Dear Friends and Saints:

Saturday we walked up a nearby hilltop that affords amazing views all around of this beautiful countryside where we live. The chapel in the central foreground immediately caught my attention, and in former times would have been the focal point of this local farming community.

In former times the people of Wales, and especially rural areas, were much more aware of their dependence on God and His provision for their livelihood. How natural would it have been then for them to live with an attitude of thanksgiving for His goodness, interspersed with prayers and petitions in times of need which also surely abounded.

Times of coming together for worship and teaching would have also fostered an important hub for fellowship and community life. Ideas come to mind of the occasional barn raising and other seasonal shared chores of haymaking, harvest and the like. With the centrality of The Lord in their lives, a scriptural interdependence would have been the norm. It's easy to idealize here, but you get the idea!

Sadly however, our illustrious human history bears out the fact that we seldom stay on track for long. Deuteronomy 28:47-48 says, "Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies... and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck..."

Today's enemies are far more frequent than those of old with swords and shields, and much more cleverly disguised in a world where we are constantly assailed by godlessness. And independence from any "fairy tale supreme being" or even one another, outside of necessary interchange to provide for our own comfort and security, is sadly par for the course.

And so prayer for revival and renewal bears a heartfelt cry for a people taught of God to "serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything..." - a longing for a people awash in a flood tide of praises and thanksgiving for His inestimable goodness and unending mercies, not only in this life but, incredibly, the Life to come!

Praying for ilumined eyes and hearts of gratitude for the nations,

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends and Prayers:

Last week's meeting with Angus Buchan took place in spectacular farming country nestled among the hills just north of the Breacon Brecons National Park. Way out in the middle of nowhere on a Tuesday night over 700 people showed up!

After posting a note on Facebook the following day, I received a comment saying, "That's not the middle of nowhere, Dick. That's God's backyard! What a wonderful beautiful place for the Holy Spirit to move in and out of the breaths of those who gathered, and touch those who did not know God our Father." And another friend who drove three hours to get there said, "It was an amazing night, we were very glad we'd gone. It was a real heavenly place. Praise God, He was certainly there in all his Glory."

The highlight was that many people surrendered their lives for the first time to Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and responded to Angus' challenge to tell three people about their decision the next day! What a joy to see people set free from bondage. So many kinds modern-day bondage are of human fabrication, and still others just come from our fallen nature and the fallen world around us.

Also there were several hundred others present who renewed their commitment to Christ and pledged more of their time to His service. There was also prayer for physical and emotional healing, as well as restoration of marriages and broken relationships. Many too stood for prayer for freedom from debt and committed to take practical steps in that direction.

All in all it was a great event and everyone involved was thrilled with such a good turnout. I felt like this was a kind of first fruit, and that we'll be seeing more things like this coming up before much longer. And I just had to write down something that Angus said which I happen to agree with.
   "Revival is coming whether you like it or not... I like it!"

A couple of days ago while reading in Psalm 107 the Lord really really spoke to me along that line. This one portion is repeated in three different verses: 15, 21 and 31. What an excellent prayer for revival!
"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Three times!
And then we can carry on with the last two verses as our prayer as well, 42-43 "[May] The righteous see it and rejoice, And all iniquity stop[s] its mouth. (...bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks. - The Message) Whoever is wise will observe these things, And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord."

Ephesians 2:4-5 helps us understand His lovingkindness. "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)." This truth is one of the core elements accompanying revival, and an indispensable revelation for the lost that is worth praying for!

Dick & Gladys

Dear Praying Friends and Saints:

On my morning excursions for prayer at the chapel, this is one of the pictures that most delights me. All the elements need to be in place because it depends on the time of year, the time of day, and what the sky is doing at the moment. As a result I don't get to see it very often, but it is such a powerful reminder of why we are here.

When conditions are just right, the morning sun shines in one of the upper windows behind the pulpit, through the red stained-glass window of the foyer and then into the keyhole from inside the door. And there is the most amazing message that can be found in this life!

"that at that time you were without Christ ... having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation," Ephesians 2:12-14

For a person to come to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, unless the significance, the merit and the power of the blood of Jesus enlightens the heart of man, it is all just religion. One can go to church, know all the creed and doctrine, and even be in possesion of the key to the front door. But without embracing this one marvelous fact, one still remains on the outside.

Hebrews 10:19-20 says, "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh."
Furthermore is this glorious truth found in 1 John1:7, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Our prayer is that all these elements of salvation - the drawing of the Father, the openness of heart and the right timing, all coincide for multitudes in this land of Wales. Also, please remember to pray tomorrow for this event that starts at 2pm Eastern Daylight Time and 11am Pacific D.T.

For more information and map, please visit http://bronyddmawr.org.uk/

Thank you so much for joining with us in seeking salvation for the lost.

Dick & Gladys

Dear Friends of Wales Awakening:

Last Friday we received a visit from another great team of intercessors. This group from the U.S.A.  was led by Donald and Marlis of Southern California and the others were from Wichita, Kansas and Tulsa, Oklahoma. We were also joined our friend Bethan from Moriah Chapel of Loughor, South Wales.

The team had just finished a two week prayer mission throughout some key places in Germany, including Hernhut, Wittenburg, etc. Their assignment included  some places with pretty intense history and we admire their dedication and obedience to the Lord's leading.

Their visit to Wales was of a different character as the history of revivals here left quite a different sort of deposit in their hearts. We had an awesome time of prayer and worship in the chapel here and there was a wonderful anointing of God's presence and power in prayer. One special prayer was that children in Wales today would dream detailed scenes from the 1904 revival and that they would ask their grandparents question who would in turn remember stories and begin to ask questions themselves.

It was also an extra blessing to have them pray for us. As you know both us have been having health issues, and so that was a precious gift. I had started with a tooth ache a few days before and by the next day it had disappeared. And we were also much strengthened and encouraged as they prayed for us and our continued work of intercession for the coming Welsh Revival. We are constantly amazed as we keep meeting people from around the globe are being sensitized to this by the Holy Spirit and prompted to visit Wales!

This past week also included a major landmark in our lives - unbelieveably my sweet Gladys has turned 60 years old! This includes the bonus of getting a bus pass for free travel trhoughout Wales, but there was much more than that. We had three celebrations! One for the two of us, another for a few of us, and then Saturday we had a great group of guests for a real party with glorious sunny weather and all.

Besides some of our local friends, it was a specially fun treat to be able to invite our new intercessor friends from America! Little did they know what was in store for them - a Latin-American style churrasco (cookout), complete with piñata and cascarrones (decorated eggshells filled with confetti) and smashed on one another's heads! A good time was had but all. and we were very glad to have people meet one another, and help make Gladys' 60th birthday such a special occasion! For an idea of the fun, check out this video!

It was also an extra blessing to see how the Lord made connections between people. Some of our local friends had never met before, and our new American friends who we'd only known for 24 hours also really established significant links with people here. As we discussed later with them, it was just so precious to discover this marvelous family of God that knows no boundaries, and experience His love among us as if we've known each other for ages!

It is just this kind of love that will enable the world around us to know we are His disciples, and  cause them to be drawn to "taste and see that the Lord is good!"

Thank you for your interest in and continued prayers for goings on in Wales and beyond,

Dick & Gladys