Luke 22:31-32

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift  you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."

One day Satan, walking to & fro in the earth, seeking new prey like a hungry, roaring lion,
 saw Peter. Peter, bold, brash, and hasty in action. Yet Peter
 was the one that got out
of the boat and started walking to Jesus.
It was only after he took his eyes off Jesus
 that he began to sink.

 Satan thought to himself, "It will be an easy task to destroy Peter,  I will sift him like wheat, and when I am finished,
there won't be anything left of OLE Peter!"

Satan was well aware he had to get permission from God
to do this. He presented himself
 before God. It really annoyed him that
 he could do nothing without first obtaining permission
 like a child. It was an insult!

"If I had my way, he grumbled, I'd immediately destroy every believer in Christ! After all, was not his mission to 'steal, kill, and destroy?"
But no, all he could do was what God allowed him to.

When God granted him permission he was jubilant! He knew Peter was always messing up!

  He thought back to the time Peter and the other disciples
 argued over which of them was going to betray Christ.
 Peter had been in the midst of the strife that had arisen
over which of them should be accounted the greatest!

He chuckled gleefully with smug satisfaction. "Pride! I get
a lot of folks with that one!

   Meanwhile, Jesus was with Peter. He told him, "Peter, Satan wants you. He wants to sift you like wheat, but I have
prayed for you, that your faith will not fail."
 ( Luke 22:31-32)

   Peter brashly, boldly declared. "Lord, I am ready to go with
 you anywhere! I am even ready to go with you until death! Jesus, knowing what would happen, looked sadly at Peter
and said, "Peter, you will deny me three times before
the cock crows. But after you are converted,
strengthen the brethren."

  Satan asked to sift Peter so that nothing good was left. God allowed this because He had a different goal in mind. He permitted the sifting so that the good would be left and the
 chaff (bad) would be removed.

 Biblical references to 'sifting' wheat was the process of separating or filtering the good from the bad, the wheat
 from the chaff. Sifting is used to purify a product. The process involved winnowing wheat on large forks with six prongs. The forks were waved in the wind until the chaff blew off. Undesirable chaff would at times cling tenaciously to the fork.

The women then took the wheat and put it in
a large sifter, wrapping their arms around it
and shaking it back and forth. This was done until all the chaff was gone and all that remained was the best wheat.
This process allowed the undesirable to be 'winnowed out' without destroying the wheat.

God has His own mission when He allows Satan to sift us. He wants us to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

God has the final say in our lives and grants Satan only limited influence. God allows testing and trials, but Satan cannot go beyond the boundaries He has set. He has promised to
never leave or forsake us, and everything that happens
 is first filtered through His loving
hands. He takes what Satan meant for harm and 'turns
it around' to our good and His glory.

Romans 8:28..." And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose." His purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son.

"Sifters" Satan may use include:

Physical suffering

Financial Hardship

Temptations

Career

Family

Among many others. He knows what to use in each situation, because He knows us and He loves us.

When we are suffering it is hard not to question why God, who loves us so much, would allow such. But He allows this because He loves us! When we are suffering, we reevaluate our priorities, we slow down and are forced to look
at where we are and where we need to be.
And if we are smart we will learn from the suffering.

In financial difficulties, we realize that God is our source, and we must depend on Him.
We cannot depend on other people, because we are all undependable at times, and
we cannot meet every need one may have.
But God can!
He has promised to meet all out needs.

In temptations, we rely on the Word to help us combat them. Jesus repeated, "It is written."

Although we have to work in this life, (if a
man don't work, let him not eat) we need to realize that the 'people' in our lives are more important than possessions.
Sadly, too many people realize this too late. The older I get
 the more I realize the importance of
 my family and friends!
 

Responses to being 'sifted' are as varied as
the people. We all have our reactions to the process,
some good, some not so good.

We may try to blame God, or others. The
'blame game' is a favorite tool of our adversary. As long
 as we blame God or someone else
 we will never accept the responsibility, never admit that we, ourselves, are to blame for the situation we are in. The choices we make are very important, they can lead to good things,
 or hard situations.

We may try to 'escape' the sifting, aborting the purpose God
had in mind in allowing the sifting to take place. The Israelites went around the same mountain for forty years!

C.S. Lewis said: "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a dead world."

Friends, if you are being sifted by Satan now, I want you to remember these things:

Satan asks for you by name

Satan can only go so far

God is in control

  The suffering is purifying you and getting rid
 of the things that shouldn't be in your life. You are being conformed to the image of Jesus, becoming more and more
like Him, going from glory to glory. That is God's will for
each of us, to be like Jesus, that is one thing
we are all 'called' to do!
 

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh
 for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. While we look not
at the things which are seen, but at the things which
are not seen. For the things which are
seen are temporal; but the things not
 seen are eternal.

"God is the God of all comfort!"

 References:
Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary
 
The New Bible Dictionary

Strong's Ref. # 2219 (winnow)

Strong's Ref. # 7371

Strong's Ref. # 4214