Dear Friends and praying Saints:

We received a card from friends a couple of weeks ago that contained the following excerpt from a poem called God Knows written by Minnie Louise Haskins in 1908. It seems so profound and pertinent I thought I would pass it along. It's apparently fairly well-known here in the U.K. but was totally new to us.

     And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
     "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
     And he replied: "Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the
     hand of God.
     That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."
     So I went forth and finding the hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
     And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
                                     (You can read the complete text at this link.)

These words spoke quite clearly to me as we enter into the new year with a great many uncertainties almost anywhere we look. Gladys also had an impression from the Lord that there is going to be a clearer separation between light and darkness than we have seen before. So there is all the more reason to draw closer to Jesus as we continue ahead into 2023. Of course, this has been true since we first stepped into the Kingdom of God by His grace and the blood of the lamb. But perhaps now it is more important than ever.

We have been reading through Ezra and Nehemiah, and there are so many parallels that we see in our own times. It is painfully obvious how our turning away from God and His ways has opened the door for so much disorder, division, and disaster in the nations of the world. Again, this is nothing new. The lesson is that  laws cannot produce godliness, only a changed heart. And that's why we persevere, encouraged in our plea for revival. We are in a growing and good company!

Isaiah says in chapter 60:2-3, "For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you." This is the only real hope for "mankind". His glory transforms us, one by one. And then, as it says in Colossians 1:13-15, "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

In Jesus' amazing conversation with Nicodemus in John 3: 6, He tells him, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The historical collective "mankind" is just flesh born of the flesh — each and every individual will die a natural death until Jesus returns. Meanwhile, however long this dusty old world keeps turning on its axis, His desire and provision is that all "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." (Matthew 11:29)

Be encouraged as we pray together to see His kingdom and glory become more and more evident in our times as people come to Jesus in growing numbers around the world,

Dick & Gladys