Progression

Ezra 1:5 "Then rose up the heads of the fathers houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem."

Progression. It is an interesting word. The word itself says progress. It implies movement. It implies going from one step to the next. It is what is seen in the first chapter of Ezra...and it all started with one leader with a vision.

Cyrus was king of Persia. God had been working in his heart. The first verse of the chapter says: "the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus...". God woke up the inner man of Cyrus. God placed a desire there. And that desire was to build the temple in Jerusalem. Now this was a formidable task. This was not something that he could pull off by himself. He needed to place this desire in front of a group of people. He had to cast the vision and see what happened...and this is what he did: "Whoever is among you...let him go up to Jerusalem...and rebuild the house of the Lord." v3 This was not very complex but it was clear. It was not like he had to lay out every detail initially but he had to tell them what the end result would be. He simply had to cast the vision. The result: progression. This vision was cast and who caught on? Initially the leaders...the heads of the father's houses. Then who caught on? The priests and the Levites. Then who caught on? "Everyone whose spirit God stirred." Then what happened? "And all who were about them aided them...". v6 I am sure that this did not happen overnight. It is something that developed. As Cyrus got excited, the head of the father's houses got excited. As they got excited the spiritual leaders got excited. As they got excited and challenged the people from a spiritual perspective, the people got excited.

This point can't be lost. Not only was the vision cast in terms of the physical (the heads of the father's houses) but also in terms of the spiritual (the priests and Levites). When a vision is cast, both perspectives have to be communicated. When that happens God does the same thing in the hearts of a group of people that He did initially in the heart of one leader: He stirs up our spirits. (Compare verse one and verse five.) When that happens, look out.

This verse is not being lost on me. I need to be open to hear what God is doing in my pastor's heart. When we combine a physical vision with a spiritual vision (what he shared last week) let God stir my spirit. Then that needs to spread. Watch the progression.