Last Night (Friday August 18, 2006) at the House of Prayer in Bolingbrook IL I delivered what the Lord had shown me in a vision as follows:
I saw seashore. It went for miles. All along the shore were boats. Except these were boats out of water. Some were run aground. Some were tethered to docks that were out of the water. There were large and small, fancy and humble boats. This seashore surrounded a huge harbor. There were some boats, not many, in the harbor still afloat in the deeper water.
Then an exceptional high tide came in. The boats up and down the shore were set afloat. Many were in such bad repair that when the tide came they couldn’t float and stayed under water. The fact that the boats were floating on the water again was an exhilarating thing for those who captained the boats. Many stood proudly on the decks of their boats and took credit for the fact the boat was now afloat instead of giving credit to the tide that had come in.
Boats out in the harbor communicated with the boats tied to the docks and those staying close to the shore that in order to stay afloat they should come out into deeper water to be safe. The Captains of the shore and dock boats told them they had always been boats of the shore. Deep water was strange. They didn’t need deep water. The people on their boats would rather be close so they could get on and off the boat easily, going into the village and then from time to time get back on the boat.
Then a call from the Harbormaster went out. “Come out here. Cast out into the deep. It’s safe and secure in deep water. You won’t run aground again”. A few decided to take the plunge. They burned the docks they had trusted and acted on the word of the harbormaster.
Many of the boats next to the shore and tied to the docks ridiculed those in the deep water. They said, our fathers always kept the boat close to shore. We need to be in control. There became a division of boats between deep-water crews and shore crews.
Then the tide went out again. Those boats on the shore and tied to docks were once again stranded aground. As time went by they talked of the old days when the boat was afloat. How thrilling it was to rise and fall with the waves. They hoped for another tide that would let them regain flotation. Some even said that next time the tide came in they would go out into the deep water so they wouldn’t be beached again.
The harbormaster had known and had warned the shore boats. He knew this seashore was a seismic area and that the potential for tidal waves was a serious threat. One day the world shook. Everything that could be shaken was shaken. As a result a huge tidal wave swept into the harbor. Boats that were in the deep rose higher as the wave passed by. But those on the shore and at the dock were destroyed by the powerful wave. Many people perished, many were offended that the harbormaster hadn’t insisted they come out; some blamed the captains of their boats that were destroyed for bad judgment. The end result was there were no boats left on the shoreline or at the docks. They were all rubble.
The boats safe in deep water came and rescued many of the refugees from the tidal wave. They mourned over the loss of life and property but from that day on it was known to all that the only really safe place is in the deepest water. There were no people willing to board a boat that wouldn’t go away from the shore. Security under the watchful eye of the harbormaster was where they wanted to be. Some people just retreated further inland to other villages and turned their back on the boats and the harbormaster. They felt safer inland. What they didn’t know what the danger of fire would be if they stayed deep in the woods of the inland areas.
I imagine you can determine what most of this is. If you have spiritual ears to hear, this all is clear.
The boats all represent ministries, churches and individuals. The tide is the grace and mercy of God. The docks are traditions and denominations. The Villages and inland are worldly pursuits. The harbormaster is Jesus. The captains are spiritual leaders and pastors.
The tidal wave is human crisis. It is also the outpouring of the Spirit of God and the shaking that goes with it. It turns upside down and destroys everything that these ministries and churches trusted in.
The very leaders or ministers and churches that resisted moving out into deeper water were destroyed. The pride they had for a short time when the first high tide of grace and outpouring came in was crushed by pressure.
Let the church and those who are in leadership with ears to hear what the Spirit of God is saying to the church right now.
The tide is high, but if you don’t get into the deep water now you will be crushed when the big wave comes.
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