Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 6 - Conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Likeness of a Human Being
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of my morning, I want to give You first priority in my day.  ...
 
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14 NKJV).
 
You are the One who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. You are the One who is fully God and fully Man, Son of God and Son of Man, the One who set aide the glory of Heaven to humble Yourself in the likeness of human flesh and blood to live and to love among us as Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). You are "Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made (Yourself) of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, (You) humbled (Yourself) and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" -- all from Your mercy and love for us (Philippians 2:6-8 NKJV).
 
I can't truly conceive and all it means that You willingly humbled Yourself to be conceived in the womb of woman for me. "The sufferings of Christ" began in the womb, not only at the cross or the tomb (1 Peter 1:10). You had it all, yet You chose to sacrifice it all for me and for all who would embrace Your sacrifice of love and grace -- "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 2:9).
 
In Your humanity, You showed us the way to the Father -- how to live a life by the leading of the Holy Spirit, only doing what the Father was doing and saying what the Father speaking, as You lived a life in the fellowship of the Father and in the communion of the Holy Spirit (John 5:19 and 12:49). 
 
And just as You were the Son of Man, born to live for us, You were the Son of God, willing to die for us, that in Your death as a sinless sacrifice for us, we might live forever with You in the power and glory of Your resurrection. "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His suffering by becoming like Him in His death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection form the dead.... I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own" (Philippians 3:10-12).
 
Son of God, Son of Man -- One with the Father, One with the Holy Spirit -- come be One within me. Immanuel, God with us, come live in me, that I can live for You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




Friend, I pray the One who is Immanuel with be with you and live within you, as you live for Him today in the fellowship of the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!
  

I'm excited to be sharing a message of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service of Worship & Prayer for Healing this Wednesday Night December 6th at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge Campus in San Antonio at 7pm. Our Rapha God Ministries Prayer Team will be joining the OHC Prayer Team to offer personal prayer ministry. All are welcome! Please come join us!


My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

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Tuesday, December 05, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 5 - Longing for the Coming of Christ -- Jesus, the Messiah

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice to begin my day deliberately, intentionally embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.  ... 

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah" (Luke 2:25).

Simeon longed for the coming of the Messiah. He longed to see and embrace the One who would bring consolation and comfort, healing and hope, forgiveness and freedom to all who would welcome Him into their hearts.  

He knew from the prophecies of Scripture that this Child to be born -- the Messiah, the Christ -- would be fully God from the glory of Heaven, but also fully man in the likeness of human flesh and blood. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" -- meaning "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14 NKJV, fulfilled in Matthew 1:23). By the Spirit of the Lord, Isaiah had prophesied long ago:  "For a Child has been born for us, a Son given to us; authority rests upon His shoulders; and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.... The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this" (Isaiah 9:6-7). 

In this Christmas season of Advent, we long for the coming of the Messiah. Like Simeon, we long to see and embrace the One who brings consolation and comfort, healing and hope, forgiveness and freedom to all who welcome You into our hearts. And at the same time, we no longer have to wait for a day on the calendar to welcome You into our hearts. You are with us always (Matthew 28:20). You are Immanuel -- God with us (Matthew 1:23). Every moment of every day, You are our "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). So as we long for Your coming, we also celebrate Your Presence. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




I pray you experience the Presence of Immanuel -- the One who is your Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

 

I'm excited to be sharing a message of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service of Worship & Prayer for Healing this Wednesday Night December 6th at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge Campus in San Antonio at 7pm. Our Rapha God Ministries Prayer Team will be joining the OHC Prayer Team to offer personal prayer ministry. All are welcome! Please come join us!


My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

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Monday, December 04, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 4 - Abide in Me, Abide and Be
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit. And in the extravagance of Your love and the mystery of faith, You come to abide and be One within me as well.  ...
 
As I worship and wait for the leading of Your Spirit this morning, it seems I hear You singing a new song You're writing in my spirit.  ...
 
Abide in Me,
Abide and be,
One who seeks My heart.
 
Come to Me,
Come and see,
I'm the One who loves your soul.
 
There is none greater,
There is none safer,
Than the One who calls you My own.  ...
 
Yes, Lord. Your Word invites me, "Abide in Me, as I abide in you.... As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; abide in My love.... I have said these things to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete (John 15:4-11).

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




My Friend, I pray you experience the deep, abiding Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart and every moment of your day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

    

Friends, thank you so much for your prayers for us as I preached by live-streaming through the internet at Abundant Life Church in Karachi, Pakistan Sunday morning. I was able to share most of my message, but their was a technical disruption before I could end and pray with the people. I'll have a chance to finish and pray this through a video this week, but Pastor Ishaq said the people were greatly encouraged and moved by the Holy Spirit and will be sending a praise report of what the Lord has done. More opportunities will be coming. Praise God!

We had a wonderful day of ministry on Saturday, as I led a Healing Prayer Seminar at Oak Hills Church, Alamo Ranch Campus in San Antonio (Senior Pastor, Max Lucado) from my role as Pastoral Director of Rapha God Ministries. We heard many testimonies during the seminar of lifting of burdens and healing from pain! Praise God! Thank you so much for your partnership through prayer with me in ministry!

My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

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Friday, December 01, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 1 - The Fire and Hammer of the Words of the Lord
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm listening for Your leading, as I'm worshipping and waiting in the intimacy of Your Presence -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...
 
"Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has My word speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord. Is not My word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:28-29)
 
Your words are like fire -- they burn in our hearts; they purify our souls; they consume us with a passion to live our lives for the glory of Your name and the joy of delighting Your heart (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Your words are like a hammer -- they break the rock of our pride, in all of our rebellious independence from humbly, desperately depending on You as the Source of all that we are and all that we need; they break off the shackles and chains of all that would weigh us down or hold us back or trip us up from living into the fullness of all You created us to be and empower us to do -- secure in our identity and fulfilling our destiny in You. Your words create us and sustain us, encourage us and empower us, renew us and revive us -- like water to our souls and life to our spirits.
 
Lord, let me hear Your words (John 10:3). Let me be one who has "ears to hear" (Mark 4:23). Like a fire and a hammer, let Your words change my heart every day. What I hear, let me speak. And what I speak, let me live, so that what I live brings joy to You and joy to me and joy to all who would hear any of Your words of truth and love, spirit and life, healing and hope, You would share through me and live out through me. 
 
Speaking of the power of Your words long ago, You continue to speak to us and empower us by Your words today:  "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.... I have said these things to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:7-11). Lord, let me be a disciple who hears Your words, joyfully embracing them to abide in me and flow out of me each day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




I pray the words of the Lord abide in you and flow out of you, as you encounter and embrace the living Presence of the Living Word of God every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

   

I'm excited to be preaching in Karachi, Pakistan by Skypethrough the internet this Sunday, December 3rd, at Abundant Life Church! Please keep us in prayer for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit!

My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

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Thursday, November 30, 2017

Morning by Morning, November 30 - The Joy of His Presence!
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. This intimate time is my life-line. My personal prayer time with You in the morning sets the path for all the other times throughout my day. You're always with me; and at the same time, You're with me deeply and intimately in these first moments of my morning, keeping me fully aware and actively engaged with You throughout all the other moments of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...
 
"I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body rests secure.... You show me the path of life. In Your Presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore!" (Psalm 16:8-11)
 
Thank You for the joy of Your Presence. Thank You that it brings You joy when I embrace You and Your Word and Your Presence with me (John 15:11 and 16:24). And with the promise of Your Presence to Your first disciples and to all Your disciples in every age, You speak to our spirits, saying, "I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:20). By the abiding Presence of Your Holy Spirit -- "the Spirit of Christ" -- with us and within us, we can see You and embrace You, again and again, every moment of every day (Romans 8:9). 
 
You promised, "I Am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). So You are! And so my heart is glad and my soul rejoices in the fullness of joy in the intimacy of Your Presence, every day to the end of the age! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




I pray you experience the joy of the Presence of Jesus in your heart -- as you begin your day in the intimacy and communion of prayer with Him and throughout every moment of your day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

  

I'm excited to be preaching in Karachi, Pakistan by Skypethrough the internet this Sunday, December 3rd, at Abundant Life Church! Please keep us in prayer for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit!

My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

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Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Morning by Morning, November 29 - "Tent of Meeting" in the Intimate Presence of God

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice to begin my day securely centered in Christ.  ... 

"Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting.... When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.... Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend" (Exodus 33:7-11). 

I love to come into my "tent of meeting" with You every morning. It's not canvas and poles, pitched in the wilderness, outside the camp, like Moses. No, most mornings for me, it's a corner of my couch, over by the widow, looking out over some Texas live oak trees, not too far from Interstate 10. As I open up my prayer journal, it's not sheets of parchment or bound in leather, but a shiny little laptop made by Apple. But just like Moses, I can lift up heart and open up my spirit and I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice to see where Your Spirit leads me each day. 

It may not be the kind of ancient setting Moses had, but it's my way of walking down the ancient paths on my daily journey of prayer to start my day, away and alone, to meet and to speak with the Lord my God, face to Face and heart to Heart, in my own little "tent of meeting" with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. This where "deep calls to Deep" for me (Psalm 42:7). This where I get still, where I get quiet, where I listen and watch and wait for leading of Your Spirit and the sensing of Your still, small voice speaking to my heart (1 Kings 19:12; John 10:3; Romans 8:14). This is where I can simply "be still and know that (You) are God" (Psalm 46:10). 

No one may see a pillar of cloud descend outside my door, but here in my tent of meeting, You embrace me in the arms of Your Presence and fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit in the intimacy of our communion in prayer together (Ephesians 5:18; 2 Corinthians 13:13). As sons and daughters of God, through our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we have an ever "better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises" than even Moses experienced with You (Hebrews 8:6).  

And as I behold You in worship and prayer, seeking Your face and listening for Your voice by the leading of Your Spirit, here in my tent of meeting in the intimacy of Your Presence, You are changing me into Your image "from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18). And though You are my Creator and God, my Savior and Lord, my Master and King, You're also my Father and my Friend -- always inviting me to come embrace Your Presence, as You speak with me "face to face, as one speaks to a friend" every day of my journey with You (Exodus 33:11; John 15:15). I praise You and thank You for loving me and letting me love You back this way (1 John 4:19). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


I pray you experience and embrace the intimate Present of God in your tent of meeting with Him every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

 


I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!
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