The Sifting

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.

Luke 22: 31

 

So, why did Jesus tell Peter that he was going to be “sifted” like a cook would a cup of flour? To try to understand this odd statement it helps to know why recipes instruct us to sift the flour that we are using to bake a cake or to make bread. Historically sifting has been used to remove the impurities that got into the flour during milling; these might be bits of the mill stone, foreign objects, and pieces of the outer shell of the wheat; it also breaks up the lumps of flour that happen as it is stored and compacts or hardens in an unequal manner, finally, sifting allows for the even and equal addition of other ingredients that make the recipe work.

 

Have you ever been at the place in life where the impurities get in the way of enjoying the day? All of us have bits of the process of growing and developing in our faith walks that have fallen into the new flour that God has carefully crafted out of the raw ingredients that we were without Christ; also, the fine flour that we are meant to be often still has some of the foreign objects that sin dropped into it present. I have found that my heart and my mind also develop areas of hardness, and I become resistant to allowing God’s truth full access to those areas of my life; so, there are times and situations where my actions and responses to others wind up looking very little like my Lord and very much like my old selfish and sinful self.

 

Just as it was true for Peter and for all of Jesus’ disciples, it will be true for all of us, there will be times when life puts us through the test of trials; there will be parts of our lives and moments in almost every day when our faith, endurance, and trust will be placed under the stressful forces of life in this world. What matters is where we go for the wisdom to handle these situations, who we trust to provide the strength and the endurance to get through them, and what we learn while going through it all. These times of sifting will come for everyone who loves the Lord, for He desires that each of us would be prepared and ready to fulfill our calling as a part of the great celebration feast that will be held when Christ returns.

 

I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

Luke 22: 32

 

 

The Race

Since we have such a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Hebrews 12: 1

 

There is a crowd gathered, for the main event of your life is about to start; the gun is raised, and a finger squeezes the trigger. With a loud bang the swirling, almost chaotic mass of motion that is the race starts. Now the dream starts to head off along several possible tangents as decisions that we have made and aspects of the past begin to have an effect upon performance. Am I wearing lead boots rather than running shoes, a mask over my eyes, or are my hands tied behind my back? What about attempting to go at maximum speed with this wound on my thigh that I ignored and allowed to become infected?

 

Living the life that Christ calls His followers to live is not exactly like joining in a one hundred meter race, or in a one mile competition, a ten kilometer, or a cross country event; yet, there are elements of all of these athletic endeavors in the spiritual life. Like in sports, training and practice are important, and joining the right team is vital, for the Spirit of God is the only life coach with a perfect winning record. The way that we prepare our heart and mind for the day also matters; so, if I keep holding onto the sinful attitudes and actions that are the remnants of my past, I will be weighted and slowed down; if I continue to dwell on my previous failures and losses, I will be overcome by sinful events and actions that Christ has already defeated for me.

 

The last and the most important part of my daily prerace strategy needs to be the time that I spend with my heart bowed before the Lord; there I can share my worries, concerns, and inadequacies with Him, and I can lay sinful attitudes and actions that still bind me on the altar of grace and healing. Then I can listen to His words of strength and encouragement as Christ blesses me and sends me out with the plan for this day’s race in my mind and with my coach going along for every step of the run.

 

Praise Song

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 150: 6

 

These few words, eleven in all with three of those repeated for emphasis and focus, provide the final punctuation on the last of the Psalms; what a grand way to end this book of songs about the ways that God loves and cares for His children! When I praise God, who He is becomes clearer, and my eyes are opened wider to take in the reality of the Lord’s presence everywhere and of His involvement in all aspects of my life.

 

Truly everything in this world can be a vehicle for praise; sometimes the praise lies in the fact that it exists and the ways that it blesses my day; in other situations there is praise in the restraint that God caused me to have in not using or in changing the way that something is being used; and we should always seek to see the praise worthy, image of God qualities in the people that we encounter. It seems that the key to appreciation of God’s hand in my daily life is found in opening my heart to Christ’s love; and thus, I can anticipate His involvement in everything.

 

If I start the day with praise for my Lord, and I end it with praise on my lips; then, every breath that I breath throughout the day can be an expression of the love that I have for the Lord. All of my life will become a song that is sung to God.

 

 

Follow

The next day He purposed to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”

John 1: 43

 

When I stop to take a few moments and think about the details of the way that God is involved in my life and in the lives of others who I know, it becomes very clear that there is nothing random or happenstance about His approach to our lives. When the Lord finds me, the discovery isn’t the result of a wild guess or a lucky convergence of natural forces, for God finds everyone, and He finds out everything about us and all that we are involved in. As troubling as this can feel to my mind, He even knows the thoughts that I am about to entertain.

 

It doesn’t matter so much what we are doing, thinking, or where we have been going through the course of our lives; what does matter is how we respond to Jesus when He speaks to us. The daily question for my heart is the one of faith and trust. Am I willing to set aside everything that gets in the way of responding to my Lord and go when He calls? 

 

Jesus comes to all people and speaks the same words that He did to Philip; yet, His calling doesn’t stop when we agree to follow and accept Him; that is simply the beginning of the journey. The Lord continues to speak these words to my heart, and He never stops in His leading of me to follow. The path that Christ calls for people to take is uniquely designed for each of us, and there is an adventure to be had along its way that too wonderful to miss; then, at the end of it all, there is eternity in the presence of the glory of God.

 

Time, Time, Time

Do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day.

2 Peter 3: 8

 

Time and timing often seem to get in the way of peace, joy, and contentment, for things are always happening at the wrong moment or at a pace that doesn’t fir into my plans. Some of the instances of timing gone off track are under my own control and are caused by my own lack of knowledge or lack of foresight; among these are the times when the roast isn’t ready on time or the days when the paycheck doesn’t outlast the bills. Still, there are other situations that turn my world upside down which I simply have no control over.

 

When I have invested in the life of another person, shared God’s truths with someone, and have given my very best to demonstrate Christ’s love to that person; yet, there seems to be no movement toward entering into a relationship with the Lord, this is out of my control. I can pray continually for God to heal a sick friend; yet, the definition of healing is still His, and I can seek the face of God everyday by reading His word, talking with Him frequently, and spending time in quiet listening for His expressed will; still, my physical, financial, emotional, and relational challenges may continue unabated so that all I can do is continue to wait and to trust in the promise of God’s answers for it all.

 

Experiencing the deeply established peace that God promises to His children and living with a firmly rooted joy in my heart is possible despite all of the frustrations that life brings, for the Lord wants me to clearly understand the fact that I actually understand very little with true clarity except for the fundamental fact that God has a plan, He is in control, and all that He desires for me and for my life comes out of the Father’s incomprehensible love for me. As I let my faith in these truths grow, my trust in the Lord’s eternal timing also increases; then I can rest in the certainty of time and timing that are supernaturally perfect.

 

Preaching Through Life

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” – that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.

Romans 10: 8

 

When we enter into a relationship with God through Jesus, the Christ, we are brought from a far away place to the actual presence of the Lord, God Almighty; His Spirit is literally breathed into us, and we become infused with the expression of God’s nature and character; that is, we are granted access to and understanding of God’s word. This is the platform that we can stand on with total confidence, absolute certainty, and complete trust. God’s word should lead each of us to understand Him more fully, and it should guide us to an ever increasing degree of trust of God through our faith in Him.

 

Paul’s challenge to all who believe in Christ relates to what we are doing with God’s word. Is it something that we use as an occasional curiosity, a personal source of comfort, or as a private aspect of our relationship with God? Although, most of us are not called to stand before large crowds of people or even on street corners and proclaim the great truth of God’s desire for the salvation of all souls, all of us are granted the gift of those truths, and we are accompanied through life by His Spirit who will provide the insight and the words that are needed to express those truths to others.

 

We are called by God to to share who He is and why that matters with the world around us through the way that we live, the attitudes that we hold, and the love that we express. The word of God comes alive to people who do not know Him in the people who do. Everyday of our lives is important to the Lord, for our faith and the way that it sets us apart from the norms of this world is what preaches God’s word loudly and passionately, and it is our love that softens the hardened hearts around us so that they can hear the word of salvation.  

 

 

All Things

From Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11: 36

 

Here is a worthy calling for the day. Look to God, and listen to His voice in every situation and in all circumstances. Let the strength of His truth overcome all of the wisdom of the world and my own self-generated logic.

 

Christ is the source that is worth seeking out; His Spirit is the filter for what I need to know verses what is going to distract me from God’s purpose. Even the smallest of my activities and the simplest of interaction with others should be and can be carried out in the wisdom of the Lord and for Him.

 

My prayer is that this day will be lived in a manner that demonstrates my relationship to Christ. I desire to know nothing that He has not given to me; yet, I know that the Lord has already given me everything that I will need to take me through this day. O Lord, let this day be one where what I do and say, and in which who I am will bring glory to You. Amen.

 

O, Freedom!

Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

Psalms 2: 3

 

“Freedom, O freedom”, this cry has been raised from the mouths of countless people over the entire continuum of history, for Satan has been oppressing us since the beginning of his reign upon this earth. Our wrists bear the welts from the ropes that have been tied around them, and our hearts are chained to the weight of guilt, regret, and lost opportunity. Too many of our days are filled with the sounds of “if only”, “why not”, and “that’s unfair”.

 

If you are looking at God and asking Him why He is holding you down and tying you up, then you are not grasping the most basic and fundamental aspect of how the Lord wants to interact with each of us, and you are not even remotely alone in this misunderstanding, either. This is a trap that is common to most people; yet, God provided the answer to all forms of real bondage in the absolute, chain-busting blood of Christ.

 

There are things that  God has for you to do today that will bring glory to His name, you will encounter people who need to be touched by the love of Christ, and there are challenges that you will face that will require the strength of the Lord to engage well. These are all situations where evil wants to slip its disabling ropes of confinement around your heart; so, in each of these times and throughout this entire day, freedom will be found by claiming God’s promise of total salvation.

 

Supernatural Peace

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4: 7

 

Sometimes we just require the touch of the supernatural, for there are people, events, and circumstances that overcome all of our inner strength, knowledge, and capacity to endure. When these sorts of pressures are pressing on me, I have a hard time functioning at the level that I am otherwise completely capable of doing. It just seems that the external stressors worm their way into my courage, confidence, and reasoning so that I become tense and tentative.

 

Still, there is an inner, deep rooted peace that comes with our relationship with God that can take over these times. It comes from our understanding of the truth of who God is and of what knowing Him and being known by Him actually means, for the Lord completely understands all of our areas of vulnerability and weakness. He also gave us our skills, talents, and imparted our giftedness to us; so, He also will open up these areas of strength so that we can excel in all situations.

 

The primary thing that gets in the way of living in the freedom of God’s peace is my own concern and the worry that I allow to take control of my heart and mind. The primary thing that I need to do to change this is to focus on my Lord, seek His wisdom, and also turn the troubling aspects of my day over to God. This last point is particularly true when the point of stress or contention is centered on a person; then, when I seek the Lord’s intervention to turn the hard relationship into one that brings glory to Him, the Spirit of God always does wondrous things in my heart, and His peace is given the opportunity to set me free.

 

A Touch Of Beauty

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

Psalm 29: 2

 

Sometimes I am forgetful, and at other times I seem to have my eyes closed tightly, for there are too many days that go by where I don’t appreciate the Lord for even a small portion of who He is and for what He does. Days like these may be the ones where I am way too self-focused, or they might be times when I am caught up in the importance of my own influence and impact on my universe; yet, when this is true, I am suffering from a lack of accurate perspective, and the quality of my life is diminished because of this.

 

Everywhere that there is true beauty, and all of the splendor of this world are the handiwork of the Lord; He is the master painter, the skilled architect, and the perfect designer of the environment that sustains life, delights my senses, and that feeds my soul. It is up to me to open my eyes and to allow my heart to soak in all that God has placed before me during each day. His love is expressed in the colors of flowers, in the fragrance of the wind, in the vitality of a hummingbird, in the warmth of a smile, and in the comfort of a friend.

 

O Lord, let me be aware of You, of Your presence, and of Your loving grace. I pray that I will be like the multitudes that surround Your throne in Heaven with my heart lifted up in continual appreciation and praise of You, my God and Creator. Let my eyes never stop seeing You as I travel through my day; guide my thoughts and direct my actions so that my life will be a living expression of Your glory and righteousness.