Part 4: Getting down to Business

With sure-footed stride, Lake boldly crossed into a new threshold of success. A strong anointing to heal the sick had come upon him. And while he handled this anointing with great success on the outside, on the inside, it only intensified the struggle that had been going on for years.

The struggle? Choosing between getting down to business with God, or getting down to business with the world. It started back in October 1891.

Eight months after Lake had married Jennie, the Methodist Church appointed him to be pastor of a church in Wisconsin. But for some reason, instead of taking the pastorate, Lake decided to go into business for himself.

It wasn't long before Lake's success in the business world equaled his passion for God. After all, he was an intense and determined man. Whatever he went after, he got - and a lot of it too!

One of Lake's first business ventures was to start a newspaper, The Harvey Citizen, in Harvey, Illinois. Then, after making the move to Michigan because of Jennie's failing health, Lake dove into real estate. On the first day of business alone, he earned US$2500. And within two years he had amassed nearly US$250,000 in personal wealth, which around the turn of the century was a fortune.

By the time Lake was 30, he had helped start another newspaper - the Soo Times - and some of the wealthiest men in North America were courting him for his expertise in managing people and money. He later bought a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade, and was reported to have become a millionaire.

In the height of Lake's financial success, from 1900 to 1907, he was hired by a group of investors to form and manage one of the country's largest life insurance companies. Part of his job included managing the company's agents. By simply advising an agent just 20 to 30 minutes, Lake could earn hundreds of dollars in commission. That was in addition to a salary that already set at about US$50,000 a year.

But in the middle of all this financial success, something richer was happening in the heart and soul of John Lake. He was beginning to see - and count - the value of men's souls.

Since that glorious morning when Jennie was healed in 1898, Lake had started preaching and holding healing meetings in the Chicago area. By 1901, he and his family had moved 40 miles north to Zion City, Illinois - where John Dowie had moved his ministry headquarters - so Lake could study divine healing up close, as well as teach it, until 1904.

In all, Lake ministered part time for a period of 10 years, and during that time, hundreds of people were saved and healed.

"But at the end of that 10 years," Lake wrote, "I believe I was the hungriest man for God that ever lived. My friends would say, 'Mr Lake, you have a beautiful baptism in the Holy Ghost.' Yes, it was nice as far as it went, but it was not answering the cry of my heart."

How could that have been? How could such a glorious display of God's power through Lake's life not have satisfied the cry of his heart?

Simple. Many of Lake's friends and associates assumed that he had received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, when in fact, he had not. Actually he had never fully understood it, though many had talked to him about it. Meanwhile, the people who saw him minister with such success were indeed judging him by his works - and certainly he had been wonderfully anointed by the Spirit to minister. Yet, there was more for Lake to learn, more for him to receive. And deep in his heart he knew it.

As I read this last part of the sharings, I am once again so stirred by his life. It is so easy for us to preach to people about faith, about healing, but when it really comes down to appropriating it for ourselves, suddenly we find ourselves at the place where we need to truly believe what we've preached!

Apart from faith for healing, what are the other areas of your life that you have preached about before to someone, but when it comes to yourself, you find you have a problem following through? Don't you think it's time as history makers, to really start living out our preaching?

-signing out
DeReK

And that was exactly what God allowed me to witness in this trip! There was this man who was in hospital for 10 days before the conference because of a diabetic condition. For 10 days the hospital there tried to stabilize his condition but medication could not help. On the second day of the conference, the man felt God touched him and a ball of light just smashed into him. He is the type of person that never cries in public, but when God touched him, he broke down and wept. The next morning when he went for a medical checkup, he was totally healed! Praise God! With Him, all things are POSSIBLE!

And now, we shall hear from 2 of our youths who have jumped into battlezone and have gone on their first History Maker missions trip!

Myanmar was real good! You know, I've learn a lot from this trip, the condition of the church and the hunger of the people there have really left a mark in me. The hunger thatthey have really blows my mind. It’s a challenge to me to have that kind of hunger for God. It’s the kind of hunger that Singaporeans won't really get to see. Those who went for the trip will know. And we go there getting real blessed by the people. It’s just amazing to see how God works in their hearts, leaving the conference totally fired up and believing in God that Myanmar will become a Christian nation. And right now I wish I could just go to as many trips as possible. It’s an experience that all history makers must have. Get involved in the move of God in Asia! I just wanna encourage you History Makers youth to sign up for at least 1 trip this year, perhaps Penang! You will feel more like a History Maker after going for mission trips. Don't just sing the history maker song! Be a history maker!!!hahaha…. Get involved with what God has for Asia and stay on fire for JESUS!!! Benn

"Blessed are those that HUNGER and THIRST for righteousness, for they shall be filled!"

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Part 3: A 9.30 appointment with Healing

On the heels of all the family celebration came the evening when death seemed to settle in the heaviest on Jennie. But why? So much had happened - such wonderful displays of God's healing power had moved through the other three. Somehow they had tapped into the very life force of God. But how did healing really work - what made it happen?

On this particular evening, a minister friend of Lake's stopped by to visit. After standing for a while beside Jennie's bed, the two men stepped outside for a walk. As they made their way through the moonlight night, the minister spoke up out of a heart of compassion: "Brother Lake, be reconciled to the will of God."

In contrast to the stillness of night, those words hit Lake like a slap in the face. The more he thought about those words the angrier he became. He realized that what this minister was really saying was, "Be reconciled to let your wife die."

Let her die? He couldn't do that! Where was the strength in that kind of gospel?

Suddenly, wind kicked up in Lake's soul - and a storm blew in with a vengence. Surely, God had been insulted by such a suggestion!

Then the storm turned into rage, and Lake headed for home. When he got there, he walked to the fireplace, took a Bible off the mantelpiece, and threw it on a table. So, where was the power... especially now, when he needed it most?

The book fell open to Acts 10 - verse 38 caught his eyes: "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, healing all that were OPPRESSED OF THE DEVIL; for God was with him."

There it was - Lake saw it! The light of the Word shone brightly into his soul, revealing the truth and the power: Jesus is the Healer and Satan is the oppressor: Satan was the one who had been dousing Lake and his family with oppression and sorrow, sickness and death. Satan was the problem - Jesus was the solution. It was so clear!

In the past, though Lake clearly saw that sickness, disease and death were obviously not from God, he still had not fully understood that behind all these tragedies was the devil. And just as importantly, he saw that God was with him. God was not just with Jesus, John Dowie and other famous healing evangelists and preachers; but God - and His power - was with John Lake. He could pray and the sick would recover. He had the same faith and the same Holy Spirit available to him.

Well, that changed everything. He had stumbled onto a powder keg of boldness that was about to explode.

Now the winds really blew, and a fury of faith churned deep inside Lake.

Yes! Jennie was going to be healed. He was sure of it. And it was up to him to do something about it. Now Lake knew that he had every right to do something about it. Jesus had given him that right - and the power to go with it...

Yes, healing was coming, but this time, Lake decided it would be different. This time, he was setting the time for it.

The time - 9.30 am, April 28, 1898.

Lake called and telegraphed his friends instructing them to pray at the appointed time, because at precisely 9.30 am, he would lay his hands on his wife and she would be healed. It was that simple.

The appointed time for healing came - and with it - the power of God!

Lake put his hands on Jennie and the paralysis left, the coughing left, her heart became normal, her temperature normal and her breathing regular. Then, with a voice as big as her husband's boldness, Jennie cried out - "Praise God! I am healed!" Lake was startled. He had not heard such a powerful voice from her in years.

Jennie's resounding praise echoed throughout the city, across the state and around the nation. Newspapers heralded the event as well: "Jennie Lake has been healed!" And from that morning on, the letters and people never stopped pouring in to the Lakes' once private lives. There were hundreds of other families who were just as desperate as John and Jennie had been for the lightning of God to flash through their lives. From miles and miles they came, people who wanted what the Lakes had - their faith, their boldness, their strong man's gospel.

A healing ministry was born. As Lakes put it, "We were forced into it. God answered, and many were healed."

From the time he was a boy, Lake had pushed and shoved and twisted his way through the darkness of sickness and disease just to get a grip on the power of God - the lightning of God. And now, the struggle seemed over. Now Lake had gotten hold of enough of that power for himself, his family, and thousands more. But as he took hold of it, suddenly, another struggle stared him square in the face.

After reading this part of his life, I was really challenged by his level of faith. But more than that, I was challenged to take the faith 1 step further as John G. Lake has done, appropriating his faith to works, to action. He started to live out his faith, not purely depending on other's anointing and it is a personal challenge for me to do likewise. Dear youths, do think about what he's been through and still being able to be what God has in store for him, why don't we strive for that ourselves?

Derek