strengthening

I Arise Today – A Recipe for Believing in God’s Strength

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As I still snack on my Irish Soda Bread (yum), I also am still pondering part of St. Patrick’s prayer – good for more than just on St Patrick’s Day. My decorations might have disappeared quickly, but my devotion to the Lord should be life long. Really it is a recipe for strengthening and a recipe for Life – all the ingredients added – all from God into the mix.

St Patrick’s many prayers include reference to a “breastplate” prayer – which I would imagine is good to have as you ride into battle – which we do in our own certain ways every day. And other versions call part of it the “Lorica” – which refers to a sheth or case – which I will add that we should remember to let the Lord encase us in His protection.

Here is a portion of the prayer to ponder – the first part – it is a great way to remind ourselves that our belief in the Lord will protect us. If we are believing then we have faith to carry us – then we have faith to protect us – then we have faith to keep our minds busy while the rest of the world is swirling around us – let us keep our faith on our lips and our hope in our hearts.

Part 1 of the poem:


I arise today – 

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through a belief in the Threeness, Through confession of the Oneness Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today – 

Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today – 

Through the strength of the love of cherubim, In obedience of angels, In service of archangels, In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward, In the prayers of patriarchs, In preachings of the apostles, In faiths of confessors, In innocence of virgins, In deeds of righteous men.

(to be continued tomorrow – keep praying and being strengthened – keep riding with the Lord!)

And the recipe for the Irish Soda Bread!

Praying Out the Storms

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My friend’s son made a cute easter craft project and all the people around Jesus were every which way around the paper. Yes, that’s how life, even post Easter, feels at times, like a trampoline of life. Jesus would understand! 

Jesus knew and knows about storms of the weather and the storms of life. 

It WAS a wild storm last night, well a normal storm, we forget sometimes that this is how weather works, storms are “normal” – and thus building codes as they are, and it’s why there are drainage places, and places to take cover. It may feel like April fools with cold weather – but yes this too is “seasonal normal”…

I don’t live in tornado areas, my prayers for those folks for sure.  We here have “normal storms”. I live on a hill, close my door and ignore them. Well ignore most of my fear now that we don’t have big trees here anymore. And I tamper my fear down while waiting for my youngest to come home late from work. It’s a normal storm so normal concern is normal. (The cat however knew the severity of the storm! Her eyes said volumes! And she knew to hunker down.)

I want to enter this month of Easter thinking of the storms and retreats of Jesus walking the earth. It was just 3 years on earth, that’s so short, yet every step was meaningful and real. Including and especially the retreats. Jesus took retreats, sometimes out of the storm, sometimes into a storm, ALWAYS praying through the storms and through the calm. I hope we remember the Lord’s STRENGTHENING and tap into it.

Jesus weighed not just the day in His sight, but the whole of all from the beginning of time. Jesus IS Alpha and Omega and every little letter in between. Jesus being the Word, provided the letters too to explain His journey. Luke tells us that He often withdrew and prayed. The Lord’s STRENGTHENING came in praying. 

Jesus prayed in obedience not in requests alone. Alignment with God is not God aligning with our will. There are storms, there is HOPE, and with God there is guidance and strengthening. 

“The Lord stood with me and strengthened me.”

Let us start this month with the wind still blowing, the storms still passing, but ourselves walking with Jesus, standing with Jesus, resting with Jesus, and just plain living with Jesus as we trail out of and into each day. Let us pray through our way, HIS WAY, and always one day at a time…

Amen 

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Luke 5:15-16 NKJV 

However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.