I Have Prayed For You!

“...but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:32

By facing up to the motivators behind my behavior, and by forcing them into the open before God, I can gain some control over them, and I can begin to integrate them more responsibly into my living. So that the sin that most needs to be confessed is my unwillingness to become aware of who I really am.

• But, thank God, there are many resources to aid the process of self-awareness. We have spouses, good friends and a church family. Adolescents have parents, and parents have adolescents - if we can learn to listen to one another. We have the rich resources of prayer and of serious study. There are groupings of fellow Christians who will urge you to learn and to grow.

• The road to personal integrity begins with our getting in touch with our many selves.

The good news in this incident out of Simon’s life is here in verse 32, “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.”

The implication of this forgiving word from Jesus to Simon is this - just because you fail, don’t give up on your relationship with Christ. Obviously, Christ doesn’t give up on His relationship with you!

• The demand for self-understanding and self-shaping is a heavy one. But we are not alone in the shaping process! Simon’s Lord, and ours, is faithful despite our failures at integrity, and therein lies our comfort, our forgiveness, and our hope.