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The lyrics from a song I love very much say

"Its a slow fade when you give yourself away, it’s a slow fade when black and white turn into grey and...people never crumble in day. It’s a slow fade"

Indeed, so it is with us Christians when we begin to slip away from God. It happens in stages; one small step at a time, so little each one is that it is hard at-times to tell the difference between where you were and where you are now. Slowly but surely we find that we have moved away.

The old maxim says "pride goes before a fall"

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The first stage is pride; undue certainty in your strength.
Peter was spoken to by Jesus in Luke 22vs31-32. Jesus told him the devil was after him, in His word the devil wanted to sift Peter like wheat. Jesus even went ahead to tell him he was covered, as he Jesus had prayed for him, he only needed to be careful still.

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Imagine having God call your mobile and say to you please be careful as you step out today. The devil planned to kill you today in a road crash but I have sorted it out. All you need do is go through highway 7 instead of your usual route via highway 2. What would your response be?

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I can only hope you wouldn't respond like Peter saying “oh never mind big guy, wasn't I the one who believed you enough to walk on the water when you called me out? Hehe forget that devil o jare, I will be there when they flog you and I would take half the strokes for you.

Na me and you till the end habba!!! I am peter ‘The Rock’, I'm also the most spiritual of these disciples o, don't forget it was only I who was able to pick up the revelation of who you really are, flesh and blood did not reveal that to me either.
Don't worry about me baba, I'll be fine going down route 7 but yea thanks for your prayers anyway. its good to know someone has got my back like that.

Yet another maxim says “Let he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall”.

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Jesus knew that even the elect would be deceived and fall if the days were not shortened, so He told Peter how he would deny Him three times even before a cock crowed. I suppose Peter could and should have broken down at this point and asked for help, you know, like the one who cried out saying “help my unbelief!!!”.

Nope! Uncle ‘The Rock’ walked away probably disappointed in Jesus for ever thinking the devil would win even a single round in a boxing ring with him.

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Then the falling continued

He continued to follow but now from a distance. He had been with Jesus everywhere Jesus went, they shared the same room and had eaten at the same table or floor (them Hebrew peeps have a funny way of eating mehn. All spread out on the floor and eating for hours #shrugs# I don't gerrit mehn but yea...).

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So ‘The Rock’ rolled along from a distance, now happy to watch the church service on TV rather than be in church, happier now to listen to a bunch of worship songs on your way out of the house rather than spend the usual time in strict devotion to God.

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Not as though any of these is wrong but as a replacement for the previous fellowship??? Then the devil is knocking at the door probably wishing to sift you like wheat.

So back to Peter, now watching from afar, standing in the company of........................................to be continued!