Chapter 7
Never the Same Again

Throughout history there have been great numbers of people who refused to settle for whatever had become the norm. We applaud political leaders for being this way, and the same is true for innovators in education and entertainment. The leaders of business and especially technology and medicine attract great accolades from society for breaking out of the confines of past achievements. No doubt this is due in large part to the fact that their breakthroughs bring such benefit to the masses.

Today there is a new breed of believer. They may look quite different from each other, but they are known by their love and faith.

Yet new ideas are threatening: we tend to want to keep a distance from those who push the edge. The ideas that end up lasting the longest have usually been rejected first. Then they were tolerated, and eventually they are accepted.

Spiritual leaders who live on the edge as pioneers suffer the same conflict. They are also the ones most likely to be rejected at first. Opponents will often do most anything to silence the voice of one who says there is more. Feeling good about ourselves has become such an idol that many have become blind to the prophetic edge of the Scriptures. But some won’t settle for what presently exists because they see how much more is available, as illustrated in the life of Jesus.

Jesus’s life demonstrates that there is more. And to pull us into our destiny, He said, “Greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father” (John 14:12). It’s hard to imagine, but Jesus declared that there would be a generation that would rise above His high watermark.

The stories of many such revolutionaries are recorded in Scripture. Others are recorded in various books of historical merit, giving us the testimonial record that God is in fact the same yesterday, today, and forever.

We are in the throes of change; a reformation will impact society on all fronts. This is happening largely because today there is a new breed of believer. They may look quite different from each other, but they are known by their love and faith. They just won’t settle for what has been. While there is great admiration for those who have gone before, this group won’t stop long enough to build them a monument or memorial. In fact, this generation knows that the best way to honor past accomplishments is by building on top of their breakthroughs.

The Voice of History

It would be easy to make an entire book out of the testimonies of face-to-face encounters with God. Some of our most notable heroes of the faith had moments in which God invaded their lives in ways that were often unique, sometimes hard to believe. Their lives were changed dramatically, often in equal proportion to the strangeness of their encounter. Yet all of them were able to manifest an aspect of heaven throughout the remainder of their lives and to blaze a trail for future believers.

In the following section I have selected a handful of stories of some who made their mark on history. These revivalists are personal heroes, of which only one is alive today. They helped to shape the course of church history, which in turn shaped the course of world history. Yet all of their experiences are but a drop in the bucket of what is being released right now around the world.

Read these stories of divine encounters and their fruit. Hunger in the same way that they did. And then watch how God chooses to manifest Himself as the almighty God in your life.

Evan Roberts

Evan Roberts was the spark plug of the great Welsh revival of 1904–1906. During this time, more than one hundred thousand souls were saved, and a complete transformation of a nation took place. But even more significant was the fact that this move of God sparked the Azusa Street revival that has since gone all over the world.

Evan had a series of unusual experiences with God, including a number of face-to-face encounters. He described these in an interview with W.T. Stead, the editor of the British newsletter “Review of Reviews.” That interview is quoted in Stead’s book The Story of the Welsh Revival, written in 1905.

For a long, long time, I was much troubled in my soul and my heart by thinking over the failure of Christianity . . . but that night, after I had been in great distress praying about this, I went to sleep, and at 1 am in the morning suddenly I was wakened up . . . and found myself with unspeakable joy and awe in the very presence of the Almighty God. And for the space of four hours I was privileged to speak face to face with Him, as a man speaks face to face with a friend. At 5 am it seemed to me as if I again returned to earth. . . . And it was not only that morning, but every morning for three or four months. . . . I felt it and it seemed to change all my nature, and I saw things in a different light, and I knew that God was going to work in the land, and not in this land only, but in all the world.1

John G. Lake

John G. Lake was a wealthy insurance salesman who was touched by God in an extraordinary way. Day and night, earnestly and at great length, he sought more of the Holy Spirit.

Lake had an early experience in which he felt what he called “Waves of Holy Glory” by which he “was lifted into a new realm of God’s presence and power. After this, answers to prayer were frequent and miracles of healing occurred from time to time. I felt myself on the borderland of a great spiritual realm, but was unable to enter in fully, so my nature was not satisfied with the attainment.”2

In response, he pursued God’s face more and more, dedicating certain hours of the day to prayer and maintaining communion with God’s Spirit as he conducted his daily business. Almost every evening after his day’s business was completed, Lake preached and ministered. He also met with a group of like-minded friends. Together, they were determined to “pray through” to their goal—a complete baptism of the Holy Spirit, as they believed the early disciples had received it, with signs following.

Lake said to the Lord, “God, if you will baptize me in the Holy Spirit, and give me the power of God, nothing shall be permitted to stand between me and a hundred-fold obedience.”3

One day, the Lord said to him, “Be patient until autumn,” and Lake knew his prayers were being heard. One afternoon that fall, a fellow minister asked Lake to accompany him to the home of a woman who had requested prayers for healing. For ten years this woman had been in a wheelchair because of inflammatory rheumatism. As his friend spoke with the lady to prepare her for prayer, Lake sat across the large room in a low chair. There, he had a powerful encounter with God:

My soul was crying out to God in a yearning too deep for words, when suddenly it seemed to me that I had passed under a shower of warm tropical rain, which was not falling upon me but through me. My spirit and soul and body, under this influence, was soothed into such a deep still calm as I had never known. My brain, which had always been so active, became perfectly still. An awe of the presence of God settled over me. I knew it was God.

Some moments passed; I do not know how many. The Spirit said, “I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears. You are now baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Then currents of power began to rush through my being from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. The shocks of power increased in rapidity and voltage. As these currents of power would pass through me, they seemed to come upon my head, rush through my body and through my feet into the floor. The power was so great that my body began to vibrate intensely so that I believe if I had not been sitting in such a deep low chair I might have fallen upon the floor.4

At that point, his friend, not noticing the state he was in, invited Lake to come to help him pray. Lake could hardly walk, he was trembling so violently. While his friend continued to kneel down in front of the woman’s wheelchair, Lake simply touched her head lightly (so as not to jar her with his trembling), and he felt “currents of holy power” pass through his body. He knew she felt it too, even though she didn’t say anything.

My friend who had been talking to her in his great earnestness had been kneeling as he talked to her. 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 went 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 hand and the wrist, then the elbow and shoulder.5

Lake himself was thrilled at the inexpressible peace and joy that flooded his inner being. He felt that truly the Spirit had imparted to him “a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14, KJV). God’s love poured through him. He saw people as lost sheep, and the passionate desire of his soul became the proclamation of the salvation message of Jesus, accompanied by powerful healing and blessing.

Lake’s life was forever changed. He left the business world to pursue the lifestyle of signs and wonders, from which came one of the most notable healing ministries the world has ever known. He moved to Chicago in 1904 to receive training from the healing evangelist John Alexander Dowie. It was a time of great heart cleansing, during which the strength of Lake’s spiritual gifts increased, especially the gift of healing.

After pastoring a church for a short time in Indianapolis, Lake moved his family to South Africa in 1908, where in a period of five years he planted 625 churches, raised up 1,250 local pastors, and saw 1,000,000 people converted to Jesus Christ.6

The pace was so intense, however, that his wife died. So in 1913, Lake returned to the United States with his seven children, where he remarried and undertook a traveling ministry. Two of his trips to the Pacific Northwest, to Spokane, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, resulted in the establishment of the “healing rooms” for which Lake is best known today. At one time, Spokane was declared “the healthiest city in the United States,” after one hundred thousand verifiable healings had occurred over a five-year period. People traveled from far and wide to receive God’s touch in one of the healing rooms.7

Charles Finney

Charles Finney was a lawyer who became a revivalist. The experience he had with God changed everything about his life, enabling him to bring about great transformation to the nation. Here is the story in his own words:

By evening we got the books and furniture adjusted; and I made up, in an open fire-place, a good fire, hoping to spend the evening alone. Just at dark Squire W——, seeing that everything was adjusted, bade me good-night and went to his home. I had accompanied him to the door; and as I closed the door and turned around my heart seemed to be liquid within me. All my feelings seemed to rise and flow out; and the utterance of my heart was, “I want to pour my whole soul out to God.” The rising of my soul was so great that I rushed into the room back of the front office to pray.

There was no fire, and no light, in the room; nevertheless it appeared to me as if it were perfectly light. As I went in and shut the door after me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. It did not occur to me that it was wholly a mental state. On the contrary it seemed to me that I saw him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, but looked at me in such a manner as to break me right down at his feet. I have always since regarded this as a most remarkable state of mind; for it seemed that he stood before me, and I fell down at his feet and poured out my soul to him. I wept aloud like a child, and made such confessions as I could with my choked utterance.

I must have continued in this state for a good while; but my mind was too much absorbed with the interview to recollect anything that I said. But I know, as soon as my mind became calm, I returned to the front office, and found that the fire that I had made of large wood was nearly burned out. But as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love; for I could not express it in any other way. It seemed like the very breath of God. I can recollect distinctly that it seemed to fan me, like immense wings.

No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say, I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me, and over me, and over me, one after the other, until I recollect I cried out, “I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me.” I said, “Lord, I cannot bear any more;” yet I had no fear of death.

How long I continued in this state I do not know. But it was late in the evening when a member of my choir came to see me. He was a member of the church. He found me in this state of loud weeping, and said, “Mr. Finney, what ails you?” I could make him no answer for some time. He then said, “Are you in pain?” I gathered myself up as best I could, and replied, “No, but so happy that I cannot live.”

He left the office, and in a few minutes returned with one of the elders of the church, whose shop was nearly across the way from our office. This elder was a very serious man; and in my presence had been very watchful, and I had scarcely ever seen him laugh. He asked me how I felt, and I began to tell him. Instead of saying anything, he fell into a most spasmodic laughter. It seemed as if it was impossible for him to keep from laughing from the very bottom of his heart.

There was a young man in the neighborhood who was preparing for college, with whom I had been very intimate. Our minister, as I afterward learned, had repeatedly talked with him on the subject of religion, and warned him against being misled by me. He informed him that I was a very careless young man about religion; and he thought that if he associated much with me his mind would be diverted, and he would not be converted.

After I was converted, and this young man was converted, he told me that he had said to Mr. Gale several times, when he had admonished him about associating so much with me, that my conversations had often affected him more, religiously, than his preaching. I had, indeed, let out my feelings a good deal to this young man.

But just at this time when I was giving an account of my feelings to this elder of the church, and to the other member who was with him, this young man came into the office. I was sitting with my back toward the door, and barely observed that he came in. He listened with astonishment to what I was saying, and the first I knew he partly fell upon the floor, and cried out in the greatest agony of mind, “Do pray for me!” The elder of the church and the other member knelt down and began to pray for him; and when they had prayed, I prayed for him myself. Soon after this they all retired and left me alone.

The question then arose in my mind, “Why did Elder B—— laugh so? Did he not think that I was under a delusion, or crazy?” This suggestion brought a kind of darkness over my mind; and I began to query with myself whether it was proper for me—such a sinner as I had been—to pray for that young man. A cloud seemed to shut in over me; I had no hold upon anything in which I could rest; and after a little while I retired to bed, not distressed in mind, but still at a loss to know what to make of my present state. Notwithstanding the baptism I had received, this temptation so obscured my view that I went to bed without feeling sure that my peace was made with God.

I soon fell asleep, but almost as soon awoke again on account of the great flow of the love of God that was in my heart. I was so filled with love that I could not sleep. Soon I fell asleep again, and awoke in the same manner. When I awoke, this temptation would return upon me, and the love that seemed to be in my heart would abate; but as soon as I was asleep, it was so warm within me that I would immediately awake. Thus I continued till, late at night, I obtained some sound repose.

When I awoke in the morning the sun had risen, and was pouring a clear light into my room. Words cannot express the impression that this sunlight made upon me. Instantly the baptism that I had received the night before returned upon me in the same manner. I arose upon my knees in the bed and wept aloud with joy, and remained for some time too much overwhelmed with the baptism of the Spirit to do anything but pour out my soul to God. It seemed as if this morning’s baptism was accompanied with a gentle reproof, and the Spirit seemed to say to me, “Will you doubt?” “Will you doubt?” I cried, “No! I will not doubt; I cannot doubt.” He then cleared the subject up so much to my mind that it was in fact impossible for me to doubt that the Spirit of God had taken possession of my soul.

In this state I was taught the doctrine of justification by faith, as a present experience. That doctrine had never taken any such possession of my mind, that I had ever viewed it distinctly as a fundamental doctrine of the Gospel. Indeed, I did not know at all what it meant in the proper sense. But I could now see and understand what was meant by the passage, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I could see that the moment I believed, while up in the woods all sense of condemnation had entirely dropped out of my mind; and that from that moment I could not feel a sense of guilt or condemnation by any effort that I could make. My sense of guilt was gone; my sins were gone; and I do not think I felt any more sense of guilt than if I never had sinned.8

Though Finney is known as a preaching revivalist and reformer, there were occasions when the presence of God upon his life changed those around him without any words being spoken.

There was a cotton manufactory on the Oriskany creek, a little above Whitesboro, a place now called New York Mills. It was owned by a Mr. W——, unconverted, but a gentleman of high standing and good morals. My brother-in-law, Mr. G—— A——, was superintendent of the factory. I was invited to go, and went up one evening, and preached in the village schoolhouse, which was large, and was crowded with hearers. The word, I could see, took powerful effect among the people who were at work in the factory.

The next morning, after breakfast, I went into the factory, to look through it. As I went through, I observed there was a good deal of agitation among those who were busy at their looms, and their mules, and other implements of work. On passing through one of the apartments, where a great number of young women were attending to their weaving, I observed a couple of them eyeing me, and speaking very earnestly to each other; and I could see that they were a good deal agitated, although they laughed. I went slowly toward them. They saw me coming, and were evidently much excited. One of them was trying to mend a broken thread, and I observed that her hands trembled so that she could not mend it. I approached slowly, looking at the machinery, as I passed; but observed that this girl grew more and more agitated, and could not proceed with her work. When I came within eight or ten feet of her, I looked solemnly at her. She observed it, and was quite overcome, and sunk down, and burst into tears. The impression caught almost like powder, and in a few moments nearly all in the room were in tears. This feeling spread through the factory. Mr. W——, the owner of the establishment, was present, and seeing the state of things, he said to the superintendent, “Stop the mill, and let the people attend to religion; for it is more important that our souls should be saved than that this factory run.” The gate was shut down, and the factory stopped; but where should we assemble? The superintendent suggested that the mule room was large; and, the mules being run up, we could assemble there. We did so, and a more powerful meeting I scarcely ever attended. It went on with great power. The revival went through the mill with astonishing power, and in the course of a few days nearly all in the mill were hopefully converted.9

Finney’s mark on history is amazing. He demonstrates that life is never the same following an encounter with the face of God.

Just sitting in Finney’s presence after this incident caused his boss to also flee to the woods in surrender to Christ. Finney would go on to set the nations ablaze with revival and evangelism. The very next day, he entered a church prayer meeting, and as he walked in, the power of God caused people to fall on the ground confessing their sins.

Finney also faced resistance. A man carried a pistol into one meeting, intending to kill him, before he was gripped with conviction and repented. A pastor tried to keep Finney out of one town by threatening to stop him with cannons. Another pastor who publicly denounced Finney in his church died immediately after speaking against him. In one city where Finney traveled, he met initial resistance, but when he began to preach, fear began to grip everyone and they fell to the ground in repentance. “If I had had a sword on each hand, I could not have cut them down as fast as they fell,” he said. Many of them had to be carried out of the meeting, which lasted all night long. In another city, an entire tenth of the population was converted.

After a life of itinerant evangelism, Finney taught theology at Oberlin College. Overall, he is credited for winning more than half a million souls to God. He also renounced slavery and allowed women to speak in church in a day when such views were unpopular.10

Smith Wigglesworth

Smith Wigglesworth was an illiterate plumber who was incapable of speaking in front of a crowd. He preferred serving in the background while his wife did the preaching. But after he encountered the face of God, he was changed into a mighty healing revivalist.

For four days I wanted nothing but God. But after that, I felt I should leave for my home, and I went to the Episcopal vicarage to say good-bye. I said to Mrs. Boddy, the vicar’s wife: “I am going away, but I have not received the tongues yet.” She answered, “It is not tongues you need, but the Baptism.” “I have received the Baptism, Sister,” I protested, “but I would like to have you lay hands on me before I leave.” She laid her hands on me and then had to go out of the room. The fire fell. It was a wonderful time as I was there with God alone. He bathed me in power. I was conscious of the cleansing of the precious Blood, and I cried out: “Clean! Clean! Clean!” I was filled with the joy of the consciousness of the cleansing. I was given a vision in which I saw the Lord Jesus Christ. I beheld the empty Cross, and I saw Him exalted at the right hand of God the Father. I could speak no longer in English but I began to praise Him in other tongues as the Spirit of God gave me utterance. I knew then, although I might have received anointings previously, that now, at last I had received the real baptism in the Holy Spirit as they received on the day of Pentecost.11

After Mrs. Boddy had prayed for him, Wigglesworth telegraphed his wife, who, along with the rest of their Holiness people, didn’t believe in a separate baptism of the Holy Spirit, nor in the gift of tongues. The telegraph, sent on Tuesday, October 28, 1907, read, “I have received the Baptism in the Holy Ghost and I have spoken in Tongues.”12

Polly Wigglesworth responded to her husband:

“I want you to understand that I am as much baptized as you are and I don’t speak in tongues . . . I have been preaching for twenty years and you have sat beside me on the platform, but on Sunday you will preach yourself and I’ll see what there is in it.” Although fully involved in the work he used to struggle to speak publicly and left all the preaching to her. He had to win over his wife before he could win the approval of the rest of the folk at the mission.

Polly had thrown down the gauntlet and the next Sunday she sat on a bench at the back of the hall. When it was the time for the message Smith walked the three steps up to the platform and as he did God gave him the passage from Isaiah 61:1–3 (KJV) “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me . . . ” and He was. Smith preached fluently under a heavy anointing and didn’t break down and weep as he had done on previous occasions. Smith himself said, “Suddenly I felt that I had prophetic utterances which were flowing like a river by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Polly couldn’t believe what she was seeing and hearing. She shuffled up and down the bench and said in a whisper but still loud enough for those around her to hear, “That’s not my Smith, that’s not my Smith . . . Amazing, amazing . . . what’s happened to the man!”

He was indeed different. First the secretary of the mission then his son George all wanted what he had and the meeting ended in holy laughter with many in the congregation rolling around on the floor. This was just the beginning and the years that followed saw their ministry grow and develop.13

This is one of my favorite stories in all history. It illustrates that there are different measures of the presence of God upon a life. This account of Wigglesworth’s life makes me hunger for more.

There were eleven leading Christians in prayer with our Brother at a special afternoon meeting. Each had taken a part. The Evangelist then began to pray for the Dominion, and as he continued, each, according to their measure of spirituality, got out. The power of God filled the room and they could not remain in an atmosphere supercharged by the power of God.

The author on hearing of this from one who was present registered a vow that if the opportunity came, he at any rate would remain whoever else went out. During the stay in the Sounds a special meeting was called to pray for the other towns in New Zealand yet to be visited. A like position to the other meeting now arose. Here was the opportunity, the challenge, the contest was on. A number prayed. Then the old saint began to lift up his voice, and strange as it may seem, the exodus began. A Divine influence began to fill the place. The room became holy. The power of God began to feel like a heavy weight. With set chin, and a definite decision not to budge, the only other one now left in the room hung on and hung on, until the pressure became too great, and he could stay no longer. With the flood gates of his soul pouring out a stream of tears, and with uncontrollable sobbing he had to get out or die; and a man who knew God as few do was left alone immersed in an atmosphere that few men could breathe in.14

Remember that this remarkable experience happened to a most unlikely vessel, and let it encourage you to qualify to receive more of God’s Spirit because of your unrestrained hunger for Him.

After this, everything changed for Wigglesworth. He only had to walk past people, and they would come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and turn to Jesus for salvation. Increasingly, miracles and healings occurred. The glory of God fell whenever he prayed or preached.

Blind eyes were opened, deaf ears were healed, cancers were cured, and the wheelchair-bound began to walk again. Besides all that, people were raised from the dead, fourteen of them over the course of the evangelist’s ministry. In one famous account, he and a friend went to a hospital to pray for a sick woman. While they were praying, she died. Wigglesworth wouldn’t accept that result. He pulled her body out of the bed and stood her against the wall, saying, “In the name of Jesus I rebuke this death.” Her body began to tremble. He said, “In the name of Jesus, walk,” and she did.15

This illiterate plumber traveled widely in Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and the United States. When crowds became too large for him to pray personally for everyone, he began to do what he called “wholesale healing,” during which he would have everybody who needed healing lay hands on themselves while he prayed. Many people—sometimes hundreds of people—would be healed simultaneously.16

Wigglesworth’s ministry was based on four principles: First, read the Word of God. Second, consume the Word of God until it consumes you. Third, believe the Word of God. Fourth, act on the Word of God.17

T. L. Osborn

T.L. Osborn had gone to India without any of the success he expected. He told his wife that if he could see Jesus, his life would be changed.

The next morning at six o’clock, I was awakened by a vision of Jesus Christ as He came into our room. I looked upon Him. I saw Him like I see anyone. No tongue can tell of His splendor and beauty. No language can express the magnificence and power of His person. Of all I had heard and read about Him, the half had never been told me. His hands were beautiful; they seemed to vibrate with creative ability. His eyes were streams of love, pouring forth into my innermost being. When I came out of that room, I was a new man. Jesus had become the Master of my life. I knew the truth; He is alive; He is more than a dead religion. My life was changed. I would never be the same. Old traditional values began to fade away, and I felt impressed daily by a new and increasing sense of reverence and serenity. Everything was different. I wanted to please Him. That is all that has mattered since that unforgettable morning.18

As a result of his face-to-face encounter, T.L. Osborn showed Jesus to the world. His accomplishment was the fulfillment to Acts 4:33. He writes, “Among the people of these many nations of the world, with great power [we] give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace is upon us all.” He did what Jesus promised and did greater works than Jesus did. Here is a summary of accomplishments of his ministry in seventy nations of the world.

He states:

We saw deaf-mutes by the hundreds perfectly restored. We have seen great numbers of the blind instantly receive their sight as many as ninety cases in a single gospel crusade. We have seen the hopeless cripples restored—those in wheelchairs as long as forty-two years, arise and walk. Those on cots and stretchers have arisen and have been made whole. We have witnessed eardrums, lungs, kidneys, ribs and other parts of the body, which have been removed by operations, recreated and restored by God’s creative power. We have seen incurables made well, cancers die and vanish, lepers cleansed, even the dead raised. In a single campaign which we have conducted, as many as 125 deaf-mutes, 90 totally blind, and hundreds of other equally miraculous deliverances have resulted. Happy and joyful confessions of Christ as Savior have numbered as many as 50,000 in one crusade, often many thousands in one night. What we have seen our Lord accomplish in the past is an example of what He yearns to do in every nation under Heaven.19

The apostle Paul

Paul hated Christians, and seemed to be an unlikely candidate for a God encounter. But God chose him, and he was changed. The following is the record of that encounter from The Message Bible.

All this time Saul was breathing down the necks of the Master’s disciples, out for the kill. He went to the Chief Priest and got arrest warrants to take to the meeting places in Damascus so that if he found anyone there belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he could arrest them and bring them to Jerusalem.

He set off. When he got to the outskirts of Damascus, he was suddenly dazed by a blinding flash of light. As he fell to the ground, he heard a voice: “Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?”

He said, “Who are you, Master?”

“I am Jesus, the One you’re hunting down. I want you to get up and enter the city. In the city you’ll be told what to do next.”

His companions stood there dumbstruck—they could hear the sound, but couldn’t see anyone—while Saul, picking himself up off the ground, found himself stone-blind. They had to take him by the hand and lead him into Damascus. He continued blind for three days. He ate nothing, drank nothing.

There was a disciple in Damascus by the name of Ananias. The Master spoke to him in a vision: “Ananias.”

“Yes, Master?” he answered.

“Get up and go over to Straight Avenue. Ask at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus. His name is Saul. He’s there praying. He has just had a dream in which he saw a man named Ananias enter the house and lay hands on him so he could see again.”

Ananias protested, “Master, you can’t be serious. Everybody’s talking about this man and the terrible things he’s been doing, his reign of terror against your people in Jerusalem! And now he’s shown up here with papers from the Chief Priest that give him license to do the same to us.”

But the Master said, “Don’t argue. Go! I have picked him as my personal representative to non-Jews and kings and Jews. And now I’m about to show him what he’s in for—the hard suffering that goes with this job.”

So Ananias went and found the house, placed his hands on blind Saul, and said, “Brother Saul, the Master sent me, the same Jesus you saw on your way here. He sent me so you could see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” No sooner were the words out of his mouth than something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes—he could see again! He got to his feet, was baptized, and sat down with them to a hearty meal.

Saul spent a few days getting acquainted with the Damascus disciples, but then went right to work, wasting no time, preaching in the meeting places that this Jesus was the Son of God. They were caught off guard by this and, not at all sure they could trust him, they kept saying, “Isn’t this the man who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem among the believers? And didn’t he come here to do the same thing—arrest us and drag us off to jail in Jerusalem for sentencing by the high priests?”

But their suspicions didn’t slow Saul down for even a minute. His momentum was up now and he plowed straight into the opposition, disarming the Damascus Jews and trying to show them that this Jesus was the Messiah.

After this had gone on quite a long time, some Jews conspired to kill him, but Saul got wind of it. They were watching the city gates around the clock so they could kill him. Then one night the disciples engineered his escape by lowering him over the wall in a basket.

Back in Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him. They didn’t trust him one bit. Then Barnabas took him under his wing. He introduced him to the apostles and stood up for him, told them how Saul had seen and spoken to the Master on the Damascus Road and how in Damascus itself he had laid his life on the line with his bold preaching in Jesus’ name.

After that he was accepted as one of them, going in and out of Jerusalem with no questions asked, uninhibited as he preached in the Master’s name.

—Acts 9:1–28, THE MESSAGE

The effect of Paul’s face-to-face encounter is so obvious it almost goes without saying. He turned the world upside down. The Lord transformed Paul and used his past training to make him the perfect interpreter of the old and new covenants. He guided the fledgling church through incredibly complex theological issues. Through teaching, courage, sacrificial love, and miraculous signs he birthed many of the churches from which worldwide revival would later spring. The Spirit so anointed him in thought and deed that his church “newsletters” were rightly recognized as God-breathed Scripture. Next to Jesus, he is considered by believers and unbelievers alike as one of the most influential men who ever lived.

Heidi Baker

Heidi and Rolland Baker are personal heroes, as they are for most everyone who knows them. Born into affluence, Heidi has spent her life with the poor. But it was the unusual encounter with God that enabled her to ignite the transformation of a nation through signs and wonders.

Although they had been laboring as missionaries in Mozambique for seventeen years, they had seen only marginal progress. They longed for more. In Heidi’s words, “Rolland and I so loved the manifest presence of God that we longed to be wherever He was pouring out His Spirit.”20

They made several trips to Toronto to visit the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. That’s where they were in January of 1998, when Randy Clark was preaching about the apostolic anointing. Suddenly:

He pointed to me and said, “God is asking, ‘Do you want Mozambique?’” I experienced the heavenly fire of God falling on me. I was so hot I literally thought I was going to burn up and die. I remember crying out, “Lord, I’m dying!” I heard the Lord clearly speak to my heart, “Good, I want you dead!” He wanted me completely emptied of self so He could pour even more of His Spirit into my life.

For seven days I was unable to move. Rolland had to pick me up and carry me. I had to be carried to the washroom, to the hotel and back to the meeting. The weight of His glory was upon me. I felt so heavy I could not lift my head. Some passing by thought it was funny to see someone stuck to the floor for so long. If I were put in a chair, I would slide out onto the floor again. I was utterly and completely helpless. I was unable to speak for most of the seven days. This holy, fearful, awesome presence of God completely changed my life. I’ve never been so humbled, never felt so poor, so helpless, so vulnerable. I even needed help to drink water. There was nothing funny about it. It was a most holy time. I learned more in those seven days than in ten years of academic theological study.

The Lord spoke to me about relinquishing control to Him. He showed me the importance of the Body of Christ. It had taken us seventeen years to plant four churches, and two of them were pretty weak. As I lay there engulfed in His presence, he spoke to me about hundreds of churches being planted in Mozambique. I remember laughing hysterically, thinking I would have to live to be two hundred years old before that promise was fulfilled!21

Heidi had been a type A person, driving to accomplish things in her own strength. She says that her mother had told her that even as a young child she used to line up all the little preschoolers and make them follow her. Now she was broken and humbled. She writes, “I thought I had been depending on Him to plant churches when in reality I depended a lot on my own abilities. Naturally things moved pitifully slowly. . . . He showed me how much I needed Him and the Body of Christ.”22 Ephesians 4:1–6 took on new meaning:

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

After that transforming experience in Toronto, everything changed in the Bakers’ ministry. They had been reduced to a place of utter dependence on Him. In the spirit of Ephesians 4:1–6, they began to release co-workers into the work as never before, imparting the anointing and delegating responsibilities. Even children were released to minister. As others were released, the ministry exploded.23

I have been to Mozambique with Rolland and Heidi Baker and have seen firsthand the amazing impact of their love for people. Of all the miracles I’ve seen through the years, one stands out from my recent visit. Heidi was praying for a man who was blind. In fact, all he had was the white of his eyes. It was as though there was a thick milky white film covering them. She prayed over him for about an hour. Nothing happened. She then told him to come back tomorrow and he would see. He did. And God healed him. He was actually the second blind person healed that day. Both of them, along with a great number of other new believers, were taken across the street to the ocean to be baptized.

The encounter that Heidi had with God has been imparted to their leadership core. And the same basic encounter that she had was released over their team. As a result of this outpouring on their leadership base of fourteen people, there have been approximately one million conversions to Christ. Over six thousand orphans are fed daily—sometimes even through the multiplying of food. Whereas it took them seventeen years to plant four churches before Heidi’s encounter with God’s face, they have planted over six thousand churches in the eight years since. As of the writing of this book, there have been over eighty people raised from the dead. The blind see, the deaf hear, and the lame walk with regularity. Entire Muslim villages come to Christ because of these miracles. This is one of the greatest missionary stories in all of history. And it continues to happen right now—all because of the quest for God’s face.

Now What

It is impossible for me to read the stories of these men and women of God and remain the same. As a result the fire that burns in my soul gets hotter and brighter for more of God. Through their testimonies I know that such possibilities exist and the pursuit of them is worth any price. They inspire me to take risks for God and pursue Him even more. But most of all I learn to be grateful, but not satisfied.

I remember when I was a child and my parents would have guests come over to our house to visit. It was always exciting to be a part of the food and the fun. But it was painful to have to go to bed while they were still there, sitting in our living room, talking and having fun. The laughter that echoed back into my room was just torture. It was impossible for me to sleep in that atmosphere. Sometimes, when I couldn’t take it any longer, I would sneak quietly into the hallway, just to listen. I didn’t want to miss anything. If my parents caught me they usually sent me back to bed. But there were a few times when they thought my curiosity was humorous enough to let me come out to be with them just a little longer. The risk was worth it!

I’m in the hallway again. And the thought of missing something that could have been the experience of my generation is pure torture. I can’t possibly sleep in this atmosphere, because if I do,
I know I’ll miss the reason for which I was born.24