When Nehemiah looked around and saw the broken lives, it was in his heart not to judge or condemn, but to be part of the answer.
Every believer is called to be a builder, because a true Son is a "builder of the household name". When you catch the heart of the Holy Ghost, something in you will resonate, will feel concern, will rise up on the inside. I want to be a builder for God! I want my life to count for something! Every believer is given spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14:12), but let it be to build up the church - desire to excel in building up people.
Isaiah 61 - "the spirit of the Lord is upon me" - it's all to do something. It's to open blind eyes. It's to heal broken hearts. It's to restore the desolation of previous generations. He wants people who are broken, disconnected and cut down to be restored and lifted up, doing something useful.
Nehemiah, Chapter 2. I want to just pick up about pushing through the difficulties; Nehemiah 2:17-18. Nehemiah came and he said: you look at the distress that we're in, how Jerusalem is waste, the gates are burnt with fire, gates are burnt down. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, so we're no longer a reproach. And I told them of the hand of God, which is good upon me, and the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said - this is what the people said. This is what happened inside people, when the Holy Ghost begins to move upon them; and Nehemiah, whose name means the comfort of God, and he came and he looked at the city which was in ruins. He saw burnt stones, broken stones, he saw rubble everywhere.
But you know he saw something beyond that. He saw, through the eyes of faith, what a group of people can do - to change a city, to change lives that are broken down; and when Nehemiah looked around and saw the broken lives, it was in his heart not to condemn. It's in his heart not to judge. It was in his heart to be part of the answer. God calls you and me to be part of the answer to our city, part of the answer to the younger generation, part of the answer to the broken lives; not to just fall off and sit in a retirement home, and do nothing for the rest of our lives! My goodness! What a waste of our life.
We're called to be BUSY in the king's business, busy in advancing the kingdom of God. There's no exceptions, not one. All are called to arise and build. You know when you catch the heart of the Holy Ghost this is what you'll catch inside: something in you will resonate, something in you will feel concern, something in you will say I want to rise up on the inside. I don't want to live in the dust of defeat! I don't want to live in the rubble of my past life. I want to be a builder for God! I want my life to count for something! A lot of people they think the anointing is just to feel good and shake and fall over and see visions; but you read Isaiah 61, "the spirit of the Lord is upon me" - it's all to DO something. It's to open blind eyes. It's to heal broken hearts. It's to restore the desolation of previous generations. Read it for yourself.
The anointing of the Holy Ghost, that same Holy Ghost that God gave you, is for you to DO something! It's to influence lives! It's to see people saved! It's to see them get filled with the Holy Ghost, and begin to get vision and purpose and destiny - and this is what Nehemiah had in mind: restoring burnt stones, once living beautiful stones, burnt by warfare - now restore them, and reposition them in the wall of destiny. That's what God has for people, He wants people who are broken, disconnected and cut down to be restored and lifted up doing something useful.
You know the Bible tells us very clearly: every believer is called to be a builder. I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says a Christian is called to be a sitter, not at all; sit at the feet of Jesus, but then get up and do something. The word Son in the Bible, the Old Testament, is the word Ben, meaning: a builder of the household name. So when you come to Jesus Christ, you're not an add-on, and you're not a servant; you were born into His family, His spirit comes in you and changes you; and then you're called to be a builder, because a true Son is a builder of the household name. A true Son is a builder of the family, and so the Sons of God, those who are lead by the spirit of God, become builders of lives.