The Grace of Divine Healing
John G. Lake
An address given at a Convention in Chicago, Illinois, July 26, 1920
I want to use a familiar text, âThe grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.â Titus 2:11. There never was a bigger word than the word of âGrace.â If we undertake to define and analyze its operations, that beautiful term brings the many-sided gospel of Jesus Christ to the heart with a wonderful clearness. The Grace of Jesus Christ is not His demeanor, neither His beautiful gratuitous giving. It is the DIVINE OUTFLOWING OF THE NATURE OF GOD, heavenly, healing loveliness, and holy balm, it comes to the needy world; not only as a sin-saving action of God, but as a healing virtue, pains, changing the very chemicalization of their being, healing and abiding rest in God. Divine healing is no mystery. It is the definite action of the Spirit of God in the souls and the bodies of men.
There is a Grace of God that rests on a community. There is a Grace of God that rests upon a church; the Grace of God that rests upon an individual. In South Africa, there used to be an old lady who visited our home once in a while. She was one of the sweetest, most blessed creatures I ever met. My, when she came into my office and sat down for five minutes, she brought the consciousness of God, a restfulness and a peace of mind. From her whole person there seemed to radiate that blessedness that can be described only as the grace of God, and the very atmosphere would become pregnant with it. I would make excuses to take her through the house. I wanted her to leave that beautiful communion all over the place. Because when she was gone, it seemed the house settled down, the noisy children ceased to influence, and all invisible unrest disappeared. It was the Grace of God.
Tuesday of this week, at Portland, we had an experience with a young woman who was on the way to the river to take her life. Somehow she felt impelled to come up to our healing rooms. She sat for a little while and we talked to her, soothed her heart, and tried to get her to God. I said to those present, âI wish someone could take her and love her for a little while.â Soon a lady of our church came in and I introduced her to the poor girl. I said, âJust take her home with you. Put your arms around her and let her feel your love. Let her know what the Grace of God is, not by preaching, but by contact.â She took her home and four days later the young woman came back, after having given her heart to God. In the meantime things worked out in her family; she w4ent back home to be a blessing to her brother, her sister and dear old parents and the kingdom of God. This is the same Grace of healing that flowed from the loving Hands and heavenly Spirit of Jesus.
I wonder when the Lord Jesus Christ passed down the highway as He walked from Bethany to Jerusalem, if the atmosphere was not alive, pregnant with the beautiful light of His Divine presence and blessing. And I havenât a bit of doubt that when someone walked down that way after Jesus passed, and they breathed the air that Jesus breathed, that they felt the life of God that was shed from His person, and were healed by the virtue of the fact that Christ had been there. That same healing Grace permeated the atmosphere around dear old Peter, so that the sick were healed as far from him as his eventide shadow reached.
That is my ideal of a Christian heart, a Christian life, a Christian church or a Christian ministry.
My soul desires, by the Grace of God, that out through these old brick walls, there will flow that beautiful emanation of Christ throughout old Chicago, that will discover disease in every part of the city, and heal both soul and body. That this Grace may bring to the heart of man made free from sinâs power, a life joined to God, a consciousness of holy oneness with our Father God, through Jesus Christ. Atonement makes at-one-ment, in body, souls and spirit with Christ, both in salvation through Him and in ministry for Him.
How blessed it is when once in a while we walk suddenly into the presence of one rich with the light and life of God. As we emerge from the storms of life, as we come out of the turmoil, passing into the presence of the heart that balm and sweetness indicating the presence of God, and leaving upon our life a divine influence that gives us restfulness of mind, restfulness of heart, and sunlit soul, the God-lit life, instantly there comes to the quiet in God.
There is the Grace of God that goes underneath the soul of man, that by the blessed gift of the Spirit, lifts from the life forever the shadows and darkness that sin has brought, and takes away the corrosion that has come upon the soul of man, and by the Grace of God lets the heart of man understand the blessed touch of the Son of God that imparts eternal life. Blessed be His name.
âDown in the human heart, crushed by the tempter,
Feelings lie buried that Grace can restore.
Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness,
Chords that were broken will vibrate once more.â
O yes beloved, there is a Grace of God that goes underneath the life and lifts the nature of man into beautiful holiness and heavenly contact, into the consciousness of purity, the realization of power, blessed be His name forever.
One morning a distress call came from a woman on behalf of her husband. Some other ministers and I responded. We found the man in delirium tremens, begging his wife for just a little more whiskey, and making the usual promises an insane man will make. We knelt by his bed, laid hand upon him, lifted our hearts in love and faith to God. âThe grace that bringeth salvationâ appeared, stole into that manâs soul, and in five minutes his pains were gone, the curse had departed, and he never wanted whiskey again. Later he called on me in Portland, Oregon, took my hands and poured out his tears and love for God, told of his success in life, and all the rest of the beautiful story. The Lord was not in the cyclone, or in the fire, or in the earthquake. He is now as then in the still small voice and the healing touch of Divine gentleness.
Every soul should have its own contact with God. If that touch has not been real to your own heart yet, it may become real. Bless God! Mrs. Graham was dying of pneumonia. As I entered into her home I was met by Brother Fogwill, coming out. He said, âJohn, you are too late. She is gone.â The flames of God came over my heart and though she had not breathed for twenty-three minutes, the breath and the power of Christ came upon her and she is continuing her ministry for God and man.
Beloved, the Christian life is a glorious doorway into God, through Jesus Christ, into the divinest secrets that the soul of man ever desired to attain. And bless His Name, you and I tonight are privileged to enter that doorway, and to know Him âwhom to know is life eternal.â
Some days past, Dr. McInturff and I were called to the bedside of a woman that was dying. She had gone out of her mind. Had Become unconscious, and was then in the coma of death. Her nurse told us that she had not been able to speak, hear, or see for a number of days. We knelt, prayed, and left, with a feeling that God was there, though we could detect no action in the womanâs body so far as we could tell. We went away with the consciousness that our prayer was heard, and the work was done.
Weeks passed and there was no report of the womanâs condition. Until finally one day the mother- in-law of the woman walked into the office to tell how wonderfully God had healed and delivered the woman. Later the lady herself, walked in, and for an half hour told of the wonderful inner action of the Spirit that went into her life even as we prayed. She said, âBrother, as you knelt by my bedside, I became conscious that someone was there. All I knew was that the sound of the voices was different from others. Then you proceeded to put your hands on my head, and something began to steal down through my brain; the awful torture gradually subsided. After awhile I became still and quiet in my soul. Then a voice began to speak to me about my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It bade me have faith in God, and said that I should come out of this condition, and be a blessing to my home and husband. I have now come to tell you that your prayer was heard.â We never spoke of the Grace of salvation, but the living presence of the Spirit came to her and made her to know of âthe grace of God that bringeth salvation.â
The world is in need of a knowledge of Christâs way of salvation and healing. The whole subject of its actuality has become greatly dimmed in the hearts of men. There is a dire need of a wondrous clarifying of the spiritual atmosphere, in order that His power may be made effective to those who turn their hearts thither-ward. This then is a part of the mission of Pentecost. Not only to declare Christ as a Savior and a Healer, but to manifest Him by Godâs Grace in daily life, through God-anointed lives and hands to carry that blessed Grace of God, and transmit it to whosoever will. Put your hands on the sick, believer; Jesus Christ commanded it, and âthey shall recover.â I am praying that upon your souls there will come the presence of God, through Christ, that will make you realize yourself as a minister of the Lord and Savior, with a mission from God, and that in His Name you too, my brother and sister, will go forth to carry this light and power to whosoever will.
A young man dying of consumption came to our healing rooms and said, âI am no Christian. I have not been interested in religion. I have heard that people are healed here. I am dying and have no hope. Tell me what you have to say in the shortest words you can.â I answered, âYoung man, God is able to deliver you. He is able to heal you. He is ready to do it right now.â He replied, âI havenât any faith.â I said, âBut I am a child of God, I am a son of God, and I have faith.â And without more ado I proceeded to pray. That man was healed. His sister was converted and healed, and other members of the family were saved. I received word telling of a movement of God in the community, where a dozen people are now seeking God unto salvation.