Builders part 1

Nehemiah 1:1–4 CSB

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: During the month of Chislev in the twentieth year, when I was in the fortress city of Susa, 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah, and I questioned them about Jerusalem and the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile. 3 They said to me, “The remnant in the province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down, and its gates have been burned.” 4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for a number of days, fasting and praying before the God of the heavens.

Intro

We are all building something. We are building families, careers, relationships, marriages, and so many other things. You may not be building a business or leading an organization. But we are all builders of something. The reality is that building is a daunting task. Everybody wants to celebrate those who have built an incredible organization or wonderful families but the reality of building these things is that you will fight like you’ve never fought before to build something great. Nothing great was ever built that did not come with a great fight. This is especially true when you are building something within the kingdom of God. If you were going to build a godly Marriage, you can expect All of hell to fight you. If you were trying to build a godly family, you can expect the devil to come after you. If you are trying to build anything that honors God and is according to his will and his plan, you can expect Satan to come and fight you. This fight does not mean it’s not worth it. Quite the opposite. To see great things and more importantly God things come to be in your life. You’re gonna have to build and you’re gonna have to fight for what you are building.

Need For vision

You will not be able to build anything unless you have a vision for it. Vision is what allows you to be able to see the optimal version of what something can be. But in order for vision to come, you have to be able to recognize that the way things are right now may not be with the should be. The problem that many of us face and is the enemy of visionis that we get comfortable in chaos and we get comfortable in dysfunction. We get used to living in a situation that is less than ideal and we believe that that is just how things are. But I believe today that we serve a God who desires better for us in all things.But it takes us being able to make an honest assessment of where we currently are so that we can see a need for a vision. Nehemiah is a great example of this. Nehemiah saw that his homeland had been destroyed and demolished. It’s walls were taken down and it was completely exposed, and it was completely vulnerable to all of its enemies.This is exactly how Satan wants us to be. He wants us to be vulnerable. He wants us to be exposed he wants us to be weak. Because When we are in that state, he can have his way with us.

We need to have the spirit of Nehemiah within each and every one of us. To look at circumstances and say it should not be like this. I know this is not God’s plan. Nehemiah knew who God was for Jerusalem. Nehemiah knew how special God’s plan was for his people in that place. And while many that we’re living, there may have given up hope and just surrendered to the way things were Nehemiah had a vision for better.

You need to understand today that vision comes and is cultivated through prayer and fasting. If you do not spend time getting your vision from the presence of God, and from his will and his word. That vision will most likely never succeed. If your plan does not come from place of God’s blessing and favor. It will not work. We need to take note of a couple of things that Nehemiah brings to God in prayer so that we can learn how we can achieve finding a vision for whatever we are building.

Nehemiah 1:5–11 CSB

5 I said, Lord, the God of the heavens, the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands, 6 let your eyes be open and your ears be attentive to hear your servant’s prayer that I now pray to you day and night for your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins we have committed against you. Both I and my father’s family have sinned. 7 We have acted corruptly toward you and have not kept the commands, statutes, and ordinances you gave your servant Moses. 8 Please remember what you commanded your servant Moses: “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. 9 But if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have my name dwell.” 10 They are your servants and your people. You redeemed them by your great power and strong hand. 11 Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to that of your servants who delight to revere your name. Give your servant success today, and grant him compassion in the presence of this man. At the time, I was the king’s cupbearer.

You need to seek God’s will

It is obvious when we read this prayer, that Nehemiah knew God’s plan for the Israelite people. He knew that Jerusalem was supposed to be a special beautiful place for them to be gathered together and lived their life in the presence of God. This is not something that was a brand new revelation. This was something that he had learned through knowing God’s word and what he has spoken there are many things in your life that you don’t need some special revelation or divine burning Bush to know God’s plan. There are things that he has already spoken about the different situations that we face in our lifetimes that we just have to cling to and know. The more you know, God’s word the easier it is to know his will. Nehemiah took the time to know God’s word, and so he knew what God had already said and promised. If you do not know, God’s will start with his word. You will find that he will have a plan for many of the different things. His word tells you what a marriage should look like what a family should look like what you should look like in your career. It may not be your specific field of work. But he has divine instruction on how you carry yourself in your career. He has divine instruction on the type of spouse. You are supposed to be the type of parent you are supposed to be. And when you can follow that will that he has already laid out in his word the rest of it that you are struggling to figure out will fall into place and become known to you.

Pure heart

Nehemiah spends time repenting of the sins that were committed by the Israelite people. If you are going to see God bless what you were trying to do. It needs to be done from a place of a pure heart. Nehemiah was not seeking out his own glory or his own benefit. He was seeking out seeing God’s will be done for the lives of the Israel, people. Nehemiah’s heart was to honor God and to serve his people. He was seeking the benefit of the whole nation, not himself. He was seeking to revive the nation to be a place where God is worshiped and honored you see later in the book of Nehemiah, where they restore worship, and they restore the word. Nehemiah’s heart was pure in this.

If your vision does not come from a place of honoring God. If it does not come from a pure heart, if it is selfish, if it is greedy, God will not bless it. If it comes from arrogance, pride, or anything, corrupt God will not bless that vision.

Vision in action

When the vision starts in motion certain things take place. We see in Nehemiah 2, that the first 2 things to happen were: the King gives his blessing and protection. Nehemiah was asked by the king why he was so down. Nehemiah explained the situation and the King asked him what he wanted. Nehemiah told him that he wanted the king’s blessing to go and rebuild the wall. God blessed Nehemiah with favor with the King to be able to accomplish this task. This blessing by the king was really God blessing Nehemiah and it was an confirmation that what God placed on Nehemiah’s heart was right.

The second thing that God granted Nehemiah favor for was protection. He received letters from the king for all the governors of the land so that he could get safe passage back to Jerusalem. Protection is necessary because not everyone is going to approve what God has laid on your heart to accomplish. And because they cannot fight God, they fight you. They will not like what God has sent you to do and they will try to stop it.

without God’s blessing and protection it will fail

Psalm 127:1 CSB

1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain.

Casting the Vision

There comes a point when the vision has to be presented to those who are part of it. Timing really matters a lot on this issue. Nehemiah did not enter jerusalem and shout it from the rooftops. according to chapter 2 starting in verse 11 he only told a couple key people that he took with him to inspect and get a lay of the land. He went at night and he did it low key. If you present what God has put on your heart to early, it will die due to lack of understanding. If you have something for your family, you need to know what actually needs to happen or your vision will not have any credibility. If it is for your business, you need to be careful not to get ahead of yourself. You have to have Vision, but you also have to steward it well.

Power of Vision

When the time came, Nehemiah brought fourth all that God put on his heart, and he revealed to them his blessing from the king and all that God had done to bring him to this point. The response of the people was in Nehemiah 2:17-18

Nehemiah 2:17–18 CSB

17 So I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned. Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” 18 I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me, and what the king had said to me. They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and their hands were strengthened to do this good work.

When You have a God-given vision that you have stewarded well, It will be blessed in those around you will partner with you to see it through. God will give you the people and the resources. He will bring your family on board. He will bring your business partners on board. He will bring people you never expected to join you. He will bring people you never expected to help you.

Conclusion

Having a vision for your life, your family, your marriage, your job, is crucial. Vision is not just for the big organization. It is for us as individuals. It is powerful when it comes from God. And I believe God has a vision for each and everyone of you of how he wants every area of your life to be.Seek it out pray about it and cast that vision. I believe you will see God bless your life in powerful ways when you follow it.