SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT FOR TODAY (January 18, 2014)

 

“⁵ Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. ⁶ And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.
⁷ King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods; ⁸ and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. ⁹ This is the number of them: thirty gold platters, one thousand silver platters, twenty-nine knives, ¹⁰ thirty gold basins, four hundred and ten silver basins of a similar kind, and one thousand other articles” Ezra 1:5-10.

Memory Verse:

“I WILL REPAY YOU FOR THE YEARS THE LOCUSTS HAVE EATEN — THE GREAT LOCUST AND THE YOUNG LOCUST, THE OTHER LOCUSTS AND THE LOCUST SWARM — MY GREAT ARMY THAT I SENT AMONG YOU” Joel 2:25 (NIV).

The God whom we serve is not only a covenant keeping God who sees to it that everything he has promised us comes to us, he is also the God of restoration who gives back to his people everything we lost to the enemy in the past. He has done it before in the past and he is still doing it today in our time. We are fully assured of this because the scripture tells us that Jesus is the same yesterday, and today and forever. In this edition, we want to find out how the LORD gave back to his people what they lost to their captors during the time of King Nebuchadnezzar.

When King Cyrus’ heart was stirred by the LORD to let the Jews go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of God, he also ordered his people to be generous to the Jews by giving them whatever they needed for the building of the Temple. Cyrus commanded as we found in the previous edition as follows:

“AND THE PEOPLE OF EVERY PLACE WHERE SURVIVORS MAY NOW BE LIVING ARE TO PROVIDE HIM WITH SILVER AND GOLD, WITH GOODS AND LIVESTOCK, AND WITH FREEWILL OFFERINGS FOR THE TEMPLE OF GOD IN JERUSALEM” Ezra 1: 4 NIV.

This command was to ensure the Jews had supply of everything needed to build the Temple. Ezra 1:5-10 shows clearly that this was not just an empty command. The people obeyed and did as the King had commanded. According to the Ezra 1:6:

“AND ALL WHO WERE ABOUT THEM AIDED THEM WITH VESSELS OF SILVER, WITH GOLD, WITH GOODS, WITH BEASTS AND WITH COSTLY WARES, BESIDES ALL THAT WAS FREELY OFFERED.”

This shows the power of the spoken word which is inspired by the LORD. It was not just the words of Cyrus; rather, it was the word of the LORD through Cyrus.

This reminds us that whatever the Lord commands concerning you shall surely come to pass. In addition, everything we shall declare through the power of the Holy Spirit shall surely come to pass just as Cyrus’ inspired words came to pass. I want to assure all saints that everything we shall declare and degree shall come to pass as long as it is in line with the word of the LORD.

According the scripture, the people around the Jews, who were pagans, gave to the Jews gold, silver, livestock and several other goods freely. God decided to take what belonged to the Persians and give to the Jews. This same God is still alive. He has not changed. He can take whatever the wicked possesses and give it to his righteous ones. It is my prayer that the LORD whom you serve every day and knows all your needs will bring about the transfer of wealth from the wicked to his saints including you in the year 2014. Do not worry about the wealth of the unrighteous anymore.

God has a special plan concerning your life. He has planned that very soon whatever the wicked possesses will soon be given to his people. I believe this because the word of the Lord says:

A GOOD MAN LEAVES AN INHERITANCE TO HIS CHILDREN’S CHILDREN, BUT THE SINNER’S WEALTH IS LAID UP FOR THE RIGHTEOUS.

We should remember that the Jews lost everything they had due to the exile, but at the right time, the Lord caused them to receive what the enemy had taken away from them. It implies that whatever we lost in the past to the enemy shall be fully recovered this year according to the word of the Lord. Watch out for the second part of this message.

THE WORD OF THE LORD!

 

See also: The God of Restoration (Part 2)

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Pastor Nana Kobina Baisie
Teacher/Pastor at Nadrim Mission International School, Busan, Korea.