Preface

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Intercession has been understood by the people of God mainly as a form of intensified prayer. But plainly it was much more than that in the life of Rees Howells and, as we understand it, in the lives of the men and women of the Bible and in the history of the Church of Christ.

To put in print as maybe my last written word at the age of 95 the account of the five gained intercessions of my life can seem an egotistical
tiling to do, but I can’t help that. It is to me the ultimate summing up of the grace of God in the years since He first took charge of my life at age
18, to now 95, even as Paul wrote of his “abundant labors” as “yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” They have been gained intercessions in
commission, cost and completion; and I boldly say that this is the Spirit’s purpose in all our lives as manifesting the self-for-others nature of our Lord Jesus Christ in His body-members.

The Great Intercessor spoke of “the baptism I am baptized with until it is accomplished,” and His last word on the cross was “It is finished.” Paul, awaiting execution in Rome wrote, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course.” The two men who had such a marked influence on my life, with their dying breath were saying “Hallelujah!” three times breathed by C.T. Studd in the heart of Africa, and “Victory, Hallelujah!” in a whisper by Rees Howells, to whose life story was given the tide of Intercessor. So my purpose in writing this record of “Intercession in
Action as a Royal Priest” has been to outline the route, for those who have ears to hear, from Intercession Commissioned to Intercession Gained, with the principle of John 12:24 laid down by Jesus in between the two.