But it is tedious to describe in detail all my labours one by one. I will tell briefly how our most holy God frequently delivered me, from slavery, and from the twelve trials with which my soul was threatened, from man traps as well, and from things I am not able to put into words.
I would not cause offense to readers, but I have God as witness who knew all things even before they happened, that, though I was a poor ignorant waif, still he gave me abundant warnings through divine prophecy. Whence came to me this wisdom which was not my own, I who neither knew the number of days nor had knowledge of God?
Whence came the so great and so healthful gift of knowing or rather loving God, though I should lose homeland and family. And many gifts were offered to me with weeping and tears, and I offended them, and also went against the wishes of a good number of my elders; but guided by God, I neither agreed with them nor deferred to them, not by my own grace but by God who is victorious in me and withstands them all, so that I might come to the Irish people to preach the Gospel and endure insults from unbelievers; that I might hear scandal of my travels, and endure many persecutions to the extent of prison; and so that I might give up my free birthright for the advantage of others, and if I should be worthy, I am ready [to relinquish] even my life without hesitation; and most willingly for His name.
And I choose to devote it to him even unto death, if God grant it to me. I am greatly God’s debtor, because he granted me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon after confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them, the masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth, just as he once promised through his prophets:
“To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited naught but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit [Jeremiah 16:19].” And again: “I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the uttermost ends of the earth [Acts 13:47].”
Tag: Patrick
God Called; Patrick Ran
And it was there of course that one night in my sleep I heard a voice saying to me: “You do well to fast: soon you will depart for your home country.”
Do you ever fast? The one thing you don’t see in Patrick’s list of things he was doing was fasting. He doesn’t make a big deal about it. He mentions over and over how he is praying to God.
But when God speaks to Patrick, His first words commend Patrick for fasting because he is about to face something new.
A few years back someone introduced me to the idea that you can fast in many ways. Limiting food and concentrating on God is one way. Some times it makes sense to fast those things in your life that take your focus off of God–TV, internet, social media. Our Lord fasted for 40 days (Luke 4:1-4). During this time, he prayed alone and prepared his spirit for the temptation which he would face.
Back to Patrick.
And again, a very short time later, there was a voice prophesying: “Behold, your ship is ready.” And it was not close by, but, as it happened, two hundred miles away, where I had never been nor knew any person.
And shortly thereafter I turned about and fled from the man with whom I had been for six years, and I came, by the power of God who directed my route to advantage (and I was afraid of nothing), until I reached that ship.
And on the same day that I arrived, the ship was setting out from the place, and I said that I had not the wherewithal to sail with them; and the steersman was displeased and replied in anger, sharply: “By no means attempt to go with us.”
God called Patrick and he obeyed. He ran and followed a path he did not know, towards a destination just as unknown. He trusted God and there it was the ship that would take him away from the land of his slavery. Do you think he doubted or trusted his calling when the man said Patrick could not sail with them? Do you think Patrick question if he really heard God’s call now that the plan was not working out?
How often we think because we hit an obstacle that we must have miss understood God’s calling for our life.
Patrick Can’t Keep Silent
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
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.
Fourth Day Adventures 