Join me in my daily journey of prayer. I write these each morning send them out fresh "Morning by Morning" to start each day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Subscribe to receive these prayers by email at Messiah-Ministries.org
Friday, October 29, 2010
Rushing, Mighty Wind 10-29-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Majestic and mighty, glorious and good, You are welcome into my heart and life today...
“Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, You are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as with a garment. You stretch out the heavens like a tent, You set the beams of Your chambers upon the waters, You make the clouds Your chariot, You ride on the wings of the wind, You make the winds Your messengers, fire and flame Your ministers…. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works—who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke. I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being…. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!” (Psalm 104:1-35)
On our journey yesterday from south Wales back to north Wales yesterday, the wind began to blow mightily as we crossed over the mountains. By the time we crossed the straits onto the island of Anglesey in the northernmost region, we could barely stand in the strength of the wind. A rushing, mighty wind still roars across the land this morning, bending the trees with all their leaves trembling and shaking under the force of its power. It’s all in sharp contrast to unseasonable clear and sunny days we’ve seen throughout these October days of our ministry journey through this ancient and beautiful land.
With every gust of wind, my spirit stirs and my heart pounds with this declaration—“Yes Lord! Come like a rushing, mighty wind! Come blow across the hearts of the people of this land with Your winds of revival and power. Shake everything that can be shaken so that only that which cannot be shaken remains. Let all the earth and every heart tremble and shake at the majesty and glory of Your mighty Presence. Blow away all the chaff and stubble of all that’s high and not humbled before the One who rules and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords. Topple over every standing stone and altar of man built to exalt any god but You. Refresh and renew You people with mighty displays of Your power to awaken us to arise to live our lives in active, passionate faith to the glory of Your name. Like the trees that bend under the blasts of Your wind, only those who are flexible and tender to bow before You in this move of Your Spirit will be able to stand when Your winds of change have done their work.” Bless the Lord, O my soul. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, this will be our final day in Wales today, as we travel to Birmingham, England for to lead a Power of Prayer Conference Saturday and Sunday at St. Phillips Anglican Church in West Bromwhich with our friend Pastor Pam Daniel, before flying home on Monday. Thank you for all your prayers for our ministry team and for joining with me in the journey of prayer! Please pray we'll all finish strong in the strength of the Lord on Encounter Wales! adventure. What an adventure it's been! I'm glad you've been a part. God bless you!
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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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
We are the Revival! 10-28-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You’re amazing. You’re awesome. You’re my all in all. …
“To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
There’s a sign outside the door of this home down in the Gower of south Wales that says “Home of Evan Roberts, the Revivalist.” He was born here, lived here, prayed here. And he walked from here down the lane to Moriah Chapel, where You chose to release the Welsh Revival out of the passion of his heart and the fervency of his prayers. And last night You filled Moriah Chapel again with hearts hungry for a fresh move of God in our lives and in this land. We worshiped and prayed; we testified of Your goodness and proclaimed Your glory; we laughed and cried and encountered the Presence of God deep in our hearts. One young girl even came up to testify You were healing her blind eyes right before our eyes! And after midnight, in the early morning of a new day, when we prayed for the last person, a father in the faith still hungering and thirsting for the power of Your love to be poured into his heart by Your Spirit, we thanked You for allowing us the honor to serve You with our lives.
But when all was said and done, the riches of the glory of this mystery became more clear to me than ever before—it’s Christ in us; Christ in each one of us. We are the revivalists. We are the revival. We are the move of God in the earth. Christ in us, awakening us, reviving us, pouring God’s love and power into us and pouring out God’s love and power through us. Wherever we are, wherever we go, Christ has come because Christ is in us; the Kingdom has come because the Kingdom is in us (Luke 17:21). The Kingdom of God is at hand every time we reach out our hands, because our hands are now Your hands. The Father’s blessing is released every time we embrace it and give it away, because we are blessed by God to be the blessing of God. We are the revival!
You share Your glory with no man. And yet, in this marvelous mystery of faith, grounded in the truth of Your Word that Christ is in us, You choose to display Your glory through Your people (Isaiah 60:1). When we are in You and You are in us, You make us to be Your “oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display (Your) glory!” (Isaiah 61:3). Christ in us—this is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). This is Your revival, Your world-wide, world-changing revival we’ve longed to see throughout the generations of time. And we are Your revivalists. Let it never die, never be quenched, never burn out until You come again in the fullness of Your glory to receive Your glorious Bride (Revelation 19:7). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your prayers for us on our Encounter Wales! adventure. Every stop along the way has been amazing, but truly last night at Moriah Chapel will be a memory to cherish forever, and yet just a foundation of more to come as God continues to pour our His Spirit on the earth in our generation. As Heather Butler, Andrea Clemons and I ministered last night with the young worship team, among people from many different churches and traditions together as one in Christ, we experienced and encountered the living God in tremendous ways. The consistent prayer of every person, young and old, as we prayed until after midnight, was to be filled afresh with God's Holy Spirit and boldness to be the Body of Christ, fully alive! Let it be so in your heart and mine and throughout the earth!
We go back to Heather and Bob's home in north Wales for a day before going to our last ministry engagement in Birmingham, England to lead a prayer conference at an Anglican Church there and return home. We couldn't do any of this without you and all your prayers, encouragement, and support. God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Healing the Broken; Setting Captives Free 10-27-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Spirit of the sovereign Lord be upon me. Anoint me to preach good news to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted and set the captives free. Your name be glorified in my life today. …
“That evening they brought to Him many who were possessed with demons; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, ‘He took our infirmities and bore our diseases’ ” (Matthew 8:16-17).
Thank You, Jesus. In the sovereignty of God and the mystery of faith, You have taken upon Yourself everything that should be upon us to set us free and make us whole. When You poured out Your blood as they whipped Your back at the post and nailed Your body at the cross, You suffered for us. As You gave up Your spirit, having bled and died, You changed my life forever through Your sacrifice of love for me—for me and for all. “Surely (You have) borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet (we) accounted (You) stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But (You) were wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon (You) was the punishment that made us whole, and by (Your) bruises we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). Thank You, Jesus.
Today and every day, You offer us Your love through Your sacrifice. Today and every day You say, “Give to Me your sins and your sorrows, your infirmities and your diseases. Let Me set you free. Let me cleanse your sins in My blood; let me heal your heart in My love. I gave My all for you; will you give your all to Me?”
Yes, Lord. All that I am and all that I have, I give to You. I love You because You first loved me (1 John 4:19). Use my life today and every day to share the good news of Your love for us with everyone You bring across my path. What You have done for me and in me, You want to do for all. You’re always present with the grace to forgive and the power to heal. You never leave us nor forsake us, and You are always drawing us to a deeper place of trust in You. By the presence and power of Your Holy Spirit, abiding in us, we are Your hands and feet, pouring out Your love and speaking out Your truth. As You are, so are we to be in this world (1 John 4:17). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, tonight is the night I've been longing to come! Please keep us in prayer for the Healing Revival Meeting at Moriah Chapel in Loughor, Wales, Wednesday night at 7pm. This is where the Welsh Revival began in 1904. We understand many of the youth are planning to join us, with young worship leaders in the south Wales area making the arrangements. Word has been spreading fast and we've heard of many who are coming. And many don't yet know the Lord. Heather Butler will be singing in the Spirit with her gift of prophetic psalms sang personally over the people, I'll be preaching, while Heather, Andrea, and I and a prayer ministry team will be praying for people in personal ministry. It's fairly miraculous that we have been given a chance to preach and minister like this in such a spiritual historic place! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement for us on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip and for our continuing ministry back home. May all the Lord is imparting to us be imparted to you as well! (Romans 1:11) God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
A Word to the World
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You’re the same yesterday, today, and forever. You’re unchanging, unfailing. You’re steadfast and true. Move in my heart today as You’ve moved in the hearts of all who sought Your face, listened for Your voice, and yearned for the day of Your glory and power made manifest in their lives and their lands throughout the ages...
“ ‘And now, Lord, … grant to Your servants to speak Your word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy son Jesus.’ When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:29-31).
Testimonies of God’s grace and goodness in our lives, hope in expectant faith of God’s power and provision to come in our futures, love in the embrace of God’s people of His family of faith from Wales, Korea, England, and America—all bound together in a safe and sacred atmosphere of fervent prayer and passionate worship. We were so honored to be a part of this weekly prayer gathering at Moriah Chapel that’s continued down through the generations in this place where the fires of the Welsh Revival first burst forth. We were humbled to join in their prayers for You to burn with revival fire through this land again.
Staying in his family home and reading of his spiritual journey, I’ve been stirred up in my spirit with fresh desire for a move of God in my heart, as Your Holy Spirit stirred in the heart of Evan Roberts, the young man who yearned for revival in prayer and saw it come to pass in his time. When revival comes, it will look much different than before, as it always does, I’m sure. But when I read Evan’s accounts of how You moved it the past, it give me passion and hope to pray You’ll move again in our day:
A Word to the World by Evan Roberts
The Power of the revival in South Wales is not of men, but of God. He has been close to us and has shown us the way. There is no question of creed or of dogma in this movement. The work that is being done has the support, I believe, of all Christian people and Christian churches in our country. I have merely preached the religion of Jesus Christ as I myself have experienced it.
God has made me glad, and I am showing others the great joy of serving Him, a joy so great and so wonderful that I shall never be able to express it in its completeness. We are teaching no sectarian doctrine, only the wonder and the beauty of Christ’s love, the love of man for Him, and the love of man for man.
I have been asked concerning my methods. I have none. I never prepare the words I shall speak. I leave all that to Him. I am not the source of this revival. I am only one agent in what is growing to be a multitude. I am not moving men’s hearts and changing men’s lives; not I, but God worketh in me. I have found what is, in my belief, the highest kind of Christianity. I desire to give my life, which is all I have to give, to helping others to find it also. Many have already found it, thank God, and many more are finding it through them.
This is my work as He has pointed it out to me. His Spirit came to me one night, when upon my knees I asked Him for guidance, and five months later I was baptized with the Spirit. He has led me as He will lead all those who, conscious of their human weakness, lean upon Him as children upon a father. I know that the work which has been done through me is not due to any human ability that I possess. It is His work and to His Glory. I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on. I loved to choose and see my path, but now lead Thou me on.
I desire nothing but to be allowed to continue this work that has begun. The Lord is my Shepherd. I fear no want. All things necessary He has provided, and will provide. I wish no personal following, only the world for Christ.
Some things have been said about our meetings, and about me which are not true; but God’s truth has not been hurt by these misstatements, and they, therefore, matter little. I believe, too, that He has put it into the hearts of those who have written of the revival to say helpful things, for some of the papers have carried our message to many whom we have not personally reached.
I believe that the world is upon the threshold of a great religious revival, and I pray daily that I may be allowed to help bring this about. I beseech all those who confess Christ to ask Him today, upon their knees, if He has not some work for them to do now. He will lead them all as He has led us. He will make them pillars of smoke by day and pillars of fire by night to guide all men to Him.
Wonderful things have happened in Wales in a few weeks, but these are only a beginning. The world will be swept by His Spirit as by a rushing, mighty wind. Many who are now silent Christians, negative Christians, Christians whose belief means little to them and nothing to anyone else, will lead in the movement. Groping, hesitating, half-hearted Christians will see a great Light and will reflect this Light to thousands of those in utter darkness. The whole world will hear His message of peace, good-will toward men, and listening, will be blessed. Thousands upon thousands will do more than we have accomplished, as God gives them power. This is my earnest faith, if the churches will but learn the great lesson of obedience to the voice of the Holay Spirit. Obedience! Obedience!! Obedience!!! —Evan Roberts, 1904
Yes, Lord. This is my prayer. Come move in Your Church, come move in Your world like a rushing, mighty wind in our day. Let our houses and our hearts be shaken, as we are filled again with Holy Spirit to speak Your word and live out our lives with boldness and faith to the glory of Your name. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please keep us in prayer for the Healing Revival Meeting at Moriah Chapel in Loughor, Wales, Wednesday night at 7pm. We understand many of the youth are planning to join us, with young worship leaders in the south Wales area making the arrangements. Heather Butler will be singing in the Spirit with her gift of prophetic psalms sang personally over the people, I'll be preaching, while Heather, Andrea, and I will be praying for people in personal ministry. It's fairly miraculous that we have been given a chance to preach and minister like this in such a spiritual historic place! Thank you for all your prayers and encouragement for us on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip and for our continuing ministry back home. May all the Lord is imparting to us be imparted to you as well! (Romans 1:11) God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Monday, October 25, 2010
“O Lord, Bend Me!” – The Cry of Revival 10-25-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I open up my heart, You open up Your heavens. As my praises rise up, let Your glory come down. …
“Will You not revive us again, so that You people may rejoice in You? Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation” (Psalm 85:6-7).
Evan Roberts was twenty-six years old when You used him and his prayers to ignite the great Welsh Revival of 1904 that set the world ablaze in one of the greatest world-wide awakenings since the day of Pentecost. He was just a simple young man—working in the coal mines, then as a blacksmith, then just beginning his studies for ministry—but he was passionate in His pursuit of the Presence of God. He had been praying fervently for the fire of God to fall in his heart, his church, and his nation, then to spread like wildfire to the nations. The cry of his heart was, “Bend us, O God. Bend me!” And at the Monday weekly prayer meeting in the little Methodist church in the village of Loughor, Wales called Moriah Chapel, You bent him over the pew, trembling in passionate prayer when Your fire fell and Your glory came down.
They say the revival fire that burned across the land and quickly spread to the nations of the earth was fueled by testimonies and prayer more than great preaching and teaching. It was a move of the Spirit in hearts more than minds, awakening the souls of men and women with a hunger and thirst for righteousness and Your Presence. I’m beyond thrilled to be going to that same Monday prayer meeting at Moriah Chapel with our ministry team today, with an invitation to share my testimony of Your salvation and Presence in my life, and to pray for Your great revival to burn again in our hearts and this land.
Evan Roberts lived with his family in a simple home in Loughor, Wales. And in the bedroom he shared with his brother Dan upstairs, he cried out in prayer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). From an early age he had Christ in his life and Your Holy Spirit in his heart, but he wanted more. He burned with a passion more of Your love, more of Your power, more of Your Presence in his life to fulfill his destiny in Christ for the glory of Your name. And one night, Evan records in his journals that You visited him in his room for four hours and spoke to him as one speaks to a friend, coming to him every night for four months before the great revival began. And I’m beyond thrilled to be sleeping in that same room and even writing this morning prayer from this holy place where the glory of Your Presence came down.
O Lord, bend us. O Lord, bend me. Baptize me in Your Holy Spirit today and every day. Set my heart ablaze with a passion for You and a hunger for Your Presence. Let revival come and let it begin in me every day. Let my heart and soul be awakened into newness of life, morning by morning and day by day, with all who are hunger and thirst for more of You. Let Your love and Your power pour through us everywhere You send us. Let Your revival fires burn again in the hearts of Your people in our generation throughout every tongue and tribe and nation of the earth. Let the earth again “be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, thank you for praying for us on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip. We've had incredible times of ministry over the weekend in Oxford and Wells, England, then returning to Wales last night for our time here in Loughor in the Glower region of south Wales where the flames of the Welsh Revival ignited at Moriah Chapel. I'll be sharing my testimony at the prayer meeting today and preaching a Healing Revival Meeting at Moriah Chapel Wednesday night that the area worship leaders have arranged. God's Spirit continues to move in power as Heather Butler sings in the Spirit prophetically over the people and our team ministers the healing love of God everywhere He sends us on our journey. Thank you for joining in the journey of this exciting adventure through Wales and England this month. I pray for revival and awakening in your heart and land too. The Lord has also been doing wonderful things in my personal life as well on this trip, so I'm very grateful for all those who been praying for me personally. Thank you! God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Gates of Righteousness and Revival 10-22-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Lead me in Your way, teach me Your truth, empower me with Your life today. …
“Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it” (Psalm 118:19-20).
We’ll be prayer walking through Oxford, England today with our friends who are prayer leaders in the city with an especially great burden to see revival among the students at the University. In these same halls, some young University students named George Whitefield, John Wesley, and Charles Wesley burned with that same passion. You imparted to them an uncommon desire for holiness in their hearts and significance with their lives. Others called their group “the Holy Club” because of their passion to pursue righteousness by Your Spirit and in Your Word. And history records how You set Britain ablaze with great awakening and revival through their lives.
Lord, open to me the gates of righteousness. Give me a heart that seeks Your heart, a spirit pursues Your Spirit. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Your righteousness is not about rules and regulations. The righteousness You desire is a heart fully surrendered to You, fully available to You, embracing Your will for our lives, allowing You to conform our nature into Your image. Your righteousness is the restoration of our lives into right relationship with You and with one another through the grace and power of Your love.
In the great revival that began in the hearts of these young men to burn like wild fire through Britain and America, John Wesley proclaimed to his preachers, “Expect no revival without preaching holiness.” And that’s still Your desire: Hearts ablaze with a desire for Your heart and Your nature. That is revival. And the way to revival is through the gates of righteousness. Only by grace can we enter in, but we can only enter in if we first purpose in our hearts to pursue it—to seek first the Kingdom of God and Your righteousness (Matthew 6:33). And by Your grace, let that be my heart’s desire. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please cover us on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip this month. We're in Oxford, England for a few days with prayer leaders in this area and where I'll be preaching at a community-wide gathering Friday night before returning to Wales. This is a historic city with deep Christian roots in the lives of the great revivalists George Whitefield, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, as well as Christian authors C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien among many others. Thank you for joining with us in prayer and ministry! God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Life Together in Christian Community 10-21-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Your name is the name above every name. Be high and lifted up in my heart and throughout my day. …
“Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute their proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together at the temple, they broke bread from house to house and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:43-47).
You’ve designed Christian life to be life lived together in a community of faith, spending “much time together” in worship and at home. And just as when a husband and wife are joined so that the two become one, yet they still maintain their own identities, while forming a new identity at the same, we have a new identity in Christian community, even as we maintain our own identity. And just as when healthy families freely give and support one another in their broader family as any has need, while continuing to maintain their unique identity and provision for their immediate families, so we are to live in our Christian family.
That kind of community knows nothing of isolation or loneliness, suffering in silence, competition or greed. And while that kind of community comes with its own issues and struggles, You use even those to strengthen one another in the journey of spiritual maturity and self-sacrificing agape love. That’s the kind of community that grows day by day, with goodwill and favor in the city, and where You move in power in the hearts and lives of Your people, revealing Your glory to those You are drawing into Your community of faith.
Last night, we joined the home gathering in a town outside Oxford, England, where our team is staying for a few nights while we minister here. It was the weekly gathering of their “pastorate,” where their Anglican Church in Oxford shares life together in small groups “from house to house,” breaking bread together, worshipping with one another and praying for one another, providing for each other as any has need, and serving their community as You lead. Their church is one of the places where Your Spirit is on the move and the community of Christian faith is growing in a land under spiritual siege. It was so good to encourage and be encouraged by one another’s testimonies of Your power and provision in our lives, while praying for our current needs and the needs of those You placed on our hearts. Thank You for this humble and powerful example and inspiration of living life in Christian community in any culture. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please cover us on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip this month. We're in Oxford, England for a few days with prayer leaders in this area and where I'll be preaching at a community-wide gathering Friday night before returning to Wales. This is a historic city with deep Christian roots in the lives of the great revivalists George Whitefield, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, as well as Christian authors C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien among many others. Thank you for joining with us in prayer and ministry! God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
“The Womb of the Morning” 10-19-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Here I am, Lord. Send me where You will in my heart and in my prayers. …
“Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day You lead Your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew, Your youth will come to You” (Psalm 110:3).
Here in the womb of the morning, I wait on You to birth Your will in me. I offer myself willingly, freely to be led by Your Spirit into the encounters and experiences of this day. Let me be filled with Your vigor and vitality to go forth valiantly into the battles for the hearts and souls of men and women in the power of Your love and authority of Your name. These are not physical, but spiritual battles. And the weapons of my warfare are not the weapons of man, but have divine power to bring down strongholds of hardened hearts and blinded minds to the truth of Your love and majesty of Your grace, for all who will hear and embrace all You long for them to have (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
By Your grace, I don’t engage in battle from the valleys of human wisdom and strength, but from the mountains of Your holy Presence, in the wisdom and power of Your Holy Spirit, filling my heart and mind with Your Word and will. As I wait on You in the womb of the morning, You go before me to order the steps of my day. You go before me to prepare opportunities to accomplish Your purposes throughout the adventure that is yet to unfold. So I willingly offer You the sacrifice of my first thoughts, first words, and first desires of this new day. As You have decreed, “All that first opens the womb is Mine” (Exodus 34:19). And now all that You have birthed by my offering of worship and prayer through the womb of this morning is belongs to You alone. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please cover us on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip this month. We'll be traveling tomorrow to meet with some prayer leaders in Oxford, England who have planned a prayer journey and times of prayer ministry there. The Lord has been using us recently in several opportunities of healing and reconciliation of relationships. Thank you for joining with us in prayer and ministry! God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Holy Fire, My Heart’s Desire 10-18-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Consume me in the fire of Your Spirit. …
Holy Fire
My heart’s desire
Is to know Your Presence and Your power
The Presence of Your Fire
And the power of Your love
Burning in me
Burning through me
Your Holy Fire is my heart’s desire …
Yes, Lord. Let this new song You’re writing in my heart and singing through my spirit be my cry and call, my dedication and consecration of my heart and life to You this day and every day. …
“When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple” (2 Chronicles 7:1).
“Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 7:1).
I’ve never noticed until this morning the parallel between 2 Chronicles 7:1 and 2 Corinthians 7:1. From both the Old Covenant of Your law and the New Covenant of Your grace, Your eternal Word speaks to us of Your holy fire that both falls down from heaven and flames up from within us to consume all that is set apart and offered freely to You. Your holy, purifying, all-consuming Fire filled Solomon’s temple with the glory of Your Presence. No flesh could stand in Your Presence (2 Chronicles 7:3). Now that same holy, purifying, all-consuming Fire now fills the temple of our hearts with the glory of Your Presence. Through Your Holy Spirit of Christ, now burning in us, our hearts are Your temple, set ablaze with the glory of Your Presence (1 Corinthians 3:16). And no flesh can stand in Your Presence.
You are “Christ in (us), the hope of glory;” You are Christ in us, the glory of the Presence of God, burning in us as a Holy Fire by Your Holy Spirit (Colossians 1:27). You are “a consuming Fire,” a Holy Fire first consuming within us all that is not yet like You and then consuming each day all of us that we continue to choose to set apart for You: “Let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming Fire” (Hebrews 12:28-29). And this is my desire—that You would consume me in Your Holy Fire. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, we had an incredible time of worship, prayer, and ministry this weekend at the Dunham Rose cafe in the village of Dunahm On The Hill outside Chester, England near the border of Wales. It's a place of marketplace ministry and church outside the walls, where prayer and miracles happen all the time in the every day flow of life. We were honored to be there to encourage them and minister with them. And they were so encouraging to us, with astounding prophetic words of what is yet to come on our adventure and Encounter Wales! ministry journey this month. Thank you for praying for all of us. God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Friday, October 15, 2010
God of the Living, Not the Dead 10-15-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit, and lead me in the ways of Your will for my day. …
“Jesus said to them, ‘Is this not the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?... He is God not of the dead, but of the living’” (Mark 12:24-27).
Holy Spirit, You are the Spirit of the Living God. Give me a deep hunger for Your Word and great expectancy for Your power. Bring the Scriptures alive in my life and bring my life into line with Your Scriptures. Thank You for the principles and inspiration of every encounter and experience of the men and women whose lives are now woven into the Word of God from the past. And thank You for the empowerment and encouragement to encounter and experience You for myself, as You weave the Word of God into my life each day.
Your Word says, “Go make disciples of all nations. Go lay your hands on the sick and they shall recover. Go proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Go visit the lonely, clothe the naked, feed the poor, father the fatherless, encourage the discouraged, heal the broken, deliver the captives—all in the power of Your Spirit to the glory of Your name.” Your Spirit says, “Go, let My Word and My power come alive in your life.” You’re not God of the dead, but God of the living. Works without faith is exhausting, but “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
So stir in my human spirit with the power and passion of Your Holy Spirit. Awaken me to arise and shine, for my Light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon me, that Your name might be gloried through me (Isaiah 60:1-3). This is the inheritance of Your children and disciples and saints, which each of us are in Christ Jesus our Lord (Colossians 1:12). Give me fresh anointing, fresh faith, fresh fire, fresh power to live out my faithfulness to Your Word in the fullness of Your power every day. Let me never settle for merely a form of godliness, denying Your power or watering down Your Word (2 Timothy 3:5). But in the authority of Your Word and in the power of Your Spirit, let me “live and move and have (my) being” in You (Acts 17:28). “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me” today and every day. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, thank you for praying for us on our Encounter Wales! ministry journey praying for revival and awakening in this land. We'll be having time of personal prayer ministry today. Tonight we'll be traveling by train tonight with Heather to Dunham on the Hill, England, just over the Welsh border, to encourage the saints at a Christian cafe business this weekend, where God moves in power of healing and salvation in the marketplace every day.
Come to The Fountain! This Friday Night October 15th 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. Jennifer Warren will be leading in worship and Linda Dulin will be leading in prayer this month, while I'm away on ministry in Wales. All are welcome and please spread the word! Contact Marilyn Walker, our Dir. of Ministries for details 859-317-1591 or DirOfMinistries@aol.com
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!a
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Not Many Fathers 10-14-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are One and You are holy and I am wholly Yours, by the grace of God, through the blood of the Lamb. …
“For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15).
We had the honor of spending some time at the home of a father in the faith. He’s now ninety years old and they respectfully call him “Uncle Harold.” His mother was saved in the great Welsh Revival, and she imparted that spirit into his heart. And every day, he continues to cry out to God for revival again in this land, praying, like Simeon, to see it come before he dies. He took time to tell us his stories of Your faithfulness and provision through the famines and wars he’s seen and lived through. He took time to sing us some of the songs that You’ve used to stir hearts to salvation through his ministry of worship through the years. And he took time to encourage us and pray for us to carry that trusting faith and revival hope in our hearts as well.
But with tears in his eyes, Uncle Harold told us the deepest burden of his heart—the young people. He said the children are the most important thing. We have responsibility to raise them up in the Lord, to pour our hearts into theirs, so they can know You and become all You’ve created them to be. That’s the father heart of God. And that’s still the great need of the hour. In many ways, we are a Father-less generation.
We need the Father’s love. We need the Father’s blessing. And as we receive it from You, through the fathers in the faith You bring into our lives, may we be faithful to take time to impart it to the next generation. As Your Word says, this will be one of the great signs of the times before the great revival of souls to come at the end of this age (Malachi 4:5-6). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, thank you for praying for us on our Encounter Wales! ministry journey praying for revival and awakening in this land. We'll be ministering at a Christian business today in Wales, at a Christian cafe business just over the border in England this weekend, and divine encounters along the way. Yesterday, we were really inspired and encouraged at the United Christian Broadcasting gathering of leaders in the UK. A leader from Aglow International Ministries asked Heather and Andrea for prayer and she was instantly healed of pain in her jaw! And we are praying for the Lord to use the relationships He formed with others during our day at the UCB studios (www.ucb.co.uk)
Come to The Fountain! This Friday Night October 15th 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. Jennifer Warren will be leading in worship and Linda Dulin will be leading in prayer this month, while I'm away on ministry in Wales. All are welcome and please spread the word! Contact Marilyn Walker, our Dir. of Ministries for details 859-317-1591 or DirOfMinistries@aol.com
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Pure Snow, Pure Hearts 10-12-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I love You, Lord. I seek Your face and listen for Your voice. …
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And all who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).
Last night, I had a dream. This morning I can’t remember the details, but the gist of what Your Spirit is bringing to mind is that we were on a journey with the people of Heather’s church in Angelsey where I preached Sunday. It felt like an adventure, like The Lord of the Rings or something. In fact, I had mentioned a scene of courage, tenacity, and perseverance in faith, united in bonds of trust, Sunday morning. In my dream, we were searching for something in the snow. Lord, is there something You’re saying in this dream? …
“Snow speaks of pure hearts. Those who seek Me, seek My pure heart. As you seek Me with all your heart, I am changing your heart, purifying your heart, making your heart more like My heart. This is the treasure hidden in the snow. This is the purpose of your journey.”
Yes, Lord. I want to be on that journey. I want to join with others on that journey into the snow of a pure heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). I want to see You, encounter You, experience You in every adventure along the journey of my life. I want to ascend to the snowy heights of Your holy Presence by the grace of Your gift, in response to Your call to me and to all who will seek You with all our hearts. “Who will ascend the hill of the Lord? And who will stand in this holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts…. They will receive blessing from the Lord…. Such is the company of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob” (Psalm 24:3-4).
There’s a mountain range that stretches across north Wales called Snowdonia, and it’s highest peak is called Mount Snowden. If fact, they say it’s the highest point in all of Wales. It’s the high place of this land. It’s seems to me this is Your declaration of Your will through Your creation for this land—that they would seek the highest place, that they would search for the hidden treasure, that they would set their hope to have Your heart. Thank You for the honor and joy of allowing me to join with them on this journey for these days in this land. And thank You for the honor and joy of joining You on this journey wherever I am and wherever I’ll go. This is the journey of a lifetime for us all. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, I may not get to send out my prayer in the morning because we catch a 6AM train from Wales to England for a gathering of Christian Broadcasting leaders coming from across the UK. We're excited and honored to be included as Heather Butlers's guests and praying for the Lord's divine encounters. Thank you for praying for us on our Encounter Wales! ministry journey praying for revival and awakening in this land.
Come to The Fountain! This Friday Night October 15th 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. Jennifer Warren will be leading in worship and Linda Dulin will be leading in prayer this month, while I'm away on ministry in Wales. All are welcome and please spread the word! Contact Marilyn Walker, our Dir. of Ministries for details 859-317-1591 or DirOfMinistries@aol.com
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Monday, October 11, 2010
“The Time of Singing has Come!” 10-11-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are great and mighty, merciful and kind. I honor You and welcome You into my thoughts and desires and every moment of my day. …
“My Beloved speaks and says to me: ‘Arise my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land’ ” (Song of Solomon 2:10-12).
You are the God who gives us voice to sing Your praise and declare Your goodness. After the Sunday morning message yesterday in Angelsey, Wales, a woman came up for prayer for persistent pain in her throat and damage from many years of smoking cigarettes. She could speak alright, but she hadn’t been able to sing in years, which had been a great passion of her heart. After we prayed, Your Spirit stirred in my heart to ask her to sing. And she did! With each verse, her voice grew stronger! By the time she came to the verse of Your healing power, the whole church was filled with her voice and Your praises!
As she cried with tears of thanksgiving for Your mercy and love, she said this was such a wonderful day—not only because of her miraculous healing, but also because her husband had come with her to church for the first time in a long time. She said he wasn’t saved, but she knew he’d heard God’s Word today and it would be a deep seed planted in his heart that would surely grow. I looked and saw him standing at the back of the church and waved him up to us. I asked him if he heard how God healed his wife’s voice. He said yes. Then she said something about him singing with her in the past and how wonderful it would be for them to sing together again. I asked him if he sang, and he didn’t answer. In the convergence of our Welsh and American accents, she thought I was asking him if he was saved and repeated my question to him in her version. So I asked, “Can you sing?” He said, “Yes.” I asked, “Are you saved?” He paused and said, “I think so.” I said, “Well, you can know so. Would you like me to lead you in a prayer to ask Jesus into your heart?” He said, “Yes, I would” and prayed with me. Once again the church was filled with our voices and Your praises! No doubt the angels joined in with their voices and praises as well: “Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).
They speak of the great revival in Wales in the early 1900’s as “The Singing Revival.” And just before my message, I asked an older man whose mother was saved in that revival and imparted to her son that revival spirit that’s never wavered for all these years to come pray for us to have that spirit. O Lord, You are answering our prayers! You are releasing the spirit of revival in our hearts and in this land and throughout the earth. Heavenly Father, Your Holy Spirit is preparing a holy Bride for the coming of Your Son. Let us be a passionate people, singing You our songs of thanksgiving for Your mercy and love, filling the earth with our voices of Your praises. “The time of singing has come!” (Song of Solomon 2:12) In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please keep us in prayer during our time in Wales and England this month for our Encounter Wales! ministry trip. We are encountering and experiencing God among the people in many diverse ways. We're so grateful to Heather Butler and her husband Bob of Hidden Treasures Ministries and Honey From the Rock Healing Rooms of Wales for making the arrangements and provision for us to come and minister and to come and receive of the impartation for revival in the heart of this land to share in ministry to the nations and at home. Our team will travel all over to towns and villages in Wales and to Oxford, Birmingham, and Plymouth England to preach, pray, and love the people of this land, as we share the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. And we're so grateful to you, standing with us in prayer, encouragement, and provision that makes it possible to fulfill the calling and vision of Messiah Ministries at home and abroad, "Preparing the way of the Lord ... Ministering the healing love of God." God bless you, my friend!
Wales has deep spiritual roots. The great Welsh Revival in about 1904-1906 swept the nation and in time, impacted the world. It began as a simple time of fervent prayer and testimonies of repentance, led by a young man named Evan Roberts. I'll get to speak and share at Mariah Chapel, his home church where the Revival began humbly; and I'm excited about going to drink deeply from that ancient well of world-changing revival. Many also believe the Welsh Revival was a precursor to the famous Azusa Street Revival in California that ushered in the 20th century Pentecostal movement. Let's pray for revival and awakening in the hearts of the people and in ours.
If you'd like to be part of our interactive, intercessory prayer team, please send a note to Linda back at home, our pastor of prayer ministries, coordinating our prayer team with updates, testimonies, and shared insights from prayer at PrayerLead@aol.com God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Friday, October 08, 2010
“A Different Spirit” 10-8-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Awaken me and anoint me as an ambassador of Your Kingdom today. …
“Then the Lord said, ‘I do forgive, just as you have asked; nevertheless, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord—none of the people who have seen My glory and the signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested Me these ten times and have not obeyed My voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their ancestors; none of those who despised Me shall see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it” (Numbers 14:20-24).
Caleb had “a different spirit”—different from the world around him, different from his own culture, and even different from his own family. There were a few others like him—Moses, Aaron, Joshua—but not many. His spirit stood out. His spirit rose up. And his spirit set him apart in Your eyes as one of those who would see Your glory, encounter Your Presence, and possess his inheritance—not only for himself, but for all his descendants who would seek and embrace his same spirit.
Lord, what was it about Caleb’s spirit that moved Your heart? What was it about Caleb’s spirit that You would instill and impart into my spirit to move my heart? …
It seems I hear You say: “My son, Caleb’s spirit was My Spirit. He was hungry for My Spirit to come upon him, for My Spirit to consume him. He sought Me with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. He surrendered all he was and all he had to Me for My purposes through his life. So I gave him eyes to see the land before him that I intended for him to possess. I gave him a boldness to enter in and overcome every obstacle in the wisdom and power that I was ready to provide, as he humbled himself to call on My name. I gave him courage to be fearless in the face of his enemies, trusting Me to scatter them before him. I loved Caleb, and Caleb loved Me.”
Yes, Lord. I want to have that spirit. Make me more and more hungry for Your Spirit to consume my spirit. Lead me to seek You with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. Let me know the depths of Your love for me, the length of Your will for me, and the breadth of Your provision for me. Out of the knowledge of the intimacy of Your steadfast love, Your perfect plans, and Your faithful provision, give me boldness and courage, tempered with humility, to be fearless and faithful to embrace the fullness of my inheritance in You. May it be so for me and my descendants, for me and all those You align with me and who will come along beside me, as I follow where You lead me and go where You send me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, I'll be preaching at two churches on the island of Angelsey in north Wales on Sunday. Tonight we'll have another gathering of prayer leaders for revival in the land. The Lord has been moving mightily already in times of personal prayer ministry and our corporate gatherings for prayer with great anticipation and hunger for more of God's Presence. Thank you for standing with us in prayer for Encounter Wales! ministry this month.
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Thursday, October 07, 2010
“Making Melody to the Lord in Your Hearts” 10-7-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Majestic and mighty, faithful and true, holy and worthy are You of all of my trust, all that I have, and all that I am. …
“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times for and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:15-20).
Surrounded by sheep and angels, no doubt, among the stone walls and rolling green hills of the Welsh countryside, we were invited to come out last night for a home gathering of fellowship, Bible study, and prayer. In the joy and peace of the incredible thickness of the Presence of Your Holy Spirit, we worshipped and laughed; we shared stories of our lives and Your faithfulness; we prayed passionately for the burdens on our hearts and for the needs of one another; we encouraged each other with Your Word and bonded with each other in Your Spirit. All the gifts and graces of Your Holy Spirit were flowing freely among us, filling us afresh with Your love and peace and joy, as we praised Your name with our words and our worship, making melody to the Lord in our hearts. It was truly a few hours of heaven on earth, as You poured heaven into our hearts.
Throughout our evening, You stirred and moved through first one and then another, as Your Spirit led. It was such a fulfillment of Your Word expressing Your will for our gatherings of worship and fellowship together as the Body of Christ: “What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up…. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and be encouraged” (1 Corinthians 14:26-31).
Near the end of our time together, we found ourselves gathered in a circle, hand to hand and heart to heart, praying first in our common language then praying in Your heavenly language, singing first in our common language then singing in Your heavenly language. First the physical, then the spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:46). You gave us a vision of the light of Your glory, shining as a giant pillar of light, passing from the heavens and through the earth and under the earth. The great pillar of Your light was opening the heavens and displacing the darkness, as the light of Your glory filled the hearts of Your people and shone on this land. Lord, let it be so—in our hearts, in this land, and throughout the earth. “O that You would tear open the heavens and come down!” (Isaiah 64:1)
As we left—and no one wanted to leave—I asked one of our hosts if this was what it was like in their home group every week. She said, “No, but this is what we’ve always dreamed it could be like!” O Lord, You are on the move, stirring in the hearts of Your people with fresh passion and unhindered freedom in Your Spirit, to encounter and experience Your Presence and power as we have never known. “When You did awesome deeds that we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your Presence” (Isaiah 64:3). And in that freedom of Your Presence, You are making us to be more like You, filling our hearts with more of Your heart, as we lift our eyes to behold Your glory and open our hearts to encounter Your Spirit, together in this kind of worship and prayer: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17-18). Keep coming, Holy Spirit, as never before. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please keep us in prayer on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip. The Holy Spirit is on the move! Today we'll have some personal prayer ministry times. Thank you for helping us in all the ways you join us in fulfilling our calling of "Preparing the way of the Lord ... Ministering the healing love of God" at home and abroad.
If you'd like to be part of our interactive, intercessory prayer team, please send a note to Linda, our pastor of prayer ministries at PrayerLead@aol.com We now have about 210 Prayer Partners on our Team standing with us in prayer and covering us in ministry every day! God bless you!a
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Zacchaeus, the Christian Busnessman 10-6-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are in my heart and I am in Your hands. Live in me and live through me today. …
“A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich…. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ So he hurried down and was happy to welcome Him…. Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house…’ ” (Luke 19:2-9).
Zacchaeus was a busnessman. And he was a good one—if “good” means “successful” and “successful” means “rich.” But it seems he was in business for himself, building his own empire by his own means for his own purposes. Then one day he met Jesus, and all of that changed. Things were set right in his heart, and now he couldn’t wait to set things right with others. He no longer saw his possessions as his property to be used for his purposes, but as blessings of God to be used for the purposes of the Kingdom of God. He was now a Christian businessman, with a happy heart, a clear conscience, and a powerful witness of a changed life.
Last night, Andrea and I shared our testimonies of our changed lives with the men and women who gathered a hotel meeting of the Full Gospel Businessmen’s Association of Angelsey in north Wales. And we found, as we always do, that no matter what nation we’re from or what occupation we have, people need Jesus in their hearts. And people need Jesus in their hurts, from living life in a broken, fallen world.
As I prayed over the people and Heather sang over the people, Your Holy Spirit moved in a powerful but gentle way among us all, changing hearts and healing hurts. One of the leaders told us with great joy how he’d carried something buried deep down inside his heart for twenty-eight years that You touched and healed last night. Truly his heart, his business, and his ministry to You and to the people of Your Kingdom will never be the same. How You want what happened in his heart for every one of our hearts.
Your business is the business of healing hearts and changing lives. And by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit moving in us and moving through us, Your business is our business, wherever You position us for the purposes of Your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please keep us in prayer on our Encounter Wales! ministry trip. Today we'll be praying for the owners and patrons at a Christian business, sharing at a Bible Study and Prayer Meeting tonight, and encountering God in His divine appointments of personal ministry all along the way. Thank you for helping us in all the ways you join us in fulfilling our calling of "Preparing the way of the Lord ... Ministering the healing love of God" at home and abroad.
If you'd like to be part of our interactive, intercessory prayer team, please send a note to Linda, our pastor of prayer ministries at PrayerLead@aol.com We now have about 210 Prayer Partners on our Team standing with us in prayer and covering us in ministry every day! God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Raging Seas and Rugged Beauty 10-5-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You’re my Rock in the midst of the raging sea; You’re my Eye in the middle of the ravaging storm. You’re with me in the morning, with me in the evening, with me always throughout the moments of my day. …
“And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but He was asleep. And they went and woke Him up, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ And He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, you of little faith?’ Then He got up and rebuke the winds and sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, ‘What sort of man is this, that event the winds and sea obey Him?’ (Matthew 8:23-27).
We never know what each day will hold. We woke and took a walk on a sunny morning, under a cloudless sky. At mid-day we saw the winds begin to stir and the waves of the sea grow choppy and white off the coast of north Wales. But by the time we journeyed to the top of the cliffs to look down to the lighthouse at the edge of the jagged rocks rising up from the sea, we could barely stand in the gusts of wind and tempest of storm. But the high sprays of white water against the rocky cliffs only magnified the rugged beauty of this wild and untamed land. With the raging sea and winds to our faces, but with green meadows, lined with stone walls and dotted with grazing sheep to our backs, it was such a contrast of serenity and calm in the midst of a brewing storm.
You’re never surprised by the changes in the weather of our emotions or the gusty storms that come blowing into our lives. And like the cliffs of the rocks, the winds and sea may rage and roar, but You’re never moved, always steadfast and secure, steady and strong. Even the winds and the sea obey Your voice and yield to Your will—yet not before they accomplish Your purpose in us. You use it all; never wasting a moment of our sufferings, a night of our fears, nor a day of our storms to remind us of our desperate need to find our peace and security in You alone. So whether we’re walking through sunny days or hunkering down in windy storms, whether we’re facing the storms of the sea or the serenity of the meadows, You’re always there with us through it all. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, we had a chance to share and pray with the Israel prayer group on Holyhead Island yesterday and I'll be speaking and ministering with Heather Butler at the Full Gospel Businessmen's Dinner of Angelsey tonight. And in the meantime, we're enjoying time with Bob, Heather, Pedr, and their family in this beautiful country of Wales. Thank you for your prayers for our Encounter Wales! journey through towns and villages in Wales and England this month.
If you'd like to be part of our interactive, intercessory prayer team, please send a note to Linda, our pastor of prayer ministries at PrayerLead@aol.com God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Monday, October 04, 2010
Volunteer Freely to Seek and Rescue 10-4-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Rule and reign in the heavens, on the earth, and here in my heart and life today. …
“Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day You lead Your forces on the holy mountains. From the womb of the morning, like dew Your youth will come to You” (Psalm 110:3).
These are the coming days of Your great power on the earth. You are preparing Your people to display Your glory as the mighty forces of the army of the Lord, following the lead of Your command. “In that day of battle, Your people will serve You willingly. Arrayed in holy garments, (their) vigor will be renewed each day like morning dew (v. 110:3, NLT). You will not have to prod them with force nor entice them with pay, for Your people will be stirred in their hearts with such passion and purpose to readily volunteer and offer themselves willingly in the service of our reigning King and “Commander of the Army of the Lord” (Joshua 5:14).
We had tea with a young man and his family, just at sunset last night at their home overlooking a beautiful green and stony meadow, running up to the edge of the sea, off the coast of Holyhead Island, Angelsey, North Wales. He’s Heather’s son-in-law, Dafydd, who runs his business to support his family, but his passion is serving as a volunteer lifeboat captain with the sea rescue volunteer forces. These brave men and women are ready and willing, at a moment’s notice, to drop whatever they’re doing to answer the call to duty and respond to someone in distress. No one has to prod them or pay them. They’re prepared and passionate to offer themselves willing and volunteer freely on the day of battle for someone’s life in distress at sea.
This is the heart You seek from Your people for this hour. There are many souls, lost at sea, overwhelmed and drowning in a world where all the things they’ve trusted for their safety and security are shipwrecked and shattered. Whether outwardly open in their desperate distress or still inwardly seeking some sense of hope while still hidden and masked by an exterior of pride, they’re crying for help. Whether they’ll admit it or not, they’re longing inside for someone who’ll come to seek and rescue their soul from the distress of life in a broken, fallen world.
O Lord, who will hear Your call to be prepared for the day of battle for someone’s soul? Who will volunteer freely to serve You willingly, arrayed in the holiness of Your Spirit and clothed in the power of Your love, to be Your hands of hope and Your words of life? Let me be one. Let me be prepared and passionate to take my place at Your command in the army of the Lord who loves every sinner and lost soul, “not wanting any to perish, but that all to come to repentance” in the safe and mighty arms of the Lord (2 Peter 3:9). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, please keep us in prayer during our time in Wales and England these next 30 days for our Encounter Wales! ministry trip. I have such a stirring in my spirit that we will encounter and experience God among the people in many diverse ways. Sometimes we'll be ministering in churches, sometimes home churches, sometimes public gatherings, sometimes in marketplace cafes and interesting little encounters and appointments we don't yet have any clue about but God does!
I'm so thrilled that Heather and Bob Butler of Hidden Treasures Ministries invited Andrea Clemons and me to come, and they've made all the arrangements and provision for us to minister the healing love of God in their home nation. Our team will travel all over towns and villages in North Wales and to Oxford, Birmingham, and Plymouth England to preach, pray, and love the people of this land, as we share the Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Wales has deep spiritual roots. The great Welsh Revival in about 1904-1906 swept the nation and in time, impacted the world. It began as a simple time of fervent prayer and testimonies of repentance, led by a young man named Evan Roberts. I'll get to speak and share at Mariah Chapel, his home church where the Revival began humbly; and I'm excited about going to drink deeply from that ancient well of world-changing revival. Many also believe the Welsh Revival was a precursor to the famous Azusa Street Revival in California that ushered in the 20th century Pentecostal movement. Let's pray for revival and awakening in the hearts of the people and in ours.
If you'd like to be part of our interactive, intercessory prayer team, please send a note to Linda, our pastor of prayer ministries at PrayerLead@aol.com God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
Friday, October 01, 2010
“From Place to Place, Proclaiming the Word” 10-1-10
Good morning, Lord Jesus. By the blood of the Lamb, I’m a son of God; and in the communion of prayer, I’m a friend of God. My Father and Friend, I thank You for drawing near to me, as I draw near to You. …
“Now those who were scattered went from place to place, proclaiming the Word. Phillip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Phillip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed; and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured. So there was great joy in that city…. When they believed Phillip, who was proclaiming the Good News about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women” (Acts 8:4-12).
Thank You for the great gift, honor, and opportunity to know the love of God, revealed in Jesus the Christ, and to share the Good News about the Kingdom of God everywhere You send me, proclaiming Your Word in the power of Your Spirit. Awaken within me the faith and passion of Your early Church. But even more, awaken within me the faith and passion Your desire for Your end times Church. May I be part of the Body and Bride of Christ, moving in the nature of Your love and the power of Your Spirit to proclaim Your name and display Your glory throughout the nations of the earth as never seen before. The glory of the latter will be even greater than the glory of the former, as You “fill this house with splendor” and “the treasure of all nations shall come” (Haggai 2:6-9). Your prophecy will be fulfilled that “the one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do even greater works than these” (John 14:12).
Through Your people, by Your Spirit, You are proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God and demonstrating in the power of God, so that all will come to know You are God and You are great and You love each one of us. You want to forgive us of our sins, heal us of our hurts, free us from our bondage, fill us with Your Holy Spirit, and love us as Your sons and daughters. That’s the Good News that brings great joy to the cities and nations of all who believe.
Everywhere we are scattered and everywhere we are sent, let us proclaim with boldness and joy the goodness of God. Today, You’re sending me to the nation of Wales, where our team will travel “from place to place, proclaiming the Word” to the souls who are hungering and thirsting for an encounter with You—whether they know it or not. May there be salvation, healing, and freedom wherever we go because You go with us and Your Spirit is upon us. May You awaken us and awaken Your Bride to arise and shine to be Your Body in this nation and throughout the nations of the earth. “And this Good News of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
Friends, I'm leaving today for our ministry trip to Wales. Heather and Bob Butler of Hidden Treasures Ministries in Wales have invited us and provided for us to preach and pray at revival meetings and prayer gatherings all over the country in our Encounter Wales! revival campaign. We'll be going "from place to place" in Wales and northern England for thirty days of ministry. If you'd like to be on our interactive intercessory prayer team, please let me know and I'll get you on our email prayer team list. We can provide you with a Detailed Itinerary and Prayer Guide through Linda, our Pastor of Prayer Ministries, at PrayerLead@aol.com It's your love, support and encouragement that makes this kind of ministry possible! Thank you for joining with us in this ministry of proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God everywhere the Lord sends us and God bless you!
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 To order my books and our ministry resources or contribute to our ministry on-line: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Messiah Ministries; 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 God bless you!
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