Luke 22: 31-34: On Jesus’ prayer list!(please click here for todays passage)

Someone observed, ‘You’re on Jesus’ prayer list. That ought to make your whole day!’

Jesus knows your name, your circumstances, and your heart, better than you know yourself. He is aware of spiritual traps you face, and battles that being waged around you even when you are in ignorance. So listen to Him, count on His prayers and don’t try to contradict Him. Experience will prove Him right and you wrong. 

Here are three things to note:

 1.  Jesus’ individual dealings with each disciple. In (31) the word ‘you’, used twice, is a  plural, referring to all the disciples. But it’s fourfold use in the next verse is singular. From out of the larger group, the Lord has a personal word for ‘Simon’. ‘God does not call us to the same things. Do not be surprised if you are led in a way which others do not go. Be surprised if you are not!’ Dallas Willard: ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines’, p.253. On another occasion, Peter (‘Simon’) was given an insight into how he would die (John 21). He decided he would like to know if Jesus had any message for John on the subject. What of his destiny? In effect Christ said, ‘Mind your own business Peter. You keep your eyes on me.’ It’s a personal walk. There is a tailor-made purpose for each life.

  1. God wastes nothing. As you read the Bible you see how God, in His sovereignty, takes the sins and failures of His people and uses them to further His purposes in and through them. These are ‘ingredients’ God did not write in to the ‘recipe’, but He can use them all the same to do something tasty with a life. Even our flaws and faults can be productive. It doesn’t mean it’s good to sin, but it does show that even these ‘crumbs’ can be put to good use. Nothing gets wasted.
  1. It is possible to fail and fall in such a way that your faith crumbles. Jesus did not pray that Peter would escape temptation, but rather that he would not fall fatally – that he would be delivered from that particular evil.

 

It is merciful of God to let us see ourselves as we are; it is good of Him to jerk us out of our self-deluded self-confidence. Peter would get to look in the mirror. That’s an experience which can, and should, lead to alteration.

So here’s a question: ‘Now you are the right side of your mess up, what are you going to do with it? How are you going to put all that misery and heartache to good use?

‘And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.’