The Company Store 2-25-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of the morning, I choose who will have priority of my thoughts and plans for my day. This day, I choose You. ... Tennessee Ernie Ford used to sing a song of a coal miner's lament, "Sixteen tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store." The other day we saw the company store in the Appalachian Mountains of Lynch, Kentucky. It's boarded up now like a lot of those little towns that served the coal mines and the coal mine companies. When the coal companies left, they took the heart and soul of everything that was bound to them. But Lord, You have come to bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free. You use the broken and base things of this world as a means to display Your glory. You love to breathe the life breath of Your Spirit into dry bones, and You are still raising the dead. There is new life in Lynch and Benham and Cumberland and little communities throughout the Appalachian region. You are leading those who will follow beside the still waters and restoring the soul of the people and the land. Desperation and faith are producing hope. Salvation is not in a coal mine company or in continuing to live as victims of what happened when the company left town. Salvation and hope is in You. And You are redeeming and restoring, breathing new life into weary souls. Lord Jesus, I owe my soul to You. I am "a slave of Christ" who is "bought with a price," no longer a "slave of human masters" (1 Corinthians 7:22-23). Let my life not be controlled by my work or my mortgage, my church or denomination, or my own goals and ambitions apart from You. Let my life be controlled by You. Let me come to Your company store to receive all I need. As You said long ago, "Therefore I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich" (Revelation 3:18). Let me find my security and riches in You alone, then I will be free to live my life for You alone, unencumbered by the slavery of this world. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, we are forming an area of interest fund for the spiritual transformation of the Appalachian Region of eastern Kentucky through the Kentucky Christian Foundation: www.kentuckychristianfoundation.org I serve on their board and help facilitate prayer and giving into ministries of God's Kingdom as an extension of the regional ministry of Messiah Ministries. Please cover us in your prayers and share this with anyone you think might be interested in what the Lord is doing in this region. To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com