Architects, Builders & a Holy Collaboration
“…for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)
Since the start of the year this verse has continued to be uttered through my spirit. I believe we have collectively entered “a time to build,” but what we build and how we build have to find fresh alignment in order to maximize what God is making possible. I believe it’s a time when architects and builders will match together in a holy collaboration to build what so many—especially the Father—have been desiring to build for so long.
Architects are those who have the blueprints. They are designers by nature who help give introductory pictures for new plans and builds. Spiritually, they operate in fresh revelation and downloads, designing with strategic nuance. Many have been praying into, stewarding, waiting, and even trying to start building many of these new blueprints already. However, when an architect tries to build it usually only lasts so long because they do not always have the grace or anointing to build.
Builders are trained in sound construction on many levels. They are thorough with their process. They have different areas of expertise, but they have tried and true methods that help build upon the foundations that have been laid. They know how to create something that will last and meet the needs of the people. Many builders have been ready and trying to build the new thing, but often, despite best intentions, it can slowly turn into a new version of the old thing. This is because while they have a natural anointing and grace to build, they don’t always have the full version of the fresh blueprints for the Kairos season we’ve entered. It’s not that an architect can’t build, or that a builder can’t design, but there is much greater power and anointing when each stay in alignment with their extra specific and strategic grace.
Up until now, too often, many kingdom architects have been hanging out with other kingdom architects, because those are some of the few people who get them and see the potential and nuance in their revolutionary designs. Likewise, builders often gravitate towards other builders because they can trust that they know what they’re doing, to follow process and build the right way.
I believe architects should get ready to watch God bring them much needed builders, and builders to open their eyes to look for the right, anointed architects. These two need one another now more than ever and the world needs what they can accomplish together. We won’t build a lasting version of the “new thing” without these contrasts as vital compliments. This is a time to appreciate, not just tolerate, the unique skillset the other can offer that will help bring your work to life!
Together, in their synergy they will find the timely city, which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. This is the kingdom that is ready to come here on earth as it is in heaven, and it is within both the builder and the architect but they need one another to bring it forward from intangible to tangible, from unseen to visible.
“…for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)
And as I continue to ponder this verse in prayer there are three parts that stand out about this heavenly blueprint: Waiting, Foundations, and God as the Master Builder.
Waiting implies timing. Waiting is something that many architects and builders can each resonate with. I truly believe we’ve entered an appointed time, the kind of time many people have had hopeful visions for. It resonates with the Habakkuk 2:3 word that many people have held onto through the process, the twists, turns and delays.
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” (Hab. 2:3)
This is where our micro readiness syncs perfectly with God’s macro readiness. It’s when the waiting leads to appointed foundations.
Foundations are rarely exciting to most, but they are the most important part of true building, hence Jesus’ focus on such in His parables. What has happened to us, in us and through us during the waiting has not been in vain. In fact, it is much of the dirt moving and concrete pouring that God’s blueprints are and will be built upon. More has been established through your endurance than you’ll ever know. The endurance and perseverance that God extracts and requires from within us are some of the most underrated building blocks of the kingdom and we rarely know their immense impact. They are not always the fun parts, but they are the absolutely necessary parts. I believe the foundation has now settled for many and is about to be ready to be built upon where the plan can move from unseen to visible.
God is the Master Builder. To truly understand how He builds we have to go back to the beginning of that Hebrews 11 chapter. In verse 3, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Then, if we go fast forward again to just before verse 10 where we began, all throughout the chapter we learn what the heroes of the faith who obtained the promises before them built by; “by faith.” Every one starts out saying “By faith.” We cannot, must not let the familiarity of such a statement rob the vitality of how we interact with that required, unseen faith step and what it yields.
If our waiting and process turned into foundation, then it’s our undeterred faith that will turn unseen blueprints into the seen answers that our world so desperately needs for the times ahead. No longer can we depend on natural answers to fix spiritually rooted problems. You have something that must be led by your faith, the very faith the enemy tried to snuff out and extinguish during your extended waiting.
“…that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” (Hebrews 6:12)
The “Holy” Part of the Collaboration
“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.’” (Isaiah 55:8)
The primary key to this holy collaboration to build in this time is how both architects and builders learn to surrender and adjust to The Master Builder. He builds so differently than we do, and very different than the culture we often unknowingly adapt to. He builds not from the top down, as culture views influence, but from the bottom-up. He builds through the least and the unlikely, not taking power but giving power away to those He’s commissioning. He builds through people more than buildings, through mercy more than being “right,” through empowering disciples more than growing followers.
The Master Builder has plans and designs that are counter-intuitive to many of the ways we build, and learning this and yielding not just to the idea but to the practice of such—to His ways beyond our ways—is what will make this collaboration “holy.”
As an “architect” myself I see my need for the right builders to build with. They have ways and graces about them that I just do not have. I need their ways to make mine come to life. And, it’s not enough for me to have the Father’s fresh blueprint, I also need the counter intuitive “ways” of the Master Builder, trusting more even in what I cannot see so that soon a new part of God’s indescribable nature will be visibly built for the world to lay eyes on—and help them believe.
May we open our eyes to receive such a holy collaboration for this time.
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