Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath Desired to Have You

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat (Luke 22:31, KJV)

Jesus revealed to Peter that Satan had asked to have the Apostles so he might sift them like grain. Satan has not stopped asking to sift people—especially those in ministry.

Satan wanted to sift the Apostles, beginning with Peter. Sifting separates the valuable part of grain from the useless chaff, so when Satan sifts someone, he removes every virtue and makes them ineffective, or toho va boho. Satan attacked Peter using his denial of Jesus; He would have used the shame, guilt, and condemnation that followed the rejection to make Peter an emotional wreck. Had Jesus not prayed for Peter, Peter would have dropped out of the ministry and returned to fishing, buried in shame for the rest of his life.

Satan has big evil plans for us, just as he had for the Apostles. He is looking for an opportunity to sift us using life’s ordinary circumstances. He might use sexual sin, greed, lies, mistakes, or any other weakness or fault to pull us into his sift and quench God’s fire in us using shame, guilt, condemnation, or fear. As I have taught repeatedly, the most dangerous spiritual warfare battles occur in our hearts and our daily circumstances of life; they are not in fighting or binding demons in the air or seas.

We, therefore, have to be sober and vigilant because the adversary is moving around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Apply the Word

Satan knows how to use our weaknesses, faults, and errors in life to quench the fire of God through various vices such as shame, guilts, condemnation and fear. Be vigilant and put on God’s armor by having the assurance of your salvation, living in righteousness, standing on the truth, believing firmly in what He says, etc.

Pray for yourself and another believer who comes to mind now that their faith will not fail when Satan tries to sift them.