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In Luke Chapter 22, we are reading of Jesus and His disciples in the Upper Room and they have been celebrating the Passover, but there are other things going on, and one of the lessons we have been learning is how to serve humbly and with humility. There is a reward. Those who serve as Jesus served, and those who serve in the Name of Jesus in The Kingdom of God, are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

Now, it may not feel like that at times. I am sure Peter and John did not feel as though they were in some new glorious Kingdom of Light as they were imprisoned in Jerusalem, within seven weeks or so of hearing these words of Jesus. That is why it is vital that we are not motivated or driven by our feelings and emotions or even our circumstances.

I am sure there were many occasions when Silas and Paul did not feel as though they were in a Kingdom bathed with love and light. Yet, they were, but in that Kingdom there is also persecution and pain.

Jesus is teaching them here about true greatness, in what has been called the 'upside down kingdom'.

Verse 31. Jesus turns to Simon Peter at this point, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat." It is as if the pride and disputing and arguing and jockeying for position had opened the door to Satan's influences. It is as though the squabbling regarding promotion had weakened them spiritually, and they needed the chaff removed.

At this precise moment, their usefulness was NIL - because of SIN.

Sifting is to be put through the sieve - to be put through the mill, so that we can be refined, and have the lumps removed and rough edges knocked off us.

What a sifting Peter was about to experience, sleeping in Gethsemane, getting involved in some wild sword play, and then denying Jesus three times.

This is the calibre of the bunch of men Jesus chose, and Peter had to be groomed and prepared to emerge as leader after Pentecost. Peter had to learn the hard way. Things can be so very difficult, even after we have talked with Jesus. Things can be difficult even after we have walked with Jesus, and supped with Jesus, even after we have been called by Jesus, and having had revelations from the Father. God doesn't hide this aspect of Peter's life.

In the Alpha Course it is mentioned about how might we like it if everything we thought and said and did were shown up on the screen. That is virtually what God does here regarding Peter. It is written down and openly displayed so that we can read and learn. This is almost part of normal Christian growth and almost unavoidable, as we walk on the pathway to maturity. That is another reason as to why we do not act upon our feelings and emotions but we act and serve in obedience to Jesus Christ.

God allows these things to happen to us, and there are times when He even arranges for these types of things to happen to us, to enable us to develop and mature.

All this was allowed, so that that the wheat could be separated from the chaff, in the life of the man who was being raise up by God to lead that young dynamic Church.

It is not what you are that counts. It is what God can make of you. It is what God can do with you, and in you, before He can work through you.

The other side of it is Satan's desire to destroy Peter before his real work and ministry could begin. See his tactics. Know how he works. Imagine how Peter felt when he realised that he had denied Jesus, but all that was part of the sifting, and it was all forgiven. The prayers of Jesus would intervene. Jesus Christ was praying for Peter before this mighty storm broke, but Peter still had to go through the storm, and take some battering. We need to be clear on Christ's tactics too.

Peter went through the sifting, and suffered it all publicly. He must have been in emotional turmoil when he realised what he had done, and then when Jesus was raised from the dead, and was known to be alive, that was a whole new episode, and it is all written down for all to see.

We see the nature of God, and we see the nature of the enemy, and we see clearly how fickle we can be at times, and we see how real and fierce the battle can be. Do you see how we must not be motivated simply by how we feel or how positive our emotions might be. We require to be far more objective than that.

Jesus did not rescue Peter from the sieve. O, Jesus rescued him, but he had to go through the sifting, as did Paul, and the others, and it is all written down so that we might read and learn the lessons.

"Bible verse and quote" from Jan Couns

Bible and Quote - February 24-28