"I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. "
Luke 22:32
DON'T GIVE UP
Read It: Luke 22:54-62
So, the verses in today's reading are not a mistake, even though we just read about Peter's denial yesterday. I wanted you to see verses 61-62 in context, because this is where Peter's spiritual rebounding started. We know that as Peter spoke his third denial, a rooster crowed in fulfillment fillment of Jesus' prophecy. Jesus knows the future because He predicted it before it happened. In fact, He accurately prophesied Peter's three denials. This reminds us that Jesus is sovereign. What does this have to do with Peter's failure and restoration? Today's verse gives us the connection. Not only did Jesus know ahead of time what Peter's response was going to be, but Jesus also predicted that Peter would rebound from his breakdown and become a leader once again among his fellow disciples. In other words, Jesus was telling Peter that even though he would fail, his failure would not be terminal.
Jesus was saying in effect, "Peter, I won't give up on you even after you deny Me and feel like a total failure." Jesus wanted Peter to remember this so that he would not give up completely. pletely. His tears would then become tears of repentance and healing, not just tears of remorse and despair. Did you know that Jesus is praying for us too? If He were not, none of us know how low we might go. The fact is, we haven't gone as low as we would have gone if God hadn't kept us from going there. There probably aren't many of us who have gone as low as Peter, who have sunk to publicly renouncing any association with Christ. But too many of us are two-timing Jesus. We don't renounce Him; we just don't live the life. We're with Him on Sunday; then we step out on Him from Monday to Saturday. That's why we need to know that Peter was able to rebound spiritually ally through the grace of God. If there's hope for Peter, there's hope for us. Hardly anyone has messed up like Peter messed up. But Peter bounced back-and if he can bounce back, then there's hope for any broken life. Think About It Peter's spiritual healing began at the most painful moment of his life. If you have messed up, don't run from Christ. Bring your pain to Him.
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