The Remnant On Line History Page

Bread of Heaven Fall On Us 
Evan Robert's 
The Welsh Revival 

By Jerrell H. Miller
Editor & Publisher
The last time I went to England I looked out my window to right side of cabin to notice the mouth of the Severn River near Cardiff, on the other side of that inlet  was the small Nation of Wales.  It was here that history  was made by a man with a passion for his countrymen to find Jesus.  Never in the modern history of  revival would an entire country bend there knee and surrender to the will of God.  Not even the people of God known as the Jews ever surrendered to their maker like these people in the year of 1905.
    A young man named Evan Roberts, who came from a family of Calvinistic Methodist would shake his entire country and lead them to the feet of Christ.  Everyone one in Roberts family had a reverence for the word of God.  
     The title of National Anthem of Wales is, “Bread of Heaven Fall on Us.” In the year of 1905 that is  exactly what happened. From one end of the country to other a great revival led by a young man who knew that it was his destiny to led it.  A year before the great revival young Evan Roberts saw the vision of a great arm coming out of heaven to come down to touch his country.  It was a once in a lifetime event that the world has not ever witnessed since.
  Believe it or not the same buildings are in the same places as it was more than 97 years ago.  The only thing that has changed in Wales are the hearts of the people that live there.  It’s hard to believe that a country who once loved Jesus has only a shadow of that belief in place today.   
   Robert’s father was a coal miner and a godly man.  During Evan’s teens years his father had an accident in the mine and Evan felt it was God’s will for him to go to work in the mines.  With his heart fixed on Jesus Evan went to work each day with his Bible under his arm.  He took his Bible and  hid it in the mine only to go back and read it on his break time.  Robert’s knew the power of the Holy Spirit but he also knew the power of the word of God. Evan was a praying warrior and had a fire and a purpose deep down inside.  Very often people thought he was a little strange but in those days going to church was a moral obligation.  It  would be Evan who would awaken the people to how much their need for God would be. Prayer times for Evan as he accepted the call of God to full time work would be in the early hours of the morning and then after he fell back to sleep he would awaken once again to pray for five more hours at a time.  The strength of Roberts was his relationship with God and when he went to the pulpit the display of the Holy Spirit would fall on the people leaving them with a mark of God’s servant on them.  It was at one of these meetings that a man of God encourged Evan to go full time into the ministry.  This was just before the great awakening in 1903.
   Seth Joshua was a well known preacher of Evans days.  It during a meeting that Joshua preached a sermon on bending to the will of God.  This sermon touched Roberts deeply an moved him toward a  deeper commitment to God.  Joshua had longed prayed for a man of God to come to lead a great in England, little did he know the man he had prayed for had made a commitment in one of his services.   After surrendering his life to the will of God Roberts began to feel a power sensation of love go through him.  He felt the touch of God from that date on.
    Evan Roberts chased the Devil from one end of Wales to the other and then disappeared.  Roberts knew that the actions that were happening at the time of the greater events in Wales were those of the Holy Spirit but what he didn’t know were the time limits of his body after the anointing would leave at times.  These were times when he withdrew and like many evangelist to preceed him they would also find out that the release of the Spriit throught them would not be the power they would find in the quite times away from the pulpit.
        But let us look at what happened during the time of the great event of that revival. Under the preaching of Evan Roberts the awareness and the presence of the Holy Spirit became evident.  God moved through him as he came out from behind the pulpit and walked up in down in the asiles preaching a sinner conviction.  It was unheard of  for a preacher to do that but under the presence of the Holy Spirit, Roberts brought great changed into church meetings.  God’s presence and the power of the Holy Spirit began to  became one of the most influential men of his time.  Church was no longer an obiligation but it became an experience, much like what has been experienced in meetings today.  
    As Evan came to different meetings Wales people would follow him and some small communities would see their churches overflowing with people.  The call to the nations began as the witness of what had happened in Wales began to go out. People began to come to Wales from South Africa, India, The United States and Canada to see the great work of God in progress.  It was all an education that would soon open a larger door to Pentecost.  California Evangelist and Journalist, Frank Bartleman wrote to Roberts.  Bartleman asked how to bring revival to the United States. It was next year in 1906 that Bartleman would begin to report on the move of God at Azusa Street.  
     Newspapers pumped the message of Roberts to the public.  Bars and sporting events began to close down as the fire got larger.  It seemed as if the young Evangelist Evan Robert could do no wrong as the entire country of Wales was on fire.  
      What caused the flame of revival to return to ash in Wales.  The power of God was real and the man with the mantle stirred the people but the one thing Evan Roberts forgot to do was rest.  Roberts would preach for long periods of time but depression began to set in during his periods of time.  His anointing was a full blessing and his intercessors backed him up during this time, but what was needed most during these times was rest.
     It is during the werieness of revival that people begin to move into your personal life and altar the course that God has set for your life.  
     Jessie Penn-Lewis began to praise Roberts for his work and what he was doing. During one of the times he was in great drepession she moved  in to plant the posion of defeat in his heart.  Little by little Penn-Lewis trapped her prey until little or nothing was seen of the great evangelist. She had took him in during his time of depression to take care of him.  Evan became so sick that he was not able to walk or speak, after a year he finally regained his strength.  
        Robert’s remained loyal to Penn-lewis.  Jessie Penn-lewis went on to write several books that was no where near the beliefs of Evan Roberts.  She was ridding on the coat tales of a great man but she was also destorying a great man that could have stirred the world beyond Wales.  Deeply involved with Penn-Lewis -- Roberts would never ever lead a great revival.
    Evan Roberts died at age 72 in 1951 and was burried at Moriah Chapel in North Wales.  
   What were the lessons learned in the shadow of this great figure.  We must realize that God supplies the power and we must guard ourselves with rest.  It is during the times of tiredness that Satan moves in his best troops.  Evan Roberts had led an entire nation to Jesus but fell to his own tireness and the lies of religion.  He was a great man and today the only thing people remember about his, is that he led an entire nation to Christ.