Posted on 06/17/2023 4:57:55 AM PDT by metmom
Peter said, “[We] are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5, NKJV). I see in this a prophecy that in these last days God is once more going to reveal his keeping power to his people.
Christ prayed to the Father concerning his disciples, saying, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). The disciples were sustained by a mighty power outside of themselves. They could not have made it a single day without Christ’s keeping power.
What a glorious prayer Christ prayed on our behalf! “I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one” (John 17:15).
In the Greek, the word ‘kept’ is very expressive. As used in 1 Peter 1:5, it means “to establish a military outpost, to guard, hem in, protect with a garrison, to establish a fortress with a full military line, with full military apparatus, to discern the enemy far in advance and protect from danger.” Not only is the Lord a strong tower, but he establishes in us a fully-manned military base. We actually become a powerful outpost with armies of soldiers and weapons ready for combat and with a lookout who sees the oncoming enemy far in advance.
Jesus prayed, “Keep them from the evil…” The Greek word for ‘keep’ means “deliverance from the effect or influence of anything bad, evil, grievous, harmful, lewd, malicious, or wicked” and “deliverance from Satan himself and all that is corrupt or diseased.”
Put it all together, and it seems almost too good to believe. We are God’s military outpost, protected by a fully-equipped spiritual army in full battle array, completely informed of every enemy plan and device, wholly defended against Satan and every evil power. We can now understand what the scripture means when it says, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
The Return ping
I am always encouraged when I hear faith leaders speak of the Holy War raging on the Earth (the Truth in other words).
And I am discouraged when I hear believers dismiss this fact out of fear or because of its inconvenience to our conventional daily existence in "the world."
Good post. We need to stop cowering and stop living in fear or despair. This is not our home. We have an eternity of bliss awaiting us. We need to live in power and assurance that we are in His hands and have not been left to the whims of this world.
We also need to letting what God warned us about, tribulation in this world, to throw us all for a loop.
When I see the tailspin so many Christians are thrown into when evil abounds, and the fear they live under, like with Covid, I have to wonder if they really grasp what they have for eternity. They act like this life is all there is and there’s nothing we can do about it.
Amen
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