The Tangible Presence of the Holy Spirit (Adventures in Religion #10)

By John G. Lake
July 10, 1935

Today I want to talk to you concerning one of the remarkable and outstanding incidents in the Word of God. You will find it in the 19th Chapter of Acts and the 11th and 12th verses. It reads:

β€œAnd the Lord wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.”

The people brought their handkerchiefs or aprons to the Apostle Paul that they might touch his person. They were then carried to the sick and laid upon them; the demons went out of them, and the sick were healed.

An examination of this incident discloses one of the most wonderful facts I know. First, that the Spirit of God is tangible. We think of the air as tangible; of electricity as tangible and we register the effects of it. And I want to say to you, friends, that the Spirit of God’s equally as tangible and can be handled and distributed; can be enclosed in handkerchief or apron and sent as blessing to the one who needs it.

Get this Scripture and read it for yourself and secure from heaven the blessing it contains; and remember when you are in a struggle and doubts and fears assail you that God is not far away in the heavens. His Spirit is right here to bless, here to act in your life for a blessing.

Along this line I want to present this testimony of Mrs Constance Hoag, who is dean of women at the state college, Pullman, Washington. She was visiting her son at Fairfield, Washington. They were going for a motor ride. When she stepped on the running board, her son thinking she was already in the car, started the car. She fell and broke the knee cap and the bone protruded through the flesh. They carried her into the house, then called us on the long distance and asked that we pray and send her a handkerchief as soon as possible by messenger. We sent the handkerchief and in fifteen minutes after she received it the bone had gone back into place. In forty-five minutes the knee was entirely well.

However, her friends began to challenge this healing and she found herself in the midst of a strange debate. A little later almost the same accident happened again. She was thrown to the pavement and the other knee cap was broken and protruded in two sections through the flesh. Once again we prayed over a handkerchief and sent it to her, and once again the power of God acted, but this time not so quickly as the first time. The second time she said the pain was gone in half an hour; in an hour the bone had gone back in its place and in an hour and a half the knee was healed and she was well. Friends, the Spirit of God is as tangible today as it was in the days of the Apostle Paul.