Stirred by the Spirit to Work for God

“When He [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” [1]

Jesus sees the multitudes. He is moved with compassion. He wants laborers. Where are they?

Scattered sheep need the Lord.

“Then the Word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” [2]

God let His people lack: “You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill.” “You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” [3]

How could the Lord bless them when they were only served themselves?

“The people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.” [4]

“Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you, declares the Lord.’” Then, Lord stirred the spirit of the governor, of the high priest, and of the remnant of the people, and they began to work on the house of the Lord. [5]

“Dear Heavenly Father, in the Name of Your Son Jesus, please stir the hearts of people to begin the work that needs done.”

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the Desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the Lord Almighty. And in this place I will grant peace, declares the Lord Almighty.” [6]

Jesus Christ is the Desired of nations. He will eventually establish His house in New Jerusalem, but until then, He wants us to keep bringing people to Him... to have their sins forgiven, to be healed by Him, to know Him, and to teach others about Him.

Haggai the prophet and Nehemiah were contemporaries. While Haggai prophesied, Nehemiah organized officials, priests, nobles, and people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah told them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach. So, they said, ‘Let us rise up and build.’ Then they set their hands to this good work.” [7]

“Father God, in the Name of Your Son Jesus Christ, please continue to raise up Haggai’s and Nehemiah’s to get Your work done on earth.”

Enemies mocked and despised Nehemiah and his helpers. Nehemiah responded, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us...” [8]

Some Nehemiah’s team members were slackers: “Their nobles did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord.” [9]

Enemies continuously belittled him. What did Nehemiah do? He gave his enemies over to God in prayer: “Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders.” He did the work: “So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” [10]

At one point, his workers worked with one hand and carried a weapon with the other. [11]

At another point, Nehemiah threatened his own nobles with undesirable consequences because they drove the workers of the Lord into debt and after that, made them their slaves. Nehemiah told them, “Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses....” The nobles did it. “And all the assembly said, ‘Amen!’ and praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise.” [12]

Enemies falsely accused Nehemiah of trying to become a king. They were publishers of fake news. Nehemiah responded to them directly, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.” The enemies want to weakened them. Nehemiah prayed, “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.” [13]

Enemies planted a secret informer among Nehemiah’s people. The informer told Nehemiah that there was a plot to kill him. Nehemiah refused to quit. He prayed: “My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.” [14]

When the work was done, Nehemiah’s enemies “perceived that this work was done by our God.” [15]

The next phase of Nehemiah’s mission involved Ezra the priest. He read the Scriptures to the people of Jerusalem from morning until midday. The people listened intently. He blessed the people. The people responded in various ways including lifting their hands to God and saying, “Amen.” As well as bowing their heads and worshipping the Lord with their faces to the ground. The Levites gave the sense and helped them to understand the Scriptures. [16]

Still later, the people “stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. They read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God.” [17]

What happened in the days of Haggai the prophet, Ezra the priest and Nehemiah the governor was a revival. The Lord stirred up their spirits, and they and their people began to work for the Lord.

“Heavenly Father, in the Name of Your Son Jesus, please stir up the hearts of people today with Your compassion for weak and scattered sheep, so that they are gathered unto You. Please give us a mind to work for You, and please bless the work of our hands. Amen.”

[1] Matthew 9:36-38
[2] Haggai 1:3-4
[3] Haggai 1:5-11
[4] Haggai 1:12
[5] Haggai 1:13-14
[6] Haggai 2:6-9
[7] Nehemiah 2:16-18
[8] Nehemiah 2:19-20
[9] Nehemiah 3:5
[10] Nehemiah 4:1-6
[11] Nehemiah 4:17
[12] Nehemiah 5:1-13
[13] Nehemiah 6:6-9
[14] Nehemiah 6:10-14
[15] Nehemiah 6:16
[16] Nehemiah 8:2-8
[17] Nehemiah 9:1-3