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ARE YOU BEING SIFTED?
August 29, 2005…….Katrina has
just made landfall….no one really knows the extent of damage that
will be left in her path of destruction…. With her she brings high
winds, raging water, and an eerie “unknown”.
August 30, 2005……it’s the
morning after….everywhere you look, as far as the eye can see,
devastation…..the “unknown” has now become a reality that will be
with America for years to come…..
As I now join the many others
around the world, watching the events unfold, I am witnessing this
disaster that is now so painfully written in my mind and on my
heart…I see frightened children; I see the elderly; I see the sick
and the cripple….
I see those who enjoyed simple
luxuries just a week ago…those who have awakened to find themselves
now homeless….no electricity, no water, no home, no job, and the
list of “no’s” goes on and on….. All the things that are taken for
granted on a daily basis have now become, shall we say, a “thing of
the past”, or at least for now it is….
With all of this in mind, I can
not help but to find my way to scripture… Already I’m hearing folks
say, “why me?”, “why this?”, “why God?”
I find great comfort in Luke
22:31 and 32....
“Simon, Simon, satan has
demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for
you, that your faith will not fail…..”
Here we see that satan has come
to Jesus and has "demanded permission" to sift Simon Peter like
wheat. This is how I see all these things that are happening now,
in our personal lives and in the lives of other believers...we are
being "sifted"......pressed "through" tiny holes....squashed,
bruised, battered, cut, and yes, sometimes bleeding, but sifted
nonetheless...
Where’s the blessing in all of
this? Where’s our hope? Where is there something the least bit
positive?
Read on…..
Jesus speaking says, “….but I
have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail…”
My friend….it just doesn’t get
any better than that! Jesus….God Who came in the flesh, has and IS
praying for you, and for me…Why? So that our faith will not
fail…and when we come through the sifter, we will be stronger than
ever before…..
When will the sifting end? I
can’t answer that one, but I do know that I for one am blessed for
having gone through each sifter in my life.
Therefore, as we all share in
this current “sifting”, let us lay hold of and claim the promise
that Jesus IS praying…..
Lord Jesus, I thank You so much
for the sifter…..I thank You that while I am ”in” the sifter, You
are praying for me….giving me the strength that I need and the
encouragement to see it through. As well, with this in mind, I now
pray for those people that are experiencing the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina….allow them to understand that You “are” there and
allow them the strength to reach up to You… While understanding does
not always come, I’m asking that acceptance does..
In Jesus’ Name….Amen
"Nothing comes into
the life of a Christian
that is not first
sifted through the will of God."
LBG ... Marti
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