The Power Of Prayer

The Power Of Prayer

Prayer can change history.

NO ONE would have expected Rees Howells to make a worldwide impact. Born in a village in Wales in 1879, he went to school until he was twelve and for the next ten years worked in the local tin mill. After several of his friends went to America, Howells determined he would go, too. A cousin of his had settled in Pennsylvania, so Rees decided to join him, finding a job in a tin mill.

While in Pennsylvania, Rees went one night to a little Methodist chapel to hear a Hebrew Christian, Maurice Reuben, tell the story of his conversion. Later he recounted that as he listened, he “saw the cross. It seemed as if I had spent ages at the Savior’s feet, and I wept and wept. I felt as if He had died just for me. . . . Then He spoke to me and said, ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. May I come in to you as I came in to Reuben . . . ? Will you accept me?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied and He came in and that moment I changed. I was born into another world.”

In 1904 Howells returned to Wales a changed man and found work in the local coal mine. It was a time of change for Wales as well. Beginning in 1904 the fires of revival began springing up throughout Wales, and Howells spent his spare time enthusiastically participating in the revival. He married, and then to his surprise God called him, a coal miner, as a missionary to South Africa. There God used him to spread the Welsh Revival.

In 1920 God brought the Howells back to Wales and called Rees to start a Bible college, relying on prayer and faith alone. In 1924 as a result of miracle after miracle of God’s provision, Rees Howells opened the Bible College of Wales. Not only was prayer central to the running of the school, but Howells felt it imperative to make it central in the students’ lives as well.

When World War II began in Europe, Howells called collegewide prayer meetings, and time after time God answered the students’ prayers for the war.

On September 9, 1943, the students met for an early evening prayer meeting and then again for a second one at 9:45 P.M. At the latter meeting Howells announced, “The Lord has burdened me between the meetings with the invasion of Salerno. I believe our men are in great difficulties, and the Lord has told me that unless we can pray through, they are in danger of losing their hold.”

Soon everyone was on their knees imploring God to intervene. Suddenly at 11 P.M. they broke into spontaneous singing and rejoicing, believing that God had wrought a miraculous intervention at Salerno, Italy.

Then they all listened expectantly to the midnight news. The radio announcer said that unless some miracle happened, the Allies would be pushed back into the sea—exactly the warning Rees Howells had heard from the Lord.

The next day the newspaper headline read, “The Miracle of Salerno.” It reported that the pounding by the Nazi artillery on the first day was so heavy that it was obvious that unless a miracle occurred the beachhead could not be established. Then suddenly, for no accountable reason, the enemy artillery ceased firing—at eleven o’clock. The Salerno beachhead was established.

Reflection

God as the author of history ordains the means as well as the ends. At Salerno, God’s end purpose was the victory of the Allies. One of the means that he used was the prayers of Rees Howells and his students. Have you ever hesitated to pray for something because you thought you were asking for too much? God can answer a prayer request for a military victory as easily as he can one for a parking space.

The reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it.

James 4:2