A Celtic Prayer of Faith

I arise today
Through a mighty strength:
God’s power to guide me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s eyes to watch over me;
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to give me speech,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to shelter me,
God’s host to secure me.

Brigid of Gael, (c.451–525)

Saint Brigid of Brigid of Ireland is one of Ireland’s patron saints, along with Patrick and Columba. Irish hagiography reveres her as an early Irish Christian nun, abbess, and foundress of several monasteries of nuns, including that of Kildare.

 

Faith vs. Hope

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for.”  Hebrews 11:1-2

I couldn’t let the month past without blogging on these verses from Hebrews, my favorite book of the Bible.  It’s chock full of inspiring statements and this particular one hangs on my bedroom wall.

My husband, who is a pastor, tells me that when he visits people who are ill or dying, he often hears these words:  “I believe in Jesus, and I hope I am saved.”  This is not quite right, because there is a difference between having faith and having hope (check it out on the website Beth Ann recommended, https://www.differencebetween.com).  Hope is anticipating that something may come to pass;  faith is an assurance that it will.  The author of Hebrews in exactly right:  if we have faith in Christ, we do not merely hope in our salvation we can be sure of it.  It also means we can be assured of many other promises of God, such as:

• He is working all things out for our good
• He will never leave us or forsake us
• He will supply all our needs
• Nothing can separate us from Him

and more.  Even those before Christ had this kind of faith because trusted in the promises of God even without seeing their fulfillment.

“These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13

They were looking forward to something;  we are looking back.  Shouldn’t our faith be even stronger since we have the privilege of knowing our salvation has already been accomplished through Christ’s death on the cross?

Have faith, friends.  You can be sure.

“If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Romans 10:9

 

Martin Luther on Faith #2

Flee to the Scripture– A Quote by R.C. Sproul

“When you struggle with your faith, when you face the dark night of the soul, when you are not sure of where you
stand with the things of God, flee to the Scriptures. It is from those pages that God the Holy Spirit will speak to you, minister to your soul, and strengthen the faith that He gave to you in the first place.”
― R.C. Sproul, What is Faith?

 

My Faith Looks Up to Thee

This well-known hymn was written by Ray Palmer, a young man who was preparing for the ministry.  It was his personal prayer for renewed courage and energy at a time when he was feeling exhausted and lonely.  He wrote the poem for himself with no plan to ever show it to another person.  Two years later (1832) he ran into his friend, Lowell Mason who asked him to compose some hymns for an upcoming hymnal.  Palmer was still too overwhelmed with the responsibilities of his life to feel up to writing something new, so he opened his journal and offered Mason this poem.  Mason promptly set it to music and told his friend,

“Mr. Palmer, you may live many years and do many good things, but I think you will be best known to posterity as the author of ‘My Faith Looks up to Thee.'”

When your faith is flagging, and you are afraid you can’t keep going, remember this hymn.  Ray Palmer did become a pastor, and wrote other hymns, but this is the most famous.  You can have faith that God uses us even in our weakest moments.

Who’s Got Your Back?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:25-27

I’ve worked at some places that had “Team Building” exercises.  I hated one that came out (and I don’t know if they still do this), but you had to stand with your back to two or four people and just fall backwards and trust that they would catch you.  I never trusted the people behind me to catch me.  I couldn’t do this exercise.

But in my life I’ve learned to trust the Lord.  Now I figure trusting is just about the same as having faith.  They go hand in hand.  I looked up the differences between trust and faith, and there are differences.  According to http://www.differencebetween.com (yes, that’s a real website!) faith is used in the sense of ‘belief’ or ‘devotion’ and the word trust is used in the sense of ‘confidence’ and ‘reliance’.  Hummm, do you trust in your faith?  Or put another way, do you have confidence in your faith that the Lord will take care of you?

While I was the caregiver for my husband I found that I didn’t have confidence in my faith.  Why did my husband get sick?  Why did this happen?  I was terrified of being a single mom of two teen-aged sons without out a penny to put towards a funeral for my husband if he died.  Life just wasn’t supposed to happen this way.  But it did.

I read Matthew 6:25-27 and this verse held a whole new meaning for me.  I had faith in the Lord, but did I have the confidence that He would take care of my life?  At that time, the answer was no.  So I started to try to build my confidence in my faith.  The Lord helped by opening up my eyes and showing me all the little things in my life that He was taking care of.  As  my husband got worse, He brought people into our lives to show us that help was out there and they pointed me in the right direction.  We had in home aides so I could work and a chair lift so my husband could go up and down the steps.  These helps didn’t cost us a penny, but they were priceless.  As a result, my confidence got stronger.  Today, I know the Lord is looking out for me and has a plan.  I just have to listen to Him.

So, if you feel your confidence flagging, remember, God’s got this!!  He has your back.

It is Well with My Soul

Most people know the story behind this hymn, but I’ll repeat it again, just in case some readers haven’t heard it.  Horatio Spafford, an attorney was close to Dwight Moody and decided to visit Moody’s evangelistic meetings in England. At the last minute an urgent business matter detained Spafford in Chicago, so his wife and four daughters boarded the ocean liner alone, and he planned to follow.  On November 22, 1873, the ship collided with an iron sailing vessel and sank.  Spafford’s wife was rescued, but all of his children perished.  He immediately book passage to join his wife in Wales, where the survivors were taken.  The evening his ship passed over the place where his family’s ship went down, Spafford was unable to sleep.  He told himself, “It is well;  the will of God be done.”  Later he wrote his famous hymn based on these words.  (the melody was written by Philip Bliss).  It is truly a tribute to enduring tribulation with faith.

Castastrophe or Eucatastrophe?

My husband and I love words, and I love learning new words.  Somebody once said use a word three times in a sentence, and you’ve made it yours.  So today I’ve learned a new word, and I’ll teach it to you.  I came across it in the biography of C.S. Lewis I recently reviewed, Not a Tame Lion.

Eucastastrophe-a sudden turn of events at the end of a story which ensures that the main character does not meet some terrible, impending, and probable doom.

The word was first coined by the writer, J. R. R. Tolkien (a friend of C.S. Lewis) who affixed the Greek prefix eu, which means good, to catastrophe.  It referred to the “unraveling” of a drama’s plot in an unexpectedly favorable way. (Note to English majors:  this is similar to ‘deus ex machina” but has subtle differences I won’t go into here).

For example, someone might experience the “catastrophe” of losing his or her job, only to find that it forced them to consider a new career which was ultimately more fulfilling.  Thus, their catastrophe became a euchastrophe!

Of course, in case you haven’t already deduced the point of my post, the gospel story, as recounted in the Scriptures is the ultimate euchastastrophe.  Tolkien described it this way:

 “The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends with joy … such joy has the very taste of primary truth.”

So consider this:  in the long run, all our catastrophes are eucatastrophes.  Because of our faith, we know that whatever suffering and tribulation happen along the way, our end, our homecoming is secure.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.’” Rev. 12:3-4

 

 

Because He Lives

This popular Southern Gospel hymn was written by the Gaithers during a rather traumatic time in their lives.  Bill was ill, and they, along with other members of their church family were facing accusations of using their music to make a profit. Across the country drug abuse and racial tensions were on the rise.  Gloria, particularly felt fearful about bringing their third child into the world.  The Holy Spirit came to her aid, giving her a sense of calm and peace. This song is the result.  It reminds us that through our faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, we can face all the trials and turmoil in our own lives.

Habitual Faith

If we expect our faith to comfort us in times of trial, it must become our habit.  We can’t just pull it out like an umbrella when it rains.  I found this quote in my morning devotional.  It was written by H.E. Manning, who was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic church.

“Out of obedience and devotion arises an habitual faith, which makes Him, though unseen, a part of our life.  He will guide us in a sure path, thought it be a rough one:  though shadows hand upon it, yet He will be with us.  He will bring us home at last.  Through much trial it may be, and weariness, in much pain and fainting of heart, in much sadness and loneliness, in griefs that the world never knows, and under burdens that the nearest never suspect.  Yet He will suffice for all.  By His eye or by His voice He will guide us, if we be docile and gentle;  by His staff and by His rod if we wander or are willful:  any how, and by all means, He will bring us to His rest.”