Kept By God

Quiet times thoughts from 1 Peter:

who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:5

What an amazing promise God gives in this verse.

In my quiet times, I try to personally apply the Scripture to my life and to pray through the verse or passage. As I began to meditate on this verse I could only thank God for his grace. Not only is my inheritance kept for me, but I am guarded, shielded by God's dynamic power. I do not have to worry about whether I can stay secure in my salvation and finish the course, I need to rest in the fact that God will keep me.

Jude 1:1 says, "We are kept [same word as in 1 Peter 1:5] for Jesus Christ." I thanked God for saving me and for keeping me. If it were up to me to keep myself, to guarantee my own salvation, there would be no hope.

This is true for every person who comes to Christ. God is the one who saves us and He is the One who guards us. And we need His power guarding us for we are surrounded by enemies and beset by temptations and suffering. His power alone can and does keep us.

While God does the guarding and keeping, I do have to exercise my faith. I came to Christ for salvation by faith. Now I am to walk by faith everyday, in every circumstance. I considered the fact that God is teaching me to look to him and to lean on him in every situation.

Faith is not the cause of our being kept, but is it the human side of the transaction whereby we experience and enjoy God's protection. Faith enables us to humble ourselves to confess our need and dependence upon God. Even our faith in God is excited and energized by him. He is the Source of everything.

Peter says that I am kept for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. God fully intends to see me through to the end. Salvation here refers to the culminantion of all God has given us in Christ. Salvation has a past, present and future tense to it.

The past tense is that in Christ I was saved from the penalty of sin, in the present I am being saved from the power of sin and when Christ returns I will be saved from the very presence of sin and revealed to be a child of God. Praise the Lord! Thank you God. Truly you are good!