Fortified!

Have you ever looked at a packet of cereal, on some of them, they say that the cereal is ‘fortified’ with vitamins & minerals. When food is enriched or fortified; trace elements of vitamins and minerals are added to the foods. This is sometimes done to increase the appeal of the food to buyers,  but it is also done from a health standpoint; aiming at reducing dietary deficiencies in people. Making the population in an area healthier.

The dictionary definition of fortify is ‘to provide (a place) with defensive works as protection against attack,’ ‘to strengthen (someone) mentally or physically‘ or as already spoken about ‘to increase the nutritive value of (food) by adding vitamins.‘ The word comes from late Middle English; which comes from the French fortifier, which came from late Latin fortificare, which is from Latin fortis ‘strong’.

The word ‘Fort‘ comes from the same root. A Fort is a strong defensive edifice.

It is a place that is build up to proved a strong and safe shelter from attacks.

“The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” – Proverbs 18:10. There is a children’s song that is based upon this proverb called ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord‘. It’s a bit of a blast from the past; and I remember singing it at open air church meetings when I was at University in the early 1990s.

That is not the only place in the Bible where it talks about God being a strong tower; in Psalm 61, the psalmist sings about this.

The other way to look at fortified, is not only a ‘fortified‘ building, but also something or someone that has been strengthened. We get the sense of the word ‘edify‘ from this. When we ‘edify‘ – encourage one another in our faith; we are building each other up. We are fortifying each other. This is an important thing to do for each other. At our last ‘Redefine‘ we look at the fact that God never intended us to do life alone. He wants us to do life in community with Himself and with each other. Part of that is encouraging one another, edifying and fortifying each other in our faith. The apostle Paul says this to the church in Thessaalonica “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:10-11

This coming Sunday at ‘Redefine‘ we will be having a great night where the young people will be doing just that. They will be fortifying each other with our fantastic ‘FREDtalks‘. These are our take on TEDtalks. “TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.” – excerpt taken from their website.

With our FRED talks we give the amazing young people that come to ‘Redefine‘ the opportunity to share a short talk about a topic and how it relates to their faith. These have always been well received and help to create and build community within ‘Redefine’ and also provide a platform for the young people to encourage and fortify each other in their faith.

This not only strengthens them, but also helps them with their resilience. Their ability to bounce back from some of the things that they encounter in life. A bit like with another type of castle; a bouncy castle!

So thank you for all of your prayers and financial support for the work that we are doing at Llandudno Youth for Christ; you, with God, are helping to make a difference in many young people’s lives.

Be blessed!