Jesus warned His disciples about His impending crucifixion. "One of you will betray Me," He said. Yet, instead of turning to God in humble introspection, an argument actually arose among the disciples as to which one was the greatest. Jesus, who sees both the natural and spiritual realms, addressed Peter (who evidently "won" the argument): "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Lk 22: 31-32).

This text reveals a profound insight into why the Lord allows battles in our lives. Jesus knows that His disciples are going to fail Him. Yet, think of this: He does not pray that His followers not experience failure. Instead, prays, that their faith not fail. Jesus did not ask that God would keep Peter from battle, but that Peter would come through the battle into a greater spiritual place.

We squirm and squeal and cry for God to save us from certain battles, but if we were able to pierce through, reach heaven and actually hear Jesus, we would probably hear Him praying for us as He prayed for His disciples.

The good news-indeed, our very confidence-is that in everything Christ is praying for us. We will get through to the other side of battle. Yes, there are times when we sin, when we make serious mistakes, when there is pride or jealousy or ambition motivating us toward certain failure. I can guarantee there will be such times, but I also guarantee that the prayer of Jesus will not fail. We may fail, but the intercession of Christ will see us through.

The Old Nature Must Die

The disciples went through the greatest depression and discouragement of their entire lives. As far as they knew, Jesus had died and they did not defend Him. It was His hour of need, and they had slept. With Jesus looking straight at him, Peter denied three times that he ever even knew Christ. The heartache they experienced from their failure was devastating. It was unfathomable. Buried in the tomb with Jesus were their hopes, dreams and desires-and they, by denying Him, had played a part in His death.

Failure. It is amazing what God can do with human failures. Remember, Christ said, Satan has demanded permission to "sift you like wheat." Keep this in mind, Satan is not given permission to destroy, but to sift Jesus' disciples. Each of us has two natures: one, a hard outer husk, which is an old nature; the other an inner softness, which constitutes our true self. The outer husk is that part of us that, while we are flesh-center beings, is used to protect ourselves from the harshness of our world. Before we come to Christ, that "husk" protects the inner softness, which otherwise cannot endure the struggles of life in this hostile, devil-filled world. But when we come to Christ, the husk must be broken and die. We cannot rely on the way of the flesh to protect us; we must become Christ-centered. So, the Almighty allows the enemy to attack. Satan thinks he is destroying us. But God says, "All you can touch is his flesh." God is thinking, "I wanted that removed anyway."

So the battle is designed to sift (remove) your old nature. When something is "sifted," it is filtered: something comes through the filter, while something is removed. So Christ comes forth in our lives through the time of sifting, while our trust in our flesh nature is removed. Our new nature is actually Christ Himself manifested, functionally within us. You should know this about the battle: God has ordained that only Christ in you can survive! Only the nature of Jesus is capable of prospering in this conflict.

We face conflict and pray, "Oh Lord, don't let this hurt me. Protect me." The Lord, though, is saying, "Hurt you? My plan is to kill you." Of course, the Lord does not want to wound your true self; however, He must put to death the false and superficial outer self. God wants to kill the part of you that brags, "I won't deny the Lord." As long as we think of our flesh as being incapable of sin or morally superior to other Christians, God is going to give Satan permission to sift us.

The unbroken husk nature must be destroyed. The shell of our outer selves is closed both to God and to others. There must be brokenness. The battle, even our failure in battle, produces brokenness. Brokenness is openness to God. An unbroken life is an enemy to the Spirit of God.