08/30/2026
MY BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Eight years had passed after God revealed Jesus the Healer to me. I had been practicing the ministry of healing. During those eight years, every answer to prayer, every miraculous touch of God, every response of my own soul to the Spirit had created within me a more intense longing for an intimacy with and a consciousness of God, like I felt the disciples of Jesus and the primitive church had possessed.
Shortly after my entrance into the ministry of healing, while attending a service where the
necessity for the baptism of the Spirit was being
presented, as I knelt in prayer and reconsecration to God, an anointing of the Spirit came upon me. Waves of holy glory passed through my being, and I was lifted into a new consciousness of God's presence and
power.
I ministered for a number of years in the power of this anointing. Answers to prayers were frequent and miracles of healing occurred from time to time. I felt myself on the borderland of a great spiritual realm and consciousness but was unable to enter in fully, so that my nature was not gratified and satisfied with the attainment. Friends said, "You have the baptism of the Spirit; if you did not have it, you
could not enjoy such a fruitful ministry as you do," and other statements of this nature. Yet the longing in my soul was to me the evidence that there was a better experience than my soul knew.
Finally, I was led to set aside certain hours of the day that I dedicated to God as times of meditation and prayer. Thus a number of months passed, until one morning, as I knelt praying, the Spirit of the Lord spoke within my spirit and said, "Be patient until the autumn." My heart rejoiced in this encouragement. I
continued my practice of meditation and prayer. It became easy to detach my soul from the course of life, so that while my hands and mind were engaged in the common affairs of every day, my spirit maintained its altitude of communion with God.
Thus, silent prayer became habitual practice. Indeed,it had been to a great extent all my life.
In the autumn, I was brought into contact with a minister of the gospel who was preaching a clear message of God and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In my study of the man and his teaching, I was struck with the fact that his interpretation of the Word of God was exceedingly true to what my soul understood as the real spirit of the Word.
Through his teaching, I was led into a deeper and dearer consciousness of God's power to keep the heart of man free from the consciousness of sin.
Instead of the usual struggle against evil in my inner life, such a consciousness of God's cleansing power in my inner nature became evident that a joyous, victorious note came into my soul.
At this time, in addition to my work as a minister of the gospel, I was engaged as manager of agents for a life insurance company. During the period of which I now speak, I preached practically every night. After
our services, I was in the habit of joining a circle of friends who, like myself, were determined to pray through into God to where we could receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as we believed the early disciples had received it.
It was my belief that not only should my spirit ascend into a new consciousness of God's presence, but that the evident and conscious power of God should language, one that I had never learned, by the power of the Spirit.
For years I had been a profound student of psychic phenomena and had observed among different bodies of Christian people various manifestations.
Sometimes they would be of the Spirit of God, but other times they were purely psychic. I prayed, "Father, You know that I have witnessed many phases of psychic phenomena. Is this the power of God that is coursing through my being, or is it some characteristic of psychic manifestation? Is it real power, or do I just think it is power? Father, I want to know."
God answered that heart cry in the following
manner. At that instant, I observed my friend was motioning me to come and join him in prayer for the woman who was sick. In his absorption, he had not observed that anything had taken place in me. I arose to go to him but found my body was trembling so violently that I had great difficulty in walking across the room, and especially in controlling the trembling of my hands and arms. I was familiar with sick people, having ministered to them for so many
years. I knew it would not be wise to thus lay my hands upon the sick woman, as I was likely to jar her.
It occurred to me that all that was necessary was to touch the tips of my fingers on the top of the patient's head, and then the vibrations would not jar her. This I did. At once, the currents of holy power passed through my being, and I knew that it likewise passed
through I lie one who was sick. She did not speak but apparently was amazed at the effect in her body. My friend, who had been talking to her, had been kneeling as he talked to her in his great earnestness.
He arose, saying, "Let us pray that the Lord will now heal you."
As he did so, he took her by the hand. At the instant their hands touched, a flash of dynamic power went through my person and through the sick woman, and as my friend held her hand, the shock of power I passed through her hand into him. The rush of power into his person was so great that it caused him
to fall on the floor. He looked up at me with joy and surprise and, springing to his feet, said, "Praise the Lord, John, Jesus has baptized you in the Holy Ghost!"
Then he took the crippled hand that had been set for so many years. The clenched hands opened, and the joints began to work—first the fingers, then the band and wrist, then the elbow, shoulder, etc.
These were the outward manifestations, but, oh, who could describe the thrills of joy inexpressible that were passing through my spirit? Who could comprehend the peace and presence of God that filled my soul? The sanctifying power of the Spirit in my very flesh, subduing all my nature unto what I understood was the nature of Christ. The revelation
of His will, the unspeakable tenderness that possessed me, a love for mankind such as I never had known—all were born within.
Even at this late date, ten years afterward, the awe of that hour rests upon my soul. My experience has truly been, as Jesus said: "He shall be within you 'a well of water springing up into everlasting life"' (John 4:14). That never-ceasing fountain has flowed day
and night through my spirit, soul, and body, bringing salvation and healing and the baptism of the Spirit in the power of God to multitudes.
- JOHN G LAKE ( Your Power In The Holy Spirit)
- Spiritual Notes
