Patrick Can’t Keep Silent
Ireland · March · March 17 · St. Patrick · St. Patrick's Confession · St. Patty's Day

Patrick Can’t Keep Silent

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Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity. For after chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven:

  For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed, and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name.

Can’t keep silent.  Today we some how believe it is wrong to talk about the acts of God in our lives.  I grew up in a church where on Wednesday nights and some times Sunday nights people stood and told their testimonies.  You don’t hear Christians telling other Christians what God has done in their lives much any more.

The Lord answers prayers in my life.  He rescues me from the jams I get myself into.  He has prepared me before hand for a crisis I will be asked to face.  But the Lord also does sweet miracles (God kisses) that may not seem like big things to others but mean all the world to me.  Over and over God cares for me, but it is seldom I tell people.

Patrick can’t help but tell others about what God has done for him.  He says it is what is owed to God.

For after chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven:

Jesus said

Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Why I am so silent when I should be shouting out everything my Lord has done for me?  Why do I allow our society to coward me into silence?  Why do we not practice sharing what God has done in  our lives with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Patrick continues

He himself said through the prophet: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me [Psalm 50:15].” And again: “It is right to reveal and publish abroad the works of God.”

 

Opening a Mind
Ireland · Love · March · March 17 · St. Patrick · St. Patrick's Confession · St. Patty's Day

Opening a Mind

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And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.

One minute Patrick is walking in a field and the next invaders flood down on him.  They snatch him up with thousands of his friends and family.  Patrick ended up in a part of Ireland as a slave.

The change in his life caused a change in his awareness of God.  So often this happens with nonbelievers and believers alike. Trouble has a way of waking us up to our need for God.

The teen now a slave and alone.  The people captured with him having been dispersed across the lands.  Memories of Sunday services and maybe a grandfather’s sermon reminded him of the Lord who loved him.  Patrick says that in this experience he became aware of his unbelief.

Even as a Christian, I have been drawn back to God and drawn closer to the Lord through rough events.  Some times it is only through trials that we can learn to lean on God.  We learn what it means to actually trust Jesus.  It’s easy to say you believe when you don’t or to act like you trust when you never have.  Times of trouble provide an opportunity for each person to see if their faith is all talk or if it is real.  Looking back on my life almost all my growth in relationship with God has developed in the mist of trouble.

Patrick realized through this experience that he never had a personal faith in Jesus.  You can not become a Christian until you are capable of looking at your past and being honest.  This is where we find Patrick.  He acknowledges he has not been trusting Christ.  He admits his sinful ways.  He turns to God and trusts him for the salvation of his soul.  Jesus becomes Lord of his life.

Patrick as a slave became a slave to Christ.  He no longer was tied to sin but a servant of righteousness.

Roman6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

 

Nothing will ever be the same for Patrick.

Christianity Is Not in Our Genetic Code
Christian. · Ireland · March · March 17 · St. Patrick · St. Patrick's Confession · St. Patty's Day

Christianity Is Not in Our Genetic Code

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I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a presbyter, of the settlement of Bannaven Taburniae; he had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our presbyters who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations, even to the ends of the earth, where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners.

Patrick’s story opens with a teen of sixteen.  He lived in a land where Christianity existed.  Look at his family and you would assume Patrick lived a nice Christian life.  His father was a deacon; and his grandfather appears to have been a priest.

But reading his words, I believe Patrick lived in a society where Christianity had slid from faith to just words and acts.  Patrick admits he knew of the true God, but he did not personally know this God. I gather, in the area where he lived, this was true of the majority of people.

Patrick gets swept up in some type of raid.  Thousands of his country men and women are also captured.  The people of the land had abandoned faith in Christ, not for a new god or some new wave faith, they left God out of neglect.

Patrick believes the disaster which fell upon his people and their being taken as slaves is a result of their turning their back on God.  He sees a comparison between his people being scattered and their not living for Christ.

Made me think of the prophecies associated with Israel.

Amos 9:8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.

Today, I think Christians of America often sound like the Christians of Patrick’s villages.

“for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our presbyters who used to remind us of our salvation.”

I know from my own experience of slipping away that you do not have to make active decisions.  Sometimes it results from wanting something you know is outside God’s will.  In a past decade, I

I look forward to studying what Patrick discovered.  I think the first thing is that we are not Christian because our ancestors believed.  Christianity is not genetic.

St. Patrick’s Confession
Ireland · March · March 17 · St. Patrick · St. Patrick's Confession · St. Patty's Day

St. Patrick’s Confession

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Since it is March, I thought it might be fun to parse through the letter written by St. Patrick laying out his life and his relationship with God.

St. Patrick’s Confession

Birth 387 –  Death 17 March (either 460 or 493–some debate)

This Confession was written in response to charges being made against Patrick and his work in Ireland.  They explain how he came to love the Lord and the events of his life as he showed the Lord’s love to the inhabitants of Ireland.

Day 23:Putting Christ First
28 Day Love Challenge · Christian. · February · Love

Day 23:Putting Christ First

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Thought long and hard about walking with the Spirit; about being one with Chist.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

From my birth as a Christian, the Holy Spirit has stayed with me.  But across my life there are times I am close to the Lord and there are times when He feels very far away.

The times when He felt far away, the Spirit had gone no where, but I typically had.  Those were the times when my prayer life grew less and less.  I stopped reading the bible.  I did not do any of this dileberately.  I just slid away.

At other times there would be something I wanted that I knew was wrong.  I convinced my self that God would understand.  Sure he wrote in the bible it was a sin, but it would make me happy and didn’t God want me happy.  I would ease into a life style I knew violated God’s will.  Justifying everything.

It’s not hard to find the times when I walked with the Spirit.  They almost always follow a time of straying.  My world starts falling apart.  Those God would want me happy activities start blowing up in my face and I am broken.  I don’t normally run back to Jesus as fast as I should, but I always run back.  A broken person, I fall on my knees and beg God to heal me spiritually.  I want back next to Him more than anything.

Those times when I can say I have walked with God.  Those days when I have heard the Spirit and know I am walking with Christ are the best periods of my life.  What they have in common are time of bible study, times of listening to sermons on the radio, but mostly, I spend time through the day asking God what I should do on the little things.  I listen for His voice.  I am in tune to His desire for my life and I try to follow his guidance.

These times of joy and closeness have actually occurred in times of quite in my life and in times of great stress.  The closeness comes from my putting Christ first.   My talking to Him through the day about all the issues, about all the problems and about all my choices.

If I am to love with Agape love, then I must be walking with the Spirit so that the Spirit can love through me.  I must not just have a quite time that I spend with Jesus (which I need big time), but I must be talking with God about everything through the day.  I must discuss the people who come into my life and ask for His guidance.  Or when my temper wants to flare, to ask him to calm me and direct me.

Day 22:Without Me ye Can Do Nothing.
28 Day Love Challenge · Christian. · February · Love

Day 22:Without Me ye Can Do Nothing.

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As soon as I set my mind to do even one aspect of the many traits of Agape love, I fail.  I can’t do it. I fail even with my family who I hold the dearest of all.  Imagine how short my determination gets with people who don’t share DNA with me.

When I should be patient; I lose it.

My kindness leads to my resentment

Envy, pride and selfishness sneak into my day to day.  I only see them after I act.  But they are for sure a major part of my life

My temper flares and I promise you I am keeping a list of everything that others have done against me.

I try to “always” protect, trust, hope and persevere, but I fall short of always.

Can you imagine what a testimony we could be if we lived Agape love, but how?

I believe Jesus explained to us how this is to be done in John 14-16.

We can only love with Agape love if we are one with Jesus.  Not if we are believers.  Not if we go to church on Sunday or even say a prayer every evening before we go to bed.  We must be one with Jesus through the spirit.

John 15 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Paul also tells us that Agape is one of the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

 So the question is how to walk in the Spirit.
Day 21:Stick To It
28 Day Love Challenge · Christian. · February · Love

Day 21:Stick To It

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It is not enough to be patient and kind for a moment in time.  Or to have hope and confidence in others for a day.  You protection does not end when the enemy continues to attack and you grow so weary.  You must trust God and keep your faith in Him that those you love will find the truth and seek what is right.

We grow tired.  We try, but enough is enough right?  Its hard to love the person who constantly finds the wrong path, who seems to always want something from you and who treats you bad. When can you let go and just walk away?

Agape preservers.  Agape endures.  Agape hangs in there when others think you have given it a good try.

Aren’t you glad God preservers? He does not give up on us.

When we fail him, he picks us up.

When we come asking for Him for help, He is there for us.

When we ask for forgiveness, he forgives.

 

 

It is not hard to do all the things in the agape list once.  Or for those who appreciate our love.  But we are to follow God’s example and not give up on those who are sometimes hard to love.

 

 

Day 20:Investing Hope in Others
28 Day Love Challenge · Christian. · February · Love

Day 20:Investing Hope in Others

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First bible verse I ever memorized.

Hebrews 11:1  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

Hope is the belief that a desire we have will happen. Or to wish for something with the expectation that it will occur.

Our hope for salvation in this life and the next rest in Jesus.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

I understand my hope in Christ; it provides my purpose in life.  I think about the lyrics to an old hymn when I think of the word hope.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

But when we look at agape love; a characteristic of this type of love is hope.  Agape hopes always.  This is a hope not directed towards ourself, but a hope focused on others.

I started looking up quotes on hope and hopelessness.  The concept of hopelessness almost depresses you just thinking about the word.  People face moments of hopelessness during their lives, we are called to share our hope with others.  Not just the hope of salvation and heaven.  But we should share our hope in the day to day.

But I also think we are to hope for our fellow Christians, our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We desire good things in their life and we believe through Jesus these good things will come to them.  We share hope for the day to day.

Think about it.  Agape hopes all things.  We hope for others the good things of God.  We desire the rich life, the full life, the promises of Christ and we believe the Holy Spirit will provide them.  When you invest this level of care for another, it is hard to tear them down.  You build up those who you desire to see reach the heights of the Christian life.  You won’t sabatoge them, you will be patient with them because you trust they will succeed.

Hope directed towards others makes it difficult to not care.

Day 19: Agape Trusts, Believes, Has Confidence In
28 Day Love Challenge · Christian. · February · Love

Day 19: Agape Trusts, Believes, Has Confidence In

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Let’s parse this one.  Agape trusts all.

I understand my love for Christ is a love which trusts Jesus in all things in all ways.  Why?  Because He has proven himself trust worthy to me.  I know that even when things seem strange and out of sorts that Jesus has it all under control and eventually it will work out for good.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Love requiring trust makes sense to me when it is us loving Jesus.  Why?  Because Jesus is trust worthy.

But turn it slightly, I know Jesus Agape me.  But I am not a trustworthy person at all.  I mean to be.  I really do.  I am like the disciples who kept falling asleep while Jesus prayed.  My spirit is willing but my flesh weak.

Matthew 28:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?

41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Why would Jesus have any trust in me?  I know He knows I will fail Him.  Yet Jesus loves me with agape love.  Jesus believes in me.  Jesus believes in you.  Jesus spoke about you and about me in his prayer.  He believed in us.  See His words.  He trusted us.

John 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

We trust Jesus, that is the foundation of our relationship with Him.  We trust him for salvation and we are to trust Him through every stage of our lives.  We see He actually has faith in us that through our walk with Him we will grow towards the perfection of being one with Him and the Father.

But we are also called to have faith in our brothers and sisters in Christ.  We need to show them we have confidence in them.  We know if they hold on tight to Jesus he can do a great work in them.  When they are weak, we may have to help them hold on.  But Agape love trusts.  We are to believe in our fellow Christians just as Jesus believes in us.  They may fail us on occasion, but we are all in this growing process together.  Jesus believes in me even when the flesh is weak.