But I Have Prayed For You: Peter Part 1 Kathryn Kuhlman

You know, there's something about Peter in the Word of God that I appreciate so much. Maybe it's because he's so human. Maybe it's because he had some of the same weaknesses that we all have. I always get a little leery of folk who talk about their great spiritual strength and they are so sick. Cure in themselves, feeling that it is impossible for them to display any weakness whatsoever. They have reached such spiritual pinnacles that, well, it would be impossible for them to yield to temptation. Frankly, I've never gotten to that place yet. One thing I'm dead sure, as long as I'm in this old body of flesh and being a part of humanity and... Oh! I know that I am susceptible to temptations. I know that the enemy of my soul still is in... the world, and I can only overcome through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, for a very few minutes, we're going to have a little heart -to -heart talk about Peter. And we're going to talk about something that means more to me personally than I'll be able to express as we... Talk about the life of Peter and his relationship to Jesus. Before meeting Jesus, this disciple was known as Simon. He was the son of a successful fisherman named Jonah. That was probably one of the reasons that Peter was such a good fisherman, and he was. His father was a fisherman before him, and he knew all the tricks of the fisherman's business. His brother Andrew, a follower of John the Baptist, had been present when the evangelist had baptized Jesus, and when he had said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And Andrew hurried to tell Simon of the event. And he said to Simon, We found the Messiah. The Messiah is here. We have found the Messiah at last, he declared excitedly. And then he took Simon Peter to see Jesus. And Jesus immediately upon seeing him recognized him. gave him the surname by which he was ever afterward to be known, Peter. Peter. But remember something. Before the resurrection and the ascension, there is little doubt that Peter still thought of the Messiah as the political figure foretold by the Jewish people. I know there were contradictions in his makeup, as there are in that of all men. But this is one thing that all agreed upon, and that was the fact that complete Renunciation of the world was not easy for Peter. It was mighty hard for Peter to give up the world. Complete renunciation of the world. was the hardest thing that Peter had to do. He was more or less a politician. He would have made a good politician were he living today. And when Jesus said, it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God, Peter was a little dismayed. He didn't like that kind of talk. Peter's challenge was, in fact, the challenge that has faced all men in all ages, including our own. He had the same weaknesses. He had some of the same strengths. But that strength did not come forth until he was filled with the Holy Ghost, until he was baptized with the Holy Spirit. His strength came forth only in the power of his God. Up until that time, it seemed that Peter only showed his weaknesses. In self -confidence, he cried one day, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. And then he turned right around and denied that he ever knew the Lord. But in the strength of the Holy Ghost, in the strength and the power of his God, in the strength of Jesus Christ, the great Messiah. He defied the Roman emperors and, according to tradition, was crucified head downward by Nero in Rome. Let's listen to Peter before that great spiritual strength came to him. He'd been making some mighty str... Strong and bold and extreme boasts about his love and his devotion to the Lord. I always get a little afraid of folk who's so loud when it comes to their consecration. They make such great boasts. What they're going to do. Oh, I'll die for my Lord. I'll tell you the Lord will depend on me and he'll know I'll be standing there. And if everybody else fails him, he still has me. And it isn't long before they run out of gas. Peter was kind of like that. Let me show you a portion of the word of God when he was standing in the sufficiency. of his own flesh. It's recorded, the 22nd chapter of Luke. And he said unto him, Lord, I'm ready to go with thee both into prison and to death. What was he saying? Lord, you can depend on me if... If John fails you, if Luke fails you, if everybody else fails you, I want you to know you can rely on me. And he started out by making these strong and bold and extreme boasts by saying, I'm ready to go with the... both into prison. Had he only stopped there. But you know, he's going to carry it a little further than that. You know, if you were there, you would have felt like saying, now, Peter, don't carry this too far. After all, you know, let's just stop with the prison bit. But no, he didn't stop there. Not Peter. He didn't do anything halfway. Never. Peter, just stop with the prison bit. No, he was going to care to go further. And to death. And I don't think that he whispered those words either. He was loud. He wanted everybody around to hear it, you know. You know what Jesus said. very quietly without raising his voice i tell thee peter the cock shall not crow this day before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me in that moment I would like to have known the emotions that Peter suffered. I do not believe that he answered back. But in himself he's saying he doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't know what he's talking about. But bless you, go with me. There it is in the word of God. What happened? And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple, and that disciple was known unto the high priest. And they went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door without, then went out at that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest. and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? Watch the answer. The man who just a few hours before had said, Lord, you can depend on me. I'll not only go to prison, but I promise you, I'm ready to die for you. And he's standing now before a little girl, just a young damsel. And when she said to him, Art thou not also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not. I am not. Human nature is the same. Just the same today as it was then. And I am wondering if... There are those today who once declared their love for the master. Sure, through blinding tears, perhaps with uplifted hands, and you looked up and you said to him, I surrender all. Take me, body, soul, and spirit, though the whole world forsakes thee. Depend on me. But, beloved, the waters got deep. Somehow the stars were no longer in the sky. The sun began to cease its shining. Sorrow came. What are you saying today? I know him not. I know him not. But I want you to see something. I want you to see something that means more to me than I am able to express with just a human vocabulary. And I only pray that in this moment the Holy Spirit in a divine language, in his own way, will open your understanding to something that can change your whole life. It has mine. It's in that wonderful portion of the Word of God, the 22nd chapter of Luke, The second verse is the master himself who is speaking. I have prayed for thee. To whom is he speaking? To Peter. The one to whom the young damsel said, You're one of them, aren't you? You're his disciple, aren't you? And he turned and said, I am not. And yet Jesus, in all tenderness, if you want to know what Jesus is really like, if you want to know what the compassion, And the love of Jesus is really like, if you want to know what his personality is really like, hear him as he says to Peter, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. I'll never forget, never. The hour when the Holy Spirit made that portion of the word real to my heart. I wept like a baby. I began turning back the pages of my own life. I wondered how often Since that time, the little Methodist church in Concordia, Missouri, when I sat that Sunday morning and I had that wonderful experience, that new birth experience, that which we call conversion. And I've never doubted my conversion. I've never doubted my new birth experience for one split second from that moment until this very hour. To this very day, my conversion is as real as when it happened to me when I was a 14 year old girl. My call to preach the gospel was as real and as definite as my conversion. It's something I've got to do. It's something I have to do. I can't explain it. It would make no difference to me if the whole world and all the powers of Satan would confront me and would tell me that I had no right, no scriptural right to preach. It wouldn't faze me one iota. My call was that definite. I wonder. How many times during the passing years, how many, many times, Jesus has prayed for me that my faith would fail not. I go back to that time, 16 years of age, Twin Falls, Idaho. I had nothing. I remember that bedroom, those old blue painted walls, that old blue bed spread on that broken -down brass bed, that worn -out carpet I remembered as though it was yesterday. I knew nothing except that I'd been born again. That's all that I knew. I couldn't preach anything else because I didn't know anything else. wanted me to preach because I couldn't preach. I'd had no experience, nothing, nothing but the new birth experience and a call from God. I can remember walking the floor, clenching my fists until the blood almost came from the nails that went into my flesh, and I looked up through blinding tears and said, Oh, God, I'll be obedient to you. preach it. I'll preach it. I'll preach it. I'll preach it. I'm wondering if maybe even then Jesus was praying that my faith would fail not. I'm wondering. I'm wondering. I'm wondering when, perhaps when I came to that dead -end street one Saturday late afternoon at four o 'clock. I can go to the very spot. I can go to that same dead -end street. I know the very hour, the very moment, a crisis in my life. One of the greatest crises that I've ever faced in my whole life. I'm wondering if maybe... In that very hour, I'm sure, I'm dead sure, that that Saturday afternoon, Jesus was praying for me that my faith would fail not. If I only knew how many times It's been a long, long way from Concordia, Missouri to this very hour as I sit before you and talk. It's been a long, long way. It hasn't been an easy way or an easy road. But every day and every hour of every day and every moment, of every hour i have had one who has been praying for me that one is in position of great high priest seated at the right hand of god the father the same one who prayed for peter that thy faith fail not is the one who has also prayed that my faith shall not fail and he's going to take me home. My faith perfected. And one day I shall stand in his presence because he prayed for me.