Necessity of the Holy Ghost 4/29 Friday Faith

Every decline that has followed the history of the Christian Church has first had its inception when men began to lay down on the subject of the Holy Ghost.  If you want to spell death to an organization that is now alive spiritually, all you have to do is to get them to lay down on the subject of the necessity of the Holy Ghost and the baptism of the Holy Ghost.  There will soon be nothing left but a corpse.  That is the history of Christianity.

--John G. Lake

Coime Up to the Throne 4/28 Thursday Thoughts

Come up to the throne, dear ones.  Let the throne life, and the throne love and the throne power and the throne spirit and the Holy Ghost in heaven possess you, and you will be a new man in Christ Jesus!  And your tread will be the march of the conqueror and your song the song of victory and your crown the crown of glory and your power the power of God.

--John G. Lake 

A Coming Up Into God 4/27 Wednesday Wisdom

Friends, we need a coming up into God.  This church, and the church around, needs to come up into God.  We have been traveling around in a circle, digging our noses in the ground, and we have had our eyes on the ground, instead of in the clouds, instead of up at the throne.  Look up to the glorified One! 

--John G. Lake

Something is Going to Happen 4/26 Tuesday Truth

No sir, God's purposes come to pass when your heart and mine get the real God cry, and the real God prayer comes into our spirit, and the real God yearning gets our nature.  Something is going to happen then.

 

--John G. Lake 

The Second Coming 4/25 Monday Meditation

Many look forward to the second coming of Jesus -- His coming again -- as though mechanically, on  a certain date, when certain events come to pass, Jesus is going to arrive.  I do not see it that way.  I see on the other hand that there must be a tremendous hunger, an overwhelming hunger, for the Lord's coming in the hearts of men, so that a prayer such as was never prayed in the world before for Christ to come will rise to heaven.  And, bless God, when it rises to heaven on the part of sufficient souls, it will take Jesus Christ himself off the throne and bring Him down to earth. 
--John G. Lake

Passover Extra 4/22

Passover Extra:  by Paul Wilbur, Messianic songwriter, worship leader, and author:

Passover

     Today, Friday, April 22, 2016, we have the honor and privilege of celebrating Passover. But if today is such a glorious day, why does it feel like an ordinary time to most people? Can it be that much of the world doesn’t understand the importance of celebrating this great point in history and what it truly means? Perhaps they think it’s just a Jewish celebration. But the truth is, God has established a yearly calendar of celebrations, and He invites us to set time aside from our busy lives and celebrate His victories over His enemies—who attempted to destroy His Kingdom and our families.

     Many Kingdom people today, especially if they are not Jewish, do not see the Passover as part of their own history. Therefore, they don’t identify with the covenant people who came thousands of years before them. Here’s the thing, if there is truly only one Kingdom with only one King, then we also have only one history (His story) as a people who belong to His Kingdom.

     Think about it, the story in Matthew 26:17-30 is the story of the Last Supper. In this Scripture, we find Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) celebrating Passover with his disciples. So if Jesus celebrated Passover, why don’t we think it’s important for all of us, as believers, to celebrate it? Is this a crazy question or did I just miss something?

     Jesus of Nazareth Himself became the Passover Lamb when He sacrificed Himself, for you and me, on the cross. He removed the final barrier between Himself and the world, even the sin of mankind. This is the perfect stage for the event itself, a time when a lamb was offered for the sins of Israel.

     Unleavened bread, or matzoh, is eaten exclusively during this time because it contains no yeast, which is the biblical symbol of sin. The first Sunday after the Passover is the Feast of First Fruits. As stated by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:20, “But Messiah has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” He is the first fruits of those who have been raised from the dead. What an incredible picture of the Lord’s grace and love, displayed for all to see. Why would any reasonable individual want to move these celebrations from their original context to a foreign land with pagan temples? And why in this modern era, with all our understanding and enlightenment, do we continue on this path? I keep asking myself these questions.

     I have a dream…that one day a group of highly respected pastors, teachers, and prophets will stand up and say, “Enough! After much prayer and deliberation, it seems good to us and the Holy Spirit that we embrace the celebrations of the Lord’s Feasts, as He intended all along, and we will begin this year with Passover.” May I live to see the day!

     Some of us call ourselves “People of the Word” yet we remain completely ignorant of the Word of God with respect to the issues I have raised, see my new award-winning book, “Touching the Heart of God”. I will tone down my rhetoric now and simply say that the reasons, and perhaps the best reason, for this attitude are due to centuries of disconnect and a severe lack of sound teaching about the King and His Kingdom.

     So I ask, where is our sense of humility and gratitude? Where is our passion for the holiness of the One who redeemed our fathers and us, by His own glory and goodness—the One who is faithful to fulfill every word that proceeds from His mouth? It seems to me that our ways could use a sober re-examination.

     Again, I don’t intend for this message to come across as accusatory, but more rather enlightening to those who have not yet understood the importance of celebrating Passover, as Jesus did. And my hope is that Jesus will be remembered and honored as our Passover Lamb, slain for us all. Isn’t our history of the Jewish exodus and Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice and fulfillment of prophecies worth celebrating and honoring in such a way?

The Gift of God to You 4/22 Friday Faith

"When he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sicknesses and all manner of disease."  --Matthew 10:1

Beloved, He gives it to you.  What is the Holy Ghost?  It is the gift of God Himself to you. The Holy Spirit is not simply given that you may be a channel and always a channel.  No sir!  But instead of that, the most magnificent thing the Word of God portrays is that Christ indwelling in you by the Holy Ghost is to make you a son of God like Jesus Christ, God-anointed from heaven, with the recognized power of God in your spirit to command the will of God.

--John G. Lake, 1924

A Conquering Force 4/21 Thursday Thoughts

At the end of the first three hundred years of the Christian era, there were millions of Christians.  Christianity was an aggressive power.  Christianity went into the heart of heathendom to undo their superstitions, to break down their psychological forces, to leave the consciousness of Jesus Christ in the heart, to heal the sick, to raise the dead.  Oh, God in heaven, bring our hearts back to it.  Christianity was a conquering force.

--John G. Lake 

The Sanest Man 4/20 Wednesday Wisdom

The sanest man is the man that believes God and stands on His promises and knows the secret of His power, receives the Holy Ghost and gives Him sway in his life and goes out in the name of the Lord Jesus to command the will of God and bring it to pass in the world.

--John G. Lake 

Dominion in God 4/19 Tuesday Truth

What I want to bring to you is that the Spirit of God, the divine master, the eternal power of God, the combined life and presence by the Spirit, of the Father and the Son, is given to you -- not to leave you a weakling and subject to all kinds of powers of darkness, but to make you a master, to give you dominion in God over every devilish force that ever was.

--John G. Lake 

No Spirit of Fear 4/18 Monday Meditation

God hath not given us the spirit of fear.

Fear of the devil is nonsense. Fear of demons is foolish. The Spirit of God anointing the Christian heart makes the soul impregnable to the powers of darkness.  How I love to teach men that when the Lord Jesus Christ anoints your soul and baptizes you in the Holy Ghost, that the almightiness of the eternal God the Father, by the Spirit and Jesus Christ combined, has come into your soul.

 

--John G. Lake   

God Anoints Your Soul 4/15 Friday Faith

God anoints your soul.  God anoints your life.  God comes to dwell in your person.  God comes to make you a master.  That is the purpose of His indwelling in a Christian.  The real child of God was to be a master over every other power of darkness in the world.  (See Luke 9:1 and 10:19).  It was to be subject to him.  He is to be God's representative in the world.  The Holy Ghost in the Christian was to be as powerful as the Holy Ghost was in the Christ.  Indeed, Jesus' words go to such an extreme that they declare that:
"Greater works than these shall he do." -- John 14:12

--John G. Lake 

Authority and Power 4/14 Thursday Thoughts

Jesus said, "Behold, I give you authority."  What authority?  "Over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease" (Matthew 10:1, paraphrased).  Jesus Christ has vested that authority in you.  You say, "Well, Lord, we understand the authority that is in your Word, but we haven't the power.  But Jesus said, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you"  (Acts 1:8).

--John G. Lake

The Same Divine Authority 4/13 Wednesday Wisdom

The same divine authority that was vested in Jesus is vested by Jesus in every Christian soul.  Jesus made provision for the Church of Jesus Christ to go on forever and do the very same things He did and to keep on doing them forever.  That is what is the matter with the Church. The Church lost faith in that truth.  The result was, they went  on believing that He could save them from sin, but the other great range of Christian life was left to the doctors and the devil or anything else.  And the Church will never be a real Church, in the real power of the living God again, until she comes back again to the original standard -- where Jesus was.

--John G. Lake

Inexperienced in the Power of God 4/12 Tuesday Truth

The Church in general is very clear in her faith on the subject of salvation through the sacrifice of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The Christian world in general, regardless of their personal state of salvation, have a general faith and belief of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world.  But they are ever in doubt and very inexperienced in the power of God.

--John G. Lake

Jesus Healed All 4/11 Monday Meditation

Jesus Christ did not leave us in doubt about God's will, but when the Church lost her faith in God she began to teach the people that maybe it was not God's will to heal them.  So the Church introduced the phrase, "If it be Thy will" concerning healing.  But Jesus "healed all that came to Him."  (Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:6, Luke 9:11)

-- John G. Lake 

8th Grade or 10th Grade, or the ABC Class? 4/9 Friday Faith

Supposing two men came to the altar.  One is sick and lame; the other is a sinner.  Suppose they knelt at the altar together.  The sinner says, "I want to find the Lord."  Everyone in the house will immediately lend the love of their heart and the faith of their soul to help him touch God.  But the lame fellow says, "I have a lame leg."  Or "My spine is injured.  I want healing."  Instead of everybody lending their love and faith in the same way to that man, everybody puts up a question mark.

That comes because of the fact that we are instructed on the Word of God concerning the salvation of the soul, but our education concerning sickness and His desire and willingness to heal has been neglected.  We have gone to the eight grade or the tenth grade or the University on the subject of salvation, but on the subject of healing we are in the ABC class.

--John G. Lake

Enduement of Power 4/7 Thursday Thoughts

We have seen that the Holy Ghost came into the Church at Pentecost and the gifts are in the Holy Ghost.  Consequently, if the Holy Ghost came in the Church, the gifts are too.  Because of the lack of faith, we do not see them exercised in the ordinary church.  We stand for the obtaining of the gifts of the Holy Ghost through our personal baptism in the Holy Ghost, and the enduement of the Holy Ghost power as promised by Jesus, yea, commanded by Him.  "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). 

--John G. Lake

Gifts Not Withdrawn 4/6 Wednesday Wisdom

And now, is the Holy Ghost in the church today?  Verily yes, but you say, "We do not see Him work in this way."  Why is it?  Because you say all these things were for the apostolic days.  You cannot take the Word of God and find one place where the gifts of the Holy Ghost were withdrawn...

Oh praise God for the discovery of the gifts of the Holy Ghost and especially for the gift of healing.  May we all learn to know Christ, not alone as our Savior, but as our Sanctifier and Healer too.

--John G. Lake

That Degree of Unselfishness 4/5 Tuesday Truth

The greatest manifestation of the Holy Ghost-baptized life ever given to the world was not in the preaching of the apostles; it was not in the wonderful manifestation of God that took place at their hands.  It was in the unselfishness manifested by the Church.  Think of it!  Three thousand Holy Ghost-baptized Christians in Jerusalem from the Day of Pentecost onward, who love their neighbor's children as much as their own, who were so anxious for fear their brethren did not have enough to eat that they sold their estates and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.  They said, "Distribute it, carry the glow and the fire and the wonder of this divine salvation to the whole world."  (See Acts 2:44-45). That showed what God has wrought in their hearts.  Oh, I wish we could arrive at that place, where this church was baptized in that degree of unselfishness. 

--John G. Lake

Treasury of the Heart of God 4/4 Monday Meditation

Jesus went to heaven in order that the very treasury of the heart of the eternal God might be unlocked for your benefit and that out of the very soul of the eternal God, the streams of His life and nature would possess you from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet and that there would be just as much of the eternal God in your toenails and in your brain as each are capable of containing...  Man is made alive by God and with God by the Spirit.  And in the truest sense, man is the dwelling place of God, the house of God, the tabernacle of the Most High.

--John G. Lake