Dear Friends, Merry Christmas! I'm sorry to be out of touch for so long. First, the AoL server was down. Then, I was suddenly struck with severe fever and violent shaking and body aches one night. I praise God that He has given me breakthough and now I am resting. But please keep me in your prayer for complete victory and healing from this battle. My kids are with me this week before Christmas and I leave on Saturday for Israel, where some great friends have invited me to be a spiritual guide through the Holy Land for a week. Then, I fly from there to the Philippines where I will be a Keynote Speaker for the International Aldersgate Conference on the Holy Spirit, and fly home. So Messiah Ministries will literally be flying around the world to start off this new year of this new season. Thank you for joining me in the journey! And I pray impartation of a double portion and more for you who are joining with us of all the Lord is pouring into me and this ministry, to join with the gifts He has given you for ministry in the name of Jesus (Romans 1:11). God bless you and Merry Christmas! In the Love of Jesus! Your friend, Tommy www.messiah-ministries.org "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" Here's my last devotional I couldn't send the other morning: Morning by Morning, Monday 12-21-09 – Sharing Hope and Faith Everywhere Good morning, Lord Jesus. Son of God, Savior of man, King and Lord of all heaven and earth, I entrust my heart and this day to You. … “But in your hearts, sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and in reverence” (1 Peter 3:15-16). The man next to me on the overseas leg of my flight from Abu Dhabi to Chicago was a Canadian science teacher, going home after his first year working abroad. In our casual conversations, Dave asked me what I had been doing in Pakistan. And I told him a little taste of the amazing things I had seen You do among the people there and in my own heart. I was telling him how the Christians there seem to see the miracles of God as almost normal Christian life because that seems to be one of the main ways Muslim people come to know Christ—when they see the love of God in the people and the power of God in the name of Jesus through the healing prayer. He was pleasant, but seemed a little skeptical and watched movies most of our trip. I wasn’t pushy in my faith, but I also couldn’t help but let a little of my joy and excitement bubble up from the past ten, extraordinary days of my life. At Chicago O’Hare, before catching my train to another terminal, I stepped outside to get a breath of some fresh air. The next door down, Dave had stepped out to smoke a cigarette before catching his train. We waved and I walked over. For some reason, he was suddenly full of questions about my idea of God and mentioned that I seemed to talk about God in a more specific way than he really saw things. He said I seemed to mention Jesus a lot, but he really saw God as more of a general force of energy in the world. I was trying to explain how I believed the energy force of God is the power of His love being constantly expressed in the world by His Holy Spirit, and that He reveals the nature of His love in Jesus. When we started talking about how love requires relationship and how God created us for a personal relationship instead of being distant, he asked me if I wanted to join him in the airport bar for a beer. I walked with him as we continued our incredibly deep discussion of faith. Pretty soon, he was asking about the miracles again. I showed him one of the testimony pictures on my lap top, and suddenly he was talking about the pain he’s had for ten years from a bulged disc in his lower back. I told him I was really excited to see if God was going to be continuing to heal people back in America like He was in Pakistan, and asked if he’d like to be the first person I prayed with since coming home. He said “sure” and the next thing I know, we’re standing up in the airport bar, with me laying hands on his back and praying for healing in the name of Jesus. His pain went down from a “6” to a “2” and he was really smiling as he bent over and twisted around in ways he couldn’t do before! I said let’s go for “0” and no pain at all. We prayed again—all in the very specific name of Jesus and by the power of His blood, out of God’s personal love for Dave. This time, he was ready for me to lead him a prayer to ask Jesus to completely heal him. And all the pain went completely went away! He laughed as he mentioned the cigarettes and bear and some other sins that had been in his life. I told him, “That’s the point. It’s not about the rules; it’s about the relationship. Then a changed heart starts to change our desires and habits.” That made it really easy to connect the dots about the very personal nature of this God and His energy and power of love, very specifically revealed and displayed in the name of Jesus! Thank You, Lord. I can already see You’ve given me a deeper faith and greater boldness to share the hope that is within me in gentleness and love, but with authority in the confidence of Your name, all by Your grace. As I begin to live out the faith and hope and love You’ve been pouring into me in these days, help me share it in ways that bring others to You in gentleness and reverence—whether in airport bars or anywhere else my journey with You will lead. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for your prayers for me in ministry to the people of Pakistan. It's amazing to see all the Lord is doing! As I've shared with our intercessory prayer team, we are hearing incredible testimonies of healing and deliverance from our healing revival meetings. By the grace of God, the Lord keeps increasing my personal faith and boldness to preach and to pray, as I'm surrounded by people so hungry and thirsty for an encounter with Jesus. Praise God! God is on the move in the earth in these days, and I join with you in crying out to Him to move in the power and glory of His name in our nations and all the nations of the earth. Come to The Mountain! Tonight, Monday, December 21st at 7PM, to hear special guest speaker Henri Haber, whose father is a well respected leader of our Jewish Community in Lexington, and a Holocaust survivor. Our weekly prayer meeting for Isreal and the peace of Jerusalem are led by Bob and Doris McCray and hosted at New Life Church, 2601 Clays Mill Rd (corner of Clays Mill and Hill n' Dale) in Lexington. All are welcome! Contact Doris for details at bndmccray@windstream.net Please prayerfully keep Messiah Ministries in mind for your Year-end and Christmas giving to the ministries of the Kingdom of God. I hope you find our ministry to be good soil to sow your seeds for the growing maturity of the God's Kingdom on earth. I'll be glad to speak with you personally about our vision and calling in ministry if you'd like to join with us in your prayer and financial support. Thank You! to our Isaiah 35 Covenant Partners and other supporters in prayer and finances who make this ministry possible at home and abroad to the nations. "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14). January 27-30, 2010: The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry--Level 1 A focused time of teaching, equipping, discipleship and mentoring, personal ministry in a fun and spiritual atmosphere of worship and prayer led by Tommy Hays and our team at Messiah Ministries. We will study and experience a Biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For more information or to Register for The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry please click on this link: Information/RegisterSchoolOfMinistryLevelOne Subscribe for free 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 Books, Free to Be Like Jesus and Morning by Morning, or our other Ministry Resources or Contribute On-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org