JOHN G. LAKE
John G. Lake was known as God's "Apostle to Africa".
Born in Canada in 1870, his family soon relocated to the United
States, where he grew up. His healing and preaching ministry spanned the
years 1898 (when he saw his wife instantly healed under the ministry
of John Alexander Dowie) until his death in 1935. In
1908, God sent him to Africa, where his anointed miracle ministry resulted
in what has been described as "the most extensive and powerful
missionary movement in all Africa." As Gordon
Lindsay wrote, "during that time he spent five history-making years
in South Africa, engaged in a ministry which in some respects rivaled that
of the Early Church." Upon his return to
America, Lake established a ministry in Spokane, Washington which resulted
in no less than 100,000 astounding miracles of healing within the space of
five or six years. He then established a similar work in Portland,
Oregon, which also attracted widespread attention. Like
Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake had already experienced mighty
breakthroughs, powerful anointings and a real calling from God for many
years before Azusa Street and the Pentecostal Revival. The following is a
condensed account of the spiritual hunger and preparation that Lake was
taken through by God, near the beginning of the most anointed period of
his ministry. (Taken from the book, 'John G. Lake -
Apostle to Africa', compiled by Gordon Lindsay, and told in Lake's own
words): "Eight years passed after God revealed Jesus
the Healer to me. I had been practicing the ministry of healing. During
that eight years every answer to prayer, every miraculous touch of God,
every response of my own soul to the Spirit had created within me a more
intense longing for an intimacy and a consciousness of God, like I felt
the disciples of Jesus and the primitive church had possessed...
Shortly after my entrance into the ministry of healing, while
attending a service where the necessity for the Baptism of the Spirit was
presented, as I knelt in prayer and reconsecration to God, an anointing of
the Spirit came upon me. Waves of Holy Glory passed through my being, and
I was lifted into a new realm of God's presence and power. After
this, answers to prayer were frequent and miracles of healing occurred
from time to time. I felt myself on the borderland of a great spiritual
realm, but was unable to enter in fully, so my nature was not satisfied
with the attainment..." (Pg 16). "Hundreds, and
hundreds of people were healed by the power of God during these ten years.
But at the end of that ten years, I believe I was the hungriest man for
God that ever lived. There was such a hunger for God that as I left my
offices in Chicago, and walked down the street, my soul would break out,
and I would cry, 'Oh God!' I have had people stop and look at me, and
wonder. It was the yearning passion of my soul, asking for God in a
greater measure than I knew. But my friends would
say, 'Mr. Lake, you have a beautiful Baptism of the Holy Ghost.'
Yes, it was nice as far as it went, but it was not answering the
cry of my heart. I was growing up into a larger understanding of God, and
my own soul's need. My soul was demanding a greater entrance into God, His
love, Presence, and Power. And then one day an old
man strolled into my office, sat down, and in the next half hour, he
revealed more of the knowledge of God to my soul than I had ever known
before. When he left I said, '... God, if that is what the Baptism of the
Holy Spirit with tongues does, I am going to possess it.' Oh the wonder of
God, that was then revealed to my heart!..." "Finally
I was led to set aside certain hours of the day that I dedicated to God,
as times of meditation, and prayer. Thus a number of months passed, until
one morning as I knelt praying, the Spirit of the Lord spoke within my
spirit, and said, "Be patient until autumn." My heart rejoiced
in this encouragement and I continued my practice of meditation and prayer
as formerly. It became easy for me to detach myself from the course of
life, so that while my hands and mind were engaged in the common affairs
of every day, my spirit maintained its attitude of communion with God... I
said, 'God, if you will baptize me in the Holy Spirit, and give me the
power of God, nothing shall be permitted to stand before me and a
hundred-fold obedience.' "I prayed for the Baptism
of the Holy Spirit for nine months, and if a man ever prayed honestly, and
sincerely in the faith, I did. Finally one day I was ready to throw up my
hands, and quit. I said, 'Lord, it may be for others, but it is not for
me. You just cannot give it to me.' I did not blame God. One night a
gentleman by the name of Pierce said, 'Mr. Lake, I have been wishing for a
long time you would come over, and we would spend a night in prayer
together. We have been praying for the Baptism for a whole year and there
is not one of us baptized yet. Brother, I do not believe that you are
either, so we can pray for one another." I was
so hungry to pray, so I went with all intentions of praying for the rest,
but I had not been praying five minutes until the light of God began to
shine around me, I found myself in a center of an arc of light ten feet in
diameter, the whitest light in all the universe. So white! Oh how it spoke
of purity. The remembrance of that whiteness, that wonderful whiteness,
has been the ideal that has stood before my soul, of the purity of the
nature of God ever since. "Then a Voice began to
talk to me out of that light. There was no form. And the Voice began to
remind me of this incident, and that incident of disobedience to my
parents, from a child; of my obstinacy, and dozens of instances when God
brought me up to the line of absolutely putting my body, soul, and spirit
upon the altar forever. I had my body upon the altar for ten years, and I
had been a minister of the Gospel. But when the Lord comes, He opens to
the soul the depths that have never been touched in your life. Do you
know that after I was baptized in the Holy Ghost, things opened up in the
depths of my nature that had remained untouched in all my life, and that
which was shadowy, distant, and hazy became real. God got up close
and let His light shine into me. "Shortly after this
experience, one afternoon a brother minister called, and invited me to
accompany him to visit a lady who was sick. Arriving at the home we found
the lady in a wheel chair. All her joints were set with inflammatory
rheumatism. She had been in the condition for ten years...While my friend
was conversing with her, preparing her to be prayed with, that she might
be healed, I sat in a deep chair on the opposite side of a large room. My
soul was crying out to God in a yearning too deep for words, when suddenly
it seemed to me, that I had passed under a shower of warm tropical rain,
which was not falling upon me, but through me. My spirit, and soul and
body under this influence soothed into such a deep still calm, as I had
never known. My brain, which had always been so active, became perfectly
still. An awe of the presence of God settled over me. I knew it was God.
"Some moments passed; I do not know how many. The Spirit
said, 'I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears. You are now
Baptized in the Holy Spirit.' Then currents of power began to rush through
my being from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. The
shocks of power increased in rapidity, and voltage. As these currents of
power would pass through me, they seemed to come upon my head, rush
through my body, and through my feet into the floor... Even at this late
date, the awe of that hour rests upon my soul. My experience has truly
been as Jesus said that He shall be within you 'a well of water, springing
up into everlasting life.' That never-ceasing fountain has flowed through
my spirit, soul, and body day, and night, bringing salvation, and healing,
and the Baptism of the Spirit in the power of God to multitudes. "Shortly
after my Baptism in the Holy Spirit, a working of the Spirit commenced in
me, that seemed to have for it's purpose the revelation of the nature of
Jesus Christ to me and in me. Through this tuition and remolding of the
Spirit a great tenderness for mankind was to awaken in my soul. I saw
mankind through new eyes. They seemed to me as wandering sheep, having
strayed far, in the midst of confusion, groping and wandering hither and
thither. They had no definite aim and did not seem to understand what the
difficulty was or how to return to God. The desire to proclaim the message
of Christ, and demonstrate His power to save and bless, grew in my soul
until my life was swayed by this overwhelming passion." (Pg 16-20).
"I found that my life began to manifest in the varied range
of the gifts of the Spirit. I spoke in tongues by the power of God, and
God flowed through me with a new force. Healings were of a more powerful
order. Oh, God lived in me; God manifested in me;
God spoke through me. My spirit was energized. I had a new comprehension
of God's will, a new discernment of spirit, and a new revelation of God in
me. "Then a new wonder manifested. My nature became
so sensitized, that I could lay hands on any man, or woman, and tell what
organ was diseased, and to what extent, and all about it. I tested it. I
went into hospitals where physicians could not diagnose a case, touched a
patient, and instantly I knew the organ that was diseased, its extent,
condition, and location. And one day it passed away. A child plays with a
toy, and his joy is so wonderful, he sometimes forgets to eat."
Before obeying the call into full-time ministry, Lake felt the
need to dispose of his very successful business interests. He sold
everything, giving the money to God's work, and embarked on full-time
ministry with a heart full of the fire of God. Soon afterward, when he was
ministering in a city in Northern Illinois, God spoke to him clearly and
distinctly: "Go to Indianapolis. Prepare for winter campaign. Get a
large hall. In the Spring you will go to Africa."
John G. Lake continues: "One morning when I came down
to breakfast, I found my appetite had disappeared. I could not eat. I went
about my work as usual. At dinner I had no desire to eat, and no more in
the evening. This went on till the third day. But toward the evening of
the third day, an overwhelming desire to pray took possession of me. I
wanted only to be alone to pray. Prayer flowed from my soul like a stream.
I could not cease praying. As soon as it was possible to get to a place of
seclusion, I would kneel to pour out my heart to God for hours. Whatever I
was doing, that stream of prayer continued flowing from my soul ... On the
night of the sixth day of this fast, that the Lord had laid on me, while
in the act of washing my hands, the Spirit said, 'How long have you been
praying to cast out demons?' and I replied, 'Lord a long time.' And the
Spirit said, 'From henceforth, thou shalt cast out demons.' I arose and
praised God." (Pg 21). An opportunity to test
this newly-given anointing to cast out demons came the following Sunday,
when a violently insane man was brought to Lake, who commanded the demon
to come out of him in Jesus' name. The man was instantly delivered, and
two days later was released from the institution that he had been confined
in. In April 1908, Lake and his family left for South
Africa. Though they had no visible means of support, they were
miraculously provided for every step of the way. And thus began a
tremendous Revival, with mighty healings, miracles and deliverances,
which was to profoundly impact the African continent for years to come,
even long after Lake was gone. In 1913, following
the tragic death of his wife, Lake returned to America, but by this time
the torch had also been passed on to Elias Letwaba and others in Africa,
and the work went on there, in great power. Lake continued his ministry in
North America until his death in 1935, and like Smith Wigglesworth, he
fought an outstanding fight and ran a great race, right to the very end.
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