Steve Sikes Blog  

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When I was a pre-teen and teenager in Oklahoma, Dad had his sons and all of the boys at the children’s home doing “brick work.”  In our spare time, we tore down old church buildings and houses and saved their bricks for building new cottages for the Boys’ Home.  There were times I found myself walking on wooden planks a couple of stories high, breaking up brick and tossing them down into a net for safe keeping.  These bricks were cleaned and used to build four different cottages that ended up housing around 15 boys each.  “Let us arise and build” encapsulated building material, a plan, adequate funds, workers, and a leader to lead in the project!  Dad was instrumental in all phases and, in many ways, became my “Nehemiah” growing up.
. Nehemiah, who lived about 2,500 years ago, remains one of the best examples of a leader that we have in the Bible!  Nehemiah was more than a brick or stone mason. 
. He was a Spirit-led stone mason;
Spirit-led planner;
Spirit-led recruiter of workers;
Spirit-led fund-raiser;
Spirit-led leader! 
. The words, “Let us arise and build” (Nehemiah 2:18) are ironically NOT said by Nehemiah!  Yes.  He first invited the people to join him in rebuilding the wall (Nehemiah 2:17), but more importantly he prayed in such a way, demonstrated God’s Spirit in such a way – that those observing were themselves motivated to build! “Let us arise and build” is said by the people to their leader, Nehemiah!  May it be so with us in 2009!  God is good all the time!