Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 8

 Being Born Again to a Living Hope Part 6

1 Peter 1:10-11 Of which salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

It is an ever increasing crescendo that the Apostle Peter is manifesting in this beginning of his first letter ✉ to the scattered Jewish converts to our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ. Peter just finished telling them and we true believers today and of every era and generation that we (unlike Peter) have not seen our Lord Jesus in the flesh as he did, yet we love 😍 Him just as much as he does. Knowing that the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ is being answered in every century since His death on the Cross ➕, as He prayed, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17:20-23) (NKJV). The ever increasing crescendo that Peter continues onward and upward 👆 in this first letter ✉ is that the Prophets of old 🧓, such as Jerimiah, Daniel, Isaiah, Zechariah, Amos, Joel, etc. were so in awe and wonder about the prophecies that were given to them to speak to the children of Israel that they prayed and fasted and dug deep into the Scriptures and their very own prophecies like someone would work hard in digging up precious and valuable elements from the earth like diamonds or gold to understand the nature or the cause or the quality of this grace and what it meant for those who would receive it in the future dispensation, as it is written by Peter the Apostle here, "Of which salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:" (1 Peter 1:10) (KJV). The Apostle Peter says here that those Old Testament Prophets searched out and investigated and explored and carfully sought after the meaning of the things which were given to them to speak to the people of Israel. Here is what John Wesley had to say of 1 Peter 1:10, "So far beyond all that was experienced under the Jewish dispensation. The very Prophets who prophesied long ago of the grace of God toward you - Of His abundant, overflowing grace to be bestowed on believers under the Christian dispensation. Inquired - Were earnestly inquisitive. And searched diligently - Like miners searching after precious ore, after the meaning of the prophecies which they delivered." Here also is what Adam Clarke had to say of 1 Peter 1:10, "The incarnation and suffering of Jesus Christ, and the redemption procured by Him for mankind, were made known, in a general way, by the Prophets; but they themselves did not know the time when these things were to take place, nor the people among and by whom He was to suffer, etc.; they therefore inquired accurately or earnestly, and searched diligently, inquiring of others who were then under the same inspiration, and carefully searching the writings of those who had, before their time, spoken of these things. The Prophets plainly saw that the grace which was to come under the Messiah’s Kingdom was vastly superior to any thing that had ever been exhibited under the law; and in consequence they made all possible inquiry, and searched as after grains of gold, hidden among sand or compacted with ore, (for such is the meaning of the original word), in order to ascertain the time, and the signs of that time, in which this wondrous display of God’s love and mercy to man was to take place; but all that God thought fit to instruct them in was what is mentioned." Note: Read Jerimiah 31:33-40.

Next the Apostle Peter declares to us that the Spirit of Christ who has regenerated, redeemed, and resurrected each of we true believers from spiritual death was likewise in the Prophets of Old 🧓 (just as He is in me and every born again true believer) declaring to them the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter says this, "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." (1 Peter 1:11) (KJV). The Apostle Paul also wrote of this reality to the Galatians with these words, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) (NKJV). The majority of the Jewish people had misunderstood the manner of the coming Messiah and thought He would come the first time to the earth 🌎 as an outward conquering King to defeat, decimate, and destroy the enemy of Israel the Romans, however, those Prophets of old prophesied of Christ sufferings for the sin of humanity, as it is written for us with these words by the Apostle John, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.' I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.'" (John 1:29-31) (NKJV) and also these words written by the 📝 writer of Hebrews, "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation." (Hebrews 9:24-28) (NKJV). Here is what John Wesley had to say of 1 Peter 1:11, "Searching what time - What particular period. And what manner of time - By what marks to be distinguished. The glories that were to follow - His sufferings; namely, the glory of His resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the effusion of His Spirit; the glory of the last judgment, and of His Eternal Kingdom; and also the glories of His grace in the hearts and lives of Christians." Here also is what Adam Clarke had to say of 1 Peter 1:11, "Not only the glory of His resurrection, ascension, exaltation, and the effusion of His Spirit; but that grand manifestation of God's infinite love to the world in causing the Gospel of His Son to be everywhere preached, and the glorious moral changes which should take place in the world under that preaching, and the final glorification of all them who had here received the report, and continued faithful unto death. And we may add to this the ineffable glorification of the human nature of Jesus Christ, which, throughout eternity, will be the glorious Head of His glorified body, the Church."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 7

Being Born Again to a Living Hope Part 5

1 Peter 1:8-9 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

It is all about the One who has saved us, seperated us, and now shelters us our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love," (Colossians 1:13) (NKJV). When we are persecuted for Him and His sake we can be assurred that He is in complete control and not the enemy who delights in causing us physical and emotional pain. The Apostle Peter just finished writing that the trying of our faith might be found to the praise, honor, and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So, it is natural for him to now 📝 write to us that our love for Christ Jesus our Lord keeps us in joy unspeakable and full of glory, as it is written, "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:8-9) (KJV). Remember, "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19) (NKJV). Despite any of our outward circumstances or being surrounded by evil on every side as the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church ⛪ with these words concerning himself and those brothers and sisters 'in Christ' who were with him, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:7-11) (NKJV). Yet, all of this never diminished Paul's love 😍 for our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). Paul (who suffered great persecution for Christ sake) even wrote these words at the close of his first letter to the Corithian Church ⛪, "If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. O Lord, come!" (1 Corinthians 16:22) (NKJV). The Apostle Peter uses the English word 'unspeakable' to define the joy of the Lord Jesus that we believers receive fron Him and that English word is translated by the Greek word aneklaletos (used this one time only in the New Testament) meaning not spoken out, i.e. (by implication) unutterable:--unspeakable. In other words, the joy of the Lord can so swell up in us that we are speechless and often express that unutterable and unspeakable joy with 😭 tears because our love for Christ at that moment is so strong we cannot speak but only weep.

Here is what Alexander MacLaren had to say of 1 Peter 1:8, "The Apostle has just previously been speaking about the great and glorious things which are to come to Christians on the appearing of Jesus Christ, and that naturally suggests to him the thought of the condition of believing souls during the period of the Lord’s absence and comparative concealment. Having lifted his readers’ hopes to that great Future, when they would attain to ‘praise and honour and glory’ at Christ’s appearing, he drops to the present and to earth, and recalls the disadvantages and deprivations of the present Christian experience as well as its privileges and blessings. ‘Whom having not seen, ye love,' that is a very natural thought in the mind of one whose love to Jesus rested on the ever-remembered blessed experience of years of happy companionship, when addressing those who had no such memories. It points to an entirely unique fact. There is nothing else in the world parallel to that strange, deep personal attachment which fills millions of hearts to this Man who died nineteen centuries ago, and which is utterly unlike the feelings that any men have to any other of the great names of the past. To love one unseen is a paradox, which is realised only in the relation of the Christian soul to Jesus Christ. Then the Apostle goes on with what might at first seem a mere repetition of the preceding thought, but really brings to view another strange anomaly. ‘In Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.’ Love longs for the presence of the beloved, and is restless and defrauded of its gladness so long as absence continues. But this strange love, which is kindled by an unseen Man, does not need His visible presence in order to be a fountain of joy unspeakable and full of glory." Here is what Matthew Henry had to say of 1 Peter 1:9, "The salvation of their souls (the more noble part being put for the whole man), which salvation is here called the end of their faith, the end wherein faith terminates: faith helps to save the soul, then it has done its work, and ceases for ever. He speaks of the present time: You are now actually receiving the end of your faith, etc. The word used alludes to the games at which the conqueror received or bore away from the judge of the contest a crown or reward, which he carried about in triumph; so the salvation of the soul was the prize these Christians sought for, the crown they laboured for, the end they aimed at, which came nearer and more within their reach every day. Learn, First, Every faithful Christian is daily receiving the salvation of his soul; salvation is one permanent thing, begun in this life, not interrupted by death, and continued to all eternity. These believers had the beginnings of heaven in the possession of holiness and a heavenly mind, in their duties and communion with God, in the earnest of the inheritance, and the witness of the Divine Spirit. This was properly urged to these distressed people; they were on the losing side in the world, but the Apostle puts them in the mind of what they were receiving; if they lost an inferior good, they were all the while receiving the salvation of their souls. Secondly, It is lawful for a Christian to make the salvation of his soul his end; the glory of God and our own felicity are so connected that if we regularly seek the one we must attain the other."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…




 

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 6

 Being Born Again to a Living Hope Part 4

1 Peter 1:6-7 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: KJV

It is with fervency, fierceness, yet in foolishness does the devil 😈 through his demons and the lost human beings constantly and continuously persecute or pursue we true begotten again or born again believers in Christ Jesus our Lord, therefore with these next couple of verses the Apostle Peter wants to reassure those scattered Jewish converts to Christ back then and us today and all true believers of every era and generation since the Cross ➕ (for the reason they were scattered far from their land of Jerusalem was because of the intense attacks upon their lives by those Jews still unconverted to Christ; many were not able to flee and were murdered or martyred for Christ). Remember shortly after Saul's (later known as the Apostle Paul) conversion to Christ on the Damascus road, as it is written, "And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this Name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket." (Acts 9:19-25) (KJV). So then we see that from the very beginning that all those who became true converts to Christ were immediately hated and persecuted and pursued to the point of trying to kill them and the devil 😈 has not changed his tactics today he still designs, desires, and determines to do the very same thing to everyone of us who are truly begotten again or born again by Christ Jesus our Lord, as it is written, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10) (KJV). So, the Apostle Peter writes these words of edifying, encouragement, and exaltation, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" (1 Peter 1:6-7) (KJV). The little English phrase 'ye greatly rejoice' is translated by the Greek word agalliao meaning properly, to jump for joy, i.e. exult:--be (exceeding) glad, with exceeding joy, rejoice (greatly). The little English phrase 'for a season' is translated by the Greek word oligos meaning of uncertain affinity; puny (in extent, degree, number, duration or value); plus long, a season, short, small, a while. The little English phrase 'ye are in heaviness' is translated by the Greek word lupeō meaning to distress; reflexively or passively to be sad: - cause grief, grieve, be in heaviness, be sorrowful. The English word 'manifold' is translated by the Greek word poikilos meaning of uncertain derivation; motley, i.e. various in character:-divers, manifold. The English word 'temptations' is translated by the Greek word peirasmos meaning (as used here) a putting to proof (by experience (of evil), solicitation, discipline or provocation); by implication, adversity:--temptation, trying. The English word 'trials' is translated by the Greek word dokimion meaning a testing; by implication, trustworthiness:--trial, trying. In other words, Peter wants us to have joy in the midst of our persecution, even though we will be distressed, grieved, sorrowful and saddened by them, for to lose (in death, some even by murder) those whom you love 😍 very dearly can do nothing but sadden your soul, however, we can rejoice in hope knowing that the testing of our faith and the adversity we encounter through our pilgrimage will discipline us and strengthen us in our walk with Christ and cause us to cling tighter to Him in all divers or different trials.

Here is what Matthew Henry said of 1 Peter 1:6-7, "Every sound Christian has always something wherein he may greatly rejoice. Great rejoicing contains more than an inward placid serenity of mind or sensation of comfort; it will show itself in the countenance and conduct, but especially in praise and gratitude. The chief joy of a good Christian arises from things spiritual and heavenly, from his relation to God and to heaven. In these every sound Christian greatly rejoices; his joy arises from his treasure, which consists of matters of great value, and the title to them is sure. The best Christians, those who have reason greatly to rejoice, may yet be in great heaviness through manifold temptations. All sorts of adversities are temptations, or trials of faith, patience, and constancy. These seldom go singly, but are manifold, and come from different quarters, the effect of all which is great heaviness. As men, we are subject to sorrows, personal and domestic. As Christians, our duty to God obliges us to frequent sorrow: and our compassion towards the miserable, the dishonour done to God, the calamities of His Church, and the destruction of mankind, from their own folly and from divine vengeance, raise, in a generous and pious mind, almost continual sorrow. I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart, Romans 9:2. The afflictions and sorrows of good people are but for a little while, they are but for a season; though they may be smart, they are but short. Life itself is but for a little while, and the sorrows of it cannot survive it; the shortness of any affliction does much abate the heaviness of it. Great heaviness is often necessary to a Christian's good: If need be, you are in heaviness. God does not afflict His people willingly, but acts with judgment, in proportion to our needs. There is a conveniency and fitness, nay, an absolute necessity in the case, for so the expression signifies: it must be; therefore no man should be moved by these afflictions. For yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto, 1 Thessalonians 3:3. These troubles, that lie heavy, never come upon us but when we have need, and never stay any longer than needs must. The afflictions of serious Christians are designed for the trial of their faith. God's design in afflicting His people is their liberation, not their destruction; their advantage, not their ruin: a trial, as the word signifies, is an experiment or search made upon a man, by some affliction, to prove the value and strength of his faith. This trial is made upon faith principally, rather than any other grace, because the trial of this is, in effect, the trial of all that is good in us. Our Christianity depends upon our faith; if this be wanting, there is nothing else that is spiritually good in us. Christ prays for this Apostle, that his faith might not fail; if that be supported, all the rest will stand firm; the faith of good people is tried, that they themselves may have the comfort of it, God the glory of it, and others the benefit of it. A tried faith is much more precious than tried gold. Here is a double comparison of faith and gold, and the trial of the one with the trial of the other. Gold is the most valuable, pure, useful, and durable, of all the metals; so is faith among the Christian virtues; it lasts till it brings the soul to heaven, and then it issues in the glorious fruition of God forever. The trial of faith is much more precious than the trial of gold; in both there is a purification, a separation of the dross, and a discovery of the soundness and goodness of the things. Gold does not increase and multiply by trial in the fire, it rather grows less; but faith is established, improved, and multiplied, by the oppositions and afflictions that it meets with. Gold must perish at last - gold that perisheth; but faith never will. I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, Luke 22:32. The trial of faith will be found to praise, and honour, and glory. Honour is properly that esteem and value which one has with another, and so God and man will honour the saints. Praise is the expression or declaration of that esteem; so Christ will commend His people in the great day, Come, you blessed of my Father, etc. Glory is that lustre wherewith a person, so honoured and praised, shines in heaven. Glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, Romans 2:10. If a tried faith be found to praise, honour, and glory, let this recommend faith to you, as much more precious than gold, though it be assaulted and tried by afflictions. If you make your estimate either from present use or the final event of both, this will be found true, however the world may take it for an incredible paradox. Jesus Christ will appear again in glory, and, when He does so, the saints will appear with Him, and their graces will appear illustrious; and the more they have been tried the more bright they will then appear. The trial will soon be over, but the glory, honour, and praise will last to eternity. This should reconcile you to your present afflictions: they work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…

Peter Exhorts the Persecuted Believers Volume 5

 Being Born Again to a Living Hope Part 3

1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. KJV Note: NKJV=New King James Version

Now the Apostle Peter puts a giant bow on this gift of faith from our Father in Heaven, whereby He has 'begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' declaring that it is God Himself who keeps us from 'falling away' as will be the case for all false believers or false converts (2 Thessalonians 2:3) with these very reassuring words, "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:5) (KJV). That little phrase we mentioned above 'falling away' is translated by the Greek word apostasia meaning simply defection from truth. This is what we are seeing today in the visible world of Christendom. Actually what is taking place is the beginning of the 'falling away' apostasia by virtue of every false convert and false believer unmasking themselves by departing from the truth of the Word of God. The Apostle Peter writes to the scattered Jewish converts to our Lord Jesus Christ and to we true converts to Christ today and from every era and generation in verse 5 that we (unlike those who are hypocrites, that is, pretenders/actors) 'who are kept' and this little English phrase is translated by the Greek word phroureō meaning to be a watcher in advance, i.e. to mount guard as a sentinel (post spies at gates); figuratively, to hem in, protect:--keep (with a garrison). The English word 'power' in 1 Peter 1:5 is translated by the Greek word dunamis meaning force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself):--ability, abundance, power, strength, mighty (wonderful) work. In other words, those of us who have truly been begotten again or born again to a living hope by the resurrection of our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ are preserved, powered, and protected by the Power of God through God the Holy Spirit from being deceived by false prophets who twist, tangle, and torture the Word of God for our remaining time ⌚ here on the earth 🌎, as it is written with these verses of Scripture from the Old Testament, "For the LORD loves justice, And does not forsake His saints; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off." (Psalms 37:28) (NKJV) also "And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me." (Jeremiah 32:40) (NKJV), likewise as it is written with these verses in the New Testament, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." (John 10:27-30) (NKJV). Note: "Do we as believers disobey our Father and sin against His everlasting love for us, yes we do far to often, however, we can never depart from the faith because true 'saving faith' is the Gift 📦 we have received from our Abba through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and He keeps us walking 🚶 in repentance and faith, as it is written, "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving." (Colossians 2:6-7) (NKJV), for we received Him by 'faith', therefore, "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7) (NKJV).

Here is what John Wesley had to say of 1 Peter 1:5, "Who are kept - The inheritance is reserved; the heirs are kept for it. By the power of God - Which worketh all in all, which guards us against all our enemies. Through faith - Through which alone salvation is both received and retained. Ready to be revealed - That revelation is made in the last day. It was more and more ready to be revealed, ever since Christ came." Here is what Alexander MacLaren had to say of 1 Peter 1:5, "The Revised Version substitutes ‘guarded’ for ‘kept,’ and the alteration, though slight, is important, for it not only more accurately preserves the meaning of the word employed, but it retains the military metaphor which is in it. The force of the expression will appear if I refer, in a sentence, to other cases in which it is employed in the New Testament. For instance, we read that the governor of Damascus ‘kept the city with a garrison,’ which is the same word, and in its purely metaphorical usage Paul employs it when he says that ‘the peace of God shall keep’—guard, garrison—’your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.’ We have to think of some defenceless position, some unwalled village out in the open, with a strong force round it, through which no assailant can break, and in the midst of which the weakest can sit secure. Peter thinks that every Christian has assailants whom no Christian by himself can repel, but that he may, if he likes, have an impregnable ring of defence drawn round him, which shall fling back in idle spray the wildest onset of the waves, as a breakwater or a cliff might do. Then there is another very beautiful and striking point to be made, and that is the connection between the words of my text and those immediately preceding. The Apostle has been speaking about ‘the inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,’ and he says ‘it is reserved in Heaven for you who are kept.’ So, then, the same power is working on both sides of the veil, preserving the inheritance for the heirs, and preserving the heirs for the inheritance. It will not fail them, and they will not miss it. It were of little avail to care for either of the two members separately, but the same hand that is preparing the inheritance and making it ready for the owners is round about the pilgrims, and taking care of them till they get home."

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.


Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…