Dear Friends and Praying Saints:
Reading through Stephen's spirit-led account of the patriarchs' history in Acts 7 yesterday morning, I was struck by verses 20-21. "At this time Moses was born; and he was well pleasing to God. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was set outside, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son." There was something special about this child that made him so beautiful and attractive to the princess that she took him home. The more I considered and prayed about this, the more I was drawn into a deeper picture.
The precious seed of God's purpose and destiny in Moses paints a prophetic picture or type of Christ coming to save His people. It was this fact of his being beautiful in God's sight (NIV) that overcame any of the many practical reasons why the princess should not have taken him in as her adoptive son. It was the divine shine of God's pleasure in him that captured her heart.
Then I began to consider this characteristic of being well pleasing to God in our own lives. The amazing reality is that we all have the seal of God's love on us. What an enormous privilege that we can actually please Him. Here's the bigger picture. When one of the disciples asks Jesus how He will manifest Himself to them, he answers him in John 14:23, "'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.'" The key here, of course, is the "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word..."
This is the heart of discipleship – Jesus says in Mark 8:34, "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." He and His father dwelling in us and taking pleasure in our company are the source of our "divine shine."
We have been delightfully invaded recently by two more groups who were shining brightly for Jesus. Their determination to become disciples of Jesus is readily apparent and their joy and dedication are explosive. These are people who are sold out for Jesus and whose hearts are filled with a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The first group is from Iris Ministries' Harvest School of Missions, and this was the last week of this three-week phase of training here in Wales. Their first three weeks were spent in Mexico, and Sunday they traveled north to Scotland for their final three weeks there. They are currently on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides for three days of worship and prayer. What a powerhouse of discipleship in action!
Then on Thursday, we had a quite spontaneous visit from a group of pastors mostly from the USA. They had gotten in touch with a friend from Swansea, a recent student at the Bible College of Wales, who asked if I could share an overview of what took place at Blaenannerch with Evan Roberts.
It has been an action-packed few weeks, and it seems things are beginning to get back into motion as the pandemic thankfully fades away. As good as that may be, the world seems to continue its downward spiral into spiritual darkness — confusion, barbaric warfare and displacement of millions, division, deception, and distrust are profoundly shaking the world around us. People desperately need the truth and love of Jesus to attach them to God's eternal plan of salvation.
Thank you for praying with us for the "new normal" for the Body of Christ. In the words of Jesus, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."
Dick & Gladys