Ministry of Encouragement 2-23-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. My Lord and my God, yet also my Best Friend—there is no God like You; there is no God but You. And I gladly entrust my life and my day to You. … “Each one helps the other, saying to one another, ‘Take courage!’ The artisan encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smoothes with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, ‘It is good’; and they fasten it together with nails so that it cannot be moved” (Isaiah 41:6-7). Before going home to Kentucky, You’ve opened up some time to spend with old friends in Texas. How good it is to speak honestly and freely of the deeper things of life and the goodness of our God, in the full range of the experiences of our journeys. These are times when Your ministry of encouragement flows freely in the love and power of Your Spirit. We see things in one another that we can’t always see in ourselves. We call forth the good of God in one another in ways we find hard to call forth in ourselves. We are shaped and strengthened by one another’s words and love in the power and presence of Your Holy Spirit expressing Yourself uniquely through one another. We need community. We need each other. We need true friendships and honest talks, speaking the truth in love and loving one another in the truth of who we really are. It seems You have created us this way so we don’t become so self-dependent and self-sufficient that we become isolated and self-focused. It’s part of Your process of growing us up into Christ-likeness—“to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). It’s just not good for us to be alone (Genesis 2:18). So thank You for the gift of good friends and honest talks. Thank You for the gift of the ministry of encouragement to “encourage one another and build each other up” so we can be fitted together to know our identity and fulfill our destiny in this life together (1 Thessalonians 5:11). And yet, I also thank You for the times apart when we go and grow into our unique and diverse callings, only making these times of renewed friendship and mutual encouragement that much more powerful and rich with the true treasures of life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please save the date of March 19th for our Celebration Evening in Lexington of all the Lord has been doing through Messiah Ministries this exciting season. Come and see; come and hear our vision and calling; come and be a part! I'll be sharing stories of God's glory from my adventures in Pakistan, Israel, the Philippines, Estonia, and here at home. Come and bring some friends to share the evening of celebration with us. Consider contributing for our Silent Auction to support our ministries. Please send me a note if you'd like to help. 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 and our resources on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org