Walking through the hour of Darkness

Walking Through the Hour of Darkness

Luke 22:53

Do we still find ourself struggling and fighting even after surrendering in prayer ?

When darkness is permitted

This verse describes the moment Jesus was arrested. It happened because the Lord permitted it. It was an hour of darkness, and only someone living in the Spirit can overcome such an hour.

A child of God can be touched only if the Lord allows it. Look at Peter. The Lord gave Peter over to Satan to be sifted like wheat, so that the husk would be separated from the grain. The husk falls away, and the grain remains.

No matter how much I am sifted, I will fall back onto the winnowing mat. A simple sifting will reveal whether I truly stand with Christ, and whether I mean what I say.

Whose faithfulness?

Job's confidence was in his own faithfulness. Ours is different: our confidence is that we serve a faithful God.

Notice what the Lord did for Peter. He prayed that Satan would not touch the faith Jesus had placed in him during their three and a half years together.

The same is true of me. I can stand in the trials of these times, not because of my own faithfulness, but because of the faith Jesus placed inside me when He redeemed me.

So what is this faith? Does it carry faithfulness within it? No. It is a seed, and it can be activated.

If the Lord is taking me through a difficult situation, my part is to stay faithful, so that I come through victorious.

Know who is behind the challenge

Unless the Lord permits it, the devil cannot sift me.

How, then, can we tell that this is an hour of darkness? To understand the magnitude of our calling, we need only look at the size of our problem.

• We may have to go through humiliation.
• Peter followed at a distance. This was exactly when the disciples should have stayed close to Jesus, and it was exactly when they went away.

Do not be disheartened, because this is all becoming part of a great master plan. If Satan had known the revelation, he would never have created these challenges.

The time that follows the hour of darkness is the time of the Lord. So be faithful through the darkness, that we may come out strengthened and strong.

The potter and the clay

The potter doesn't pick up just any clay. He looks at it carefully. When the Lord saw me, He saw me in my fullness.

Crushing. Like a potter, He presses and stamps the clay. He has to soften and crush us before we can be used for His pot.

Looking. Then He looks at the clay, and that is when He feels relieved.

The wheel. The potter places the clay on the wheel. The clay goes around without knowing what is happening, but it can sense the hand of the potter. When the potter has shaped it, the clay feels transformed.

The fire. Last comes the final stage, the stage of fire. This is the stage of strengthening. This is it: hang in there until the fire has done its work.

The journey in four steps

1. I was selected.
2. I was cleansed.
3. I was molded.
4. I was strengthened.

Just hold on. Stand faithful!