I said,
"The baby is well! Letwaba, take me to the baby at once."
So we
went to the baby. I took the little black thing on my arm and came out
of the
hut praying: "Lord, take every cursed thing out of my soul that keeps
me from
believing the Lord Jesus Christ."
As I
related the incident to Mr. Seymour, he shouted, "Praise God, brother!
That is
not healing It is life!"
In my
assembly in Spokane, there was a dear little woman who had been
blind for
nine years. She had received very little teaching along the line of
faith in
God.
As she
sat at home one day with her six children, she discovered that her
dirty
brute of a husband had abandoned her and the children, leaving them to
starve.
(A debased human being is capable of things that no beast will do, for
a beast
will care for its own.)
You can
imagine the effect this had on her little heart. She was crushed,
broken,
bruised, and bleeding.
They were
all sitting together on the front porch of their home. She gathered
her
children around her and began to pray.
Suddenly
one of them got up and said, "Oh, Mama! There is a man coming
up the
path and he looks like Jesus! And oh, Mama, there is blood on His
hands and
blood on His feet!"
The
children were frightened and ran around the house.
After a
while the biggest child looked around the corner and said, "Why,
Mama, He
is laying His hands on your eyes!" And just then, her eyes were
opened.
That is
divine power...
Some
years ago there was a farmer in Indiana, w1io used to be a friend of
mine. His
son, while in
South
America had contracted a dreadful case of typhoid fever. Because he
had no
proper nursing, he developed a great fever sore ten inches in
diameter.
His whole abdomen became grown up with proud flesh, one layer
on top of
another until there wore five layers. A nurse had to lift up these
layers
and wash them with an antiseptic to keep out the maggots.
When he
exposed his abdomen to me to pray for him, I was shocked. I had
never
seen anything like it before. As I began to pray for him, I spread my
fingers
wide and put my hand right on that cursed growth of proud flesh. I
prayed
God in the name of Jesus Christ to blast the curse of hell and burn it
up by the
power of God.
After
praying, I took the train back to Chicago. The next day I received a
telegram
saying, "Lake, the most unusual thing has happened. An hour after
you left,
the whole print of your hand was burned into that growth a quarter
of an
inch deep."
You talk
about the voltage from Heaven and the power of God! Why there is
lightning
in the soul of Jesus! The lightnings of Jesus heal men by their flash!
Sin
dissolves and disease flees when the power of God approaches!
And yet
we are quibbling and wondering if Jesus Christ is big enough to
meet our
needs.
Take the
bars down!
Let God
come into your life.
In the
name of Jesus, your heart will not be satisfied with an empty
Pentecost.
But your soul will claim the light of God and the lightnings of
Jesus to
flood your life!
One day,
as a young man, I needed healing from Heaven, but there was
nobody to
pray for me. I was not even a Christian in the best sense of being a
Christian.
I was a member of the Methodist church and had seen God heal
one dear
soul who was very dear to me.
As I sat
alone, I said, "Lord, I am finished with the doctor and the devil. I am
finished
with the world and the flesh. From today forward, I lean on the arm
of
God."
Right
then and there, I committed myself to God and God Almighty
accepted
my consecration to Him although there was no sign of healing.
The
disease that almost killed me and had stuck on my life for nearly nine
years was
gone! It was chronic constipation. I would take three ounces of
castor
oil at a single dose three times a week.
The place
of strength and the place of victory is the place of consecration to
God. That
victory will come when a man grits his teeth and says, "I go with
God this
way."
There is
no man alive who can define the operations of faith in a man's heart.
But one
thing we can be sure of: When we cut ourselves off from every
other help, we have never found the Lord Jesus
Christ to fail. If there are
any
failures, they are ours, not God's.
Edward
Lion was a native man who, until a few years ago, didn't even wear
clothes.
He was illiterate and knew nothing whatever of our conception of
scholarship.
But God
anointed that man with the faith of God and a measure of the Holy
Ghost so
intense that on one occasion when a multitude of sick folk had been
brought
into a valley, the power of God came upon him and he went upon
the
mountainside, stretched out his hands over the sick below, and poured
out his
heart to God.
In a
minute, hundreds were healed! Healing power fell upon them.
There is
no such instance recorded in the New Testament. Jesus promised
that the
Last Days would be marked by greater works than He Himself had
wrought.
In 1912 I
was pastor of the Apostolic tabernacle, Johannesburg, South Africa.
One of
the cardinal teachings of our organization was the ministry of healing
through
fi6th in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The sick were brought from all
parts of
the land; and thousands were healed through the prayer of faith and
the
Laying on of hands of those who believed.
Our
church was then enjoying a great period of spiritual blessing and power.
Various
remarkable manifestations of the Spirit commonly occurred.
At a
Sunday morning service, before public prayer was offered, a member of
the
congregation arose and requested that those present join in prayer on
behalf of
his cousin in Wales (7,000 miles across the sea from
Johannesburg),
that she might be healed. He stated that the woman was
violently
insane and an inmate of an asylum in Wales.
I knelt
on the platform to pray; and an unusual degree of the spirit of prayer
came upon
my soul, causing me to pray with fervor and power. The spirit of
prayer
fell upon the audience at the same time.
The
people ordinarily sat in their seats and bowed their heads while prayer
was being
offered, but on this occasion 100 or more in different parts of the
house knelt
to pray with me. I was uttering the audible prayer; they were
praying
in silence.
A great
consciousness of the presence of God took possession of me. My
spirit
rose in a great consciousness of spiritual dominion, and I felt for the,
moment as
if I were anointed by the Spirit of God to, cast out demons.
My inner,
or spiritual, eyes opened. I could see, in the spirit and observed
that
there was a shaft of seeming light, accompanied by moving power,
coming
from many of those who were praying in the audience.
As the
prayer continued, these shafts of light from those who were praying
increased
in number. each of them reached my own soul, bringing an
increasing
impulse of spiritual power until I seemed well nigh overcome by
it.
While
this was going on, I was uttering the words of prayer with great force
and
conscious spiritual power.
Suddenly,
I seemed out of the body and, to my surprise, observed that I was
rapidly
passing over o city of Kimberley, 300 miles from Johannesburg. I as
next
conscious of the city of Cape Town on the seacoast, a thousand miles
away. My
next consciousness was of the Island of St. Helena, where
napoleon
had been banished; then the Cape Verde lighthouse on the coast of
Spain.
By this
time it seemed as if I were passing rough the atmosphere observing
everything,
but moving with great lightning like rapidity.
I
remember the passage along the coast of France, across the Bay of Biscay,
into the
hills of Wales. I had never been in Wales. It was new country to me;
and as I
passed swiftly over its hills, I said to myself, These are like the hills
of
Wyoming along the North Dakota border.
Suddenly,
a village appeared. It was nestled in a deep valley among the hills.
Next I
saw a public building that I recognized instinctively as the asylum.
On the
door I observed an old fashioned 16th Century knocker. Its
workmanship
attracted my attention and this thought flashed through my
spirit:
That undoubtedly was made by one of the old smiths who
manufactured
armor.
I was
inside the institution without waiting for the doors to open and present
at the
side of a cot on which lay a woman. Her wrists and ankles were
strapped
to the sides of the cot. Another strap had been passed over her legs
above the
knees, and a second across her breasts. These were to hold her
down.
She was
wagging her head and muttering incoherently.
I laid my
hands upon her head and, with great intensity, commanded in the
name of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that the demon spirit possessing her be
cast out
and that she be healed by the power of God. In a moment or two, I
observed
a change coming over her countenance. It softened and a look of
intelligence
appeared.
Then her
eyes opened, and she smiled up in my face. I knew she was healed.
I had no
consciousness whatever of my return to South Africa. Instantly, I
was aware
that I was still kneeling in prayer, and I was conscious of all the
surrounding
environment of my church and the service.
Three
weeks passed. Then my friend who had presented the prayer request
for his
cousin came to me with a letter from one of his relatives, stating that
an
unusual thing had occurred. Their cousin, who had been confined for
seven
years in the asylum in Wales, had suddenly become well. They had no
explanation
to offer. The doctors said it was one of those unaccountable
things
that sometimes occur.
She was
perfectly well and had returned home to her friends.
After
returning from Africa some years ago, I spent some time visiting my
brother
and my sister. As we sat together one day, my sister said, "John, I
have some
neighbors here who are elderly German people and they are
having a
very hard time.
"First,
the old man died; then one of the sisters died. This thing happened,
and that
thing happened. Finally, the son, who is a shipbuilder, fell and was
carried
to the hospital. Now gangrene has set in; they say his leg has to be
amputated.
"The
old mother, a rheumatic cripple, has been sitting in a wheelchair for
two and a
half years and cannot move."
My
brother and I had been having a discussion over this very thing. Jim, a
splendid
fellow, a professor and well educated, said, "Jack, don't you think
these
things are all psychological?"
"Not
much," I said.
Jim said,
"I think it is. Don't you think healing is a demonstration of the
power of
mind over matter?"
I said, "No.
If that were all it is, you could give just as good a demonstration
as I
could."
After a
while, our sister said, "I have been across the street and have made
arrangements
for you to go and pray for these people."
I said,
"All right. Jim, come along."
When we
arrived, I asked the old lady, "Mother, how long have you been in
this
wheelchair?"
She
replied, "Two and a half years. It is awful hard. Not just hard sitting
here
all the
time, but I suffer night and day, with no moment of relaxation from
my acute
suffering for all this time."
As I
listened to her, the flame of God came into my soul. I said, "You
rheumatic
devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, I will blot you out, if it is the
last
thing I ever do in the world!" Laying hands on her I looked to Heaven
and
called on God to cast that devil out and set her free.
Then I
said to her, "Mother, in the name of Jesus Christ, get out of your chair
and
walk!"
And she
arose and walked!
My
brother said, ','My, it beats the devil."
I
replied, "That's the intention!"
We went
into another room to see the son whose leg was to be amputated. I
sat for a
few minutes and told him of the power of God. I said, "We have
come to
you with a message of Jesus Christ, and we have not just come with
the
message, but with the power of God."
And
laying my hands on the limb I said, "In the name of the living God, they
shall
never amputate this limb!"
The leg
was healed.
After
about six months, I again stopped at my sister's home. The young lady
from
across the street called and said, "You must come across and see my
mother
and brother. They are so well."
When I
called, I found the old lady was very happy. I asked about her son.
She said,
"Oh, Jake, he is not at home. Why, he is so well that he went down
to the
saloon and danced all night!"
I waited
to see Jake and tried to tell him something about the living God that
he had
felt in his body and who wanted to take possession of his soul and
reveal
the nature of Jesus Christ in him.
Five
years passed. When I again stopped at my sister's home, she said, "Do
you
remember the people you prayed for across the road? Here is Jake now,
coming
from work."
We sat on
the porch and talked. I said, "Well, Jake, how is it?"
"Oh,"
he said, "I do not understand it all, but something has been going on. It
is in me.
First, I could not go to the dance. Next, I could not drink beer; then
my
tobacco did not taste good; and then a joy came into my heart. I found it
was
Jesus."
This man
had been born of God his nature brought into union with God by
the Holy
Spirit. Blessed be His precious Name!
A few
days after my arrival in Johannesburg, the superintendent of one of
the great
missionary societies said, "Our native pastor, who has the church a
few doors
from your home, must leave for six weeks. Will you occupy the
pulpit of
the native Church until you are ready to undertake your own work?"
This was
God's first door. I instantly accepted!
On Sunday
afternoon I preached to a congregation of 500 Zulus through a
proficient
interpreter, a woman missionary who had lived among the Zulus
for 30
years.
As the
meeting progressed, a spiritual condition developed almost similar to
the dread
silence the deep stillness that permeates the atmosphere preceding
a
cyclone.
This
condition in the Spirit climaxed suddenly as, by a single impulse, the
native
audience burst into prayer. Everyone prayed, saints and sinners alike,
but no
one came to the altar. No invitation was given.
God had
come in overwhelming conviction for sin, and we were impressed
that it
was not the mind of God to begin to reap until God Himself thrust in
the
sickle.
I feel,
out of life's experience as a Holy Ghost preacher, that great damage is
done by
not waiting for a real ripeness of the work of the Holy Spirit in the
soul of
an audience. So frequently, an invitation is given and pressure is put
on the
audience to bring souls to the altar before God's ripeness of
Conviction
unto repentance is complete.
At the
close of the meeting my interpreter said, "In all my missionary
experience,
I have never before seen such a spirit of prayer on a native
audience."
The next
meeting took place at 7 o'clock that evening. A quiet stillness
pervaded
the meeting. God was searching hearts.
I
preached on repentance: real repentance, hundred fold repentance, Holy
Ghost
repentance, heaven's metanoia, the completeness of separation from
the
world, its sin and its spirit, like Jesus separated Himself unto all
righteousness
at the River Jordan. (Matt. 3:13-15.)
Suddenly,
a man arose in the back of the audience and started for the altar.
When he
was about ten feet away from the altar, the Spirit of the Lord struck
him and
he fell flat on his face.
Another
man arose and walked calmly and steadily to the front. When he
came to
where the first man had fallen, the Spirit of the Lord struck him and
he fell
on top of No. 1!
One after
another, they began to come forward. Each one in turn fell at the
same spot
until fifteen men were piled, one on top of another.
It was a
hot, sultry night. I was troubled because on the very bottom of the
pile was
a little man lying on his face. The next man lay on top of him,
pressing
the first man's face into the floor, and I was afraid he would smother.
I had
never witnessed such a situation before. I had seen many wonderful
manifestations
of God, but none like this.
Soon my
human sympathy for the little fellow on the bottom of the pile
overcame
me. I stooped down and tried to pull two or three of these men off
him; but
they were so piled up, one on top of another, that it seemed
impossible
to reach him.
The
Spirit of the Lord spoke within my soul and said, "If God has slain
these,
can you not trust Him to keep them from smothering?"
I
replied, "Excuse me, Lord," and returned to my seat on the platform.
My
interpreter was greatly disturbed. She said, "Dr. Lake, what will you do
now?"
I
replied, "The Lord is doing this. We will just wait and see what the Holy
Ghost
does and learn how He does it. Remember, sister, He made known his
ways unto
Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel (Ps. 103:7). We have
seen His
acts strange ones. Perhaps we can now learn His ways." We sat
quietly.
In about fifteen minutes one of the prostrate men began to confess
his sin
at the top of his voice. It was a wholehearted soul confession of such
evident
thoroughness! After a short time, he arose with the light of God in
his face
and returned to his seat.
By that
time another man was confessing, and then another and another, until
the whole
fifteen men had poured out their souls to God and returned to their
seats.
I
indicated to the interpreter that I wanted the first man brought to me (the
little
fellow for whom I had been distressed) so I could question him.
He was a
Zulu native who worked for a Dutch family. They had given him a
Dutch
name, Willum.
I said,
"Willum, tell me: What took place while you lay on the floor?"
He said
to me in Dutch, "Oh, boss, (This was the manner in which the native
always
addressed a white man) while I lay on the floor, Jesus come to me,
and Jesus
say, 'Willum, I take all your sins away.' And Jesus go away. Then
Jesus
come again. And Jesus put His hand upon my heart, moved it up and
down, and
say, 'Willum, I make your heart all white.' "
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