Morning by Morning, February 18 - Good Stewards of God's Gifts

Good morning, Lord Jesus. All I am and all I have belong to You, O Lord, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So speak to my spirit, that I may be a good steward of all You've entrusted to me today. ...

"Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:10-11).

It still amazes me how in all Your sovereignty and majesty You choose to express Your glory and power through Your sons and daughters. Each of us has received gifts of God. They're spiritual gifts because they are expressions of Your Holy Spirit abiding in us, anointing us with Your Presence, and flowing through us with Your power and love.

When we're living in communion with You, allowing the deep of our human spirits to call unto the deep of Your Holy Spirit in "prayer to the God of life," You speak through us with Your words and serve through us with Your strength (Psalm 42:7). It's not us; it's You. But it's not You instead of us; it's You through us. It's "Christ in (us)" (Colossians 1:27). 

Together, in the mystery of faith, we are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12). We are filled with the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9). And by Your "manifold grace" and spiritual gifts, we are speaking and serving and loving and giving with heart of Christ -- even "as one speaking the very words of God," just as Your Word says we "must do ... so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:10-11).

So come, Holy Spirit. Fill me afresh today (Ephesians 5:18). Let "the anointing that (I) received from (You) abide in (me)" deeply today (1 John 2:27). And let me be a good steward and faithful servant of the gifts and graces You've entrusted to me -- secure in my identity as a beloved child of God and confident in my destiny as a life member of the body of Christ. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will be secure in your identity and confident in your destiny, filled afresh with the Holy Spirit and empowered by God to be a good steward of all the gifts and graces He has entrusted to you today, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, please keep us in prayer as I teach on spiritual giftstonight at our Rapha God Ministries "Boot Camp" for our new prayer ministry team members at our base in San Antonio. I pray the Lord continues to equip and empower you to know your calling and fulfill your destiny as well! God bless you!

Ministering in Lexington, Kentucky Area March 4-5

Please join us for the Power of Love Conference hosted by Voice of Joy Ministries at the Francis Asbury Society headquarters in Wilmore, where I'll be teaching and ministering with 

 Dr. Steve Seamands and Pastor Amy Barkman.

Registration is free but please let Pastor Amy know if you may be attending with an email to her at  amyb_love@att.net or

http://www.voiceofjoyministries.com/events.html

Please Spread the Word!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 17 - "Something Greater"

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice, Good Shepherd of my soul.  ... "(Jesus) said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had know what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath'" (Matthew 12:3-8). The building of the temple, the bread of the Presence, the law of the Sabbath -- they are all physical objects pointing toward something greater. "These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (Colossians 2:17).  You are the Something Greater. As our great Temple, You are the center of our worship. As our great Bread of Life, You are the abiding Presence of God with us. As our great Sabbath, You are the place of peace and rest from all our striving and straining with all our rituals and rules, trying to be good enough or do enough good to be accepted and loved. Our personal relationship with You as Lord of the Sabbath and Lord of our souls is something greater than anything else in all creation. No religiousness, no self-righteousness or works-righteousness, but only Christ-centeredness is "the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13).  The goal to "come to know God, or rather to be known by God" is the desire for destiny You've set in our hearts (Galatians 4:9). And just as You've always intended, we'll never be satisfied with something lesser than knowing the Something Greater You've created us to pursue with all our hearts for all our lives. At the same time, in this great pursuit of Something Greater, we rest confidently in the assurance of Your Word, "When you search for Me, you will find me; if you seek Me with all your heart, I will let you find Me, says the Lord" (Jeremiah 29:13-14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

Tommy,  I pray you will be know and be known by the Lord our God, as you passionately pursue Him with all your heart all your life, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Ministering in Lexington, Kentucky Area March 4-5

Please join us for the Power of Love Conference hosted by Voice of Joy Ministries at the Francis Asbury Society headquarters in Wilmore with Dr. Steve Seamands and Pastor Amy Barkman.

Registration is free but please let Pastor Amy know if you may attend with an email to her at  amyb_love@att.net

Please Spread the Word!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 16 - "Manifestation of the Glory"

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me hear Your voice and listen for Your leading, as I begin this day in the communion of prayer with You, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  ... 

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is He who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:11-14). 

Lord Jesus -- "our great God and Savior" -- manifest Your glory today. I know one day You will return in a spectacular, indescribable, world-wide manifestation of Your glory for all to see (1 Thessalonians 4:16). But at the same time, I know You also desire there to be a manifestation of Your glory here in my heart and in here through my life every day. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossian 1:27). 

You forgive my sins and purify my soul. You fill me with Your Spirit and anoint me with Your presence and power and purpose (1 John 2:17). And You send me out into my world, zealous for You with a passion for my Father's kingdom to come and will to be done, here on earth and here through my life, "to display (Your) glory" as one of those "called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord" (Isaiah 61:3). When You walked this earth to show us the way to honor God with our lives, You said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples" (John 15:7-8). 

So Father God, in Jesus' name, I embrace Your Holy Spirit to manifest the glory of Christ through my life in my world today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will be continually filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God, abiding in Jesus and His word, that your life may be a manifestation of the glory of Christ in your world every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 12 - Empowered to Overcome

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords, be King of my heart and Lord of my life.  ...

 

"Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negeb and on Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it down, and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great; they killed none of them, but carried them off, and went their way. When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with them raise their voices and wept, until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was in great danger; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God" (1 Samuel 30:1-6).

 

Just as David faced his physical enemies in the Amalekites, we face our spiritual enemies in "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). Like David, we are under attack from "the thief (who) comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). Our spiritual enemy is "like a roaring lion (who) prowls around, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). And sometimes in the pressure of the attacks and the confusion and grief of the loss, even those around us can turn against us "bitter in spirit."

 

But like David, we must strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God (1 Samuel 30:6). Though others forsake us and abandon us, turn against us and attack us, You never will (Hebrews 13:5). Though the enemy of our souls seeks to devour us and destroy us with everything dear to us, Your Word reminds us "the One who is in (us) is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). You encourage us with Your words "that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33 NKJV).

 

David didn't panic and David didn't give up. David didn't decide to take the advice of Job's wife in the face of Job's spiritual battle and personal devastation to "curse God and die" (Job 2:9). No. He did quite the opposite. 

 

David "strengthened himself in the Lord his God" (1 Samuel 30:6). Then he "inquired of the Lord" (v. 8). And in the guidance and strength of the Lord his God, he "went on pursuit" to take back what the enemy stole from him (v. 10). "David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled" (v. 17). And when the smoke cleared and the battle was over, "David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David brought back everything" (v. 18-19).

 

And by the same power of the grace of God, may we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God in the face of every attack from the enemy of our souls. May we be empowered to overcome. May we remember to seek You instead of sink in self-pity. May we be empowered to arise and pursue instead of turn tail and flee. And may we remember and experience the truth of Your Word that "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us ... convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor heights, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will be strengthened in the Lord, empowered to overcome through every battle you may face, taking back all the enemy ever tries to steal from you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 11 - In the Morning Surrender of My Morning Prayer

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I look and listen; I watch and wait for the leading of Your Spirit to begin this day embracing and abiding in the presence of God.  ...

 

"O Lord, in the morning You hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch" (Psalm 5:3).

 

Thank You for listening and hearing my heart. Thank You for allowing me to plead my case, to state my needs, to express my concerns, to acknowledge my fears, to lay down my burdens, and to share my dreams. Thank You for the invitation of Your Word expressing the nature of Your heart:  "Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you" (Psalm 55:22). "Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

 

As I speak them out to You, You gather them up and lift them from me. And in the gentleness of Your mercy and the security of Your love, You say to my soul, "Now, let it go. Entrust it to Me. I care for You. I will take care of you."

 

And now I watch. Now I trust. Now I allow You to put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart as You guide my steps and direct my paths. Now I receive the gift of faith to believe that You will do Your part, and at the same time, that You will show me and empower me to do my part. "From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eyes has seen any God besides You, who works for those who wait for Him" (Isaiah 64:4). 

 

What a good way to begin my day in the morning surrender of my morning prayer. Now give me the grace to live this out throughout all the other moments of day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will watch and see what God will do with all you surrender to Him in your morning prayer, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 10 - The Mark of Ashes

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are my Lord and my Savior. As I begin this day, I embrace Your salvation and surrender to Your lordship, as best as I can and all by Your grace.  ...

 

"Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub on which it rested to the threshold of the house. The Lord call to the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case at his side; and said to him, 'Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it" (Ezekiel 9:3-4).

 

On the cycle of seasons that mark Christian traditions, today begins the season of Lent, marking the spiritual journey from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. Around the world, many will receive a mark of the cross in ashes upon their forehead as a sign of the mark of the cross upon their hearts. As I understand it, it's a mark that speaks of humility and repentance, turning away from our sins and turning to God. It's an outward sign of an inward grace, a physical indication of a spiritual dedication.

 

No matter our tradition, whether we receive the imposition of ashes on our foreheads or not, whether we participate in the season of Lent or not, we are all invited to set our lives apart as holy unto the Lord. We are all invited to stand out from our culture, to identify ourselves with Christ, not merely with outwards symbols or statements of belief, but also with the deep commitment of our hearts that manifest through our actions in the daily choices of our lives. "Everyone therefore who acknowledges Me before others, I also will acknowledge before My Father; but whoever denies Me before others, I also will deny before My Father in heaven" (Matthew 10:32-33).

 

"But what does it say? 'The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart' (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved" (Romans 10:8-10).

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Help me live a lifestyle of humility and repentance, before My Father in heaven and My Savior in my heart, turning away from the stains of sin in my soul and my culture to embrace the truth of the love and grace of God -- not just for the forty days before Easter, but for every day of my life. In Christ, I am "marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:13-14). "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who has faith" (Romans 1:16). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a lifestyle of humility and repentance in the truth of the grace and love of God through Jesus Christ, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 9 - Rocks to Remember

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me start this day and every day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...

 

"When the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua:  'Select twelve men from the people, one from each tribe, and command them, 'Take twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood, carry them over with you, and lay them down in the place where you camp tonight.' Then Joshua summoned the twelve men from the Israelites, whom he had appointed, one from each tribe. Joshua said to them, 'Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God in to the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, one for each of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, so that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, 'What do these stones mean to you?' then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the Israelites a memorial forever'" (Joshua 4:1-7).

 

 If I had a stone for every time You showed up and set me free, every time You saved my soul from what I deserved, every time You showed me the way where there seemed to be no way, I'd have a such a pile of rocks it would be bigger than a barn. And whether we recognize it or not, whether we take time to acknowledge You and thank You for it or not, we all would. Those are rocks to remember.

 

We ought to take every chance we get to tell our kids and tell our neighbors and tell everybody who would listen what our great God has done for us. We ought to take time to tell it to ourselves and remember the moments of deliverance and healing, provision and protection, hope and encouragement, and every other way You've shown up and showed off in another extraordinary display of Your love and grace.

 

Those rocks from the river from where Israel passed over into the their land of promise where to be "a memorial forever" of the faithfulness of God (Joshua 4:7). And now the story of those rocks is eternally inscribed in the very Word of God that we can read to our kids and believe in our hearts that what You did for Your people then is exactly what You will do for Your people today. You are "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

 

As I remember the piles of rocks in my life, as I remember "(You) alone (are) my Rock and my Salvation, my Fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. (I will) trust in Him at all time" (Psalm 62:6-8). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance the moments our God's miracles and grace in your life to share with others as He leads, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 8 - Set Out to Seek Out God's Plans

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me in the ways that lead to life today.  ... "So they set out from the mount of the Lord three days journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord going before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them, the cloud of the Lord being over them by day when they set out from the camp. Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, 'Arise, O Lord, let Your enemies be scattered and Your foes flee before You.' And whenever it came to rest, he would say, 'Return, O Lord of the thousand thousands of Israel'" (Numbers 10:33-36). Under the Old Covenant, the ark of the covenant represented the presence of God going moving in the midst of the people of God along their journey. And now under the New Covenant, Your Holy Spirit is in the midst of our hearts, guiding us and leading us along the journey of each day (John 16:13). Come, Holy Spirit. "Arise, O Lord, let Your enemies be scattered!" As I set out and seek out Your plan for my day, I want to first set out in my heart through the communion of prayer with the desire to follow You, wherever the cloud of Your presence and ark of Your covenant may lead. As I do, Your foes must flee and Your enemies must scatter. "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:7-8). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will set out to seek out God's plan for your life today; and may God arise and your enemies be scattered, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 5 -  Radiant

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to start my day well. So I start my day with You. ... "Look to Him and be radiant" (Psalm 34:5). As I look to You, You change me. And whether I see it or not, everyone around me will, as the light of Your glory radiates from my spirit and even the countenance of my face. That's Your promise to all would come into Your presence to seek Your face and worship You. "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). So I look to You. I worship You and behold You. And I welcome Your Spirit into my heart to change me and make me more like You today. Now as I go out into my day, may I be radiant with the presence of God. In Jesus' name I pray.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will be radiant with the presence of God, as you look to Him and behold His glory, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 4 - Confident Hope through Steadfast Love

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of all I am and all I do.  ...

 

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5).

 

Do I ever get disappointed? Of course. But it's never hope that disappoints me. It's usually a person that disappoints me -- and that person is usually myself. Laugh out loud. 

 

No, hope does not disappoint me, because my hope is in You. And You have shown Yourself faithful to me through every disappointment I've ever had. When I disappoint myself, You forgive me and encourage me and even teach me as You correct me. When others disappoint me, You help me forgive them and try to see the best in them deep down inside not matter what's coming out of them on the surface at the time. And when the circumstances and challenges of life through this broken, fallen world not yet restored to the righteousness of Your will disappoint me, You remind there will come a day when all will be well. "For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

 

So I thank You for this hope You've given me. It's a hope that comes from Your love poured into my heart by Your Spirit. Your steadfast love gives me a confident hope that does not disappoint me. "Let Your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon (me), even as (I) hope in You" (Psalm 33:22). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will be confident in hope through whatever disappoints you may face by the steadfast love of God poured into your heart through His Spirit, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, Thank You so much for your prayers for us at our monthly healing service last night with Max Lucado at the First Wednesday Worship & Healing Service at Oak Hills Church. We had a beautiful and powerful time in the deep presence of the Lord. I pray the same for you!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 3 - Patience for the Harvest

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus.  My Lord and Savior, be exalted here in my heart, here in my prayer, and here in my day.  ...

 

"The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:26-29).

 

Each in its time, and all in Your time. Give me patience with what Your growing in my life. Help me not get in a hurry and not get discouraged. You will fulfill Your promises, and Your Word will not return empty (Isaiah 55:11). 

 

So keep me from growing impatient while You're growing my faith. The time for harvest will come. The seeds will grow until the fruit is ripe. So help me not get frustrated when I don't see the fruit during the time of growth. Each season is essential -- the season for planting, the season for growing, and the season for harvesting.  

 

As much as my flesh hates to admit what my spirit already knows, the season of growing is the longest and requires the most patience. But its in the patience and endurance that You grow in me the fruit of maturity. "You know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will embrace the grace of patience as the Lord grows your faith to maturity and fulfills His promises of harvest in your life, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, please come join us tonight where I'll be sharing a message on healing with Max Lucado at the First Wednesday Worship & Healing Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge Campus in San Antonio at 7pm. All are welcome!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 2 - Giving a Good Measure of Grace

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me hear what You would speak to my heart, as I begin my day in communion with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  ... "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (Luke 6:37-38). Yes, Lord. In many ways, what goes around, comes around; and we tend to get back what we dish out. Help me "do to others as (I) would have them do to (me)" (v. 6:31). I need lots of grace, so help me give lots of grace. I need lots of encouragement, so help me give lots of encouragement. And I sure don't need lots of judgment or condemnation or unforgiveness or stinginess, so help me not be on the serving end so that I don't have to be on the receiving end. I don't want to reap it, so help me not sow it. I don't want to lay in it, so help me not make a bed out of it. As Your Word warns, "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you will reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit" (Galatians 6:7-8). By the power of Your grace, help me sow to the Spirit today. Let me "not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time" (Galatians 6:9). And as I give in Your grace and sow in Your Spirit, help me not hold back. "The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.... God loves a cheerful give" (2 Corinthians 9:6-7). Let me be a cheerful giver of a good measure of Your grace by Your Spirit today. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you will be a cheerful giver of a good measure of God's grace through your life today and reap a good measure of God's grace in the harvest to come, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

 

Friends, please come join us tomorrow night where I'll be sharing a message on healing with Max Lucado at the First Wednesday Worship & Healing Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge Campus in San Antonio at 7pm. All are welcome!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, February 1 - The Principle of Pursuit

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I set out to seek You before I seek anything else today.  ...

 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!" (Matthew 7:7-11 NKJV).

 

Those who ask are the ones who receive. Those who seek are the ones who find what they pursue. Those who knock are the ones invited to walk through the open doors. This is one of Your spiritual principles, the principle of pursuit. You are "a rewarder of those who diligently seek (You)," those who passionately pursue You (Hebrews 11:6). "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter" (Proverbs 25:2).

 

May I never stop seeking, never stop pursuing, never stop searching. Give me a passion for truth, a passion for the presence of God and an insatiable hunger for more of You in my life every day. May I never grow content or satisfied, passive or complacent, in my relationship with You. May every day be an adventurous day on my spiritual journey with You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

I pray you never stop passionately pursuing the Lord your God with all your heart,  in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

 

Friends, thank you so much for your prayers at our Life in the Spirit Seminar at Friendship United Methodist Church in Porter, Texas this weekend! We experienced powerful spiritual renewal with healing, awakening of spiritual gifts, and awesome encounters with God! I pray the same for you and your church!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!