A Grain Offering
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.” “For I will give the command and will shake Israel along with the other nations as grain is shaken in a sieve, yet not one true kernel will be lost. I will protect them by the power of the name you gave me. I guard them so that not one was lost, - Luke 22:31-32 ; 1 Peter 5:8 ; Amos 9:9 ; John 17:12
I don't know about you but lately I've been through extreme testing. I find myself wondering when it will stop and I can just breathe and enjoy life. The wind gets knocked out of me, and I get hit on all sides. Situations break my heart, family and friends walk away, jobs frustrate, traffic makes my head pound, money is tight...it can all wear on you.
It's in these times when we shake our fist at God and ask, WHY!
As hard as it may be to endure, it's in these times where we have opportunity to see what we are made of, and shine all the brighter for Jesus. The true Christian will come out victorious. The purpose of God sifting the Nations down to our Churches by whatever means or measure is to see and show who is really committed to Him. There's a cost to being a disciple of Jesus, it involves giving all of you away to others and to God. You're not your own anymore. Isn't that the number one commandment? Love God and others just like you love yourself?
The two verses we are about to look at in Luke, I began to study them a couple of weeks ago. I was warring with the enemy and in the middle of yet another testing of my faith. I stumbled across a prayer, and right there in black and white I read aloud the words, "Jesus is praying for you, that you won't loose faith!" Tears began to fall down my face as I affirmed to myself that Jesus is praying for me that I won't loose faith. Because it felt at any moment I might loose more than just my faith. Jesus is no stranger to Satan's testings. He knew what Peter was about to face, and He told Peter the truth in identifying the enemy, and reassuring him as His Messiah.
Satan has asked to test to the extreme, like wheat is sifted, all those who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. God has given Satan permission to test believers. (Job 1:7, 2:2). As we enter the Harvest season this example of wheat being sifted is perfect, it's basically separating the good from the bad. For thousands of years farmers used a basic three-part system of threshing, winnowing, and using a sieve to get the grain to the point where it could be ground into flour. After harvesting, the first stage in making grain ready for grinding into flour was the process called threshing.
Threshing removed the grain of wheat from the stalk and husk. The threshing was done in different ways, depending on how much grain there was and the tools the farmer had available. There was a “threshing floor,” a flat area of hard dirt or rock on which freshly harvested wheat could be piled. Several verses in the Bible mention threshing floors, which makes sense because grain was so essential to life. Next, winnowing was the process that separated the mixed up pile of grain, stalk, and husk so that the edible grain could be sifted and eaten. To winnow the grain, the farmer scooped up the pieces of the crop he had just threshed and threw it all up into the air. The wind blew the light pieces of stalk to the side, while the grain, which was both heavier and roundish, fell almost straight back down. After a while, the threshing floor was covered with three distinct piles of material. The kernels of grain fell almost straight down or were not blown far at all. The larger pieces of stalk, or “straw,” had blown off to the side, and the small pieces of stalk, or “chaff,” had blown further away. The valuable grain was gathered and stored, while the straw and chaff were ignored and left to blow away. Just before the grain was ground into flour, it was sieved. It was common in the harvesting that other seeds got mixed in with the wheat, and threshing and winnowing did not separate the different seeds. Also, in picking the grain off the threshing floor, dust and pebbles were mixed in with the grain. Sieving separates the grain from the pebbles, but both of them stay in the sieve.
As I meditated on this process and wondered the application to life considering grain was essential to life...and still is...my mind went back to Leviticus and thought of the Grain Offering that would be presented as a sacrifice at the alter. And that was it! All this testing serves the purpose of our lives becoming in a sense a grain offering to God. The purpose of this offering was to honor God as a worshipful gift. Even in the midst of pain, He's still worthy of worship. Not only that, but we become the food our brothers need, to "strengthen our brothers" as the Lord commanded Peter in verse 32. The goal of the Christ followers life will always be to worship God only, to keep bringing sacrifices to His alter, and the true disciple will endure the pains and sufferings of this world because they know that is the end result. It's all for His name and glory! Jesus didn't pray that we would suffer or have pain, His prayer is that we would not loose faith. He wants our full submission and allegiance to Him.
See His prayer for us:
Hang in there! Should your responses to the testings of life not be what they should, it's not over! You didn't fail! Do you still love God and want to please Him? He has given the gift of repentance and restoration. Peter blew it up pretty bad. Jesus knew He was going to, that why before Peter even did it, Jesus said "when you have repented and turned back to me..." Did Peter loose his Salvation? No! Was Peter lost from God's eye and hand? No! How can God be glorified if He looses one of His own?! We read Peters repentance and restoration in John 21.
Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?[e]”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. (v.15)
Three times Jesus asked Peter this, and Peter reaffirmed what He had denied the morning of Jesus' crucifixion. And with it Jesus gave Peter a commissioning to nurture and protect believers. "Feed my sheep." "Strengthen your brothers." So that when they are put to the test they won't give up, or when they are weak they won't fall away. Peter later reflected on this calling in his book, 1 Peter 5:2-3 "Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example."
God has had me in John 21 for the past two YEARS! He put this same calling on my life in Portland. It's been a challenging mission. And I pray that this blog will once again become a place His sheep can feed on His truths: That you will be encouraged, and keep your perspective to the Kingdom of God and not all that's going on in the world or what your hands can hold. That my present testings, sufferings, and pain will in turn become a grain offering of worship before the Lord and give you the food you need to keep seeking Him. That your life too, if you should so choose to follow my example, and ultimately Christ's example, will be a grain offering.
God bless you as you seek Him.
I don't know about you but lately I've been through extreme testing. I find myself wondering when it will stop and I can just breathe and enjoy life. The wind gets knocked out of me, and I get hit on all sides. Situations break my heart, family and friends walk away, jobs frustrate, traffic makes my head pound, money is tight...it can all wear on you.
It's in these times when we shake our fist at God and ask, WHY!
As hard as it may be to endure, it's in these times where we have opportunity to see what we are made of, and shine all the brighter for Jesus. The true Christian will come out victorious. The purpose of God sifting the Nations down to our Churches by whatever means or measure is to see and show who is really committed to Him. There's a cost to being a disciple of Jesus, it involves giving all of you away to others and to God. You're not your own anymore. Isn't that the number one commandment? Love God and others just like you love yourself?
The two verses we are about to look at in Luke, I began to study them a couple of weeks ago. I was warring with the enemy and in the middle of yet another testing of my faith. I stumbled across a prayer, and right there in black and white I read aloud the words, "Jesus is praying for you, that you won't loose faith!" Tears began to fall down my face as I affirmed to myself that Jesus is praying for me that I won't loose faith. Because it felt at any moment I might loose more than just my faith. Jesus is no stranger to Satan's testings. He knew what Peter was about to face, and He told Peter the truth in identifying the enemy, and reassuring him as His Messiah.
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”
Satan has asked to test to the extreme, like wheat is sifted, all those who confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. God has given Satan permission to test believers. (Job 1:7, 2:2). As we enter the Harvest season this example of wheat being sifted is perfect, it's basically separating the good from the bad. For thousands of years farmers used a basic three-part system of threshing, winnowing, and using a sieve to get the grain to the point where it could be ground into flour. After harvesting, the first stage in making grain ready for grinding into flour was the process called threshing.
As I meditated on this process and wondered the application to life considering grain was essential to life...and still is...my mind went back to Leviticus and thought of the Grain Offering that would be presented as a sacrifice at the alter. And that was it! All this testing serves the purpose of our lives becoming in a sense a grain offering to God. The purpose of this offering was to honor God as a worshipful gift. Even in the midst of pain, He's still worthy of worship. Not only that, but we become the food our brothers need, to "strengthen our brothers" as the Lord commanded Peter in verse 32. The goal of the Christ followers life will always be to worship God only, to keep bringing sacrifices to His alter, and the true disciple will endure the pains and sufferings of this world because they know that is the end result. It's all for His name and glory! Jesus didn't pray that we would suffer or have pain, His prayer is that we would not loose faith. He wants our full submission and allegiance to Him.
See His prayer for us:
6 “I have revealed you[a] to the ones you gave me from this world. They were always yours. You gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything I have is a gift from you, 8 for I have passed on to them the message you gave me. They accepted it and know that I came from you, and they believe you sent me.
9 “My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you. 10 All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. 11 Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name;[b] now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. 12 During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me.[c] I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold.
13 “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. 14 I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do. 17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. 18 Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. 19 And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.
20 “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. 24 Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!
25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” John 17
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers[l] in harmony with God’s own will. 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[m] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8
Hang in there! Should your responses to the testings of life not be what they should, it's not over! You didn't fail! Do you still love God and want to please Him? He has given the gift of repentance and restoration. Peter blew it up pretty bad. Jesus knew He was going to, that why before Peter even did it, Jesus said "when you have repented and turned back to me..." Did Peter loose his Salvation? No! Was Peter lost from God's eye and hand? No! How can God be glorified if He looses one of His own?! We read Peters repentance and restoration in John 21.
Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?[e]”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. (v.15)
Three times Jesus asked Peter this, and Peter reaffirmed what He had denied the morning of Jesus' crucifixion. And with it Jesus gave Peter a commissioning to nurture and protect believers. "Feed my sheep." "Strengthen your brothers." So that when they are put to the test they won't give up, or when they are weak they won't fall away. Peter later reflected on this calling in his book, 1 Peter 5:2-3 "Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God. Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example."
God has had me in John 21 for the past two YEARS! He put this same calling on my life in Portland. It's been a challenging mission. And I pray that this blog will once again become a place His sheep can feed on His truths: That you will be encouraged, and keep your perspective to the Kingdom of God and not all that's going on in the world or what your hands can hold. That my present testings, sufferings, and pain will in turn become a grain offering of worship before the Lord and give you the food you need to keep seeking Him. That your life too, if you should so choose to follow my example, and ultimately Christ's example, will be a grain offering.
God bless you as you seek Him.
Comments
Post a Comment