Thursday, August 23, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 23 - "Stand Firm for Christ"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and the moments of my day.  ...
 
"It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and He has identified us as His own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything He has promised us" (2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NLT).
 
Holy Spirit, enable me and empower me to stand firm for Christ today. Deliver me from my duplicity; awaken me from my wavering; call me out of my complacency. Set me ablaze with a fiery passion to proclaim the name of Jesus and live into this day in the nature of Jesus. "We (are to) live like Jesus here in this world" (1 John 4:17 NLT).
 
"The Spirit who lives in (us) is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.... We belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception" (1 John 4:4-6 NLT). So by the power of Your grace at work within me, the spirit of this world will not intimidate me or silence me or keep me from standing firm for Christ. 
 
By Your Spirit, I will stand and I will speak and I will shine with the light of Your glory in my heart -- not in my power, but Yours; not in my goodness, but Yours. "For God, who said, 'Let there be light in the darkness,' has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 4:6-7 NLT). As You keep shining, I will keep standing -- standing firm for Christ. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




My friend, I pray you stand firm for Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, letting the light of the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ shine through you today, 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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Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 22 - "Real Life"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are welcome here in my heart and every moment of my day.  ...
 
"Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all His glory" (Colossians 3:1-4 NLT). 
 
"Real life" is in You. "Real life" is when I allow You to be my life -- when I'm abiding in You and allowing You to abide in me, when I'm trusting You to know what's best, when I'm following You into the fullness of my destiny in You, secure in my identity in You (John 15:4). "Real life" is when I wholeheartedly embrace the One who is "the way, the truth, and the life" -- holding nothing back from You and fully taking hold of You (John 14:6).
 
So as I begin my day, I can set my sights on the things above or the things below. I can choose to see with the eyes of heaven or the eyes of earth, with Your perspective or the world's perspective. I can seek You first and Your kingdom and Your righteousness or I can seek to just go with the flow of the ways of the world around me or the ways of my flesh that are not yet crucified with Christ within me (Matthew 6:33; Galatians 2:20).
 
I choose You. I choose my "new life with Christ." I choose Your perspective, to live into my day with Your vision and Your heart, to walk in Your ways and Your will, as best as I can and all by Your grace. I choose "real life" in You. And in the amazing mystery of faith and grace, You choose to live Your life through me. "This is the secret:  Christ lives in (me). This gives (me) assurance of sharing His glory" (Colossians 1:27 NLT). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

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




My friend, I pray you are keeping it real, choosing your real life in Christ and allowing Christ to live His life through 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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Monday, August 20, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 20 - Perhaps a Perfect Prayer
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. First of all, I seek You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  I look to You, to worship and pray, to watch and wait, to listen as You lead, to begin my day fully surrendered to You, as best as I can and all by Your grace.  ...
 
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of His glory, He may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:16-19).
 
Yes, Lord. I receive this prayer from the apostle Paul, inspired by Your Holy Spirit and imparted into my human spirit. Every dimension of the trinity of God, the tri-unity of God, is mentioned and moving in this flow of power and love from heaven to earth and from Your heart to mine -- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
 
O Lord, my God, I gladly receive this prayer, because I desperately need this prayer. I desperately need to bow my knees in humble surrender and trusting faith before You, my Father. I desperately need to be strengthened in my inner being with Your power through Your Spirit. I desperately need You, Lord Jesus the Christ, to be Lord of my life, as You dwell in my heart through faith in You. I desperately need to be rooted and grounded in Your love, so I can love You with an undivided heart -- with all my heart and mind and soul and strength, loving You and loving others, as an unhindered expression of Your nature through my life. I desperately need to comprehend with my mind what You're doing in my heart, as You're teaching me and empowering me to experience and know the love of Christ, more and more every day. And in all these ways, I desperately need to be filled with all the fullness of God.
 
What more could I pray? What more could You desire? This may be a perfect prayer that perfectly expresses Your heart for my heart and Your will for my life. Lord, let it be so. "Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever!" (Ephesians 3:20) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




My friend, I pray you are filled with all the fullness of God, embracing and experiencing all the Lord has for you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the common of the Holy Spirit be with you" (2 Corinthians 13:13). 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, August 16, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 16 - Faith Grows and Love Increases through Every Challenge
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm seeking Your face and listening for Your voice, as I watch and wait for Your leading.  ...
 
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering" (2 Thessalonians 1:2-5).
 
Faith grows and love increases as we suffer through every challenge of persecutions and afflictions in the world around each one of us each day in the power and peace of Your grace. When we hold steadfast in faith through whatever comes, we grow in learning to love. And learning to love is the point of it all. For You are love; and You've created us to learn and grow in our capacity to love and be loved. "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.... If we love another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us.... God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.... because as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:8-17).
 
I know the sufferings, afflictions, and persecutions of my world are pretty mild compared to the apostle Paul's or the first century Christians he was writing to, in order to encourage and inspire them. I know what I endure is hardly anything compared to what so many Christians endure around the world every day in our own generation. But whatever we endure at whatever level of severity is always an opportunity for each one of us in our own surroundings and challenges to learn to love and grow in faith.
 
"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has be poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:1-5).
 
Holy Spirit, give me a right spirit and right perspective as I endure and grow through the opportunities that may come today. Whatever it is, no matter the source, You will use it to make me more like Jesus if I embrace the power and peace of Your grace. Thank You for the promise of Your Word,  "'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in (your) weakness.' So I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). 
 
I know with all my heart, because I've seen it so many times, that my God is able to cause all things to work together for good for me (Romans 8:28). And I know with all my heart, because I've seen You confirm the truth of Your Word in my life so many times, that my God "is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all (I) can ask or imagine, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever!" (Ephesians 3:20-21) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




My Friend, I pray your faith grows and your love increases through every challenge you faith, becoming more like Jesus each day in the peace and power of God's grace for 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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Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 15 - "Prepare the Way of the Lord" in My Heart
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me in the way that leads to the fullness of life in You today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...
 
"As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, 'See, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.' ... (John, the messenger) proclaimed, 'The One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I have baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" (Mark 1:2-8).
 
Lord Jesus, baptize me with the Holy Spirit -- this day and every day. Fill me afresh, saturate and soak me anew, through and through, overflowing with "rivers of living water" (John 7:38).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. Prepare the way of the Lord in my heart. Make the crooked places of sin straight; bring down the high places of my pride; and lift up the low places of seeing myself as anything less than the child of God I am in Christ. Fulfill Your Word in my heart:  "Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed" (Isaiah 40:3; Luke 3:5).
 
Father God, what can I do to position myself to prepare the way of the Lord in my heart?  ...
 
It seems I hear You saying in my spirit:  "My son, I am the One who leads you to desire this and to pray this. Allow My Holy Spirit in your heart to move you to an ever-increasing hunger and thirst for Me and My Presence, so that you settle for nothing less than the fullness of My Presence in every area of your heart and life."
 
Yes, Lord. Let it be so. Let me abide in You, as You abide in me (John 15:4). Let me "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). Let me "be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). Let me be "conformed to the image of (Your) Son" (Romans 8:29). Let me embrace Your will and yield to Your ways in trusting surrender to "become (one of Your) participants of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). Let me "grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ," growing up "to maturity, the measure of the full stature of Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-16). Let me "live to God" because "I have been crucified with Christ (so that) 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). Let Your Spirit "sanctify (me) entirely; and may (my) spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23). I choose to believe the promise of Your Word, "The One who calls (me) is faithful, and He will do this!" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




My friend, I pray you are baptized in the Holy Spirit this day and every day, as You allow Him to prepare the way of the Lord in your heart, 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, August 14, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 14 - Despicable Me, Now Forgiven and Free!
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords, be King of my heart and Lord of my life as You rule and reign in every moment of my day.  ...
 
"For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:3-7).
 
I was once "foolish, disobedient, led astray, a slave to various passions and pleasures...." And that was just yesterday! O God, how I need Your grace every moment of every day. I thank You for saving me and for keeping on saving me in Your goodness and loving kindness, O God, my Savior. I need You every hour.
 
There was once a despicable me. But now in You I'm forgiven and free! "Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more!" (Romans 5:20 NKJV) And I desperately need Your grace to abound in me -- not just one day on my spiritual calendar, but every day on my spiritual journey. I'm forever in need of Your grace to keep abounding in my life by the never-ending renewal of Your Spirit. And as You keep renewing me, I keep praising You for the promise of Your Word: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to and end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!" (Lamentations 3:22-23) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




My friend, I pray you experience the renewal of the Holy Spirit, abounding in the grace of your Savior, forgiven and free every moment of every day, 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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Monday, August 13, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 13 - I Have Been with Jesus!
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to begin my day looking to You and welcoming You into every moment of my day. ...
 
"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13 NKJV).
 
When I begin my day with You, my day is better. As I keep giving my heart to You, You keep making me better. You keep making me more like You each day. As Your Word says, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). 
 
As You are, so am I to be in my world (1 John 4:17). In humility and faith, in surrender and trust, morning by morning and day by day, I'm on the journey of a lifetime to become more like You -- conformed to the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29). Of course, I can't do that; I can't make that happen. And I don't have to; I was never meant to. But I am meant to entrust my heart and life completely to You -- as best as I can and all by Your grace -- so that You can do this in me; "for it is God who works in (me) both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17).
 
Now, I rise and go about my day -- having been embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit -- from here in the deep place of communion with You in prayer. And may every person I encounter today know from the countenance of my face and the boldness of my faith, flowing out of Your joy and passion in my spirit, that I have "been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




My friend, I pray you grow in your hunger to spend some time every day in the deep communion of prayer with the Lord -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- so that everyone you encounter knows you have been with Jesus, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

   
Friends, thank you for your prayers for my time yesterday morning to speak on Personal Prayer Ministry at the Bible Study led by Jim Barker at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio (Sr. Pastor Max Lucado). I pray the Lord stirs up your passion for intercessory prayer with the heart of Jesus, the One who now "lives forever to intercede with God on (our) behalf" (Hebrews 7:25). 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, August 10, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 10 - "Extraordinary Miracles"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I wait in the silence of surrender before You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- I'm asking You to put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart to lead me in the way of life in You today.  ...
 
"God did extraordinary miracles through Paul.... and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised!  ... So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed!" (Acts 19:11-20)
 
Lord, release Your power through my life today. Every way You would display Your glory flowing through my words and actions, let the name of the Lord Jesus be praised. You said "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" -- so let Your kingdom go forth through my hands and my heart (Matthew 10:7). You said, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8 NKJV). Lord, let it be so in every way You would express "the word of the Lord" through me into my world to see Your word grow mightily and prevail today.
 
Thank You for the extraordinary miracles of Your power and love. Thank You for the extraordinary miracles that move mountains in the authority of Your name (Mark 11:22-24). Thank You for the extraordinary miracles when we pray for those who persecute us, bless those who curse us, and love those who hate us (Matthew 5:44). Thank You for the extraordinary miracles that changes us and changes our world when we speak and act with "love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22). And thank You for the joy of allowing us to be a part of all Your doing in our world every day. "We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). 
 
As we make ourselves available to You -- called and anointed according to Your purpose, which flows out of the intimacy of Your abiding Presence -- not only is the kingdom of heaven at hand, "the kingdom of God is within (us)" (Luke 17:21). So we carry Your kingdom everywhere we go! That's how Your word continues to grow mightily and prevail, through every generation and to every nation until "the earth (is) 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




My friend, I pray you see the extraordinary miracles of God released in the power of His love through your life today, as His word grows mightily and prevails in every way He expresses His heart though you as His ambassador for Christ, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

   
Friends, I'm exciting to be speaking at a morning Bible Study on Personal Prayer Ministry at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio (Sr. Pastor Max Lucado) this coming Sunday morning. I'll be sharing about our inner healing prayer ministry at Rapha God Ministries. Please keep us in prayer. 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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Thursday, August 09, 2018

Morning by Morning, August 9 - Hearing and Discerning the Voice of God
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice.  ...
 
"The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.... I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father" (John 10:2-15).
 
I open the gate of my heart to You today. You know me and I know You. I want to hear Your voice and sense Your leading, as You go ahead of me into every moment of my day. And at the same time, You not only go ahead of me, You also go with me because You're abiding in me and I in You. "Christ in (me)" (Colossians 1:27). By "the Spirit of Christ" abiding in me, You're "with (me) always" (Romans 8:9; Matthew 28:20).
 
Help me test and discern every word I believe I hear in my heart. I want to follow the voice of my Savior, not the voice of the stranger. Sharpen my discernment. Sensitize my spirit. Anoint me and empower me to "test everything" and "hold fast to what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Your Word invites me to listen attentively for Your words and also commands me to test carefully the words I believe I hear. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.... By this you know the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God" (1 John 4:1-3). ...
 
As I wait on You to listen for Your voice this morning, it seems I hear You saying:  "My son, know My voice that always aligns with My Word, that reflects My nature, that bears good fruit, that leads you to Me. As you listen and hear, as you test and see, you grow in discernment and trust so that I can lead your heart by My Spirit."
 
Yes, Lord. The stranger doesn't lead me to Your Word, doesn't reflect Your nature, doesn't bear good fruit, and doesn't lead me to You. Let this test of discernment of the thoughts that come to my mind and the impulses that come to my heart be a plumb line of truth, so I can hold fast to what is true and reject what is not. Following You as we hear Your voice is one of the great blessings of the children of God. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (Romans 8:14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




My friend, I pray the Holy Spirit anoints you and empowers you to hear and discern the voice of God, holding fast to what is true in your journey with Him every day, 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

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