As you look out over any ocean or huge body of water you cannot detect the most profound occurrence happening right before your eyes. You’ve got to put your hand in the waters. What’s that force you feel? It is the unseen tide that has consumed many ships at sea because the captain did not properly read or adjust his ship for the outgoing or incoming tide. Life has a thousand unseen currents so you can not go by how things seem, appear or feel. Satan functions in the unseen world causing, anger, confusion and despair.
Long ago my family and I bought a sailboat at a very cheap price. We all worked to make it “seaworthy”. I became a captain of an endeavor I never imagined. Our dream was to bring the gospel to all the ports along the coast of South America. I wrongly figured it would be the cheapest and best way. Worst decision I ever made. In my humble opinion, other than a aircraft carrier, no boat made by man, can safely face the horrors that await a person on the ocean. Rogue waves alone can bring you to tears.
The truth is I was at a time in my life where I was brought to my end from preaching for many years on the campuses and city streets across America. I was broken by the hatred, indifference, hypocrisy and persecution. I just wanted to flee. My horizon had to be expanded to see beyond the limitations and frailty of my flesh to learn the High Tide of HIs Spirit.
I could write a library of overwhelming challenges we had to overcome. Almost faced death many times. There is a vast knowledge required including understanding latitude, longitude, tides, apparent and true winds, complex charts, compass variations, etc. The learning curve is mind boggling.
The tide is fascinating. Think about how it occurs.
For anyone who doesn’t know, the tide is caused by the gravity of the moon pulling the oceans towards itself as the earth rotates. So in a very sequential and cyclical manner this marvel of the ocean moving in one direction then completely changing and going in the opposite direction takes place at specific times.
The impact of HIGH TIDE is enormous in many aspects. One time my daughter Ruth and I were on our tiny little dingy heading back to the ship, after filling our water tanks, and the tide caught us in its current, like in a giant fist, and rapidly started to take us out to sea. We were petrified.
I began stroking the paddles as hard as I could against HIGH TIDE. The power is so massive I had to row so hard that it snapped the paddle in half. Someone on a dock saw us, ran to the end of the pier and threw us a life line. We barely escaped a tragedy if not death. Such things happened many times.
But from that experience I never again took the impact of the tide lightly. In fact it was one of the main reasons I began to seek God to get us off that boat. It caused no little consternation. Reading the Tide Charts, with experience of its’ power, is completely different than reading them without that experience. You don’t realize it, my friend, but your life is in extreme danger. So many mornings after that I would stoop down on a dock, put my hand in the water, and feel the overwhelming power of the tide, praising God for giving me the humility to face my lack. The tide is either coming in or going out on your life right at this moment. This unseen phenomenon is a powerful witness to the glory of our Creator trying to teach how to enter His destiny. The Word of God is just a listing of times, places, history and doctrines unless you personally know how to grasp the High Tide and what is involved if you miscalculate.
I was so out of my realm on a sailboat. I had no idea what I was doing. But it brought me to begin to understand what it means to be in or out of the flow of God’s will.
Imagine the power of HIGH TIDE in regards to being caught up in the will and blessing of Abrahamic faith in the living God? Imagine choosing to lift yourself and be able to PUT YOURSELF in a faith that becomes like a current of destiny. It’s true bro. This is what it means to be in the living Jesus. Oh sure, you may miss it a thousand times, but ultimately you when “taste and see” the flow in His High Tide you become a tideaholic.
Thus says the HIGH and exalted One Who dwells on HIGH “I dwell on a high and holy place AND ALSO with the contrite (repentant) and lowly of spirit” (Isaiah 57:15).
HIGH TIDE is the absolute beauty and reward of true repentance. It is being carried by a force outside yourself into the joy of sonship. You will know its power because it requires a contrite heart to learn the “learning curve” (Ps. 51:17). Behavioral change merely happens as a result. It is not a focus. High Tide is the ultimate proof of divine change. It takes place as a result of Jesus. It is what the men and women felt who caught the flow in His eyes. It is like the awesome glorious the changing of the season; the changing of weather, a caterpillar into a butterfly or the storm winds.
Jesus says a man born of the Spirit is as changing as the wind (John 3:8). It is not a one time prayer-ritual or feeling of remorse over bad deeds. It is a character caused by the gravity of turning from your sin and aligning with eternal destination. Of eating His Bread, drinking His blood, flowing as His branch, hearing the Shepherd, walking in His light and drinking new wine.
Going against Him stops you… dead in the waters of life. It will result in snapping your paddle against the opposite direction of your will. You must stop. Learn how to truly read the Tide Chart of the Spirit. You conscience is telling you that the fruits you exude are not those of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). You are going against the tide. Repentance is an enormous inward, reversal and transformation of will.
People wrongly think that when they do what they think is “good” or “right” this is repentance. It is not. In Mark 10:17…22 the man did what was “good” but was unwilling to listen, and change, so as to follow Jesus. He would not enter a different flow of righteousness. Why? He wanted his own way of change. It was ‘good enough’. Being in control and repentance do not exist together.
Pride, more often than not, does NOT ALLOW you to change. It will stop you like a contrary current. It will oppose Jesus like the tide did to Ruth and I. In fact it will turn you in the opposite direction by the underlying current of unbelief and self-righteousness that you refuse to identify. This unseen and unidentified tide of pride will drive you out into an ocean of delusion, confusion and lost at sea. Please, please, please my friend listen to me, before its too late.
TRUE REPENTANCE ALWAYS ENDS IN JOY OF FORGIVENESS IN CHRIST- Read 2 Cor.7:10-Luke 15
It is a reflective sorrow that ends in spectacular relief not grief. Make things simple bro. The Holy Spirit always clearly bears witness to the truth.
In the quiet whispers of your conscience the Spirit speaks to you, here, to every person. Read Romans 2:14-16.
The destiny of true repentance is as majestic and remarkable as the changing of the tide. It is more magnificent than all the oceans suddenly switching from one way to another. God says that every person shows that they hear truth by how their behavior reflects the workings of their conscience and thus will answer for any secret rationalizations. To respond is the switch of the current. Suddenly, an enormous mystery occurs.
Jesus says He provided every solution to every problem in His death and resurrection (John. 15:22-26/Romans 1:20).
God does not reveal any special way to change that is different today, for you, then He did ten years, or a thousand years ago, to men in the exact situation. His ways didn’t change.
It is we who must yield so as to be taken over by His current. His ways don’t need some kind of unique revelation. He cites individuals who dealt with the exact same sufferings and same exact answer. God is not going to come up with a different or new gospel than what Jesus has already done on the cross. There is no other salvation coming to earth. It’s tough. It’s hard. It requires death to self but man is the reward FEE NOM IN ALL!!!!!!!
The cliche “Where there is a will there is a way” is common but profound. It is the clincher. If you want to hear God , if you want to change, if you want to follow Jesus then do so. The power of the free will brings you into everything in Christ that you need. It is a two way street. A two way tide that brings new things in and old things out. You can rest in High Tide. You can be carried into the plan of the living Father.
LETHAL RESISTANCE – You know those thoughts that stalk your mind like dark dragons? That’s because unrepentant sin lingers in your conscience . Dragons can be replaced by butterflies of hope and promise. You must set your will to want to surrender yourself, not resist Him. Then all the crap will be resolved. Yes, changing your mind is difficult. But if you couldn’t do Jesus would never have come; in like the tide to take you out with Him.
I can remember the first time I threw myself face down on my bed, terrified that I couldn’t change and follow Jesus because I knew my wickedness. No way was I going to be a phony. I just talked to Him. I reflected on how He dealt in Scripture with the very worst individuals with such Personal mercy and compassion. I just believed He would show me, teach me and empower me, the same way, despite my fears and weakness.
Right this very moment, brother, you know whether you are resisting God or not. Go a deeper contrite. It may be way down there and seemingly so tiny. Almost indistinguishable. Don’t deny it. He sees it and loves you and wants to deal with it. Resistance is not usually some dominating feeling or outward rebellion. Pride rises up in tiny packages of little rationalizations, almost unnoticeable; “You’ve done enough”…”Nobody knows how hard you tried”…”That’s good enough” are common little lies and fears of pride. It won’t let you change. Excuses come in all shapes and sizes. You can’t come up with any new fear that hasn’t stopped billions or been used by those who almost made it. Don’t fight the tide. Let go.
God IS speaking to you my dear brother or sister. No doubt. Right this moment. He clearly says so (Psalm 19:1/Rom. 10: 18). The conscience, the skies, clouds, the air, trees and leaves and branches are His actual voice speaking to you of so many thing in the silence of. your concentration. Paul says we interpret through the medium of faith (Romans 10:9-18).
HEARING depends on your choice to trust the living Father and interpret them as His love for you. The main reason people are not blown away by the love of God in creation is solely because of entitlement. So consumed with self they don’t realize they are on the edge of hell fire. If you realized how wicked you are in God’s sight and yet God gives you breath in your lungs to inhale and the scent of millions of flowers, the song of a million birds, etc. then you would see His revelation as men of old.
The “old man”, of Adam, does not disappear because we feel bad for our sin (2 Cor.4:16). The “old man” is in our blood bro. We need a “blood transfusion” in every single decision to BELIEVE JESUS instead of ourselves. When we believe His blood it overshadows our bad blood and everything that goes with it. All sin, past, present and future.
Bad blood loses its life influence. It must be identified and crucified constantly. Paul says “I die daily” and “We are sheep to be slaughtered” and “constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus” (1 Cor.15:31/Rm. 8:36/2 Cor. 4:11).
I was so thrilled to get off the sea and on to dry land I literally laid down and kissed the ground when we sold that ship. It was so humiliating to admit how wrong I was. I had to reach into a deeper contrite. It was funny how the High Tide instantly caught me and took me into His precious Presence.
On the “sea trial” of selling the boat a huge storm hit at the very moment and the steering ran out of hydraulic fluid. It could have been a disaster but the guy was so impressed with “how I handled the boat in such horrible seas” it finalized the deal. It wasn’t me. It was the outcome of stopping my lingering ways and being carried in the High Tide of the redemptive currents of the Most High.
I once converted a 40 foot GMC old bus into an RV to take to Europe to provide for us to live in on the other side of the ocean. But it had one “little” problem. The emergency air brake did not completely stop. It would almost stop, but then roll forwards a tiny bit. I had more than one accident of it rolling into something. I had to always chock the tires until I got it fixed (caused many a nightmare to this day). Many people tell me how they have “accepted Christ” while anxiety exudes out of them like a gushing fountain.
There was a very definitive moment on the ship that I had to STOP and admit I made a mistake. I was being driven by my own self-pity and a lot of confusing currents.
It is no little thing to completely STOP. To admit the truth before God. Stop your mind. Stop your anxiety. Stop your thoughts. Listen. Can you be still? How long? Because if you can, and when you do, is the time that you can examine your conscience. Don’t be afraid. What words are turning in your head? Grief or blessing? Paul says we must realize any little “encumbrance of sin” that interferes in this effort. Whatever bugs you butterflies are waiting. It is an outcome of one or all of the Big Three: Guilt, shame, remorse, are like the three “friends” of Job always speaking words that carry some morsel of truth but not the full truth. They trip you up.
The cleansing of the conscience by the interpersonal work of the Lamb is not some theoretical mental gymnastics (Hebrews 10:19-22). His impact is as real as a car wash. Before and after. If your conscience is not washed, the flesh will constantly leak into the engine of your mind, and take you against the tide of God’s Spirit. Don’t play games bro, or sis, time is short. It’s all that matters and your eternity is all that matters to Him. “Fixing your eyes on Jesus” (Heb. 12:1). Focus. For one time in your life.
We are immersed in a vile culture and its influence is inescapable. This is the generation where Christian truths are twisted and delusion has become mainstream.
We will soon face the final judgement and eternity in heaven or hell. Yield to the High Tide my friend. He comes in Jesus to take you out to heaven. Soon He will go out never to return. I love you man. You matter so much to God He gave His Son. “All day long I stretch out My arms to a people who walk in their own ways” (Isaiah 65:2-3,,66:2).
