Passion for the Gospel must be our motive in spiritual warfare.

My recent visit to the birthplace of the Welsh Revival has prompted me to add a third reflection on that great movement – with particular reference to the ministry of Rees Howells, whose biography I have recently rediscovered; a veritable treasure half-hidden on our bookshelves.¹

Rees was a product of the 1904 revival whose influence spread across the globe, but is perhaps best remembered for the intercessions he led during World War II which, in the opinion of many, probably did more for Allied victory than any amount of military firepower.

But when Rees and his Bible College students fought the great battles of the war on their knees, it wasn’t just for our freedom. Their prime motivation was to clear obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel, because Hitler’s regime blocked the path to fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission.

Not only was the Nazis’ atheistic ideology the very antithesis of Christianity, but the upheaval of ongoing war would continue to distract people everywhere from a consideration of their soul’s destiny.

Clear Scriptural Goal

And because the Swansea college’s chief concern was for the Gospel, they were also greatly burdened for the Jewish people, who were under threat of genocide. After all, the gospel is “to the Jew first…” (Rom 1:16). And if the Jews were destroyed, they could never be restored to their ancient land as the prophets had predicted, and Jesus could not return, for the Bible clearly states that the Jews must be back in the Holy Land before this happens (see Zech 12-14).

Rees and his students fought the great battles of the war on their knees – not just for our freedom, but to clear obstacles to the preaching of the Gospel.

The college company, however, knew what must take place (it is so important that Christians are familiar with scriptural prophecy) and thus had confidence to pray for victory as the Holy Spirit led them.

Their prayers during the Battle of Britain, for example, were informed by a very clear scriptural goal: “Every creature is to hear the gospel; Palestine is to be regained by the Jews; and the Saviour is to return.”²

An illustration of the influence of the Welsh Revival on the United Kingdom is among exhibits at the Moriah Chapel, the church where it all began in October 1904. Photo: Linda GardnerLaying Their Lives Down

Time and again the German forces were on the point of winning crucial battles when, quite inexplicably, the tide suddenly turned – and the only reasonable explanation was that God must have intervened miraculously in response to prayer.

These Bible students were laying down their lives as much as those young men at the front. From the time of Dunkirk, through the rest of the war years, the entire college (about 100 strong) prayed every evening from 7 o’clock to midnight, with only a brief interval for supper, in addition to an hour-long prayer meeting every morning, and very often at midday.

Passionate Young People

I have already mentioned how the Welsh Revival was ignited (humanly speaking) by passionate young people determined for God to come down and use them as his instruments.

Tragically, few of the UK’s young generation have even heard the Gospel, but among the few are outstanding men and women whom God has already touched, and the mantle is falling on them to usher in a new era of radical Christianity, filling the vacuum created by the hopeless, lifeless and meaningless ideologies of secular-humanism.

Will they be up for the task? Remember Gideon, who only needed 300 men to defeat the enemy, and young David – the anointed ancestor of Messiah Jesus – who required just a single well-aimed stone to slay an intimidating giant. I have met, come to know and even work with some passionate young people who are up for the fight.

These Bible students were laying down their lives as much as those young men at the front.

Just as the 1939-45 battles were fought chiefly by young men, so must the spiritual warfare for our nation be fought in the main by millennials.

If we are to pray for nations, we must first have the kind of passion for individual souls that Rees possessed in bucket-loads; he would fast and pray for a tramp, or drunkard, or village trouble-maker until he had gained victory – however long it took. He also learned to walk by faith for every move he made, refusing to make his financial needs known, trusting God for every penny. In the case of the Bible College, he began with just two shillings and saw God send him £125,000 (the equivalent of millions in today’s money) over the next 14 years.

In 1915 he and his wife Elizabeth went out to Africa as missionaries and witnessed marvellous revivals, accompanied by extraordinary healings, blazing a trail for a future student, Reinhard Bonnke, who would see millions drawn into the kingdom through his huge rallies across the continent.

Even the Queen of Swaziland came to faith. Rees reported: “I told her that God had one Son, and he gave him to die for us; and we had one son, and had left him to tell the people of Africa about God. She was very much affected by hearing that my wife and I loved her people more than we loved our own son.”³

The Bible says: “Anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt 10:37). It’s that sort of commitment to which we are called.

Same Battles Today

Some of the issues that burdened the intercessors at Swansea are very similar to those we are faced with today. Anti-Semitism is once again raising its ugly head all over the planet, though no longer led by Nazis but by an unholy alliance between the hard left and fanatical Islamists. Are we going to let these tyrannical groups complete what Hitler failed ultimately to achieve – the destruction of the Jewish race and of civilisation as we know it?

Those wartime intercessors prayed Israel back into their own land, where they would be safe. But now the 70-year-old Jewish state is surrounded by implacable enemies bent on their annihilation. And even in Britain their future is threatened as a potential Prime Minister is apparently unable to deal with anti-Jewish sentiment in his party.

If we are to pray for nations, we must first have a burning passion for individual souls.

How can we forget? We hold Holocaust Memorials every year so successive generations will learn from history, but it cuts no ice with God-haters. The reason they despise the Jews is because they reject the God who has chosen them as the apple of his eye. He is, after all, the God of Israel, whom we Christians also worship. He wrote the Law on how to live – summed up in the Ten Commandments – at Mt Sinai. But the brave new world has replaced it with an ideology that makes our genes responsible for bad behaviour.

We are no longer categorised as either male or female, but there are now some 70 other ways to identify our gender – all of which makes Alice in Wonderland sound positively sane. No wonder we are faced with a shattering breakdown of family life along with a vicious attack on the sanctity of life and sexual morality.

But the word of God teaches that we are born sinners whose natural tendency to rebel needs dealing with. This was achieved by Jesus on the Cross, where he took the full punishment for our sins, paying for it with his blood. God’s own precious Son chose to die in our place so that we would not perish, but inherit eternal life.

The devil tries every trick to prevent us from acknowledging our deep need of life, love, hope and peace which can only be found at the Cross.

Sharpening Our Vision

When, as a Church and nation, we recover a passion for the Gospel as the only means of mending our broken society and restoring truth and righteousness to our once great country, then I’m sure revival will follow.

Most Western Christians have only a blurred vision of what the Gospel stands for, but our focus must be sharpened to the point where we are prepared to lay our lives on the altar for its truth, and for the freedom to proclaim it on our streets, in our prisons, in our churches, and in our schools and universities.

With such a sharpened vision, we will also gain a fresh understanding of God’s great end-time purpose for the Jews and be better prepared for the return of our Lord to this troubled world. Come, Lord Jesus!

Notes

1 I am indebted to Rees Howells, Intercessor by Norman Grubb (published by Lutterworth Press) for much of the background to this article.

2 Quoting the prayer journal entry for 14 September, 1940.

3 Samuel was brought up by Rees’s uncle and aunt, and later succeeded his father as Bible College Director.

Revisiting the Welsh Revival during a conference at the Bible College of Wales (Part II).

As I continue my report on our visit to the Bible College of Wales and the nearby birthplace of the Welsh Revival, it seemed apt that my wife and I, along with my son’s family, should visit the famous Alnwick Garden in Northumberland the following week.

For the stunning spectacle of its cascading fountains beautifully reflected the purity and power of God’s presence we had experienced on the Gower Peninsula.

It was also at Alnwick that I came across the following inscription carved into stone: “Only dead fish swim with the stream.”

The likes of Rees Howells, the college founder who played a significant role in the revival, made a huge difference to the world because they swam against the tide, as the Bible urges us to do – specifically, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world…” (see Romans 12:1-2).

The cascading fountains of Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, reflecting the purity and power of God’s presence we experienced on the Gower Peninsula the previous week. See Photo Credits.One of his big challenges as he sought God’s leading on personal intercession was when the Lord told him to go hatless in order to reflect a permanent attitude of prayer. This, in 1909, went very much against the grain; in fact, it was unheard of for men to go about without a head covering. And he confessed to having had a tremendous struggle with obeying this particular call.

Fashion enslaves people into ‘keeping up appearances’ rather than pleasing God with acts of faith and devotion. But in this and other ways, Rees learnt to become ‘dead to the world’ and all its influences and expectations; he no longer cared that some would no doubt have considered his strange behaviour as somewhat fanatical (standing up for sexual morality and the sanctity of life is now generally considered unacceptable).

Hatikvah Films, who have already produced a string of inspiring documentaries on Israel’s place in God’s purposes as well as other Christian endeavours, are planning to make a movie called Surrender on the Rees Howells story, according to staff member Stephen Briggs, who also addressed the conference.

The likes of Rees Howells made a huge difference to the world because they swam against the tide, as the Bible urges us to do.

Investments for the Future

Among other participants was former student David Dare, now 80, from Lyme Regis in Dorset, who spoke of life-changing times under the ministry of Samuel Howells, son of Rees. David and his wife Rosemary now host intercessory prayer meetings four times a week.

Further testimonies shared included that of Tara, a seven-times married young woman whose story is told in Gangster’s Girl, soon due out from Penguin Books.

Dr Harry Schmidt, a Bible college principal from Chicago, told the remarkable story of how his wife had led him to the altar twice – initially at the age of 12 when she took him to the front of the rather cramped church to give his life to Jesus. Because there was not much room, he knelt at the corner of the piano stool where he wept buckets as he wiped his tears on the dress of the pianist, who was later to become his mother-in-law!

After falling into disrepair and closing in 2009, the Swansea college site was reclaimed from developers, refurbished and then re-opened in 2015 thanks to a £5 million cash injection from Singapore pastor Yang Tuck Yoong in honour of British missionaries and the revival legacy.

The standard of singing was already high, as you would expect in Wales, but took off into heavenly realms when opera star Huw Priday took the microphone and treated us to glorious renditions of classic numbers including I’ll Walk with God.

Huw believes we are in for a period of great darkness ahead, and that we will need to stand firm in the faith to be ready to care for the many broken people who will flock to the Saviour. Having left a glittering career to commit himself full-time to Gospel ministry, he has an inspiring vision to help reach this generation through classical music.

Bucket-Loads of Blessings

The conference was not short on humour, being graced with the presence of gospel singer Bryn Yemm, a terrific entertainer who had us in fits of laughter even though not actually performing. An award-winning artist who has travelled the world, he has a special love for Israel, having led cruise ship tours from Haifa when he boldly witnessed to Jews about their Messiah.

Linda and I stayed at Nicholaston House, a beautiful Christian retreat some ten miles down the Gower Peninsula, and we had a magical view of the beach at Oxwich Bay. It was a vision of the Gower Peninsula, an area of outstanding natural beauty, that had originally acted as confirmation that I should accept the invitation to attend this conference.

We are in for a period of great darkness ahead, and that we will need to stand firm in the faith to be ready to care for the many broken people who will flock to the Saviour.

A friend with whom we had stayed in Cwmbran, South Wales, before heading for Swansea, had correctly predicted that we would experience ‘bucket-loads of blessings’ and it seemed apt that the long drought was broken by rain – later bucketing down – as we drove to the college via the M4 motorway.

Our Welsh experience finished, fittingly, with a stop to see old friends in Brecon who were missionaries to Bolivia and whose daughters are now following in their footsteps to Colombia and Rwanda. All the family are, like Abraham, still living by faith, not knowing where they are going next, but trusting in the Lord for every step of the way, which had proved to be the theme of the conference.

It seemed entirely appropriate, when we finally arrived back in Yorkshire at the end of our 250-mile journey from Swansea, to learn from TV news coverage of a new hero from Wales, Geraint Thomas, following his epic win in the Tour de France, cycling’s premier event. Will leading the world in this hugely challenging physical pursuit soon be eclipsed at a spiritual level as wells of revival are once more unblocked in Wales?

“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths” (Prov 3:6). We had been on an epic journey ourselves as we continue to discover more about the perfect way to live!

Notes

Additional material sourced from Rees Howells – Intercessor by Norman Grubb, published by Lutterworth Press.

Read Part I of this report by clicking here.

Faith: The means by which we get to know God.

Last week we examined the foundational principle of faith. This week we turn to how faith is put into practice in our daily lives.

1. The Word of God

The main means of acquiring knowledge is through the Bible, the word of God. This includes:

(a) Hearing God’s word: Paul wrote, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). Every time the word is read we should attentively listen, expecting God to speak to us.

(b) Reading God’s word: Paul wrote to Timothy, “…give attention to reading” (1 Tim 4:13). It is important to have a reading plan. Remember the purpose is not merely a knowledge of the Bible, but the knowledge of God himself.

Although it is a well-known cliché, it is still true, ‘you can know God as much as you want to’. Here are some interesting facts: if you read the Bible for 15 minutes each day you would read the whole Bible in less than a year; for a normal reader the whole Bible could be read in 71 hours; the Old Testament in 52 hours and the New Testament in 19 hours. If you read ten chapters a day, in 18 weeks you would have read the whole book. By coming to know God’s ways and works through reading, faith in him is encouraged.

(c) Studying God’s word: This involves taking a book of the Bible, or a doctrine, subject, or character, and collecting all the information you can to learn of him.

(d) Memorising God's word: Many times in Scripture we are exhorted to ‘remember'. The first essential is to receive truth in our hearts - and it is also profitable to have it in our memories.

Although it is a well-known cliché, it is still true, ‘you can know God as much as you want to’.

(e) Singing God’s word: So much Scripture has now been put to music. There is nothing better to offer to God than that which God himself inspired. We have available a whole book of Psalms.

(f) Writing God’s word: The kings of Israel had to write out all God’s instructions. Sometimes we learn more from verses by writing them because you note every word.

(g) Meditating on God’s word: Of all the ways of approaching the word of God, meditation is the most rewarding. Meditation is the practice of pondering, considering and reflecting on verses of Scripture in complete dependence on the Holy Spirit to give revelation of truth. When there is obedient response, the word is imparted within. This will bring forth worship, or praise, or thanksgiving, or prayer, or intercession to God. The more we inwardly receive from him, the more we have to give to him.¹

2. Prayer

Obviously we can never get to know someone without communication. By prayer we speak to God, thus increasing our knowledge of him. Through answered prayer our faith toward God is strengthened and increased. Our prayers are not dependent on eloquent speech, but on the honest outpouring of our hearts and love to him. Thank God, heaven is always open to us and we can speak to him at any time of day or night.

Through the word we discover the will of God, and when our desire is, “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” then, as John wrote, we have confidence in prayer, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him” (1 John 5:14-15).

3. Experience

Our trust in God is enhanced by many experiences, either our own, or those of others. The remembrance of the past faithfulness of God is often an incentive to trust him for the present and the future. The old hymn encourages us, “Count your many blessings, name them one by one; And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

How faith-building it is to read of God’s faithfulness to his people down through the ages. There are so many stories to thrill us: the walls of Jericho falling; the deliverance of Jerusalem in the time of Hezekiah; the many miracles of Jesus; Peter's deliverance from prison, etc. All these stories, and some from your own life, prove that God can be trusted as the reliable, promise-keeping One.

Thank God, heaven is always open to us and we can speak to him at any time of day or night.

It is also refreshing to read the biographies of God’s servants who have proved God in so many circumstances: people like William Carey, David Livingstone, Madame Guyon, Corrie Ten Boom, Brother Andrew, and the work of Open Doors, Operation Mobilisation, Youth With A Mission and so many others who had faith in God.

4. Through the Church

By good teaching and pastoral care in our local churches we learn more about the greatness and goodness of God. Here, too, we rub shoulders with our brothers and sisters in Christ from whom we can learn so much.

We can share our joys and our sorrows, our victories and defeats, our needs and his supply. Here we can experience the support of one another in prayer and action and serving one another. We can learn much of the ways of God through other members of his body.

5. Miracles

When Jesus performed his first miracle in Cana of Galilee by turning water into wine, the faith of the disciples was greatly increased. “This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him” (John 2:11). How wonderful it is to witness the supernatural power of God, proving that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever”.

The Lord never did any miracle merely to attract crowds or satisfy their curiosity. His one purpose in all that he did was to bring glory to God that people might learn about him and, in learning, believe in him. One day Jesus was asked the question, "’What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:28-29). One of the greatest things we can do is to trust him.

Questions

1. As the Bible is the main means of getting to know God, how are you fulfilling this in your daily life? Are adjustments needed?

2. What is your most recent answer to prayer? How did it affect your faith in God?

3. How has your faith in God increased through your local church?

4. Reflect on God’s goodness to you. When did you last count your blessings? Why not do it now, and worship him.

Notes

1 For a detailed study of this important subject, the author has written a book: The Practice of Biblical Meditation (1982, Marshall, Pickering). The American title of the same book is Alone with God (Bethany Publishers).

This article is part of a series, re-publishing a booklet entitled 'The Biblical Basis of First Principles'. Click here for previous instalments.

Paul Luckraft reviews ‘The Battle of the Ages’ by Lance Lambert (2014).

This book is a call and a challenge to genuine intercession and “is directed to the remnant of the faithful in the Western nations” (p5). It is based on the transcripts of several messages given in America, turned into seven chapters and an epilogue entitled ‘The Mystery of Israel’.

The book begins by encouraging us to ‘watch and be sober’. The Church has largely been silent while our nation’s Christian foundations have been destroyed. A colossal removal of Christian principles from Western society has taken place before our eyes while we have sat back. Our Christianity is far too comfortable.

Lambert warns that we are now facing not so much a flood of evil as an avalanche, with powerful forces arrayed against us. He explains what these principalities, powers and world rulers of darkness are like and how they engage in ‘the battle of the ages’.

This title, ‘the battle of the ages’, is key. Although there is a strong focus on prayer in this book, it is not a handbook on prayer, as such. Rather, it contains much wisdom and wider analysis of society, which should inform intercessors and direct their prayers.

Seeing the Spiritual Dimension

In the next chapter Lambert shows us that this world is essentially spiritual, if we have eyes to see. All of global history is the expression of a cosmic battle between God and satan, of both fallen and unfallen invisible beings.

Lambert warns that we are now facing not so much a flood of evil as an avalanche, with powerful forces arrayed against us.

Prayer is engaging in this spiritual battle. Equally important, though, is the fight for the truth contained within God’s word, especially defending it against critical analysis (which began in Germany), disputing the Bible’s divine inspiration.

Each chapter is headed with a significant passage of Scripture, of some length - presumably the reading before each talk that he gave. One such passage is the well-known Daniel 9 which informs the book chapter that focuses on the strategic need for intercession. Daniel is the best example of how to counter the excuses we make not to be an intercessor! The whole chapter is an excellent survey of what intercession is about and how to become more powerful in it.

Lambert also provides personal examples and other stories to help illuminate and inspire. These include the Hebrides revival (1950s), the awakening in the Thames Valley and the Welsh revival (early 1900s). But primarily, his appeal is for people to take the first step into intercession, namely to say to the Lord, “I want to be an intercessor”. The Lord is so short of candidates, he argues, that he will snap you up immediately. Despite the humour, this is a serious point. This is how it begins, with a heart which is prepared to be transformed by the will, which says ‘Take me!’

Israel at the Heart

The title of the book emphasises that the battle has run throughout world history and will continue until the very end of the age. It began before Adam and Eve fell, and will climax when the Lord returns victorious.

The Lord is so short of candidates for intercession, Lambert argues, that he will snap up willing volunteers immediately.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the battle today is the tiny nation of Israel. The final two chapters are devoted to this theme which lead naturally into the epilogue, The Mystery of Israel, taken from Romans 11.

Overall, an excellent book from the pen of one of God’s mighty warriors who entered into his rest and reward shortly after its publication. Even if it doesn’t turn everyone who reads it into an intercessor, it will certainly help us all appreciate the vital and costly role that they undertake.

‘The Battle of the Ages’ (130 pages, paperback) is available on Amazon for £6.52.

A call to believers to battle for the nation.

I don’t often have a sleepless night worrying about the state of the nation. But I did on Wednesday night after watching the chaotic scenes in Parliament that led to the expulsion from the chamber of the leader of the Scottish Nationalist MPs, followed by their mass walkout.

No, I wasn’t worrying about the possibility of another Scottish Referendum and the breakup of the Union, or about the effect upon our parliamentary democracy of the battle between the Lords and the Commons over Brexit. I was worrying about Bible-believing Christians in Britain being no longer involved in the battle for Brexit.

I am convinced that it was praying, Bible-believing Christians who, through their intercession in the days leading up to the historic 2016 Referendum, helped to produce a majority in favour of leaving the European Union. That this was achieved despite the predictions of the pundits and the enormous effort of the establishment, European and world leaders and the mainstream media, all trying to persuade Brits to stay shackled to the EU, is nothing short of miraculous.

But the Referendum battle was only a minor skirmish in comparison with what is happening now, as the Remainers mobilise their forces to reverse the decision and force Britain to stay within the European Union. That is their intention - nothing less - despite all their protests that they are only trying to ensure good trade deals.

My greatest worry is that I sense that many Christians no longer watch the news and follow the developments in the Brexit process because they are tired of it all, or because it’s all so depressing. Yes, it is! But if Christians opt out of the battle the consequences are unbelievably disastrous. The Bible reminds us that "Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labour in vain” (Ps 127).

If Christians opt out of the battle the consequences are unbelievably disastrous.

Have Christians Given Up?

Britain’s prospective release from the European Project and its demonic powers offers a wonderfully open future, potentially full of prosperity and new life. But this can only be achieved where there is sufficient faith in God to allow for his guidance and blessing to be influential in our national affairs.

My fear today is that many Christians have given up battling in prayer for Britain. Yes, I know what I wrote a year ago about not simply praying for prosperity, but that did not mean that we should not pray for God to use these times of trouble to bring a spirit of repentance into the nation.

I strongly believe in God’s promise given through Jeremiah: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer 18:7).

I note that Jeremiah kept calling for repentance right up to the time when the Babylonian army surrounded the walls of Jerusalem: he knew that if the people put their trust in the Lord they would have been kept safe from the most powerful army in the world, even at that late hour. God would have done something at the last moment to save his people!

But the huge danger today is that many Bible-believing Christians have grown weary of the battle raging among our political masters. What came to me during my sleepless night was that many Christians do not understand the nature of the battle: it is not just a political battle, or a fight to save our democracy; it is part of a major spiritual conflict over the Judeo-Christian heritage – and future - of Western civilisation.

Many Christians do not understand the spiritual nature of the battle.

Spirit of Lawlessness

I believe we have reached a period in the history of the world where the most incredible spiritual battle is taking place - both in the heavenlies and upon earth - for the future influence of the biblical revelation of truth given through the advent, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It may be that what we are seeing is the release of the ‘man of lawlessness’ to which Paul refers in 2 Thessalonians 2. The spirit of rebellion against God, together with the rapid rise of anti-Semitism and the increase in the persecution of Christians in all parts of the world, are symptoms of the great spiritual battle that is raging in our lifetime.

Button worn this week by demonstrators outside Parliament.

Paul warns believers not to underestimate the spiritual powers of darkness that are involved. He says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).

My fear is that most Christians do not understand the nature of this battle. They “have eyes but do not see…ears but do not hear” (Jer 5:21; also Mark 8:18). But Paul wrote that God’s plan was to use the ‘community of believers’ (the congregation of saints) “to make known the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph 3:10)!

Sounding the Call

If I am right in what I believe I am hearing in my quiet times, the world is rapidly moving into a period of incredible turmoil, with Europe and Israel at the centre of the battle. Once the civil war in Syria is over the attention of the Islamic world will turn to Israel and Britain needs to be free of European shackles if we are to respond as we should before God.

The greatest need today is for Bible-believing Christians, not only in Britain, but across the world, to recognise the nature of the battle and to seek the Lord for the right prayer strategy. Then, the forces of light may be mobilised by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring his message of salvation to the nations and overcome the spirit of death that is driving the nations to destruction.

A trumpet call to prayer must be sounded among Christians – and we can all play our part in this.

The behind-the-scenes intercession that helped change history.

The year is 1879. A boy is born, the sixth of 11 children, to a mining family in the village of Brynammon in South Wales. This was Rees Howells who, from this humble background, was to become one of those privileged people whom the Lord raised up in a personal way and to whom was given great responsibility.

It is a story that would not have been generally known but for the determination of Norman Grubb, a friend from World Evangelisation Crusade (WEC), to record it in the book Rees Howells Intercessor.

There are risks involved in making a hidden work public. Just as Gideon’s ephod became an object of idolatry in the days of the Judges, after the mighty victory of God over the Midianites, so we must not look too much to the man and not enough to God. Yet, in this year of the celebration of 70 years of Israel being reborn, perhaps the greatest sign of the times, it is good to revisit the testimony of prayer that accompanied the work of God to bring this miracle about.

Learning Humility

Rees Howells was a humble man, broken by the Lord for his own purposes. He faced simple challenges in his early days - challenges as simple as breaking convention and not wearing a cap on an outdoor walk, through to bringing tramps into his home, so that Rees could be a God-pleaser and not a man-pleaser.

Later his experiences on the mission fields and during the time of 1904 Welsh revival showed him the mighty working of God. He learned how to live by faith in all things.

As we celebrate 70 years of Israel re-born, it is good to revisit the testimony of prayer that accompanied the work of God to bring this about.

All this gradually prepared him to establish a small Bible college in Swansea in the days leading up to the Second World War, when the Lord provided all he needed despite the great financial recession of the times. It was a work of God and it would be a close walk with God through the troubled times of the coming war and thereafter.

The Bible College of Wales. See Photo Credits.The College was a training ground for young missionaries and also a base for intercessory prayer, where a small staff held regular meetings as a second war with Germany seemed to be approaching. It is not widely known that Rees Howells made a mistake of judgment at the time. He believed that God would not let the dictators wage war.

God allowed him to believe this and even speak ‘prophetically’ through a book that he published denouncing the dictators and proclaiming what turned out to be a false prophecy. I mention this so we can retain a good balance, seeing what then followed as being more of God than of man. Rees Howells must have gone through those war years even more broken and humbled, after this mistake of judgment.

The War Years

When war did break out, every campaign of the Allies was followed in prayer and victories first proclaimed through prophetic intercessory prayer were then realised in the physical victories. Norman Grubb’s book majors on those war years and the intercessory prayers that arose in a unique way throughout the war. It is worth reading again at this time.

I am glad to have had the privilege of joining the ministry of the Bible College of Wales in its later years, when Rees Howells’ son was the Director. A remnant of the intercessory team of the war years still survived, especially Dr Kingsley Priddy, who had been a right-hand man to Rees Howells and who became a father in prayer to me. I had the privilege of personal discussions to supplement what can be found in Norman Grubbs’ book.

Rees Howells was a humble man, broken by the Lord for his own purposes.

Especial and relevant insights relate to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. Samuel Howells told me how his father once came out of his prayer room and, ashen faced, announced that God had asked him to take responsibility in prayer for the Jews in the death camps. While the war was raging, and Britain was fighting for its own survival, few people at the time understood that satan through Hitler had a central objective of destroying the Jews.

Rees Howells knew how deep this call to prayer would take him, but he said to his son, in faltering voice, that he had accepted the commission. So began the intercessory ministry that was indeed a major part of the war – the spiritual war also raging at the time.

These are hard things to understand and we know how the Holocaust (HaShoah, as it is known to Jews) has impacted the Jewish world, not just during the war years but right through to our day. This event has challenged both Jewish and Christian theology.

Interceding for Israel

The prayers continued after the Second World War was over, and as the news that the Jews might regain their homeland became known. Kingsley Priddy told me how the college was brought to prayer at the time when the United Nations were voting for the partition of Palestine. They saw, in vision, angels surrounding the UN building and they proclaimed victory in faith even before the vote was taken, which despite Britain’s abstention was passed so that Israel would once more be reborn as a nation in their own land.

It is important to mention the path of prayer to this event, which we now, both Christians and Jews, celebrate 70 years later. God calls us into partnership in prayer, not that we should exalt ourselves but that we might know, prophetically, that this was his work. It is not as a result of a political manoeuvre that Israel is back in the Land: it was an act of God.

God calls us into partnership in prayer, not that we should exalt ourselves but that we might know, prophetically, that this was his work.

For the Jews it was at tremendous cost, and we are still trying to understand this. For those who prayed it was a deeply tiring work. Samuel Howells pointed out to me that his father was a robust man but that he died relatively young - his life being foreshortened through those years of intense intercessory prayer.

Our Calling

The Jewish world should know that it was a task given to Christians to pray for the prophetic fulfilment of their return to the Land, and for Christians to know their ongoing responsibility in prayer. God is still working out his prophetic purposes, which will result finally in the return of our Jewish Messiah Yeshua HaMashiach.

God is preparing the way for the Jews’ return to him - the return to the Land being a significant but not final step in this process. He is calling for a refinement of all his people according to Paul’s metaphor of the One New Man.

The day for intercessory prayer - our prophetic partnership with God - continues today. The call is as deep as it always was and the cost is also to be weighed in obeying the call, but call there is. Let us listen and obey as did those who went before us.

Holocaust Memorial Day should drive us to our knees.

As we mark another Holocaust Memorial Day, held each year on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,¹ the ongoing nightmare experienced by the Jewish people – with anti-Semitism once again spreading like cancer – should drive us to our knees.

And I’m glad to say that our African brethren, at least, who have brought much-needed new life and vigour to the British Church, are doing just that by calling a special day of prayer focused on our fractured relationship with Israel.²

Wale Babatunde of the World Harvest Christian Centre in south London is particularly concerned by Britain’s failure to follow President Trump’s lead in recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

This follows a series of betrayals over the years which have undone much of the goodwill fostered by the government’s pledge, through the Balfour Declaration 100 years ago, to do all in its power to re-settle the Jewish people in their ancient land.

Fortunately, African Christians know how to pray, so we are fully expecting God to shake up our complacency over Israel – both in Parliament and in the Church.

The Power of Words

My own MP, Dame Rosie Winterton (Labour, Doncaster Central), has already chaired a debate on Holocaust Memorial Day in the House. In a report to her constituents, she said this year’s theme, The Power of Words, was a reminder that the Holocaust did not start with the gas chambers, but with hate-filled words. She added that words can also be a force for good through which we can demonstrate that we will not stay silent when such vilification and de-humanisation occur.

She’s right – and not staying silent includes speaking words in prayer. Many of us have forgotten, or perhaps never knew, that it was prevailing prayer – not Spitfires and Hurricanes – that won the Battle of Britain. Rees Howells and his Bible College students in Wales were on their knees daily throughout the war.

It was prevailing prayer – not Spitfires and Hurricanes – that won the Battle of Britain.

In fact, according to Norman Grubb, in Rees Howells – Intercessor (Lutterworth Press), “the whole college was in prayer every evening from 7pm to midnight, with only a brief interval for supper. They never missed a day. This was in addition to an hour’s prayer meeting every morning, and very often at midday. There were many special periods when every day was given up wholly to prayer and fasting.” Howells told his students: “Don’t allow those young men at the Front to do more than you do here.”

Jerusalem – focus of conflict. But God calls us to pray for the peace of the city (Psalm 122:6).Over the Dunkirk period, Howells spent four days alone with God “to battle through and, as others have testified, the crushing burden of those days broke his body. He literally laid down his life.”

Enemies All Around

It’s time we did it again. Both Britain and Israel face an enemy just as terrifying as the Nazis, only subtler. This is the belief that we are no longer answerable to a heavenly authority, and that man is his own god – a secular-humanist view that has brought the beginnings of totalitarianism (that brooks no dissent) to a society once proud of its freedom. It was for this that my father’s generation risked their lives in World War II.

But as journalist Melanie Phillips has said on a tour of America, Israel is absolutely central to the recovery of Western values, which are based on the Hebrew Bible. “We’re in this together,” she told the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries radio programme.

Here is the stark reality of what is facing the Jewish people today: Iran is fast developing nuclear weapons with which to “wipe out” Israel (in the words of the Ayatollahs and Iranian presidents) and, ominously in the eyes of many, the Russian Bear has now established a foothold in the region.³ The current spat between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia further adds to the tension and Gaza-based Hamas is repeatedly firing rockets into the Jewish state, while Lebanon-based Hezbollah continues to pose a serious threat on its northern border.

Secular humanism has brought the beginnings of totalitarianism to a society once proud of its freedom.

Brutal Islamic State are also stalking the area, while the Palestinian Authority incites its people to murder and mayhem, and some Westerners are engaged in a boycott of Israeli goods on the pretext that they are oppressive occupiers of land not their own. But the truth is that, in most cases, Jews are being attacked simply because they are Jews, not for political or economic reasons.

Tragically, the South African government is fanning the flames of anti-Semitism with their ruling party, the African National Congress, having last month announced its intention to loosen diplomatic ties with Israel, citing alleged apartheid policies against the Palestinians along with America’s acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the nation’s capital.

Thankfully, the Zulu King is urging them to reconsider. Goodwill Zwelithini, monarch of South Africa’s largest ethnic group, praised the Jewish state for their help in curbing the devastation of drought through their cutting-edge water technology, along with the spread of HIV/AIDS through Jewish-sponsored medical circumcision.

Mountains Can Move!

But in both Britain and South Africa, we have a God in Heaven waiting to hear our cry for mercy. Jesus said we could move mountains with our faith (Matt 17:20, 21:21; Mark 11:23).

Let’s pray for the mountain of paralysing unbelief and complacency to be removed from our nations, in Jesus’ name!

Notes

1 27 January.

2 Taking place on Saturday 17 February, 10am-12:30pm, at the World Harvest Christian Centre, Enmore Road (entrance on Cobden Road), South Norwood, London SE25 5NQ.

3 And we in the West are in very real danger of unprovoked attack from Russia, according to Army Chief Sir Nick Carter. Daily Mail, 23 January 2018.

18 years ago, Anna Hanninen responded faithfully to God's call for her to become an intercessor. Read on to be inspired!

Anna is a retired midwife living in Finland, whose life is committed to intercessory prayer for all the covenant family of God. On her prayer boards are many pictures of friends near and far, for whom she prays every day. Miryam is a nurse and is fully involved to support her mother in the ministry. Their home is dedicated to hospitality for visiting ministers from around the world.

Anna describes her call to prayer:

The Lord was calling me on the night between 17th and 18th July 1998. I woke up that night to the knowledge that the Lord was very close and that He would have something important to tell me. When I felt His closeness my tears began to roll down and I was able to say just, "Lord! You know everything what has been, but You also know that You are dear to me and I'm ready to do Your will whatever it then will be." I felt in that moment within me His voice that was saying, "Your place is to be in the prayer chamber. You will be much alone, but I will always be with you.

I have received prayer targets some Asian countries and Malawi from Africa and other prayer targets. Besides this my primary prayers are for Israel (that had been already tens of years previously in my prayers) sometimes through dreams. Especially there was a dream of Israel during the tribulation of Jacob. [My] second dream was of the suffering body of Yeshua in prisons and third one was of the fate of millions of suffering children on the streets and slave labour of children and in other terrible places.

I wanted [to have] a disciplined daily schedule for the prayers and intercessory prayers. For a few years I prayed for four hours a day regularly. I had been advised to keep Sabbath free of this and to use it to personal recreation and rest and I experienced that it was a piece of good advice.

Later I started to pray three hours a day and during the last year of my prayers have become more the lifestyle and not a kind of "performance" that I do in a set time. Nowadays several shorter times are included in my days when I specially go before the Lord in intercessory prayer, but also in between in the midst of daily chores the intercessory prayer targets are before my inner eyes and in prayer. I think that as much as I can identify with the person or wider intercessory prayer target, so much I can share the loads, battles and experience the attacks of the enemy and share the joys of victories. If we can touch in prayer God's heart, we don't fail.

I think also that if God has called [someone] to the intercessory prayer ministry, so it is [a] call for the time of whole life and one can't disengage oneself of it according to one's own feelings and will. For me it is new fresh commitment every morning when I wake up and praise the Lord for His love and tell Him that I love Him and want to be faithful to Him.

As I'm generally alone at home on the five [days] of the week, so the human sense of loneliness is sometimes even harrowing. So it was particularly in the beginning, as I had lived my whole life from under 20 years old in the midst of a congregation actively and our home was always full of guests from far and wide. When the Lord then led [me] to new kind of stage in this regard, so in the beginning the pain of loneliness was so great that I threw myself down on the sofa and cried out aloud this agony of mine to the Lord. Now I have every day before my eyes the big family of the Lord from different parts of the world. The pictures of everybody whose pictures I have had [the] possibility to get and for whom I pray are fixed on two quite big boards and if I don't have a picture, so I have names on the board or paper. This way those who are far away come close and I can besides 'be travelling' in the spirit from one continent to another to meet them daily."

Anna is now 90 years old. She has recently suffered some setbacks in her health, but is still committed to the ministry of prayer according to her devotion of many years.

Anna and Miryam send their greetings from Finland!

American voters are facing an extremely difficult and important decision. Clifford Hill comments on how they might discern God's will - and how we can support them.

All my American friends are saying the same thing – who do we vote for? Never in the history of the USA has it been so difficult to make a choice – both candidates are seriously flawed. Voters feel they are between a rock and a hard place, or between the devil and the deep blue sea. Many committed Christians I've spoken to say they are not going to vote at all because both Clinton and Trump are so awful!

Allegations of Corruption

The US press has been full of negative accounts about both presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton has been accused of misusing her personal email account for state business when she held high office in the Obama administration. She has also been accused of being involved, together with her husband, in a huge amount of personal corruption in which they have made vast fortunes.

Trump has been accused of refusing to reveal his tax returns which allegedly show that he has hired clever accountants to hide his vast income successfully, meaning that he has paid relatively little in tax. So both candidates are mired in allegations of corruption.

Both candidates are mired in allegations of corruption.

Politically Disturbing

On the political front, Trump has a history of discrimination against African-Americans in renting his property and in employment in his enterprises. He also has made many statements in his speeches indicating prejudice against non-Americans and a xenophobic attitude, such as his declaration that he will build a wall to prevent Mexicans entering the USA illegally, and his promise to ban Muslim immigrants.

Preparations are underway for the second presidential debate, to be held this Sunday in St Louis. See Photo Credits.Hillary Clinton is highly distrusted by conservative voters because of her strong liberal views on abortion and same-sex marriage, as well as her support for the LGBT campaign to allow public toilets to be used by either gender (including the extending of this into state schools, which will allow boys to use the girls' toilets). She is also known to support a wide range of measures that discriminate against Christians who take a stand upon biblical principles.

Voter Indecision

It is these issues of personal corruption and unpopular political measures surrounding both candidates (and many other concerns beside) that are causing such anxiety and uncertainty among voters. Polls currently show Clinton having a small lead over Trump, although some polls show them to be level. But most significantly, recent polls also indicate that as many as 12% are presently still undecided,¹ due to the unpopularity of both candidates. Many of these may not cast their votes at all.

But voter apathy could spell disaster for America. If electors are so alienated by the choice of politicians being offered to the public by the two main parties, voter turnout will be low. This not only undermines the whole process of democracy; it also has a negative impact upon the spiritual life of the nation. That may sound a strange thing to say, but it is based upon a major spiritual principle – the sovereignty of God.

Voter apathy and indecision could spell disaster for America.

God's Sovereignty

Most Christians don't really understand the 'sovereignty of God' because very little is taught about it in our churches and we don't really like verses in the Bible that speak about it. Take a look at two key verses:

Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. (Ps 46:8)

I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. (Isa 45:7)

Does God really create disaster? Surely not! Isn't he a God of love? So why does the Bible tell us that God creates disaster?

Justice as well as love is part of the nature of God, which the prophets of Israel recognised. But they also knew that God held the nations in his hands 'as a drop in a bucket', which was Isaiah's description (Isa 40:15). Isaiah said that God "brings princes to nought and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing" (Isa 40:23). In other words, God is completely in control – everything that happens, he either allows or initiates.

Our Acknowledgement Aside!

The same is true of our individual lives, even if we don't acknowledge his sovereignty. Cyrus, the Persian ruler, had no knowledge of God but God used him to overthrow the Babylonian Empire and allow the captive Jews to go back to the land of Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. God actually called Cyrus his 'anointed one'! He said "I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honour, though you do not acknowledge me" (Isa 45:4).

Understanding the 'sovereignty of God' is of immense importance if we are to know what God is doing today and if we wish to pray with wisdom about what's happening, not only in our individual lives but also in our nation. Understanding God's purposes and how he is working out those purposes in the contemporary world situation is of great importance.

God is completely in control – everything that happens, he either allows or initiates.

Asking for God's Guidance

Prayer changes things. And when many Christians combine to pray about what's happening, they can actually influence the course of history. This has happened recently in Britain on two occasions: the Scottish Referendum, where a huge amount of prayer called upon the Lord to save the British Union; and the June Referendum on our membership of the European Union, which was preceded by prolonged prayer both by individuals and by a large number of gatherings of Christians. They called upon the Lord to guide the nation to the right decision.

Even some politicians who wanted Britain to remain in the European Union, such as our new Prime Minister Theresa May, are now recognising that a new dawn is opening up before the nation, that could lead to a time of unprecedented prosperity and blessing. But this will only occur if we truly seek the ways of righteousness and truth.
The same could happen in America if the American people surround the nation in prayer so that God can work out his purposes.

Praying Wisely

God can work out his purposes one way or another; even if he has to allow what appears to be a disaster. God often has to use disasters in our personal lives or in the life of a nation in order to bless us – to turn us from the wrong path, to change our hearts or to give us a deeper experience of his grace!

This is why it is so important for Christians to pray in the right way – asking the Lord to guide them in placing their vote – not according to party allegiance or personal prejudice. The right prayer is to ask the Lord that his will be done. Then, whatever the outcome, God will work out his purposes for good, and not for evil.

When many Christians combine to pray, they can change the course of history.

Whatever happens in America affects the rest of the world, especially Britain with its historic ties. We urge our readers to pray for America: pray that God will guide America's believing Christians who feel alienated from both candidates and show them how to use their vote.

References

1 Stokes, C. EXCLUSIVE POLL: Democrat Hillary Clinton opens up double-digit Michigan lead on GOP's Donald Trump. WXYZ Detroit, 6 October 2016.

In exciting confirmation of the words brought recently in Chichester and by David Noakes, we review words given at an intercessory prayer day held in Somerset in July.

Across Britain, God is speaking to those who will listen. Just because you pray alone or in a small group, it doesn't mean that God will not speak words of national significance to and through you! He is simply looking for dedicated servants who will spend time in his presence, learning his word faithfully and listening to his heart.

Issachar Ministries has been running a number of intercessory events around the country in recent months, gathering local prayer groups together to intercede for the nation and listen to what God is saying. Last week we reported on their Chichester meeting – this week we bring further news from a similar event held in July, near Wells in Somerset.

Those in attendance gathered themselves into small groups to spend time listening to the Lord, taking notes and feeding back afterwards to the rest of the gathering. Below we have written up the main points and themes that were shared – see if you can spot the similarities to those shared at the Chichester meeting a couple of weeks ago!

Opportunity in Difficult Times

First, many people felt strongly that difficult times lie ahead for Britain, but that in this the Church will have great opportunity for witness.

Warnings were given that our withdrawal from the European Union will not be easy, and that the enemy will try to fight against what God has done. There will be a great need for mature Christians, interceding for the negotiations, helping others to understand God's purposes in Brexit and being directly involved in the business and politics of the exit process. "Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (Heb 5:14).

Words were also given about the degree to which Britain has abandoned her Christian heritage – and how the Church needs to recognise this, and grieve it as Jeremiah grieved over Jerusalem (e.g. Jer 4:19).

Yet, groups also heard that in the difficult times ahead there will come great opportunity for sharing our faith with an unbelieving world. Christians need to arise, pray and actively help others to recognise Jesus – including young people who receive no Christian input in school or at home.

Israel and the Middle East

Some groups were led to pray about the situation in Syria. They fed back that God is weeping over the destruction in that nation, desiring all people to know his love and mercy. It was also felt that Christians should be actively watching what God is doing so that they can explain his purposes to unbelievers.

A number of groups had words about Islam, that God is at work across the Muslim world setting people free from darkness and giving Christians opportunities to witness about their faith. Christians also need to pray for those who come out of Islam into Christianity.

Trusting in the Lord

There were also many encouragements to trust and hope in the Lord, so that the testing times ahead will bear fruit and cause the Church to grow. "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord" (Lam 3:25-26). "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength" (Isa 30:15). Finally, it is essential that we become a listening people (not just interceding), so that we are able to proclaim the word of the Lord that he is speaking to his people today.

The teaching of Jesus is that Christians are those who have "crossed over from death to life" (John 5:19). This is the good news that we have to share with others!

By the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses...

You may notice, reading the above, a close congruency with the words shared last week from the Chichester meeting, and also with the word published the previous week from David Noakes. Please note that the Somerset meeting was held in July – well before these others were given or published!

It is wonderful to have such a confirmation of God's 'now' word for Britain, being given through ordinary Christians gathering in different areas across the nation. "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established" (2 Cor 13:1, NKJV).

The Lord is speaking – we hope you will be as encouraged by this as we are, especially if you regularly pray for the nation and/or are part of a local prayer group!