Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse"  2024  Day 269

September 24;      Luke 22:32;       66/260(III);      ‘When You Return’

Luke 22:32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." 

The Lord Jesus often operated in the word of knowledge, one of the nine gifts of the Spirit.  The word of knowledge is past or present information about something that you would have no means of knowing in the natural.  Jesus tells Peter that satan is going to come against Peter (verse 31).  Indeed, Jesus knows that Peter will tell Jesus that he will never deny the Lord.  Jesus also knew that Peter would deny Jesus three times.  Peter was attacked by fear and did exactly what he told Jesus that he would never do.  Imagine the guilt and shame Peter felt when he lied and denied he knew Jesus three times.  Quite possibly Peter thought his ministry was over and he could never serve Jesus again.  Twice Jesus lets Peter know that indeed, his ministry is not over.  In this verse Jesus tells Peter that when he returns to Jesus, returns to fulfilling the ministry Peter was called to, that Peter was to strengthen other believers.  Mark 16:7 teaches that when the women went to the tomb where Jesus’ body was, the body was gone and an angel told the women to tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus would see them in Galilee.  How this truth blesses me.  None of us are perfect and sometimes we ‘let Jesus down’ in our ministering for Him.  How wonderful it is to know that just as the Lord forgave Peter, baptized him in the Holy Spirit and used him mightily despite his failure, the Jesus does and will do the very same for us.  Peter overcame his failure and went on to be a bold and powerful minister for the Lord.  All can return to Him.