The Breastplate Prayer of Patrick: English Apostle to Ireland (c. 390-460 AD)
Modified and updated by Pastor Brad Matthew Abley, 2015
I arise today with a mighty strength, the invocation of the Holy Trinity;[1] through a belief in the Threeness, through a confession of the Oneness[2] of the Creator of creation.
I arise today Father, through Your strength to pilot me; Your might to uphold me,[3] Your wisdom to guide me,[4] Your eye to look before me,[5] Your ear to hear me,[6] Your Word to speak to me;[7]
I arise today Father, through Your hand to guard me,[8] Your way to lie before me,[9] Your shield to protect me,[10] Your hosts to save me,[11] from snares of the devil, from temptations of vices, from everyone who desires me ill — afar and a near — alone or in a multitude.
I arise today Father, through the strength of Your judgment of the devil and his demons, and of the wicked who have rejected You.[12]
I arise today Lord Jesus, with the power of Your birth[13] and baptism,[14] with the power of Your crucifixion and burial,[15] with the power of Your resurrection and Your ascension,[16] and with the power of Your return for the final judgment.[17]
I arise today Holy Spirit, through Your presence and Your power to anoint me,[18] to lead me and to teach me,[19] all to do Your work, in Your power, to glorify the Father and the Son.[20]
I arise today Holy Trinity,[21] through the strength of Your Word,[22] through the power and joy of prayer,[23] through the freedom of praise and worship,[24] through the blessing of obedience,[25] as Your priest[26] and saint.[27]
I arise today through the strength of Your angels – ministering spirits for the heirs of salvation[28] — in the prayers of those who have gone before me, and in the prayers of Your Church today.
I summon now all these powers between me and evil, against every cruel, merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of spiritists and false prophets, against evil ways of pagandom, against false ways of heretics, against craft of idolatry, against spells of the wicked,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul. Christ shield me today, against all evil, sickness, disease and calamity, and over all the powers of darkness.[29]
Jesus with me,[30] Jesus before me, Jesus behind me,[31] Jesus in me,[32]
Jesus above me, Jesus beneath me, Jesus on my right;[33]
Jesus on my left; Jesus for my mind, Jesus for my heart;
Jesus for my attitude,[34] Jesus for my eyes, Jesus for my mouth,
Jesus for my ears.
Jesus when I lie down, Jesus when I sit down, Jesus when I rise;
Jesus in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Jesus in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Jesus in the eye that sees me, Jesus in the ear that hears me.
I arise today, through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Holy Trinity; through a belief in the Threeness, through a confession of the Oneness, of the Creator of creation, in Jesus’ name, amen!
Known as St. Patrick, this English boy was captured by Irish slaveholders at the age of 16 in the middle of the night on his own native soil. Having worked as a swine-herder on a farm in Northern Ireland, Patrick prayed earnestly to God for deliverance.
He eventually escaped, traveling on foot 200 miles to the coast, where he persuaded the captain of a ship carrying dogs to allow him to travel, under condition that he work as a dog tender.
He ended up in France and lived there for several years in a monastery, where the Lord spoke to him in a dream to return to Ireland and convert the Irish – then bands of warring tribes. In 432 AD, he returned to Ireland, where he converted approximately 120,000 Irish to Christ and established 300 churches and a monastery.
From that monastery, Columba, an Irishman, was sent to convert the Northern part of England, a country that in turn changed the world through the printing of the Bible in English, by sending out the first Protestant missionaries to India, Africa and China, and establishing Law, Politics and Economics upon Scriptural principles.
From England came Boniface, the Apostle to Germany, John Wycliffe, the first translator of portions of Scripture into English; William Tyndale, who completed the translation of the Bible into English; the Pilgrims, who settled America, and John Bunyan and his classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress.
In addition, Issac Watts is known as the father of modern worship music; John Wesley, one of history’s greatest and most effective preachers, who preached approximately 40,000 sermons, rode 250,000 miles on horseback to preach and who planted thousands of churches and won an untold amount of souls to Jesus.
His brother, Charles Wesley, wrote 10,000 hymns and together, they founded the Methodist Church; William Carey was the founder of the modern missions movement; William Wilberforce led the movement to abolish slavery in Western Civilization; George Whitefield was the leader of America’s first Great Awakening.
Hudson Taylor was known as the Apostle to China; Sir Issac Newton was a strong Christian and the father of modern science and mathematics, and many other Christians of great note that have changed the world!
All this from one heavenly vision, given to one obedient man, who has paved the way for us!
[1] 2 Cor. 13:14
[2] See, e.g. Gen. 1:1, 26; Dt. 6:4; John 10:30
[3] Is. 41:9-10
[4] James 1:2-5
[5] Ps. 32:8
[6] Ps. 65:2
[7] John 1:1-3; 1 John 1:1; Ps. 119:105
[8] Is. 41:10
[9] Ps. 25:12
[10] Eph. 6:10-18; Zech. 2:5
[11] Ps. 91
[12] Rev. 20:11-15; cf. 1 Cor. 6:2-3
[13] Mt. 1:21;
[14] Mt. 3:15. He came to identify with us.
[15] Rom. 6:1-11. We identify with Him in His death, burial and resurrection, symbolized in baptism.
[16] Ibid.
[17] 1 Thess. 4:16-18
[18] Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:39, etc.
[19] Rom. 8:14; John 14:16
[20] John 15:26
[21] 2 Cor. 13:14
[22] 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21; Mt. 24:35
[23] Ps. 16:11
[24] See, e.g. Ps. 5:11-12
[25] John 14:21
[26] 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6
[27] See, e.g. 1 Cor. 1:2, etc.
[28] Heb. 1:14
[29] Ps. 91
[30] See, e.g. Heb. 13:5; Mt. 1:23; 28:20
[31] Ps. 139:5
[32] E.g. Col. 1:27
[33] E.g. Ps. 73:23; Is. 41:8-10
[34] Phil. 4:8
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