“The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia.” Ezra 1:1
“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.” Ezra 1:5
When God moves the heart of mankind amazing things happen. Things that ordinarily would remain undone are accomplished. When God moves on the heart of makind, forgiveness is given, relationships are restored, dreams are realized, miracles happen. It is that moment in time when everything changes because our incredible and powerful God steps into humanity and places his heart into ours. We feel compassion instead of judgement, hope instead of despair, joy instead of sorrow, and life where there was death.
We crave to have God move our hearts. To walk through this life with his heartbeat. The Israelites experienced this in the beginning of the book of Ezra. A few chapters later we read how this lifestyle was threatened. In chapter four verses four and five it says, “Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.”
Often times when we are doing the thing that God has moved on our hearts to do, those around us begin to bring discouragement, doubts and fears. We may wonder if God really moved on our hearts or we may wake up and think, “There’s no way that I can do this. What am I thinking? Who do I think I am?”
It causes me to reflect upon the life-giving words of Jesus, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10 As I walk through this thing called life I must ingrain this concept into my mind that God wants to move our hearts to live an amazing life. During the times I feel discouragement, doubt and fear I must realize that this does not come from God but from my enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy.
