Kept By The Power Of GOD

Below is but a small measure of revelation that my father had received from the Lord. I hope this will be a blessing to you. All that is written below are the words of my father.

10/7 

In loving memory of my father
Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett
July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023

 

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-5

The word "power" in 1 Peter 1:5 is "dunamis," the dynamite, miraculous power of God. The word "kept" in verse five appears only four times in the New Testament. The other three are in 2 Corinthians 11:32, Galatians 3:23, and Philippians 4:7.

32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. 2 Corinthians 11:32-33

But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Galatians 3:23

4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say rejoice.

5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7

Note the progression of who does the "keeping" and the result. In 2 Corinthians 11:32, the governor of Damascus kept the city, but his natural-level of keeping did not have the dunamis of God; so Paul escaped from that snare. In Galatians 3:23, we were kept under the law, which was ordained by God, but only as a temporal measure until faith came. The "keep" in Philippians 4:7 appears to be related to the conditions set forth in the three verses that precede.

Note that verse six does NOT say, "let your requests be made known unto other believers." "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding" was one of two major impressions that I received when the Lord first apprehended me. That peace was very real to me immediately. (The other major impression was that I felt like I had just entered a world that I never knew existed, which in reality was exactly what happened.)

The final progression of "keeping" is in 

1 Peter 1:5: "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 

That faith in verse 5 is not my faith or your faith, but the faith of Jesus Christ.

How much of our walk with God does He control? How much do we control? Perhaps thousands of discussions have taken place on the subject. Church camps have been divided over differences of opinion about it. Indeed, there could be scriptures which would seem to favor almost any stance you would want to take. I tend to believe, if you are a true Christian, according to your faith, be it unto you.

A look at Genesis 7:14-16 would lead us to believe that GOD caused the animals to come to the Ark - two by two. Noah would have had a real job on his hands to round them up by himself. Don't ever underestimate the power of GOD.

Moses, in his song (Exodus 15) favors the idea that the deliverance of Israel from the hand of Pharoah of Egypt was the hand of God. Of course, we know it was the result of a commitment which God had made to Abraham, recorded in Genesis 15. Don't ever underestimate the faithfulness of the LORD.

Hannah, in her song said: 

1 Samuel 2:9 He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.

David, in Psalm 37:23 said, The steps of a [good] man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in His way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth [him with] His hand.

There were three or four major times in my life BEFORE the Lord apprehended me (before I experienced His saving grace) when, looking back, I was kept by the power of God. (Probably all of you have had similar experiences. We relate our personal experiences only to emphasize the point of this word.) The verses in 1 Peter are directed to believers, but shortly we will look at this from another perspective.

The first event occurred when I was 3 years old. Apparently I left home one morning during rush hour to follow my father to work. I got several blocks away, but a family friend just "happened" to see me as I was crossing a very busy intersection and took me back home. Kept by the power of God.

The second event occurred in 1954 when I accompanied our local golf professional in his car to Chicago to play in a professional golf tournament. It was day time and the golf professional was very alert as he was driving from High Point, NC, toward Chicago. After a few hours, on a two-lane road, we suddenly saw a car coming at high speed from the opposite direction, but in OUR lane. Off the right shoulder was a rather steep drop-off, with NO guard rail. But somehow, the golf professional managed to swerve to the right to avoid being run into, without skidding over the embankment. How we escaped a head-on collision I do not know. Kept by the power of God.

A third event occurred in the summer of 1956. I was in the U.S. Air Force Aviation Cadet program in Harlingen, Texas. Three of us decided one Saturday night to go to a bar on the south side of town, toward Brownsville, Texas. I never was much of a drinker before the Lord apprehended me. But my two "friends" were. After they had too many drinks, the driver persuaded us to go to Mexico, just south of Brownsville. Well the road was four lanes (for a while), but he was probably legally drunk and driving much too fast. Up ahead we saw a state patrolman in the middle of the road, waving a flashlight, indicating for us to stop. Instead of stopping, the driver just speeded up. How he avoided hitting the state patrolman, I do not know. But he had to be going at least 85 miles an hour. Then the police gave chase. Very soon, our four lane, divided highway changed to a two-lane, not divided highway. By this time I was on the floor in the back seat of the car because I perceived what a dangerous situation we were in. Then we came to a curve in the road. The driver could not negotiate the curve, but skidded well off the road into some thickets. How my drunk "friend" kept that car right-side up at that speed, I do not know. But we were so far off the road that if he had just turned out the car lights, I think that the police would never have seen us. He was just too drunk to find the light switch. So the police came, hauled the driver off to jail, and let the other two of us drive the car back to our Air Force station. Kept by the power of God.

I remember another set of three events that occurred in 1967, just before the Lord apprehended me. Each time I thought that I was going to die. My heart was racing wildly and I was fearful for my life. Each time, I got up out of bed (at about 2:00 am), went downstairs, opened my Bible and started reading. Even though I did not yet know the Lord, I hoped that reading the Bible would help me in my desperate situation. In each case, I returned to "normal" after about 15 minutes of reading. Kept by the power of God.

My wife, Linda, also had several, similar, major events in her life before she was apprehended by the Lord. In 1958, just before we met for the first time, while working that summer as a waitress at the Colonial Inn in Nags Head, NC, she almost drowned one day. She was pulled out to sea, way over her head, by a strong undertow. She tried to battle the strong current, became exhausted, and finally just gave up, realizing that she was going to drown. Then the Lord sent a huge wave from out of nowhere which broke on her back and pushed her out of the undertow to shore. Kept by the power of God.

But perhaps the most dramatic event for her occurred in 1961, a few hours before the birth of our first child, Robert. She had terrible pains in her abdomen, which she thought were labor pains. She did have the baby, but the terrible pains lingered on. The Air Force doctors could not determine what was wrong, so finally, after the pain persisted for several days, they decided to do exploratory surgery. They found that she had a ruptured appendix and that peritonitis had set in. After doing all that they knew how to do, the doctors transferred her to a ward for the patients who were about to die. All Linda could do (she was in a terribly weakened state) was to call on the Lord, even though at that time she had no real relationship to Him. Again, the Lord miraculously restored her. Kept by the power of God.

Then, in August of 1967, I was sovereignly apprehended by the Lord. I say sovereignly because I never remember anyone telling me about Jesus. No one ever said, "Let's look at Romans 10:9-10," or "let's pray the sinner's prayer." It was a very dramatic experience, somewhat like that of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. In early December of that same year the Lord apprehended my wife, Linda. Then a lot of things changed.

I believe that the Lord speaks to us in whatever way is required to get our attention. That probably helps to explain why Linda and I both had a number of "close calls" as described above, before we came to know Him. Those events were times that we KNEW we had been kept by the power of God. Who knows how many events occurred when we were NOT aware of how God has miraculously kept us. And now, as believers for the past 52 years, again, who knows how many times we have been kept by the power of God WITHOUT our awareness? Just driving on the Beltway around Washington, DC, is a very dangerous adventure. Cars routinely drive 70-75 miles per hour when the speed limit is 55 mph. Certainly people today are subjected to increased levels of stress. A lot of drivers carry guns and would just as soon shoot you as look at you. In a two-month period of time, I had two separate front-tire blowouts while traveling on the Beltway. Not only did the Lord prevent the car from skidding, but miraculously prevented other cars from crashing into us as we tried to maneuver over to the shoulder to stop. Drive-by shootings and unprovoked shootings are almost commonplace.

Now let us return briefly to Philippians 4:4-7 and 1 Peter 1:3-5. To repeat, it seems that the promise stated in Philippians 4:7 is conditioned upon our actions conforming to Philippians 4:4-6. In other words, if you want the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, then (1) rejoice in the Lord ALWAY, (2) let your moderation be known unto all men, and (3) be careful for nothing; but in EVERY THING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Actually, the way that last sentence is stated is somewhat misleading. It should NOT be BECAUSE I WANT the peace of God that therefore I do certain things. That is a rather Pharisaic approach to God - trying to get something for ME. It is much better to walk in the three conditions stated in verses 4, 5, and 6 of Philippians 4 WHETHER OR NOT the peace of God shall keep my heart and mind through Christ Jesus. It is this kind of subtle distinction that is so vital in every aspect of our walk as a believer. Our motivation should be to please God in all that we do and say and to become what He desires, with no thought about "what is in it for me?"

But now, WONDER of ALL WONDERS, I see NO restrictions or conditions associated with the FACT stated in 1 Peter 1:5. We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. That is a MARVELOUS statement! It is a MOST POWERFUL statement! But there is MORE! Earlier we referenced that the verses in 1 Peter are directed to believers. Let us now clarify that statement somewhat.

20 Who [referring to Christ] verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

21 Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. 1 Peter 1:20-21

According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Ephesians 1:4

The above verses, particularly Ephesians 1:4, give the scriptural basis as to why we were kept by the power of God EVEN BEFORE we came to know Him. We were chosen in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. Just as Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for us; so it was (and is) with us! We were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world and therefore were kept by the power of God, but were manifest in these last times for YOU (NOT for ourselves).

Now, go back, and everywhere you see my name or my wife's name or "us," just substitute YOUR name. God has a master plan. He manifests HIS chosen vessels at HIS time for HIS purposes.

Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 

Esther 4:14

These verses are enough to keep every believer every day in awe of the grace of God and His love for us! Perhaps the major response that God desires from us is simply to have a grateful heart of thanksgiving toward Him.

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8

Now I want to relate to you one final mountain-top experience which my wife and I experienced together. Undoubtedly, any sincere believer in Christ would agree that we, as believers, need to have our vision expanded. We need to see more of Christ and less of ourselves or of other believers. He must increase but I must decrease. The Spirit of God always calls for us to come up higher. Many believers, however, are content to remain at some comfortable level. Many years ago I heard a believer say (concerning his life situation) that "it can't get any better than this." How sad! One consequence of a higher vision is that you will be misunderstood more. I have seen numerous dramatic instances of this, both with believers and non-believers.

It is also true that the more the Spirit of God reveals unto us about Christ and the more we allow His Spirit to form the nature of Christ within us, the more difficult it becomes to communicate with other believers. Any number of believers have had revelations on any number of aspects of Christ and His Word. But when the believer who experienced that particular truth tries to teach that revelation as doctrine, it becomes little more than a dead letter unless the Spirit of God quickens the revelation to the hearer. This is because we tend to take the words of others and pull them down to our experiential level.

About 1985, Linda and I had the best "vacation" that we have ever had, before or since. Of course, the Lord never stops working on us and within us, even when we are on "vacation." The occasion was a business trip that I had to Sweden to install some proprietary computer software on the Swedish Social Security computers in Sundsvall, Sweden, a beautiful little town about 250 kilometers north of Stockholm, right on the Baltic Sea. The time was mid- September. The trip was absolutely anointed in every way possible. I have rarely seen so many pictures of a puzzle fit together so perfectly. Hindsight, the Lord wanted to bless us and to impress upon us, at a higher level, numerous spiritual truths - truths that we want to share with you for your consideration and edification.

The business part of the trip took two weeks. Linda flew over to meet me after the first week of business. Then, after the business part was over, we rented a little red Fiat and toured Scandinavia for another two weeks. This included an overnight boat ride to Helsinki from Stockholm, and a tour through much of southern Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. While in Sundsvall, Sweden, we experienced a mild earthquake. At the Orrefors factory in southern Sweden we bought a lot of the most expensive Orrefors crystal, most of which we have since given to our children. Today, the cost of that crystal is at least ten times what we paid for it.

By the time we arrived in Norway, it was early October. We set out in our little red Fiat, headed toward the fjords and Bergen, on the west coast of Norway, for our flight home. We spent the night in a little wayside inn about one hour north of Oslo. After looking at the map, I could see that there were four different routes that we could take to Bergen. I asked the manager of the inn which of the four routes was the most scenic. He pointed out the northern-most route, which was the same one that I had suspected was the most scenic. So the next morning, we set sail for the fjords and Bergen. It was obvious from the map that the road on our route stopped at a body of water, from which we would have to board a ferry and sail down a large fjord toward Bergen. We had information on the ferry, but it was written in Norwegian. Although the ferry times were intelligible, we were not entirely sure that the ferry kept running in mid-October. Our trip that morning started out on a nice, wide, paved road for the first hour or so, and we enjoyed the scenery. Then the road became more narrow and turned into dirt. Soon we saw a little snow on the ground and on the road. We also passed through a spot that had a gate, which was partially open. We noticed some writing on a big sign at the gate, but paid little attention, because the writing was in Norwegian, and we do not understand any Norwegian. (Hindsight, the sign probably said something like PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK or perhaps CLOSED FOR THE SEASON.) You see, we just could not communicate with that sign, and we never thought about asking someone what the sign said.

Then we started climbing a hill, with more snow on the ground. The further we drove the more we went uphill and the more snow we saw. Before we knew it, everything was white. The ground was completely covered with snow and the sky was perfectly white - nothing but white. On one side of the very narrow road was a 2000 foot drop-off; on the other side of the road was a 50 foot drop-off. Of course there were no guard rails; simply some 8 - 10 foot bamboo poles to convey the depth of the snow and to mark the edge of the road to indicate the dropping-off point. By this time we saw how dangerous a situation we were in, particularly with our little, light car and no other person around anywhere. Needless to say, we were calling on the Name of the Lord, because one slip of that little red Fiat would mean certain death. Little did we know that this route took us directly over the top of a mountain.

We never saw another car, never saw another person - there was absolutely no one but us going over that mountain. Every building we saw had boards over the windows. Furthermore, there was no place for us to turn around. Although we had a camera, we dared not stop to take pictures lest the car get stuck in the snow. If we got stuck, someone would have dug a little red Fiat out of the snow the next spring and found two frozen bodies. On the bright side, it was definitely a very scenic route, just as the manager of the inn had said!

Well, after what seemed like an eternity of this treacherous driving, we finally got to the top of the mountain. But we felt that going down the other side was even more treacherous and precarious. This would be the time that we were much more vulnerable to skidding. So all we could do was to call on the Name of the Lord as we slowly crept down the mountainside. We continued to drive at about 10 miles an hour. After another eternity we finally reached the bottom of the mountain. We have a very small hill on our street. During the winter, with ice and/or snow, our much heavier car will frequently slip as we attempt to get out to the major road. But our little red Fiat never slipped or slid once on either side of that mountain. It was as though angels were pushing the car forward and not allowing it to slip.

Linda said that she had expected a band to be playing, welcoming Lewis and Clark after their mountain-top drive. But we still did not know for sure whether the ferry was running at that time of year. If not, we would have had no other choice but to turn around and go back over the same mountain. The road just stopped at the water. Well, the ferry was running, so we drove our little car onto the ferry and sailed for almost three hours down this beautiful fjord, almost all the way to Bergen. The significant part of this journey, however, was the spiritual truths that the Lord impressed upon us. Those truths, of course, were the most important part of the trip and are the reason for sharing this experience.

(1) The purpose of the Lord taking you through any difficult experience is so that your faith in Him might be increased. When we crossed that mountain, we went through uncharted waters (for us). We were on a river in a galley without oars. During such experiences, we MUST call on the Name of the Lord. If we rely on our previous experience or knowledge, we always get into trouble, just like Moses did. Abraham, 4,000 years ago, may have known more than we do today. He didn't have the "benefit" of a Bible or Bible commentators - he had to depend upon what God told him. 

(2) When the Lord takes you through a difficult experience, it is not easy to communicate that experience to others. Oh yes, we can use the best words that we know. But we did not dare to stop as we crossed that mountain in order to take pictures to show everyone where we had been. We have no "proof" of where we had been. Christianity is a daily walk with the Lord. Although we can share our experiences with others and what the Lord quickens to us, that just is no substitute for other believers to experience the Lord for themselves. We cannot survive on other believers' experiences. Each of us must experience this daily walk. Each day brings new adventures. The Lord wants to bring us all to the place where, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for THOU art with me..." But the more mountains you climb, the harder it is to communicate with other believers.

(3) There is an added strength when two believers agree as one. This is certainly true of a husband and wife who are rightly related to the Lord and to each other. Linda has shared that if she had been alone in that little red Fiat going over the mountain, she would probably have become immobilized and just stopped the car. Then in the spring, someone would have dug a little red Fiat out of the snow. As it was, we strengthened one another to continue.

(4) When the Lord takes us through a difficult experience and He is satisfied that we have learned what we needed to know from that experience, we do not have to repeat the process. There is no need to go around the same mountain again. In our case, after we had traversed that mountain, we found that the ferry was running, so we gladly boarded for the next adventure. I am reminded of the verse when the Lord told the Israelites that "you have traversed this mountain long enough." The keys to avoid traversing the same mountain are: (1) to call upon the Lord, (2) to trust in Him, and (3) to thank Him for enabling us to cross the mountain.


(5) When the Lord takes us through a difficult experience and He is satisfied that we have learned what we needed to know from that experience, we see the beauty of the Lord. After we traversed that mountain and boarded the ferry, we saw the beauty of the Lord on a higher level. We sailed down a beautiful fjord for about three hours and saw the beauty of God's handiwork that was breath-takingly glorious! 

(6) After the Lord sees us through a difficult experience, we have an increased awareness of His faithfulness. As an aside issue, one of my wife's favorite hymns is now: "Great Is Thy Faithfulness." The words to this great hymn are as follows.

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, 

There is no shadow of turning with Thee.

Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not. 

As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Chorus:

Great is Thy faithfulness, Great is Thy faithfulness, 

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, 

Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me.

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, 

Sun, moon and stars in their courses above 

Join with all nature in manifold witness, 

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, 

Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide.

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, 

Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.

The overriding moral of our mountain-top adventure is to rejoice and thank the Lord for every situation and experience that comes our way. For the Lord is abundantly able to use every situation for our good and His glory. So the next time that you (or we) find ourselves in a very difficult situation, just praise and thank the Lord. He is good and His mercy endures forever!

We know that some of you are going through some very difficult experiences. And if you are not going through some difficult situation now, just wait a while. You probably will be soon. But as long as we call on the Name of the Lord, and look to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of our faith, He will see us through. Then we will see another level of the beauty of His glory and faithfulness at the end of the experience.