Mighty Warrior Within 9-20-08

Good morning, Lord Jesus. All I have and all I am belongs to You. ... "Now Jephthah the Gileadite, the son of a prostitute, was a mighty warrior" (Judges 11:1). Jephthah didn't choose his parents. He didn't choose his circumstances. Before he ever breathed his first breath or made his first choice, there were issues he would have to face, far beyond his control. Yet he was never beyond Your control. He was never beyond the calling and destiny You had for his life. Yes, he was the son of a prostitute, but he was also a mighty warrior. One day You would use him to deliver the very people who shamed him and rejected him (Judges 11:2-11). The world looked at Jephthah and saw the son of a prostitute. You looked at him as saw a mighty warrior. He was a diamond in the rough, a mighty warrior within. "For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). You love turn our places of greatest shame into the places of greatest honor, to redeem the places of our brokenness into the very places of our blessing. "Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord' " (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Thank You, Lord. Give me eyes to see myself as You see me. Let me not look on the outward appearance, but look deep within to see who You created me to be. Redeem the circumstances and challenges of my life to release Your blessings through my brokenness, to bring honor to Your name out of the places of my shame. And give me grace to look and see that same potential of the transforming power of God in the lives of others. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep us in your prayers. I'm speaking and ministering on inner healing and deliverance at the Jumonville Christian Retreat Center in the Pennsylvania countryside south of Pittsburgh this weekend with Western PA Aldersgate Renewal Fellowship: www.jumonville.org I pray the Lord's renewal, refreshing, and redemption for you. God bless you! Subscribe free by email to Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com Please Click Here to Order our Ministry Resources On-Line -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502