"The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. . . . The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." (Psalm 121:5, 8)

One of the most precious doctrines in all of Scripture is that of the secure position of the believer in Christ Jesus. Nothing in creation is "able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

The apostle Peter tells us that we who are born again are "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (1 Peter 1:5). Nothing we can do can merit salvation; similarly, nothing we do can keep it. This is God's work, not ours, and extends to all realms of our lives. "I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved |usually translated 'kept'| blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

This keeping aspect of God's work for us should not be a surprise, for Christ prayed for just this. With His betrayal, trial, crucifixion, and death imminent, He prayed for all who would eventually believe on Him (John 17:20). "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. . . . While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost. . . . I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil |one|" (John 17:11-12, 15). We can be certain the prayer is answered, for God the Father would surely hear the intercessory prayer of His own beloved Son.

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen" (Jude 24-25). JDM