Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 31 - Returning with Joy!
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I am in You and You are in me. Give me Your grace to live out my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.  ...
 
"The seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, in Your name even the demons submit to us!' He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.' At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will!'" (Luke 10:17-21)
 
We "returned with joy" from our ministry trip to Budapest, Hungary the past two weeks. By the power of Your grace and in the authority of Your name, You sent us "preaching" and "teaching" and "healing" to express Your love and share Your hope to our brothers and sisters in that land (Matthew 4:23-25). And they will forever remain in our hearts, as we continue the relationships You've established and celebrate the great things You have done. "All glory to God forever and ever!" (Galatians 1:5)
 
Just as it was with Your first disciples, when we go in Your name, in obedience to Your will, You still rejoice (Luke 10:21). And the enemy of our souls, who tries to hold the nations of this world in the grip of the kingdom of darkness, continues to fall (Luke 10:18). As Your Word promises, "The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!" (Romans 16:20) As You proclaimed, "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!" (Matthew 16:18 KJV)
 
Help me hear Your voice (John 10:4). Help me sense the leading of Your Spirit (Romans 8:14). Help me trust You and obey You to go where You send me and do what You tell me, whether in my neighborhood or to the nations, each day. "We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Every day we do, Your kingdom comes and Your will is done -- here on earth and here in our hearts -- on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


I pray you will go everywhere the Father sends you in authority of the name of Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit, fulfilling your calling and destiny in Christ, in Jesus' name! As you do, may you return with joy every day! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers for us these past two weeks in Budapest, Hungary to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with my wife Rocio and a team from the Vineyard Church of San Antonio. Our team was ministering almost non-stop in many personal prayer ministry appointments, teaching and equipping sessions, preaching and ministering in healing, deliverance, and words of encouragement, as well as divine appointments all along the way. We saw much healing and freedom of spirit, soul, and body. All by the grace of God, we were able to have significant impact in the local church as well as the national leadership for the Alpha Course evangelistic ministry in Hungary. I was excited to be teaching the Biblical, spiritual principles from my book Free to Be Like Jesus! -- Transforming Power of Inner Healing & Deliverance.  Please continue to keep us in prayer for all the seeds the Lord has sown to grow to maturity in His harvest. And I pray for His anointing upon you for His ministry through your life! God bless you!

Sorry that our schedule didn't allow the time I needed to write and send out my morning devotional while we were away! Thank you for continuing to join me in this daily journey of prayer, my friend!


 


Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Thursday, May 18, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 18 - "Teaching" and "Preaching" and "Healing"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my heart, as I listen for Your voice, Good Shepherd of my soul (John 10:4).  ...
 
"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordon" (Matthew 4:23-25 NKJV).
 
As the Son of Man, anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, doing what You saw the Father doing and speaking what You heard the Father speaking, You were "moved with compassion" for everyone You encountered (Matthew 9:36). You went everywhere the Father sent You -- "teaching" and "preaching" and "healing" from the Father heart of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. 
 
And it was Your great joy to equip and empower Your disciples to go and do the same (Luke 10:21). As Peter would later proclaim, as he continued Your ministry in the authority of Your name and the power of Your Spirit as one of Your faithful disciples:  "'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.... He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.... He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.' As Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word" (Acts 10:38-44).
 
You have commissioned us, as Your disciples, to "receive the Holy Spirit," to go in the authority of Your name, to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, in the compassion and power of the Father's heart, speaking into our spirits, "As the Father sent Me, so I send you" (John 20:21-23). And by the power of the grace of God, I receive Your commission (Acts 1:8).
 
O Lord, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- may You send forth Your word to save and stretch out Your hand to heal everywhere You send me "teaching" and "preaching" and "healing" in the authority of Your name and the power of Your Spirit (Mark 16:15-18). May the fame of Your name continue to spread throughout all the earth (Matthew 4:24). Give me faith to believe and courage to embrace the fulfillment of the promise of Your Word for me and every one of Your disciples:  "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in My name you ask Me for anything, I will do it" (John 14:12-14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays



I pray you will go everywhere the Father sends you in authority of the name of Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit, fulfilling your calling and destiny in Christ today, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, I'm excited to be traveling with my wife Rocio to Budapest, Hungary today to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church of San Antonio for the next 10 days. I'll be teaching the Biblical, spiritual principles from my book Free to Be Like Jesus! -- Transforming Power of Inner Healing & Deliverance.  Please keep us in prayer for the Lord's covering and anointing, as we go in the authority of His name and the power of His Spirit! I pray for His covering and anointing upon you! God bless you!

 


Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 17 - The Anointing of the Presence of God
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let Your Word speak to my spirit, as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.  ...
 
"You have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.... Let what you have heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.... As for you, the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in Him" (1 John 2:20-27).
 
Spirit of the sovereign Lord, anoint me and abide within me. Teach me Your truth and empower me to live it. Correct me when I'm wrong, convict me when I sin, encourage me when I waiver. Lead me in the way that leads to life -- "alive in the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God... When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:14-16).
 
Your anointing is Your Presence. And You are always present with me (Matthew 28:20). You are "the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:16). Awaken my spiritual senses, always aware of the abundant anointing of Your Presence -- to hear and see and touch and taste and smell Your abiding Presence. You are always abiding with me and always abiding within me by "the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9). "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). 
 
"These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.... Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.... Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifs of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny.... But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
 
So with the mind of Christ, I embrace the anointing of Your Spirit. And I say, "More, Lord." More of You, more of Your Spirit, more of Your nature conforming me to Your nature, as I respond to Your invitation -- every moment of every day -- to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


I pray you will be continually filled withe Spirit of God, constantly aware of His ever-abiding Presence with you and within you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!


Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!


Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 16 - "The Only Thing that Counts"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- You are One, and You are here -- here with me and here within me. Let me be fully aware of Your Presence and fully awakened to Your leading, as I begin my day deliberately seeking and embracing You, while I welcome You to see and embrace me.  ...
 
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6).
 
Faith without love is not really faith. And love without faith is not really love. It's only through faith in You, Lord Jesus Christ, that we can truly or fully love. Faith is fully trusting You and fully trusting You because we've come to truly know You. "So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.... And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 4:16-5:20).
 
A sincere, authentic, and true faith in You will always lead me to love. "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from Him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also" (1 John 4:20-21). "If we love one another, God lives in us" (1 John 4:12). "The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:13). "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10).
 
What counts is love -- my faith working through my love. In fact, Your Word says this is "the only thing that counts" (Galatians 5:6).  Wow, that's pretty strong language, directly from the very Word of God. It doesn't say "the only thing that counts is winning souls" or "healing the sick" or "casting out devils" or "being a good person" or "having a good name" or anything else. No, what counts is my faith -- that kind of faith in You that's always working through my love for others.
 
That's what You modeled for me, and that's how You empower me to live my life for You -- "faith working through love" -- because as You are, so am I to be in my world (1 John 4:17). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


I pray you will be empowered by God to live out your faith in love today, just like Jesus, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!


Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!


Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Monday, May 15, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 15 - "A Vessel for Honor"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice.  ...
 
"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:20-22 NKJV).
 
Lord, let my heart be "a vessel for honor." Cleanse me from dishonor and clothe me with Your honor -- "clothed with Christ" (Galatians 3:26). Stir in my heart by Your Spirit to "pursue righteousness, faith, love, (and) peace" -- not merely admiring these qualities as lofty goals and noble ideals, but passionately pursuing them "out of a pure heart." 
 
When my heart is right -- right in relationship with You, pursuing You and Your nature, not out of obligation but out of love -- I will be "sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work." That's not what my flesh desires, but it's what Your Spirit desires, seeking to align my desires with Your desires, my thoughts with Your thoughts, as my ways become Your ways. "For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness" (Galatians 5:5).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. Prepare the way of the Lord in my heart today -- set me apart as one willing to be useful for my Master. "For God is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13 NLT). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


I pray you will be stirred by the Spirit, pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace, from a pure heart entrusted to the work of the Master through your life, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!


Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!


Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Friday, May 12, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 12 - Purged of People-Pleasing
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You today.  ...
 
"Am I now seeking human approval, or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10).
 
A root of insecurity feeds the spirit of intimidation. When we're intimidated by the opinions of people, we're striving for the approval of people so we can feel secure about ourselves and accepted by others. But it's hard to have two masters (Matthew 6:24). We can't fully serve God when we're entangled and enslaved by the shackles of pleasing people. "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe" (Proverbs 29:25 NKJV). O Lord, set us free! Purge the people-pleasing spirit out of Your people and out of me!
 
The key to freedom is not beating ourselves up for the burdens of this bondage. The key is to allow You to show us how secure we are in You. With a true revelation of who You are, we begin to see more clearly who we are in You and who You are in us. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For (we) did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear (or intimidation or insecurity or the snare of living our lives forever trying to please people we can never really please anyway), but (we) have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ -- if, in fact, we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:14-17).
 
Abba! Father! I'm a child of God, filled with the Spirit of God. Your Word encourages me, "Do not fear, (Do not fear man or anything else), for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I Am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.... Because you are precious in My sight, and honored, and I love you.... Do not fear, for I Am with you.... everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made" (Isaiah 43:1-7).
 
Embracing my security in You heals every root of insecurity in me. "For (You have) not given (me) a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). "(Your) perfect love (for me) casts out fear," uproots insecurity, delivers me from the evil of intimidation, and breaks every chain of the bondage of pleasing people above honoring my God as a bond servant of Christ (1 John 4:18).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. Embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, filled with the Spirit, may I be confident and secure as the beloved child of God I am -- not intimidated or controlled by anyone or anything, but whole and free, "mature in Christ" (Colossians 1:28). In Jesus' name I pray.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


I pray you grow every day in the revelation and security of the truth of who you are in Christ and who Christ is in you -- as a child of God, embraced by your Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!




Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Thursday, May 11, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 11 - Grace to Patiently Grow
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my heart by Your Spirit, I pray.  ...
 
"(Jesus) also said, 'The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:26-29).
 
Lord, give me the grace to patiently grow. The things that spring up quickly don't always last (Mark 4:17). And it doesn't do any good to insist on a harvest before its time. You're the God who makes "everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV).
 
So help me not get in a hurry -- not so hasty, not so frustrated, not so pushy or demanding. That doesn't take away from the excitement of expectant faith, but helps me grow in the grace of trusting You. It's "through faith and patience" (we) inherit the promises" of Your kingdom (Hebrews 6:12).
 
Your seed will produce Your harvest, but there is a process, according to Your plan, and all in Your time. That's why I need Your grace to patiently grow -- to grow up to maturity in my heart and to allow all You've planted around me and even through me to grow up to the maturity of the harvest You've promised and planned. By the power of Your grace, help me embrace the seed of every word of Your kingdom You've planted, as I "hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance" -- the fruit of the harvest of Your kingdom here on earth and here in my heart (Luke 8:15). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


I pray you'll grow in grace for yourself and those around you, patiently but expectantly waiting on God to produce the harvest of his kingdom in and through your life, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!




Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Morning by Morning, May 9 - Salty
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be my wisdom and my strength, as You lead my spirit and direct my path through the moments of my day. ...
 
"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot" (Matthew 5:13).
 
We say someone is "the salt of the earth" as a way of saying they a good person, trustworthy, thoughtful, considerate, and kind. When they're around, life tastes a little better.
 
I want to be salty, Lord -- salty for Jesus. Salt preserves what is good, melts what is cold, and adds a little flavor. I want to be found faithful, "worth my salt" because I'm secure in my identity as a son of God, destined to be alive and strategically positioned by my Creator in my generation for such a time as this. Make me saltier still -- filled with "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).
 
You're my Savior so I can be Your salt. Give me grace to make life taste a little better today for everyone around me. Let them "taste and see that the Lord is good" because they taste a little bit of You in me (Psalm 34:8). "Christ in (me)" -- The Salt of the Earth in me. (Colossians 1:27). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


I pray you'll be salty for Jesus today -- the salt of the earth, worth your salt, full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control -- all by the power of the grace of God at work within you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!




Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

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