4-14-20 THOUGHTS

Luke 22:31  "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;
32  but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." 33  But he said to Him, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!" 34  And He said, "I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me."
Barnes:    “May sift you as wheat. Grain was agitated or shaken in a kind of fan or sieve. The grain remained in the fan, and the chaff and dust were thrown off. So Christ says that Satan desired to try Peter; to place trials and temptations before him; to agitate him; to see whether anything of faith would remain, or whether all would not be found to be chaff — mere natural ardour and false professions.”

I think it’s just human to have days when you feel the need for STRENGTH!  Maybe I’m tired or bored or anxious, or confused or afraid or...  Maybe some combination of all of them?
OVERCOMING is my job!  It is the end of faith!  Find the word “overcome” in the new testament  [especially in the first 3 chapters of Revelation].  
                 I needed some strengthening passages this morning.  
Eph 3:16-19   that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19  and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
Php 4:11-13   Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.   I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Col 1:9-11    For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10  so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11  strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might,
                 for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously
2Cor 7:11   Message Bible     And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart.
My Prayer:
Oh Lord God, strengthen us in times of trial, when we cannot see tomorrow.  Truly we know that you hold tomorrow.  The end belongs to you and only you.  Remind us that we are victors already.  Teach to love your word and to partake of it as necessary food.  Sustain us when we are tired and bored.  Keep us from being our own enemy.  May we look to you today as the keeper of our strength and giver of joy in believing.    In Jesus name                Amen