31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Here are five lessons from these simple verses.

1. This counsel is from the Lord to Peter, His chief apostle. This is no stranger to the Lord or His gospel. This follower has been with Him from the beginning. This counsel applies to every one of us, all our lives. He knows us and where we are on our journey.
2. satan is real (and he gets a lower case)! He wants us to fail. The sooner we acknowledge that, the sooner we know where to turn for real power to overcome him. he has no good intentions toward us. So anything–ANYTHING–that even hints at darkness, we should shun. It doesn’t matter if we think a little won’t hurt or that we are stronger. We’re not. he’s real and we need to avoid his allurements.
3. The Savior wants us to succeed. He’s praying for us. He’s our advocate with the Father. He paid the ultimate price through the Atonement to make sure we can succeed. We just have to choose Him. He has enough power for each of us.
4. “When” thou art converted is significant. Remember, Peter? He was an apostle. But still not converted. That conversion process, turning our hearts to the Savior, trusting Him, and being changed is a lifelong process. Maybe even beyond this lifetime.
5. Look at the specific word choice. THOU to CONVERTED and STRENGTHEN to BRETHREN. The command isn’t to convert thy brethren. Conversion is a personal endeavor. The only person we can control is ourself. We must choose to leave behind old and embrace Him. That’s the power of agency. Salvation is a personal quest. On the other hand, we are only commanded to strengthen others. We can’t convert them. Can’t force change. The Savior doesn’t do that with us and we can’t do that with any other. It negates agency and accountability. We can lend our support, testify of His grace and goodness, love, encourage, pray for, and have faith for others. But we can’t convert them. That is between them and the Lord through the power of the Holy Ghost. We just strengthen. It frees us up to work on our own salvation and journey back to God and gives someone else’s responsibility to them. It doesn’t mean we don’t love and support. But it means we don’t have to carry the burden Christ has already offered to carry. Instead, we just strengthen.

We are all on a private, individual path back home. And we have Christ on our side. We just have to choose Him.