Ezra 1:5
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
Willingness to build something for God or to do something for God is one of the results of the Holy Spirit of God filling a person. You will notice that those in Ezra’s day were willing to go up to build the house of the LORD. Had they not allowed the spirit of God to stir their heart, the house of the LORD would have never been built.
One major contributor to churches not growing today is the unwillingness of the heart of God’s people to do things for God. Throughout the Scriptures, you will see whenever God did a work, there were willing people to do that work. Whenever God’s people were not willing was when the work of God ceased and compromise became acceptable. There are two things that willingness shows about the believer.
First, willingness shows the desire of the believer. A willing believer desires for God to do something through them. I have never found an unwilling believer who wants to do something great for God. Rather, I have found unwilling believers are more interested in worldly affairs than they are with God’s will. A person with a great desire to do something for God is a person who has a willing heart for God to use them in any way. You will find the person with a desire for God to use them is not picky with what they will do, but they are willing to do anything that is needed if they can just be used by God.
Second, willingness shows the heart of the believer. An unwilling believer has a hardened heart toward God, but a willing believer has a soft heart toward God. You show me how willing you are to do anything that God wants you to do, and I will show you how soft your heart is toward God. A soft heart produces a willing spirit to do anything that God would ask you to do.
Do you have a desire for God to use you? God is always more than willing to use anyone who has a desire to be used. Samuel had a willing heart, as evidenced by his reply, Speak; for thy servant heareth. Isaiah had a willing heart, as is evidenced by his response to God, Here am I; send me. In both responses, you find men who put no stipulations on God; instead, they were willing to do anything God asked them to do.
Whatever stipulation you place on God as to the degree of what you will do for Him shows the degree of the hardness and rebellion of your heart. When God told Abraham to give his son, he did not tell God that he would not give his son; rather, he immediately obeyed. God was testing the willingness of Abraham’s heart by seeing if he was willing to do anything.
Willingness to obey God is not being willing to do what you want to do or what you have planned for your own life to do, but willingness to God is to do what God asks you to do when you don't want to do it. When you are willing to take all stipulations away and tell God that you are willing to do whatever is when God can use you to build something great for Him. As long as you keep your stipulations there, the work that God wants to do through you will go undone. Remove your stipulations and you will see God be God in your life.