FAITHFULWORD.ORG | TEACHINGS

I Corinthians 10:13; James 4:7; II Corinthians 11:3; Luke 22:31; I Peter 5:8; John 10:10; [II Chronicles 16:9]; Luke 22:32; John 17:20; Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:22-25; 9:24; John 20:19-22; Acts 2:1-4, 14-41; 4:1-20; Ephesians 3:14-21; II Thessalonians 1:7; Ephesians 6:10, 11

When we stand for God, we become targets for His archenemy, Satan, the Devil. When we choose to live for God, the Adversary works with subtlety to cause us to quit. He will first try pleasure in an attempt to buy us out and distract us from our commitment. If this does not work, he uses pressure. We will have temptations in this world, but God is faithful to not allow us to be tempted above what we are able to handle, but will make a way to escape. We must submit ourselves to God and resist the Devil. When we do so, the Devil will flee from us. We do not allow the devil to buy us out, but instead go to God in prayer.

If we have a price for selling out, the devil will find out what it is. That is why it is so important to spend time in the Word and with God. In Luke, Jesus told Peter that Satan desired to sift him like wheat. The words for “hath desired” mean obtain by asking and are used in Job when Satan asked God to allow him to tempt Job. In the lands and times in the Bible, they winnowed the grain with a sieve (a utensil made of strings or reeds) to clean the grain by shaking it. Satan wanted to do this to Peter to steal his faith. Jesus told Peter he had prayed for him so his faith would not fail him and that Peter would strengthen the brethren when he was converted. After the day of Pentecost, Peter did just that. John 17 records that Jesus prays for us as well. One of the things he is doing for us even now is to watch over the church and make intercession for the believers.

Satan would sift us as wheat also, but Jesus is praying for us. God is for us; Jesus Christ is for us; those who love us are for us; people in the body of Christ are for us; the heavenly hosts are for us! When Peter received the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost, he went from being a man filled with fear in hiding to a man who the devil could not touch with pleasure or pressure. Even the religious leaders could not intimidate him because of the power of the holy spirit living in his heart.

When we stand arm-in-arm with the family or God, or even with Jesus Christ, we cannot fall through the cracks and be sifted. When Satan attempts to sift us as wheat, when the pleasures and pressures of life come, we can go to the Word and the spirit to get our hearts lifted up. Against the backdrop of it all, we know a day is coming when Jesus is coming back with his mighty angels. We have the whole armor of God to be able to stand against the Devil’s attempts to sift us as wheat!