Resurrection Faith 9-30-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the hope of the glory to come. You are the promise of the glory of Your presence with me and in me now -- "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (from Colossians 1:27). ... "When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed; but others said, 'We will hear you again about this.' At that point Paul left them. But some of them joined him and became believers ..." (Acts 17:32-34). The life and faith of my grandmother, Edna Hays, were honored yesterday at her funeral -- the celebration of her resurrection. But above all, You were honored. And I pray from the testimonies of her life and the certainty of her peace and trust in You to through the end, that some will become believers -- especially some of those closest to me and being pursued by the Holy Hound of Heaven. Nothing would honor Nanny's life and faith more than that. It's time for me to leave behind this season and place in my life now, with all its grief and joy, fully expressed, lived out, and prayed through. And I pray that somehow my time back here in west Texas has made a difference; I know it's made a difference in me. I leave here changed by this mysterious journey of life, death, and life beyond death. By Your grace, as I seek to keep looking to You and listening for the leading of Your Spirit, may I be more compassionate, more trusting, more bold in my faith and giving of my life, to become a little more like You each day (2 Corinthians 3:18). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Fully Alive 9-29-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Draw me in to the arms of my Father. My Father God, fill me fully with the peace and presence of Your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit of the Living God, lift my eyes and open my heart to Jesus, my Lord and Savior, my Best Friend and King. Lord God, I worship You and need You in every dimension of Your Being. ... "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?' " (John 11:25-26) On the morning of the day Nanny died, my little five year old boy Elijah said to me, "Daddy, I'm praying for Nanny to die today." I was a little stunned to hear him say so plainly what Nanny was praying too. She was ready to go home to heaven, but were we? He had been praying so hard for her healing and life; and her prayer had been for complete healing -- whether on this side of heaven or the other. Then he said with the peace and confidence of the pure, child-like faith of one who sees the kingdom of God, "But I think even if she dies, she will live forever." I told him, "Son, the Holy Spirit showed you that. That's just what Jesus said. If we trust in Him, even though we die, we will live forever. And Nanny trusts in Him with all her heart." Today, we will lay Nanny's earthly body to rest in the little plot of land out by the cotton field on the edge of town. But her spirit is soaring in heaven. Even though she died, now she is fully alive. She is experiencing eternally the glory of her healing in the resurrection. "So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Nanny's spiritual body now shines eternally in the light of Your glory forever. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for honoring my grandmother, Edna Marie Hays (February 19, 1919 to September 25, 2007), by your prayers with me in this journey of faith. I pray for the peace of the presence of the Lord with you and your loved ones in your journey. God bless you. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Come Comfort Me 9-28-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Take my hand, lead me on; heal my heart, help home. ... "Let Your steadfast love become my comfort" (Psalm 119:7). Take my hand, lead me on Heal my heart, help me home Lord I need You to come comfort me. Let me hear Your gentle voice Let me sense You through the storm Lord I thank You; You come and comfort me. For I know that only You Can come and lead me through Every valley and heartache I face. I'm so thankful for Your touch And Your Presence is enough To come and comfort my soul. ... Thank You for this song of comfort You're singing in my spirit and over my soul. Thank You for Your promise that "I, I am He who comforts you" (Isaiah 51:12). "As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you" (v. 66:12). Thank You for Your Holy Spirit, my "Comforter," who lives within me to lead me continually in the steadfast love of Your constant Presence (John 14:26 KJV). My heart is Your home; heal it now as I welcome You home. Lord, I need You to come comfort me. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, we'll have visitation tonight at Brannon Funeral Home in Lamesa, Texas and the Celebration of the Life and Resurrection of Edna Marie Hays ("Nanny") on Saturday morning. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. May the Lord use this time to touch hearts, including mine. God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

I'll Fly Away 9-27-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me beside Your still waters, through the valley of the shadow of death, and into the green pastures of Your peace as I trust and rest in You each day. ... "The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their spin is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone and we fly away" (Psalm 90:10). Everywhere I go in this little west Texas town, people say about Nanny, "We're sure gonna miss her." She had that rare quality of being able to touch people in all walks of life. Though she didn't get to finish high school, she had her own drapery business as a seamstress. She ran a saw mill with my grandfather in east Texas and then farmed cotton and cut grain and raised chickens with him in west Texas. In her later years she handed out samples of food in the grocery store, led a noon prayer group at the senior's center, and grew the prettiest flowers in town. After she moved into town a few years ago into the senior's center where her little apartment was, everybody said Danny was the manager, but she was the boss. She had a sharp wit and made everybody laugh because she loved life. But in these past couple of weeks, she grew weary of this world and longed for the world to come. And though we're all gonna miss her in ways we only feel in waves of emotions now, she's loving life in a way we can only imagine right now. She was ready to fly away. In those last hours of singing the old songs at her bedside, one that made me smile with joy for her and cry with sadness for me at the same time was "I'll Fly Away." Thankfully, I had Alan Jackson to sing along with me on CD when I couldn't sing because of one of those waves of emotions that have helped me keep releasing this all to You as we go over these mountains and through these valleys of both sadness and joy: "... Just a few more weary days and then I'll fly away; To a land where joys will never end, I'll fly away. I'll fly away oh glory I'll fly away When I die hallelujah by and by I'll fly away" Fly away, Nanny, into the arms of Your Savior. Your spirit is now in that land where joys will never end -- where there are no more tears (Revelation 21:4) and where there is only everlasting joy and gladness because all the sorrow and sighing of the weary days of this world have fled away from you forever (Isaiah 35:10). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 http://www.messiah-ministries.org/ Daily Archives: http://www.morningbymorning.injesus.com/

Sacred Moment 9-26-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As the old song says, " 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. ... "I'm so glad I've learned to trust Him, Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend; And I know that He is with me, Will be with me to the end." ... "But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him" (1 Corinthians 2:9). I was standing by her side, stroking her white hair, when I noticed there was now almost an eternity between Nanny's last breathes. As I sat back and held her hand, I saw her eyelids slightly squeeze tight and the corners of her mouth slightly rise in just a fleeting moment. And her spirit was gone. Her mortal body put on immortality (v. 15:53). Oh, to have seen what she saw in that fleeting moment! One day I will. But she sees You now face to face. Her faith has become sight, and she has received all that You have prepared for this woman of faith who love You so. Until I reach that place in the journey where she has finally reached, my eyes can't see it, my ears can't hear it, my heart can't conceive it -- but hers' can and will, for all eternity. Thank You for letting me have just a glimpse in this sacred moment. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for walking with me in prayer through this part of my journey. Nanny (my grandmother, Edna Marie Hays) and I have always been very close, so I am very happy and very sad all at once. Please keep our family in friends in your prayers. We will likely have her a time to celebrate her life and resurrection into glory on Saturday morning, September 29, 2007 at her home church of First Baptist Church of Lamesa, Texas. Though I've had hardly any chance to respond, thank you for all your love, thoughts, notes, and prayers. God bless you and thank you for joining me in the journey! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Come Home 9-25-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Softly and tenderly, I hear You calling. ... "Come to Me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). Through the words of the old hymn, I hear the words of Your Spirit -- "Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. See on the portals He's watching and waiting, waiting for you and for me. Come home, come home, ye who are weary come home." Home is where the heart is, and Nanny's heart is already home with You. Now let her physical heart catch up with her spiritual heart. Thank You for the peace and process of these sacred moments. Softly and tenderly lift from her the burden of this earthly, temporary body as she enters into the rest of her heavenly, eternal body. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

"I'll Love You Forever" 9-24-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are faithful and true. I trust You and love You. ... "Then Joseph said to his brothers, 'I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.' So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, 'When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here' " (Genesis 50:24-25). As Joseph neared his final moments of life, his thoughts were on You and Your promises to the generations to come. He loved You and trusted You, knowing future generations would see Your promises fulfilled in measures he could only trust to come to pass by faith. And he just wanted his bones to be carried home to that place where the promises of Your Word would be faithfully fulfilled. These final days for my grandmother, "Nanny," have been like that. She had an amazing burst of clarity, energy, and joy yesterday, as we prepared her to come home from the hospital. Her doctor brought his little girl into the room to see this woman of faith with such a remarkable spirit of peace and courage in the face of death. Though Nanny's simple words of blessing to this little girl were nothing religious or formal, they were simple words of blessing from one generation to the next nonetheless. Then I loaded her up and carried her home. We wheeled her by her cherished flowers and set her in her favorite chair next the wall where her collection of crosses hang, reminding her and us of the sacrifice of love for the generations to come. "Oh, my beautiful flowers! Oh, my beautiful crosses!" -- It was worth it all to hear her heart sing with joy of being able to come home, if even for a short while, all in trusting surrender to Your perfect timing and will. As I see her resting peacefully just before the dawn of yet another day here in her home where I've carried her bones, I remember a child's story I used to read to my children with a measure of the love she's given me: I'll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she held him, she sang: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, "This kid is driving me CRAZY!" But at night time, when that two-year-old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed; and if he was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old. And he never wanted to come in for dinner, he never wanted to take a bath, and when grandma visited he always said bad words. Sometimes his mother wanted to sell him to the zoo! But at night time, when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep, she picked up that nine-year-old boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. The boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a teenager. He had strange friends and he wore strange clothes and he listened to strange music. Sometimes the mother felt like she was in a zoo! But at night time, when that teenager was asleep, the mother opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of the bed. If he was really asleep she picked up that great big boy and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. That teenager grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was a grown-up man. He left home and got a house across town. But sometimes on dark nights the mother got into her car and drove across town. If all the lights in her son's house were out, she opened his bedroom window, crawled across the floor, and looked up over the side of his bed. If that great big man was really asleep she picked him up and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. Well, that mother, she got older. She got older and older and older. One day she called up her son and said, "You'd better come see me because I'm very old and sick." So her son came to see her. When he came in the door she tried to sing the song. She sang: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always... But she couldn't finish because she was too old and sick. The son went to his mother. He picked her up and rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he sang this song: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my Mommy you'll be. When the son came home that night, he stood for a long time at the top of the stairs. Then he went into the room where his very new baby daughter was sleeping. He picked her up in his arms and very slowly rocked her back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while he rocked her he sang: I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. Thank You, Lord, for the promises of Your love and allowing us to see them fulfilled in our lives. And thank You for allowing us the gift and joy of passing on the promises of Your love to the generations to come. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com Purchase our DVDs and CDs of Ministry Resources Online: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Stroll Across Heaven 9-23-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of the morning, narrow my focus to Your face. Your face alone, do I seek, O Lord. ... "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than You. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (Psalm 73:25-26). Somewhere along the way, Nanny heard a country song about strolling across heaven. Some of those words keep finding their way into her conversations that have become part talk, part prayer, and part song. She took her doctor by the hand and said, "I want You to be in heaven with me. I want You to stroll across heaven with you." He expressed the desire to go one day but wasn't wanting to go today. She said, "I just want you to be ready, because I want you to be there with me." Yes, Lord. We need to be ready. We need to have our relationship right with You. We need to desire to walk with You more than any other. Then when a day comes that our flesh and heart may fail, when the things of earth fade away and the things heaven become perfectly clear, we will just keep strolling with You, out of this world and all through the next. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep my family back home as well as my family out here in your prayers. This time in Texas in taking much longer than we thought. Though I know I should be here, it's also hard to not be at home. God bless you. Come to The Fountain! on the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 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

Home to Glory 9-21-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be the center of my thoughts and the anchor of my soul this day. ... "But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, by the power that also enables Him to make all things subject to Himself" (Philippians 3:20-21). With each passing day, the things of this earthly, temporary realm grow vaguely dim, as the things of Your heavenly, eternal realm grow brighter for Nanny in these final days of her journey among us in the flesh. The doctor said, "Ms. Hays, we want to do everything we can to make you as comfortable as possible. Is there anything I can do?" She said, "I just want to go home." He said, "You want to go home to your own house?" She said, "No. I want to go home to glory!" and raised her feeble hands above her head in the declaration of her victory to come. Yes, Lord. I want to face my final battle with that much courage and faith. Like Timothy, let me receive a generational blessing of this spiritual legacy of faith from my grandmother (2 Timothy 1:5). Last night I saw the sign for "Healing Rooms" outside the Lamesa Christian Fellowship Church and dropped in for prayer. I hadn't been there before, but I was greeted by a man who farmed just a few miles from my grandparents in west Texas and knew my family well. As they prayed for me and our family, a man named Gabriel prophesied that I needed to keep close to my grandmother in these final days to receive something from the Lord through her in the Spirit, like Elisha received from Elijah. May it be this gift of faith and all else that You would impart, Lord. And even before the day I come home to glory, may the eyes of my heart see more clearly the things that are eternal, to experience body of Your glory in the journey of my faith now. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Come to The Fountain! this Friday Night -- the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Sandra White of Bethlehem Farm Ministries will be leading in prayer and healing prayer ministry. Call for details: 859-422-1794 Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 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

"Into Your Hands" 9-19-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to choose well and live right in all I do today, so I yield my life and my will to Yours' as best as I can and all by Your grace. ... "Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God" (Psalm 31:5). Nanny called to say, "Honey, could you come back?" So here I am in this same little hospital where I was born forty-six years ago in this same little town on the plains of west Texas. I was coming into this world then, but my eighty-eight year old grandmother is leaving this world now. As soon as I walked in the door, she took me by one hand and my brother by the other and prayed for You to take her home. She's a woman of faith and prayer, and she seemed a little surprised to still be looking at us instead of You when she opened her eyes. Her heart is ready, but I'm not sure her body has caught up with the idea just yet. Her healing of the resurrection my come more in the process than the instantaneous miracle, but we all know You and trust You to lead her home in Your perfect timing and Your perfect way. We thank You for rebuking pain, fear, and death from having any say in the timing and means of her passing from this world to the next, from glory to glory. "So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for 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 4:16-18). So we willingly submit our will to Yours' and join our prayer to hers'. We commit and commend her spirit and soul and body into Your hands, Almighty Father God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Redeemer, Lord, and Savior of my Nanny's soul. As she has prayed with courage and faith throughout this journey, "Have Thine Own way, Lord. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven." May she soon experience the fullness of the eternal weight of glory You have prepared for her. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Dear Friends, I would appreciate your agreement with this prayer, as Nanny passes in peace into the arms of her Lord to behold Him beyond the veil of this earthly realm face to face. This is her desire, so this is mine. God bless and thank you for standing with our family in prayer and I stand in agreement for the fullness of God's blessings for yours. Come to The Fountain! this Friday Night -- the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Sandra White of Bethlehem Farm Ministries will be leading in prayer and healing prayer ministry. Call for details: 859-422-1794 Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 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

"With Me" 9-18-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Draw me close to Your side; fill me up with Your Spirit. ... "Father, I desire that those also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24). You desire for us to be with You where You are. Right now, You are in heaven at the right hand of the Father (1 Peter 3:22). We are thankful for Your Spirit, whom You have give us to fill our hearts and bodies on earth with Your heavenly life (Romans 8:9). But at the same time, we long to be with You. "For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain... I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, far that is far better" (Philippians 1:21-23). So let me live out the fullness of my destiny and calling and purpose here on earth, but don't let me remain a moment longer. To be away from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). And I long to be as present to You as I can be, whether at home or away. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Come to The Fountain! on the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 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

Worries and Wonders 9-17-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I center my thoughts and open my heart to seek You. ... "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today" (Matthew 6:34). You are my Wisdom and my Strength. Help me entrust each day into Your care, along with all the challenges and troubles that become opportunities to trust You. That's how You cause my faith to grow -- as I keep finding You faithful to be with me through the worries and wonders of each day. As I keep entrusting my troubles, You keep working Your wonders, and my "faith is growing abundantly" (2 Thessalonians 1:3-4). Last week was a hard week. I had just returned from the funeral of the parents of a close friend only to get word of my grandmother's heart attack. So we left to be by her side, while entrusting my ministry engagements to others. You moved in power and peace in both places -- the power of Your love and the peace of Your presence. After a week at her side, I came back to minister this weekend, to proclaim Your kingdom and see You come in power to heal heart and changes lives, while our family and friends sought Your kingdom and power for my grandmother. This week will be another hard week as I go back to her side to see her healed on earth or in heaven in the power of Your kingdom. I'll have to make choices of where to be each day and when to entrust my engagements to others. But even in this, You keep reminding me, it's always about You and Your presence and Your power. My troubles become Your troubles as I entrust them all to You. And in Your hands, they are no trouble at all. Thank You for the peace that brings for tomorrow and for today. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for all your prayers. My grandmother -- "Nanny" -- is under hospice care and the Lord's care, strong in her faith and relying completely on His grace, as are we. I'll be seeking the Lord's leading for where I am to be each day this coming week between Kentucky, Texas, and Tennessee -- but no matter where I am or what I'm doing, I want to be in His will and remember it's all about Him. I pray that for you and for me. God bless you! Come to The Fountain! on the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 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

Flames of Fellowship 9-15-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. Anoint me with the Spirit of Your Presence today. ... "For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands" (2 Timothy 1:6). You are the Gift of God (John 4:10). Your Living Presence in our human hearts by Your Holy Spirit is "the Promise of the Father" (Acts 1:4). This is the Promise of our Perfect Heavenly Father who loves to give the Good Gift of His Spirit to His children (Luke 11:13). And one of the means of Your grace by which You give us this Gift of Your Presence is through one another. As we stretch out our hands and our hearts to one another in the fellowship and friendship of loving one another and comforting one another, You rekindle the Gift of God within us. The coals of our hearts burn more brightly as Your Spirit stirs the coals together and fans them into flame. These are the flames of fellowship and the fires of Your comfort, as our hearts burn together for You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Please join Bob and Doris McCray of our ministry who are helping host A Night to Honor Israel this Sunday Night 9/16/07 at 7 pm in the Singletary Center for Performing Arts on U. of Kentucky campus: Christians United for Israel: Night To Honor Israel (859-257-4929) Come to The Fountain! on the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 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 See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage.

Perfect Preparation 9-14-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Prince of Peace, be my Peace this day. ... "Then he charged them, saying to them, 'I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors ...." (Genesis 49:29). Our family and friends have been taking our turns spending time with my grandmother in what may be the last season of the journey of her life. She continues to entrust her life into Your hands, as do we all. She is well prepared for her journey home to heaven when the time may come, and she's been taking time to discuss her desires here on earth, but all in trusting submission to Your timing and Your way. There in so greater preparation than to have our heart right with You, and from that place of peace, to have our heart right with one another and with ourselves. With all things in Your light and under Your blood, this is perfect preparation for life, for death, for life beyond death. Thank You for the peace this brings to her and to me. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I've been in Texas with my grandmother and family for a week and we don't know how many weeks in this journey there may be. I would appreciate your prayers for us to know where and how to spend our time. I will be ministering back in Kentucky this weekend and will be taking each day at a time, seeking the Lord's leading as best as I can. As we enter the Fall, we will be resuming The Fountain next Friday night -- on the 3rd Friday Night of every month, 7 pm in chapel at Centenary in Lexington, Kentucky. All are welcome. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

"Faithful Unto Death" 9-12-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. It is well with my soul. ... "... Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). I've been sitting through the night with my grandmother. Her doctor thought this night would be her last. But she has remained peaceful and calm and alert. How brave she is, trusting in You to the end -- and beyond. Each time we pray, she keeps entrusting herself to Your will, to be healed in this world or the next. Sometimes healing comes on earth, sometimes healing comes in heaven. She doesn't want to just survive or cope or get by, she want to be healthy and whole. And I know You will answer her prayer on this side of the grave or beyond it. Death -- her enemy who is bound and defeated by the victory of the cross, the blood of the Lamb, and the word of her testimony -- will have no say in the moment of her passing, whether this day or ten thousand days from now, but only You. "In Your book were written all the days that were formed for (her)" (Psalm 139:16). She remains a witness of faith, faithful unto death, as Your light shines through her now more gloriously than ever. In the eternal dimension of the spiritual realm, she is already wearing her crown of life. And she is eternally casting her crown at Your feet in her trusting faith and loving worship. I'm humbled to be sitting in her presence, because I know even as she quietly sleeps, her spirit is rejoicing in Your's. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Please join Bob and Doris McCray of our ministry who are helping host A Night to Honor Israel this Sunday Night 9/16/07 at 7 pm in the Singletary Center for Performing Arts on U. of Kentucky campus: Christians United for Israel: Night To Honor Israel (859-257-4929) Friends, thank you for all your prayers and words of comfort. I've had very limited time to reply but I treasure them all. Thank you for keeping my grandmother, Edna Hays, in your prayers and agreeing with us in accordance with God's Word and will in John 10:10. Please also pray for those who are covering my ministry responsibilities for me at home and on the road. I'm supposed to minister at the Vineyard Church and New Hope Church in Elizabethtown, Kentucky this weekend, but may still need to be with my family in Texas. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Genuine Faith 9-11-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Renew my mind as You give me Your thoughts; transform my heart as You give me Your desires. I want to be grounded in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit as I think and feel and choose today. ... "In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith -- being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire -- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:6-7). Through every trial of every day, our faith is tested. And at the end of the day, we should be willing to look back and ask, "Was Jesus Christ revealed through me today? Did the things I thought, the desires I had, the choices I made result in praise and glory and honor to Your name through my life today? The genuineness of my faith was tested by fire in every encounter I had -- was it consumed as wood, hay, and stubble or did it shine like gold?" In honesty I have to admit I don't always pass the tests as I suffer the trials. Too many times, it's my flesh instead of Your glory that is revealed. Someone has said though, that you never really fail God's tests because He gives you the grace to take it again until you pass it. Thank You for the gift of grace and the opportunity of repentance to bring the choices of yesterday under Your blood and begin today with a clean slate and a fresh start. This new day, I seek Your face and receive Your grace to walk in faith through the trials that come. Let my faith be found to be genuine, because I am found genuinely trusting in You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Hard Days and Good Days 9-10-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I wait on You in the early moments of my morning, I hear Your Spirit starting to form a new song in my spirit: In hard days and good days In all the in-between days, I trust You and love You And hold on to Your hand. You see me and lead me You send me where You need me I try to be Your faithful son. Sometimes, I surprised By all that comes by And passes before my very eyes. You bring Your peace and release Your joy for each day. You're my Strength and my Shield And in You we are healed, No matter what comes our way. "Before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 'Turn back, and say to Hezekiah prince of My people, Thus says the Lord, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; indeed, I will heal you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord' " (2 Kings 20:5). We just don't know what each day will hold. So we need to always turn to the One who holds them all in His hands. The doctor had said Nanny's chances of surviving this attack were "nil." But she must have thought he said "healed." Yesterday her same heart doctor smiled as he said he was encouraged by how much she had progressed and her kidney doctor said there were signs of improvement there as well. I don't think it's "normally" supposed to work that way. What a good day she had! We just don't know how many more days, or even years, Nanny have on this side of heaven, but I join with her in entrusting them all into Your hands. Let every one of them count for Your glory. Through good days and hard days, blessed be Your name (Job 1:21). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers for my family during this time. We seem to be witnessing a miracle as we keep taking this journey one day at a time. Please pray also for the people and places where I thought I was supposed to be during this time as well. God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Have Thine Own Way 9-9-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face and I need Your grace. Help me walk faithfully with You this day. ... "And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to Your servants to speak Your word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:29-30). Lord, Your Word says that we don't really know in our own wisdom and understanding even how to pray (Romans 8:26). So You move in our lack of wisdom to seek Your wisdom and You move us out of our will to seek Your will. As we do, You promise that Your Holy Spirit will move on our human spirits to pray and interceded according to Your will (v. 8:27). I know my grandmother is a woman of prayer and faith, and in a day where her doctors continued to be unoptimistic but the condition of her body seemed to be stable, I wanted to know the condition of her soul. I wanted to know how Your Holy Spirit was moving on her human spirit to pray in accordance with Your will. So I just asked her, "Nanny, how do you want us to pray for you?" She said, "Honey, if I can get well, I want to. And if I can't, well maybe the Lord's calling me home." Then she said to You out loud, "Dear Lord, not my will but Yours. Have Thine Own way." Lord, that is my prayer in agreement with my grandmother, whom You love so much and have used so much to touch the lives of so many others. We completely entrust her spirit and soul and body to Your will, and unless or until You take away her desire to get well, I pray for You to stretch out Your hand and heal her heart, soul, mind, and strength. I pray for Your signs and wonders in the name of Jesus, speaking words of life and healing with boldness to the cells and organs and systems of her body. As we have said in trusting surrender to You, we don't want to hold her back from heaven a single moment, and we don't want to hold heaven back from her if You would choose to display Your power in this way. But we do not listen to the threats of the enemy of her soul. And the spirit of death, defeated by the victory of the cross, will have no say in the moment of her passing -- whether today or ten years from today or if she is among those who will never die but see You come in glory. "We will not all die, but we will all be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51). Even as we pray, not matter whether our prayers will be answered by Nanny getting well here on earth or there in heaven, we are being changed as we turn to You as our Strength and our Savior, our Comforter and Healer. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Your Kingdom Come 9-8-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Good Shepherd, Loving Father, Best Friend. Take me by the heart and lead me through these hard days at my grandmother's side. Help me fight in faith and release in peace, all according to the wisdom of Your will as I trust in Your faithfulness and love. ... "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all His benefits -- Who forgives all your iniquity, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the Pit, Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, Who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Psalm 103:2-5). Your Word reveals Your will about forgiveness and healing. You desire to forgive us and heal us. Sin is not Your will and sickness is not Your will. Your will is to redeem and to restore -- to bear our infirmities, carry our diseases, and forgive our sins (Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4-6). Your will is life and not death, to have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). But in this broken, fallen world where we are all affected by the freedom of choices made by men and angels of all generations, all sin is not forgiven and all sickness is not healed, despite Your will revealed in Your Word. So You move on our hearts to agree with Your Word and pray Your will. In heaven, there is no sin and in heaven there is no sickness. To pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done" is to pray for heaven to invade earth until the day it is on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). So You calls us to pray out of our love for You and our love for Your people to heal the sick and raise the dead (Matthew 10:8). We'll never see it if we never pray it. We'll never win if we never fight. We'll never see Your power confirm Word if we don't speak it and pray it with boldness and faith (Acts 4:29-30). My Nanny, Edna Marie Hays, is eighty-eight years old and she knows You. She walks with You and talks with You every day. Her human spirit is filled with Your Holy Spirit. She has fought the good fight of the faith, and she has taught me and many how to fight the good fight in prayer (1 Timothy 6:12). In her body, it seems her heart is dying, her kidneys are failing, and her lungs are faltering. But in her spirit, she's walking with You in the garden. There may come a day when she can no longer hear my voice with her natural ears, but until that day comes, she will hear me fight in faith and pray in the Spirit according to Your will and Your Word. I ask for every cell in her body to be healthy and whole -- either here in her natural body or there in her spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:50-57). I ask for Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven -- in heaven where all sins are forgiven and all hearts and kidneys and lungs are healthy and whole. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

First Ministry 9-7-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Guide my heart and order my steps into the light of a new day. ... "And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" (1 Timothy 5:8). You place a high priority upon our families. They are our first ministry. I was scheduled to head north to Pennsylvania this morning to lead a healing prayer retreat. But instead, they have released me to head west to Texas to minister healing prayer to my grandmother. With pain in her body and damage to her heart at eighty-seven years of age, I honestly don't know if her healing will come in the miraculous or in the resurrection. Either way, I know her healing will come. And I know today the ministry of my presence, my love, and my prayers at her side is my highest priority and first ministry. After all, it is Your Presence and not mine that will be the Source of any healing that comes, whether in Pennsylvania or in Texas. And I find great peace and rest in that truth. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, my grandfather and father have already passed away, so my brother and I be responsible for helping make all necessary decisions. We appreciate your prayers and pray for your family as well. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Look Up and Believe 9-6-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. My eyes are on You. No matter what else I see or hear or experience throughout the journey of my day, my eyes are on You. ... "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). In the wilderness, poisonous serpents tormented Your people. As Moses interceded in prayer, You gave the answer to their healing, deliverance, and peace. You led him to form the shape of the thing they feared and lift it high on a pole. As they looked up to the serpent of bronze, You healed them and freed them from their torment (Numbers 21:4-9). You took the cause of their pain and redeemed it by Your power into salvation instead of suffering. In You, their curse became a blessing, as they obeyed Your command to look up and believe in Your provision by faith. Through Your cross, You were lifted high on a pole. You took upon Yourself all the causes of my pain -- sin, sickness, sorrow, and shame (Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:4-6). By faith and obedience in response to Your Provision, You turn my curses into blessings and Your perfect love casts out my fear (1 John 4:18). When You are lifted up, You draw all people to You and draw all the poison out of us --freeing us from fear, healing us of pain, and filling us with hope (John 12:32). You redeem all things, when we look up to You. So through whatever may come this day, I choose by Your grace to look up to You. You are my Healer, my Deliverer, my Hope, and my Provision. You are my Blessing, my Peace, and my Salvation. You are my Rock and my Refuge, my Savior and Lord, my "All in All" (Ephesians 1:23). "For I know that my Redeemer lives" (Job 19:25). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I would appreciate your continued prayers for Nanny's healing and peace. God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

With God on Our Side 9-5-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. A new day is another chance to start it off centered and grounded in You alone. ... "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side -- let Israel now say -- if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:1-8). My grandmother Hays in Texas -- we call her "Nanny" -- had a heart attack last night. But the life of Your blood is filling her heart and the wind of Your Spirit is filling her lungs. As we prayed together over the phone, Your peace steadied her heart and mine. She has survived this "attack" and death has not won its victory (1 Corinthians 15:55). The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but You come to bring life (John 10:10). Sometimes we see the deliverance of that victory on this side of heaven and sometimes on the other. But either way, You are on our side, fighting to deliver us from the snare of the fowlers, in ways we can't always see at the time. But as we hold on to You and You hold on to us, "Death has been swallowed up in victory" (1 Corinthians 15:54). As someone has said, "God is on both sides of the grave." One day, Your Word will be completely fulfilled before our eyes, despite every attack from the enemy of our souls, whether by spiritual or physical means or both -- "The last enemy to be destroyed is death" (v. 15:26). Until that day, I join with You in this fight against the attacks of our enemy, through prayer and praise and proclaiming Your Word. "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31, KJV). "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep my grandmother, Edna Hays, in your prayers, now in the hospital in Lubbock, Texas, but steady and stable. She is in good spirits and my brother Greg is there with her. Please keep our church in prayer -- Centenary United Methodist in Lexington, Kentucky, as well as our ministry, Messiah Ministries. Many sense attacks from every side amidst the advances of God's kingdom. I join in the agreement of prayer for you and your church and ministry as well, as the Lord advances His kingdom through His people, despite the plans of the enemy of our souls. God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Legacy of Faith 9-4-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Faithful Friend, Everlasting Father, I welcome Your comfort, Your strength, and Your Spirit. ... "Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, 'See how He loved him!' " (John 11:35-36 NKJV). We journeyed up to Indiana yesterday to join with my friends and pastors, David and Karen Thomas, to celebrate the life and faith of Karen's parents, Art and Gloria Muselman. As David testified to honor the self-less lives of this godly family who lived and loved with such passion and integrity, our hearts joined with theirs' as we wept and laughed through the moments of their lives. And the words of blessing and release written by the grandchildren were such a reflection and honor to the lives and legacy of the faith of this family. But I won't soon forget the love and grief of my dear friend at graveside of these parents she loved so much. As she stood between the caskets with arms stretched out to touch her mother and father for the last time this side of heaven, I know You were her strength standing within her, with Your arms stretched out through hers'. I know You wept as she wept in her loss and rejoiced as she rejoiced in their gain. These same hands that reached down to touch her parents' hearts one last time in sorrow and sadness were also the hands that reached up to touch Your heart in worship and trust, as we sang songs of assurance and trust in that holy mixture of grief and joy that only a heart changed by Your Spirit can know in moments like these. You are, and You always will be, the Source of her comfort and strength on this day and in the days to come (Psalm 121:1-2). What a legacy of faith she received and what a legacy of faith she has lived before us all. As my friend's parents looked on in spirit from the "great cloud of witnesses" above, I know they are pleased and proud of the woman of faith and love their little girl has become (Hebrews 12:1). And in these tender moments of releasing all the fullness of emotions to come in the days and months ahead, fill her with the love she has been so faithful to pour out to others. Bless David and Karen, Luke, John Paul, and Mary Ester with the peace and power of Your constant presence and steadfast love through this season of entrusting the lives of these they love to You. And I magnify this prayer out to all who have known and all who will know the sadness of loss of those we love. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Treasures in Heaven 9-3-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face and ask for Your grace to live my life well today. ... "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.' Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that' " (James 4:13-15). Death and tragedy have a way of making me stop and think. What is important? What am I doing with my life? Am I living the fullness of my destiny? If I looked back on my life from the perspective of heaven, would I like what I see? In that moment, when You wipe away every tear, will they be tears of joy of what You did through my life or tears of sadness of what You wanted to do but couldn't do through my life (Revelation 21:4)? These short days of flesh and blood on earth are but a mist in the perspective of all eternity. But every day counts, every relationship matters, every choice has consequences. And it could all end tomorrow. For some, it will. So I choose to trust You -- to trust that You know best, that You know the desires You've placed in my heart and the purposes You've planned for my life. I choose to look to You each day, asking You to put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart. I want to be found faithful, having stored up "treasures in heaven" instead of earth (Matthew 6:19-21). Then my life will have eternal meaning. I may not always know it now, but I trust You that one day I will. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

"Anchor of the Soul" 9-2-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I direct my thoughts to You alone in these first moments of my morning. ... "We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul ..." (Hebrews 6:19-20). My hope is in You, Lord -- not in a hope to have an easy life; not in a hope that nothing bad will ever happen in a broken, fallen world; not in a hope in my own power or strength or wisdom to handle the hardships that come. My hope is in You -- in Your nature that You are love and You love me; in Your promise that You are always with me through whatever comes, never leaving me and never forsaking me; in Your ways to work everything together for good if I will entrust everything to You. Not everything that happens is Your will, but You will use everything that happens to draw me closer to You and make me more like You. You are a sure and steadfast anchor to my soul. You keep me steady when sea billows roll. You give me freedom to express my pain and even my disappointment in my sense of Your failing of promises to me at times, but You do not let Your anchor slip. No matter how high the seas may rage, the anchor of Your presence and the certain hope of Your power to bring me through will not fail. Trusting in You alone as my refuge and strength, I am free "to seize the hope set before (me)" (v. 6:18). " 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him' " (Lamentations 3:24). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Comfort in Sorrow 9-1-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Draw me close to You, where I find my comfort and peace, security and strength. ... "My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word" (Psalm 119:28). Both parents of a close friend were just killed in a tragic car accident. The hearts of all who know her and her wonderful family are heavy with sorrow and torn in grief. As they have spent their lives comforting others, as pastors and friends, they need Your comfort now. Release them to grieve the sorrow of this incomprehensible loss, even as they release these treasured loved ones into the embrace of Your arms. Strengthen them according to Your Word. Comfort them in the presence of Your Spirit. Lead them through this valley of the shadow of death, knowing You go with them and carry them through to the other side. As they are able to release it to You, draw out their pain and pour in Your peace. There will be time for celebrating the resurrection life of these saints in heaven; and there will also be time for grieving the loss of their lives on earth. But whether sadness or joy, You are with us through it all. You give us permission to grieve and You give us peace in Your presence. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God " 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com