| 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!..."
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John G. Lake Crusade Meeting
held in a big tent.
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"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. 
