Day 15 - Ezra

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing:


2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

“‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. 4 And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”


5 Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved —prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem.

When we get cynical and believe people don't change, we miss out on opportunities for new relationships and we miss out on being a part of the new things God is doing.  We miss out on some of the greatest miracles of our Creator - a new life in Christ.

If you think that there is no hope for you or for a friend, you're wrong.  We serve a God that is still moving and working.  We serve a God that is forgiving, a God of second chances.  It is never too late.  It is never written in stone that your destiny is set.  You don't have to live with the mistakes of the past or the mistakes of the present.  People change.  You can change.  The people you never thought could change can change.  Let us never underestimate the changing power of God's grace and forgiveness.  Let us never forget that God is still moving.
People change.  King Cyrus changed.  The family heads changed.  God moved in their hearts.  People change.  Our society has gotten so cynical that we have decided that people can't change, that when they say they've changed, they're phony.  However, we believe in a God that changes people.  We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We believe God moves in the hearts of people.  God changes the hard hearted to become soft hearted.  God moves the believer to action.  God changes people.