Held in God’s Power ~ 1 Peter 1:5

“..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

Some days we just feel like we will not make it. Other days we feel as though we could conquer the world. I’ve experienced these emotional ups and downs, and sometimes during the same day! The important thing is; however, that when we open our Bible’s and turn to a verse like 1 Peter 1:5 that we read it and see that we are being held in God’s power. This changes everything and brings our ups and downs into balance because we see that it’s not really about us.

Now I realize that the idea of being held in someone’s power can carry some negative connotations, such as, controlling, manipulative, or a task master, but in this case things are entirely different. God is all powerful and sovereign and for those who are his he exercises his power to guard and protect. He has prepared a salvation, an inheritance and a hope as we read in the previous two verses, that is untouchable by sin and evil. It is his good plan that we obtain it and it is by his power that we can have the confidence that we will.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1 ESV)

The reason we can have confident, assured, and grounded faith that we will receive God’s salvation is because he himself will sustain our faith to the end. God has granted us our faith, it is not of our own doing it is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8), and he promises to preserve it until our days are over and done. Praise God! This is why we can get off emotional roller coasters and rejoice that life is not about us being defeated or about us conquering. He allowed His Son to be defeated for us and through that glorious act He conquered sin, death, and the grave. Life is about Him. It’s about bringing Him glory and trusting that by His power and because of His love we are also more than conquerors over every circumstance we find ourselves in, and that conquering really means getting over ourselves and rejoicing in the Lord Jesus in everything (Romans 8:37).

The final word that I will say about 1 Peter 1:5 is that it tells us that our salvation is ready to be revealed. That is so exciting to me, and a little scary. I was just thinking today about a quote I heard from Leonard Ravenhill in one of his messages, he said, “Five minutes inside eternity and we will wish that we had sacrificed more, wept more, bled more, grieved more, loved more, prayed more, given more”. And it’s true. Think about it, our salvation is ready to be revealed, it’s ready! It’s waiting! It could be any moment! And most of the time I’m thinking about by the seat of my up and down emotions. My heart does soar when I think about coming into His courts to spend eternity there, but I don’t want to forget Ravenhill’s words when I wake up tomorrow morning and say good morning to my husband and my kids, or when I step outside my door to head out into the world.

I thank God that it is by his power my faith is sustained and guarded, and I thank him that my salvation is ready to be revealed, and I beg him that he would awaken my eternal senses to be alert and working to prepare for that moment when I find myself five minutes inside eternity.

Preparing the Way,

Danae Martin