How has your prayer life been lately? Regardless of your answer…spiritual and strong…worldly and weak…or absent altogether…I have good news for you from the lips of our Lord Himself when He said to Peter, “I have prayed for you…” (Luke 22:32). In this account between Peter and Jesus, it is infallibly recorded for us that Satan was after Peter to “sift him as wheat.” Satan set his sights on the disciples of Jesus then and he sets his sights on the disciples of Jesus now. This will not end until Jesus returns. Until then, find comfort in what Jesus is saying to all of us today…I HAVE PRAYED FOR YOU!
We will not know until we get to the other side what we truly owe to our Redeemer for His constant and never-ceasing intercession. He is advocating our cause before our Father in heaven and notice with me this incredible God-centered, Gospel-saturated, grace-filled truth…
Jesus advocated Peter’s cause to His Father in heaven
BEFORE Satan advanced his attacks against him!
Beloved in the Lord find great comfort in this truth today regardless of the difficulties you are facing. The Prince of Peace holds not His peace when it comes to preemptive prayer for His people…and that includes you! Whatever difficulties you are facing today Jesus is pleading preemptive prayer on your behalf. Could it be any other way when His nailed-scarred hands pressed together in prayer bear witness to the wicked wounds He welcomed on our behalf? I think not!
It’s important to note that Jesus did not promise to pray for Peter. He did not wait for Satan to “sift him as wheat” before he prayed. He prayed preemptively for Peter and He is doing the same for all of us today. Your Savior has pleaded your cause to your Father against every enemy you face…both seen and unseen. There is nothing you cannot face today when this truth sinks deep down into your bones. When you cannot but lift a sigh to heaven, our Prince of Peace is shielding you from Satan’s snare with supernatural supplications.
Oh, one final point. You will remember that Satan in some sense did indeed “sift Peter as wheat” as Peter denied Jesus three times on the night he was betrayed. So what was the result of this preemptive prayer? It was the enabling power of the Holy Spirit for Peter to “turn back” and feed the sheep of the Good Shepherd after he had turned away. If this finds you groaning under the weight of the conviction of sin…do what Peter did and “turn back” to Jesus. The preemptive prayers of our Prince provides both the enabling grace to turn away from sin and to turn back when we have sinned. NEVER FORGET THAT…AMEN!
Grace for the Race 
To quote one of my favorite preachers of all time: “And if THAT doesn’t light your fire . . . your wood’s wet!”
If I might presume to add one thought to the encouragement already given by the aforementioned favorite preacher, Jesus prays for us with great SYMPATHY: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are — yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). BUT He also prays for us with EMPTAHY! “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). Although He is, by His very nature, repulsed by my sin (Habakkuk 1:13), neverthelesws His prayers are those of a wise and loving elder brother, the first-born among many brothers (Romans 8:29).
Thank you, pastor, I NEEDED this today! These thoughts get my wood crackling quite brightly!