John 13:6-8 (NIV) He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.” Jesus, help me always believe that You know what You are doing. You told Peter that he wouldn’t understand at the moment but he would later. But Peter went right on resisting Who You are and what You said.

Jesus, make it clear to me that when You do something, You do it with incredible knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, wisdom, and power. Peter had seen You heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, calm a storm, multiply bread and fish, walk on water, turn water into wine, and silence some of Your greatest critics. But, it doesn’t seem to me that it impressed Peter, he seemed to still feel like he knew whether or not You should wash his feet. It is easy to see why You needed to do something to heal these attitudes and character traits in Peter.

Mat 16:21-23 (NIV) From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Jesus, help me not be like Peter who didn’t just try to talk You out of dying, he took You aside and began to rebuke You. Just a little time prior to this event, Peter established the fact that he knew Who You are: Mat 16:15-16 (NIV) “But what about you?” He asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Yet Peter felt free to rebuke the Christ, the Son of the living God. There had to be a real spiritual problem in order for Peter to be willing to do that; protect me from these kinds of attitudes.

Mat 26:31-35 (NIV) Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me, for it is written: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.” Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times.” But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You.” And all the other disciples said the same.

Jesus, You just said: This very night you will ALL fall away on account of Me. And Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.” Then You Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times.” But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You.” Help me not be like Peter who wasn’t getting better; he was getting worse. His treatment of You was pretty much an outright indication that You didn’t know what You were talking about.

Luke 22:31-33 (NIV) “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with You to prison and to death.” Jesus, show me why You would pray that Peter’s faith may not fail? Teach me why You wouldn’t pray that Peter not have to face the temptation in the first place. Show me why You would let Satan try to destroy Peter and not prevent it from happening. Make it clear to me that Peter needed discipline!

Heb 12:5-8 (NIV) And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

Jesus, I am a child of God; show me that just like I had to be trained on how to grow up, act my age, be taught how to get good at doing mature human things, and become skilled at some kind of human trade, I must learn the same things in the realm of God. Since life is challenging, and since the challenges give me opportunities to learn how to apply my training to those challenges, help me respond to them correctly. Help me see that if my life isn’t challenging enough, there will always be someone giving me assignments to make it more challenging. Show me that these challenges mature me.

Eph 6:10 (NIV) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Jesus, why do I need to be strong? Why can’t I just pray to You and You bail me out of the situation? I know it is true that my strength comes from You; but, help me realize that I have to cooperate with it. Phil 4:13 (NIV) I can do everything through Him (Jesus) Who gives me strength. It is You Who are providing me with the strength. It is You Who are providing me with the training. It is You Who are supplying the training system. And it is You Who are providing the discipline.

Gal 4:1-2 (NIV) What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. Jesus, teach me that in order for me to learn how to resist through love, I will have to submit to Your training system. Make it clear to me that no matter how old I was when I was born again, I started out with God as an infant who had just been born again. Help me understand that even though I knew a lot of things about how to be a human. They won’t work in my child of God life.

Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. Jesus, teach me that this is what I experience when I try to apply human reasoning, human training, human skills, and human effort to the life of a child of God. Show me that it would be like trying to apply the training, skills, and systems of a plumber to brain surgery. Just because I was the world’s best plumber wouldn’t automatically make me qualified for doing brain surgery.

Jesus, teach me that the only human things that work in Christianity are things like knowing how to walk, read, talk, study, and establish relationships. Also teach me that where I walk, what I read, what I say, what I study, and what kind of relationships I establish all fall into the category of child of God training. Help me understand that prior to Christianity, I, the world, and the devil decided where I walked, what I read, what I said, what I studied, and what kind of relationships I established. Now, help me see that they are all being reestablished through the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and You.