Who Needs Bitcoin When You Have God ?

Oct. 12

Read: Ezra 1

Who Needs Bitcoin When You Have God

“And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” (v.4)

God will always provide the resources for the work he is calling his people to do. This is why the people of God should never function under the fear of scarcity or lack of resources to do what God has called them to. If it is genuinely from the Lord, the materials needs will come… and probably from the least expected avenues! When we give in to a “scarcity mindset” (where our default thinking is there is not / and will never be enough) diminishes our ability to see the grand work that God is doing… we lose vision and lack mission. When God supernaturally provides for us it is a tangible and real way we experience HIM. The Lord strengthens our faith when we can materially provide for one another and when the Lord materially provides for us. (Think of Israel in the wilderness and the manna that God provides! cf. Exodus 16)

The “stirring of the spirit” that we spoke of yesterday is not limited to only king Cyrus. God moves the hearts of all of Persia - wherever one of his people is exiled - and they all respond by giving gifts to the people of God for the mission of rebuilding the Temple of the Lord. God has always and is always actively building and restoring his dwelling place amongst his people in his Kingdom. This is why Eph. 2:22 reminds us that, “In (Jesus) you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” God is restoring us… his dwelling place. He will provide what is required for that. He is not seeking to destroy his children… that would be destroying the very dwelling place he has been building up!

Everyone who God “stirs the spirit of” responds in the way they are destined to respond. What I mean by that is look at the different ways that God works in the different people as described here: Cyrus has an understanding of who this “stirring” has come from… ““Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.” (v.2) He is very clear on what God has called him to do. Have you ever thought it interesting that God didn’t “make him a ‘believer'’” before choosing to move his spirit? Cyrus acknowledges that God is real, and follows his instructions… Cyrus respects God enough to do what he is told (or maybe he had no choice?). Whatever the case, we don’t see here (or in history) that Cyrus ``converted”… yet he was used by God greatly to bless his people. The normal Persians in the towns respond as well by giving gold, silver, and “freewill offerings' '… they have been moved by God whether they realize it or not. These things were “freely offered” to the people of God - not coerced or begrudgingly handed over. (v.4,6) Imagine what would have to happen in one's heart to freely hand over all those resources towards the cause of rebuilding a foreign people’s God’s temple!?! Then we see that “Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem.” (v.5) The people of God rose up as well… all those who were called to the rebuilding. (For another time it might be interesting to note that not everyone was called to be a part of the rebuilding phase.)

So what does all this mean for us? God is moving in people we would not expect to bring about provision for us, his people, to do the work he is calling us to do. We may not always realize the deep and powerful ways God is stirring us, yet other times it is very concrete and clear - specific - as to what he is calling us to do. We will have trouble recognizing his voice and embracing his calling when we are trapped in a scarcity mindset and shy away from things we feel called to do because they would “cost too much” or “we don’t have the resources right now”. This is true for individuals as well as the church.It was always God’s plan to rebuild his temple… his dwelling place among his people… and now YOU and I are his “dwelling place”. (cf. Eph.2, John 14:23) God will provide what is needed to rebuild you when you are broken down. God is not seeking to tear you down, he is seeking to restore you. God is making you a “fit” dwelling place… and when God makes a dwelling place he makes it BEAUTIFUL - Imagine all that gold and silver coming into the temple. God is not making you into a shack to dwell in… he is making you into something wonderful. Trust this process! Trust his provision! Love you guys. - JDP