Rees Howells, Intercessor & Samuel Rees Howells
Rees Howells was born in 1879 and lived an extraordinary life of prayer, faith and sacrifice. In 1906, the Lord asked him to lay down all his hopes, dreams and ambitions in an act of full surrender and to invite the Holy Spirit to live His life through him. When he did this, the Lord showed him that the key to a fruitful prayer life was to pray only the prayers that the Holy Spirit gave him (John 15:7-8).
Intercession was Rees Howells’ primary calling and the Holy Spirit demonstrated through him that God has absolute and complete power over the devil, in finances, sickness and deliverance. Throughout his ministry, Rees was always reaching out in the Holy Spirit to raise the standard in the Church to that of the early Church, when the “greater works” (John 14:12) were performed as a clear testimony to the world of that time.
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ), the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father
– John 14:12
Many of the deepest truths that Rees discovered concerning the work of the Holy Spirit can be found in Jesus’ teaching in John’s Gospel chapters 14-17. Years could be spent meditating on these, but for Rees, he learnt them as the Holy Spirit made him live them.
In 1924, Rees Howells was led to found a Bible College by faith alone, and ten years later, he received the Every Creature Vision from God, accepting personal responsibility to intercede that every person would hear the Gospel.
Rees invited everyone at the Bible College of Wales to receive the Holy Spirit and the responsibility for the Every Creature Vision on the same terms that he had accepted them. The entrance fee to this life of faith, he explained, is a full and complete surrender to the Lord. There can be no compromise with God.
This Vision from God placed upon the College staff a personal duty to intercede for the Gospel to go to the world, and to bind any strong man (spiritual power) in the heavenly realms that hindered the progress of the Gospel (Mark 3:27). Rees had learnt that all conflicts on earth are rooted in spiritual battles in the heavenly realms and that intercession has to prevail in this realm for events on earth to be transformed. This was also the experience of the prophets and apostles in the Bible. The Apostle Paul wrote about it:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood (against human beings, dictators or failed/evil governments etc.), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places
– Ephesians 6:12
Their call, therefore, was to spiritual warfare in the heavenly places as led and guided by the Holy Spirit. The Vision and the College’s personal commitment to it were put to the test before and during World War II (1939-1945), when in accordance with Ephesians 6:12, Satan raised up Hitler to challenge God’s plan for Gospel liberty, freedom and worldwide missionary endeavour.
Satan had to be bound and the Holy Spirit led the Bible College staff in a prolonged intercession for the demise of this threat to dominate the world from 1936 onward. The believing and faith that the Holy Spirit gave at that time enabled Rees Howells to declare publicly the complete defeat of Hitler. He was confident that Divine power and authority were available to overthrow any spiritual powers restricting the proclamation of the Gospel in every country of the world, for the fulfilment of the Every Creature Vision.
In February 1950, Rees Howells was promoted to glory and his son, Samuel Rees Howells, led the Bible College of Wales throughout the next fifty-two years of intercessory battles. Samuel always endeavoured to stress the importance of receiving the Person and not just the blessings of the Holy Spirit, in the future of the College.
The intercessory biography of Samuel Rees Howells, A Life of Intercession, carves an unmistakable pathway through twentieth-century history and shows what God can do through the life of an individual surrendered to Him.
The quality and depth of Samuel’s ministry as Honorary Director of the Bible College of Wales from 1950 to 2002 was greatly shaped and moulded through his years spent under the ministry of his father, Rees Howells. The title ‘Honorary Director’ was not a position without any responsibilities, quite the contrary. It was initially used to distinguish him from his father, the Director, who founded the College, and the title stuck.
Samuel lived for the Lord Jesus Christ and he always stressed the centrality of the cross in history. The victory of all intercessory prayer is established in Christ’s triumph on the cross.
The central themes of Samuel’s life of sacrifice and intercession are summed up in the book of Colossians. Christ’s pre-eminence in creation and in spiritual warfare are unfolded within:
‘He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love…For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him…Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it…
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God…Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the Word, to speak the mystery of Christ…’ (Colossians 1:13, 16, 2:15, 3:1-3, 4:2-3).
Samuel went to be with the Lord in March 2004, having lived according to these principles.
His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord”
– Matthew 25:23
Adapted article by Mathew and Paul Backholer and used with permission from Samuel Rees Howells, A Life of Intercession by Richard Maton and Paul Backholer, edited by Mathew Backholer.
Find out about Rees Howells’ books here.
