Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Listening

It has been a long time since I took the time to post. I have had the chance to go through several books in the OT. Then I came upon Ezra. You don't hear much about the book of Ezra. It lays out some great principles regarding vision and leadership. So much so that it has motivated me to post some thoughts from that book.

Ezra 1:2-4 "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem."

After King Josiah things went down for the people of Judah as far as leadership was concerned. They had a string of very bad kings who lead them to captivity in Babylon. The temple was burned with fire and all of its articles were taken to Babylon and put in the Babylonian temple. Thank God that a king rose up in the form of Cyrus king of Persia. Even though this guy was not a Jew, he listened to God and God charged him with the same purpose that He gave to Solomon: Build Him a home in Jerusalem. This was it. This king listened to God. He heard God speak and give him a vision for what needed to be done. He then took that vision to the people and he asked the people to do two things: Work and give. "Go up to Jerusalem...and build." "Let the men of his place help him with silver and gold..."

Things haven't changed much. Whenever you need to get something done you need workers and givers. The thing is, these workers and these givers do not work and they do not give until you share a vision with them. In order to get people motivated, you have to reveal the vision. But the vision cannot be your own. It has to come from God. Once God gives leaders a clear vision of what to do and the people that they lead are challenged with that vision, people move. People are not motivated to work or give simply by telling them to work or give. They are motivated by vision...God's vision. The question is: If I am leading am I listening? If not, be like Cyrus and listen to see what God wants. Then put out the challenge. People will work...people will give.