The Historic Roots of Humility and Pride (Part 1)

I would like to start out with this verse from Revelation 4 that explains our duty to God, "They lay their crowns before the throne and say: You are worthy, our Lord and God, to recieve glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." In the beginning of time when God created man in His image, He poured ever ounce of His own goodness and glory into the very soul of man, until man could handle no more. But this act of true love was not to give the creation glory, but rather to glorify the creator who knows and loves us more than we can fathom! So to express that goodness and glory that dwells within. We as His followers must present ourselves as empty vessels, so God can dwell and manifest His POWER through us. Everything I just explained equals H-U-M-I-L-I-T-Y! The place in life where our entire dependence is placed in God alone, understanding that the very nature of His creatures lie in the essence of Humility. It was the first seed placed inside you! Your entire relationship with God lies on this root! Humility is the only way we as creatures can know the Mighty Savior!

But  remember the root that ruined our relationship with God? Think about the root of Pride and where it ruined the closest most intimate relationships between God and His Angels and God and His Men????????????????????????
Go back to the very first example before man was even created, when the Disgusting Pride formed inside the beating heart of Lucifer. That's where rebellion all started! Also think about the fall of man in the garden of Eden, where the slithering serpant breathed the poison of PRIDE down the throat our first father adam!  This goes to show that in heaven and on earth the very gateway to hell lies within ONE THING the darkness of pride! Alot of times when I make this statment that Pride is the root of all evil, people want to argue with me that pride isn't the root and that there are other areas to point out. But I think God makes this quite clear throughout His word that Pride is the only real thing we are to avoid and Humility is the only thing we are truly pursue in Him! I mean doesn't that make your relationship with Christ much more simple and beautiful? God isn't as complex as we make Him out to be, He's really quite simple indeed and it is our duty not to lead but to follow Him and His ways.  Know that understanding the concept between the Two Roots is so vital because if we don't have the basics here, it's really easy to get religious and decieved on what God asks of us, legalism and self righteousness may eventually take over your heart if these two principles are not applied!

So before I rap this blog up, I want us to dive face first into the restoration and reedemtion God provides for us! And for this the only place to go is

"The Cross", where the Son of the most high God layed down his life for the entire world! As the people of Israel screamed at Him, persecuted Him, spit on Him, beat Him beyond belief, Ripped the beard out of His beloved face, Jammed a massive crown of thorns into His scalp and nailed His hands and Feet to a Cross and  as they did this our King said "Abba forgive them they know not what they do." That my friends that is the ULTIMATE act of Humility! We were lost by the first adams PRIDE and we are now saved by the second adams HUMILITY! Take this with you the rest of your days and cherish it. Present your body as an empty vessel before our God so His Holiness can dwell inside you till the end of days! Follow Humility because it will guide you, do not make the walk of holiness so difficult! Lean on the Father, Humble yourself daily before Him and He will exalt you above every mountain top.

Tribulation and Victory!

Ok guys I have quite the encouraging story to share with you!

As the sun rose and the day began  On April 18 I made my way to church with the family, afterwards I cleaned up the house a little and then later that evening I got the privilege of meeting my Great Aunt Phyllis for the first time. She's quite the character I must say! On top of how awesome she is I should probably mention she's 80 years old! So we were having a blast in the good ole Vogel home! But in a matter of seconds my world was turned upside down!  Around 8p.m.  The phone rang and it was my friend Corey notifying me that my apartment building in Great Bend had been completely burnt to the ground Sunday morning! My heart instantly SUNK and this DEEP ANGER was unleashed from the very depths of my soul! The thief of all thieves marched right into my own home and stole everything there! So I had to gather my thoughts and take a walk down to the creek to have a heart to heart conversation with Jesus. When I got back home the anger was gone, but I still felt abused and violated! My parents called me over as I walked in the door and wanted to speak with me. So we gathered round in the living room and my dad read a verse to me, James 1:2-4 "Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing." As he read this passage It really pissed me off!. I didn't say much aloud that night but inside I was Murmuring A LOT! It sounded something like this deep down ”Are you insane Jesus! Rejoice after losing almost everything I own! Rejoice that my piano, violin and saxophone were just baked like chocolate chip cookies! Rejoice that I'm now homeless! Rejoice after losing every sentimental possession I once cherished! Hell NO I will not rejoice in this!?” (Now before I go on I want you to understand what I was feeling so I'll try my best to put you in my shoes!). Imagine me taking every single object you own and piling it up in front of you, I'm talking EVERYTHING, your shirts, your dresses, your shoes, your guitar, your piano, your school books, your Bible, your Journal, your most cherished Sentimental items, all your electronics including TV, Laptop, Camera, IPod, Video Games, Movies and then imagine the very place you have slept at, ate at, studied at, worshiped at, cried at, rejoiced at, fellow shipped at and deeply repented at! Close your eyes and envision all those soul clinging possessions you've built memories with and watch them all burn to ASH! How does it feel!? Do you feel the anger and confusion and lack of peace a little bit now? OK now that you’re in my shoes and understand my situation a little better I'll continue on with the story. The next day I stepped foot in my apartment and as I looked around it really pierced my heart deep down. A place that once had so much LIFE became a place with so much DEATH and DESTRUCTION. I felt so cold and alone there, and the strong presence of God which was once there was there no longer. This unpleasant sight honestly gave me a small glimpse of what Hell looks like. So I quickly took some pictures, grabbed a few things and agreed to never return again.

I'm going to be honest the first and second day were rough! It was a constant battle of avoiding the pattern and temptation of self pity and self glory. During this whole mess I didn't exactly get to rest and focus, I had to get back to school, get back to work and get back to life. But every spare second I had I spent with Jesus because I knew He was the only one who could bring me through this! So I spent hours and hours in supplication asking God to lift this cup from me. That His will would be done through this tribulation. That His name would be glorified through this situation and that I would become more like Him through this trial of cleansing. Also that I would rest in His Loving arms and find the peace and joy He desires for my life. So although my heart ached I believed this prayer would be heard and answered. And By the third day God answered that prayer and had brought me an overwhelming amount of Peace and Joy that released into every portion of my soul! I  had never felt anything like this! I mean I’ve felt joy and peace before but this was so much different than all the other times. Because this time I was at rock bottom! I lost every materialistic item I'd owned and felt PURE JOY! Gosh when I speak about this experience my jaw seriously drops in amazement of the faithful God we serve. My heart is now FREE and in order with His will. I lost what I lost, but I am able to remain so content with what I  have. As Paul once said "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ."

So instead of being tied downtrodden and beaten I SING James 1:2-4! I can't stop rejoicing through it all, I'm ecstatic I lost my clothes, shoes, electronics, sentimental items and valuable instruments! Satan can no longer use those distractions to keep me from serving God! I will not let Satan steal John 3:16 from my heart because I am free from the Kingdom of this World and alive for Christ Jesus my Hope and Glory! And not only has God given me Peace within but has doubled my possessions that were lost in the fire! That seriously happened! WOW  what a merciful loving father we worship! He desires our lives to be abundant and beyond! So next time when times look beyond tough what are you going to do?  If we remain faithful and embrace (I Corinthians 15:57)&( James 1:2-4) God will bring us victory every time! Tribulation is a beautiful thing my friends so Rejoice, Give Thanks and Be Content With What You Have! For the lord has said "never will I leave you and never will I forsake you"

Our Patient Father! (Part 1)

Have you ever thought about this headline above "Our Patient Father"?  Have you thanked and praised Him for this divine trait He sheds on us daily? At what point do you apply His Grace on the disobediant mistakes you made in life? How long do you dwell on the mistakes you've made, all day, all week or maybe even all month God Forbid as your heart completly ignores the truth that God loves you regardless? What is Grace and what does it mean to you? Is it something you dwell in daily or something you know about but give a minimal portion of focus and belief? Is Grace a dominant reality in your life daily? 

These are good questions to ask yourself! The best way to see where your at and why you are where you are, is to apply questions to your veiws and God's written word, so you can see if your situation or remark alligns with Truth or Fallacy!

I'm writing this message to you because God has graciously revealed to me that He is patient with me every day! I'm going to share a short story with you about what I've taken from these questions and then I encourage you to write out your own little story about how you applied this topic to your life. Because I veiw this matter as a very important issue we seem to deal with on a day to day basis and we must  remember that God loves us unconditionaly regardless of our screw ups and that His son Christ Jesus died for our disobediance. I want you to read this with an open heart because I really don't want you to ignore and continue to push back that thing you did in the past. Or those thoughts in your head reciting that " Your a failure and you didn't do well enough". You need to bring it out and give it to your wonderful loving father, let His Grace be applied to the things your ashamed of! You must learn to allow Christ to change and mold you from your mistakes rather than ignore and hide them like they never even happened. Your are God's child, let Him take care of you, stop trying to care for yourself, YOU CAN'T DO IT ALONE! YOU MUST LISTEN TO GOD'S WORD ON THAT OR YOU WILL NEVER FIND REST!

I want you to have an example to go along with this teaching on God's Longsuffering and I'm more than happy to share with you what the Lord's been teaching me on my journey with him!
I'm going to tell you this story mostly through a looking glass perspective, meaning I didn't exactly see alot of the wisdom and truth I'm going to share with you until later on, it kinda took me awhile to see God's Progress. So lets get started! The last few years, I've become more and more of a social and overt type of person. Which is great don't get me wrong, It's much easier to reach out to people and love our neighbors when we can fearlessly approach them right? But you see I used this great quality to manipulate my situation and social status rather than using it to glorify the Father. About 2 years ago I moved 180 miles away from home and started a new stage of early adulthood. As soon as I got to college I instantly focused on what do I have to do to fit in. Popularity was so important to me, so important I'd rebel against my savior to obtain it! And Once I had it in my grasp, I then thought I'd focus on my spiritual side of life. But I began to realize this was impossible because I couldn't have the ways of this World and the ways of the Father, I mean he makes that pretty clear to us. So I wasn't quite ready to give up everything I worked on for nearly 6 months. I mean I was so comfortable, tons of friends, pretty girls and lots of fun! But quietly, mericuflly and patiently He tried getting my attention, so I would realize I was directely OFF His path and enslaved to Worldly Aproval and Acceptance! And as He kept trying to help me up and lift me up, I pushed Him away. It was because my heart didn't quite undertand that all this time He desired for me to have a life more like His, Peaceful, Joyful and Pure, I didn't have the understanding to grasp the concept of Grace being applied to every ounce of my life and my struggles. And so in order for me to take the next step of Faith I'd have to move completely away from darkness and follow the Lord, Which meant see ya later REPUTATION! Because this entire Social Rep I had built was completely grounded on Darkness and the ways of this world so I had to let it go if I wanted to experience Joy unspeakable! So since I wasn't listening to His quiet patient requests earlier He then did something BIG, LOUD AND VISIBLE to WAKE ME UP! This wake up call hurt me very much, but because He loved me so much He knew it was the only way to get my attention and see the difference between Him and The World. This blows me away now as I look back on it, what a merciful God We Have! One who never gives up on us, Who continually watches us from the side lines and coaches us like a wonderful Dad would, letting us know that He is right there beside us and that He will always be right there beside us. Being able to  Experience and witness how different God's will is from the World's Will was quite incredible, but I still wasn't quite sure How to apply the Grace of God to my situation. It was hard for me to forgive myself for what I had done, to the one whom my soul loveth. But over time God paintenly drew me closer and closer to Him helping me realize that He was so ecstatic to have me back in His arms. That He Loved me no matter what I did! Continually telling me "Ryan don't worry about screwing up, it's bound to happen your not perfect my child, But next time when you do screw up don't try and fix it on your own. My beloved Son died for you so that I could help change and mold your heart to allign with righteousness."  He spoke to me through His written word telling me to dwell on Pslam 86:15 "But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth." So your situation may be way different then mine was but this lesson can be applied in a lot of different scenarious. So today ask yourself the question do you eat, sleep, drink and cry out GRACE daily! If not then ask God to bring you closer and closer to His Gift each day.


I will pick up on this blog in part 2, I have another great teaching on Grace that is quite different from this one. Grace is such an amazing, deep and  broad topic I'll have to write another blog to cover the material Sooo Stay tuned!

Do I live in the Past, Present or Future?

Although The past two weeks have been absolutely incredible, witnessing and experiencing the true divine Peace God intended for me, He constantly continues working on my heart each day! Now I'm sure we all know that God can work and refine are hearts day by day, week by week. But many times in life, instead of believing this and living this out, we end up just agreeing with it and making it no more than a meaningless concept. So if your not experiencing His everlasting Joy, it's probably because you don't believe God can refine you right where your at! Know and Understand that He chose you before the foundation of this world. That His plan for you is Life, Peace, Joy and Love. That His Mercy and Goodness shall follow you each day, on this earth and in heaven. Know my friends that your worst day with Christ is far better than your best day without Him!

Now that are hearts understand we must strive for change, I want to move on to this lesson Christ has revealed to me and given me the privilege to share with you. This message is pretty deep so if you'd like to pray before you move into this post that'd be great!

So onto the question! Where is My Focus, is it in the Past, Present or Future? Your probably gonna say Present and some of you might truly be there! But I'm betting that a majority of us are not! This all came about Sunday morning at church when a dear friend of mine spoke to me about living in the present. I didn't think much of it until that message appeared three more times throughout the day. And as I thought more and more about this deep, heart bearing question, I had to admit I had been dwelling on my past and future events far to long. You see in the act of doing this each day I continued to build up a great big wall of fear and self pity. If you've ever gone on a Summer Project I'm sure you've felt the temptations of dwelling on the past in a negative unloving manner. Or possibly looking at your present situation and comparing it to the time when you had a great big community of Jesus Loving Friends around you 24/7 and you sit there murmuring and complaining about not having that anymore. Or maybe it's dwelling on an argument you had with a friend earlier, that you can't seem to let go and your continually reciting the things you wish you'd have said to their face when the arugment was taking place. There could be alot of other scenarios but the matter of the fact is that Christ does not want us going down that path at all! That's exactly what the enemy wants us to do. Because when we dwell on our current emotions for an extended period of time, we end up in a bowl of self pity and a heart full of envy and jealousy! Those feelings and emotions which started out as OK became unrighteous and we end up bowing down to our new Idol titled "EMOTIONS". No longer are we focused on serving Christ in the present moment, we are focused on ourselves and our pain. Love is pretty much out of the question at this point, it's all about us! We do the easy thing and dwell on our situation, instead of dwelling on God's Ultimate Ministry! Think about the story in the Gospel of Matthew 26:36-46 the night Jesus knelt down and prayed in The Garden of Gethsemane. Christ said " My Heart is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" Although Christ is the perfect Son of God, He too feels sorrow and anguish! It's OK to feel that way, we learn most when we go through trials of suffering. But instead of dwelling in self pity Christ fell to the ground and said "My Father, may this cup be taken from me, Yet not as I will but as you Will." Although His heart hurt dearly and although He was overwhelmed with sorrow, Christ pressed on! He didn't let His emotions defeat His purpose to fulfill God's Will. This same message applies to you and me, whether we are living in the future or the past overwhelmed with the way life is going, we must carry on His Will even though we hurt! He will give us the strength to carry on, because He is our ROCK! The Father has equipped us with everything we need to live abundantly this day! Do not worry about the past and do not worry about the future, He has NOT guaranteed us tomorrow! So don't waste your time worrying about a day you may never see! Lets all dwell in the present and rejoice because we have so much to look forward to this beautiful day the Lord hath made! :)

Love Your Enemies!

I was reading through the book of Matthew this week and I came across the excerpt when Christ spoke about God's true earnest Love. Now the few verses I'm going to share with you will not sound new, I guarantee you've heard them before. But I feel like so often in our lives we forget the important message Christ delivered to us. OK so here are the four verses I want you all to meditate on for a little while and ask yourself if you have truly been abiding to the commandment of Love. Matthew 5: verse 43 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor And Hate Thine Enemy," verse 44 " But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully Use you and Persecute you" verse 55 "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:" verse 46 "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans do the same?" When I read over this, I instantly remembered the harships I went through last year! For the longest time my heart didn't quite intertwine with God's true Love. I just held grudges against people who didn't respect me, or treat me fairly. So to tell you more about this I'd like to share some of my testimony with you. I believe it will encourage you and maybe even help you with your situation. Last year at school I hung out with the wrong crowd, these guys were not exactly Jesus lovers! They were quite worldly, living in malice, strife, envy and lust. And for so long I allowed them to bring me down. You see I had Christ and these guys didn't, But if you were to put us side by side you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and me. Thankfully over time God drew me back to Him and now this time I'm with Him to stay. Anyways, a few of the guys I hung out with last year started doing some pretty brutal and hateful things to me once I decided to turn my life around and seek Christ. My so called friends began to show their true colors and feeling towards me. These men knew exactly who I chose to live for and they didn't respect my heavenly father or me at all. And whenever they got the chance to persecute me and judge me, they took hold of that opportunity consistently. The last 4 months I lived with them I continued to hold in all my anger and hate towards them! So often when I had be in the same room as them , the Anger would conquer my heart and emotions and deep down all I wanted to do was to bash their faces in because of the humiliation and hurt they had been putting me through. Overtime God molded my heart and set me free from anger and taught me about His Love and Mercy! How to forgive those who curse me and to pray for those who hate me. Now your situation may not be quite like mine was but if your struggling with loving those around you, or if you haven't yet forgiven someone who may have hurt you, remember what He did for you! All throughout our lives we will have people judging us, persecuting us, cursing us and using us. But guess what! We have a Savior who died for us, who loves us, who desires us and most of all who forgave us. While we were murdering Him in cold blood, Christ said "Father forgive them they know not what they do". So let us strive to be like Him each day, to forgive and love those who hate us and persecute us. Let us Love our ENEMIES together as we journey throughout this world. My brothers and sisters let the Peace of Christ dwell in your heart each day, so that He may use you to accomplish His commandment of Love! Seek Him diligently so that The Love of Christ may pour abundantly throughout your Heart. Stick out and be the Light!

What Have I Done With The Gift of Peace?

Although I'm not going to Pretoria this summer, I know that one day in God's timing I will walk upon that land again. But before God sends me back there, He must refine my heart so I am capable of carrying His word throughout this world we live in. How long will that take? I don't know the answer to that question, but I will wait patiently for His call. While I'm waiting on His signal, He continues to break down my barriers that I have put up before Him. I look back on this year at Barton and ask myself an important question. "How often do I feel the peace of God?" I was a little afraid to meditate on this because deep down I knew my answer did not correspond with God's written word. It seriously took me about four months to sit down, humble myself before the Lord and answer this question honestly. About six days ago while I was sitting in my room alone crying out to God I finally spit up my answer! Here was my reply "I don't know your Peace God, It seems as if I haven't felt her presence for ages, I have forsaken her, I have not loved her, therefore she is no longer with me." Writing this message to you is forming many tears in my eyes right now. To think that I believed a LIE like that, and confessed it and lived it daily for nearly six months straight disgusts me! If this is you right now, Listen to your creators voice " My peace I leave with you My peace I give unto you not as this world giveth I give unto you, let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid." Read Psalm 23 one of the most beautiful chapters in God's written word "The Lord is my Shepard I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul, and leadeth me in the path of righteousness. Yea, though I walk through the shadows of the valley of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the lord forever." That is Peace, that is goodness, that is mercy and that is what I want to feel every single day of my life on this earth and in heaven! Eternal life started when you and I accepted Christ as our savior, so let us live in His Peace RIGHT NOW! We must discard the lies Satan fills our minds and our hearts with, keep them not for but a second! I know how easy it is to fall into that trap and sit in the burdens and sorrows of this world felling down about the way life has been, but God is telling us that doing things like that will get you NO WHERE! My brothers and sisters in Christ I love you all so dearly and God wants the best for you aswell as I, If this message is speaking to your heart right now don't do what I did and put this important topic off any longer face it NOW!

If you've read this blog please continue to pray for me! I'm still dealing with this matter daily and my heart is very tender right now, I'm going through a lot I need all the encouragement and prayer you have to offer! thank you so much for taking the time to read this!

A Postponed Trip!

well last weekend was quite frustrating and shocking I must say! God delivered a message unto me through my parents that started out fine and then ended up devastating! As you all problably know I was looking forward to an amazing journey in South Africa this summer, working at an orphanage in Pretoria called BEAM for a little over two months, sharing God's beatuiful love and mercy with the lost and broken in the community there. But there is a certain message God has been trying to direct me towards for the past 5 months, Luke 16:10 " He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much". This time when I read the verse I realized here I am wanting to further God's kingdom, but I have this idea that the only way to do that is by accomplishing something major and radical that everyone will hear about! I was clueless about the little things, in which God desires just as much. You know what I'm talking about right? Basically the silent years of your life when your being faithful with what God has for you, but no one really sees or hears about what you've been doing for Him and his Kingdom. We all will go through it! Look at biblical history, Paul was in the wilderness for 10 years before he started his ministry and what about Jesus Christ he didn't start his ministry till he was 30 years old! If you look at the most effective men in God's Church they all started out by being faithful in the small things and then one day being blessed with MUCH! So if this is you remember that God has something incredible for you, he knows best for you and his timing in life is perfect! Let him refine your heart internally and develop your faith, start with the small things and learn to work your way up the ladder, it takes time but it's the best way my friends!

And before I rap up this blog post I'd really like to share an encouraging story with you all that has a great message for each of us! As you know when I found out the trip to Africa would have to be postponed I was extremely disappointed and devastated, but because God is so GOOD he did something very comforting this week in my life! The story begins when I woke up Thursday morning and was instantly feeling frustrated and hurt! My emotions where all over the place, I wanted to go on this trip and still couldn't grasp the idea of letting it go! I told everyone one about it, people were already sending me money to go and here I am letting everyone down so I thought! I got down on my knees that morning and cried out to God, releasing all my anger, hurt and fury that I had held in for the past 5 days. I yelled to him "What is so wrong with me wanting to go, What is wrong with wanting to bring you Glory, I don't understand you, Please send me a message!" I got up off the floor and walked over to my phone and a good friend of mine sent me a message it said one word "Patience :)" I didn't think anything of it at first but about five minutes later, God opened my eyes and helped me realize, that was his message to me "PATIENCE". I couldn't believe my eyes, seriously God is mind blowing He is even using text messaging today to get his truth across to his confused children these days lol. So after receiving that I had to look for a verse of scripture that would encourage me and uplift me and here is the one I found Romans 5: 3-4 "And not only so but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope:" So friends how do you look at PATIENCE? Do you rejoice faithfully when God asks you to wait on him OR do you murmur, complain and doubt Him? If this is your situation as it was and is mine, let His Peace and Patience dwell in your heart, It is worth it!

What Am I Expecting God To Teach Me In South Africa!?

OK so I know I just recently put up a post about three days ago but I'm really liking this blog thing it's quite FUN and I truly felt God leading me to inform everyone about this topic as soon as possible! What am I expecting God to teach me in South Africa!? As I was sitting quietly in my room a few days ago praying, God intervened and gave me an insight about this trip I'm going on. There is no word to explain how I felt at that time, except for Captivated! I finally realized He picked me to go on this journey with him, not anyone else, He picked me. Of all his children, He gave me this privilege to go with him to learn. I don't mean that in a selfish manner at all, there are many times in our lives where God specifically picks us individually, to shine his light and glory rather than the person next to us, and we blow it so many times because our mentality is uhhh... I'm good someone else can do it, it's no big deal! I know that I've done that numerous times, and I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we will admit we've done it numerous times aswell. For example about a month ago I was heading over to my boy Trevor's house and on my way over there I saw two men pushing their car to the nearest gas station. As soon as my eyes spotted them, a voice in my head said turn around and help them Ryan. I replied "naahh they are only 60 yards away I'm sure they don't need my help." You see we miss out on so much of God's BEAUTY when we do that! Why not allow God to use us for every opportunity He lays before our feet, so that we can give Him the glory! I guarantee that if our hearts desire is to bring him glory in everyway we possibly can, we will take hold of those opportunities more than not.

Another thing I've realized is how I've kept God in a BOX my whole life! I tell him what he can use me for and what he can't. My intake on my spiritual walk was God there is no way you can use me to miraculously heal people, that's impossible! God there is no way you can use me to move Mountains, that's absurd! But I kept coming across scripture that disagreed with my view entirely! Such as Matthew 10:8 "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely you have received so freely give." or John 14:12 Verily Verily I say unto you He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. Why wasn't I pouring out rivers of living water as Christ said I would if I were to drink from him. It was because I had kept him in my God filled BOX all my life! So when I am boarding the plane to come back home after an incredible adventure in South Africa here is what I want to come back saying, "God you have strengthened my faith, I believe you are capable of all things, never will I doubt your power again Father, I lay before your feet and worship you my King!"

What in The World is BEAM!?

So your probably thinking why would an organization call themselves "BEAM"? To tell you the truth I had no idea at first either. Until I sat down to think about it for a little while. So here is what i came up with. A Beam is a bright light that shines in the depths of darkness, John 1:5 says "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not prevail against it." I then instantly realized how their name fit hand and glove with the gospel! Christ asks us to be the light in the darkness and to bring his Kingdom to this dark perverse nation! Christ overcame this world and everything in it, that's a huge reason why we follow him because we know that he is no phony. So I love how they came up with this name it truly speaks about God's GLORY!

So now that you understand the symbolism behind BEAM I should tell you a little bit about what they do!

BEAM is a non profit organization that is located in the very low income region just off the outskirts of Pretoria South Africa. The low income areas are known as "townships" basically underdeveloped urban settlements owned by the government, most of these citizens use materials like scrap metal, scrap wood and plastic bags to build their homes. It is one of the saddest sights you will ever witness in your life. It's honestly heartbreaking to imagine that Millions upon Millions of people have that to look forward to THAT when they walk back to there homes from their hard days of work! So what BEAM does for this broken community is absolutely incredible and mind blowing! They take in these children and adults who have NO HOPE and raise them up in the LIGHT. Giving them Food for their empty stomachs, clothes for their naked backs and encouragement for their future. These people of South Africa need care and emotional healing and through Christ Jesus we are able to make that happen!

I hope this blog post gives you a better understanding of what BEAM is all about and what their are doing to move God's Great Kingdom! here is a couple of verses I think you should check out that have alot to do with this movement God's creating in SA!

Isaiah 58: 6-7
verse 6: Is it not this fast which i have chosen: to lose the bonds of wickedness, to lose the bond of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and that you break every enslaving yoke?
Verse 7: it is not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house? When you see the naked that you clothe him, and that you will not hid yourself from the needs of your own flesh and blood?