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As I was going through my recent struggle I asked God why?
Why was I in the midst of it?
What was it’s purpose?
No sooner had I asked Him that I received a text from sweet sister in Christ.
She challenged me read Luke 22:31 and replace my name for Simon’s.
I decided to write it out in my journal and as I did I went on to verse 32.
“And the Lord said, Sharon, Sharon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
Clearly Simon Peter already had saving faith because Jesus said He prayed that Simon’s faith would not fail.
I have often read this and though I wondered why Jesus used the phrase “when thou art converted”, I passed over it without looking it up.
This time as I read it the words jumped off the page at me.
Peter already believed in Jesus and that He was the Christ sent to be the propitiation for sin.
So why would the words “when” and “converted” be used?
It was time to pull out the Keyword Bible
The word translated as ‘converted’ is “epishrepho”.
The Keyword notes say, “Metaphorically, spoken of a return to good: to return, be converted used in an absolute sense.”
It then points you to Isaiah 6:10 where the Hebrew “shuwb” is used similarly, “to turn back, not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point.”
Railroad terminology has become normal language having had little boys chuffing around the house and having read lots of Thomas the Tank Engine
So when I read this explanation of the word translated “converted” it hit me;
Jesus isn’t telling him he needs to be saved but is warning Simon that he is going to be side-tracked but not completely derailed. That he would end up on a siding and when he returned to his branch line he was to strengthen his brethren.
The Holy Spirit answered my question of what the purpose or rather what good could come from this struggle.
Once I had wrestled it out, it would be used to help someone else later on in life.
God uses our trials and their outcome to help other Christians.
Whether we win or loose the battle; what we learn, God will use in the future as He brings others across our paths that are going through the same battles we have already been through.
What rails trails have you been down lately that would be helpful for another?
What have you learned as you chugged hiked through them?
Have you passed on experience that has helped and strengthened another Christian lately?
Share about it in the comments below!
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