Dear Friends and intercessors,

The words of David in Psalm 8:1-4 take on new dimensions in the skies with each passing hour and day. "LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens… when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have said in place, what is mankind that you were mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?"

One of the most amazing facets of this is  that he is not speaking in generalities, but rather is making the point that he is mindful of each one of us individually. Again, and Davis words and Psalm 139:4, “Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely.”

God's attention to specific details and incredible beauty are without comparison and without limit. This extraordinarily detailed little cloud is just one among a world full of clouds that are ever changing and moving and making our natural world beautiful and fascinating. And of how much more worth are we, made in his image, that we receive his love and attention and ready forgiveness and acceptance through what Jesus did for us at Calvary!

And just like this incredible mixing and blending of clouds, God is aware of our interactions with other people. And not only that, he has a specific purpose for each one of them. In Colossians chapter 4:6 he says, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” He has designed us to share his light and love with those around us.

Speaking of this, we recently had a get together with friends with him. We formed part of an open air ministry here called the Teifi Street Pastors. We were all volunteers from different churches and would go out into the street on Saturday night to talk with people who were partying and drinking and carrying on. Two teams of three people would be engaging in conversations with people while others stayed behind the base camp in one of the churches to pray. We were forced to disband with a onset of Covid and this is the first time that we had gotten together Since to celebrate a meal and share stories and testimonies of conversations that the Lord led us into.

After having had to cancel visits to the United States to see our family twice because of health issues, we are super thankful to be here now, visiting family and beloved old friends for the first time in 2 1/2 years. This explains my extended silence and the lateness of this update.

On the long flight over on September 30, I watched this great film about the unusual friendship between George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin. It beautifully exemplifies how God works with such precision in the details of people’s lives, and I was amazed to learn how the influence of these men, and their having been influenced directly an indirectly by John and Charles Wesley, all coincided to preserve the unity of the United States through the last difficult days of the American Continental Congress, as well as the beginning of America's great awakening in the late 18th century. I can't recommend this film enough. What a profound and challenging inside view of how God wants to use us to share his glorious invitation to becoming sons and daughters of the living God, and eternal life hereafter. You can find it and watch the trailer at AGreatAwakening.com.

We will be leaving New Orleans for Portland, Maine, two days from now, and will not be home again until early November. Meanwhile, if you'd like to keep more up-to-date than these "monthly" email updates, I am continuing almost daily podcast, Welsh Morning Moments, which you can listen to anytime at this link.

And as the word encourages us in 1 Peter 3:15, may we be always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks us to give the reason for the hope that we have.

Sincerely,

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends,

This has been the driest summer in Wales since 1976, with the least rainfall in the month of July since written records were first kept in 1836. Although at first glance there seems to be plenty of water here, a closer look shows that the water level is several feet below where it normally is. And when the Teifi River has flooded here in recent years, the water is up to the top of the arch to the left and running through the "eyes" in the main supporting columns, which were built in to help relieve pressure against the structure. This view just upstream across from the old Teifi Mill reveals just how low the river actually is.

These deep channels are usually rushing with water and making a lovely soft roar that fills the air with coolness and refreshment. In the heat of the intense August sunshine, it was sorely missed by the many people like ourselves making the trek up the river pathway. But in spite of the very dry weather, this has been the best summer we've had in many years, and we are grateful.

We have prayed alongside our many farming friends for rain, which is sorely needed for crops and livestock. And at the same time, it has also provided us with a good model for praying for a spiritual rain as well. Just as the dryness of the land affects so many things, the spiritual drought in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world is also painfully evident. 

In our modern "enlightened" world, the word "sin" has become offensive, a bad word, scoffed at as outdated, etc. But the result of it surrounds and bombards us daily. Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." We see the truth expressed in innumerable ways throughout the Scriptures. John Wesley said in one of his sermons in the 1700s, "the greater part have neither the fear of God before their eyes, nor the love of God in their heart."

In Biblical times and up through the present, when revivals have broken out, they have been accompanied by a powerful sense of God's holiness, a strong conviction of sin, and a decision to change. One clear example is in Acts 2:37-38, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.'"

Thankfully, we are seeing lots activity thoughout the body of Christ around the world today. People are having encounters with Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit in many places and encouraging numbers. This picture of a baptism taking place in a public Square in Holland a few weeks back is wonderful to see! There are events in stadiums, university campuses, public beaches and squares, and on and on. In Muslim countries, the churches are growing in record numbers in spite of hardship and oppression.

There is a parallel between the natural and the spiritual. We have now started getting some welcome rain, and the fields are beginning to turn green again after being parched yellow for months. And we know that God is faithful to perform his work of mercy, forgiveness, and salvation, whatever the circumstances might be. Some people have found faith out of uncertainty and tribulation; others are trying to find valid meaning and purpose in life in the midst of variable and transitory social trends. The bottom line is just as it says in Jeremiah 29:13, "And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all of your heart."

The term "soul-searching" comes to mind. Dealing with the big questions about life itself and how we live, it can't be swept under the carpet forever. Again, all through the scriptures, we can see many examples of people pretending that God isn't watching what they're doing, etc. I recently stumbled across a quote by W.B. Sprague in his Lectures on Revivals. He summarizes the church's responsibility to new converts as being threefold: "to save from self-deception, to build up the faith, and equip in holiness." Self-deception, that's a big one. 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Jesus lays out the groundword for our lasting foundation for both this life and the next. in Matthew 7:24 he says, "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practices like a wise man who built his house on the rock." May this become a greater reality for us all day by day, and help prepare us to share the hope within us with those around us.

Sincerely,

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends and praying saints,

Jeremiah has been among my readings for most of this month, and it is pretty intense. God commands him to expose and confront the stubborn sinfulness of human nature almost all the way through the entire book. Thankfully, however, it highlights God’s mercy in a few key places along the way.

Here’s an example from Jeremiah 11:4-5. “…I said, ‘Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God. Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.” And in chapter 12:15 we read, "But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country."

In the New Testament we see God’s promises take on a much broader application. Through the fruit of his sinless life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection, Jesus extends God's promise of life to all who come to him in faith. This is beautifully expressed in Revelation 21:6, "He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.' "

I began to reflect on the significance of this in terms of our modern world. Just taking in the greatness and the breadth of God's love and his dealings with individuals takes on a new scale of meaning when we look at this amazing information about the human race from a massive global database. This graphic is taken from a website called worldometers.info, and it provides some pretty eye-opening statistics.

But of much more transcendent importance is the magnitude of the power of the Gospel to bring people into God’s eternal kingdom. And here again we can see the Lord’s invitation in the words of Jeremiah 29:11, " 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' " Take a look at these numbers—heaven is getting happier by the day!

This glorious hope and future has personally taken on greater significance as we have “lost” several friends to heaven in recent days. And this helps us to keep the proper focus on what matters the most. What would be loss is gain; what really dies is pain. In Christ we live and move and have our being. The rest is all just passing fancy. (Acts 17:28)

Some good fuel for revival prayer is found in 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

Thank you for praying with us for our needy world,

Dick and Gladys

Dear Friends,

I've been sporadically reading through a book called The Welsh Revival of 1904 by Eifion Evans. I recently read Chapter 8, titled "The Inspired Itinerary." He mentions many travelled to Wales to experience the revival firsthand, but also some who were unable to travel to see it for themselves.

Among those was R. A. Torrey, who you may have heard of. He was used greatly by the Lord in Australia and the southern Pacific area years ago around the same time. And curiously, Gladys had just run across something about him the other day and mentioned his name to me. And so when I picked up the book and read this portion, I thought it was worth passing along here.

"R. A. Torrey was unable to make the journey to the Principality, confined to Liverpool by his mission activities. On reading of the revival he wrote the following letter to Roberts, dated 29th November, 1904:

" 'I have heard with great joy of the way in which God has been using you as the instrument of his power in different places in Wales. I simply write you this letter to let you know of my interest in you, and to tell you that I am praying for you I have been praying for a long time that God would raise up men of his own choosing in different parts of the world, and mightily anoint them with the Holy Spirit, and bring in a mighty revival of his work. It is so sadly needed in these times.

" 'I cannot tell you the joy that has come to my heart, as I have read of the mighty work of God in Wales. I am praying that God will keep you, simply trusting in him, and obedient to him, going not where men shall call you, but going where he shall lead you, and that he may keep you humble. It is easy for us to become exalted when God uses us as the instruments of his power. It is so easy to think that we are something ourselves, and when we get to thinking that, God will set us aside. May God keep you humble, and fill you more and more with his mighty power.' "

That is an important lesson that we see illustrated throughout the scriptures time and time again. When Jesus also gave it special emphasis when he said in Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." and verse 5, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." God is the center and the source of it all, and without him we can do nothing.

In the midst of my recent illness, the fact that He was all I had became very real. I'm relieved and happy to report that the Lord has been restoring my strength and I'm able to do some work in the garden with Gladys. But here too is the lesson repeated. We can dig and plant and pull weeds, but only He is the one that sends rain and sunshine makes things grow.

I find that pulling weeds and trying to get all the roots out is hard but good exercise, both physical and spiritual. It is an ideal medium for prayer and meditation. I liken the weeds to my own stubborn ways of thinking, and how important it is to allow God's word to be the judge of all that. During these recent months, time and time again I find that His word or worship song lyrics easily bring me to the point of tears as I realize it is only His goodness that's kept me in the land of the living.

God's word and time with Him in prayer are the source of our strength and hope. And we delight to see Him moving in hearts and lives in the challenging world around us. We find powerful fuel for prayer in David's words in Psalm 19:14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer."

Dick and Gladys