Back in 1989, as we worked on starting the ministry of WBVN, people would occasionally ask how I could have any confidence that people would support a Christian Radio station with voluntary financial contributions. It wasn’t a very pleasant time for ministry; four national ministries had been exposed for huge financial or moral failures. Because of those failures, expecting people to share with broadcast ministry was pretty tough and not overly encouraging at the time. We were swimming upstream against a current of believer frustration and mistrust. Often, to answer their question, I remember telling a story about a dog to illustrate how we could possibly move forward. More about that dog story later. It was perhaps the worst of times, but there never really are any perfect times.
On March 9th, 2014 our 9 year old grandson was baptized. Parker rose up out of the water and, in his very unique fashion, raised both arms and gave us two thumbs up. As with all that were baptized that day, those present shouted with joy and clapped with appropriate excitement. There were others baptized that day. It’s always so exciting to see people declare their allegiance to Christ Jesus and symbolically be raised to a new Life in baptism. Everyone seemed to sense a special moment as those two thumbs broke the air. Each of us knew that Parker was making a joyful expression; an expression that all of us gathered there participated in. This letter however is not just about Parker; it’s also about those present to witness those baptisms. Why was it even possible that we all received? What made that moment possible, not just for 5 people, but for each one of us?
We were, in fact, in the middle of a few hundred believers and each one carries a deposit of the Spirit of God within them. That’s what we all experienced that Sunday morning, what we witnessed. Not only was our grandson ‘moved’ by the Spirit of Adoption on his Life, each person attending expressed that same Spirit at that very same moment. We all experienced the Love of God- a tangible Love of God. Each person that was baptized as well as those simply present were in an ‘out-pouring’. Not only one to be expressed as ‘down from Heaven’, but an out-pouring from within. Every believer is capable of that happening, and not just at baptisms, but uniquely and daily. In 1990, during our first week of broadcasting, we played a song from an artist named Roby Duke, the song ‘Love Carrier’, and it described the reality of the Spirit of God with us, in us. Everyone in the presence of that Sunday morning baptism discovered that we’re ‘able’ to know and live with a witness of the Spirit just as in that ‘thumbs up moment’.
I remember encouraging people over the years that what we took upon ourselves when we believed Jesus Christ was not a responsibility to be perfect (in our own ability), but we received the ability-to-respond: an ability to receive and take part in His Spirit. It has been placed right there in our hearts. The Spirit of God took up a presence, an indwelling, that stays with us forever! And, as we place a toe in the water of His experience, we become aware and immersed in the reality of the Presence of His Life, His Love, and His Spirit. We carry that ability-to-respond with us not just on Sunday morning, but Monday through Saturday as well. The Father has placed Blessing into our lives with the placement of Himself in our hearts. What happened on that March morning was that the Holy Spirit witnessed or confirmed the presence of the Christ Spirit that has been place within each of our lives. He confirmed that because of that Spirit living in our hearts, that same Spirit has given each the capacity of being led into all Truth, in this case, into the affirmation of the Spirit of God living inside each of us who believe.
What happened to each person there, what was manifest, was that while we are all aware of being a body and having a soul, we also were proved to have an alive and active Spirit inside us that finds expression whenever we permit that to occur. We forgot ourselves for a moment; we forgot what bills might need to be paid, forgot our backaches and our heartaches and just experienced Him. Parker got baptized and we got showered with the blessing of that experience. In Christ, that’s who we really are. We’ve just forgotten that! We have been given that ability-to-respond and express His heart. And, while it’s not going to happen overnight or from just one experience, it’s possible for the Spirit to dominate our lives, not just for a moment, but for more and more. What happened that one time has the potential to happen lots of times. That morning, what did we do to make it happen? Nothing! For just a moment, we simply got in touch with our hearts rather than our heads. That ‘stuff’ is in you because He is in you. Over the years I’ve made statements about the Father where (I guess I would say) I experienced something where I just paused and realized ‘I didn’t know I knew that’. Those things are buried in our hearts and come to the surface every now and then as we learn to trust and believe. What would our own little worlds be like if we could live like that more and more each day? It’s not impossible; it’s just that it’s a journey to get there. We can make progress each day but we will not get there in just one day. It’s not even a destination as far as I can see. Every time we see Him for Who He really is we are changed, every time we experience Him more and more, being changed into His Image as we live forward. Now, we see in part. But we can at least clean our glasses a bit. If you’re in Christ and He is in you, you possess that potential, are given the ability-to-respond as a gift from His Spirit.
Now, that dog story? Suppose that dog had swallowed a diamond ring? Would he be even more ‘wonderful’ than just any other old German shepherd? Now, that dog might not know it, but he would be unlike the dog he was before swallowing that ring. He would (at least for my illustration) carry it around inside. More than likely, he would be unaware of it or its value. Believers are a bit like that. That’s how I looked at making a decision to start the radio station. While we had no guarantee that people would help, we knew something that believers might not even know themselves. We knew that the Spirit of God has been placed in them. And, while they might walk around without knowing that diamond was in them, if we could get them in contact with that Spirit, they would respond to the ministry. We came to encourage them to find who they really are. Many have done just that. They know in their hearts to respond to that Spirit and be ‘other minded’, sharing with WBVN thereby sharing with others. That dog was more precious for having swallowed that diamond. You have the treasure of the true and living Christ within you. All you need to do is get in contact with what you all ready have. Parker’s two thumbs up brought our hearts to the surface for that moment and it exposed what lives within each believer’s heart. In some way those two thumbs up were akin to ‘and a child shall lead them’. On that Sunday morning, we all said and knew ‘Amen’, all with one heart, His.