MY PILGRIMAGE ACROSS WALES
There is a world map on my office wall. I often pray for the nations while looking at it. Early one morning in December of 2022 I saw an open vision in which the country of Wales, U.K. seemed to enlarge and protrude toward me from the map. When I asked the Lord what this meant, I heard in my spirit, “Pray for Wales.” Over the next few weeks, I prayed for the Lord to bless Wales, and to strengthen my Welsh friends. On December 31st, 2022, I began praying for a fresh move of the Spirit to wash over Wales.
In January of 2023 I had a dream in which the Lord asked me to “go as a prophetic catalyst to Wales to re-connect friends, re-fresh one another, re-new faith, and to re-set hearts for what is to come.” A team of friends came together at Great House Farm in Chepstow, Wales in mid-April.
We called it, “The Gathering.” This small group of creatives included musicians, singers, worship leaders, song writers, journalists, poets, prophetic catalysts, and dreamers. It occurred to me God was once again putting the creatives in front of His advancing kingdom as per Psalm 68:24-25; 28. We prayed and worshipped in living rooms, on mountain tops, and in barns. We created songs, penned poetry, and prayed for a spiritual awakening to manifest in Wales. We experienced real, spiritual resistance. We also saw wonders in the sky and witnessed tangible answers to prayer. Table fellowship was part of our daily routine around meals together, and late-night coffee and tea where God met with us in meaningful, even tangible ways. We witnessed signs of a movement of the Spirit in Wales.
In January of this year (2024) I asked the Lord in prayer, “Will you send me to Wales again this year?” I heard in my spirit, “Yes, I am calling you back to Wales to harvest seeds you planted during your sabbatical in 1981.” The Holy spirit led me to a timely verse in Isaiah 62:10: “Go through, go through the gates. Clear the way for the people; build up, build up the highway, remove the stones, lift up a banner over the people.” As I reflected on this verse, I saw several, action verbs highlighted:
- Go through the gates and summon the exiles to return to a restored city.
- Clear the way for the people to travel by removing obstructions. (I saw stones obstructing the path. As I looked closer, I saw words engraved on the stones such as: ‘offense,’ unforgiveness, bitterness, and compromise.’)
- Lift up a banner. This means to raise up a standard that people on the battlefield can see and rally around. (Jesus is the banner referred to in Isaiah 11:10, 12; and Romans 15:12. He is ‘Jehovah Nissi’ meaning, the Lord our banner is love.) He will be raised up as a banner for nations and will gather the dispersed of Judah.
I shared these dreams and visions with my Welsh, Irish, British, Scottish, and American friends. We agreed to reconvene in late July. With a focus on pilgrimage, we aimed to “re-dig” wells of earlier revivals in prayer for a new generation. Our hope was to create space for the Holy Spirit to spiritually awaken God’s people in Wales again. We called it, “The Going.” Our direction was to worship, prayer walk ancient sites of revivals/awakenings in Wales and ask the Lord to “please do it again.”
We gathered again at Great House Farm in Chepstow Wales on July 23-27, 2024. Over the next days, our pilgrimage journey took us to three early Welsh Revival sites.
The first site was a Welsh Methodist church near the site where John Wesley preached his first sermon in Chepstow, on March 19,1762. He preached to just twelve people at that time. Methodism had already been growing rapidly transforming Britain and spreading across Wales.
The second site was in St. Edeyrn’s Church in Cardiff. This is one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in Wales dating from the sixth century. Celtic missionaries such as Edeyrn, David, Patrick, and Columba spread Christianity through mainly pagan Britain, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and France.
The third site was Moriah Chapel in Loughor. It is famous as the birthplace for the 1904 Welsh revival. From there Evan Roberts led a revival which had a transformative impact on communities across Wales leading to the conversion of thousands. Its influence reached around the globe to touch countries including India, Korea, China, South Africa, and the United States. This site felt to me like what the Celtic saints called “a thin place.” This is one of those localities where the distance between heaven and earth collapses. (Like Jacob experienced on his pilgrimage in Gen. 28:16.)
In Christianity, a pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place that has a spiritual and personal significance. (1 Peter 2:10; Psalm 119:19) Believers in Jesus are on an adventure through life as pilgrims—travelers who are on a spiritual journey. There are numerous accounts of pilgrims experiencing a deep connection to God, healing, and revelation as they traveled. This was certainly my experience on my Welsh pilgrimage. Along the way I saw physical and emotional healings, broken relationships restored, offences forgiven, and unity recovered. A highlight was praying with a man to come to salvation.
For me personally God was removing religious props I too often depend on in worship. Without sound systems, mood lighting, and performance based “worship experiences,” I was able to re-discover the joy of authentic worship and honest prayer (John 4:23). I experienced an internal transformation in which I felt like a child again, able to dance before the Lord with abandon even when no one else was around.
I became aware of a rising sense of expectancy and faith for a fresh move of God’s spirit in Wales—and around the world. I witnessed signs and wonders that I will not write about here but will cherish in my heart for the rest of my life. I prayed that I could understand these amazing things.
I have a favorite go to Bible verse for times like these: 1 Chronicles 12 speaks of Issachar, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. Verse 32 states, “The sons of Issachar discerned (understood) the times to know what to do.” Their spiritual discernment inspires me to ask the Holy Spirit to help me see the big picture view when I experience noteworthy events.
As I prayed, I remembered A dream I had on July 10th, 2024. In the dream I was standing in an active battlefield. I saw people strewn across the field wounded, dying, and wandering aimlessly. I heard the Lord say, “Go bind up the wounded, pray for healing, and help those who are lost and wandering find their way to the community of God’s people.” When I awoke, I asked the Lord to show me what the dream meant. It seemed connected to the current moral crisis and anxiety ridden culture currently impacting the body of Christ and the world.
As reflected on these things, I was drawn to three scriptures that seemed timely:
- 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around LIKE a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
- Joshua 3:5: “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”
- Luke 22:31-32: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
The Holy Spirit revealed to me that there is a “sifting” going on in the natural and in the supernatural across the globe. I believe the Holy Spirit is calling people to consecrate themselves and allow Him to separate the wheat from the chaff as He extracts the precious from the worthless things in our lives. I saw the need for “a fresh sending” to those the Lord shows are in current crisis to bind up wounds, pray for healing, and help folks re-connect to the community of the body of Christ.
I see three steps of faith to take on our journey during this sifting season:
The First Step: Be watchful and aware of the devil’s schemes. (It is important to stay vigilant in prayer, not giving in to fear or doubting.)
The Second Step: Consecrate* yourselves before the Lord and trust that the Lord will do amazing things. (*to voluntarily be set apart or separated for use by the Lord.)
The Third Step: Remember the Lord will use sifting to separate the worthless from the precious in His people. The Holy Spirit will heal and empower the people of God not to run away in fear but to run to the battle in faith for those in crisis, to strengthen our brothers and sisters who are wounded, broken, or at a loss for direction.
We do not have to travel thousands of miles to go on a pilgrimage. We can just walk out our front door and discover there are ‘thin places’ all around us to discover. Most pilgrims know of specific places or spaces where they can find freedom to pray, worship, and wait on God’s transformative power to bring forth the precious from the worthless in us. The Bible speaks of an expectation for God’s pilgrims to wrestle down time to hear the Great Shepherd’s voice. We do this by listening to and following His lead. John 10:27 tells us, “My sheep listen to my voice, I know them, and they follow me.” And that is what pilgrimage can lead to. Here is a promise for my fellow pilgrims: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.” Psalm. 84:5
Do pray with me and our team to discern what is next for Wales in 2025.
Resources:
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan – Published in 1678 and 1684
The Pilgrim Podcast with Pete Greg – hhtp://www.dirtyglory.org