The Mystery of More 12-8-08

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lord of the heavens and the earth, be Lord of my heart and my day. … "For He satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry He fills with good things" (Psalm 107:9). In the mystery of more, You satisfy the thirsty and then make us thirsty for more of You; You fill the hungry and then make us hungry for more of You. No matter how much You've poured into us, no matter how much we've received, there's always more. Spiritual thirst and holy hunger leave us filled with gratitude for the grace that allows us to experience even a taste of Your Presence, while at the same time, always move us to yearn for more. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. And You are always crying out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me" (John 7:37). I've been yearning for more -- more of Your presence, more of Your Spirit, more of Your gifts, more of Your wisdom, more of Your power, more of everything You want me to have, to be all You created me to be, and to fulfill all You created me to do. And I believe it's Your Spirit moving in my spirit to move me to seek more. So I've been thirsting for a fresh filling of Your Holy Spirit (John 7:39; Ephesians 5:18). I've been hungering to be "clothed with power from on high" (Luke 24:49). I've been yearning to be "baptized with the Holy Spirit" more deeply than ever before (Acts 1:5). I know I'll need it for the days to come and the places You'll send me to be Your witness in Your power to a people who need to know You. I'm still processing, even as I'm still embracing, all You did in me Saturday afternoon, December 6, 2008 -- now another one of those red letter days on the calendar of my spiritual journey with You. At the close of our four days of teaching and ministry in Tucson, Randy Clark told the story of John Wimber prophesying over him and knowing You were sending him with an anointing to impart gifts and awaken gifts of the Holy Spirit in pastors and leaders around the world to proclaim to all nations the gospel of the kingdom of God. He told stories of seeing You fulfill that word since 1994. He said according to Your Word, You pour out Your Spirit to all who are thirsty. "To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life" (Revelation 21:6). As he opened the altar, he said he wanted to pray for everyone, but wanted to first pray for those who sensed the Lord specifically touching them in some way. As many went forward, I waited in what seemed like a deep sense of peace in Your presence. But at the same time, I was crying out to You in my spirit for more -- "Lord, make me thirsty, make me hungry, help me be completely surrendered to You, remove any barrier, forgive any sin. I know I can't ever earn it; I can only receive it. I want more -- to give more of me to You and receive more of You in me." The more I prayed, the more hungry and desperate I seemed to become, even while having Your deep sense of peace in my heart. I prayed, "Lord, I want to receive all that You have for me -- all that's of You and nothing that's not of You; all through the cross and blood of Jesus." I prayed, "Daddy, Abba, my Father God, I am Your son and I know it is Your good pleasure to give good gifts to Your children. Daddy, give me this good gift of more of Your Spirit in me now." Then, I felt the tips of my fingers slightly begin to tremble and I stepped forward to the altar and kept my eyes closed tight. Then my middle finger on my right hand started to tremble even more. Then my right hand began to violently shake, then my left hand. I thought to myself, "Am I doing this because I want to experience You or something so bad?" And I instantly realized I couldn't be doing this, and though it must look really strange, I didn't care. I decided to just let go and give myself completely to Your control and let anything happen without trying to shut it down or control it. It seemed like electricity was surging throughout my body. It came in waves, with groans, sometimes what must have been loud. It was both exhilarating and exhausting. At one point, it was like I was running a race and "kicking" at the end in a dash for the finish line, with my arms moving faster than they ever have. I breathed like a sprinter. The Scripture from Hebrews 12 about running the race looking to Jesus came to mind. And then, "The last shall be first." Though I've never won any races in my physical body, I felt like how it must feel for a son to know his father was watching him cross the finish line to win a race. I felt like You were proud of me. Between waves of Your power, I could hear people praying for me. I heard Randy Clark say, as he prayed for someone, "He's going to have to go to some really hard places. He's going to need the power of the Lord." I didn't know if he was talking to me, but it seemed You were speaking these words to me. And then another surge of the electricity came. I felt like I was on fire and dripping with sweat. All this was with my eyes tightly closed because I didn't want to come out of whatever this was and didn't want to be distracted or concerned about what anybody around me might be thinking or doing. At one point, my right harm was stretched out and my right pointing finger was extended, as if pointing with confidence and authority, while some kind of utterance came up out of me with every point, as if making some kind of declaration in my spirit. I can't remember what all else happened or even the order of things, but after the last surge of power I sensed a deep peace and quiet. I realized that sometime I had come to my knees during all of this, and then I opened my eyes. Many people were gone but some were in line beside me to receive prayer from the ministry team. I just stretched out on my face on the floor in a mixture of prayer, exhaustion, processing what had happened. I had the sense of a deep cleansing of my soul and fresh baptism of Your Spirit. I believe You have done something new in me that will become more clear in the days ahead. By Your grace, I've had deep spiritual experiences with You before, but nothing like this. As Randy said, You are an infinitely creative God, never making two snowflakes or fingerprints the same. We all have very diverse personalities and all have very diverse experiences with You. No two are the same. But I do believe You desire all of us to hunger and thirst for more of You. It is a means of Your grace to fill us with Your Presence and fulfill Your purpose through our lives. It's all part of Your plan for all Your people: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem; in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). I don't think we receive all that power all at once. I don't think we could handle it. But You know what's best; and You move us to ask You for Your best. Maybe I've been so specific about this experience in my prayer this morning to be able to remember this day through hard days to come. Maybe I'll even regret being so vulnerable and such a fool for the sake of Christ to share this experience in such detail. But maybe You'll use this to stir others to a deeper desire for more of You. You have satisfied my thirst and filled my hunger. And at the same time, You are already making me thirstier and hungrier still. And by Your grace, You always will. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, Thank You! for covering me in prayer last week as I attended Randy Clark's School of Healing, Deliverance, and Impartation in Tucson, Arizona. I believe it was a life changing experience for me and I'm looking forward to living and imparting all the Lord did in me through this time of teaching and ministry: http://www.globalawakening.com I would encourage you to go to one of Global Awakening's events. I am joining their Apostolic Network of Global Awakening and would appreciate your prayers for the Lord's leading in this next season of ministry. And I pray for you, as the Lord continues to equip you and empower you to live out your calling and destiny in Christ in our generation. I like to give away a double portion and more of all I receive and as the Lord wills. You might be interested in coming to join us for our next Messiah Ministries School of Spiritual Ministry being taught in two levels here in Lexington, Kentucky, January 14-17, 2009. We've had rave reviews about our last one in October! Friends, following The Fountain this month (December 19th), we will have our Messiah Ministries Christmas party to celebrate the season and our Savior with fun and food together. So please come join us. All are welcome! 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 for prayer, praise, and healing worship. 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 or send a note to Marilyn at DirOfMinistries@aol.com Save the date of January 9-10 for our Greater Lexington Strategic Prayer Summit which we'll be hosting again in Lexington this year. Subscribe free by email to Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Please Click Here to Order our Ministry Resources On-Line Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com