Kept

So often when we go through difficult times, it feels we’re fighting battles alone. We may know intellectually that this isn’t true. We’ve read Word. We know the Holy Spirit is in us. We know God fights our battles for us. 

But that knowledge doesn’t automatically permeate our feelings, and it’s our responsibility to bring every thought that disagrees with the truth of God’s Word captive into submission to that truth. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Of course, let me be quick to paraphrase Paul in Philippians 3:12: ‘Not that I have arrived…’ 🙂

As I was reading Scripture this morning, a portion of 1 Peter 1:5 struck me. Beginning with the end of v. 4, the portion reads, “…you, who are kept by the power of God through faith.”  

The word “kept” is translated from phroureo, which is itself a compound of two words: pro, meaning before, or in front of, and horao, meaning to stare out, to discern clearly. Taken together, the word phroureo means to be a watcher in advance, i.e. to mount guard as a sentinel; to protect by a military guard. Figuratively, it means to hem in, or to protect. 

1 Peter 1:5 tells us we are protected, watched over, and guarded not by our own righteousness or perseverance, but by the power of God through our faith. And faith (pistis) is simply our conviction of the truthfulness of God and reliance on Christ for our salvation. 

So, regardless of our feelings, we who trust in and rely on Christ are never alone or abandoned. Instead, we have the promise that we are kept, watched over, guarded, and protected by the power of God.