LUKE 22:31-34 – “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

THEME OF THE DAY. THE SELFLESS LIFE. The setting of today’s scripture is important if we are to grasp the heart of the One who is praying; the Lord Jesus. The Lord is praying for Simon Peter. He also is on the verge of entering the gripping scene of His agony in Gethsemane when He would pray with such intensity, blood would spew forth from burst blood vessels on His face. What we see in the heart of the Lord Jesus is His love for His choice disciple, and extending that to the love He has for His people. Don’t lose sight of this. Jesus is praying, earnestly, for someone else, not Himself. Having about to enter the most trying period of His life on earth, the Lord is not focused on Himself. He is focused on His disciple who is entering into intense spiritual warfare himself. There are two powerful lessons for us in this look at Jesus’ heart.

First, Jesus lived His life, even in the most trying of times, for others. He came on a mission for others. And He commissions us to live the same way. It is amazing how much closer we get to Christ, how much strength we gain, and how much joy occurs when we learn to live for others, not ourselves. The most draining of lives is the selfish life. The most wasted of lives is the self-centered life. The most discontented life is the me-centered life. The most purposeless life is the all about me life. And Jesus was none of these and commands us to be none of these. Ask the Lord to make us Him and others centered in our living and watch the Christian life become what God desires – satisfying and influential.

A second lesson we may learn from the heart and example of Jesus is the importance of praying spiritually for other Christians. Peter had no clue of the spiritual conflict with Satan that was about to happen in his life. Our Lord did and what did He do? At great personal cost, He interceded for His weak and ignorant disciple. The most important thing we may do for other Christians is to give ourselves over to labor in prayer for them. Yet, it should primarily be prayer of spiritual nature with spiritual purposes and goals. Yes, pray for temporal things in the lives of our brothers and sisters, but make sure we pray more for spiritual things. And if we don’t know what to pray, do two things. Pray for their success is battling Satan like Jesus did for Peter and pray the scriptures. For instance, start praying Ephesians 1:15-19 and 3:14-19 for other Christians. Imagine if we committed to praying just those two prayers of the Apostle Paul for one another in our churches and God began to answer them! We would turn our worlds upside down like the early church.

As good as these lessons are to read about, they require something of us if we are to take our reading into our living. It won’t be easy so we need to think long and hard of the cost to be like Jesus in today’s scripture. The cost? One thing. And one thing that is to be constantly repeated; death to self and self-interests and that will only occur when we not only believe, but live these words from the Apostle Paul – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). May we not only know the cost but be willing to pay it – daily.

PRAYER: “Lord, I praise You for Your example to Me. Please help me to follow it closely every day of my life.”

QUOTE: “Knowing our Lord Jesus constantly prayers for us is one of the strongest forms of spiritual encouragement.”