Happy Easter. Yes, it’s a few days late. But we should be celebrating the fact that He rose from the dead everyday anyway right? I wanted to share something with you that I read on Easter Sunday. For us, it was not a typical Easter Sunday. I wasn’t feeling very good, so we ended up staying home. And it was weird to not be at church, to not be with family gathered around, listening to Grandpa read the resurrection story together, opening yummy baskets that mom and grandma still makes for all of us. I find the older I get, the more I love the thoughtfulness of them putting those together for us, and the silliness of the cute decorated basket and goodies inside.
Brandon and I sat down to read through the Easter story together. And I got caught up on something I had never noticed before. Jesus takes his twelve disciples into the room together and begins to talk with them, at the last supper. And after the disciples start debating which one of them is the greatest, Jesus begins to share with them. Then He turns on Simon and says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” A few things struck me in a new and profound way from those verses.
One. Satan has to ask God to mess with one of His own children. To me, this just shows the power of the Lord. And satan wants to sift Simon as wheat. I have heard this saying many times, and even pry heard a sermon or two on it. But, I looked up the definition of “sifting wheat” It’s a two step process. The first part is called threshing. It involves spreading the wheat on the floor and beating it with an old tool called a flail. The second step was winnowing, and this was done by throwing the grain into the air and the lighter chaff would be blown off while the good stuff would fall back down. I find this fascinating. Satan basically strolled up to God and asked, “can I beat on Simon and see if he blows off in the wind and forgets you God?” And the shocking reply God our Father gave? YES.
Two. But don’t miss the next words!!! But Jesus himself says He will pray for Simon! What?!! I have never thought of Jesus praying for me! I think of me praying to Him, or Him talking to me. But Jesus was telling Simon that He prayed for him, that Simon’s faith would not fail. That even though Jesus knew Simon would be beat up from satan, He prayed that Simon would pass the test and not fly off in the wind. And then it occurred to me, can you imagine how awful it would be to have satan single you out to want to sift you? But can you also imagine how amazing it is that the Lord Jesus Christ would be right there with you when such an awful thing occurred? That Jesus himself would beseech the Father on your behalf, praying that you would cling to Him and not fall away into satan’s hands?
Three. Jesus already knows the outcome. His next words to Simon are “WHEN you turn back, strengthen your brothers” He knows that even though Simon will go through a hard time, and will fail at first, he will eventually go back down to the ground as real wheat, and the end result will be worth it all. Simon will still love the Lord, through a trying and difficult situation, and he will go on to strengthen his brothers in the Lord. And we all know He did! Peter turned out to be a mighty man of God.
My reason for sharing this with you is twofold. I feel as if satan has asked God to sift me as wheat. Don’t worry I won’t moan and groan and tell you all the hard things that have happened to me as of late. It’s sufficient to know that I feel satan has been sifting me in certain areas of my life. One particular area is in regards to children and starting a family. It’s something Brandon and I have wanted for sometime now, and we continue to faithfully wait upon the Lord and His perfect timing. But I feel as if satan is hoping I’ll turn against the Lord, feel sorry for myself, question God and His goodness. And yet Jesus has been by my side, and Brandon’s, for every step of the way. He finds amazing ways to speak His mercy and goodness to my heart, month after month, year after year. Such verses like Psalm 60:1&2, “My soul finds rest in God alone, my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, he is my fortress, I will never be shaken”. I can really truly say with all my heart that God is good. His mercies are new every morning, and He has compassion towards those who fear Him. And even though satan might be wanting to sift me as wheat, Jesus is right by my side. He will never leave me nor forsake me!!
My second reason for sharing this is to encourage you. Perhaps you feel as if you are being sifted? Is there something, old or new in your life that satan is hoping will be the one thing he uses to get you turn your back on God? Something that feels unfair? Something that is wearing you down and making you feel like God is no where to be found? And satan doesn’t need an all out rebellion, he is happy with just enough to keep you from an intimate relationship with your heavenly Father. Are you too busy for God? Too caught up in whatever it is that you have made a priority, instead of your relationship with Him? Satan wants just enough of you that you don’t really trust God, or you don’t really want to obey Him, or you don’t really believe His Word to be true and right. Are you there? If you are, I encourage you to run. Run as fast as you can into the arms of God. Satan could be sifting you, right now, but you can still choose the outcome. Will you be blown away, tossed to the side, another casualty of satan and his evil schemes? Or will you preserver? Will you choose to trust the Lord and cling to Him?…cause He is right beside you praying on your behalf. He loves you and cares about the intimate details of your life. He will protect you, comfort you, and save you-if you allow Him to.
Jessica Stone 
Dear Jessica & Brandon,
Great devotional, Jessica! Thanks for the insite. We can never hear the Truth too often!
We pray for you each day. Please keep your eyes on Jesus!
Love & prayers,
Uncle jerry & Mary Ann ><
What truth and encouragement. Thank you for sharing your heart and what God is so graciously teaching you. We are praying for you.
What a gift from you to your readers . . . to share the details of your life. Thanks for pointing out the insights into Peter and Jesus. How interesting that even with Jesus (God himself) praying for Peter, Peter still denied Him three times . . .
I Love you tons.
All though Peter denied the Lord three times,i believe it was Jesus praying for him that caused him to repent and return to his faith as you will continue to read you’ll see after he repented he won many souls so it would be safe to say that the prayers of Jesus for Peter were answered and so Jesus is at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us day and night,we should all be comforted in that alone.You have a wonderful testimony just continue to feed upon the word when you are being sifted,i do believe the process of sifting is the removal of things that hinder our walk with the Lord,it breaks things off of us,helps to die to the flesh that we become spiritually strong.I myself went through a sifting for 11yrs it was very painful and at times i walked away from God but in His mercy and Grace i returned repented and had it not been for my faith i wouldn’t be alive today,i am blessed beyond belief my life has been restored,i am a much stronger woman in the Lord since i went through this process just hold on to God’s word no-matter what.He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4) Be Blessed and keep your faith in Jesus and your Focus on His promises.
Thanks for sharing your devotion and your personal thoughts with us. What perfect timing!
Wow, what a timely word just for me and you posted this over a year ago. I am going through some really horrible things right now but just to know that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the father interceding on my behalf makes me know that I have victory in every area of my life.
Thank you for the message. I believe Christ does pray for us. What an encouraging thought! I also believe Satan is trying to discourage you because of the good you do: you’re spreading God’s love to MANY of God’s children through your blog. Thank you. I also love this scripture for very similar reasons that you do. Here is a video you might like about the scripture: http://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/jesus-warns-peter-and-offers-the-intercessory-prayer?lang=eng.
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Jessica,
Thank you for this powerful & personal message. I’m presently going through a very sad and hard divorce. I had a dream that a prophetess spoke these exact words to me, that “Satan wanted to sift me as wheat.”
Hearing your explanation of the threshold beating and the chaff & wind really opened my eyes as to what all is going on with me spiritually.
I have a wonderful friendship with God, but I allowed my trust issues in marriage to create trust issues with God. I stopped believing that He WOULD want to provide for me, or necessarily NEED or desire my obedience. I preferred to just be a good person and love people and not really become a disciple of Christ vs. just being a spiritual person who had been raised a Christian.
I’m only just now having revelation about trusting God, believing that He WILL walk me through this and making a choice to actually follow His example and begin to live as He did (gulp).
Anyway, thank you so much for taking the time to gain this insight and share it.
It was a real blessing.
Blessings to your sweet family. I hope that will bless you with a child (or children) in the very near future.
Hi there! This article couldn’t be written much better!
Reading through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He continually kept preaching about this. I’ll send this information to him.
Pretty sure he’s going to have a great read. Many thanks for sharing!
Hi, came across this when I googled “sifting wheat” wanting to understand what that process looks like. I was blessed and encouraged by your words even 3+ years after you posted this. My husband and I too are waiting on the Lord for our first child and it is a journey but He is absolutely and always good and faithful, and I rejoice with you that you have a baby girl as living testimony of His faithfulness to keep His promises and bless us.
Everything is very open with a very clear explanation of the issues.
It was truly informative. Your site is very helpful. Thank you
for sharing!
Very powerful devotional. Thank you for allowing God to use you and your story to bless others. For many years, my husband and I struggled with infertility. I had two losses before God blessed us with our daughter. I prayed alot and I read scriptures about women in the bible who had similar issues such as Sarah and Hannah. I felt like if God could do it for them then He could do it for me too. I literally had to take on “radical faith” believing God even when the odds seemed to be against us. Even during a 2-year marital separation between my husband and I, I still believe God would bless us with a child. When others gave up on our marriage and thought we were headed for divorce, that’s when I began to believe God even more. Trust God no matter what the situation looks like.
God bless.
Shirley
Awesome issues here. I’m very happy to see your post.
Thank you so much and I am having a look ahead to
touch you. Will you please drop me a e-mail?
WOW! Thank you so much!
Interesting insight, and it seems even now, that has been happening with me. I’m graduating this summer from a seminary to be sent out in the ministry. These past four years have been quite a learning experience, rough indeed, as a spiritual bootcamp, but I’ve learned great things through these adversities.
GOD IS ALWAYS ON TIME.
Today I was thinking in Mordecai the Jew and Haman, how there is a sort of parallel with the Christian who won’t bow to the devil, how the devil will viciously assault a child of God before considering a sinner, because that child has dared to trust in God, thus defying the devil. A sinner is owned by satan and thus no threat to his kingdom, just as those in fear bowing in reverence to Haman. A child of God stands apart in direct defiance by the power and authority of God, so our enemy in his jealousy seeks our fall.
Reblogged this on melcourtney's Blog and commented:
awesome post on “Being sifted as wheat” in Luke 22
beautiful this is what the HOLY SPIRIT JUST TOLD ME THAT SATAN HAVE DESIRED TO HAVE ME THANKS FOR THE INSIGHT BLESS YOU ALWAYS
Hi Jessica,
I don’t know you, but ran across this blog post of yours today at work. I live up in Minnesota in the states…
As many others have expressed before me, thank you for sharing these truths with everyone! It was very encouraging and what a comfort to know that Jesus prays for us. His boundless love for us is amazing isn’t it!
Despite being on the threshing floor of life, thank you for encouraging your fellow brothers when you turned back…
I pray you and your family are doing well today.
God Bless you and yours,
Ben Collins