Morning by Morning, April 5 - Let Hope Deferred Become a Desire Fulfilled

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me in the ways that lead to life in You today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

 

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life" (Proverbs 13:12).

 

As I wait for the leading of Your Spirit this morning, I believe I hear in my heart:  "Hope again. Dare to hope again. Prepare to hope again. Remind Me of your hopes that you feel have fallen away and fallen through the cracks and have been left unfulfilled. Let Me speak new life into your heart and your hopes. Let Me break off the spirit of hope deferred that makes your heart sick and replace it with the tree of life that I'm calling to spring forth and flourish in its time." ...

 

Yes, Lord. Maybe some of those things that have been in my heart to hope really have been Your will all along. Maybe some of those things have been held back by the enemy of my hopes, the enemy of my soul; and maybe some of those things have not been held back at all, but have been awaiting their appointed time. You're the God who makes all things beautiful in their time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). But in "the fullness of time" You call things forth as they were always intended to be, You set things right as they rightfully should be, and You align our lives with Your time and direct our purposes into Your plans (Ephesians 1:10). And that's when hope deferred becomes a desire fulfilled springing forth into a tree of life!

 

So whether it was the enemy trying to steal my hope or whether it was the unfolding of Your plans and Your purposes, all in Your time and in Your way, You cause all of it will work together for good for me (Romans 8:28). You don't waste a moment of my sufferings, my heartaches, or my disappointments -- regardless of the source -- if I invite You into all of it with me and allow You to use all of it and redeem all of it. That's part of what Your Word means when You say, "Whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because 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). "And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 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 5:3-5)

 

Goodbye hope deferred! Hello desire fulfilled! Come forth tree of life! You've taken every moment of my hope deferred and caused patient endurance to make my roots go down deep to learn to desperately depend upon You in humility and faith. And now "like a tree planted by the rivers of water, (You will) bring forth its fruit in its season!" (Psalm 1:3) As for me and my house and for all who would come into agreement with this word in my heart today, Lord, let it be so! 

 

"Now may the God of hope fill (us) with all joy and peace in believing, that (we) may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!" (Romans 15:13) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen!

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

My Friend, may you be filled with fresh hope and fresh faith to let hope deferred become a desire fulfilled, ready to yield God's beautiful and powerful fruit through your life in this new season of the fullness of time, 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, April 4 - The Glory of God in the Temple of My Heart

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me one with You -- for "anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). ...

 

"Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and you are not your own.... For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

 

Come into Your temple, Lord -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. Cleanse the temple of my heart and fill my temple with Your heart. "God's Spirit has been poured into (my) heart through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). Here at the beginning of my day and throughout every moment of my day to come, let me "be filled with the Spirit ... giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:18-20).

 

Through trusting surrender -- making room for more of You and less of me, more of Your will and less of my will, living into more of Your ways and less of my ways -- embracing Your invitation to deeper intimacy and closer communion, I "sanctify Christ as Lord in (my) heart" (1 Peter 3:15 NAB). I "worship Christ as Lord of (my) life" (1 Peter 3:15 NLT). And I grow in spiritual maturity to come closer to the place where I can say as truth the desire of my heart that "I live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:19-20 NLT).

 

Lord Jesus, as I behold You and worship You, as I surrender to You and embrace You, as I sanctify You as Lord in my heart, You are changing me into Your image "from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" who abides in the temple of my heart (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). Let Your grace abound more and more until I'm fully living into the promise of Your Word -- "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in (the temple of) our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ!" (2 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be filled with fresh hope and fresh faith to let hope deferred become a desire fulfilled, ready to yield God's beautiful and powerful fruit through your life in this new season of the fullness of time, 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, April 4 - The Glory of God in the Temple of My Heart

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me one with You -- for "anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). ...

 

"Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and you are not your own.... For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

 

Come into Your temple, Lord -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. Cleanse the temple of my heart and fill my temple with Your heart. "God's Spirit has been poured into (my) heart through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). Here at the beginning of my day and throughout every moment of my day to come, let me "be filled with the Spirit ... giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:18-20).

 

Through trusting surrender -- making room for more of You and less of me, more of Your will and less of my will, living into more of Your ways and less of my ways -- embracing Your invitation to deeper intimacy and closer communion, I "sanctify Christ as Lord in (my) heart" (1 Peter 3:15 NAB). I "worship Christ as Lord of (my) life" (1 Peter 3:15 NLT). And I grow in spiritual maturity to come closer to the place where I can say as truth the desire of my heart that "I live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:19-20 NLT).

 

Lord Jesus, as I behold You and worship You, as I surrender to You and embrace You, as I sanctify You as Lord in my heart, You are changing me into Your image "from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" who abides in the temple of my heart (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). Let Your grace abound more and more until I'm fully living into the promise of Your Word -- "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in (the temple of) our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ!" (2 Corinthians 4:6 NKJV) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be embrace by God our Father in the temple of your heart, wholly sanctified and surrendered to Jesus Christ as Lord in all of your life, filled with the Holy Spirit of the Living God, as you are being changed into the image of Christ from glory to glory 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, April 3 - The Compassion of God in the Heart of the Good Samaritan

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You, today. ... 

"Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus" (Luke 10:25). 

Oh boy. Here it comes. A lawyer standing up to test Jesus -- now some sparks are going to fly! I used to be a lawyer (actually still licensed in the State of Texas but on "inactive" status since I'm "active" doing other things besides testing Jesus now). I was a trial lawyer and now all about asking testy questions and then seeking to "justify (ourselves)" when we don't get the answers we want to hear! (Luke 10:29) 

But You used this little time of cross-examination to lead us all to more closely examine our own hearts. You turned the lawyer's testing into a teaching moment about compassion, mercy, grace, and love. You spoke about loving God and loving our neighbor, then told the shocking parable of the Good Samaritan to show us just how abundantly extravagant our love is to be toward everyone around us when we abundantly extravagantly love our God who loves us that way (Luke 10:30-37). You told the story of one who set aside all his pride and prejudice to give his time and resources to compassionately help someone in need. 

As it turns out, the lawyer wound up being the one on trial. And I think the evidence of his life wound probably show his heart of love was weighed on the sales of justice and found wanting. Maybe our hearts would be too. At that time, many Samaritans in general hated the Jews and many Jews in general hated the Samaritans. They had many theological differences, many cultural differences that kept them from seeing one another with God's eyes and loving one another with God's heart.  

You were never one to water down the truth or compromise with confused theology, even among the Samaritans like the Samaritan woman at the well when you spoke the truth in love to her to say "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know" (John 4:22). But even in compassionately talking with her about the touchy, testy issues of theology and sin in her life, You pointed her to the God who loves her want deeply, personal relationship with her, saying "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Instead of feeling condemned, she ran away free to tell everybody about You and the expression of God's love in the spirit and truth through You (John 4:28-30). Who knows, maybe that's even why there winds up being a "good Samaritan" who crosses the road to help a hurting Jew who was so different from himself and so different from the beliefs of his religion and culture (Luke 10:33). 

After the verdict for this lawyer's heart came down, the decree from the court of Heaven was to "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37). The execution of the judgment of the court from the One who is the Judge of the living and the dead was to go and show "mercy" in the love of God to all who are in need -- in need of compassion, mercy, grace, and love no matter where they stand in the community or even how they stand on theological truth. 

Lord, teach me how to love like that -- not compromising with truth, but always walking in love. Teach me how to abundantly, extravagantly love You just like You love me and then love everyone around me -- my neighbors -- with that same abundant, extravagant love. As You said to the lawyer, "Do this and you will live" (Luke 10:28). By the power of Your grace, let it be so. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you keep learning to love like Jesus, never compromising with the truth in the face of cultural or religious pressure but always full of the abundant, extravagant love of God, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      

First Wednesday Worship and Healing Service, April 3rd.

Friends, I'm excited to be sharing a word of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge, in San Antonio this coming Wednesday Night at 7PM in the West Auditorium.(Oak Hills Church led by Max Lucado and Travis Eades). All are welcome so please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. God bless 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, April 2 - "Preparing the Way of the Lord" with "Patient Endurance"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face and listen for Your voice as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ... 

"I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the Kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches" (Revelation 1:9-11).

John was Your faithful disciple and close friend (John 21:20). He taught Your word and obeyed Your word, offering his life as a living sacrifice and passionate ambassador of the testimony of Jesus. He lived into the fullness of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God lived in him. "For the Kingdom of God is ... righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). And, at the same time, he also endured "persecution" with "patient endurance" for the faith in his heart and the witness of his life. Though he was full of faith, abiding in Your Kingdom, with the King of the Kingdom in his heart, he also endured "tribulation" as a "companion in tribulation" with his fellow believers and disciples of his day (Revelation 1:9 KJV). He was willing to remain true to You and Your word in his heart, even if it meant suffering for the sake of Christ. 

As John encountered You, You encouraged him. You said, "Do not be afraid; I Am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, and see, I Am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this" (Revelation 1:17-19). Just as You encouraged John, so John encourages us through all that You spoke and all that he wrote to encourage and inspire Your faithful disciples of John's generation and of every generation to come. 

Living in the Kingdom does not exempt us from persecution and tribulation. But by living in the Kingdom, You equip us and empower us to live out our faith, to be the testimony of Jesus with our lives, in the "patient endurance" that only Your Spirit abiding in our hearts can supply. 

We truly have no idea of the measure of persecution and tribulation we may be called to patiently endure until Your return. But now is the time to be prepared -- to prepare our hearts and to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17). Just like John the Baptist came "with the spirit and power of Elijah (to) go before (You), to turn the hearts of parents to the their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" before Your first coming, so You are sending Your Spirit to do the same before Your second coming (Luke 1:17; Malachi 4:5). 

Come, Holy Spirit. "Prepare the way of the Lord" in my heart (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3). Equip me and empower me to stand firm in the faith no matter what may come in my generation just like it came in John's generation. We need "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" as much in our day as in his day (Revelation 1:1). But like John, my we look up to You with the eyes of our heart; may we say with the eyes of our faith, "Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him" (Revelation 1:7). And like John, may we hear Your eternal words in to our troubled or fearful hearts, "I Am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!" (Revelation 1:8). 

Just as You said to Your first disciples of that first generation, so You continue to say to Your disciples of our generation, "These things I have spoken to you, 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) "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" come! (Revelation 22:20 NKJV) "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!" (Revelation 22:17) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be equipped and empowered by the Spirit of Christ in you, preparing the way of the Lord with patient endurance, even as we long for the coming of the Lord, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      

First Wednesday Worship and Healing Service, April 3rd.

Friends, I'm excited to be sharing a word of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge, in San Antonio this coming Wednesday Night at 7PM in the West Auditorium.(Oak Hills Church led by Max Lucado and Travis Eades). All are welcome so please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. God bless 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, April 1 - The Beautiful Gift of Repentance

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Unite my heart with Yours, my mind with Yours, my will with Yours, as I seek to begin my day wholly surrendered to You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ... 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10 KJV). 

You've given us the beautiful gift of repentance. You've given us the extraordinary power of humbling our hearts before You, honestly admitting our sins, and turning to You for the mercy and grace that only You can give. And You are so willing, so ready, so wonderful to forgive our sins and cleanse our hearts -- to even restore us to the joy of our salvation! (Psalm 51:12) 

You are so "faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous" when we humble ourselves to set aside our pride to call on Your name and ask for Your mercy and grace (1 John 1:9). You don't shame us or condemn us; You forgive us and free us, as we turn to You allow You to empower us to walk again in Your ways. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death!" (Romans 8:1-2 NKJV)

The same Power that frees me from my sins is the same Power that frees me to walk according to the Spirit instead of according to the flesh. "For God is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him" (Philippians 2:13 NLT). And the same Power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same Power at work within me to raise me up from the death of my sins, with all of its guilt and shame and regret, into the life of Your Spirit -- forgiven and free in You! (Romans 8:11)  "Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace!" (Romans 8:5-6 NLT) 

Life and peace, the joy of my salvation, renewed with a right Spirit -- what great gifts You give us through the beautiful gift of repentance. No wonder that's the first step of entering into the Kingdom of God, the first word You began to speak everywhere You went during Your ministry of God's reconciliation and love on the earth, and the first word You continue to speak into every heart who desperately needs the forgiveness and freedom we have in You alone:  "Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God's Good News. "The time promised by God has come at last!' He announced. 'The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!" (Mark 1:14-15 NLT) 

Thank You Lord Jesus for continuing to speak God's Good News into my heart every day. Thank You Holy Spirit of God for reminding every step of my journey of Your beautiful gift of repentance. Thank You Father God, for Your Good News of mercy and love, forgiveness and freedom that continues to set me free from the law of sin and death, as You empower me to walk according to Your Spirit. Morning by morning, moment by moment, step by step, keep creating in me a clean heart and renewing a right spirit within me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you embrace the beautiful gift of repentance, empowered to walk according to the Spirit in the joy of your salvation with a clean heart and a right spirit every day , in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      

First Wednesday Worship and Healing Service, April 3rd.

Friends, I'm excited to be sharing a word of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge, in San Antonio this coming Wednesday Night at 7PM in the West Auditorium.(Oak Hills Church led by Max Lucado and Travis Eades). All are welcome so please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. God bless 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!