Blow away the smoke and put out the fire

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“Jesus is the most revolutionary of all teachers. He turns the world upside down for those who accept his teaching. When once you have accepted the Jesus Christ Message, nothing is ever the same again.”
EMMET FOX

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not a fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers.”
Luke 22:31-32 The New Living Translation

“Strengthen and build up your brothers.” Jesus asked Peter after he fell spiritually, to come back and help his friends. Have you ever been on a hiking trail or rock climbing and after someone overcame a difficult place, possibly a tight squeeze, or a rock that had to be climbed up and over, when they get on top, they turned around and offered a hand to help you up? We all have, possibly it was going down some stairs, and when the first one down was on the bottom level, they turned around and gave a hand to the next person. These are examples in the natural realm. Jesus gave Peter a command to do like wise except in the spiritual realm. There is nothing like getting through a jam by holding the hand of someone who had been through the same jam. Today I meet with my sponsor for our monthly lunch. It is a time of accountability when honesty is the main course. I see my sponsor a couple of time a week and talk to him several more times, but our lunch is a real workshop in itself. Sometimes there isn’t much going on, and at other times we blow away the smoke and get at the business of putting out fires. I always look forward to them. After all it is Scriptural, “Strengthen and build up your brothers.” God has always used others in my life to do for me what I could not do for myself………..JRE

Share this with me, it is from the Life Recovery Bible……………jre

It is easy to lose faith when we are troubled. As we are buffeted about by the storms of life, we may feel like the faith we once had has slipped away. We may begin to feel anger toward God.
Simon Peter had his ups and downs with God. On the night Simon Peter would deny him, Jesus said to him, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus pointed out that Simon had an assailant in the spiritual realm. Jesus knew Peter would be attacked and “sifted,” but he also was confident that afterward Peter would return to God. Wheat is sifted by throwing it repeatedly into the air. The kernels are separated from the chaff as the lighter chaff is carried away by the wind. All that remains are the good, solid wheat kernels.
We should not be surprised that we face times when our faith seems to disappear. We may feel as if we are being blown away like chaff. But we needn’t worry. We will find the core of our faith again. And when we do, we will be all the better for it, and better able to encourage others, too.
Life Recovery Bible, page 1245

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