The Welsh Revival (The Revival Mantle part 2)
In yesterday's post, I shared the first of two connected dreams received by Gina Gholston. The first dream was in July 2021 and ended with the phrase: “To Be Continued.” Part 2 was received a week ago; I will share that dream with you tomorrow.
The setting in the first dream was Wales. Evan Roberts, one of the leaders of the Welsh revival, was handing our generation the mantle he had carried in that great outpouring. During the dream, it grew into a much larger mantle in order to produce broader results. In the end, those who received it were transported by Holy Spirit back to America. If you have not read the dream, I would strongly recommend that you pause and look at Tuesday‘s post. It will encourage you tremendously.
By highlighting this awakening, Holy Spirit is not telling us He will replicate exactly what happened in the Welsh awakening. Nor are we to seek Evan Roberts’ mantle of revival. Holy Spirit owns and dispenses mantles. We seek God, not people. Nor are we to try and duplicate or copy what Holy Spirit did in the past. We can, however, be inspired and instructed by it. And also, by honoring what Holy Spirit did then, as well as the efforts of those He used, we can drink from the same well of power and anointing. By using this revival as a picture of what He is about to do, God is saying to our generation, “I am about to bring forth an earth-shaking, nation-changing outpouring of my Holy Spirit. It will produce great deliverances, salvations, healings, and societal transformation.”
The Welsh Revival
I feel that today, before sharing the sequel dream tomorrow, I should relate some facts regarding the Welsh revival; they will be helpful and encouraging. The visitation of the Holy Spirit in Wales in 1904-1905 was widespread and felt everywhere. It truly was a revival where God, in answer to prayer, poured out His presence unilaterally, and without focus on any one leader.
The services were full, packed to the brim with people, hungry to receive from the Lord. The Welsh love to sing and this revival was sometimes called The Singing Revival.
The Bible College of Wales shares: “The singing would segue into intercession as loud cries of ‘mercy’ rose to heaven like incense. All over the country, testimonies of hardened souls receiving salvation and lives being changed were heard. The impact of the Lord’s hand was evident. Stories of courts abandoned due to a lack of crime and bars shutting down were commonplace. Entertainment, such as football matches, lacked attendance as people were so hungry for His presence. Sales of pocket Testaments were snapped up as people hungered for the Bread of Life.
“A story was told of how the horses in the mines were confused because they had been driven by men using profanity and kicks, but those disappeared. The Revival so seized the nation that the Western Mail in Cardiff published ‘Revival Editions.’ How often does one see religious news take front page in a national and secular newspaper? In these editions, revival news superseded current affairs, and testimonies replaced tabloids, telling of how the Welsh were more interested in God and His kingdom than the affairs of this world. The back of the paper even contained a hymn and a summary of the number of conversions to date.”(1) Amazing!
Evan Roberts was one of the leaders of this revival.
Revival-library.org tells us: “The great turning point in his [Roberts] life was when he visited a meeting at Blaenannerch where Seth Joshua was preaching. He was perhaps the most powerful preacher in Wales at the time and was holding evangelistic meetings throughout the nation. In one meeting, Roberts heard the evangelist pray ‘Lord, bend us’ and the words stuck to his heart and mind. The Holy Spirit said to Evan, ‘That’s what you need.’ He knew he had to consecrate himself to God before the Spirit would come through his ministry.
“The next day he felt as if he was bursting inside in the chapel meeting. ‘I felt a living power pervading my bosom. It took my breath away and my legs trembled exceedingly. This living power became stronger and stronger as each one prayed, until I felt it would tear me apart. I fell on my knees with my arms over the seat in front of me. My face was bathed in perspiration, and the tears flowed in streams. I cried out, “Bend me, bend me!!” It was God’s commending love which bent me… what a wave of peace flooded my bosom…. I was filled with compassion for those who must bend at the judgment, and I wept. Following that, the salvation of the human soul was solemnly impressed on me. I felt ablaze with the desire to go through the length and breadth of Wales to tell of the Saviour.’
“The revival started in the South and a few days later broke out in the North, as well; within a few weeks, it had spread to all parts of Wales like a prairie fire. People began to flock to the church buildings. Sometimes all the churches in one town would be filled with people, for up to 24 hours a day. In some places there was preaching, in others, there was just singing and testimonies, in still others just people being led to pray out loud.
“The national employment was primarily in the coal mines. These were places of terrible ungodliness, with much swearing, blaspheming, and gambling. But now, services were held hundreds of feet under the earth. Sometimes 300 men would gather to hear the reading of Scripture, sing hymns, and offer prayers.
“Of the revival’s results, one of the most marvelous effects was upon the courts of justice throughout Wales. Criminal calendars were reduced to a minimum. Lists of convictions dwindled to nothing. Judges had, instead of the usual long lists of cases awaiting trial, blank sheets of paper, without a single name.
“One newspaper report said: ‘Truly God has visited His people in Wales. It is not a question of one town being awakened, but of the whole Principality being on fire. Police courts are idle, family feuds pacified, old-standing debts paid, the family altar re-erected, and Bible study becomes a passion. This is the finger of God. Not only does it hold a large place in the religious weeklies, but the chief Cardiff journals give columns to the Revival each day, and some of the principal London papers give a full column every morning.’
“But above all, there were the converts, 100’s of them! After a very few weeks, there were 10,000, and after a couple of months, there were 30,000. When 6 months had passed there were over 70,000 new Christians and after 9 months the figure leapt to around 100,000 new converts.
“Soon the revival spread to other places in South Wales. Teams of young people assisted preachers like Roberts, Sydney Evans, Seth Joshua, Joseph Jenkins, and R. B. Jones. The revival then took hold in North Wales. Within six months 100,000 had come to Christ!
“The Welsh Revival was soon the main topic of conversation throughout the Christian world. Wherever the news went it seemed to cause passionate prayer and began to ignite revival fires everywhere. Christians across Great Britain turned to prayer and church membership increased throughout the land.
“In Scandinavia, a current revival was fanned into a mighty blaze, as a result of the Welsh Revival. Germany was similarly affected as the flame spread across Europe. Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Balkans, and Russia experienced awakenings.
“The United States felt the after-shock of the Welsh Revival in almost every place. Prayer, conviction, and conversion spontaneously occurred, resulting in unusual church growth. In 1906 the modern Pentecostal Movement was born on Azusa Street, in Los Angeles, after a succession of local revivals through 1905. News of the Welsh Revival had encouraged more prayer and suddenly the Holy Spirit descended. Daily meetings were held for the next three years. Visitors flocked there to catch the power of the Spirit and they were not disappointed. No one could have imagined that this was the beginning of the greatest and most effective missionary movement the world had ever seen.
“Almost no country in the world was excluded from the effects of this incredible revival. Almost every nation, on each continent, received new power from heaven, and a new passion for prayer and the lost. Hundreds of thousands came to the Lord.”(2)
Pray with me:
Father, we thank You for Your Spirit of grace and mercy. You are good, all the time. We thank You for what You did in the Welsh Revival and the subsequent outpourings of Holy Spirit it spawned. It truly was used to impact the world.
And now You speak of another, larger outpouring. You say You are mantling Your people with the gifts, anointings, and power necessary to accomplish this. We ask for that. We also pray the prayer of Evan Roberts, “Bend us. Bend our wills to Yours, and our hearts toward the lost and broken.”
Send the fires of revival throughout the earth!!! In Christ’s name, Amen.
Our decree:
We decree that the greatest revival in all of history has begun and will explode on the earth.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
____________________________________________