What Drives You?
Build With God – You Are Worthy!!
I want to encourage you to re-read and dig into Nehemiah, chapters 4 – 6, especially chapter 6. Vision is the very thing that should drive us.
The question you have to ask yourself is, what drives you?
We can all be driven by fear, wounds from the past, relationships, and other self-motives. But vision gives pain a purpose. Moses and Abraham had vision. Abraham had to leave his father’s house and go to a land he didn’t know. Along the journey, God showed him incredible things. God told him about the stars and how many descendants he would have before having one child. God gave him a vision to believe in and pursue.
When God has spoken something (a vision) to you, you grab hold of it and call it in. But you can’t just claim it without God speaking it first. That’s how we got the Brownstone (believing in God’s vision for our assignment), which didn’t look good for a while. We named ourselves Center City Church even when it didn’t look like we could get the building that was prophesied for us in the middle of the city.
It’s not our desires or ambition that names it and claims it.
It’s essential that the Lord speaks to you.
Nehemiah was doing his daily tasks, and the Lord placed a burden on him to see the children of Israel have a home again. He prayed then to the Lord and asked for his prayers to be heard. Nehemiah confessed his sins and his people’s sins to the Lord, stepping into the place of an intercessor.
Nehemiah cried out, and the Lord gave him the burden to go back and rebuild the city of God. He was burdened, and the king released him to go and do what God had spoken. It was God who directed him.
You can stand strong in direction, when God gives it to you. You have to hear His vision for your life. Self-ambition will eat you alive. Fear of failure will do the same thing, as will wounds of the past. What drives you has to be vision.
You must see, hear, and sense according to God’s purpose and plan.
If you build anything worthwhile with God, operate from a pure, upright heart. From a place of purity and innocence. Nehemiah was able to go because he acted from that place.
People get into relationships and buy houses and cars because they want them – even when God directs otherwise. It always turns out poorly. When God says yes, then do it!!! It will be anointed. Step into it with faith and expect Him to set it in motion.
Along the way (chapter 6), we’ve talked about Sanballat and Tobiah. They are distractors and schemers that try to grab hold of you and pull you away from God’s vision for your life. They were furious at the rebuilding of the wall and began to walk into a place of mockery. Sanballats will always move, throw jabs, and bring their buddies to do the same thing.
Pay attention when building God’s way – you will have those who mock and discourage you. God will build you up. God will use whomever He has called by name and appointed and anointed. Understand the callings of God are real and powerful. But you must avoid those that try to distract you from the very things God has for you. Be aware of the “land of almost” that caused you to vacillate and be double minded. Remind yourself of the Scriptures that tell us that His promises are yes, and Amen in Christ Jesus!!
When you can’t help but see that God is on your side, your enemies will recognize it too. It wasn’t Moses, on his own, that did great things – it was God that did it. It will discourage and deflate your enemies when they know God is on your side.
It’s time for an Aliyah. Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel. As Israel celebrates their 75th anniversary this year, it’s like calling “Aliyah.” It’s time to call the wanderers, the prodigals, and the mavericks back to God. It’s time to establish a proclamation calling them back to God. Come back to the ways and purposes of God in the mighty name of Jesus. May it be so.