Empowered by The Spirit

“So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts.”  Zechariah 4:6.

The Lord can give us holy ambition.  A desire to achieve great things for His Glory and Kingdom.  And we should certainly believe Him for great Kingdom miracles.  But maybe lately you’ve looked around at your day-to-day routine, at the steps you’re taking in faith for Him (both forward and backward) and are struggling to see how something great, something BIG, something awe inspiring is going to come of it all. 

Perhaps we’re most susceptible to getting down or growing weary of doing good when we’re looking inside ourselves and seeing the chasm between our holiness and the holiness of Jesus.  The more I walk closely with Jesus, the more I appreciate just how far I fall short and consequently how much Jesus had to pay for with the richness of His gift of salvation.  So with the goggles of grace I see just how big my sin has been and just how huge his love and sacrifice measures.

So then what do I do with this holy ambition when I look around and think: all of this doesn’t add up to His glory?  How is my day of filling the car with gas, picking up a taquito (or maybe 2 or 3), running errands, running to work, or waiting in a long line of cars going to square with this God-sized desire in me? Whether He’s placed a specific desire in your heart to be His instrument for a nation or a people or a need that He wants to meet or your passion for Him is just starting to burn and you know you want to be used mightily but aren’t sure what that looks like, the Lord has a Word of encouragement for you. 

A small group of people just returned from Babylonian captivity (God’s discipline for a disobedient people), hounded by naysayers and would-be attackers, just having left a long season of correction, surrounded on all sides by reminders of their disobedience in the ruin and rubble around them were called to a God-sized task for His glory: rebuilding and protecting the Temple.  Talk about discouraged. Any of that sound like where you are?  Naysayers on every side? A lot of broken down, not a lot of built up? More failures than triumphs? 

Zechariah, known as the prophet of hope, delivered God’s Word to the leaders who were undoubtedly looking around thinking that their holy ambition didn’t square with that scene.  From their own wilted spirit, they were tempted to give up.  How could they build the temple from ruins, let alone protect it with their small contingent?  In Zechariah chapter 4, an incredibly rich, encouraging passage, the Lord gave the prophet a Word for one of their leaders, Zerubbabel. 

First, the Lord confirmed His vision of the holy ambition: He described the image of a beautiful lampstand representing the temple and the Jewish believers who would stand under and hold up the light of the Lord’s glory for the world to see.  Sometimes we need visual aids.  Then, the Lord helped Zerubbabel understand that the resources for the glory-shining, God-honoring work of holy ambition - the Temple - would be supplied “not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit.”  Your strength will not be the deciding factor.  Your supplier will be the Spirit of the King of the Universe, the Creator, all knowing, all powerful God.  And what’s more, the Lord assured him that no obstacle is bigger than He is.  Zech 4:7: “‘What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!’”  In other words, when Zerubabbel’s empowered by God, mountains better watch out.  Yes, God can make mountains into plains.  And, by the way, God’s ambitious plan will be finished: Zerubbabel will put the final stone, the capstone on that Temple.

Finally, and don’t miss this, the Lord encouraged Zerubbabel in the day-to-day: “For who scorns the day of small things? These seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line [that line of stones topped by the chosen capstone] in Zerubbabel’s hand.” (v.10).  It was as if God was saying to Zerubbabel:  you may think each day that what you’re doing is small and insignificant, but what you do is significant in the Kingdom because I see it all and I, Myself, the King of Glory, rejoice when I see my completed work in you and by your hand. 

Nothing in your life goes unnoticed.  When you’re running errands, running to work, doing the small things, the Master is watching and rejoicing in the work He’s done and continues to do (Phil 1:6) on His Temple, the Temple of the Holy Spirit:  You.

-Andrea Kim