“I have prayed for you.”
Recently, I came upon a devotional written over 100 years ago by Charles Spurgeon. He took short little verses and wrote mini-sermons of encouragement on those snippets. One in particular was so profound and so timely that I wanted to share it with you. I’ll put his Olde English language into the language of 2024 western lingo.
Here is the passage from Luke 22, when Jesus is talking to His disciple, Simon Peter, just a few hours before Peter denies knowing of being associated with Jesus as Jesus is arrested, interrogated by a kangaroo court on trumped-up charges, eventually leading to His lynching by the hands of the oppressor, Rome, and egged on by His own people, the Jews.
“Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers and sisters.” - Luke 22:31-32
Satan has always been trying to destroy and harm Christ before Christ destroys him, as promised since before time began, so what better way to do it than to get his right-hand man, Peter, to turn against Him?
So, Jesus talks to Peter during the Last Supper, after Judas had left to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities who had been waiting for the most opportune time to arrest, try, and kill this Man claiming to be God. Jesus tells Simon Peter, “Simon, Simon (his given name before Jesus renamed him Peter, “The Rock”), Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers and sisters.” Jesus was talking to Peter, but His words apply to all His followers.
How encouraging is the thought of our Redeemer interceding for us! It says elsewhere in Romans, chapter 8, that Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God always interceding for us, always praying on our behalf, telling God all we need, reminding God that He purchased us by His blood. So when we pray, Jesus is pleading to God for us to hear our prayers. When we are not praying, He is advocating for our cause.
[An interjection by me, aside from Spurgeon’s devotion: It is even more remarkable when we remember that Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit are all One. So if God is telling Himself to listen to, and heed, our prayers, well, someone say, “Hallelujah!”]
Jesus is always advocating our cause, and by His prayers, He is shielding us from unseen dangers. Notice the words of comfort to Peter (and therefore to all who are Christ followers): “Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat,” but, - what? “But go and pray for yourself?” That would be good advice, and probably what we would expect. But neither does Jesus say, “I’ll keep watch over you, and so you’ll be OK.” That would be a great blessing, but no, He says, “I have prayed for you that your faith won’t fail.” We don’t know all that we owe to our Savior’s prayer for us. When we reach the hilltops of heaven, and look back upon the path that our Lord God led us all our lives, how much will we praise Him who, before the eternal throne of heaven, undid all the mischief which Satan has done on this earth, to us and to others! How much will we thank Him because He never kept silent, but day and night pointed to the wounds upon His hands, and carried our names on His breastplate!
Even before Satan had begun to tempt Simon Peter to deny Jesus, Jesus had halted him and entered a plea in heaven. Mercy always outruns malice. Note: Jesus didn’t say, “Satan has sifted you, therefore I’ll pray for you. He says, “Satan has desired to sift you.” He checks Satan even in just desiring to do harm and nips it in the bud. “I have done it already. I have gone to court and entered a counterplea even before an accusation is made.”
“Oh,” but you say, “It didn’t work. Jesus’ prayers for Peter didn’t work. They had no effect, because, as we have already noted, this conversation took place just a few hours before Peter did yield to temptation to deny ever knowing or being associated with Jesus. And not only did he deny Jesus once, but he did it three times!” Anyone who thinks the crucifixion of Jesus was the end of the story would naturally assume this. Satan, himself, thought he had won, when he saw the Son of God hanging on a cross, when he heard the Son of God crying out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?!
But for us who knows that the crucifixion wasn’t the end - in fact, it was the beginning! - we know that Jesus’ prayer for Peter was OF COURSE answered!
Look back to what Jesus had prayed. “I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail.” Peter did deny Jesus, that is a fact. But he was quick to recognize the truth of the Risen Christ, Jesus. Peter was so emboldened after seeing and talking and eating with the Resurrected Jesus that he gave one of the boldest sermons ever given on the day of Pentecost (read it in Acts 2) in which 3000 became Christ-followers, too! Peter would later write two books of the Bible that comforted and encouraged the non-Jewish and Jewish Christ followers, alike, who were suffering under Roman oppression. He was doing exactly what Jesus had commanded him to do, “When you turn back, strengthen your brothers and sisters in Christ.”
To Peter, suffering from his own failure, could have been the end of his story. He would have lived our his life with shame and guilt, or indifference and apathy for his fellow mankind. But because he knew, after the fact, probably, that Jesus had prayed for him, and therefore Satan had NOT won, gave Peter great courage to face life and even help others who were undergoing such a trial.
As Spurgeon reminded us earlier, we may have to wait until we reach heaven before we see all the ways that Jesus thwarted the plans of Satan to harm or destroy us. We may have to suffer and go through trials - not “may.” We WILL have to suffer and go through trials - but they are never the end of the story. After all, would Peter have had any authority to write that, “for a little while you may have to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may rebound to praise and glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, “ if he hadn’t gone through it himself?
All in all, how wonderful it is that Jesus is always praying for us! Even before you woke up this morning, He was praying for you. Even though you can’t always see the enemy, He can and He is praying for you. He sees the temptations that you will face, and the trials you will have to endure, ahead of time. He has prayed for you already that your faith will not fail. Afterward, comfort and encourage others.
How comforting it is to know that Jesus - who knows all past, present, and future - is actively working on His children’s behalf. Let this prayer be yours,
“O Jesus, what a comfort it is that You have pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies; countermined their mines, and unmasked their ambushes!” Here is a matter of joy, gratitude, hope, and confidence.”
-adapted from a devotion by Charles Spurgeon
