Sifting or Praying

I've been watching some dear friends go through
an extended period of rough times.

I have often thought of them in connection
with the words Jesus spoke to Peter,
"Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat,
but I have prayed for you,
that your faith will not fail,
and when you have returned,
strengthen the brethren."

Satan has been asking to do a lot of sifting lately.
He could not do it, unless God allowed it.
He has to ask.

Jesus doesn't sift.
He prays.

How comforting to know that He prays
that our faith will not fail us,
and then He assures us
that one day,
we will strengthen others.

He who has the power and the right to sift us,
prays for us, instead.

You know what?
We can be sifters
or we can pray.

We can look at people and take them apart
and say,"They've got some good wheat about them
but they've got a lot of chaff too."

Or we can pray for them,
that their faith will not fail them.

I sure hope people are not sifting me.
I hope they are praying for me instead of judging
what I am made of.

What would happen to the Body of Christ
if we joined Jesus and prayed for each other's faith,
and we left the sifting to the one
who has to ask God's permission to do so?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few days after writing the above,
I read a prayer in Ken Gire's book,
"Intimate Moments with the Savior."

I share a portion of it with you here.

"I love you for all that I am because of you.
I love you because with your tender hands
you lift the crushed pile Satan
leaves behind when he winnows,
and you blow away the chaff.
I love you that you don't focus
on those husked failures but rather on the kernel,
however small,
of genuine love left in your palm.
And seeing it, you take great delight."