Life can be really hard and at times it feels like we’re not going to make it. But if we are crying out to God in faith, we must believe that He hears us and will keep us safe in the midst of our troubles.

Host: Kathy, we want to continue our discussions in Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray. The chapter we want to jump into today is called, “Kept by the Power of God,” and he begins this chapter with a passage. Why don't you take us into that?

Kathy: That's 1 Peter 1:3-5. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (NASB 1995) Wow.

Host: Yes. That passage is full of promises and full of hope. As we begin to look at this, Andrew Murray talks about the keeping power of God and he divides it into two ideas. One, that God keeps the inheritance that we have in heaven, but also that He keeps us for our inheritance. He brought out as well that we don't necessarily have so much trouble believing that we have this inheritance; what we struggle with is believing that He's keeping us for our inheritance. Unpack that if you would.

Kathy: He is preserving us not just for an inheritance in Heaven, but on Earth as well. For all the things that we have to go through. Mainly what I'm thinking about right now is the struggles and the failures. Feeling like we've blown it. Feeling like we don't even know who God is at times and feeling like we have failed so miserably that there's nothing left for us and based on our feelings we can think that the Lord has walked out on us. But the truth is, and this is my testimony, God is keeping me. He is a keeping God and He will keep you. He will preserve you if you keep an open and hungry heart.

Host: Now, wait a minute. Isn't that one of the mistakes that we make? To take grace so far that it eliminates any responsibility we have? But I think Andrew Murray talks about the fact that we have to be in the right position with God to be kept.

Kathy: There’s the divine side and there's the human side, but our part is that even through the struggles, even through the failures, even through the chaotic life that so many Christians live, we need to keep the cry in our hearts. Don't let go. All through the Psalms, David's cry was, “Oh, God preserve my life. Oh God, keep me on the path of your righteousness.” If we're hungry and we're asking, God will hear us. But when we quit asking, when we just totally collapse down into our mess, there's not a lot left for us. It's not as though God is going to turn on a spigot and just pour his power into our lives without us yearning for it. It's a relationship.

Host: And there's a meeting place there.

Kathy: Yeah. There is.

Host: One of the things you mentioned was that this keeping in our lives requires power. And one of Andrew Murray’s points was that yes this keeping requires power, but it's God's power.

Kathy: That's right. I think that some may have it in their minds that the keeping power of God means that whatever's happening that seems like evil or just seems like it's destroying their faith, God should take that away. But the power of God I believe is to take us through the trials not out of them. That's why it is so important to keep crying out to Him. That cry is faith. As painful as things may be, that cry is faith and God responds to faith. Don't quit believing that God is able. When everything has come apart at the seams, God is in control.

Host: Yes. He said in his third point that God’s keeping is continuous and that's really what you're talking about. We're going to have times where we feel very close to the Lord, where His presence is very real to us. We're going to have desert times. We’re going to have seasons of every type, but through it all His keeping power is there, and we have to keep sight of it.

Kathy: While Christ is being formed in us, there are going to be all kinds of things we go through. That is how Christ is formed in us. It is through the suffering, the sacrifice and the losses. I was thinking of a lady that I know who has gone through terrific trials where most of us would have withered under what she's going through and what keeps coming from her is faith and trust. That is God’s keeping power in her life taking her through.

Host: Yeah. God gives us people like that as testimonies. But to balance that out, Andrew Murray mentions how sometimes we can have faith that God will help us to fight a really huge battle but not have faith that God's going to keep us in the little things we go through or the “little sins” that we struggle with. No, God wants us to have victory through the little things too. And if we're willing to trust Him, He'll keep us through those too. Sometimes we just tend to think, “Well, God's not interested in these little problems I have.” But oh yes He is.

Kathy: Oh yeah, He is. He's intimately and intricately involved and interested in the struggles we go through.

Host: Yeah. You talked already about the fact that we are kept by faith and that God uses the things we go through to keep us humble and to remind us that we can do nothing without Him. But Andrew Murray ends this chapter on the point that faith is rest. That can very easily be misconstrued. What is he really talking about? What is the rest that he's referring to?

Kathy: In my life that has meant that I am not clawing my way up Mount Everest without the resources. I'm not clamoring and struggling to find God. It's not like that. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know this because of what the Word of God says, and I know this because He has heard the cry of my heart and answered. And I know this mostly because He has said who He is in His Word.
        Faith believes that. I'm resting in Him. Not in my ability to believe necessarily, but in Him. There's too much evidence. Not just historical evidence, but evidence in my own life and in the lives of so many people. If I really will open my eyes and look, there is too much evidence to deny who He is and what He's done. And I don't think anybody that's listening to this would deny who God is. But in Him, my faith has found a resting place.

Host: Yeah. I guess I want to close on this Kathy, because I know there are people listening who really struggle with, “That's great for you guys, but I don't see God keeping me. All I see is my failing and my stumbling and my going around the same mountain over and over.  Where is God? It doesn't feel like He's keeping me.”

Kathy: Keep asking. That's all I know to say is just keep asking because I know what it feels like to feel completely desolate, empty and hopeless. Keep asking and trusting Him. He is there. Even when my feelings are telling me something else or even my circumstances may be saying something completely different, God is there and He's real. When you pray, ask the Lord to lift the veil from your heart and from your mind, because our mind can become like sludge spiritually and it's terrible. But just ask for God to lift the veil. And if it doesn't happen in your timing just keep asking.

Host: Yeah, that's right. Keep knocking and He will come. But come to Him with a sincere heart and a humble heart. And it goes without saying, but we need to say it, if there are things in your life that you know aren't right, you need to get them right before the Lord.

Kathy: Get rid of the garbage in your life.

Host: Those things will get in the way of you walking and being kept by Him.

Kathy: That's right.

Host: Deal with them. It’s worth it.