I came across this incredible booklet called God's Keeping Power by Watchman Nee. I was captivated from the first sentence: "It is a distressing fact that some Christians can believe in God's saving power, but they cannot believe in His keeping power." What an incredible distinction! Here are some quotes that jumped out at me.
He who is the Giver of grace is also the One who maintains us in His grace.
Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
–Numbers 13:30
Because that he followed the Lord, the God of Israel.
–Joshua 14:14
"We are well able to overcome" is the declaration of a person who wholly follows the Lord. He believes that victory over every foe is assured because the promises of God are trustworthy and because the Lord is with His people.
Herein lies the reason why so many Christians fail to experience God's keeping power — difficulties fill their vision.
Many people are all the time thinking of their failures, and by so doing they pave the way for further failure. We are courageous only as we keep God's promises in view.
The whole question in relation to overcoming is: Are you trusting in yourself, or are you trusting in the Lord?
The people of the land... are bread for us,
–Numbers 14:9
[Caleb] not only honored God's promises, he despised the difficulties that stood in the way of their realization. And every true believer, like Caleb, honors God and lightly esteems all obstacles.
If you are relying on the Lord for victory and let His overcoming life be manifested in you, you will find fresh nourishment and increased vitality in accepting as "bread" those Anakim that are contesting your progress.
Some brothers and sisters have met few difficulties, but they are spiritually feeble.... On the other hand, there are those who have met and overcome difficulty after difficulty, temptation after temptation; and they are full of vigor. The reason is found in the fact that they have fed well on the Anakim.
Every temptation Satan puts in our way is food for us. This is a divinely appointed means of spiritual progress. All our trials, without exception, are bread for us and as we accept one trial after the other, we are more and more richly nourished, and the result is a continuous increase of strength.
There is a condition attached to God's keeping power. If we do not trust in Him, He is unable to keep us. If we are harboring doubts about our ability to overcome, then we are discrediting His ability to save us.
Who by the power of God are guarded by faith...
–1 Peter 1:5
It is not we who have to grapple with temptations and try to overcome them; it is the keeping power of God that will get us through, and we must believe in His ability to save us from giving way to sin.
I am persuaded that He is able to guard that which I have committed unto Him unto that day
–2 Timothy 1:12
If you believe in Him, then you must commit yourself to Him. He can only keep what has been handed over to Him. Many people fail to experience the blessedness of His keeping power because they have never put themselves into His care.
"Lord, I hand myself over to You and commit to You the keeping of my life." ... If your life is truly in His hands, then God will fulfill in you the promise "to guard you from stumbling and to set you before the presence of His glory without blemish in exceeding joy" (Jude 24).