Excerpt from The Intercession of Rees Howells
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbour as thyself–Mark 12: 30, 31
One day the Holy Spirit showed me a village where there were many desperately needy people, drunkards, down-and-outs and such like, and he said, "I want you to prove my love to these people so you must be the first sufferer." This meant that whenever anyone was in need, I was to be willing to deprive myself first before any of them went without. The village was the first responsibility the Holy Spirit gave me and I became more responsible for the people there than my father was for our family at home. I know what it is to have a father’s love because I am a father, but the love I had for the people in the village was more than that. I became a father to them and their sufferings became my sufferings. My father lavished his love upon us at home but his love was natural and therefore limited, but mine was God’s love through me, the love that went to death on Calvary for lost souls, the love that has no limitations.
Every person who was in need I allowed him to supply it through me. They were blood-bought souls and I saw them as such. I proved to the full the joy of giving and the more I gave the more I wanted to give. When a strike threatened I was prepared to take credit at two shops so that they all could have essentials, and I was prepared to take on a liability up to 100 pounds. As the apostle Paul said, "You may have many teachers but not many fathers." I convinced these people with facts, not my talk.
–From The Intercession of Rees Howells
