Kidzablaze Devotions

Luke 22:31-34

31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;

32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

33 But he said to Him, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!"

34 And He said, "I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me."

Luke 22:54-62

54 Having arrested Him, they led Him away and brought Him to the house of the high priest; but Peter was following at a distance.

55 After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter was sitting among them.

56 And a servant-girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight and looking intently at him, said, "This man was with Him too."

57 But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him."

58 A little later, another saw him and said, "You are one of them too!" But Peter said, "Man, I am not!"

59 After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, saying, "Certainly this man also was with Him, for he is a Galilean too."

60 But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are talking about." Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.

61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, "Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times."

62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

Every one of us will fail—sometimes in ways that cut deep. Peter knew exactly how it feels. Jesus warned him that Satan had asked permission to “sift” him like wheat (Luke 22:31)—to shake his faith so hard that he’d fall away like chaff. Peter was confident no such thing would happen: “Even though all may fall away, yet I will not” (Mark 14:29). But that confidence was rooted in his own strength, which is exactly where the Enemy struck.

When Satan sifts believers, his goal is to damage our faith so deeply that we’re sidelined from God’s kingdom. He goes after our strengths—the areas where we believe ourselves to be invincible or well protected. Peter’s loyalty to Jesus was genuine, but it was also something he was proud of—and pride made it a target. When the Enemy succeeds, the disappointment and shame can feel paralyzing. But we don’t have to stay there.

If we are willing, God can use our worst failures to reshape us. Peter’s denial didn’t disqualify him—it dismantled the self-reliance that had been standing in his way. What replaced it was the Holy Spirit’s courage. That transformed a man who couldn’t face a servant girl’s question into one who risked everything to proclaim the gospel (Acts 2:22-24). Failure wasn’t the end of Peter’s story. It was the turning point.