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
Rees Howells was a coal miner, one of the harshest jobs a man could do in the early 20th century in his native country of Wales. He was also a deeply religious man who was touched by the Holy Spirit during the famous Welch Revival of 1904. In 1906, he received a call from God to leave the coal mines and become a missionary. In obedience he declared to God, “I do believe that you are better able to keep me than that mining company.” Rees Howells was led by God into a well- documented ministry of intercessory prayer for healing, conversions and to even challenging death at home and abroad.
Together with his wife, they travelled over eleven thousand miles from one mission station to another, bringing revival wherever they went in Africa. Upon returning home in 1924, God commissioned them to build and sustain the largest Bible college in Wales by prayer and faith alone. At the time the founders had only two shillings (fifteen cents) to their name, which prompted the British press to call it, “God’s College,” because all the money had come from Him.
During World War II, Rees was acknowledged as the greatest prayer warrior in all of Great Britain and the miracles of his intercession during the war are legendary. The account of the Allied invasion of Salerno is but one of many proven stories of the power of prayer by Rees and his students. In September 1943, he was burdened to pray for that Italian city, which had become the pivotal point for the Allied liberation of Italy. At the college’s evening prayer meeting, he told his students, “The Lord has burdened me about the invasion of Salerno. I believe our men are in great danger of losing their hold.”
The student body began to pray. Rees Howells relates what happened next, “The Holy Spirit took hold of the meeting and suddenly they all found themselves praising and rejoicing, believing that God had heard and answered. We could not go on praying any longer, so we rose as one . . . the Spirit witnessing in all our hearts that God had wrought some miraculous intervention in Italy. The victory was so outstanding that I looked at the clock as we rose to sing. It was the stroke of 11:00 P.M.”
Meanwhile in Salerno, a frontline reporter was with the troops in combat. His report stated rapidly advancing enemy troops and “increasing devastation was evident.” The British troops were weakening. The only hope was a miracle that would allow them to establish a beachhead. Quite unexpectedly, all gunfire suddenly stopped. A deathlike stillness descended on the battlefield while everyone waited. “We waited in breathless anticipation” the reporter stated, “but nothing happened. I looked at my watch—it was eleven o’clock at night. Still we waited, but still nothing happened all night, but those hours made all the difference to the invasion. By morning the beachhead was established.” (Dick Eastman, No Easy Road, Baker Book House).
In the apostle John’s first epistle to the church, we are challenged to take God at His Word. We are invited to believe one of the most powerful promises about prayer in the whole Bible. It is mighty because it is a promise to every believer of every age. It is potent because it is true for all of us. It is dynamic because it tells us how we can pray with boldness and confidence in any situation and with great assurance as we wait for God to answer. Are you praying like that? Am I? Maranatha!
To help us walk closer with God and to know Him better
