PETERS DENIAL

I have been thinking about Peters denial lately and how Jesus restored him. It was a mighty but painful redemption for Him. What was going on with Peter and what was God doing in Peters life. Jesus was delivering Peter from his own self effort, self-strength. Peter had to come to the end of himself. Self-had to die if God was going to use him in a powerful way. Remember when Jesus said to his disciples, they would all deny him and Peter shoots off his mouth. They might deny you but I will never will never deny you. There is old saying you hear sometimes God helps those who help themselves. That is far from the truth in every way. If you have been a Christian for a while, you will soon realize God allows difficult things and sometimes painful events to come into your life for one reason. To kill self-reliance and to bring you to the end of yourself so that you will be totally dependent upon Him. One of the most powerful verses is found in Luke 22:60 when the cock crowed 3 times and it says Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter. Just imagine that. The pain and agony of that moment. Peter just faced the end of himself. He left and wept bitterly. He had just died He had just faced the beast within – self. Later it says Peter left and went back fishing. In the Greek it conveys of leaving for good. He was going back to all he knew. As far as he was concerned, he was finished, broken and wounded full of guilt and shame. He had come to the end of Himself. But this wasn’t the end but just the beginning. Jesus comes to Him and restores Him. That’s another story. Jesus will do everything necessary to kill self. Self-control, self-centredness self-effort because he loves us so much and wants to use us. He can’t use us if we are like Peter.