Become a prayer warrior
In our weakness, uncertainty and powerlessness, it is time to turn to the Lord afresh in prayer - Chris Cartwright
Some years ago, I was given a copy of the biography written by the missionary Norman Grubb entitled ‘Rees Howells: Intercessor’. It tells the story of a former Welsh miner whose faith and prayers, along with those of a band of fellow intercessors, affected the course of human history.
As a young man, whilst Wales was in the grip of revival, Rees Howells had a powerful personal encounter with God. His total surrender to Christ resulted in a life of dedication and persistent prayer, which was to have an impact way beyond the small Bible college in Swansea, Wales, which he founded. His prayers would touch the world.
Norman Grubb describes how, on meeting Rees Howells, “Light simply poured into my soul as he took time to tell me some of the Lord’s inner dealings with him. I learned secrets of the Spirit – as the one come down to do his mighty work through human agents – which revolutionised my future ministry.”
Pastor Yang Took Yoong, Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Community Church, Singapore, picked up the book nearly 30 years ago. Though it had a profound impact on him, Pastor Yang says, “Not in my wildest imagination could I have dreamed that 20 years later we would be called to purchase and restore the Bible College of Wales*, the school that Rees Howells established in 1930 and where he lived, taught and prayed until his home-call in February 1950.” But that is what came to be.
In that small but beautiful setting, Rees and a committed group of intercessors prayed through the Great Depression, the Second World War and the re-establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948.
Increasingly, as they prayed and saw God move in and through the great and turbulent events of human history, Rees developed a burning conviction for what he called the ‘Every Creature Commission’ that he believed God was renewing to the global church. While the fleet of small boats sailed from England to bring the stranded soldiers home from Dunkirk, they prayed. While the Luftwaffe bombed and battered the towns and cities of Britain through the Blitz, and outnumbered Spitfires set off to challenge them, they prayed. As they prayed relentlessly and persistently in vigils that lasted hours every single day through World War II, they saw themselves as prayer warriors committed to interceding for God’s righteous and restoring kingdom to break through the horror and demonic forces of war. Commentators suggest their prayers were instrumental in altering history during the war and in sowing the seeds for the last great endtime harvest of souls.
It’s no surprise that as, in our day, we hear God calling us and others to the huge task of reaching everyone on Earth with the gospel of Christ in the next decade, we find ourselves drawn back to examples of men and women who believed God in their day. People who, through prayer, faith and obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit faced crises and storms.
In recent months, many have been sensing the need for us, in our weakness, uncertainty and powerlessness, to turn to the Lord afresh in prayer. The National Leadership Team of Elim join me in urging every one of us to seek God afresh in prayer for his kingdom to come and his will to be done in our families, communities and nations. Over the next year, we will be committing as a movement to united and regular prayer.
When Luke describes the moment Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, it’s so easy for us to jump straight into the prayer but miss the fact that the disciples felt just like we do. They felt weak and remote and out of tune with God the Father. But Jesus had come to them, and they not only heard him speak to the crowds and saw him heal those who were sick – they heard and saw him pray. And they were captivated by Jesus’ praying. It’s clear they had never heard prayer like that, and it drew them to want to be able to speak with their Father God like he did. That’s why they asked him to teach them how to pray.
And so he began to teach them, as the Holy Spirit would continue to teach the disciples at Pentecost and beyond and as he continues to want to lead and teach and direct us now. It’s in that context that Jesus tells them to persist in prayer, to ‘ask and it will be given… to seek and you will find, to knock and it will be open to you’.
We invite you to join us on Sunday 7 January 2024 for the Elim National Day of Prayer. We are asking each of our Elim churches to come together as One Movement and we will commence the year with our hearts stirred and awakened for new mission.
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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