All people have the blessed opportunity of being so in tune with God that when the Trumpet sounds at the Rapture of the Church, they will rise to meet the Lord in the air, and be forever with Him.

That harmony of spirit comes when people are purged of their sins. King David wanted that harmony, and prayed: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me’’ (Psalm 51:7-10).

As children of God, that right spirit is what we want. What we expect and witness at our camp meetings summer after summer is the moving of the Spirit of God. It is certainly experienced by everyone who comes with an open heart, hungry for the Gospel, and looking for the Lord to bless as he yields himself to the will of God.

We find much Gospel in David’s prayer. “Purge me with hyssop...” Hyssop was used in Old Testament worship ceremonies to apply the blood of lambs for cleansing. David was asking for the Blood of that greater Lamb, Jesus, the Lamb of God who was coming to shed His Blood to take away our sins. The Blood of Jesus would purge from all sin and give man that right spirit which puts him in tune with God.

There is no one on God’s earth who has that right spirit until he has been cleansed by the Blood of Jesus. He is always obstinate, at odds with others, and especially with the Lord. The Gospel shapes us and makes us fit into God’s plan.

I like the old-time religion. It doesn’t make any difference if you meet with many or few, when you step into one of our Gospel meetings, you can always feel right at home. You feel the Spirit of God. You can fit right in if you have the right spirit.

If you don’t have the right spirit, if you are in tune only with yourself, you are a misfit.

But if you don’t have the right spirit, if you are in tune only with yourself, you are a misfit. I am not a musician, but I know in an orchestra there is something that everyone tunes to, usually the oboe. Each different instrument will adjust to get in tune—the horns tooting, drums beating, strings tightened or loosened. There has to be something in the players that is willing to do what it takes to get their instruments in tune. When they are in tune with one another they can produce beautiful music. There is something thrilling about that!

The reason camp meetings are blessed is that people get themselves in tune. When the Word goes forth, they agree to it. It sounds good. It thrills the soul. They are not chafing at the standard of the Gospel. One can just sit easy and say “Amen” with all his heart. If you have the right spirit, the Gospel rings true. You will fit in with others who have it in the great congregation of the Lord.

Having the right spirit makes us get along better with unsaved people, too. I remember when I was a teenager I wondered why so many people wanted to fight with me. After I was saved, there were no more fights. I was different. At the time, I was serving on an aircraft carrier in the Navy. The rest of the crew weren’t so bad after all, when my heart was right.

During the war, we spent most of our time at sea—in port only a few days at a time for provisions. The ship was constantly moving, twenty-four hours a day, up and down, to one side then the other. It never stopped moving. Many of the sailors had a hard time adjusting. They just stayed sick! But there was something about being in tune with the ship that made a big difference.

Out there on the ocean, we were actually moving our bodies, our muscles, all the time, adjusting to the movement of the ship as we stood, as we walked, as we lay in our bunks. We would feel quite comfortable as long as we would lean as we should, go forward when we ought, or backward. It got to where we did it automatically. In the worst of storms we were adjusted—tuned.

In some storms, the water went over the flight deck sixty feet above the water line. But even at times like that, when one could feel the deck go down, and the bulkhead was where the deck should be, we were still in harmony. There was no problem in making the adjustments.

That is how we feel about the Gospel. There is nothing so hard that we cannot adjust to it if we have the right spirit.

That is how we feel about the Gospel. There is nothing so hard that we cannot adjust to it if we have the right spirit. There is nothing wrong with the old Gospel ship—nothing! She has been through some tough storms, but she keeps right on sailing. The Gospel is just like it always was.

I have been in storms when l kept my eye on the captain. In one storm, I thought the ship would turn over and not come back. When I saw the captain, he didn’t seem a bit perturbed. He had confidence in the ship. He was all attuned to it. lf he had run for a lifeboat, I would have run with him. But he didn’t. He looked as calm as could be. He just leaned when the ship leaned. As I remember, he walked with his hands behind him, looking so comfortable that it gave me confidence that the ship would stand the storm. The Gospel ship will stand the storm, too. Let us keep our eyes on our Captain.

The ship itself has to adjust to the storm. There were times when we had to head her straight into the fray, and hold her there on a steady course. We couldn’t let her turn to the right or the left or back up. As the ship rises and falls, rolls to the one side then the other, you soon see that she is in tune with the storm, in tune with the raging waves. And she comes through!

Oh, to have that kind of spirit! That’s the right spirit that will cause us to see things as they ought to be seen. Then the blessings of the Lord will be poured out.

I don’t want to come into a prayer meeting where the Lord is blessing, and feel that for some reason I am on the outside, not plugged in to the Power.

How blessed we are when people tell of answered prayer—that God has worked in their lives! What a thrill when someone says, “Thank you for the prayers you prayed for me. God heard and answered.” Sometimes when we are in deep waters, afflictions upon us, we can ask others of like faith to join us in prayer, and God answers. I don’t want to come into a prayer meeting where the Lord is blessing, and feel that for some reason I am on the outside, not plugged in to the Power.

lf the Blood of Jesus has been applied to our hearts and we have that new heart David spoke about, the right spirit will be there. We must give ourselves wholeheartedly, in full and complete surrender. There has to be a lining-up here and there. We want the Gospel preached as it always has been preached.

The baptism of the Holy Ghost is being poured out upon people who have nothing between their souls and the Savior. If you have been sanctified, you are one with the Lord and His people. When you get the right spirit through the purging of the Blood of Jesus, you will not have to ask and ask the Lord for His Spirit to come and abide. Praises to God will overflow. You will be able to say, “Lord, I’m measuring up. I haven’t gone back from anything You commanded. I haven’t been sitting back finding fault.” Then into the depths of your heart will roll more blessings than you can contain.

The greatest triumph will be when the Trumpet sounds for the Rapture of the Church, and we are in tune with it and can rise to meet the Lord in the air. When the Spirit says, “Come up higher,” I want to go. Only those who have the right spirit will hear the trumpet sound. What a thrill it will be! The old will be young again. The sick will be healed. Jesus shed His Blood to purge and cleanse us that we might be His Bride, “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27).