THE KEEPING POWER OF CHRIST

God desires His people to be strengthened, established, and stable in their personal walk with Him. His will is for His saints to know their calling in life.

For some, He longs for them to be restored back to the ministry. While for others, God is teaching them to establish right relationships with others. Whatever you are going through you need to remember that your life may be the only Bible some people read.

The Schemes of the Enemy

In Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.” Sifting means to examine and separate something from other things, particularly those that need to be discarded. Satan wants to separate unto himself those who are unfaithful and hypocrites. He wants us to doubt that we are doing the will of God. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

The main target of the enemy is our faith in God. If Satan can destroy our faith in God then he can destroy everything in our walk. We need to bear in mind that Satan's attacks are real and powerful. We should never allow the enemy to have an opening in our lives.

Yes we are victorious in Christ but we must not underestimate Satan's capabilities to stop us from doing the will of God. Paul calls him god of this age and prince of the power of the air. He blinds the minds of the unbelievers and holds them in his prison till God releases them through the gospel.

He can take physical life, health as he did with Job's body and he can cause natural disasters, torment with demons, provoke evil deeds, as he did with Judas. The purpose of the enemy is to separate us from Christ and meeting with the brethren.

Knowing that we are serving an Almighty God will help us not to fear. 

God knows our capabilities to overcome trials and so He will only give to us what we can handle and not beyond what we can bear. We should not compare our own trials with another’s. God will always have the final word in our trials. Our God is mightier than Satan.

Purpose of Trials

God's purpose for trials is to test, prove and strengthen our faith. All things work together for our good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes (Rom. 8:28). But Jesus prayed for Peter that his faith will not fail so he can strengthen his brethren. How can someone who fail strengthen his brethren? God has a different plan for him. The purpose of our trials is not just so that our characters will be changed but also for us to give strength to our brethren who are struggling as well.

When we go through suffering we become more thankful to God and this is a sign of being a true follower of Christ. We begin to see the hand of God moving despite the challenges and difficulties.

Peter’s Response

Peter is a man who is self-dependent. This is the character that God wants to break in Peter. He wants to break that self-dependence from us so that we can put our full trust in Him alone. Faith in ourselves and faith in God cannot go together. Before his betrayal, he was saying that he can go with Jesus to prison and death. He was saying that he can do it on his own strength, worth and abilities. But he denied Jesus three times and his self-confidence was shattered.

Most of the time, God breaks our self-confidence by revealing to us His character and showing us how small & weak we are compared to Him. God is strengthening our faith by removing our dependence on our abilities, possessions and knowledge. In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, it tells us that Apostle Paul and his companions were burdened beyond measure, above strength, that they should not trust in themselves but in God.

The enemy's attacks can be overwhelming but they are never beyond the Lord's sovereign will. God intends to use the storms of life that we should learn to put our hope in Him alone. Satan is committed to destroying our faith in God. God is committed to destroy our faith in ourselves that we might trust in Him. We need to go from Self-esteem to CHRIST-esteem. God's purpose is to turn our wisdom into His wisdom. To turn our strength to His strength. From self righteousness to Christ's righteousness. He wants us to rely on Him who can raise the dead.

The Keeping Power of Christ

In Luke 22:32 “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” It is important to note that when we sin, we should be quick to repent and acknowledge our sins. Jesus assured Peter that His prayer is enough to cover and protect Peter until the end.

We ought to pray for one another. Jesus exemplified that through the prayers of the brethren we can be kept obeying Him. We can never live our Christian lives without the help of others. We are dependent on the prayers of others for us. James 5:16 “the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”.

Are we praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ? Are we praying that God will keep them all throughout their lives?

Peter was completely restored and changed by the Lord. This time, Peter was totally broken before the Lord. He became the spokesperson of the apostles. Although he was not perfect and failed yet he remained believing in God till the end. Jesus' intercession & the prayer of the saints for us are powerful to keep us from falling away.

Making It Personal

When God tests the faith of those who truly belong to Christ through various trials or afflictions, whether Satan is involved or not, Christ himself in partnership with the Father and the Holy Spirit, guarantees that our faith ultimately will not fail.

When it comes to the evaluation of our worth, or our abilities in relationship to Christ, rest assured Jesus does not overestimate us. Jesus looks at our hearts and He knows the depths of our sins and weaknesses.

We know that Jesus’ prayers to keep His people in God's grace will be heard not because of anything else but because on the basis of His Jesus' perfect righteousness and sacrifice. Our faith in God will not fail because Jesus is praying for us as long as we remain believing in Him.

We need to be humble before God casting all our anxieties on Him. Be sober-minded; be watchful and resist the enemy, firm in our faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by all the children of God.

Standing Firm in Grace

At the end what happened to Peter? In 1 Peter 5:6-11 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the Dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Finally, an encouragement to ponder on in Jude 1:24-25 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.”