Our Lord was stating a central truth. It was Peter’s faith He was seeking to guard. He knew that when faith breaks down, the foundations of spiritual life give way, and the entire structure of religious experience falls. It was Peter’s faith that needed guarding. That is why Christ was concerned for the welfare of His disciple’s soul and was determined to strengthen Peter’s faith by His own victorious prayer. Peter, in his second epistle, had this same idea in mind when he wrote of growing in grace