And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death. 34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me. Luke 22:31-34  KJV

To be converted is to revert back or turn back to the Lord. There are two kinds of conversions: (1) In the case of a sinner, he or she turns to the Lord in godly sorrow; it is called repentance; and, (2) With respect to a believer, a believer returns to the Lord after straying away or backsliding; it is called restoration. And, as a believer in Jesus Christ, the Satan wants to crush you as a grain of wheat and destroy your faith in God. The good news is: if your faith should ever falter, God won’t let it fail.

Like he did with Job (Job 1:6-12), Satan desired permission to sift and shake Simon Peter like wheat in a sieve, metaphorically, thus destroying him in an overall strategy to destroy the rest of Jesus’ disciples because Peter was regarded as the “rock.” And, if this rock were to fail, then surely the rest of the disciples would have fallen in their faith in Jesus, as well. Like in Peter, Satan hopes to find that your faith is nothing more than chaff, dirt or dust that he can blow away.

Notice carefully that Jesus didn’t pray for Peter not to fail, but He prayed that his faith failed not. Jesus knew all along that Peter would become weak and cowardly after His arrest. But He prayed for his faith not to fail. Even today, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father on high making intercession for you that your faith will never fail (Heb. 7:25). It isn’t the test or trial that will destroy you; it is a lost of your faith in God during, through and after the test and trial (Jas. 1:2-4).

Peter had a false sense of his true strength even though he said that he was ready to go to jail and even die for Jesus. But on the same day, three times he denied that he even knew Christ. Jesus prayed not against Peter’s denials, but rather for his faith to remain even when he became fearful and afraid. God knows exactly where you are spiritually, and He knows exactly what’s in your heart—even when you don’t really know, as Jesus knew about Peter. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12), and “if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6:3). After the test or trial, let your faith in God cause you to return back to Him again, and when you’re converted strengthen your brother!