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No words of mine can convey to another soul the cry that was in my heart and the flame of

hatred for death and sickness that the Spirit of God had stirred within me. The very wrath of

God seemed to possess my soul!

These words summarized the passion that propelled the life-long ministry of John G. Lake. He

spoke these words in reference to the intensity of emotion he felt as his thirty-four year old sisterlay dying. He had already witnessed eight of his fifteen siblings die from illness--yet he had alsowitnessed the miraculous healing of his own childhood rheumatoid arthritis, as well as a sisterscancer and brothers blood disease under the ministry of John Alexander Dowie. It was alreadytoo late to take this sister who now lay dying to Dowies Healing Home in Chicago, so hetelegraphed Dowie with a desperate plea for prayer. Dowie telegraphed back: Hold on to God. Iam praying. She will live. That simple declaration caused John Lake to wage a furious spiritualattack on the power of death and within the hour his sister was completely healed.

It was battles such as thisat deaths very doorthat brought John G. Lake face to face with hisconvictions. Was he going to stand by as the enemy took yet another loved one from him, or was

he going to choose to stand in the enemys way? Such an opportunity again presented itself onApril 28, 1898, when his wife of five years lay dying. Jennie battled for breath in her final hourswhen Lake finally put his foot down. He would not tolerate the enemy stealing away the motherof his children and his spiritual partner. He determined to believe Gods Word as it was revealedto him for her healing and at 9:30 a.m. he contended for her life in prayer upon which she rose uphealed, praising the Lord in a loud voice. News spread of Jennies miraculous healing, and fromthat time on, John Lake was sought after for the power of his healing anointing.

Such was the power of his anointing that he wrote about it as being like the lightning of Jesus:You talk about the voltage from heaven and the power of God! Why there is lightning in thesoul of Jesus! The lightnings of Jesus heal men by their flash! Sin dissolves and disease flees

when the power of God approaches! Lake would also compare the anointing of Gods Spirit tothe power of electricity. Just as men had learned the laws of electricity, Lake had discovered thelaws of the Spirit. And, as Gods lightning rod, he would rise within Gods calling to electrifythe powers of darkness and solidify the body of Christ.

In 1901, at the age of thirty-one, Lake moved to Zion, Illinois, to study divine healing under JohnAlexander Dowie. But in 1904, when Dowies increasing financial problems began to surface,Lake decided to distance himself and relocated to Chicago. When his personal investments inZion properties left him in near financial ruin following Dowies death in 1907, he boughthimself a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade and over the next year was able to accumulate over$130,000 in the bank and real estate worth $90,000. This prompted the notice of top businessexecutives who asked Lake to form a trust of the nations three largest insurance companies for aguaranteed salary of $50,000 a year. He was now a top business consultant to top businessexecutives making money on the side through hearty commissions as well. By turn-of-the-century standards, John Lake was making a fortune.

For a while he was able to juggle his great secular success and grow in his desire for God. Hehad learned to walk in the Spirit as he described like this: It became easy for me to detachmyself from the course of life, so that while my hands and mind were engaged in the common

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affairs of every day, my spirit maintained its attitude of communion with God. But by 1907, heyielded to the call to full-time ministry, and he and Jennie sold their estate and all theirbelongings. From that point on the Lakes relied on God for provision as they traveled thecountry ministering. By January of 1908, they began praying for the necessary finances to taketheir team to Africa.

In April of that same year, the Lakes and their seven children left for Africa with only money topay for passage on the ship. In faith, they believed God for the finances necessary to gain themadmittance into the country and for provision once they arrived. He provided what they neededas they were lining up to pay upon leaving the ship, and once aground, a miraculous housingoffer presented itself before they had even left the dock. They immediately settled into afurnished home in Johannesburg. Days later, John was asked to fill in for a South African pastorwho was taking a leave of absence. Over five hundred Zulus were in attendance his first Sundayin the pulpit, and as a result, revival broke out so that within weeks multitudes in from thesurrounding area were saved, healed, and baptized in the Holy Spirit. The success astoundedLake so that he wrote: From the very start it was as though a spiritual cyclone had struck. In

less than a year, he had started one hundred churches.

Ministry success came at a price. Before the year was out, on December 22, 1908, Lake camehome to find Jennie had died from physical exhaustion and malnutrition. He was devastated.Early in 1909, he returned to the States to recuperate, raise support, and recruit new workers. ByJanuary of 1910, he was headed back to Africa in the midst of a raging plague there. He wasamong few who ministered to the sick and dying. He proved to local physicians that the germswould not live on his body due to the Holy Spirit alive in Him. He actually verified this under amicroscope showing that the germs died upon contact with his body. Those who witnessed theexperiment stood in amazement as Lake gave glory to God explaining that: It is the law of theSpirit of Life in Christ Jesus. I believe that just as long as I keep my soul in contact with theliving God so that His Spirit is flowing into my soul and body, that no germ will ever attach itselfto me, for the Spirit of God will kill it.

In 1912, after five years of ministry in Africa, having produced 1,250 preachers, 625congregations, and 100,000 converts, Lake returned to the United States. In 1913 he marriedFlorence Switzer with whom he had five children. They settled in Spokane, Washington, wherethey founded the Spokane Healing Home and the Apostolic Church, which drew thousands fromaround the world for ministry and healing. In May of 1920, the Lakes left Spokane for Portland,Oregon, where he started another Apostolic Church and healing ministry similar to the one inSpokane.

By 1924, Lake was known throughout America as a leading healing evangelist. He hadestablished forty churches throughout the United States and Canada in which there had been somany healings that his congregations nicknamed him Dr. Lake. In December of that year,Gordon Lindsey, founder of Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Texas, was converted while hearingLake preach in Portland. He attended his services nearly every night for a week and consideredLake to be a mentor. Lindsey later contracted deadly ptomaine poisoning, but was totally healedonce he was able to get to Lakes home.

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In 1931, Lake returned to Spokane at the age of sixty-one. He was weak with fatigue and nearlyblind. God ultimately restored his vision after Lake had a talk with the Lord about it. Sadly, onLabor Day of 1935, after returning from a church picnic, John G. Lake went home to be with theLord. He was sixty-five years old.

Ican see as my spirit discerns the future and reaches out to touch the heart of mankind andthe desire of God, that there is coming from heaven a new manifestation of the Holy Spirit in

power, and that new manifestation will be in sweetness, in love, in tenderness, and in the

power of the Spirit, beyond anything your heart or mind ever saw. The very lightning of God

will flash through mens souls. The sons of God will meet the sons of darkness and prevail.