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There is a unique ache that words can barely hold—the pain of loving someone deeply and watching them drift toward a path you know will harm them. It’s a helplessness that weighs on the soul, a burden that lingers in the quiet hours of the night.
Jesus knew this pain. In Luke 22:31–32, He looked at Simon Peter and said:
"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail."
Now this is interesting. Because we see the same thing that happened to Job now happening to Simon Peter. Last time God asked Satan had he considered Job, But this time Satan is asking God for permission to attack Simon. Maybe there's a point in everyone's life in which we qualify to be tried by fire.
And Jesus is calling him up, almost awakening him to be alert. It’s a warning for him to be aware that Satan is after you.
To be “sifted” is no gentle process. In the natural, wheat is violently shaken, tossed, and separated. Spiritually, it is the stripping away of what is whole until there is nothing left. It’s the enemy’s desire to reduce you, diminish you, and ultimately make you disappear.
Fire works the same way—it consumes until there’s nothing left but ashes. The enemy’s fire wants to burn us out completely. But here’s the truth: in the hands of God, even the fire becomes a tool for transformation.
Peter did stumble. He denied Jesus three times in His most vulnerable hour. The sifting happened. The fire was hot. But it did not destroy him. Why? Because Jesus had already prayed for him. Because the same fire meant to destroy Peter refined him instead.
But maybe just maybe that’s why Jesus didn’t take the denial seriously. Because he understood it was part of the plan of Satan to sift him as wheat.
When Peter rose from his failure, he was not the same man. He became the rock on which the early church would be built. He spoke boldly, he led with courage, and he stood as one of the greatest apostles in history. The enemy tried to burn him out—God made him a fighter.
Peter stood as the bold, foundational leader of the early church, carrying the mantle Jesus placed on him when He declared, “Upon this rock I will build my church.” In his time, Peter preached with such power on the day of Pentecost that three thousand souls were saved in one day, opening the floodgates for the gospel to spread across nations. He performed miracles in Jesus’ name, healed the sick, and fearlessly confronted religious authorities who tried to silence the message of Christ.
He shepherded the first generation of believers, uniting Jews and Gentiles under the same gospel, and set in motion a legacy of faith that still fuels the church today. Even now, Peter’s life reminds us that God can take a man who failed in the fire and use him as an unshakable pillar, proving for generations to come that the church is built not on perfection, but on the power of redemption.
So when you see someone you love walking the wrong way, remember: God’s hand is still on them. The fire may hurt, the sifting may look like it’s breaking them, but the same God who restored Peter can take what the enemy meant for destruction and turn it into a testimony of strength.
Love them. Pray for them. Stand in the gap for them. Because sometimes the most powerful thing you can do for someone in the fire is to believe that God will bring them out refined, not ruined.
