God Can Use What Almost Broke You | Mornings with Mico

Good people, what's going on? Welcome to my one-on-one time with God today. We've been camped out in Luke, per BT's message on Sunday. Again, if you have not watched it yet, I highly recommend you go check it out. And he spoke on just this passage about sifting here in Luke chapter 22, which we'll dive into here in a second. And just how that's ministered to him over the past few months. And we've touched on this particular verse, I think earlier this week, but we're gonna take a different angle to it. It's Luke 22, starting at verse 32. It says, but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. And it's the end piece to this passage where he says, and strengthen your brothers that I kind of wanna speak from today. We see this as Jesus tells him this, this is before he actually denies Jesus the three times before Jesus is crucified. We see how like the part two to that, here in John chapter 21, starting at verse 15, this is after Jesus has been resurrected and he meets with Simon again. So the Luke 22, 32, that's before the cross. And then John 21, starting at verse 15,

this is after he's resurrected. It says, when they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed my lambs. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He answered, yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And I think this is just, this is like one of the most powerful parts of this story. As we back up a bit is the way that Jesus, he already spoke restoration before Peter ever failed. He says, and when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. Jesus didn't say, if you turn back, he said, when. Jesus already saw restoration on the other side of the sifting, right? Later after the resurrection, as we just read here in John, Jesus restores Peter publicly, right? Three denials before Jesus, or while Jesus was on the cross, three denials. I don't know him. I don't know him. I don't know him. And the rooster cries and Jesus looks at him. And then three affirmations of love after the resurrection. Now after each one, Jesus tells him to feed my sheep.

In other words, I'm not done with you, right? I've called you. When I called you as a fisherman, that calling, right? I don't repent from that. I don't, you haven't, I'm like, you're still, I still have need of you. I still have use of you. That's grace. That's God's grace, man. Jesus didn't just forgive Peter privately. He also recommissioned him publicly to make it clear to everyone where he stood with Peter. I think this is important. And it shows in like throughout the rest of scripture and the way that we see Peter lead. He never leads that same way again. He never leads with that same arrogance or that same self-reliance that we see him lead with prior to Jesus being crucified on a cross. Throughout scripture after that, we see Peter, he leads differently. He understands weakness. He understands grace. He now understands dependence on God and the role that that plays in this walk, in his faith walk with God. Sifted people, restored people, they strengthen people differently. It gives them a moral authority there. People who have walked through failure,

they often just carry a greater humility or compassion, patience and mercy. The scripture says, he who has been forgiven much, he loves much. God doesn't, he doesn't waste anything, even in your failures. He often uses brokenness, failures to actually develop the humility and the compassion that reflects him and that he's actually drawn to. I think sometimes the very area where you were broken, it actually becomes the place God uses most powerfully in ministry. The enemy, he wanted Peter disqualified. That was his purpose for the sifting. Jesus wanted Peter strengthened, that he now may be able to strengthen others even differently. Your pain, your failure, it's not wasted when surrendered to God. Your pain can actually become a part of your ministry. That's by God's design. I think that as we begin to see our failures from the proper lens in our eyes, it just elevates God's grace for us. I think that for me I'm reminded of David and it's a passage in Samuel where he's it's toward the end of his life and he begins to talk to God and he speaks to God after all that we see play out in David's life after him sleeping with Bathsheba and killing her husband and getting her husband killed and all of this. I mean he speaks to God after being restored in such a way where it's as if none of his sins ever happened. I think that for me what that always reminds me of is the level of forgiveness that he's tapped into and mind you this is before Jesus has ever died on the cross for our sins. This is something that he tapped into in the Old Testament. Him being able to and not from any place of pride or him downplaying or you know pretending like his you know like I won't say not yeah pretending like his sin didn't happen but he didn't speak from a place of shame, of guilt.

How the Bible talks about God separates our sin as far as the East is from the West from us it's like he had tapped into that and that's that's what he spoke from as completely renewed completely restored. I think that that's just that's encouraging for us y'all. It reveals what we see you know here with Peter we see Jesus perspective of us in our failures and let that inform our perspective right like let us let us come into agreement with how Jesus sees us in spite of our failures because ultimately again bro as we as we embrace Jesus perspective of us and our failures and our pains it puts things in perspective for us to be that much more grateful of what he did on the cross and that much more in awe of his love and his kindness and then it also helps us to be more convicted to reflect that here on earth for others. So yeah I wanted to leave y'all with that today and in your one-on-one time you know with God I encourage you to just reflect on I have a question how could God use your past struggles to strengthen someone else? What you've been through what what what what he's pulled you from the way he's loved you his kindness towards you your past struggles how can that be used to strengthen someone else? Ultimately this walk isn't just about you. Let me pray for us Lord we thank you father for just for your perfect design in the way that you decide to orchestrate things. We surrender our lives to you we surrender our perspectives to you father help us to just get on board with your plan help us to see things through the lens of your grace and your forgiveness even ourselves that we are not bogged down with shame or guilt Lord but that we grow in surrender we grow in trust we draw we grow in humility we grow in compassion that we may be better reflections of you in your perfect love proudest in your son Jesus name amen