Heaven’s Heartbeat - The Beehive Vision
Dear Family and Friends,
When I was fourteen years old, I worked most of the summer for a neighboring farmer. We harvested apricots by the tractor-load in the hot July weather. I loved it—driving the John Deere tractor up and down rows of fruit trees, loading large bins of golden-red apricots for delivery to cold storage.
Early in the morning, I moved long lines of hand sprinklers over vast acres of sweet-smelling alfalfa, covered in honeybees about their business. Looking back, it was hard work for a 14-year-old boy. But that summer memory still gives me a warmhearted smile. I ate every meal as if I had two hollow legs and I slept like a rock from the long days of working on the farm.
When the harvest season was over, the farmer drove me to my parents’ small farm along the Columbia River. I remember getting out of his vehicle as Dad and Mom waited for me on the front porch. It felt good to be home, because I hadn’t been feeling well for a couple of days. As I turned to wave at the farmer and walk toward the house, I suddenly fell hard on the front lawn. My parents ran and helped me up as the farmer drove away.
The next day, Mom took me to see our family physician, Dr. Henriques. He was a kind man and showed a lot of care as he examined me. I honestly don’t remember much about the following week. My balance was completely gone, and I couldn’t stand up without falling. Mom took me into Dr. Henriques’s office every day, where I would lay in a dark room, and the nurse would place a machine over my right ear for some time. Finally, after a week of this, I started to regain my balance and felt fine—except for the constant high-pitched ringing and loss of hearing in my right ear.
And it has been that way ever since. Apparently, my right eardrum had ruptured. Perhaps it was the final blow of chronic earaches from infection the previous few years. I really don’t know why it happened as it did. But what I do know is that my ability to hear has been both a constant challenge and a precious gift all my life. Then at age twenty-two I learned about an even higher and more valuable gift of hearing.
After I became a follower of Jesus, I was interested to see that He spoke these words four times in the gospels: “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” Then again, in Revelation 2 and 3, He spoke the same thing—almost twice as many times. It seemed to me that Jesus was intensifying His call for people to think about and follow through with what He was saying. Or Paul’s clear teaching in Romans:
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. — Romans 10:16-17 (NKJV)
Hearing the voice of Jesus is the result of living and following Him by faith, and not by my physical sight.
My faith in God started and is sustained by hearing His Word and voice.
Before I surrendered my life to Jesus, my mom gave me a Bible. On the first page, she hand-wrote this Bible verse:
“Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand.” — Proverbs 19:21 (AMP)
Down through the years, that Bible verse has been like a lighthouse in my life. Guess what? I still find myself hard of hearing. But I don’t have to strain. If I am listening, the Holy Spirit will guide me. He is our Guide and Helper.
Jesus, you will remember, said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27, ESV).
“Hearing” and “following,” then, are explicitly connected to a close relationship with Jesus.
Sixteen years ago (this coming October 7, 2022), my ears and eyes were open when the Holy Spirit gave me a vision of how GGN would function practically and fit in Jesus’ Commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations.
I wrote the vision down and have shared it with the GGN Board of Directors on occasion, along with several other people over the years.
From North Africa to the Middle East to Central Asia, GGN has focused on reaching unreached people groups with the Gospel and the compassion of Christ. If we could find a man or woman of peace, we worked and served with them. If we go to a location where there are no Christians, we follow Jesus with words of encouragement, prayers of faith, and every practical act of mercy and compassion possible. The results are remarkable for a small faith-based organization, if not humanly impossible. Whatever fruit there is, may it only remain for the glory of God.
GGN is a testament to how a small group of people who walk in faith agreement and trust in hearing and following Jesus become potent tools in the hands of the LORD.
I will describe a strong impression of the Holy Spirit and how He spoke to me in 2006. First, He used honeybees, hives, and honey as a metaphor.
Britannica’s website lists numerous enemies of honeybees and their hives. Predators, pests, and diseases are unrelenting in their mission to destroy or consume bees and their homes. The result is—no honey.
Likewise, our partners who live in unstable areas, raise their families, put bread on the table, and bravely proclaim the Gospel of Jesus face dangerous spiritual enemies in high places, both in the unseen and visible realm.
We want to help build and maintain healthy networks of ministry. And that will never be easy, fast, or problem-free. As you read the vision, breathe prayers and intercessions to God for these vital networks in our troubled world.
Micah
Principle Model
The Beehive Vision
October 7, 2006-8:15 am
God has spoken to me about the nature and character of GGN activity bases. The Holy Spirit whispered into my heart, “GGN’s models of operation both in the USA and overseas is to be like a network of beehives, where cross-pollination (shared ideas) and fertilization (shared resources) take place. With beehive activity, bees come and go, preparing, recharging, producing honey and pollinate so many things’ we humans enjoy; a network of ministry partners will work together to proclaim the Gospel and make disciples.
Then, the Holy Spirit prompted me to study the Hebrew words for bee and hive.
Back in Biblical times, there was no such thing as a domesticated hive per se. Bees were wild in those days, moving about in swarms and using logs, hollowed-out trees, and other protected shelters to swarm and hive around a queen.
I found this inspiring as I thought about new beehive ministry locations in the 10/40 Window (from North Africa to Central Asia).
The Hebrew word for “bee” contains the idea of:
“Honeybee”
“Sanctuary”
“Refuge”
“Holy of Holies”
“To speak,” including the “(1) content and (2) form of speaking: (1) logos and (2) rhema.”
Each idea will provide practical application for GGN ministry bases in the USA and abroad. The focus will be on teams of people working like beehives:
warehouse and provide medicine and humanitarian resources
provide care and protection for believers using compassion works and deeds of kindness.
equip teams
offer refuge to international leaders living and serving in hostile places.
speaking, proclaiming, and praying the Gospel in each people group and geographical region.
Like an apiary: “A place where bees are kept,” I see our networks busy about the Father’s business.
