Ezra 3:

7 months after they returned to Jerusalem, the people set up the altar of God and offered burnt offerings upon it.  Then they gave money to masons, carpenters, and hired hands from Tyre and Sidon for cedar from the grant money from the King of Persia, Cyrus.  The foundation of the second temple of God was laid, because Solomon's temple was long gone and destroyed by the Chaldeans.  So Solomon's temple no longer exits in Jerusalem.  There was a great cry to God and the elders who knew the old temple wept out of emotions.  Whatever needs to be done for God and your happiness must be done without procrastination, laziness, or doubt.  It could be your business, education, or marriage.  Just do it!!!

Ezra 4:

Some enemies of progress living in the land came to Zerubbabel and the elders of Judah to convince them that they should be allowed to join Judah in the project of building God's temple, but Judah refused by stating that King Cyrus wanted only Judah to build it.  So the people then started bribing the powers that be against Judah's progress and the building of God's temple was delayed past the reign of two kings of Persia.  A letter of accusation was then sent to the new king of Persia, Artaxerxes, that if Judah was allowed to build the city, the temple, and the walls, they will stop paying taxes to the king.  It also stated that the reason why the city was laid to waste was because Judah have been known throughout history to be rebellious and unproductive to kings.  The king then investigated the matter and found that it was true.  So he gave a decree that the building of Jerusalem by Judah must stop.  Sometimes, we are the ones that hinder our own progress through the spirit of procrastination.  We allow unnecessary distractions from meaningless entities, wants, worldly opinions or views to give our opposition enough times to strategically delay our progress.

Ezra 5:

Prophets Haggai and Zachariah prophesized to the people and then Zerubbabel and Jeshua began to build the temple again.  The governor of the land came to challenge them to stop, but they did not until a letter would reach the king and a reply returned.  The Governor then wrote to a new king of Persia, Darius.  He claimed that Judah was rebuilding the temple and when asked by what authority, Judah responded that they were servants of God rebuilding the temple once built by a great king that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed.  Judah also made it clear that it was king Cyrus of Persia that gave them the order and provision to rebuild, and that the current king could confirm it in his records in Babylon.  God has given you every power to excel; it is up to you to take advantage of it.  King Cyrus already gave them an order and provision to build, so what were they waiting on?  After many generations and kings, they still had to return to the same order to justify their progress.  A progressive man and a failure will both die one day, so be progressive and move on without delay.

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