peter but He did not pray for Judas. He prayed for one who would deny him. The Greek word for denial“aparneoma“( means “to affirm that one has no connection”. (Elaborate)
Because of betrayal Judas was destroyed while through denial Peter ended up broken but better and empowered. Sometimes it takes being beaten, bruised and battered by our denial of the will of God that breaks us and ultimately makes us better for use in the hand of God through the experience.
In the text Jesus declares, “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 “you” in v. 31 is plural; Satan wanted to have all the disciples to sift them.
All of them would forsake Him and flee, and Peter would deny Him three times; yet Jesus prayed especially for Peter, that he would encourage the other disciples.
He sees something in Peter that he doesn’t see in the others. In Peter Jesus sees His successor. In Peter Jesus sees greatness. But there’s still some stuff in Peter that Jesus sees that needs to be dealt with. There’s some false pride, a little too much ego, etc.
And so in effect Jesus is allowing the devil to “have Peter for a season” but Jesus will not allow the devil to destroy Peter. You see Jesus “interceded” for Peter with the Father. Jesus as Intercessor has now made a way of escape for Peter once Peter is broken.
Jesus knows that Peter will be completed from the experience to be used fully by God. Jesus says, “and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
“Converted” simply means “turned around” and refers to Peter’s repentance and restoration to ministry There is no doubt that Peter was a courageous man, but he would fail just the same because of his self-confidence. Peter was “cocky, boastful and over confident”.
The beauty of this whole thing is that while Peter was dealing with his “denial” issues concerning his faithlessness to God, Jesus remains strong for Peter.
Jesus would be the One who would be whipped,
scourged and bruised for all of our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace would fall upon Him.
It would be Jesus that would be nailed on a cross and suspended between heaven and hell between to thieves. It was that Jesus took on the entire sin of the world on that cross.
Yet Jesus while going through all of this suffering just to have Peter deny that he knew Him three times. Yet Jesus prayed for Peter. Jesus said, “ I know that you’re going to be weak, but I’ll Be Strong For You”.
I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren”.
I remember the first time I lifted weights in the gym. I remember after several repetitions the weight becamse too heavy for me to handle alone and I needed a spotter. My spotter came and helped me do what I could not do alone. Jeus is my Spotter.
When my burdens get too heavy for me to handle, I call on Jesus. When I called Him up, I heard Him say,
“I’LL BE STRONG FOR YOU”
While I’m this race. Running from natural and trying to get past carnal and sometimes getting tripped up in my mess, the Lord held me and said,
“I’LL BE STRONG FOR YOU”
That’s why I praise Him! He so strong! One Friday he died on an old rugged cross for my sin. But He was so strong that death, hell and the grave couldn’t even hold Him. Because early on that Beloved Resurrection Sunday He got up with all power in His hand!
That’s why I get so much joy when I think about what He’s done for me. When I’m going through my storms, my trials and my troubles, I can call Him up and then He shows up.
He’s my Bridge over troubled water.
He’s my Strong Tower.
He’s my All in All.
He’s Water when I’m thristy.
He’s Bread when I’m hungry.
He’s so strong. He’s got all power in His hand.
Is there anybody here that knows that He’ll be strong for you? Is there anybody here that knows that He’s able?
Say yeah!
