Receive the Impartation of Intercession from the Welsh Revival
In the new era, I see the Lord raising up men and women like Rees Howells of the Welsh Revival[1], who will be marked with deep relationship with the Holy Spirit that produces radical surrender.
This will give birth to a prophetic prayer movement beyond what we have seen, which will decree His global purposes as crisis and darkness continue to rise. As the Lord brings the Church into a new era, the “new wineskin” will include an old mantle being poured out again. Just as God raised up a global prayer movement marked by prophetic prayer through a man who chose to journey with the Holy Spirit into deep surrender and communion, so the Lord will again raise up an end-time prophetic prayer movement with prayers that are proceeding from the mouth of God (see Matthew 4:4). Prayer dedicated by the Holy Spirit will be declared through vessels “on earth as it is in heaven” (see Matthew 6:10). These words of intercession will carry power and authority from those who have gone through the purifying fires of surrender into abiding with the Holy Spirit. From this place, great position will be gained in prayer to affect nations, wars, regions, and Israel preceding the return of the Lord.
Deep Relationship with the Holy Spirit
A key mark of this mantle will be the depth of relationship with the Person of the Holy Spirit. Greater levels of relationship will be the foundation to produce greater levels of surrender. Similar to Rees Howells, the nature of this relationship with the Holy Spirit will be a paradigm shift from “hosting an honored guest” to “moving out all of my stuff for the new Tenant to have the entire place to dwell.” Rather than just “sharing my things,” it will be “Him moving in all of His things.” First Corinthians 6:19-20 will become a reality rather than a concept: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (NKJV). Our perceptions will change from seeing ourselves as the primary dweller of our lives to Him.
As this happens, the humanistic and orphan tendencies in us will be confronted. Many today would be offended at the language of surrender that Rees uses of the Holy Spirit’s “ownership” of him. This level of submission feels “impersonal” as we are no longer the center of the relationship. But the truth is that as this right perception is restored, a deep communion that is centered on Him (the Tenant) rather than us (the dwelling) will come like we’ve never experienced before. The words of Jesus in Luke 22:42 (NKJV), “Nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” were not simply the words of a slave obeying a master. They were the words of a fully submitted Son who had spent 33 years on earth cultivating deep communion with His Father. Jesus made Himself a dwelling place for the Father to have full residency (see John 5:19; 8:28). And because of this, He walked in the deepest communion with the Father that any man has ever known (see John 17:20-26). The restoration of the Holy Spirit’s rightful place in our lives is what creates deep intimacy as He is able to fully dwell in us.
This relationship with the Holy Spirit “levels the playing field.” Rather than only the specifically gifted minister being used, now every believer who fully surrenders his or her life becomes a conduit of His power. Stephen was an ordinary man who was chosen to serve in practical areas of the Church rather than being selected as a “preacher” or “minister.” But his relationship with the Holy Spirit set him apart in such a way that he garnered the attention and anger of the religious system more than the leading preachers and apostles of his day (see Acts 6 and 7)! The Holy Spirit is going to visit “ordinary” men and women in the marketplace, families, schools, and government again. Like Stephen, all those who allow Him to dwell in them in this way will be used for Him to flow through (see Acts 2:17-18).
Many in the past season have only focused on the actions of the disciples with the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. But in the days ahead the Lord will raise up men and women like Rees Howells who first begin with the foundation of relationship with the Holy Spirit that Jesus lays out for His disciples in John 14 and 16. In this place, the relationship with a Person is the pursuit, and the action or gifting is the overflow. God will raise up ordinary men and women who develop deep communion with the Holy Spirit, leading to complete surrender of everything He asks, resulting in extraordinary things being done through them.
Radical Surrender
Like Rees’ early years, the concept of the Christian life as simply walking an upright and moral life, having an affinity for God, and even enjoying services and prayer meetings will no longer have relevance in days ahead. The Lord is going to raise a people in the earth who welcome the fires of purification so that they might walk in radical surrender. The Galatians 2:20 (NIV) revelation of “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” will go from a nice concept to a way of life.
As true relationship with the Holy Spirit becomes the foundation, radical surrender in the days ahead will reach new heights. No longer will we try as hard as we can to give things up; the very One asking us to every level of surrender will now also be the “main Tenant” on the inside of us to “pull us through.” When we are the center and He is the guest, surrender is limited. However, when He is the center, He is able to be the “God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13 NIV).
This surrender will be marked with great humility as the pursuit of holiness turns back to being God-centered. Instead the main focus of holiness being “getting rid of all of my junk” (man-centered/humanistic), it will once again focus on making room for the Holy Spirit to make His residence in me. This process will go far beyond sin. Every aspect of self and every care of life that has had its grip on us will be processed to lose its hold. The motivation of “making me better” will give way to “making Him room.” As humanism begins to leave our ideology of holiness, a humility will come that is founded on John 3:30—because of the fact that He must increase, a burning passion will rise that we must decrease. New desire will come that everything on the inside of us that hinders Him from having “full room” must go. Only when the Holy Spirit is truly in control can radical surrender that is marked with humility be birthed.
An End-Time Prophetic Prayer Movement
Every level of surrender and deepening of relationship with the Holy Spirit led Rees Howells into gaining position in the place of prayer. Not only did authority increase, but so did the prophetic. Surrender and communion meant that not one prayer could be prayed from his own heart and mind. Every word that was prayed could only be “that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4 NKJV). As a result, an entire company was raised up that prophetically decreed the prayers of heaven into the earth amidst global crisis.
In the new era, the Lord is going to raise up many ordinary people, who are radically marked with surrender and relationship with the Holy Spirit, and turn them into a company through which the earth will shake. Comfortable with hiddenness and desiring only for Him to receive the glory, they will form a movement in the earth to rival the plans of the enemy before the Lord’s return. They will not simply pray whatever comes to them, but the full takeover from “the Tenant within them” will cause them to declare “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 NKJV).
Businessmen or stay-at-home moms, schoolteachers or grandparents, doctors or politicians—title and occupation won’t matter. Radical surrender and submission to the Holy Spirit will be the only qualifying factors to be a part of this end-time praying and pioneering army. Just as the Holy Spirit raised up Rees’ school to produce instruments of intercession for the coming world crisis, so these will be raised up to declare His purposes for nations, wars, regions, and the salvation of Israel. As Rees’ company had to labor in the place of prayer as hard as those fighting on the battlefield, so this coming company will be conditioned through the purification process to remain in the fight. The days of 30-minute random prayer meetings will become obsolete in the new wineskin as prayer will become specific with the process leading to a Joel 2:28-29 outpouring over this movement. Assignments will be carried and worked on for years as the enemy rages, yet God’s purposes prevail.
In the new era, the Lord will shift the global prayer movement into a heavy anointing of the prophetic that will be birthed out of intimacy and surrender. But unlike movements led only by men with great gifts and talents, this will come from those who have been processed in purity, humbled in hidden- ness, and surrendered to the Spirit. This place of prayer will become “the great equalizer” as every man and woman from every walk of life who has submitted to the Holy Spirit’s process will be able to shake the earth from wherever they are through the place of prayer.
Notes
I talk about the Spirit-filled history and testimonies of Rees Howells in my book, Prophetic Pioneering.
