TUESDAY, JANUARY 10
LUKE 22:31-34
1 JOHN 5:4-5

"… whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world…"

SATAN CAUSES DISTRESS TO MAN

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke 22:31). The Lord Jesus Christ told Peter that Satan desired to try him by placing trials and temptations in his path. The purpose was to agitate him and to see whether his faith would remain. He desired to see Peter’s witness for Christ be found as chaff. He wanted Peter’s confession to be seen by the world as a false profession.

This remains true today. Satan disturbs the lives of the saints in their service for the Lord. Satan wants Christians to fail. He wants believers to be distressed and cease to live for Christ. He seeks faithful servants to waver in their faith. He magnifies the cares and difficulties of this world to cause Christians to be depressed and dejected. His aim is for believers to fall away and exchange their loyalty to Christ with their love for the things of this wicked world.

But the Lord Jesus Christ also told Peter, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32). The One who is praying is greater than the one who is agitating. He has already overcome the world and His child also has overcome the world.

Satan may cause you to stumble, but arise and continue to run the race that the Lord Jesus Christ has set before you. He may cause you to be discouraged, but you must wait on the Lord, trust in God and be of good courage. He may cause you to be physically disabled, but know that God’s grace is sufficient for you. The Lord’s strength is made perfect in your physical weakness. Rest not in your own power but in the power of Christ which works for you.

THOUGHT: Am I trusting Jesus enough?
PRAYER: "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD" (Ps 27:13-14).