The Tide®

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen me and yet have believed.” (John 20:29 NIV) How often have you heard someone describing a spectacular event say, “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it!” Recently in a magazine I saw an advertisement for a bed mattress. In order to convey just how luxurious and comfortable the mattress is the caption reads “You’ve got to feel it to believe it.”  Let’s face it, we live in a society where “seeing is believing.”  It just seems to be part of our human nature to want to experience things for ourselves before we are convinced of their validity.  That’s probably because so often we form opinions on things we hear about, and then find our whole perception being changed once we experience it for ourselves.  That’s what happened with Thomas when he first heard that Jesus has risen from the grave and is alive. He didn’t beli

As Christ followers, we are daily aware of our privileged life as adopted children of the Most High God, but it is still very special and meaningful for us to celebrate Easter every year. It is a wonderful time of very specifically remembering and honoring what Jesus did for us through His death on the cross and subsequent resurrection. Here in America we live in an environment where we can freely live out our faith and publicly join together with others to joyfully celebrate Easter. Our government even recognizes Easter as a national holiday! In some parts of the world, however, Easter is not celebrated, and there are many who have not yet personally responded to the call to belong to Jesus Christ because they haven’t yet heard the Gospel message. Fortunately, people like you whose hearts are filled with Christ’s compassion for the spiritually lost have been generously helping The Tide ministry in our efforts to make sure all people everywhere have the opportunity to hear about Jes

Reading: Luke 19:1-10 When men get desperate they do the unusual. Zaccheaus did! He left the office and the the business and went out to the place where Jesus was to pass by. He was quite determined, so as the huge crowd fought against him, to see Jesus Zaccheaus climbed up a tree! Before the day was over, he was the envy of ever one in the crowd-think, how would you feel if Jesus was having dinner with the tax collector! The Master knew that nay person that would make such effort to see Him would certainly be open and receptive to His teaching, and so Zaccheaus was. Zaccheaus found Him. He, like Moses in the desert, turned aside to see the Lord. To find the Lord you must take time and go where He is. He is in the scriptures. He is in the House of God. He is in the quiet devotional hour. Take time! Go where He is, climb the tree or get on your knees, and you will see Him, for He will surely pass by your way. Prayer: If youll come to my heart Lord, I’ll remove everything that is of

Even though Nigeria holds the No. 14 spot on this year’s World Watch List for Christian persecution, positive developments are still occurring to help advance the Gospel and reach new believers.  The Tide ® shares the hope of Jesus Christ through radio programming in Nigeria and regularly hears reports from leaders in the country where the 70-year-old ministry works to spread the Gospel to unreached people groups. In Nigeria, leadership recently reported that radio stations in the African nation had raised fees for airtime. “To the glory of God,” the representative shared, individuals and organizations came forward with the necessary funds so the Gospel programming could continue. The Tide -aided ministry in Nigeria is also engaging in one-on-one counseling for those in need, as well as helping displaced families whose homes have been burnt down by insurgents from Boko Haram. They not only have no roofs over their heads, but also scarce food, water, clothing or medical care. “Nigeri

Quiet Spirits Reading: 1 Thesselonians 4:7-12 Have you ever heard a sermon preached on this scripture? Do you remember it? Study to be quiet and to mind your own business. Boisterous and meddlesome persons create their own problems and stumble over their feet. Better stay out of controversies that have no answer. Don’t be joining riots to prove your point, or raise disturbances to get attention. It is far better to be quiet. Don’t talk too much. While there are many words there is no want for strife. “Mind your own affairs” is the way the Amplified version puts it. There is nothing much more obnoxious that I know, than a person with a pious look who thinks it their business to manage the a airs of everyone in the church and in the community. Let us submit to an honest examination by the Holy Spirit. A eddlesome spirit is hard to detect. Listen carefully to what the Lord may want to say. Prayer: Thank you Lord for showing me my heart. Make me gentle. Help me to be quiet, sweet,

Reading: Acts 8:1-8 The early church grew by leaps and bounds. They soon filled Jerusalem with their doctrines. Persecution arose and they were scattered. Scattered, but not stopped. Scattered to witness and preach Christ. It is very evident that in the Jerusalem church, they were all witnessing Christians. They prayed that with all boldness they might give witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. Philip and his family witnessed to Samaria. It was a very unlikely place, but God honored the word and many were saved and mircales were performed. There is an urgent need for witnessing Christians today. A good question to ask yourself is, “How much have I witnessed for the Lord in the last year?” Prayer: Lord, forgive me for failing to witness. Give me a new touch on my soul. Inspire me to witness and I shall try. I pray for Your help. Amen. Be on the look out for a new devotional ebook coming out soon! The post Be a Witness for the Lord appeared first on The Tide

In mid-March a mission team from The Tide ministry will be traveling to Albania to conduct a Leader to Leader seminar for pastors from across Albania and Kosovo.  Albania was once an atheist state and the population is now predominantly Muslim, but since 1998 Albania has legally allowed total religious freedom.  Despite many mission organizations entering Albania since it opened up in 1998 it is still estimated that less than 1% of the population are evangelical Christians. The purpose of our visit is to encourage and resource pastors who are engaged in leading young congregations and planting new churches. Since 2015 The Tide ministry has been working with some of these pastors to effectively share the Gospel with Albanians in their own language in a culturally relevant context.  We now want to further encourage them to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and to work cooperatively to build God’s Kingdom in the hearts of people throughout that region of the world. Please pray with

A new report in The Christian Post finds that as Christian persecution continues to rise in India under the governance of a Hindu nationalist party, an evangelical group described 2017 as “one of the most traumatic for the Christian community” in 10 years.  The Tide ® has been sharing the Gospel in India for four decades, and reaches new and potential believers there in multiple languages. “With a population of over 1.3 billion people, India is very densely populated,” said The Tide Director Don Shenk . “Over 2,000 of the 2,295 people groups in India are still considered unreached with the Gospel. Multiple religions are practiced throughout India, but Hinduism is the largest religion there, and only about 2 percent of the population professes to be Christians. That means there are still over 1.2 billion people in India who don’t yet know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior! And the fact that those who do believe in Christ are experiencing persecution gives us all the more reas

Reading: Psalm 46, Matthew 28:18-20, Rev 7:9-10 I have a tendency to take on large and complicated projects.  My longest-term project has been the renovation of the stone farmhouse that belonged to my grandparents.  Because my family and I are living in the house while we renovate it, we have to break the large job into smaller parts.  Some of them are easy to figure out, like adding a wall or taking down an old ceiling.  One of the hard jobs, though, has been building a new staircase.  Because this job is so complicated, I really didn’t want to tackle it – but this past December, it had to be done.  I began by measuring and drawing and then, as I focused on doing the next necessary part, I found that although it took time and attention, the staircase began to take shape. Scripture is clear that God will be exalted by all the nations (ethnic groups), and that a great multitude from all nations will praise Him.  It’s also clear that we have a part to play in this.  How often though,

We closed 2017 with a new political dispensation due to the resignation of former president Robert Mugabe. We thank God for a peaceful political transition. Although there was jubilant celebration in the streets at the time of his resignation, the living conditions have not improved. We have seen the upsurge in basic commodities such as food, utility costs and transportation for the past quarter. This has a negative impact on the everyday livelihood and needs of the ‘Amagugu Evangeli’ radio ministry and puts the majority of our listeners in distress. During this past quarter, the studio technician, Jonah, and our radio preachers attended to responses from 765 listeners who made contact through WhatsApp, texts and phone calls. Listeners request prayer and counseling on salvation and faith, marital problems and family matters, employment and economic issues, educational needs and sickness. Our main radio program has shifted in times from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. every Sunday. We were