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