TO UNDERSTAND BEING SIFTED AND PROVED
11/09/23 TO UNDERSTAND BEING SIFTED AND PROVED
There are many who have gone through a long trial of being sifted in their faith. They have graduated and come out of the fire and are waiting for the promised promotions. And there are many who will be given over to sifting during the tribulation. Scripture also promises that the kingdom of God will not come without tribulation and every Christian goes through trials in order to perfect their faith and mature them into Jesus’ image. It is important to understand what sifting is about because there are many levels of such, along with much better ways to be trained by God!
Acts 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
It is important to know that Jesus specifically told us in the Lord’s prayer, to pray that we are not lead into temptation, but instead, be delivered from evil. The word temptation is a key word that means to PROVE BY EXPERIMENT. That is exactly what happened to both Job and Peter. To be delivered from such is to be drawn away and rescued from it. We must humble ourselves before God and earnestly pray we are not given over to being proved by experiment!
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
TEMPTATION – a putting to proof by experiment
Strong’s Greek Dictionary
πειρασμός peirasmos (peirasmós)
Search for G3986 in KJVSL; in KJV; load in ESI.
πειρασμός peirasmós, pi-ras-mos’
from G3985; a putting to proof (by experiment (of good), experience (of evil), solicitation, discipline or provocation); by implication, adversity:—temptation, × try.
DELIVERED – to rescue
Strong’s Greek Dictionary
ῥύομαι rhyomai (rhýomai)
Search for G4506 in KJVSL; in KJV; load in ESI.
ῥύομαι rhýomai, rhoo’-om-ahee
middle voice of an obsolete verb, akin to G4482 (through the idea of a current; compare G4511); to rush or draw (for oneself), i.e. rescue:—deliver(-er).
verb
THE ENEMY MUST ASK PERMISSION
Both Peter and Job were marked by God with high callings. Scripture tells us that God is totally Sovereign, and the devil HAS to ask permission to touch those who have a hedge around them. This is a part of the devil’s plan for God’s overcomers, to sift them like wheat, especially the last day believers. Remember what the devil said to God when requesting permission to touch Job’s life. He was unable to touch Job at all, because God had place a hedge completely around he, his home, family, work, possessions on every side of Job’s life. The only way satan could sift Job was by asking God’s permission.
Job 1:6-11 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. 7 And the LORD said unto Satan, From where come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it. 8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one that fears God, and turns away from evil? 9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have not you made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions are increased in the land. 11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.
The devil had also requested permission to sift Peter like wheat. Jesus understood this ahead of time and told Peter that this would happen, even though Peter said it would not.
Luke 22:31-34 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not: and when you have returned, strengthen your brethren. 33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with you, both into prison, and to death. 34 And he said, I tell you, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before you shall three times deny that you know me.
SIFT – TO GO THROUGH A SIEVE
Strong’s Greek Dictionary
σινιάζω siniazo (siniázō)
Search for G4617 in KJVSL; in KJV; load in ESI.
σινιάζω siniázō, sin-ee-ad’-zo
from σινίον siníon (a sieve); to riddle (figuratively):—sift.
Throughout his time in walking with Jesus, poor Peter had quite a time with finding a way to channel his passion yet bridle his impulsive choices in what he said and did. He seemed to be on a roller coaster with ups and downs. The Lord Sovereignly allowed everything that touched Peter, for Peter’s character to be formed into Jesus’ image. Remember Peter specially was told he was the little rock can came from the big rock of Jesus!
Matthew 16:13-20 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that you are John the Baptist: some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 15 He said unto them, But whom say you that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
Matthew 16:22-23 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from you, Lord: this shall not be unto you. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get you behind me, Satan: you are an offense unto me: for you consider not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
John 18:10-11 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up your sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?
TO BE PROVEN
It is a very fearful thing, for God to lift the hedge and allow the devil to sift us in any capacity. The devil wants this in hopes of finding sin, so that we may be accused and turned over. There is so much pain, insecurity, shame, and a pile of emotions involved in the process that no one wants to be sifted.
But it is much more fearful that God would say yes and allow this. He loves us so, so much and as our good and loving Papa, He would much rather we be humble ourselves before Him, having a teachable spirit, where we are obedient to His Word and His ways. He does not want to give us over to the school of hard knocks. We are in danger when we resist Him and rebel against His Word. Our level of pain is to the exact degree of how strongly we hold onto what we are supposed to let go of.
In another side of proving, it is important to remember that being sifted does not suggest there IS sin. The whole process is to PROVE BY EXPERIMENT. People’s hearts are proven so that it might be made known what is inside – their motives, their passions, desires, their integrity, their faith in God, etc. It is like being under a huge spotlight and microscope where we are examined on the inside as we are put into misc circumstances to reveal what is within.
Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, [and] to prove thee, to know what [was] in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
In the OT the word prove means to test, prove, try. God tested Abraham in Gen 22:1 regarding his son, Isaac. God proved the Israelites by giving them manna to eat (Ex 16:4), coming close to them in His dark cloud, (Ex 20:20), and taking them through 40 years in the wilderness to test them. (Duet 8:2) These are all the same Hebrew word.
TEST – TO PROVE, TRY
Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary
נָסָה nacah (nâçâh)
Search for H5254 in KJVSL; in KJV; load in ESI.
נָסָה nâçâh, naw-saw’
a primitive root; to test; by implication, to attempt:—adventure, assay, prove, tempt, try.
Remember when David talked about proving his armor. This is the same Hebrew word. David could not war in that armor because he had not tested them. He didn’t know anything about them, their weight, balance or his own ability to freely move and stay alive when fighting a giant. It was way too risky to go to war without already having proven the armour.
1 Samuel 17:39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved [it]. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved [them]. And David put them off him.
The queen of Sheba tested Solomon with hard questions in 2 Chron 9:1 in order to know the wisdom that Solomon was so famous for. This too is the same word. I am reminded of the fact that God has ordained that the principalities must learn the wisdom of God through the church. They are constantly testing the church to know God’s strategies and ways.
Ephesians 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Daniel requested to prove that a diet of vegetables and water would be healthy. (Daniel 1:14)
HOW TO AVOID BEING PROVEN BY THE ENEMY
Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation (being proven by experiment), but deliver us from evil: For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Prayer is our key to avoid such pain! Those who are humble enough to depend upon God, have the right heart to pray they not be given over to temptation! There are many ways to be led and taught by God other than the school of hard knocks. This is what Jesus told us to pray, one of His main points to the focus of prayer. He told us to request that we would not be given over to temptation (proving) because that is His heart for us! Our part is to pray that we be delivered from evil’s intent for us.
THE PARABLES OF SIFTING
Sifting is a way to get rid of what does not belong. Sifting is a process where one’s heart, motives, beliefs, emotions, passions, even life are poured through a filter, separating the wheat from its chaff. The chaff is the inedible part of the grain that is first separated by being threshed. Threshing is the tearing process of breaking the usable from the waste. When the waste is broken off, it is finally tossed up into the wind to be carried away.
Isa 28: 26-29 NLT The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding. 27 A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail. 28 Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it. 29 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom.
THRESH
Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary
חֲרוּץ charuwts (chărûwts)
Search for H2742 in KJVSL; in KJV; load in ESI.
חֲרוּץ chărûwts, khaw-roots’
or חָרֻץ châruts; passive participle of H2782; properly, incised or (active) incisive; hence (as noun masculine or feminine) a trench (as dug), gold (as mined), a threshing-sledge (having sharp teeth); (figuratively) determination; also eager:—decision, diligent, (fine) gold, pointed things, sharp, threshing instrument, wall.
It is like our hearts are tossed up, then fall through a sieve, and all that does not look like Jesus and too big to pass through are finally visible. What is stuck in the sieve is either thrown away or crushed like powder to get the tiniest particles fine enough to pass through.
Matthew 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
To be sifted is to be turned upside down and poured out like wine. Moab who represents the children of Lot, whose life represented compromise were tipped over from vessel to vessel in order that the wine sediments be removed from the wine.
Jeremiah 48:11-12 Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed. 12 Therefore, behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will send unto him wine tippers, that shall tip him over, and shall empty his vessels, and break his jars.
Another analogy is like being a rock going through a rock polisher. It is tossed and tumbled over and over again. With each toss, it breaks open the cracks and loosens the sharp edges so they will fall a way. With each turn, the rock’s exterior is polished into something smooth and shiny enough to see a reflection.
Consider Peter’s life once again. His name means little rock. He is the one who wrote about us being living stones, prepared and built into a spiritual house. He wrote of Jesus being the chief stone, but that Stone was a major stumbling stone, and even an offense to those who are disobedient and stumble over His Word. Peter – He walked it out and was given a message to the church through His very life.
1 Peter 2:4-8 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5 You also, as living stones, are built up into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6 Therefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be confounded. 7 Unto you therefore who believe he is precious: but unto them who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is made the head of the corner, 8 And, A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them who stumble at the word, being disobedient: to which also they were appointed.
Matthew 21:44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
Jesus told Peter: You are Peter, whose name means a little rock, and you are a piece of Me – the massive Rock Who will build My church. Jesus called Peter out, underlining who Peter was. This whole scene was a climaxing defining moment to the spirit world. It was an announcement of not only Jesus’ intent, the keys to be used against hell, but also Peter’s destiny. Peter being put into that forerunner position was a targeted threat by the enemy.
Peter was the first disciple to declare the Jesus Christ was the Son of the living God. The enemy knew the times and seasons by the star of Bethlehem, but he understood God’s law that all truth is established by 2-3 witnesses. He was waiting for those confessions to know that Jesus really was the One God would send to defeat him. He was hoping to get those confessions through Jesus when he challenged Jesus by saying, IF You are the Son of God. (Mat 4″3)
Jesus did have 3 witnesses confirm by word of mouth that He was the Son of God. Elizabeth identified him while still in the womb (Luke 1:43), John the Baptist testified that Jesus was the Son of God, (John 1:34) and finally Peter declared Him to be Christ, God’s Son (Matt 16:16). Upon that third witness, the truth was established. With Peter’s 3rd witness, that truth was like a huge boulder thrown into a pond with massive side effects. That final confession caused great ricochets in the spirit realm because of the spiritual law that all truth was established by 2-3 witnesses.
Jesus thus told Peter that no-one told him that, (not Jesus or any other man) and confirmed it was a revelation from His Father. Next Jesus added even greater impact to the spirit world. Jesus said that His church would be built upon the truth of that rock of Jesus, and hell would not be able to overpower it. Then Peter was given the spiritual keys to bind and loose/ to tie up and to untie.
I believe Jesus knew exactly the spiritual impact of what Peter said, because He saw and heard the realm of the spirit. I believe that is why Jesus said hell’s boomerangs against the truth of Jesus Christ will not prevail. In context to the passage, I believe that is why Jesus gave Peter the keys of binding and loosing at that time, to restrain the impact of what He saw as hell coming against the church.
PETER’S SIFTING
During Jesus trial before death, Peter feared man and denied he knew Jesus three times. And in the end he was so flattened and disappointed that Jesus died dead, that his own hope died dead with Jesus. Peter returned to his old life. His sifting was not over until Jesus later returned to Peter by the fire, reiterating his same call to follow Him three times and Peter said three times, Yes Lord, You know I love You! It was all very sad, but shows the amazing love of our Lord to forgive and give second chances.
PRAYING FOR YOUR LIFE, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR COUNTRY
As you pray that you, your loved ones and your country not be given over to sifting, remember the crushing process. Jesus’ heart was rent on the cross, and at the same time the veil in the temple was rent. What kept common man from entering into God’s Presence was rent so we do not have to pay that price to come to Him. I am remembering the cliche, Until my heart was broken, I was not truly open. We have a choice to fall upon Him, Whom we love. Just knowing His goodness and the reality of His love will break us and melt us so that pass through the filter of His Word and become like Him. Or if we refuse His Word, inevitably we accept Him as King, and know Him as Boss. Inevitably we become obedient to His Word. It is His heart that we go through as little pain as possible, always humbling ourselves and falling upon Him, as the One we love.
The Lord is our loving Father, and He knows exactly what it takes to cleanse our heart, mold us into His image and remove what does not belong.
Isa 28: 26-29 NLT The farmer knows just what to do, for God has given him understanding. 27 A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail. 28 Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it. 29 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom.
REMEMBER WHAT JESUS TOLD PETER
Luke 22:31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not: and when you have returned, strengthen your brethren.
STRENGTHEN
Strong’s Greek Dictionary
στηρίζω sterizo (stērízō)
Search for G4741 in KJVSL; in KJV; load in ESI.
στηρίζω stērízō, stay-rid’-zo
from a presumed derivative of G2476 (like G4731); to set fast, i.e. (literally) to turn resolutely in a certain direction, or (figuratively) to confirm:—fix, (e-)stablish, stedfastly set, strengthen.
Peter had watched Jesus die and his suffering soul returned to his old life of fishing. To see Jesus now risen from the dead, sitting by the fire, roasting fish and waiting for him to return ashore must have overwhelmed Peter’s heart and faith!
Jesus gave Peter a promise for when Peter would return: Peter was to strengthen the brethren. After being totally flattened, Peter could not have done that without first himself being strengthened by the Lord. He could not give what he didn’t have. He had to experience it himself first. Peter was turned in the right direction. He was confirmed in the Lord’s love, mercy and forgiveness for him. Peter’s calling and faith were reestablished and set up solid. He was confirmed and established that he had not disqualified himself, rather his calling and election were sure. Peter knew this.
2 Peter 1:10 Therefore rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall:
If you feel like you have failed God, yourself or others, and thus have been sifted. Or if you feel like you do not have a clue what you did to deserve being sifted, and have come out the other side humbled and weak, consider the process of being proven and tested. It is for a purpose. It is only allowed for God’s purpose and not the enemy’s purpose if You belong to the Lord. It might have been the devil’s idea, but God has His own reasons why He might say yes or no, but always with restrictions. As you ponder the history of your life and faith and how you have been proven, remember the Lord is wanting to strengthen you. He is asking for your commitment to return to Him. Return to His call upon your life. Return to prayer and seeking His face. Return to the faith you once walked in. He promises to restore, establish, strengthen and settle you.
Here is Peter’s word to you:
1 Peter 5:10 But the God of all grace, who has called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, restore, establish, strengthen, settle you.
