Joy and Happiness 4/1 Wednesday Wisdom

Joy is something in your spirit.  Happiness is something connected with your surroundings. You are happy because of your surroundings.  You are joyful because you are in right relation with the Father.  Now faith, love, joy, hope -- all spring from your spirit being, the hidden man of the heart.  All are products of your spiritual life.   (to be continued)

-- John G. Lake

Using my Facebook post from yesterday:

Keep a Christian from entering the church sanctuary and you have not in the least bit hindered his worship.  We carry our sanctuary with us.  We never leave it.

-- A.W. Tozer

The Value of Healing 3/30 Monday Meditation

The value of the ministry of healing is not in the mere fact that people are healed.  The value of healing is more largely in the fact that it becomes a demonstration of the living, inner, vital power of God, which should dwell in every life and make us new and mighty men in the hands of God.

-- John G. Lake

God, Ltd. [Limited] 3/27 Friday Faith

This is a favorite that I rerun every couple years.

Have you been to Canada?  Do you know when I went to Canada for the first time there was one thing that struck me peculiarly?  The signs would read, "John Brown, Ltd." ...
I was holding meetings in the old St. Andrews Church in Sidney.  I asked them one night why they did not put their national symbol on their churches.  They wondered what I meant.  I said, "Every other business house is 'Ltd.' Why don't you put it over the church?"
And old Scotchman said, "We don't have to .  Everybody knows it." 
Limited?  Sure it is limited.  Limit God, limit ourselves, limit His grace, limit the Word. Sure, our God is a little bit of a God.  Most of us could carry Him in our vest pocket and it wouldn't budge the pocket -- our God with the "Ltd." on Him.
Brother, sister, that challenge comes to us today to LET GOD LOOSE.

-- John G. Lake

A Good-Sized God 3/26 Thursday Thoughts

If any saint would dare to say, "I am done with disease and sickness; I will never be sick again,"  90 percent of you would say, "Keep your eye on that person. He will be sick in a week.  The devil sure will get them."  You believe the devil is bigger than God.  Your God is about one-and-a-half inches high, and the devil is one-and-a-half feet high.  What you need to do is to change gods and change gods quick.  There have been only a few folks that had a good-sized God.

-- John G. Lake

Who's Bigger? Devil or God? 3/25 Wednesday Wisdom

Another man said, "Brother, I believe in the dual nature.  I believe that when I would do good, evil is always present with me, and I thank God that evil is always there."  You live it and believe it, and God cannot do anything with you.  You magnify failure and you deify failure until to the majority of you the devil is bigger than God.  And you are more afraid of the devil than you are of God.  You have more reverence for the devil than you have for God.  (to be continued)

-- John G. Lake

The Triple Curse 3/24 Tuesday Truth

Sin, sickness, and death are doomed -- doomed to death by the decree of Christ Jesus.  Sin, sickness, and death are the devil's triumvirate -- the triple curse.
Heaven is the absence of this triple curse -- heaven is sinlessness, sicklessness, and deathlessness.  This is the ultimate of Christ's redemption.

-- John G. Lake

Christ In You 3/23 Monday Meditation

Suppose I could get inside of Mrs. Lake.  Can you imagine such a thing?  She would be 190 pounds heavier than she is now.  She would have a voice like a pirate, and all the other characteristics of me.  She would be me.  Do you see it?
Oh, listen.  There is a divine secret in Christ's salvation.  It is Christ in fact in you by the Holy Ghost, dwelling in you, speaking in you, living in you, blazing in you, flashing from you, bless God.

-- John G. Lake

A Prayer About the Corona Virus Concerns

This prayer was prepared by the Assemblies of God.  It covers every issue and concern very well:  

Here is the prayer focus our worldwide Assemblies of God family will be praying:

• Father, thank You that “Your name is a strong tower, where the righteous can run to You and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10).
• We pray for those on the front lines of this response, including health officials who are working around the clock to protect us. Give them supernatural wisdom as they seek to create a vaccine and antidotes to combat this virus.
• We pray for courageous first responders in the medical field who are working for the health and safety of our communities in hospitals, clinics, and emergency rooms.
• We pray for You to grant wisdom to governmental leaders throughout the world, on both national and local levels, regarding actions to be taken to protect the citizens they serve. Your Word assures us that if any person lacks wisdom, we can ask You and You will give it generously.
• Lord, we lift to You our concern for people who are more likely than others to become severely ill from COVID-19—the elderly and people with chronic health conditions. Protect them from harm and be their comfort in this time of uncertainty.
• We pray for the health and well-being of those who have already been affected by this virus. Lord, during Your ministry on earth, You showed Your power by healing people of all ages from physical, mental and spiritual ailments. Be present now to people who need Your healing touch due to COVID-19. You are a God who heals ALL of our diseases.
• Lord, please also take away the fear, anxiety, and feelings of isolation from people receiving treatment and those under quarantine. Protect their families and friends and bring peace to all who love them.
• We pray for those who have been impacted financially from this interruption. Thank you, Lord, for supplying their needs according to Your riches and glory.
• We pray for a faith that will not only endure through this, but will grow, and lift up the name of Jesus—our Savior, Baptizer, Healer, and Soon-Coming King—as we remember Your greatness and know that NOTHING is too difficult for You.
• We pray for a spirit of peace and that a pandemic of hope would spread globally as Your people, who are called by Your name, live out their faith in the midst of this crisis.
• You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). Thank You that You are the source of hope, and that You will fill us completely with joy and peace because we trust in You (Romans 15:13).

Decline in the Church 3/20 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

Come Up to the Throne 3/19 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

Coming Up Into God 3/18 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 had 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

A Sound Mind 3/17 Tuesday Truth

"God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)
The Spirit of Power is the Holy Ghost, bless God.  And not only of power, but of love and of a sound mind -- not craziness and insanity, but a sound mind by which you can look in the face of the devil and laugh.

-- John G. Lake

Back to the Original Standard 3/16 Monday Meditation

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

Charles Spurgeon quote 3/13 Friday Faith

I'm going to break with John G. Lake for a day to share this quote from Charles Spurgeon ("The Prince of Preachers") that I read today.  It goes along perfectly with this week's quotes.

When people hear about what God used to do, one of the things they say is: "Oh, that was a very long while ago." ... Has God changed?  Is he not an immutable God, the same yesterday, today and forever?  Does not that furnish an argument to prove that what God has done at one time he can do at another?  Nay, I think I may push it a little further and say what he has done once is a prophecy of what he intends to do again... Whatever God has done... is to be looked upon as a precedent... [Let us] with earnestness seek that God would restore to us the faith of the men of old, that we may richly enjoy his grace as in the days of old.

-- Charles Spurgeon

Jesus Healed All 3/12 Thursday Thoughts

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

The Power of God 3/11 Wednesday Wisdom

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

We Are in the ABC Class 3/10 Tuesday Truth

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 sinners 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 eighth 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

Sweet and Godlike 3/9 Monday Meditation

Do you want Him?  You can have Him.  Oh, He will come and fill your soul.  Then the Holy Ghost will take possession of your life.  He will reveal the wonder of heaven and the glory of God, and the richness and purity of His holiness, and make you sweet and godlike forever.

-- John G. Lake

The Greatest Manifestation 3/6 Friday Faith

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 neighbors' 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 2:44-25).  That showed what God has wrought in their hearts.  Oh, I wish we could arrive at that place, where this church was baptized to that degree of unselfishness.

-- John G. Lake

A Tenderness in Your Soul 3/5 Thursday Thoughts

(continued)  ... [W]hen you are baptized in the Holy Ghost ... I do not believe there will be a bit of inclination in your heart to turn around another child of God and say, "You are not in my class. I am baptized with the Holy Ghost."  That is as foreign to the Spirit of the Son of God as night is from day.  Beloved, if you are baptized in the Holy Ghost, there will be a tenderness in your soul so deep that you will never crush the aspiration of another..., but your soul will throb and beat and pulse in love.

-- John G. Lake

Pulse of Jesus in Your Soul 3/4 Wednesday Wisdom

...[W]hen you are baptized in the Holy Ghost... [y]ou will speak with the soul of Jesus Christ.  You will feel with the heart of the Son of God.  Your heart will beat with a heavenly desire to bless the world, because it is the pulse of Jesus that is throbbing in your soul.   (to be continued)

-- John G. Lake

Residence of the Spirit of God 3/3 Tuesday Truth

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.  In other words, from the very soles of your feet to the last hair on the top of your head, every cell of your being would be a residence of the Spirit of the living God.  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

He Gave You Himself 3/2 Monday Meditation

A Christian is a man indwelt by God -- the house of God, the tabernacle of the Most High!  Man, indwelt by God, becomes the hands and the heart and the feet and the mind of Jesus Christ.  God descends into man; man ascends into God!  That is the purpose and power of the baptism in the Holy Ghost.  A soul is saved.  How does Jesus reach them?  Through your hands, through your heart, through your faith.  When God baptized you in the Holy Ghost, He [gave] you the biggest gift that heaven or earth ever possessed.  He gave you Himself!  He joins you by the one Spirit to Himself forever. 

-- John G. Lake