June 2020 – The Turning Points of Life

Luke 22:31-32 (NKJV) Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
31 And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

I have found this brief bible passage of a statement of Jesus to be very profound. I have searched it for many months and each time I visit it, I see something new and revealing. I offer here some of these discoveries.

• “Simon, Simon! I see in this urgent call to the disciple the authentic love that Jesus had for his disciple. Peter was quite a character. His enthusiasm often pushed his statements into a troubling position. In fact, at one-point Jesus said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan” (Matthew 16:23 (NKJV) 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are [a]an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”) Peter didn’t take offense like others might, but Peter didn’t learn his lesson. Many time later Peter stepped on his toes by his fiery persona. Still Jesus knew Peter’s heart and loved him all the more.
• “… Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Jesus love for Peter is evident in His pointed warning to Peter that Satan was targeting him. But as we know, Peter’s belief in himself rejected the warning. Nevertheless, Jesus love for him continued. Surely Jesus knew His words were falling on a closed mind.
• “But . .” I recall reading where an author proposed that “but’ stands for “Behold the Underlying Truth”. Despite surely knowing Peter’s rejection of the warning, Jesus wanted to equip His beloved disciple with an assurance, a measure of strength to sustain him in what was to follow.
• “. . . I have prayed for you,” Jesus in His great love for Peter, tells him that He has prayed for him. This revelation I have taken personally, and I hope you will as well. Since Jesus has a great and perfect love for Peter, despite Peter’s foibles, it caused Him to pray for him. I believe Jesus prays for me, despite my weakness and foibles. I passionately believe that Jesus loves me and cares for me to the point that He prays for me as He did for Peter. Most importantly, not only for me for all that He loves.
• “. . that your faith should not fail;” I find it telling that Jesus prayed for the resiliency of Peter’s faith. That underlines the importance of our faith that provides a deep and authentic trust in God. It is a powerful understanding that Jesus saw Peter’s faith as the most significant target of His prayer. Notice He didn’t pray that Peter’s struggle with Satan’s testing would be removed, but rather that Peter’s faith would withstand that test.
• “. . and when you have returned to Me,” Here Jesus reveals His confidence in the answer to His prayer that Peter’s faith would win the battle. Jesus is convinced that Peter would return as the victor. Can you imagine how Jesus must be confident that His prayer for you and me, that our faith will not fail, will have the same outcome for you and me as it did for Peter?
• “. . . strengthen your brethren.” Again, the great confidence that Jesus has in His prayers is magnified in this last statement as He bids Peter to use his trial and the victory to be a blessing for his brothers, his fellow disciples. This is a call to you and me, to share how the prayers of Jesus on our behalf have wrought countless blessings and the ensuing victory over the Evil One in our life of faith.

I hope that my sharing this insight into the depth of this experience with Jesus will inspire you to further plumb this Word of Jesus to see what richness awaits your inquiring of the Holy Spirit. Surely He will customize further revelations to suit your personal life with Him.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NKJV) The Narrow Way
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Our congregation’s priest was being retired and there were no possible replacements that we saw on the horizon. Then, God who works many a blessed surprise “brought” a servant from Germany along with his family to our community. He was being assigned for two years by his employer. He became our priest and served us with love and joy.

Early in his time with us, he confided in me that he was concerned about his lack of English vocabulary and hoped that he would not make a mistake in language that would offend someone in the congregation.

I assured him that the Holy Spirit would guide him through every service but if he had any reservations, I offered my help with words. After all, he understood that words can have multiple meanings and can easily be misinterpreted.

Each Sunday morning I prayed for him specifically for his serving, knowing his concerns regarding his choice of words.

As the sermon unfolded, I sensed our priest leading up to the Bible passage above regarding the “narrow way” that leads to life. But as the words flowed, instead of using the word “narrow” he used the word “corridor”. My heart leapt as I took in that word in the context of the biblical passage. I was mesmerized by a whole new perspective on that passage. A passage I had used many times in my own years of serving sermons at the altar. Now in my mid-seventies, God speaks a whole new way to see that age-old passage.

In my business as an engineer, our company serves primarily hospitals and schools. We take their old threadbare drawings and convert them into computerized electronic drawings. These drawings for both schools and hospitals have countless corridors on their drawings of floor plans. These corridors gave a new view of the “narrow way”.

The term “narrow way” implies a restriction, a limitation on one’s freedom; an assault on our ability to go where we want to go and a real inconvenience. Such negative feels are highlighted in the bible passage that indicates that the more popular way is the wide one.

As I considered the opportunities offered by the concept of corridors, I realized the following observations.

In a school setting the corridors lead to numerous classrooms. Each offering a differing set of knowledge and teachings. Laboratories offer an opportunity to learn by means of experimentation. Seeing firsthand how one thing leads to another.

Another room teaches geography wherein we learn about places far different from our own local experience. Each room offers new opportunity to grow in wisdom and understanding.

In the hospital setting, corridors lead to rooms where illnesses are diagnosed, where equipment is available to see beyond the human eye, and where there are instruments that reveal symptoms of serious illness. Still other rooms are there for surgery, recovery, rehabilitation, and therapeutic equipment.

I invite you my readers, to customize these seedling thoughts of mine to expand how the “corridor” perspective can illuminate the ‘narrow ways’ that you experience in your life. I see a whole plethora of spiritual views hereto for unexplored. I wonder what fascinating revelations our God will open to you.

Month: June 2020

“I Have Prayed for You”

The “CORRIDOR”