TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (TUESDAY 04TH August 2026)
“And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” Luke 22:31-32 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 216TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORIES!
Life is not always smooth and serene. There are times that one face very troubling things no matter how close they are to God. Actually, closeness to God does not eliminate the perils of life, it only helps one to sail through them and come out well.
The most difficult times to handle are hard times. For instance, people can handle the birth of a child even if the mother went through excruciating pains to give birth to the child. But people cannot handle the death of a child. People can handle the success of someone they look up to but cannot handle the death of the same person.
The most difficult times to handle are hard times.
Bible prophecy tells us of the bad things that will be happening in our days. I call those things the horrors of the last days. It spoke of nations that will seek to eliminate other nations for nothing that make sense. It spoke of wars and rumors of wars. It spoke of so much, and then said, “he that endures to the end shall be saved.”
That tells us that one of the faith positions to take when some hard times comes is endurance. But without a decision to keep the faith regardless of one’s situation, one will not be able to endure. So, this morning we will be refreshing our hearts on keeping the faith. I hope we are ready.
I PRAY THE LORD BLESS US BY ENLIGHTENING OUR MINDS. AMEN AND AMEN!!
To start with, it is important to always remember what the Bible says. One of the major things the Bible said is, “the just shall live by faith.” It did not say the just shall live by struggles, fear, pain, or anything negative. Neither did He say the just shall live by prayer, fasting, giving, singing, or going to church, as important as all these things are. He said the just shall live by faith.
You see, going to church, praying, fasting, or giving, are all meaningful if driven by faith. There are also times when praying, fasting, or going to church help us release our faith. That is when the works of the Holy Spirit comes in to enable all that. If these acts of worship are not driven by faith, they should be birthing faith in us.
If neither of that is involved, then we are in religion. You can not keep a faith you do not have. You must first have the faith in order to keep it.
That is why the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and Fire is especially important to our walk with GOD. It is the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire that makes our prayers, fasting, giving, singing, and even going to Church impactful. These acts of worship have a way of becoming faith building tools under the power and influence of the holy ghost.
The Bible says.
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” Jude 20-21 NKJV
The importance of faith to a Child of God is perhaps known better by the devil than the Children of God today. The fierceness of Satan’s attacks against our faith, and the weak response we usually give to faith building, proves it all.
Many in Church today will prefer building where to live or their reputations instead of their faith. Others will prefer building their careers, businesses, families, and all they desire without giving a thought to their faith. We forget that when God says the “Just shall live by faith,” He made faith building the most important thing in the life of a Child of GOD.
IT IS THE FAITH OF THE JUST THAT WILL SUSTAIN HIS LIFE, HOUSE, CAREER, BUSINESS, FAME, FAMILY, AND ALL HE DESIRES TO BUILD IN LIFE.
Faith is the foundation on which all those should be built on. In simple terms, God designed that our lives be sustained by our faith. That is why Satan attacks it ferociously. Our devotional text today says it all.
The spirit realm sometimes seems to be a complicated realm. When Satan asked for Peter, to shift him like wheat, his rising profile, business, or family was not the subject of his attack, Peter’s faith was the subject of attack. And when Jesus moved to provide a prayer cover for him, He did not pray for his business, fame, or family not to fail.
He prayed that his faith should not fail because that was the focus of the attack. If his faith fails, everything about him will fail. A major highlight in the text says, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
I have faced a lot of intense warfare in life. Mine had nothing to do with battles around anything earthly, but eternal. And those are the most intense battles. But in all of them, I realized that the subject of every satanic attack directly or indirectly during those moments has always been my faith. That is why I strive to protect it during those moments.
We must realize that any attack of the enemy has one focus and that focus is bringing down our faith. The quicker we come to terms with this the better. Until our faith fails, our businesses will not fail. Until our faith fails, our marriages or family will not fail.
Until our faith fails, our ministries or callings will not fail. The life of the redeemed of the LORD is designed by GOD to be lived by faith.
NOW WHAT IS FAITH? FAITH IS NOT A MENTAL CONFIDENCE IN OURSELVES. NO!
The Faith of the just is not even believing in yourself but in God who gives you the strength to live. Peter had a mental confidence in himself when he boasted that he will not deny Christ. But Jesus said to him, before the cock crows once, you will do it thrice. Faith is therefore not a confidence in oneself. The Bible defines faith as the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen.
It means true faith has both substance and evidence. It is usually anchored on revelation that is why it comes by hearing from God at an immediate present. In other words, if God has not spoken to you about a thing at an immediate present, there cannot be true faith in Him concerning that thing.
True faith is a child of things (in the throne room of GOD), that have been revealed to our spiritual senses; it is a proof of things we have seen in the spirit but have not seen in the natural – a conviction of the reality of them. Apostle John spoke about things that can be seen, felt, or touched in the spirit.
Faith is usually a product of seeing from God, touching, or feeling things from, or in God – things that have been created to be born on earth. It also involves taking steps that will pull them from that realm to your realm. In other words, faith is a creative force that enables the believer to create something from the invisible realm of GOD, to the visible realm of man.
That is why Satan attacks it.
To be continued tomorrow…
