Category: Dick and Kim’s blog

The Lord will perfect all things concerning me. Your steadfast love, O Lord will endure forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands. Ps 138:8

Dear friends,

• Kim and I have been listening to an favorite Christian music artist, Chris Rice. I am especially moved today by his song “Wind and Spirit.” Go find it on Google or You Tube and enjoy. I suspect, like us, you will be stirred to holiness.
• The Lord has been pouring it on me recently through dreams( four straight nights recently). I have been waking refreshed and grateful for His grace with a deep sense of the words “FRESH START.” I am aware He is changing me, growing me more like Him. I don’t deserve this and have not earned it. None of us do. Grace remains grace. He is relentlessly patient and persistent in perfecting what He has begun in us. We can’t defeat Him. We can delay Him. Ask the Lord for good dreams at night to show you His love. Ask Him for a fresh start. He will give it and insight with whatever adjustments He wants you to make as He continues perfecting all things concerning you. The verse above is my focus verse of intercession lately for myself and anyonefor whom I pray. Try it. Stop resisting and start resting in the Relentless One.
• Local friends, we are having a special I-58 house worship meeting at our home this Sunday from 4-520 pm. It’s Super Bowl Sunday and we believe it’s important to not miss out on the Spirit-led worship that continues to heat up in our gatherings. So we are moving the I-58 meeting ahead to 4pm. Come worship and then feel free to go off to other parties or stay and enjoy fellowship with us as we turn on the game at 530. Bring your favorite snacks and soft drinks to share.

Blessings,

Dick and Kim

Friends,

The Lord has my attention as to how He wants me spending my time after the sun goes down. He wants us to love Him back intimately with lifted hands, hearts, and eyes. Oh how He enjoys you enjoying your evenings with Him—by doing the stuff of your life in awareness, acknowledgement, and adoration of Him.  He wants to help us each finish our day soft, surrendered, & peaceful–our eyes fixed on Him in thanks, praise, and prayer–even as we close them in sleep.

He wants us to stop “vegging out” in worldliness at night and start branching out in holiness in the Light. He wants our pursuits to be truly recreative—good clean fun that builds us up, not wears us down. Godly changes in behavior are awkward to our flesh, but oh how He loves to help us rest, rejoice, and renew in Him.

Ask Him to help you finish each day simpler in trust, purer in praise, and deeper in love with Him. He deserves it and you will be better off for it..

Let Him prune and shape your evening activity toward more love, peace, & joy. He’s waiting.

Where do you start? Ask Him to bring to your mind how He wants you to spend your last 30 minutes before bed for Him, yourself, and others in your household. Experiment with Him. You don’t have to make changes, you get to. He loves you as you are. You can’t make Him love you more. But He can make you more loving.

Lift up your hands and bless Him. Watch how He lifts and blesses you.

Love and blessings,

Dick Speight

Our 6 person team has just returned from an awesome, fruitful 5 day mission to serve Revival Iowa in rural Palo Alto County. The Lord helped Greg Jenkins, Ed & Sharon Zilka, Miriam Bandfield, Kim and I all step deeper into His radiant fruitfulness. The Lord had us deliver and delve into the following word we have been carrying:

“Stay with Me, through thick and thin, and we will have a rompin’ good time!”

1. “Stay with Me” comes straight from John 15 where He says, “Abide with Me.” So we asked them to meet with Him in John 15 as a renewal community after we left. I ask you to meet Him in John 15 this week. More importantly, abide—which means to dwell in, with, & upon Jesus. Ask Him to help you stay with Him no matter what throughout your day.
2. “Through thick and thin” in old English means “through thick forest & thin wood.” This connects w/Romans 5:1-5 for resting/fruitbearing in His perseverance, character, & hope. He’s working His purposes in your life even in everything tedious or threatening. So abide.
3. “We’ll have a rompin’ good time!” connects with John 10:10. Jesus wants you to know this week He came that you would have life abundant! It will all be worth it. So abide.
4. Deliver and delve into this word with others in your sphere of influence! We’ll persevere as well!

• You have a precious opportunity to join us for what may be our last Awakening of Love at Encounter Christian in Cedar Rapids. That wonderful congregation has allowed us to meet there on the third Friday of each month for over two years. However, they also share the ground with another congregation and the two congregations are making some scheduling changes for deeper fruitfulness. We are so grateful to Pastor Caleb Plumb and his troops for trusting and blessing us with this opportunity for so long.
• We are pleased to announce that we will have an Awakening of Love on the third Friday of October at Bridgehaven Pregnancy Center. Many thanks to director Chelsey McDill!
• You can still can apply for a special treat–joining us for our September day retreat at the McDills “house in the woods” here in CR. (See details below)They have twice our capacity. Don’t delay, and make sure you apply by this Saturday, Sept. 23^rd. Slots are filling up! J
• Kim is now busy preparing for her Fall Art Show Sept 28 & 30(see below). Come enjoy her art, conversation with us, treats, and the way she decorates Rehoboth for fall! Wow, am I a blessed man or what? JInvite friends and family. Shop for gift ideas. Who in your life needs more joy? Maybe even you.
• We greatly anticipate arrival of our new grandchild in early to mid-October. Please pray for baby Spinden & Mama Emily, Daddy David, and big brothers Micah & Caleb! We will keep you posted!
• Please pray for me as I am in the home stretch with this new book. I read excerpts to the crowd in NW Iowa and the Lord touched a lot of people deeply.
• All friends of Come Rest are invited to greet Pastor Peter Mahoye Shandakwa and his wife and children who have finally arrived from Africa after many years of many prayers! Thank you Jesus! The joyous reception is from 130-430pm Saturday Sept 23^rdat First Church of the Open Bible in Cedar Rapids.
• Thank you for asking the Lord what He may want you to give financially for Come Rest. Some might consider the Come Rest 365 approach, increasing your giving by $1, 2, 3, or 10/day! We thank God for each seed you sow into this mission. May the Lord bless you richly!

Love and blessings,

Dick Speight