Canaan Land 4-14-10

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart, as I wait on You to order the steps of my day. … “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance” (Psalm 105:11). Last night several of us from our ministry gathered together for a meal, for direct and honest discussion, and for prayer about part of the long, long, long term vision of Messiah Ministries—the part of our vision that one day we would have land of our own for our retreat center and our ministry home in the countryside of Your creation. There we would live life together in Christian community, with people from many streams of the body of Christ, in close relationship with other ministries, to minister the healing love of God in the power of the Holy Spirit, equip and train disciples of Jesus Christ, refresh and renew weary warriors and ministers of the gospel of the kingdom of God, and send them forth again into the battles of this world for the hearts and souls of men to know the love and Father heart of God revealed in Jesus Christ. It would be a city of refuge from the world, but also a place of equipping, encouraging, and empowering of passionate lovers of God to be sent forth into the world to be part of Your transformation of this world in our generation. We laid before You a place literally named Canaan Land Farm, not far from here near the stone fences and rolling green hills of the Shaker Village down by the Kentucky River. I don’t know whether or not that’s the place You have in Your heart for us, but we are beginning to discern together that there may be a place You have in Your heart for us to possess as a portion of our inheritance to fulfill Your calling for our ministry in Your kingdom. As we prayed together last night and will continue to pray, “Lord, put Your thoughts in our minds and Your desires in our hearts. Take away all that is not of You and give us courage to embrace all that is of You—all by Your grace, all in Your timing, all in Your way. This ministry is Your ministry. We don’t want to go anywhere You’re not sending us to go or do anything You’re not calling us to do. Unless You go with us and before us, we don’t want to go. But we do say, together as one, ‘Here I am, Lord. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8). Something like that would have to be God and not us. It would require so much more than we have and so much more than we are. Our simple ministry lives month by month by faith as it is. I have to continually entrust my concerns about every next month to You now. Yet You have been faithful every month for the first thirteen years of ministry together with You. And I know You will continue to provide all that is needed for every month of ministry to come, as long as we keep seeking Your face and listening for Your voice, to trust and obey Your will and Your ways for our lives, by the power of Your grace. Whatever Your will is—for this land or any land or anything else—that’s what I want, that’s what our ministry wants, because we trust Your will for our lives. We know we will only be fulfilled in this life and in the life to come as we willingly entrust our lives to Your care. So we pray and we trust that You will do all that it is in Your heart to do in us and through us, all by Your grace. This is our portion; this is our inheritance—to be completely surrendered to You and Your will for our lives. This is our “good land”, our Canaan Land, flowing with milk and honey—it’s being found faithful to You and Your calling and Your vision for our lives, wherever that may be and whenever that may come to pass (Deuteronomy 8:7 and 26:15). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Come to The Fountain! This Friday Night April 16th at 7PM, the 3rd Friday Night of every month, for our Messiah Ministries monthly city-wide gathering for prayer, praise, and healing worship. Led by Messiah Ministries and hosted at Centenary United Methodist Church, 2800 Tates Creek Rd.; Lexington, Kentucky. Come drink deeply from The Fountain of Living Waters as we worship Jesus in the freedom of His Holy Spirit. I will be leading in Prayer while Brooke and Shannon Barrett will be leading in Worship this month. All are welcome and please spread the word! Contact Marilyn Walker, our Dir. of Ministries for details 859-317-1591 or DirOfMinistries@aol.com Please prayerfully consider becoming a regular support of Messiah Ministries in your prayers and financial giving. It's greatly needed and greatly appreciate so that we can continue to fulfill our calling of "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" I'll be glad to speak with you about our calling and vision. This is a critical financial time for us in the life of our ministry. As you're led, please join with us by including us in your offerings to the Lord and the Kingdom of God either on-line at www.messiah-ministries.org resources or by check to "Messiah Ministries" at Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd.; Lexington, Kentucky 40502 God bless you and thank you! The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry, Level 2, April 28-May 1, 2010 A focused time of teaching, mentoring, discipleship, personal ministry, equipping, worshipping and prayer led by Tommy Hays and a Messiah Ministries teaching team of experienced prayer ministers. This time, Dan Van Nice from Austin and Lisa Preston will be joining us to teach. We will continue to 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. Level 2 gives deeper experience, opportunity, and practice in healing ministry. For more information or to Register for The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry: Information/RegisterSchoolOfMinistryLevel2 Also, you can contact Marilyn, our Messiah Ministries Director of Ministries for more information: DirOfMinistries@aol.com 859-317-1591 Subscribe by email to Tommy Hays at Messiah Ministries: MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute on-line: www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY