1st Peter 1:5-12 PRESENT TRIALS Christians are "kept" (guarded) by God's power, not our own works or even our own faith. Our faith is in our God who saved us and keeps us. We receive the blessings of God by faith and for that reason the grace of God is used in power on our behalf. We trusted Him in the past for our salvation from the penalty of sin when we repented of our sin and believed the Gospel. Our present sanctification is also real by the power of God and results in daily salvation from sin's power. It will be the power of God in the future that brings our salvation from the very presence of sin when Christ returns and we are glorified together with Him.
The trials, temptations and suffering of the Jewish Christians to whom Peter was writing, were severe because they did not follow the trend of humanistic religion that revered the emperor of Rome as a god, and they would not worship at pagan temples nor embrace the Roman ideals of conquest, self-interest and power. Christianity exposes the immorality of those who reject the standards of righteousness given in the scriptures. They reject the grace of God and in actuality that grace condemns them. Those who reject the Gospel and exalt human effort condemn Christians for their self-sacrifice out of love for Christ that constrains them to further the things of God and seek souls to be brought to the Savior.