| 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!..."
 |
John G. Lake Crusade Meeting held in a
big tent. |
"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.
~o0o~
Read more about Lake's anointing |
If
there was ever a man who walked in the revelation of "God in
man," it was John G. Lake. A man of purpose, vision, strength and
character, his one goal in life was to bring the fullness of God to
every person. He often said that the secret of heaven's power was not
in the doing, but in the being. He believed that Spirit-filled
Christians should enjoy the same type of ministry Jesus did while
living on earth, and that this reality could only be accomplished by
seeing themselves as God saw them. John G. Lake lived his life and
fulfilled his ministry in the earth with this type of spiritual
understanding. If we would just grasp the reality of our position
through Jesus Christ, as Lake did, every nation would ring with the
praises of God. 
