Sifted as Wheat
Luke 22:31 & 32 reads as follows.
"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."
You find here Jesus speaking to His disciple Peter(a.k.a. Simon) with a concern for the welfare
of Peter's soul.
Jesus is warning Peter of the desire or goal of Satan to eliminate him(Peter). Jesus uses an
analogy of being "sifted as wheat".
The word sifted can be understood to mean; to pass through a sieve to separate the fine parts
from the coarse, usually accomplished by shaking the sieve, to make to fall through.
It is Satan's goal to cause every man, woman, and child to fail in the plan of God and lose out
on God's Salvation. Satan strives to ruin and plunder each life he touches.
My friend, Satan is out and about, shaking-up lives as I type these words.
Job felt the effects of Satan's sifting when he was attacked in Job chapter 1 & 2. Job lost his
children, his sheep, his camels, and he was covered head-to-toe with boils. Imagine that!
Then, to add insult to injury, his own wife turned on him and told him to "curse God and die."
Satan certainly was doing some sifting.
Adam and Eve felt the effects of Satan's sifting in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 when they
sinned the "original sin" and brought spiritual death to mankind. God then forced them to leave
that "paradise" to return no more, permanently separated from direct fellowship with Him.
Samson felt the effects of Satan's sifting in Judges 16 when he was wooed by Delilah until he
"wist(knew) not that the Lord was departed from him." (explanation mine)
It is Satan's desire to annihilate every one who calls on the name of the Lord.
I Peter 5:8 states,
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour:"
Revelation 2:10 reads,
"...behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison,..." (paraphrased)
Please, please, let me warn you of Satan's devices!!!
The Bible teaches that Satan is "a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44) That same scripture
teaches that Satan is also a murderer.
John 13:2 speaks of the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.
"And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's
son, to betray him(Jesus);"
(explanation mine)
Satan even tempted Jesus Christ himself.
Matthew 4:1-"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the
devil."
As you can see, Satan does not care who you are, who you know, or how long you have been
serving God. He wants to knock you off course at any price!
BEWARE!!! Satan NEVER has your best interest at heart. He ALWAYS wants you destroyed.
With all these words in mind, I am absolutely stunned at all the people who still refuse to honor
God and follow Him.
I very recently spoke with a man about his soul, and I asked him a question.
"Has Jesus ever done anything for you that was bad?"
After a several second pause he said, "Of course not."
Then I asked him, "Has the devil?"
He then said, "You know the answer to that, yes."
I then asked him one final question.
"Why then are you serving the wrong one?"
Many will disagree with that question, but that does not change that it is true. If you are not
whole-heartedly serving God, then you are serving Satan.
I feel in my spirit right now that some will become angry with that statement. You will insist that I
not call you a "Satan-worshipper", but if you are not serving God Almighty, then who are you
serving?!
Realize that only a short while after Jesus spoke those words of the message text, Peter
denied Him three times in one night. Peter also felt the effects of Satan's sifting.
Are you?
Satan desires to have YOU! He wants to sift YOU as wheat!
Peter. Job. Adam and Eve. Samson. Finally, Judas Iscariot.
Satan's grip reached for all these. All but one overcame him.
JUDAS. What was different about him? What did he not do? What did the others do?
James 4:7 instructs one in the defense against Satan.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."
Many, many times has this verse been preached and taught; but also many times has the first
sentence been left out.
You must SUBMIT TO GOD! Peter did. Job did. Adam and Eve did. Samson did.
Judas did not.
Will you???
II Corinthians 6:2 says,"...behold, NOW is the accepted time; behold, NOW is the day of
salvation.)” (emphasis mine)