May 29. Rees Howells. Ever since he was twelve, Rees had worked in a coal mine. But in 1906, God called him out of wage-earning and into a ministry of praying for people. For more than forty years, Rees prayed for his daily bread, and God always provided.
While on the mission field in South Africa, and he and his fellow missionaries travelled more than 11,000 miles across the continent.
God commissioned Rees to build and sustain a Bible College in Wales. They were to pray for the funds, and God would provide. With 15 cents (US) in his pocket, Rees obeyed, and he prayed. Soon, the Bible College of Wales owned two buildings for its students, and one building to house missionary children, who could not accompany their parents on the field.
The Bible College became a house of prayer for all nations. Rees, his staff, and his students prayed about everything.
On this date in 1940, while the Battle of Dunkirk raged on, Rees saw a vision of God with his sword drawn at Dunkirk.
When we wage war in prayer, we can change history.
Before the Nazi’s lightening war hurled shockwaves across the world, God hid a secret weapon in Wales. His name was Rees Howells.
God had taught Rees to fight by means of prayer. And Rees taught the faculty, the staff, and the students at the Bible College of Wales. The upshot: the community vowed to serve God as intercessors.
“‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams,’” (Acts 2:17, NLT).
Before Hitler waged war on the world, God showed the dictator’s true character to Rees, and his intercessors waged war on Hitler.
Nearly a hundred praying people fought “the battles of the Kingdom…as if called to fight on the Western Front.” Intercessory prayer started at seven every evening. After a supper break at nine, the people moved to the blue room, where they prayed until they felt released. When battles were especially fierce, the prayer warriors prayed and fasted all day.
In May 1940, the Nazis pushed Allied forces toward Dunkirk, which was only 21 miles across the English Channel from Great Britain. Britain lived in extreme danger.
But Rees stood firm in God’s promise that Hitler would not “invade Christian England….There has to be the ‘doom of the Nazis,’” Rees said. “It will come now if we can prevail.”
Still, the Nazis kept advancing. On May 18th, Rees asked God to bring “disaster on the Nazis.”
On May 19th Allied commanders made plans to rescue stranded troops, while Nazi tanks bore down on Dunkirk. “The destiny of England will be at stake today and tomorrow,” Rees said. “There is an enemy that we must keep in check.”
Suddenly—five days later—on May 24th, Hitler halted the German Panzer Divisions. It was a military blunder no one understood, but it gave the Allies time they desperately needed.
On May 26th, Nazi tanks rolled again, and Prime Minister Churchill called England to a day of prayer.
The German military’s relentless bombing sank British ships and pounded the men crowding the shore. And Dunkirk’s shallow beach kept British naval ships from reaching their troops to rescue them. German submarines called U-boats patrolled like sharks stalking their prey. They were out for blood.
Rees and his team of a hundred intercessors asked the Almighty God, who created all people, to save “our men.” Rees then separated himself for deeper intercession as the hundred prayed together.
On May 27th, Churchill called for civilian boats to help. Finally, on May 28th as the prayer warriors continued to battle on their knees, a sense of relief washed over them. They felt sure something had happened while they prayed.
On May 29th, Rees rejoined the people praying. “The battle is the Holy Spirit’s,” he said. “He is there on the battlefield with His drawn sword.” That day “the little ships of Dunkirk,” sailed a calm sea. Churchill had hoped to save 45,000 men, but in the Miracle of Dunkirk, God rescued 338,000 troops.
World War Two continued, and the intercessors continued. Sometimes, like during the Battle of Salena, God told them how to pray before the news reported that the Allies were in peril.
As troops landed in Normandy in 1944, Rees cried to God, “If You hadn’t intervened at Dunkirk, not one of us would be here today. So…don’t allow us to be slack.”
The intercessors prayed. Allied troops crossed the channel on the only night German U-boats didn’t patrol it. Under the cover of thick fog 4,000 ships and 11,000 planes never met a single enemy ship or plane.
How can God use you as secret weapon? When we wage war in prayer, we can change history.
History.com Editors. “Battle of Dunkirk.” History. A&E Television Networks. Updated October 11, 2019.
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/dunkirk.
“Rees Howells, Intercession, and the Bible College of Wales.” Rees Howells – The Story Continues. Byfaith.co.uk. Accessed August 11, 2020 https://www.byfaith.co.uk/paulreeshowells.htm.
Rees Howells—Intercessor, Norman P Grubb, 1973 Lutterworth Press Guildford And London Paperback Edition 1973 Printed In Great Britain By Cox & Wyman Ltd, London, Reading And Fakenham, Reprinted digitally in 1993 by Holiness Data Ministry. Offered free at: https://breakoutministry.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/rees-howells-intercessor-ebook.pdf.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qv_zzh5XilU Interview with Ruth Williams, intercessor during the war, and Samuel Howells, son of Rees. Interview by Christine Darg of the Jerusalem Channel
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/dunkirk
Story read by Peter R Warren https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/