“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Luke 22:31-32

For Meditation

O, the glory and blessing of the intercessory prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ! How desperately we need it! How vulnerable weak to Satan’s treacherous schemes we are without it!

The narrative of Peter and the Lord’s announcement of what Satan proposed to do to him and the other disciples presents us with a peek into the spiritual realm and the manipulations of Satan (Luke 22:31). Satan’s intention for the believer is to do us harm (John 10:10). Even now, as you read this, Satan has planned an array of terrible things against us in the spirit realm that only God knows. That is how susceptible we are to the intrigues of the enemy.

It is scary to think about it. But the good news is that we have an Advocate in heaven, Christ Jesus, the Righteous One (1 John 2:1). For our sake, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. It is His current ministry in heaven on behalf of His believers.

Despite all this, we have to pray. We are most powerless when we don’t. Consider how, with the benefit of the Lord’s intercessory prayer, Peter, James, and John disappointed Jesus at Gethsemane. They slept through their prayer time with Him in the garden (Matt. 26:40-41). The Lord needed their prayer support at the pivotal hour of His physical life, but they failed Him miserably. Even more, Peter’s failure did not end there. His weakness showed when he denied Jesus three times (69-75). Now, can you imagine what would have happened if the Lord had not prayed for Peter?

Likewise, imagine what Satan would have done against you had it not been for the intercessory ministry of our Lord Jesus in heaven. David was right when he said, 

“If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say… when the enemy attacked us, they would swallow us alive… they would have engulfed us, the raging waters would have swept us away” (Psalm 124:1-5).

So, let us be thankful for our ever-present Lord Jesus and His intercessory ministry in heaven on our behalf (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews.13:5; Rm. 8:34). As He instructed Peter to strengthen His brothers when he had turned back (Lk. 22:32), we too must do the same for others. We must earnestly intercede for them, just as we have benefited from the Lord.

Give glory to Jesus, and may His strength be yours in prayer for the glory of God the Father, amen!