Most of us want to go back to John G. Lake to find the beginnings of this wonderful ministry, but in reading the life of Lake, I find that there was another John who preceded John G. Lake who more than likely planted the seed for the Healing Rooms ministry. His name was John Alexander Dowie.
Dowie was a famous pastor in Chicago late in the 19th century who, in his later life, founded Zion City, IL as a Christian community. He had a marvelous healing ministry with thousands of remarkable healings that attracted multitudes from all over America. A part of this healing ministry was Healing Homes. People with terminal illnesses would actually move into these homes, almost like our modern Convalescent Hospitals, and stay till they received total healing. They would receive ministry over and over again till the healing was complete.
John Lake was born into a family of twelve children, a family who, over the years, bore the pain of almost constant sickness and death among the children. When John grew up he took two of his sisters who had terminal diseases, to Dowie’s Healing Homes in Zion City and, after a period of time, they were both healed.
Lake was a highly successful businessman and amassed a fortune early in life. His heart for God, however, became so overpowering that in the midst of business deals he would be diverted into evangelizing his client. This began to cause a problem.
Over the next five years thousands of people came to those healing rooms and were healed. Some reports say there were more than one hundred thousand healings in that five year period.
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Eventually he heard to call of God to quit his business and go to the foreign mission field by faith. He sold everything and gave away his fortune; went to South Africa and spent five amazing years. God gave him a remarkable anointing to heal the sick and more than five hundred churches were started as a result of those five years of signs and wonders.
After that he moved back to the USA to the city of Spokane, WA where he started a church and a Divine Healing Institute. The school was actually a workshop for divine healing where the students learned to minister divine healing by hands-on experience. Lake rented office spaces for the institute in downtown Spokane and called them "Healing Rooms." Over the next five years thousands of people came to those healing rooms and were healed. Some reports say there were more than one hundred thousand healings in that five year period.
His vision was to start healing rooms in every city in the USA, but he died at the age of 66 and his vision died with him.
About eighty years later, God spoke to Cal Pierce of Redding, CA to move to Spokane and "re-dig the healing wells" of John G. Lake as Isaac had done in the book of Genesis after the Philistines had stopped up the well his father Abraham had dug years before.
The ministry of divine healing belongs to the entire Body of Christ.
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Pierce was not disobedient to the heavenly vision and in the space of three or four years, the Healing Rooms Ministry was once again flourishing in the very same rooms in the very same building that John G. Lake had used eighty years before. Now this ministry is popping up in city after city all over America. No doubt the healing rooms vision will be planted in every other country in the days and years ahead.
The ministry of divine healing belongs to the entire Body of Christ. Cal Pierce has freely shared with the Church how he has gone about to re-establish the healing rooms ministry. On your computer you can go to <www.healingrooms.com> and gather enough information to start the Healing Rooms Ministry in your town. Or you can take the training offered by the ministry in Spokane, or you can do as Sam Buick and his leadership did in Kitchener, Canada. They took the simple idea of Healing Rooms with very little explanation, set aside a day and an hour and a place and began to lay hands on the sick. The results? People started getting healed! Not only physical healing, but also inner healing and deliverance. They meet at 3 PM in a home every Sunday afternoon and sometimes the healing session goes on till 9 PM.
When asked what was the "bottom line" formula for building the largest church in the world he said, "I just pray and I obey." Six simple words that will work anywhere, anytime, among any people.
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I encourage you to avail yourself of all the help you can get in launching into this exciting ministry of divine healing, but at the same time, be aware that every situation is somewhat different and we must not try to do this by a formula, trying to follow what others have done in other places.
I was in four churches who tried to copy the methods of Dr. Cho of Korea for church growth and all four failed. Then one day I overheard someone interviewing Dr. Cho on the radio. When asked what was the "bottom line" formula for building the largest church in the world he said, "I just pray and I obey." Six simple words that will work anywhere, anytime, among any people. Get the idea, then pray and fill in the blanks.
Suddenly I saw how simple it is to enter into any ministry the Lord calls us to do. There may be more and varied principles and methods attached later, but behind every step forward it is, "I just pray and I obey." We can learn from those who have gone before us into the Healing Rooms Ministry, but there is still a uniqueness that God wants to retain in every one of them.
You may consider proceeding along the following lines, unless the Lord has shown you specific steps to take that are somewhat different:
1. Plan to do the Healing Rooms in a home one day a week. Most homes have 3 or 4 rooms that are adequate to meet the need..
2. Ask others to pray with you for the success of the healing rooms.
3. Feed your faith for supernatural healing on good books and tapes. (see list on the last page)
4. Set a day of the week when the healing rooms will be open and tell others about the starting date.
5. Train others to be a part of the healing teams. God will show you how.
6. Make teaching tapes, books, and videos available to the healing teams.
7. Depend on word of mouth and testimonies of healings to get the word out and cause the ministry to grow. Don’t doubt in the dark what God gave you in the light.
8. Open the healing rooms from 9 AM to 3 PM, or the hours that best suit your situation. You may want to start with only one or two hours to begin.
9. Add another day only when the first day has been filled. Let another family host it in their home.
10. Keep a file on each person who comes for ministry. Encourage them to return till the healing is complete. Even Jesus had to minister more than once at times before the healing was complete. (see Mark 8:24)
11. Be open to the need for inner healing and deliverance in some cases.
12. Use the saints in the city wide Body of Christ as well as those who attend house churches to be on the healing teams.
13. Provide as many as possible of the following books: CHRIST THE HEALER by F. F. Bosworth, DIVINE HEALING by Andrew Murray, THE HEALING LIGHT by Agnes Sanford, THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF JOHN G. LAKE by Kenneth Copeland Ministries. GOD’S GENERALS by Roberts Lairdon Ministries, THE PRAYER THAT HEALS, by Francis MacNutt
14. There are many other good books and tapes that you can use to train the healing teams. It is also good to have them attend teachings on divine healing whenever possible.
15. Some may ask, "But why can't we just do this ministry as a part of the church service?" The fact is that in most cases there is not nearly enough time. Most churches never give a call to the sick to come forward for healing prayer and even those who do cannot give more than a few minutes to each person who comes. The healing rooms give a place where quality time can be given to each one who is in need of healing.God bless you as you move into this important work. Remember the words of Jesus: "In my name they shall . . . lay hands on the sick and they shall recover."
Contact Robert Fitts for more information.
