“I am ready” – just three words... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2025

He (Peter) said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you, both to prison and to death.
Luke 22:33.

"I am ready" - just three words, yet they are the key to understanding why Peter stumbled on the pathway of faith.

The Lord had just warned him, "Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." How did Peter respond? "I am ready." His intention was honest enough, for he loved the Lord. But he was not yet aware of what his old nature was capable of. He had not yet learned "that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells" (Romans 7:18).

If I am proud of my strength, particularly the spiritual strength that I think I have; or if I am convinced that I shall be loyal, then I have already lost and will stumble. Then the word that Paul wrote to those who were so sure of themselves applies to me: "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). If I am convinced that I am strong, then I am indeed weak. But if I am convinced of my weakness before the Lord, then I am in fact strong!

Peter was too self-assured. He said, "I am ready." And then he stumbled. What would have preserved him? Doing what the Lord said later: "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew.26:41). Only with God's help could he have withstood sin and Satan's power!

Peter had to learn not to trust the flesh (cf. Philippians 3:3). He fell, but he did learn that his faith would not fail, for the Lord had prayed for him beforehand.

Do we now realise how necessary it is to commend ourselves to God every day? He alone is able to keep us from stumbling (cf. Jude 24).

Today's reading: Isaiah 42:18-43:7 · Hebrews 7:18-28