His Resting Place

 Another sublime picture lingers in my mind from our December “God Rest Ye Merry” service. I told you last week about little Levi. As we continued to pray for children I prayed for Levi’s 4 year-old sister Eva who looked up at me with such big loving eyes. Soon I turned to my ten-year old friend Christina from Aplington. Christina is a generous, radiant, and creative girl who nonetheless battles some health issues that can be discouraging to her and her faithful mother Cindy. Do you know the feeling?

Before I laid my hand upon Christina’s head to pray, I felt like the Lord spoke to my heart that He had given someone else in the service a word of encouragement for Christina. We all waited and prayed. After several hushed moments, Deb Polk announced she felt the Lord told her she was to sing a song to Christina. Deb is our wonderful friend and mighty woman of God who was ministering at the piano for the evening. Deb invited Christina to walk up the steps to the main platform and sit beside her on the piano bench. Deb then played and sang softly to Christina, placing her forehead upon Christina’s. So tender, so deep, so healing, so encouraging. The song was “Resting Place” based upon Isaiah 66:1-2. In that passage, the Lord asks who would build a resting place for His presence. He then says He will look for the one who is humble, contrite of heart, and trembles at His word. As Deb continued to sing, loving upon Christina, little 4 year old Eva walked up the steps to Christina and lifted her arms. Christina picked her up and Eva snuggled into Christina’s embrace. So tender, so deep, so healing, so encouraging, so Jesus. A chain reaction of His loving presence. When the song was over, I then laid my hand upon Christina’s head and prayed for her healing as well as declaring that the Lord will help many people become a resting place for His presence through Christina’s life. It was indeed a night to be humble, contrite, and trembling at the beauty and truth of God’s loving word. So is right now.

Do you want to be a resting place for the Lord’s presence this Christmas?

Be humble—give Him control, receive His help.

Be contrite—give Him your sin, receive His mercy. 

Tremble at His word—give Him undivided attention, receive His guidance.

No matter what is ahead, give these three gifts to the Lord and His presence will come rest upon you. My Christmas prayer for you is that you will do these 3 things one day at a time and be His resting place through these Holidays 2012. Your family and friends need you to be His resting place. So do you.

Merry Christmas beloved,

Dick Speight

In His Hands

           At our December 7^th“God Rest Ye Merry” service here in Cedar Rapids, several brought their children and grandchildren forward for prayers of blessing, destiny, or healing. Little 15 month-old Levi was brought forward in his stroller by his parents.

Levi has had serious health problems that have baffled the doctors. With our attendees gathered all around in support, I knelt down in front of Levi who was laughing as he looked right into my eyes. I laid my hand upon his head to begin to pray for him, but Levi wasn’t too thrilled. He squirmed and began to fuss in attempting to push my hand away.

In that instant I had a choice to make—take my hand off or stick with my plan and keep it on. I chose to yield and take my hand off. Levi immediately began cooing and laughing and leaned forward and took my face in his hands and began stroking my face and beard. Obviously my hand and my plan were blocking his view of my face and his desire to reach out and touch me. He continued to look into my eyes and stroked my face as he started making sounds resonant with the singing of our music minister Deb Polk playing at the piano. I realized the Lord was holding my face in His hands through Levi! I felt so loved as the Lord led me to pray healing and destiny over Levi as he kept his hands on me! I had a sense we were surrounded by angels all around.

His mother just told us that ever since Levi came to that worship service he has been laughing frequently. He rarely laughed before. I trust the Lord He is healing Levi and that he will live a long, fruitful life helping many people seek the Lord’s face and be held in His loving hands!

Upon reflection, I realize the moment I took my hand off my plan, I gave the Lord room to work His will.  As you read this, please take a moment. Is there any matter, any plan, any relationship in which you need to yield? Take your hands off, and let the Lord smile upon you and take your face in His hands. He loves you, He delights in you.  Ask Him to fix whatever or whoever you are worried about. Trust Him to work things out in His timing. Let Him be Immanuel- God with you.

There may not have been room at the inn for baby Jesus, but you can give King Jesus the gift of room to maneuver this Christmas. Take your hands off, let Him love you and entrust all your concerns to Him. The Lord is not worried about what you are worried about. Rest in His love. Stop trying to run your own life, or anyone else’s. Place everyone you know, by prayer, in His hands. Lower your expectations of people, love them where they are. Jesus does. Ask Him to give them His abundant life and trust that He will. Lower your expectations of yourself, let Him love you where you are in life. Lower your expectations of Christmas, raise your expectations of the One who is our Eternal Christmas. What an awesome, angelic night it was with Levi. What an awesome, angelic time you can have right now, or every precious moment of your life.

Take your hands off, rest in His.

Merry Christmas beloved,

Dick Speight

My friend Seth

Dear Friends,

I write to you on behalf of Seth Jackson, my 13 year-old friend who was paralyzed in a surgical procedure in 2009.  We are coming up on the 3^rd anniversary of his paralysis. Kim and I and many friends of Come Rest Ministries have faith for Seth’s healing. Please join us in believing prayer.

Seth is a wonderful young man with a smile that lights up any room!  It breaks my heart to see him continue to struggle. When I visited him up in Minneapolis the day after his paralysis, I felt like Jesus spoke to my heart. I heard the Lord  say, “Tell Seth to ask Me to heal Him, Trust Me to heal Him, and work with Me.”  Seth is the son of Pastor Will and Jackie Jackson.  From 2002-2007 Will Jackson served  faithfully in our midst as Senior Pastor of Hus Presbyterian Church.  Pastor Will currently serves in a part-time pastoral capacity with Calvin Sinclair Presbyterian in Cedar Rapids and as part-time custodian at Faith Bible Church in Robins. I have witnessed Will, his wife Jackie, and all their children go through several painful trials in the last few years. They are heroes to me because none of them have given up on the Lord and they are always seeking Him as to how they can help someone else.

Two years ago we made an appeal on Seth’s behalf and many individuals and several churches responded with prayer and financial support. Those funds were expended to help Seth begin a recovery plan of prayer, therapy, training, and equipment in consultation with Project Walk in California. Spinal cord injured and paralyzed patients walk out of their clinic each year.  Seth spent one month out in California with Project Walk in fall 2009 and since then has worked with his family on Project Walk oriented home exercise.  With those exercises and lots of prayer, Seth has seen some significant progress with increasing feeling moving downward into his legs! Praise the Lord! 

However, he still remains wheelchair bound and was hospitalized last summer with infection issues. Due to this there has been a real setback because Seth’s infected tissue needed all this time to heal from the inside out and his exercises had to be suspended all these months as the tissue healed. This is a real challenge. With no exercise, Seth’s legs have lost ground in tone and strength.  We need the prayers of you and your church and ask your financial support for a plan to be enacted as soon as is possible.  Seth will need to begin a new plan of Project Walk home hopefully soon to build back and prepare for a 3 month immersion at Project Walk in California this summer. We believe, with his family, that he needs 3 continuous months on site in California to see sustained progress .  The Jackson family is facing great general financial challenge in addition to the understandable stress of coping with Seth’s injury. Many have asked us why the Jacksons don’t sue for damages and why their insurance doesn’t cover this.  First of all, the Jacksons have explored a very justifiable course of lawsuit but have encountered continual unjust roadblocks all along the way.  I have witnessed firsthand how the system is stacked against them. Secondly, Seth’s injury occurred during a time when he only had Title 19 coverage because his father was in between jobs without health insurance. Title 19 does not pay for Project Walk. I have personally witnessed Seth’s physical progress until this infection and scoliosis this past summer. I have personally witnessed the agonizing saga of unjust medical and legal processes under which the Jacksons are suffering.  I have a sense of righteous anger and resolute faith that compels me to ask you and your church to consider three steps on Seth’s behalf.

1.       Pray for Seth’s complete recovery from paralysis in the long run, and complete short term recovery from his tissue infection soon so he can resume strength and home exercise.

2.       Pray for at least $30,000 to be raised between now and May 31^st, 2012 to pay for Seth and at least one of his parents to go for a three month immersion at Project Walk this summer.

3.       Give personally  as the Lord leads and  ask your own local church prayerfull consider helping Seth. 

River of Life church here in Cedar Rapids continues to administer a Seth Jackson 2CMIRACLE  fund.  You, your family, your church face many needs. Some of you helped generously two years ago. I’m sure you have been blessed by the Lord for doing so. Others legitimately did not feel led by the Lord to help two years ago. I certainly understand if any you do not feel led to help now.  I simply ask you each to seek the Lord. He will let you know what He wants you to do.  If you believe the Lord wants you and/or your church to help, checks may be sent to River of Life, designated for the Seth Jackson fund. Please mail to River of Life, 3801 Blairs Ferry Rd, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 52402.

In addition to helping Seth, I still believe this process will eventually bring hope to many spinal cord injured people in our city and nation—maybe even in your own family or church. We want to learn right along with the Jacksons. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at dickspeight@comerestministries.com.  Thanks so much for prayerfully considering this opportunity to be the Body of Christ.

Come Rest Ministries is committed to ministering deeply to pastors, missionaries, and their families—as well as all God’s people. If there is any way you, your family, your pastor, or your church need prayer, rest, renewal, retreat or encouragement in any way, please contact us. Thank you so much.

Blessings,

Dick Speight

Come Rest Ministries

Relentless

rELENTLESS

Dick and Kim Speight invite you to join them in

A “Full Court Press” After

Constant Companionship with Jesus

February 21-April 8

We believe the Lord is saying, “Prepare room enough for Me.” This is both an invitation and warning of love. The Lord is relentless in reaching out to all. Let us become relentless in reaching out to Him. Then, and only then, can He help us help others in truly fruitful ways. Major changes are coming soon to our lives in this nation and the world.  It is time to prepare. I am not talking about disaster preparedness. If you want sound information about that, contact our wonderful friends at Wind and Fire Ministries here in Cedar Rapids. Yes, it is important to have a 30-day supply of food and water stored for emergency. Go ahead and do that. We have. If a crisis comes it’s important for you and your family to maintain strength so you can help other people and to witness for Jesus. However, some disaster preparedness (or denial and avoidance thereof) is driven by fear of death and suffering, not His love for the lost and the poor. 

The most important Way to prepare for what is coming is to die to sin and rise in love;  to die to our fears of pain, suffering, deprivation, dying, and death; to rise as relentless companions of Christ. It is time we stop making Jesus follow us around. It is time to follow Him around. It is time to stop playing self-absorbed church and start being self-sacrificial church. We say we want to walk with Jesus. But we most often want it on our terms, not His. It is time to end business as usual. Fear must die, love must rise. We must decrease, He must increase.

The term “Full Court Press” comes from basketball. A coach calls for a press to attack the opponent the moment he steps onto the court, instead of waiting for him to come to you. A coach sometimes calls for a press to wake up his own team, to snap them out of lethargy and bad habits, to find the way to victory. Kim and I invite you to join us in pressing into Jesus like a when a little child hugs his or her parent especially tight. Join us in following Jesus in His full court attack on fear, sin, disease, and the devil. By fasting and other means, let’s hold fast to Him!

We will seek the Lord during the Christian season of Lent which begins on Feb. 22^nd and gives way to Easter on April 8^th. Lent is 46 days of honoring our victorious sacrificial Lord Jesus: 40 days of prayer and fasting honoring Jesus for His 40 days of Spirit-led fasting in the wilderness and His ultimate self-denial atoning for our sin on the Cross; plus 6 Sundays of feasting celebrating His Risen Spirit-led Life for all who truly believe in Him. Join us as we prepare by emptying ourselves of worldly sin so He can fill us to overflowing with His love and power to truly help people in their sin and fears. Honestly, Kim and I see these 46 days as a time to experiment and train with the Lord, to make a radical adjustment in our lifestyle with Him to run with Him in the challenging times ahead.

Maybe you want to pray and live in the following ways with Kim and I in Lent 2012…and beyond. Come rest in Jesus’ love. But Come Rest does not mean come sleep! He gives real rest from sin and fear, and real fruitful lives, to all who become His constant companions. He does not expect you to be perfect to follow Him, but He does expect you to pick up your cross and follow Him nonetheless…relentless in resting, trusting, fasting, serving, paying  praising, loving, witnessing with Him.

rELENTLESS after Jesus

 “Jesus, help us become Your constant companions! Help us rest from all that is not of You, and be relentless in seeking and following You! Help us make room enough in our lives for You to love us and lead us through …”

·         Walking with You, Lord, in Fasting…

o   Every Tuesday—Liquids only.(From light supper Monday to light supper Tuesday)

o   Mondays and Wednesdays thru Saturdays—Eat small portions of fish, plain yogurt, vegetables, fruit, whole grains, cold pressed vegetable oils, herbs, and spices. Refrain from processed foods, sweets, fast food, carbonated and fermented beverages.

o   Sundays, the Lord’s Day, will be feast days (no fasting) to celebrate You, Risen Jesus!

o   Refraining from broadcast media & movies, relentless in thanksgiving and praise.

o   Use Christian CD/DVD’s for prayer/praise.

o   Experiment with non-electronic means of play and recreation in You, Lord.

o   Resting from lust of the flesh(comforting self with worldly pleasure), lust of the eyes(covetessnous, comparison, envy), pride of life(sitting on the throne of our own life, manipulation, doubt, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, grudges). Relentless in letting You comfort us, focusing on You alone, resting on Your merciful throne in our hearts.

o   Taking every thought captive to Jesus before speaking or acting on it. Learn to stay before Him in all your thinking, speaking, and actions.

·         Walking with You, Lord, in prayer and meditation on scripture…

o   1 hr/day in 20/20/20--silent resting prayer, scripture meditation, & intercession.(We will provide our detailed guides on request.)

o   30 min/day using the Seek God for the City prayer guide.(Contact servethecity.org)

o   1 hr/wk gathered in one accord with committed believers(Our home will be open 730-830pm Tuesday nights from Feb.21-April 3, or gather with your own friends at your home or church at other times.)

·         Walking with You, Lord, in outreach…

o   90 min/wk in real New Testament fellowship(Acts 2:41-47).(Our home will be open from 7-830pm for our Isaiah 58 Outreach Group for sold out believers who are hungry to live for, Jesus, not themselves. The Lord may be calling you and your friends to open your homes to your gatherings. What have you got to lose? )

o   1 hr/wk in a Men’s or Women’s group for prayer support/accountability.(Our home will be open from 6-7pm for our new Wellsprings Groups starting March 4. Groups only open to those who attend Isaiah 58)

o   30 min/day prayer walking in our neighborhoods. (We are happy to give you suggestions as to how.)

o   Refrain from speaking ill of anyone one and relentless in speaking to build them up.  Refrain from all rumors, gossip, lies, and accusations as in Isaiah 58.  

o   Refrain from pressing down on people, relentless in lifting burdens off them.

o   Seeking Him for spontaneous divine appointments to love, witness, and pray for people.

o   Seeking Him for intentionally planned helping the poor, hungry, and troubled according to Isaiah 58. (Who do you know that is worse off than you? Ask them how you can help them. Do it. If it’s too big for you, ask others to help you. Also, explore volunteering with local ministries to the poor, hungry, and troubled. You might contact our wonderful friends at Serve the City.org!)

Come rest, come press--relentlessly as His constant companions!

Blessings,

Dick Speight