I Arise: Ancient Paths to Prayer With Power - About Jesus

Let's continue with the second part of Saint Patrick's Breastplate. It's all about Jesus: 


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. 


In this part of the prayer we focus on the very person and historically significant actions of Jesus Christ. If you remember, when you "arise" you are exerting your will to choose to bind unto yourself God's choosing of you.


The most important proof of God's care for us was when He came to Earth as a baby, became one of us, identified with us in life and death, and lived an ideal, sinless life of love before us. The smart guys with the degrees in theology call this the Incarnation. In one of the more than than three hundred fulfilled prophetic promises of God's coming to Earth, He even calls Himself "the-God-Who-Is-With-Us," or Immanuel. This person called Jesus came to be a signpost of a new way to live. He came to reveal awesome truth about God, the Father, and His desire that we all should know Him and have a real relationship with Him. He also came to show us the life that we all desire to live, a life that has meaning, purpose, and that makes a difference for all time. Jesus said it this way:  "I am the way, the truth and the life." I would say it like this: "Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life."




Jesus is the Way


Jesus made this radical claim about himself without apology. He said it simply and without any kind of equivocation. He was not apologetic when He said it. He really meant it when He said, "No one comes to the Father but by Me." He didn't give a three hour discourse to explain himself. He just said "I am the Way" and meant it. When you meet the person who says that there are many ways up the proverbial mountain, he has to meet Jesus at the bottom of that mountain, and Jesus is simply going to say to him "I AM THE WAY." 




Jesus Is the Truth


For people in today's a la carte menu spiritual atmosphere, this statement is hard to handle. Even the majority of Christian believers generally think of Jesus as a thinker or philosopher or prophet. When we speak and think like this we basically bring Jesus down to our level in order to try and understand him. There is a danger of attempting to deconstruct or demythologize Jesus in order to explain him. But the truth about Jesus is that He IS the Truth. Truth is a person, Jesus Christ. He is the very essence of all Truth for all time. When someone met Jesus on the road to Nazareth and talked with Him, they met the Truth. Jesus didn't just teach truth, or speak truth, or even learn truth, He was and continues to be, Truth itself.




Jesus is the Life


The writings about Jesus in the New Testament describe two kinds of life. One is called "bios" and refers to mere biological, fleshly life. The other kind of life is called "zoe" and refers to the kind of life that God Himself possesses. It was said of Jesus that "In Him was life and that life was the light of men." In these days we call this kind of life "eternal" life because it is the nature of God to be outside of and unbounded by time. Jesus possessed both the "bios" and the "zoe" kinds of life, thus the statement "In Him" was life. My favorite way to put this is that even the most dogged materialist atheist in the world relies on Jesus for his very life. His life is sustained moment by moment by the very love, grace and choice of Jesus Christ. When I think of a Cosmic Christ, this is what I imagine. Jesus is so filled with Life, the eternal God kind of "zoe" life, that all things have their beginning and end in Him, and are thus sustained by Him. So when Jesus claimed that He was the Life, he was saying something so radical, that either he was telling the truth and is who He says He is, or He was completely insane, or, He was delusional and altogether pure evil. As C.S. Lewis is famous for saying, He was either Lord, a liar, or a lunatic. 


So as we arise and pray this prayer, we are reminded that Patrick's Lord is also ours.  


St. Patrick's Breastplate

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.  


I arise today 
through the strength of Heaven,   
the rays of the sun,   
the radiance of the moon,   
the splendor of fire,   
the speed of lightning,   
the swiftness of the wind,   
the depth of the sea,   
the stability of the earth   
the firmness of rock.  


I arise today 
through the power of God:   
God's might to comfort me,   
God's wisdom to guide me,   
God's eye to look before me,   
God's ear to hear me,   
God's word to speak for me,   
God's hand to lead me,   
God's way to lie before me,   
God's shield to protect me,   
God's Heavenly Host to save me   
from the snares of the devil,   
from temptations to sin,   
from all who wish me ill,   
from near and afar,   
alone and with others.  


May Christ shield me today   
against poison and fire,   
against drowning and wounding,   
so that I may fulfill my mission   
and bear fruit in abundance.   


Christ behind and before me,   
Christ beneath and above me,   
Christ with me and in me,   
Christ around and about me,   
Christ on my right and on my left,   
Christ when I lie down at night,   
Christ when I rise in the morning,   
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,   
Christ in the mouth of everyone that speaks of me,   
Christ in every eye that sees me,   
Christ in every ear that hears me.


from: JavaJazzJesus

Questions of God: Why do you say "My way is hidden from the Lord?"

Is. 40:27          Why do you say, O Jacob,
         And speak, O Israel:
         “My way is hidden from the LORD,
         And my just claim is passed over by my God”?
Is. 40:28          Have you not known?
         Have you not heard?
         The everlasting God, the LORD,
         The Creator of the ends of the earth,
         Neither faints nor is weary.
         His understanding is unsearchable.
Is. 40:29          He gives power to the weak,
         And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Is. 40:30          Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
         And the young men shall utterly fall,
Is. 40:31          But those who wait on the LORD
         Shall renew their strength;
         They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
         They shall run and not be weary,
         They shall walk and not faint.

   It seems that a lot of folks I know are really going through a kind of trial right now: trials of divorce, depression, burnout, physical illness, financial stress, and many more. They are real. They are hard. No getting around it. To glibly quote M. Scott Peck, "Life is difficult."

   So what do you say to someone who is having a rough time in life? You see, it is entirely appropriate to say "just cheer up, man. It'll be alright" to someone who didn't get a raise or who had a falling out with his boss. But what about the big stuff? You know what I mean. How do you respond to "my husband just left me and the kids" or, "the Doc says I have cancer?"

   These days we Americans tend to be an extroverted bunch. We don't want to see people sad faced and down. We feel uncomfortable in the face of real pain expressed in public, right in front of us. We want to reach in and make it all better. Those who are spiritual among us like to quote scriptures about counting it all joy when life crushes you like a bug. We're just really unable to just let people be in their pain and be there for them.

   I learned about this when my mom died back when I was in college. She had been ill with pulmonary problems for three years when she finally passed away, on her birthday, amazingly. She was in and out of the hospital for what seemed like forever. I began to dread when someone would say, "Hey Cliff, the phone's for you. It's about your mom." After she died I had this huge emotional wave hit me. All of the times of just being there and being strong for others had taken their toll on me. What happened was a huge release of grief and everything that goes with it. I was worn out personally, spiritually, and emotionally. The grief was so intense for me that it was like a physical pain in my whole body. I cried out to God in a similar way to our question, and God graciously sent friends, and even total strangers, to strengthen and encourage me. If it had not been for those people that were sent my way to listen and just hang out with me, I wouldn't have made it through.

   So one day I was going through a Sound Warehouse (Remember those stores? Places where you went to listen to and buy new music?) and I saw a couple of friends from school. They were fellow musicians and friends. They asked me how I was doing. I remember the moment and it seemed really like an eternity. I had a choice to be real or to just say "OK, fine." I went ahead and said that I was not doing well, and that I was in grief over my mom's passing. They sat and listened for a moment and even thanked me for taking time with them. Now, that wasn't the real point of this for me. The real thing for me was that I admitted what I was going through instead of carrying the thing on my own shoulders. I decided to be real, even if that meant being sad for awhile.

   Now I guess that this was not the best example, but the point is that people who are not extroverted are tortured into feeling shame over it. We are a nation of people who are shallow and not able to show empathy toward anyone beyond the most basic, surface level, unlike my friends in the story. Which explains our lack of creativity as a nation these days. We need introverts. We need their integrity and strength. We need people who can handle a space of silence longer that ten seconds. We need people who ponder the deeper things of life and try to live a life of internal consistency of soul. So I thank God for those of us who are gifted to be introverts. (Thanks for listening. I really needed to get that off my chest.)

   Which gets me, finally, to the next question of God. It goes like this: "Why do you say 'my way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God?'" Here is God saying in effect, "Are you so unaware of My love for you and My plans of good for you that you would sit there right in the middle of all that blessing and not realize how much I have done and provided for you?" He retorts, "Have you not known? Have you not heard?" The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable."

   His appeal starts with the question "Have you not known?" This is a knowledge that comes from close fellowship and intimacy, the way close friends or even lovers know one another. This is a knowledge that is mutual, deep familiarity with one another. In one of my favorite movies, Dogma, the main character laments to a friend, that she wished she could just have the faith she had when she was a child, because she just believed. I think many of us have had a similar thought. But in the movie her friend replies that as life goes on your cup of faith gets bigger, and your faith must grow with it, or you end up with an empty cup. Just as children, in the atmosphere of parental love and security, have somewhat of a leg up on faith in the beginning, most of us have the same problem with faith and belief as we mature.

   This also has the familiar ring of one of the questions Jesus asks his friends after they have been with him for about three years. Jesus is talking about his Father and one of the guys pipes up "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?"(John 14:8-9) It's actually kind of a funny scene, if you think about it. I picture Jesus putting his hand on His forehead, looking down and muttering under His breath, "Oy vey! Three years with these guys and still they don't get me!"

   In the Isaiah text, God is saying the same thing to us all. He is reminding us that He's been there with us a really long time, and hasn't given up on us yet. He's reminding us that He's been with us through all of our hard times, and will stay with us no matter what.

   By the way He asks these questions God seems kind of sure of himself, doesn't he? In fact, that is part of His answer to the struggling people He is speaking with. You see, if you were able to just speak and create things, you would probably be pretty self-confident, too. He points to His place as the Creator as a good reason to not be in despair. This is the kind of knowing God expects most people to have, even those who don't necessarily have a personal relationship with Him. This phrase is from the book of Romans: "because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead" The basic thought here being that if you just take a second or so to look at the creation, you see the clear marks of a Creator, and that those marks are so clear that everyone on the planet is held to account for that knowledge, and in this case this is meant as an encouragement that God is there for all of us when we need Him.

   He also says, "Have you not heard?" Imagine you are hiking in the mountains of New Zealand and you run into Paul McCartney at the turn of a bend in the trail. You walk by on the one side and he goes by, tips his hat to you and say, "Good day." You know by that voice that it really is him. What are the odds of that happening? Pretty low, but you never forget that moment. All of us have a celebrity story of some kind. Well, you see, God is the ultimate celebrity. Just like Madonna or Angelina Jolie or Michael Jackson or Elvis, God is well known. And when you see Him He expects you to know it was Him you saw. So how about you? When you had your celebrity moment with that famous sports figure or musician, did you just go on about your day? No way! You told your family, friends and co-workers all about it. And this is what it's been like with God since the beginning. When people had experiences with God they wrote it down or told somebody about it. That's what most of the Bible is, just people telling about their intense experience with God. So God asks "Have you not heard?" and He is basically saying "Hello! It's Me, God, speaking. You know me, right? Created the universe! Gave you life and breath! I wrote a book. It's a best seller. Heard of it?"

   So, as it is His nature to do, He mentions a few things about Himself that are meant to encourage us. First, He says that He is the Creator, which is an appeal to remember his power.  Then He says that He "neither faints nor is weary." This is where God's power coming into our sphere becomes personal. He is saying that, if we ask, His power is available to us. Then He just plainly says it, just in case there are some people out there who don't quite get it. "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength." So if you have ever been weak or felt that you had no might left in you, God is willing to lend His strength to get you through whenever you need help.

   The second aspect of His nature God mentions as available to all of us is his knowledge and understanding. "His understanding is unsearchable." God's point here is that even Google, Yahoo!, and Bing combined have nothing on Him. His knowledge, wisdom and understanding are available to those of us who choose to access it through relationship. This would be the big point He is making here. All of what God is in His power and His understanding are freely available to those who seek Him.

   So what about you? Have you ever felt this way or ever mouthed this question before: “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my just claim is passed over by my God”? If so, that would pretty much make you human, normal, and real. What you do next with this question is what is really important. Probably one of the most oft quoted promises of scripture is God's answer. It is on walls, posters, and refrigerators all over the world. I have this in a framed piece of art on my dresser. God says that:
          "Those who wait on Me (the LORD)
         Shall renew their strength;
         They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
         They shall run and not be weary,
         They shall walk and not faint.

  So what do you have to do to get this strength, to fly high like an eagle, run and not wear out, walk and not faint with exhaustion? You have to ask a question.

from: JavaJazzJesus