I was reading through a book on prayer, and I came across this ancient prayer, which I later found out is an excerpt from a prayer called St. Patrick’s Breastplate. I love the cadence and beauty of the spoken words of this prayer.

 St. Patrick’s Breastplate

Christ as a light

Illumine and guide me.

Christ as a shield O’ershadow me.

Christ under me;

Christ over me;

Christ beside me

On my left and my right.

This day be within and without me.

Lowly and meek yet All-powerful.

Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;

In the mouth of each who speaks unto me.

This day be within and without me,

Lowly and meek yet All-powerful.

Christ as a light;

Christ as a shield;

Christ beside me

On my left and my right.

Amen.

This is such a beautiful, simple prayer to start off your morning prayer time, yet so comprehensive. The prayer begins by reminding us that Jesus is our light for the journey of life that we are on (John 1:4-5), and that each morning we can pray for Him to guide us through our day, to help us stay on His path and not wander off of it.

The next verse reminds us that Christ is our shield, our protection, as Psalm 3:3 tells us. And we need only read through Ephesians 6:10-20 to see the importance of having our shield of faith securely in place for the day. It is only with this shield that we can quench all the fiery darts of our enemy.

The next four verses are so lovely. They remind us that Christ has us completely enveloped with His love and presence. This evokes Psalm 139: 7-12 for me. How completely reassuring to realize that Christ has us hemmed in! Sometimes the words hemmed in have a bad connotation, but not in this instance. We can be assured that Jesus is with us everywhere, always. He’ll be with us in that presentation for work, at home with the children, as we travel, when we have that difficult conversation.

We are then reminded to pray for ourselves and those we meet throughout the day as James 5:16 says, to remember that life is not just “all about us.” Christ wants us to shift our focus onto the people in our circle of influence.

Finally, this prayer points us to Jesus’ character and attributes. Though he was born to a lowly family, He is the All-powerful One as seen in Ephesians 3:20, which means that nothing we face is beyond Jesus. He can handle it all and, consequently, so can we. Actually, His word says we can do above all that we think possible with Him by our sides.

I love praying some of the ancient prayers of the faith. They encourage me in my walk and then inspire me to tell God the thoughts and prayers of my own heart.

I hope they do for you too.

Do you have a favorite prayer? Share it below if you’d like.

Pray on!

Do you ever wish you could do something BIG for the world? I mean something with lasting influence? You may feel as if what you do through your day doesn’t amount to much in the big scheme of things. You look at your friends or family or those in the Christian spotlight who seem to have exciting jobs and callings, while yours pales in comparison. Well, I’d like to suggest that perhaps the problem doesn’t lie with you or your calling.

The problem is how you see yourself.

You’re looking at yourself with your “worldly” eyes, rather than through your spiritual eyes as God sees you.

You see, the Bible tells us that God has given us all spiritual gifts that He wants us to use–not just during special times or events–but everyday (see Romans 12:3-8; 1Corinthians 12:8-10, 28; Ephesians 4:11).  In the ordinary, in the boring, in the busy, in the slow, in the crazy times of our lives, He wants us to use these gifts. But how many of us are really doing that?

Recently, I’ve been challenged to rethink how I look at my days and my gifts.

I’m working through a Bible study called Acts: An Invitation to Courageous Living, written by two women at my church, Corinne Gunter and Julie Meiners. In Week 6, I was asked to think about those people that God has placed in my sphere of influence, and the authors included a diagram (like the one below) in the Bible study. They said to put myself in the place of the green dot in the middle of the circle and then add on the circle the names of people in my life that I may have some influence over.

As I did that, I realized that there were a lot of names on the circle, people of various ages and stages of life, some even of different cultures. Some live close to me, some live farther away.

I then sensed God asking me how I might be able to minister to or influence these people He has put in my life, using the gifts He has given me. For example, I realized I could encourage the first-time mother on my list with a home-baked meal (using the gift of hospitality) to help her after she came home from the hospital. Intercession is another gift of mine, so I could certainly pray for a young person I know who is wandering far from the Lord. Exhortation is another gift, so I could schedule to meet with a teen girl I know to be a sounding board as she struggles with some decisions in her life.

Corinne and Julie challenged me to look at my life and open my eyes to the people God has put there. What have I been missing? Who is God calling me to help, and what is He asking me to do?

I’d like to challenge you to do the same thing. Fill out your circle of influence. Ask God to show you who may be right under your nose that could benefit from some of your time and resources. What are you missing, maybe because you’re looking for the “big” thing?

Well, God does has something big for each of us to do, and often times He has us start right where we are. What’s He putting on your heart today?

Pray on!

Backyard summer morning

It was such a beautiful morning today that I wanted to share it with you. I hope Psalm 100 Blesses you as you go about your day!

Pray on!

The summertime is one of my favorite times of the year, especially fresh, sunny mornings on the deck with my Bible. For me, prayer seems easier when I’m surrounded by flowers, singing birds and a warm breeze. I love to start the day this way–before I’m consumed by the distractions of my to-do list and job.

My morning time gets me grounded and ready for whatever the day may bring. However, I’ve noticed how easy it is to “lose” God in the busyness of the day. It’s not that He goes anywhere–He’s still there; it’s just me who has moved away. Lately, I’ve decided to be more purposeful about bringing God into all of my day–not just the mornings. As I was thinking about how to do this, I came across the Jesus Prayer in a book I was reading on spiritual disciplines. The Jesus Prayer is not a new idea; rather, it’s been around as a practice since the 5th century and has its origins in the Bible.

The Jesus Prayer is a simple, short prayer that says, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” or “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It probably sounds familiar to you if you’re read the gospel of Luke lately where the tax collector is praying in chapter 18, verse 13 “God be merciful to me a sinner!” Or perhaps you’ve read the story of Bartimaeus, the blind beggar who called out to Jesus in Mark 10, “ Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The crowd tried to shush Bartimaeus (I wonder; have I ever discouraged anyone from following Jesus? I hope not!), but he just yelled all the louder. Jesus blessed his faith by healing him and giving him his sight!

The Jesus Prayer is explained in an ancient book called the Philokalia, which had hundreds of pages of ideas on how to practice this prayer–rather surprising when you consider the brevity of the prayer! An anonymous Russian pilgrim in the middle 1800s also wrote a book about his experiences with the prayer and how it changed his life. This book is called The Way of a Pilgrim. Both books are still on the market, so if you want to read more about the Jesus Prayer, these would be some in-depth reading for you.

But, if you’re ready to jump in and start practicing this discipline, it’s very simple. To help you focus, start practicing this prayer in a quiet place. Breathe in and pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,” and then breathe out and pray “have mercy on me, a sinner.” Try to tune out any distractions, thinking about the words and praying them from your heart. The whole idea is to reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Reminding ourselves that we are sinners is not meant to put ourselves down, but rather to help us not take for granted what Jesus has done for us and continues to do for us. Some people like to use prayer ropes to keep track of how many times they pray the prayer each day. To me that seems to become almost legalistic, but do what feels comfortable to you. As you become accustomed to praying the prayer, you can pray it wherever you are throughout your day to ground you and draw you closer to God.

That’s what I like about this short prayer. I think that praying the Jesus Prayer will help me not “lose” God as I go about my day, but rather help me to focus on Him–wherever I am.

What do you think? Do you think the Jesus Prayer is a practice you’ll try? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Pray on!

Everyone,

Just a quick post to ask for your prayers for the tragedy of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. We also need to pray for all the countries where tsunami warnings are posted, including the US. I am sure most of us have friends and loved ones who have been affected in some way. Please leave a comment below if you have someone in particular we could be praying for.

My cousin Nick, his wife Corrie and baby Noelle live in Hawaii on the island of Kuaii. Nick works in a hotel and they have been relocating their guests to higher floors.

Pray on!

I was reading a Grace Livingston Hill book recently (old-fashioned fiction stories). In her book one of her characters is wondering about how prayer works. The character had recently come through a dangerous situation safely, and after a friend told her he had been praying for her, she was wondering if that friend’s prayers could have specifically worked to help keep her safe. This is what the character was thinking.

“Was prayer perhaps like the radio, just as sounds were stored up in the air, so perhaps prayers were hovering about on their way to and from God?”

What an interesting way this is of looking at prayer! I love the visual this put into my mind of millions of prayers floating around in the air on their way to the throne of God. Romans 8:26-28 tells us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, so we know that prayers are also directed to us from heaven. It’s a two-way street of prayers on a heavenly highway!

This quote on prayer from a fictional character really started me thinking about how God may use our prayers. I wonder if the prayers that are prayed on our behalf are at some point hovering around us in a hedge of protection. When we pray for our children or spouse, do those prayers envelop them as they go about their days? As we pray for other countries, do those prayers gather forces with the prayers others have prayed to “cushion” that country?

What must the heavenly airwaves look like with all the prayers of the saints?

I wish we could see it. What do you think?

Pray on!