No Matter Where, No Matter What 3-23-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Here in these first moments of my morning, I set the course of my day. Your Spirit is my compass, Your Word is my map, and Your will is my destination. … "Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fashion your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.' (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this He said to him, 'Follow Me' " (John 21:18-19). In the journey of faith, You fulfill us with blessings beyond our imagination (Ephesians 3:20). You give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4). Yet, also along the journey, we will go places where we do not wish to go. We will endure circumstances we do not wish to endure. We may even have to face a death we do not wish to face. But in all these things, we can choose by Your grace to glorify God. We can keep following You and honoring You in the way we choose to live and die, no matter where we have to go, no matter what we have to endure. As I grow older, I want to grow more faithful. I want to grow in the grace to die to my self and my own self will apart from Yours. And as I face the challenges and consequences of my choices and the choices of others in a broken, fallen world where Your love and desire for a relationship of love requires the freedom of human will, I want to still glorify You no matter what choices are made. As I choose to keep following You and keep embracing the power of Your love and the leading of Your Spirit, nothing I endure and nowhere I go will ever separate me from the love and grace of God. "Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, 'For Your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, not things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:35-39). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please Save the Date of Friday Night, April 24th for our annual Messiah Ministries Celebration Dinner in Lexington to celebrate all the Lord is doing through our ministry and share our vision and calling with all our supporters and friends. You are invited. Please make plans to come and bring some friends who may have a heart for what we are doing. More details to follow soon. We always need lots of volunteers to help also, so please send us an email if you'd like to help in that way. Subscribe by email to me at 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 Order My Book, Morning by Morning, and our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org