Most people think their battles mean God has abandoned them… but the truth is the exact opposite. If life has been agitating you, shaking you, pressing you — this message is your divine explanation. Jesus told Peter, “Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.” Not to destroy him… but to reveal him.
In this sermon, you’ll discover:
- Why God allows sifting — and why He never prays it away
- How Jesus intercedes for your faith even when you fail
- Why trials reveal authenticity, not weakness
- The power of spiritual covering — and why wandering believers get hit the hardest
- The truth about the enemy after the Cross: disarmed, exposed, defeated
- How pastors spiritually guard, fast, and stand watch for the people God assigned them to
- Why your next season demands sensitivity, submission, and spiritual alignment
This message brings clarity, correction, and courage. Because the shaking isn’t coming to break you — it’s coming to PROVE you.
To learn more about The Feast of the Lord, visit us online at orangeburgchurch.com
Here are the author's notes from this week's message:
Make Life Simple Again Part 3
31 Simon, Simon (Peter), listen! Satan has asked excessively that [all of] you be given up to him [out of the power and keeping of God], that he might sift [all of] you like grain,
*- The verb translated “sift” evokes the ancient threshing floor, where harvested wheat was vigorously shaken in a sieve so that kernels separated from chaff. The process was purposeful, vigorous, and unrelenting, ensuring that only genuine grain remained. In Scripture, this imagery conveys testing through agitation rather than mere observation—an ordeal designed to expose what is true and enduring.
32 But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren.
*- Notice that Jesus didn’t pray for them to avoid being sifted. God often allows testing to refine our faith, not to destroy it. Yet, many of us allow trials to gravely weaken our faith in God. Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail—because faith is what keeps us from being overtaken by trials.
*- God doesn’t always prevent or remove the test; He strengthens us to endure it. His goal is not to spare us from pressure but to make us stronger under it, proving that faith is mightier than any sifting.
32 But I have prayed especially for you [Peter], that your [own] faith may not fail; and when you yourself have turned again, strengthen and establish your brethren.
*- Knowing when a demon has targeted someone in our church is one of the sacred responsibilities of my calling—and is why I pastor the way I do.
*- The way I cover our church family is through fasting and prayer—so I can stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s encouragements, empowerments, warnings, and instructions for you.
*- Too many people live unguarded lives, unaware of demonic plans formed against them, with no one else committed to spiritually discerning what’s being plotted in secret. My calling is to warn and prepare you—so you don’t have to figure it out the hard way. That’s what makes life simple again for you: being covered, protected, and guided by the Spirit through a shepherd who hears Him for you.
33 And [Simon Peter] said to Him, Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death.
34 But Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, before a [single] cock shall crow this day, you will three times [utterly] deny that you know Me.
*- Has anything changed about satan, the devil, since he wanted to sift Simon as wheat?
[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].
14 Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death–that is, the devil–
15 And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.
Hebrews 2:14-15 AMPC
*- So, how should we really see the devil now? How much easier is it to overcome him since Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection? And now that we know who he truly is—defeated by Jesus, stripped of the power of death, and exposed as an authoritative impostor—what’s the most effective way to come against him?
*- Ask the Holy Spirit to make you sensitive to His voice when He chooses to speak through others. Stay open to receive what He has entrusted to them for your benefit, so you don’t miss divine wisdom meant to strengthen or guide you.
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
Hebrews 13:17 KJV
*- obey: to listen to, obey, yield to, comply with
*- rule: of the person over whom one rules, so of the overseers or leaders of Christian churches.
*- submit: to resist no longer, but to give way, yield (properly, of combatants). (Only biblical reference)
*- watch: to exercise constant vigilance over something (an image drawn from shepherds)
*- unprofitable: describes the lost benefits from making a poor choice. (Only biblical reference)
