The Provision Principle for Missions Senders (1 of 4)
The Provision Principle: God will provide everything necessary to accomplish His work. He accepts ultimate responsibility for the support of His Work.
Ezra 1:1-2 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s support. Where God’s guides, He provides. In Ezra 1, God is the one who initiated the work.
- He wanted His Word to be fulfilled (1:1).
- He stirred up King Cyrus to initiate the rebuilding of the temple (1:2).
- The work of reaching the world with the gospel is close to the heart of God and as the Lord of the Harvest He is overseeing the entire process.
Consider some other examples of how God provided throughout history for the work He commanded people to do:
- God provided for Noah to build the ark.
- God sent manna and quail from heaven for the children of Israel.
- God provided for Elijah at the River Cherith.
- God provided for Elijah at the widow of Zarephath’s house.
We don’t need to worry and fret. God is not broke. God is not worried. The economy may be bad, but God still owns the cattle on a thousand hills. If God’s wants the work to get done, we may not understand it or know where it is going to come from, but we can trust that God will provide.
Even if people are disobedient, God can work in miraculous ways to get His work done with or without our help. In Ezra 1, we see the Lord stirring up Cyrus the king to return 5400 gold and silver vessels for the Lord’s house (1:7-11). When Nehemiah return to build the wall of Jerusalem, the king of Persia provided letters to give him wood and soldiers to protect them as they travelled (Nehemiah 2).