Empowered Christians: Evan Roberts

Obedience! Obedience!! Obedience!!!

Evan Roberts was one of the most important catalysts for the Welsh revival that took place in the early 1900s. He was born in Wales to a poor but devout Christian family. He worked in the coal mines in his youth, and during his teen years, he became deeply burdened for the lost. Out of that burden, he prayed diligently for revival in Wales for over a decade.

Roberts entered a preparatory school for the ministry at Newcastle Emlyn when he was about 26 years old, just before revival broke out. He never finished his studies there and began to travel and minister during the revival. Roberts became known for a simple prayer he took to heart from a sermon preached by Seth Joshua: “Bend me, O Lord.” He had a profound desire for everyone to bend their own will to the will of the Lord Jesus, and this became a theme of the Welsh Revival.

He was more famous for praying than preaching as he traveled Wales with a team of Spirit-filled young people. Roberts often shared a vision of four directives he had received from the Lord:

1. We must confess before God every sin in our past life that has not been confessed.

2. We must remove anything that is doubtful from our lives.

3. Total surrender. We must say and do all that the Spirit tells us.

4. Make a public confession of Christ.

Roberts would not announce ahead of time when, where, or even if he would be preaching. He was adamant that he would move only with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes he would even leave meetings if he sensed the people were only there to see and hear him. This revival was not the result of human wisdom or strategy. Roberts’ brother Dan recalled, “What happened in Wales is a spontaneous spiritual awakening generated only by prayer, not a planned and organized evangelistic campaign. The astounding feature of this awakening is the lack of commercialism.”

People would begin to gather an hour or two before the meetings and close whenever they closed, sometimes as late as 3 AM, even if they began at 7 PM the previous evening. People sang and worshiped together. Anybody and everybody who was led would stand to pray. Frequently, brief messages and testimonies were interspersed with shouts of praise and exclamations of adoration. All of this happened spontaneously throughout the evenings as the Spirit led. At the same time, while the meetings were emotional, they were not disorderly.

After experiencing God in the revivals, countless men and women were saved. Many were delivered from lives of addiction, longstanding debts were repaid, stolen goods were returned, and people cleaned up their language after profound encounters with the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Some estimate as many as 250,000 people came to Christ as the result of the Welsh Revival. This is a testimony to the power of one man’s obedience to the Holy Spirit!

Evan Roberts’ words still ring true as a clarion call to faithful obedience to Christians today,

"I beseech all those who confess Christ to ask Him today, upon their knees, if He has not some work for them to do now. He will lead them all as He has led us. He will make them pillars of smoke by day and pillars of fire by night to guide all men to Him.

Wonderful things have happened in Wales in a few weeks, but these are only a beginning. The world will be swept by His Spirit as by a rushing, mighty wind. Many who are now silent Christians, negative Christians, Christians whose belief means little to them and nothing to anyone else, will lead in the movement. Groping, hesitating, half-hearted Christians will see a great Light and will reflect this Light to thousands of those in utter darkness. The whole world will hear His message of “peace, good-will toward men,” and listening, will be blessed. Thousands upon thousands will do more than we have accomplished, as God gives them power. This is my earnest faith, if the churches will but learn the great lesson of obedience to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Obedience! Obedience!! Obedience!!!”