Sifted As Wheat

Christ’s followers are faced with trials, just as He was. But they continue to live out their faith in God through the trials. The disciples of Jesus are promised entry into the Kingdom of Heaven if they continue in their own trials with Him. Jesus speaks to Peter before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion and assures him in the midst of the terrible trial that was at hand. Jesus tells Peter that he will be sifted as wheat in the trial ahead. As Satan had asked God to try Job he is also going to try the disciples. Judas had already been tempted and the Devil had won him. But God alone sets the boundaries and sets a limit to the extent of the sifting that takes place in the life of a believer. Jesus prays for Peter that his faith would not fail. The sifting of Peter is the same sifting that all Christians go through as an ongoing process until all desires, passions, appetites, and emotions are converted and changed to be like Christ. The souls of mankind are influenced by the natural, satanically, and spiritually as they go through this sifting process. Peter and Judas were sifted as wheat. Peter continued to persevere by faith in Christ, but Judas decided to return his own way and betray the Lord completely. The results for Judas were very different than the results of Peter. Peter repented and sought the Lord for forgiveness, Judas never asked the Lord for forgiveness. When disciples are sifted as wheat it is not their end. Christ came to baptize believers with the Holy Spirit and clean out the threshing floor. But Christians are not simply refined by the passing of years, but by walking in obedience to the Lord.

[Sifted As Wheat]