By Dr. Verlyn Fontaine Waterman | Who Is She! Blog
There are moments in life when we feel like the ground is shifting beneath our feet. Relationships change. Old memories rise. People resurface. Circumstances you thought were buried begin to stir again. And if you’re not careful, you’ll think something is wrong with you.
But I came here to tell somebody—it’s not an attack. It’s a sift.
I. WHAT IS SIFTING?
To sift means to shake, to stir, to agitate in order to separate.
The dictionary defines sifting as:
“To separate or remove what is unwanted, to isolate what is useful, to examine thoroughly so that only what is pure remains.”
Sifting is a divine sorting process—a sacred separation where God distinguishes the authentic from the artificial, the called from the comfortable, the purposeful from the familiar.
II. BIBLICAL FOUNDATION: LUKE 22:31–32
Let’s turn to the foundation of this message:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.”
—Luke 22:31–32 (NIV)
Notice something here:
Jesus didn’t tell Peter that He stopped the sifting.
He didn’t say, “I rebuked the devil.”
He said, “I prayed for your faith.”
Because the sift wasn’t meant to kill Peter—it was meant to reveal him.
Tell your neighbor: “The sift is not your death sentence. It’s your becoming.”
III. WHY DOES GOD ALLOW THE SIFT?
To Expose What’s Buried
Some wounds can’t be healed until they’re unearthed.
Some beliefs can’t be changed until they’re challenged.
The sift pulls up what’s been pushed down.
To Refine Our Identity
Everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that only what is unshakable remains (Hebrews 12:27).
God is not trying to destroy you. He’s trying to define you.
To Reveal the Treasure
God is letting things resurface—not for torment—but for discernment.
There’s a treasure in the trauma, a jewel in the judgment, and a blessing in the betrayal.
“We have this treasure in earthen vessels…”
—2 Corinthians 4:7
But sometimes, He has to break the vessel so the treasure can be seen.
IV. WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE SIFT?
You get stirred emotionally.
Old feelings you thought were gone rise again.
You get visited mentally.
Thoughts of people and situations long past resurface.
You feel spiritually agitated.
Your routine doesn’t work anymore. What fed you before now frustrates you.
This is not warfare alone—this is a God-ordained unraveling.
You are being separated from the former version of yourself.
V. SCRIPTURES TO STRENGTHEN YOU IN THE SIFT
Psalm 66:10–12 (NIV)
“For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver… we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.”
The sift is a passage to abundance.
Malachi 3:3
“He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver…”
God isn’t watching from afar—He’s right in the fire with you.
Job 23:10
“But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”
You are not coming out broken—you are coming out brilliant.
VI. HOW TO WALK THROUGH THE SIFT
Don’t panic—perceive.
Ask God: “What are You trying to show me?”
Don’t resist—release.
Release the need to control what God is unbinding.
Don’t hold what God is separating.
If the chaff is flying, let it go.
Don’t silence the stirrings.
Your discomfort is divine. It’s leading you to deliverance.
Gather the good.
Every relationship, even the painful ones, carried a lesson, a light, a layer of your purpose.
Don’t dismiss it all—sift it.
VII. THE SPIRITUAL TRUTH OF THE SIFT
When God allows a sift, it means He sees more in you than you currently see in yourself.
He allows the shaking, not to harm, but to harvest.
Haggai 2:6–7
“In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth… and I will fill this house with glory.”
Your sift is not the end—it’s the shaking before the glory.
VIII. CLOSING DECLARATION
God is not interested in what’s surface-deep.
He’s interested in the heart.
And sometimes, He has to sift the soul to access the spirit.
Don’t fear the sift. Submit to it.
Let God shake what needs to be shaken.
Let Him remove what cannot go with you.
Let Him extract the gold.
Because after the sifting…
comes the settling.
And after the shaking…
comes the glory.
Final Prayer
“Lord, we surrender to the sift.
Shake us until only the pure remains.
Sift our hearts, sift our motives, sift our relationships, sift our memories—
Until what remains is wholly Yours.
Not by might. Not by fear.
But by fire—and by faith.”
Dr. Verlyn