VISION, OBEDIENCE, WORK AND WORKERS!

VISION, OBEDIENCE, WORK AND WORKERS!

 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode… And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work. —Nehemiah 2:12-13, 18

             Of all the people of Nehemiah’s time God put the burden and the vision on Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. God stirred one man! After the king gave him leave (Nehemiah 2:6) he went to Jerusalem and did not tell anyone initially what God had put into his heart to do for Jerusalem. So first, God had given Nehemiah a burden and vision for the work to be done.

            Then, when He arrived in Jerusalem, he went out and surveyed what needed to be done. It was a fact finding mission. So… God put it into his heart to do it… he prepared to go to the area to do it… once in the area he surveyed what needed to be done to do it… It was only after this that He shared with others what “the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me.”

            It was at this point that the people said, “Let us rise up and build” and “So they strengthened their hands for the good work.”   Not only had God given vision to Nehemiah for the work to be done, but He has also prepared the people to respond and join in the vision and the work God had for them all to do. God used one man to stir the people to His work!

            Then in Nehemiah chapter 3 we see that the people took part of the work to be done. They did their part. They took responsibility for their part. They took ownership of their part. They completed their part and in completing their part then the whole of the wall would be completed in 52 days (Nehemiah 6:16). When the work and workers are multiplied much can be done! But… God worked in and through one man to get the work started. What does God want to start through you? Will you be obedient? May it be so!

            What has our Lord put in your heart to do? Are you to be a leader in this work or are you to encourage the work to be done or some of both? Whatever God has put into your heart to do may you be obedient that the work will be accomplished in and through your life. Oh yes, dear Father, may this be so in my life and in the lives of those reading this. May it be done by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus.   So be it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu2S9y3r0XE