VCM Orphanage Construction Project.
Many less fortunate children in Uganda-Africa have been separated from their parents and relatives by unavoidable situations like death and wars and others are just abandoned by their parents because they seem to have no future.
Vangrace Compassion Ministries since 2003 decided to take of such children and cater for them. These children need a decent home in which they can live in. A home that will not remind them of their past but a home that will raise and mould them in the fear of our Lord Jesus. In this, you can contribute any amount to build up our orphanage that will raise a unify generation in Christ which will transform lives of many people in Africa.
We not only house them but we also educate them as many millions of children live in desperately poor communities where schools have been destroyed by war, disaster, or decay. In some cases, affordable schools are simply too far away. Vangrace Compassion Ministries has a plan of constructing a standard school that will enable thousands of children to pursue their dreams of a better life.
Our mission is to give children a hopeful future. That begins with having a good start in life, with a roof, warm bed, Education, food and safe drinking water.
Orphan Sponsorship Program
The Orphan Sponsorship program is intended to provide assistance to orphans, abandoned & vulnerable children in Uganda and to bring the plight of HIV/AIDS orphans to the attention.
Vangrace Compassion Ministries provides basic necessities such as food, medical care, schooling assistance to vulnerable children and psychosocial support to children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS and others that are in state of vulnerability.
The amount of sponsorship is $23/month for each child. Vangrace Compassion Ministries covers the administrative cost of the Orphan Sponsorship program. Besides, providing support, VCM has given hope to these children and enabled them to stay in school.
Orphan sponsorship has helped a hundreds of children that had no chance of going to school and most of these children are from villages where there are no schools.
The only thing that they have ever known is digging and fishing. So through our sponsorship programs, less fortunate children are given a chance of attending classes like any other children in the developed world. Besides education, we also provide food, medication and accommodation to these children.
Orphan sponsorship
invites a person like you to support and help look after the well-being of a child in need from another country — until that child and community become self-sufficient.
You'll get to know, love, and encourage a specific child while helping fund resources and improvements that benefit them and their community.
Motivated by our faith in Jesus, we serve all children regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or gender. We go where other organizations can't.
We've been around for over 13 years, and we have refined our approach to cultivate a full solution to poverty and injustice.
How does the sponsorship process work?
~Choose a girl or boy in need to sponsor for an ongoing commitment of $23 a month. You are the only sponsor for this child.
~You'll get a packet with photos and more. Then your child will send you a letter!
~Watch your child grow. You can send email, cards, photos, packages, and more, or even visit!
Surprise Box Program.
‘A Surprise Box’ is aimed at sending an unexpected gift wrapped in a big/small Box to your
sponsored child or towards all of the orphan children here at God’s Village.
Giving a gift to an orphan that makes him/her happy brings a great joy to all of our children and it also reminds them that there is someone who cares about them regardless of their vulnerability.
Many less fortunate and vulnerable children are asking, “Is there anyone that loves me?” , “Am I worthwhile to anyone?”, “Where is a God that loves me?”, “What did I do wrong?”, ” Why is this happening to me?”, and “Does anyone care?” These are the cries of so many children’s hearts, and by sending a surprise box, we can help provide some answers to these questions.
SEND today a surprise box to one of our less fortunate children and see how big a surprise box can impact a child living in a vulnerable condition. One surprise box can change a life of a child completely.
Water, Sanitation & Hygiene.
Water is the most basic component of survival, and yet 1 in 8 people worldwide have no access to clean water and 2.6 billion still lack basic sanitation. Those who have to rely on contaminated water for drinking, cooking and bathing like here in Uganda face serious health consequences like parasites, typhoid fever, diarrhea and dehydration, and water-related diseases that kill over 3 million people a year.
Lack of clean water is closely linked to poverty, as frequent illness leads to missed education and work opportunities, hospitalization and high health care costs.
The need for clean water, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene is prevalent in every community Vangrace Compassion Ministries serves in. For the sake of the families in these communities, we participate in a number of wide-ranging water, sanitation and hygiene.
Vangrace Compassion Ministries works toward improving access to potable water, increasing access to sanitation facilities (latrines and washing places), establishing effective partnerships with the local governmental agencies of Uganda, and implementing programs that promote education on water, health and hygiene within the communities/ parts of the country (Uganda) that we serve.
Due to that, we provide water filters which are simple, effective and saves lives. They are capable of filtering 1 million gallons of clean, safe water and does not require any replaceable parts. We also emphasis on personal hygiene and general sanitation within the communities through our community sensitization programs that we do. In this we equip the people and teach them the importance of washing hands after visiting latrines, how to clean their bodies, homes & the entire community, taking clean and safe drinking water.
Volunteership Program
While travel its self is filled with uncertainty, there’s one thing that’s for sure: Volunteering at Vangrace Compassion Ministries’ Orphanage is a life changing experience. For those who really put their effort in helping a humanitarian cause, the rewards and lessons learned can be priceless.
One thing many people wonder before signing up to volunteer here at God’s Village is ‘Can I really make a difference?’ Yes, you can. Even if you do something as small as teaching a child their ABCs or read a book with a youth, you're making a difference, because you're building a base for them to further their learning in a way that they may not have had before.
In 2012, we received a group of volunteers from United States of America: Jae, Eric and David so here at Vangrace Compassion Ministries’ Orphanage - God’s Village, we welcome all volunteers regardless of the age, race and country. As a volunteer you will be expected to do teaching of the children and also sensitization about health and sanitation in the communities we serve.
However, spending the entire day with the children you’ll be working with is one of the most rewarding experiences for a volunteer, and the bonds you will make will endure long after your placement is over. During classroom hours you’ll be helping other volunteers to teach a primary curriculum of English, Maths, Science, Religion and Social Studies.
Don’t worry if you don’t feel confident in a particular area, as the children will benefit from listening to you speak and construct sentences fluently in English. You will have the opportunity to shadow a local teacher or established volunteer before taking on your own class, but after this you are free to make your classroom and lessons as creative and exciting as you can. Games and sport are another important part of school life, so be prepared to get involved with these as well!
Your most valuable work will be simply spending time with the orphans, fostering friendships and encouraging their confidence in themselves as well as the local people that we do serve.
Hope you can sign up to volunteer here at God’s Village today and make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate children as well as our local community.
Living a Life of HIV+ for 12 Years Now Since Childhood.
In Uganda, pediatric human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are becoming increasing threats to orphan child health. Many of these children are under the age of 15 and they get this disease mainly at birth from the mother parent. Many of these children do not survive mainly those that live deep in villages because of not having access to hospitals or clinics for proper medication.
Today we bring you Patricia Sanyu one of our HIV positive children that we take care of here at our orphanage. She acquired this disease from her mother during birth. Unfortunately when her mum knew that she was positive, she did not take the responsibility of taking her for medication and even herself she had abandoned ARVs for a long time.
Patricia says ‘All the time I used to be weak and sick and sometimes I would miss classes because of being weak but I did not know what I was suffering from. One day, Papa Ivan and my care giver took me to the hospital for a blood check up and the results came back but I was not told anything concerning the results.
They used to give me medicine everyday but I thought I took it because of my weakness and sickness that I always got.
It was until I made 10 years when papa Ivan called me and told me the truth that I was HIV positive. He counselled me, prayed for me and told me that with God, everything will be okay and I will get healed one day and I will get out this horrible situation. But it was hard for me to bear it. I count it as my worst day that has ever happened in my life. I regretted why I was born. I cried, and mourned because I knew this was a killer disease that I will never get healed of.
And as a child, I had lots of questions and at times I keep asking myself; for how long will I live? Why was I born positive? Will it happen for me to be negative like my friends are?
Sometimes when I get sick again, I start panicking and terror hits me but then I try to calm down a bit and try to convince myself that my case is different, that I will somehow survive. Still when the weakness resists then I realize that my case is not different and that am going to die. I try to make peace with that fact and begin to prepare for my coming death. I find difficulties with associating with my friends, always I feel like am not like them. They are negative and I am positive.
Though all such kind of thoughts come way, I try to convince myself that am not going to die, am going to live for a long to see that I also help my fellow friends who are positive out there. That’s what keeps me alive every day. I take my medicine every day with the help of papa Ivan and my care givers. And I know with God’s help, I will get out of this horrible situation one day.’ Says Patricia.
As we bring you close to the people that we serve, today take time to read Patricia’s story. An HIV positive girl who needs to be sponsored. You can support her life, education and her feeding.
Please note that as you choose to sponsor this child/ program mentioned in this Article above, we will be sending you videos or photos of how your funds have been utilized as a way to bring you close to the people we both serve with your financial generous suppor
Surviving a Life of Torture and Child Abuse.
‘As a young girl, I lived at a home where my mother was drunkard as well as my father because they knew they were HIV positive. Since we were just a few steps from a bar, my mum and dad would go with me for drinking because they could not live me at home alone because I was still young. This bar could collect all kinds of drunkard people including prostitutes. They would come and suck down bottles and bottles of alcohol. Since I was young, I didn’t know that taking alcohol was not a good thing. I remember one day when my mum gave me a bottle of alcohol to sip and taste its sweetness. I tried it out but it was so sour and I felt like my heart was burning inside so I had to spit it out but to my surprise, my mum gave me a slap saying that I was wasting her drink.’ Says Oliver
Oliver continue saying that ‘after they got drunkard, that’s when they would think of taking me back at home to sleep and my worry starts because reaching at home my mum and dad starts to fight yet we lived in a single roomed house.
I would cover my head with a torn bed sheet that I had so that I don’t listen to their sound when arguing and fighting. It’s at that very time that you would hear your mum falling on you while crying after being bet by dad and from there you become a punching bag of her to get rid of the anger that she had towards dad. Imagine living in that situation for a week, months and years.’
Lots of children have become vulnerable here Africa because they live with alcoholic parents. They become the victims of alcohol and many have been tortured and live a life of being in pain and regretting why they came to earth.
Meet Oliver Akampulira here at God’s Village who lived in such a tough situation until when she was helped by Vangrace Compassion Ministries. As we bring you close to the people that we serve, we also bring you the children under our cares that still need to be helped.
Take time to think of the situation she was living in. Akampulira Oliver is now 12 years old. She lives with us here at God’s Village but she is in need of your help. Support her education, feeding, and her medication. With only $23 USD or More monthly, you can totally change a life of a vulnerable child here at Vangrace Compassion Ministries Orphanage -God's Village.
Please note that as you choose to sponsor this child/ program mentioned in this Article above , we will be sending you videos or photos of how your funds have been utilized as a way to bring you close to the people we both serve with your financial generous support
Imagine for a second that you are on your way to school, college or work in your cool air-conditioned car while the sun is scorching down on the ground outside. Your car halts as you pull up to a red traffic light. While you are waiting for the light to turn green, a boy, no older than the age of ten, dressed in tattered clothes, bare feet knocks on your window, starts to cry and begs for money. Between sobs and tears he begs you for money so that he can have just one basic meal of the day. This is just an example of how many children suffer to get just one meal a day. There are a countless number of such poor children in our country ‘Uganda’ and around the world who cannot afford even one solid meal per day but no child deserves to live in this hurting situation.
Every day, here children live unsure of their next meal. For them to get two meals a day it’s a miracle and they see it has a surprise.
But why are so many children suffering from hunger?
1. Affordability: Uganda has a high food cost rate. The amount of money that you have influences the type and quantity of food that you can buy. Imagine now feeding 279 children when you’re left with only $50 in your pockets.
Childhood hunger is a major problem at our orphanage - but it is solvable. Donate to feed hungry kids and help us end child hunger. You can save a child from starvation; your gift provides a crucial food and care to less fortunate children here at God’s Village.
It’s 3:19 PM now, and a 3 year old is still waiting for breakfast since he took sugar cane for supper last night. Yonah collapses to his knees in tear and plops his forehead down on the outside of the kitchen.
Soon he is wailing inconsolably and writhing on his back on the ground. A care giver spots him, picks him up easily by one arm and gives him a little cooked mixed maize corn in a metal bowl. The little boy shovels it into his mouth with sticky fingers coated in tears and grime. The crying, stops for a moment
Each day is now a struggle for care givers at God’s Village to keep hungry children at the orphanage as they search desperately for food.
Gorret Aryangasha Kabarungi a Care Giver here at VCM-Orphanage God’s Village can recall the several worse times in her life serving as a foster mother and one day through the contagious inspirational actions of faith shown by Pastor Ivan Ssewankambo, Gorret was too inspired as she elaborates here in her statement ‘I started a fire, put a sauce pan of water on it and told children I am in the middle of preparing something.’’ She says in a raspy voice. ‘But in reality I had nothing.’
279 children at God’s Village are now at risk of food shortage ‘Hunger’ so severe that it threatens their lives.
The situation is difficult but there is nothing we can do as the extra food that had been stored for emergencies has been eaten. And the next planting season is still two months away.
God’s Village Cow Fundraising Project.
A project that started as a fundraiser to contribute funds towards the purchase of a cow for our children here at God’s Village. Of which Brad pledged to pay any amount towards the purchase of the cow when other sponsors/friends/ any kind hearted person joins up with him to buy a cow for the orphanage. A short story was posted on our Face book page and group. Surprisingly, another kind hearted person and member of "God’s Village Blog" Facebook Group Family ‘Bonnie’ saw this post and she was willing to join up with Brad to purchase a cow for the orphans in need.
As we are driven by the compassion of Christ, we have been seeing more ways that we can improve the standard of living of our children and the community at large by providing more service opportunities. We came up with a Cow Fundraising Project to enables us to have additional outreach with not only the orphans, but also the entire village. We didn't want to meet their spiritual needs only but also their physical needs mostly through feeding them properly and impacting our community to get involved in different commercial activities which are sustainable.
Vangrace Compassion Ministries’ intension for a sustainable project like the Cow Fundraising Project is to ensure that there is continuous supply of nutritious food in form of milk for our children and to raise standards of living at the orphanage-God’s Village. Livestock play a central role in our work, both as a strategy for alleviating poverty and achieving food security and proper nutrition
When you think of a Cow Fundraising Project, it truly can change the lives of the orphans. It means that the orphans are guaranteed nutritious food in form of milk every day.
The cow which was offered by Brad and Bonnie will be soon giving birth and this means that we will be having two cows in number and later on all of these cows will be lactating hence providing milk to the orphans and this will address malnutrition among the children who are our future of tomorrow.
We want to thank you Brad and Bonnie for supporting our efforts through fundraising money towards the purchase of this cow!
We want to urge in to you more other people and members of ‘God’s Village Blog’ Family and other kind hearted friends to support this project in any way you can afford. Together, we can do more for the Kingdom of God here on earth and raise up a generation of children that will know and love the Lord.
Pastor Ivan and Prossy Ssewankambo's Christmas Letter.
Dear Friends,
Christmas is the most beautiful celebration of the year. Families reunite, relatives and friends gather, everyone exchange wishes and news.
By this letter, I and my wife Prossy would like to express our gratitude to all of you who have been by Vangrace Compassion Ministries’ side to accomplish this wonderful mission of feeding and catering for our 279 children, widows and elderly people here at God’s Village and also those that have supported our Community Outreach Missions Programs.
Since this year began, we have seen God’s favor, grace, love and care for us all through the new friends that have joined the ministry and have stepped out to support us with what they have. Thank you all.
We cannot also forget to say there have also been a lot of challenges this year like monetary, food shortage, sickness and natural disaster like the heavy rains with storm that curled down thesleeping quarters of our children and also the pit latrine. But in all, we praise God that we are still living, serving God and we will continue to live by His grace.
Thanks to all, not only for monetary support, but also for being present side by side by friendship, correspondence, by dedicating much time for our every day posts in our Facebook page and groups "God's Village Blog and Devotional Blog" as well as on our ministry website Blogs.
Thank to you all that sent in the "Surprise Boxes" to our children and those who offer their prayers in order to give life to this wonderful Ministry ‘Vangrace Compassion Ministries.
It is mutual word of thanks which we exchange to each other thus to feel part of the great family that has Love as father.
This Love we see to come to exist on our world on Christmas day.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Yours Sincerely
Pastor Ivan Ssewankambo
Founder
Download a Free Sticker to Stick on a Child’s Surprise Box.
Here is another way to make a surprise for an orphan child happy and smile.
A free sticker is here to be printed and stick it on the surprise box of your child you are due to send to Him/her here at God’s Village Orphanage.
It’s a beautiful sticker which deserves to be on a child’s surprise box. On seeing this sticker on his/her, I assure you that the child will be happier than before. All you have to do is to DOWNLOAD it here, Print it on paper and stick it on the surprise box.
Pit Latrine Reconstruction after Being Put Down by Heavy Rains.
Today our pit latrine has just been put down by heavy rains due the fact that it had not been full finished previously, the entire bricks that we had used to construct that pit latrine fell down but the hole and the ground floor are still in good state.
So now planning on re-constructing it urgently in order to prevent the deadly risk of ‘cholera and diarrhoea’ that might result from this incidence. Since it’s a rainy season, floods are everywhere , we are scared that our children might catch up Cholera and other poor health condition related diseases.
We are trying our best to see that we put up our pit latrines again with cement and sand but it costs a lot in order to do the reconstruction, as our children are living in a dangerous state of not having a pit latrine currently.
Thank God that when the brick fell down none of our children was hurt.
THE POWER OF COMPASSION / God's Village Blog.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” In this case the bible shows us how love is followed by an action of giving. God giving the only son saved the world by that time, it is still saving the world and it will save the world even in the future generations to come.
It is not good to give out without love because you have what to give out but it is very good to show your love to someone through giving out part of what you have. To give, you do not need to have a lot of things but to give out freely the little that you have. ‘’one man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.’’ – Prov. 11:24
The vapor thereof.’’ (Job 36:27). If there no vapor ascending, how then can there be a condensing of the clouds into rain? If there be no scattering of seed, how then can there be an increase of harvest? If there be no outflow of blessing from our hearts to others, how then shall we in turn inherit a blessing? Give and it shall be given unto you. The more we ‘’bless the Lord,’’ the more He gathers up those ‘’vapors’’ and multiplies and increases until He pours us blessing of a hundredfold. Remember it’s not how much you give but how much love you put into giving.
Make Christmas Merry for an Orphan Child! Hand in Hand at God's Village
Make a difference this Christmas in the life of an orphaned child here at God’s Village. Please consider joining us this Christmas for Orphans. Our goal is to spread joy to over 297 orphaned here at God’s Village-Vangrace Compassion Ministries’ Orphanage.
Christmas is a special time that should be filled with joy, happiness, family, & celebrating the birth of Jesus! But for orphaned children, Christmas could easily be a reminder of abuse, abandonment and a depressing time where they feel forgotten. Our desire is to show them that they are not forgotten but that they are loved. That's why with only $20, you can make an orphaned child have a special Christmas!
The story of Jesus' birth will be shared and the true meaning of Christmas celebrated. Jesus came to save, to heal the hurting, to feed the hungry and to bring JOY to the world! Help us bring that JOY to orphans, vulnerable and abandoned children here at God’s Village this Christmas! Will you join us and bless these children?
The funds will be used to:
· Provide a special meal for all of the orphaned children. Orphaned children rarely get a chance of changing meals everyday so this Christmas, we want to make it up for them to have a special meal.
· Buy decorations for the orphans so that they can also getting a chance of knowing how it feels to decorate on Christmas.
· Purchase gifts for all of the orphan children mostly those who are not sponsored so that they can also feel loved.
Tell Us: What are You Thankful For to the Lord During this Period of Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving week—is the time we know we’re supposed to express our thankfulness to God. The Scriptures remind us often of this truth; 1 Thessalonians 5:18, for example, tells us, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Psalm 9:1 says, “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.”
But have you thought about why we should be thankful to God?
I’ve been a follower of Christ for close to 30 years now. As I look through these years, I realize that expressing my thanks to our Heavenly Father may be as powerful as any other discipline of the Christian life.
Being thankful compels me to fix my eyes on God rather than on myself. It humbles me. It lifts my mind off my troubles and anxieties and reminds me that God will always provide for my needs, and that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
Being thankful lifts my spirit.
Remembering God's care and provision
During this period of Thanksgiving, here’s one way to cultivate a thankful heart: Spend time listing God’s blessings in your life. And don't stop until you've listed at least 10-15. The exercise will force you to think creatively about God’s care and provision—even in small things.
Am thankful to the Lord for:
· My family and friends who make my life so rich with joy.
· My fellow little orphans and vulnerable children here at God’s Village and the gift of life He has given to us all regardless of what we have been through like diseases and other circumstances.
· Volunteers ‘Care Giver’ who knows how to share a laugh even when the schedule is so tight there's no time to breathe.
· Our dear sponsors and prayer partners who always stand with us and the ministry at large through their funds and prayers.
· The mosquito nets, irrigation pump and the surprise boxes that we received from our dear sponsors which have created a positive impact at the orphanage.
· The anointing of God He has given me to save Him mightily through the Community Outreach Missions Program in which I have seen many people giving their lives to Christ and God- given wisdom of the human soul that knows, deep down, that God is, and that He is good.
. The eternal and unchanging promises of God—that I am His and He is mine, now and forever.
. That there is a sure day coming when I will know Him fully, just as I have been known, and I will see Him face to face.
So, what are you thankful for to the Lord during this thanksgiving week?
Imagine Feeding Your 4 Or 279/ Hundreds Of Hungry And Less Fortunate Children
Feeding the Children has never been an easy task at all. Take an example of just feeding the 4 children that you have at home. Imagine waking up in the morning knowing there is no food in the store and you have no even a single penny. A child comes to you saying ‘Mum/Dad I am hungry. Are we going to have breakfast/ lunch today?’ We have to eat, you know,’ she says, only the slightest hint of resignation in her voice. ‘We can’t starve.’ The fear of being unable to feed the four children would hang on you as a parent. Isn’t it?
Now take up another example of a man Pastor Ivan Ssewankambo with a vision and a mission of feeding 279/ hundreds of hungry and less fortunate children that are orphans and totally vulnerable.
What kind of fear of being unable to feed these children would hang on you?
Here at Vangrace Compassion Orphanage - God's Village we Feed 279 orphans and vulnerable children , educate them , shelter , give medication and all these we do it together with 8 care Givers among them with multipurpose skills like 2 nurses , others teachers working as foster fathers , uncles and aunts.
Apart from all that, training them to fear God with the support of 9 Mission church ministers working so much changing communities to Christ as way to fulfill our Vision "unify generation in Christ transforming ...."
Apart from driving the call of God’s purpose for me, all in all am still doing it and I will continue to do it together with you men and women God has brought into our God's Village family (Vangrace Compassion Ministries - Ministry partners/ sponsors/ donors and believing that God is still touching more and more to get involved so that we can strongly share this ever flowing God's blessing.
Join us today and lets all labour for this plentiful harvest
Matthew 9:37, Luke 10:2 ‘Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few;
Irrigation Water pump Machine to Boost Farming at God’s Village.
All along, Vangrace Compassion Ministries’ farming project had been left behind and ignored due incidents like drought were by growing crops had been a hard task due to inadequate rain.
There were seasons when we grew our crops thinking that the rain will be constant since it was a rainy season but unfortunately the rain rained for only a week and it stop. All the crops were scotched by the sun and we made a loss.
Though we made a loss, this turned out to be a great advantage on our side as one of our members of God’s Village family and a sponsor now donated funds for the purchase of the irrigation system for God’s Village farming project.
‘We are so happy and fortunate to have this opportunity of having the irrigation system at our orphanage,’ Ivan the Director said.
The funds/money for the purchase of this irrigation system was donated by Brad Dyck who is part of God’s Village family/ sponsor.
Brad agreed to pay the all total cost of the irrigation system as you can see below in photos attached. And the irrigation system was purchase and brought to God’s Village.
‘Our fields/farm will now look better, there will be no need of waiting for the rainy season so that we can plant our crops, our crops will no longer be scotched by the sun and this time no more food shortage at our orphanage,’ Ivan Vangrace Compassion Ministries' Director said.
‘We could not have done this without you Brad. We truly have been blessed by you,’ Ronald the administrator said.
Hoping that many will look at this and make up their heart to get involved too in anyway like sponsoring Vangrace Compassion Ministries 9 care givers/ teachers and foster aunts and fathers. Together with you all, we can continue to bring impact at God's Village.
What are you WAITING FOR? JOIN US TODAY. TAKE-ACTION NOW.
God’s Strange Ways to Victory.
In this life there are times when we need help. We need to recognize God is there, ready to help. It's good to look in His Word and see how He has done some things that we might have an understanding of how He will do other things.
Joshua 5:13-15
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come.
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
We can't always see where the Lord has sent help and strength our way. It would be an eye opener, sometimes, if we could see in back of the scene.
This angel suddenly appeared out here, and Joshua saw him standing with his sword drawn. Joshua, seeing this, went out to challenge him: "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" He quickly found out that this was the captain of the host of the Lord. The Lord had sent His captain to lead the fight when Israel went in to Jericho to conquer the land.
Somebody's got to be captain of the host that can be seen, and somebody's got to be captain of the host that can't be seen. These heavenly forces have moved in; a band of angels has come to help in this task.
We look back at Joshua coming up with Moses and the forty years he spent out there in the wilderness; where he saw the miracles of God saw all the mighty things which God did.
Notice that wherever there was a battle to be fought, Joshua was chosen by Moses to lead. And we find some strange things in those battles.
There was the time up there on the mountain (see Exodus 17): Moses, Aaron, and Hur were up there, and in Moses' hand was his rod. Joshua and his forces prevailed when Moses held his rod out; but when Moses' arm grew tired, he lowered it, and the adversaries' forces prevailed.
Putting two and two together, they realized the victory was in keeping the rod up. So they had Moses sit down on a rock with the rod held out, and they helped him by holding his arms up. Now the army kept plowing into the adversary, and soon they had that enemy defeated. There was a victory that day.
Why did God work through the rod being held out? Why was this the means God chose to work through? Whether we understand it or not, this is the way it was done.
It was God's means for that battle. And it was over there by the Red Sea that Moses took that same rod, as God commanded. He held it out over the sea all night, and God began to move to part the sea. How could there be any help in a rod?
There's something in this we might not recognize with our natural eyes; nevertheless, this rod was used of God.
So, God has His way of using things. And, somehow, I perceive faith is the key to God's using things.
We anoint someone with oil, but we must do it in the name of the Lord and pray the prayer of faith (see James 5:14,15). We lay hands on the sick because God said to lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover (see Mark 16:18). Our natural hands have no healing in them; but if God anoints our hands, then something happens.
We do what God said to do and — behind the scenes, somehow — God is there working. The Holy Spirit is there at work to anoint:
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.
There was a power there, wasn't there? And there was a power present by Jericho. An unseen host was going to be there for the battle. This captain — though he looked like a man, appearing in the form of a man — is not a man. He is an angel of God. And this angel of God is going to take charge of the battle the army was about to enter into.
Boy, now that's help! That's when we can look and say, God moves in unaware to us many times. Here we are: Maybe we're bellyaching because we don't see God doing anything. We ask, "Where is God? Why isn't He on the job? I need Him!"
He's waiting for us to finish bellyaching so He can do something for us. You know, faith has to be in what we do.
Does God put something in our hands? Realize that whatever God gives us, whatever we see that God is accustomed to working through or working with, we should work with that too.
Sometimes it's a simple thing, such as a little anointing oil. Now, is there anything in oil that we should note? What is there in that oil? It's what it represents to us, and it's the faith we put in what God has told us to do. That's what God blesses.
Remember how God spoke to Gideon concerning the multitude out there in the valley (see Judges 6 & 7)? God didn't want him to have all those men in his army. He kept whittling the army down until there were only three hundred men left.
There's the vast enemy army, and then there's three hundred left with Gideon. Now, how did they get the victory? Was it through military might? Was it because of their great weapons? Were their swords sharper?
No! It was because they each had a pitcher, a lamp, and a trumpet — and obedience to the Lord's instructions! When the time came, they broke their pitchers, letting the lamp be exposed, and they blew their trumpets. When the enemy looked up, they were afraid, thinking they were surrounded by a great army! All at once, they all got up and ran. They ran and they ran and they ran. They left everything behind and just ran away.
Who was running them out? I want you to know, there was Someone else there! You may not have seen Him that night, but there was a force there. And it drove the adversary out of the land. Gideon's few men did their best — but God did the rest.
So today, I would want you to think in your heart, if you would, that there's the way in which God works. God has His ways, and they've always proven out. We should want those ways. We'll find if we do things God's way, it will always prove out to be the right way. And it will always prove out to be far better than anything we could do in the natural.
Do we ever need help, then?
Well, there's surely those times when God sends somebody along to help us, and we don't even realize God has sent them.
I know the Bible says some have entertained angels unawares. Thus, some have been in the presence of angels without being aware that what they were seeing were angels. Angels can appear to look like any ordinary man, so how would you be able to distinguish the difference?
We're saying all of this, primarily, because we see here in Joshua how God had a way to help the children of Israel to conquer the land. By any equation, they were outnumbered seven to one! There were seven nations of peoples living in the walled cities of the Promised Land. This was their home.
And out here was Israel: just one nation . . . yet, they were the majority with God on their side! We need to recognize in our hearts that God has His ways to bring us victory.
What is this angel going to do? Let's note one thing that was happening at the time the angel appeared before Joshua: Over in Jericho the people in the city were terrified. Those stone walls were placed around cities as a fortress. They were very high. You couldn't just crawl over them. They were solid, made of great stones. You couldn't just tear them down.
There were ways that such cities were taken. The invading army might encamp around those walls for a year or two to starve them out. Eventually, they'd come out because there was no more food and they were hungry, ready to starve.
