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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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Welcome to a new week of the Daily Blade. I did want to give a shout out to Pastor Matt Chandler. Thank you so much for doing last week. We are very, very thrilled to have you in the fight with us.

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So, guys, this week we're going to be looking at a traditional Irish prayer attributed to Maywin Suckett, but most of you will know him by his other, more popular name, st Patrick. So this prayer is called St Patrick's Breastplate or the Deer's cry. So it is a prayer of protection or a breastplate prayer, and it was meant to give spiritual armor to those that prayed it. And it was prayed by men in battle and those fighting sinful temptations and stuff like that. And I would encourage you to look up the entire prayer so that you can read it for yourself. But this week we're going to focus in on the beginning of the prayer and the end of the prayer. I'll read them both now.

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I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through beliefs in the threeness, through confession of the oneness of the creator of creation. I arise today through the strength of Christ, with his baptism, through the strength of his crucifixion, with his burial, through the strength of his resurrection, with his ascension, through the strength of his descent for the judgment of doom. And now the end of the prayer. Christ with me, christ before me, christ behind me, christ in me, christ beneath me, christ above me, christ on my right, christ on my left, christ when I lie down, christ when I sit down, christ when I arise, christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, christ in every eye that sees me, christ in every ear that hears me. Now, guys, as I mentioned earlier, this prayer was prayed by men before going into battle, and some people refer to this prayer as the deer's cry. So, according to Irish tradition, st Patrick and his followers were on their way to confront King Leary at Tara he was kind of the high seat of pagan power in Ireland at the time and the king and his druids, fearing Patrick's growing influence in that area, they set an ambush along the path to Tara, intending to kill him before he arrived. And as they approached, he's said to have recited this specific prayer, the full lorica, now known as St Patrick's breastplate, and the attackers were blinded to their presence and, according to the tale, they saw only a herd of wild deer passing by, hence the title the Deer's Cry. So Patrick survived. He arrived safely, he preached before the king and continued his mission of converting Ireland to Christianity.

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Now some people have commented that St Patrick's Breastplate is like the ancient Irish poetic version of Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 20. So I'll read that now against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and have done all to stand firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace In all circumstances. Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication To that end.

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Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. And, guys, just to remind you, that passage is where we got the name for this podcast verse 17,. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. That's what we're trying to give you every day just more of the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. That's what we're trying to give you every day just more of the sword of the spirit to get you through. So join me the rest of this week as we delve into individual lines of this great prayer.

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Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.