Monday, September 25, 2006

Iron Sharpens Iron 9-25-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You into my heart and my life again this day. … "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17, NKJV). What a gift You have given me the past few days away with over eight hundred men opening up their hearts and getting on their knees together at the Rock Eagle Methodist Men's Retreat in North Georgia. You taught us and loved us. You taught through us and loved through us in the shared experiences of our journeys and the shared hope in the journey ahead. I thank You for the man who came to the praise and healing service I was leading Friday night. I had a message in mind, but didn't get very far into it before he interrupted me and my message with tears flowing down his face and his heart crying out with a desperate yearning that wouldn’t let me go on. He cried out in a mixture of brokenness, desperation, determination, and faith in a way I'm not sure I've ever seen, "I need to be filled with God's Holy Spirit and I need Him to fill me now!" I was going to preach on the blind, beggar who stopped Jesus as He was passing by crying out in desperation and faith for healing, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mark 10:46-52). Friday night, You stopped and healed the wounded broken spirit of this man crying out to You for mercy in desperate faith as we gathered around him to stretch out our hearts and hands as we pressed in and pressed through on our knees with Him before You. You gloriously filled Him with the fullness of Your Holy Spirit, as he became Your message to us that night (Acts 1:4-8; Ephesians 4:14-21). What an amazing countenance of peace and joy was shining from his face the next morning at breakfast! Thank You, Lord God, for Your grace and Your power You long to pour out in abundance into hungry hearts who humble themselves to desperately cry out to You in trusting faith. Thank You for friends and brothers in the body of Christ who will come along side us like iron sharpening iron to seek Your face and receive Your grace. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for covering us in your prayers at this retreat. Because of storms and air connections, I've not made it home yet and would appreciate your continued prayers. God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com