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Mighty Monday for May 12th, 2008 with Pastor Charles W. Stoker

     Have you ever wondered why “bad things happen to good people”? 
     I will say that I have learned more about who I am while going through tough times and at the same time learning more about the faithfulness of God.  You may be going through something right now that you don’t understand.
     Is it an attack of the devil or is this something God is trying to use to help me have a breakthrough in some area of my life or is it a little of both.   I believe that some things that happen can be a little of both.  The devil is bringing on some problems to “tear down your faith” but on the other hand God is allowing it to “build up your faith”.   
     To help you understand what I am talking about lets go to Luke 22:31, 32 “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.” 
     It’s what Jesus did not say here that’s important, He did not say “Simon, I will pray that you will not be sifted” rather He said “Simon…I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not”.   Because Jesus loved Simon and knew the changes that Simon needed to make to become the man that the Lord knew he could be He was willing to allow Satan to “sift” him.  
     You see “Satan sifts but the Lord lifts”.   Sifting is a process the farmer used to separate the good grain from the chafe or the bad that was mixed in with the good.   Satan’s plan was to sift out the “good” and leave Simon with nothing but bad: leaving him with failure, fear, depression, guilt and cause him to doubt the plan that God had for his life.  Jesus’ plan was to sift out the bad and leave Simon with the good; leaving him with nothing but faith, confidence, trust, courage and maturity.  Simon was stubborn and sometimes arrogant and even a little cocky maybe that’s why Jesus used a rooster (vs.34) to prove to Simon that he wasn’t as tough as he thought he was, remember that we were created to “need” the Lord.    Remember it was Simon Peter who “walked on the water” with Jesus.  Many times we only see Peter as the man, who “sank” when he was overcome with fear, but Jesus saw a man that “walked” and even though Peter only took a few steps they were big steps of faith.   The devil wants us to only see our failures but Jesus wants us to see our successes and understand where they came from.
    Even though Jesus did not believe Simon when he said “”Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both to prison, and to death” (vs. 33) he believed “in” Simon and knew with the right sifting he could bring his faith around.  If Peter could ever deal with the doubt, pride and fear and learn to trust the Lord in all things of life he would move on to God’s true plan for his life.  
     Just like Simon, God believes in you as well.  He has an awesome plan for your life.  The only thing that can hinder that plan is “doubt” and the fear that doubt feeds.   Sometimes we need to embrace the sifting and allow God to help us get the “junk” out of our lives by learning to put our complete trust in Him.   All Jesus was after was for Peter to humble himself and say “Lord, I give up to you and put my complete trust in you”.   By praying those same words you may be able to put an end to the current sifting that is going on in your life today and spend the rest of the day “walking on the water” instead of feeling like your “all wet”.    Amen!

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