In 1918, the global influenza pandemic reached the mission station in Gazaland, southern Africa, where Welsh intercessor Rees Howells was serving. The flu had already killed tens of millions worldwide. It was moving through the African continent with devastating speed.
The Decision to Fast
Howells felt a clear conviction: he was to fast and intercede for the people of the district. He did not just pray in a general sense. He committed to a sustained fast, taking minimal food over several weeks while spending hours each day in focused prayer for every village within reach of the mission.
What made Howells different was his theology of intercession. He believed that the intercessor must identify with the people they are praying for — bearing the burden as if it were their own. During the fast, Howells later wrote that he felt the weight of every sick person as if the illness were his.
The Result
The influenza swept through the surrounding regions with devastating mortality. Entire villages were hit. But in the district served by Howells' mission, not a single person died. The local community could see the boundary line. The plague stopped at the edges of the area Howells was interceding for.
Howells did not claim credit. He pointed to the fast as the mechanism through which God directed his intercession with the precision required. The fast was not about impressing God — it was about removing every competing voice until the only thing left was the prayer.
What This Means for You
Most people will never intercede during a global pandemic. But the principle Howells demonstrated applies to any crisis: when you fast, you are not adding a spiritual technique to your prayer life. You are stripping away everything that dilutes your focus until your prayer becomes singular, intense, and precise. Howells proved that this kind of focused fasting-and-prayer can draw a protective line around people who need it.