Thursday, June 09, 2011

Forty-Nine and Counting - June 9

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Good morning, Heavenly Father. Good morning, Holy Spirit. You are God; and You are good; and You are good to me. ...You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud.... And you shall hallow the fiftieth year..." (Leviticus 25:8-10).

I've been counting off and living out the seven weeks of years. Today is my last day of being forty-nine. And tomorrow the odometer clock of my body will turn a big click, as I leave one decade of years and enter the next. Lord, help me. ...

It seems in many ways the forties speak of a season of preparation. Moses spent forty years learning to shepherd sheep on the back side of the desert before he returned to lead Your people out of Egypt. Israel spent forty years "wandering" through the desert, though Your pillar of cloud and fire led them day and night every moment of their journey, until You moved Joshua to lead them into their Promised Land. And the Holy Spirit led You into the wilderness for forty days, tempted by the devil and tested by the Father, until You came into the synagogue at Nazareth to declare the year of Jubilee, the year of the Lord's favor, as You began the most intense season of Your life on earth as Son of Man, anointed with the Spirit of God.

So I thank You for these years of preparation. And I thank You for Your Presence with me through every moment of the temptations and testings of these seven weeks of years. I've had experiences and encounters with both God and the devil in ways I never dreamed. And I think both of you have trying to kill me - You've been trying to kill my flesh and the devil has been trying to kill my spirit. And You've not wasted a moment of it on Your divine mission to bring me to the place that I can say by Your grace, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:19-20).

There's more dying to do. And there's more living to come. And today as I begin to let go of the forties and prepare to take hold of my fifties, I know in my heart the best is yet to come. As one of my great spiritual mentors in prayer, Margaret Therkelsen, has taught me to say out of her many decades of life in intimacy with You: "Honey, come hell or high water, I'm goin' on with God." And so I am - as best as I can and all by Your grace. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
You're invited to our Saturday Cook-out June 11th in Lexington to share about my ministry trip to Africa in August, preaching the gospel in outdoor festifvals and teaching a Pastor and Leaders conference with Wesley Paul Minsitries. Waterford Club House, 6:30-8:30 pm. Please send me a note if you'd be interested. We will also be celebrating my 50th birthday and there's no better gift than the encouragement of my friends in my passion to share the love and power of Jesus around the world! tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org
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Sign up for Morning by Morning by clicking the link below or going to our Messiah Ministries web site. Please pass on these morning prayer to anyone who would be eencouraged. And we welcome your contributions to join with us in sharing the Good News of the Kingdom of God at home and abroad! -- Tommy







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