Morning by Morning, November 30 - "First Place in Everything"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. It's all about You. So I seek to begin my day centered in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit. ...

 

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:15-20).

 

Do You "have first place in everything" in me? Do I seek You first? Do I put Your first? Do I live my life throughout the moments of my day with no other gods before me, with no idols in Your place, with no compromised in my "sincere and pure devotion to Christ"? (2 Corinthians 11:3) ...

 

As I sense Your leading to honestly lay the question before You this morning, it seems I hear You speaking in my heart, "Honestly, no. You do not. Nor can you completely, sincerely, purely, and fully. No one can. Even in this, you need My grace. Especially in this, you need My power of My grace to be at work in your heart and your mind to seek Me and surrender to Me, to passionately pursue Me and allow Me to make your heart more pure and more wholly devoted to Me. But is it My great desire and delight to answer your prayer and move in your heart every time you turn to Me and invite Me to move in you. This is a life-long journey, with breakthroughs along the way. And I breakthrough more deeply as you surrender more deeply to Me."  ...

 

Yes, Lord. I want to love You and surrender to You and Your love for me with "an undivided heart," with "my whole heart" so "turn to me and be gracious to me" (Psalm 86:11-16). I want to "love the Lord (my) God with all (my) heart, and with all (my) soul, and with all (my) mind, and with all (my) strength" (Mark 12:30). I want to hold nothing back from You, wholly devoted to You, completely surrendered to You. I want You to be first, to "come to have first place in everything" in me -- all by the power of Your grace at work within me. 

 

You are "the Alpha and the Omega, the Frist and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 22:12). You are my "All in All," as All in One -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:28). So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I choose to keep turning my heart to You and inviting You to keep moving in me on this life-long journey of faith in You and Your love for me, with breakthroughs of deeper surrender all along the way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you keep turning your heart to Jesus and inviting Him to keep moving in you to trust more fully and surrender more deeply to Him as the One with first place in everything in you -- all by the power of His grace, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Register for the Healing Academy.

Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, November 29 - "What Christ Has Done"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I open my heart to hear Your Word and respond to Your Holy Spirit from the embrace of my Father's arms, here in the communion of prayer to begin my day.  ...

 

"Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God's Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum" (Romans 15:18-19 NLT).

 

My boast is what You have done through me -- not what I have done for You, not what I have done for myself, but only what You have done through me. That's the boast of our hearts, our pride and joy -- "what Christ has done."

 

By the power of Your Spirit, You amaze us and encourage us with Your "signs and wonders" and even with Your signs that make us wonder, that make us dig deeper, that make us press in harder to take hold of Your Word and let Your Spirit take hold of us.

 

And whether our divine assignment and sphere of influence is between Jerusalem and Illyricum, between Dallas and Austin, between my street and Main street, or between the coffee pot and the copy machine, You're presenting Your Good News through us every day. You're sharing hope, releasing peace, exuding love, and stirring up joy through the message of our lives and the way we live them out by the power of Your grace in us. These are "signs and wonders" indeed, in the midst of all the chaos and confusion, the frustration and anger, the darkness and discouragement we tend to encounter in the mission field of our world every day.

 

But You show up and You show off. You display Your glory and shine with the light of Your love. You change the spiritual atmosphere in our hearts and then, through our hearts, You change the spiritual atmosphere around the hearts of everyone we encounter. That's how we make a difference every day. That's how our lives matter. And that's how we can boast in "what Christ has done" while we get excited to begin our day in expectant faith of what Christ will do! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you make a difference today as you change the spiritual atmosphere around every heart you encounter by the power of the Spirit of Christ in you, boasting in all that Christ has done and excited to see what Christ will do, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Register for the Healing Academy.

Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, November 27 -- Abounding in Hope

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Direct my thoughts and guide my steps in the path of Your will today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...

 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

 

You fill me with hope and joy and peace. You fill me with the power and the presence of Your Holy Spirit. And then You pour me out like a stream of life and a river of living water, as You bring hope and joy and peace to every life You touch through mine. Together in Christ, we are Your river of life, Your fountain of hope, wellspring of joy, and Your stream of peace.

 

Thank You for the gift of being part of Your gift of healing and hope, of encouragement and strength, of love and life through Christ in our world. It gives me great joy to "abound in hope" with expectant faith to see what You will do through us in our world today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

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

My Friend, I pray you abound in hope with expectant faith to see all God will do in you and through for His glory today, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

#Giving Tuesday. #Giving Hope and Healing through Messiah Ministries Today. 

Thank you for helping make this ministry of hope and healing possible through your encouragement, prayers, and financial support! God bless you!

Register for the Healing Academy.

Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

#Giving Hope and Healing through Messiah Ministries

My Friend, 

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

Thank you for joining with me on the journey of prayer and the ministry of hope and healing through Messiah Ministries. By God's grace, we are fulfilling our calling and vision to heal the brokenhearted, set the captives free, and proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of our Father! (Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:18-19; John 20:21)

In the Spirit of Christ, we are preparing the way of the Lord in the hearts of God's people to have His nature and display His glory (1 John 4:17). In the Love of God, we are making ready the bride of Christ for His return and bringing many sons to glory, growing up into maturity and drawing closer to God in intimacy (Ephesians 5:25-27; Hebrews 2:12). In great expectation of all that is to come, we are encouraging and equipping those who are hungering and thirsting for more of Him and His Presence, yearning to know their identity and fulfill their destiny in Him (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Thank you for being a part of fulling our calling! 

Thank you for giving today to partner with us in this ministry of hope and healing.

God bless you!

 Tommy Hays 

Founder & Spiritual Director

Messiah Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Bldg 1-100

San Antonio, TX 78257

Morning by Morning, November 26 - Uplifted and Upheld in the Right Hand of God

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and in the middle of every moment of my day.  ...

 

"But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, My friend; you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off'; do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My victorious right hand.... You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those war against you shall be as nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, 'Do not fear, I will help you'" (Isaiah 41:8-13).

 

Even the chosen face our challenges. Even the blessed endure our battles. We have no immunity from trails and troubles as we journey though this broken and fallen world. You didn't promise us a paradise with no problems; You promised us that You would be with us through every problem. You promised us You would strengthen us and help us and uphold us through them all. And so You do. You always come through and always get us through.

 

Lord, You already see every battle I'll fight and every challenge I'll face. You've already gone before me and You're already right here with me. So by the power of Your grace, I will not fear and I will move forward. And by the power of Your grace, even everything I face will be an opportunity to overcome and another lesson to learn how to keep putting my trust in the One who always comes through.

 

"I keep the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand (and I am in His), I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let Your faithful one see the Pit. You show me the path of life. In Your presence there is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:8-11). In Your mighty, victorious, and righteous right hand where You set things right in Your time and in Your way, I am uplifted and upheld, encouraged and empowered, strengthened and secure. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you know in your spirit and experience through your day that you are uplifted and upheld, encouraged and empowered, strengthened and secure in the mighty, victorious right hand of God who is setting things right for you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Register for the Healing Academy. Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, November 15 - Liberation from Leviathan, the Twisting Serpent

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and every moment of my day.  ...

 

"On that day the Lord with His cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will kill the dragon that is in the sea" (Isaiah 27:1).

 

The "twisting serpent" -- who tries to twist my words so that others don't hear what I've truly said and how I said it, who tries to twist the understanding of motives and intentions of my heart to mean something else in the mind of the hearer, who tries to divide and conquer, who tries to deceive and confuse, who tries to harden hearts in opposition to Godly unity to keep us from speaking the truth in love or hearing the truth spoken in love, who locks it's teeth around our most vulnerable members and drags us down under the water where there is no breath of Your Spirit to guide our hearts and give us help -- is a wicked serpent. It's a wicked spirit of darkness "looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8).

 

"Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible! The scales on its back are like rows of shields tightly sealed together... They interlock and cannot be penetrated.... Its eyes are like the red of dawn. Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out.... Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth. The tremendous strength of Leviathan's neck strikes terror wherever it goes. Its flesh is hard and firm and cannot be penetrated. Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a millstone. When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by its terror.... Leviathan make the water boil with its commotion... Nothing on earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless. Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of the beasts" (Job 41:14-34).

 

This evil entity of darkness is wildly at work in our world -- within our nation, within our relationships, even within our own hearts, seeking to steal our faith, our hope, and our love to make us broken and divided, "double-minded and unstable in every way" so that we can no longer "receive anything from the Lord" (James 1:8). It's full of pride and instills the pride of hardened hearts that can no longer hear truth. It convincing its victims with a certainty they are right in their twisted beliefs and justified in their opposition to all who would deny or fail to embrace their version of truth -- twisted and distorted, though it is. It stirs up strife with its fury and wrath to intimidate and accuse, to judge and condemn, and to crush the life out of its prey.

 

So give us eyes to see, ears to hear, wisdom to understand, and humility to allow You to search out our hearts and our minds to reveal its grip upon us -- upon our nation, our relationships, and our own hearts. And let the "cruel and strong and great sword" of Your Word and Your Truth cut off its head, break its teeth, and silence its voice (Psalm 3:7 and 74:14). Wield Your mighty "Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" as You empower us to "pray in the Spirit at all times" to "keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:17-18). 

 

This is a spiritual battle -- to be fought with the spiritual "weapons of our warfare" -- weapons of humility, faith, discipline, obedience, and hope; weapons of the Word of God, the Name of Jesus, the Power of the Blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony (2 Corinthians 10:3; Revelation 12:11). "For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly place. Therefore (we must) take up the whole armor of God, so that (we) may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm" (Ephesians 6:12-13).

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Give us eyes to see the nature of the battle around us and even within us. Come pierce this writhing dragon, this twisting serpent who seeks to "kill and steal and destroy" (John 10:10). Even in the midst of the battle, let us "Praise the Lord! ... For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with victory! ... Let the faithful exult in glory; let them sing for joy.... Let the high praises of God be in their hearts and two-edged swords in their hands ... to execute (Your) judgment decreed. This is glory for all His faithful one. Praise the Lord!" (Psalm 149:1-9)

 

Come have Your way in us and in our world. Displace the darkness with Your Light. You're the God to proclaims Your Good News of into our hearts and our world, who comes in Your power and love and truth to "bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God!" (Isaiah 61:1-2) 

 

We are witnesses of Your glory and warriors in Your Kingdom, with our faith and hope and love in You. "Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; my Rock and my Fortress, my Stronghold and my Deliverer, my Shield, in whom in take refuge, who subdues the (spiritual enemies of my soul) under me.... Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke. Make the lightning flash and scatter them; send out Your arrows and rout them; Stretch out Your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hand of (my spiritual enemies), whose mouths speak like, and whose right hands are false.... (Blessed) are the people to whom such blessings fall; (blessed) are the people whose God is the Lord!" (Palm 144:1-15)  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you take up the whole armor of God and stand firm to withstand the twisting serpent in every form it manifests itself in your land and your life, to see the victory of the Lord who has defeats our foe with the piercing of His Word the power of His Spirit, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Preaching in Pakistan. Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers and support for our evangelistic meetings in Pakistan through our Skype Internet Ministry. Each month, I am preaching in a different village around Lahore, Pakistan in the Punjab Region. I'll be preaching again this coming Friday (Friday night for them, and Friday morning for me). Despite much persecution in their land, they come hungry to hear the Word of God proclaimed through these outdoor meetings with a big screen and an interpreter in these small villages, where they consistently respond in great faith. Last month, Pastor Fazal reported that over 300 souls were saved and over 50 people experienced healing and freedom in the name of Jesus! Praise God! Please keep us in prayer for salvation, healing, deliverance, and revival in the mighty name of Jesus! Thank you so much for all your encouragement and support that makes this dimension of our ministry possible! God bless you!

Register for the Healing Academy. Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, November 14 - Life Lessons along "The Long Way"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my spirit, O Lord, My God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let me hear what You're saying and see what You're doing, as I entrust my day into Your hands and Your will. ...

 

"Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what is in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in His ways and by fearing Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, ... a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing.... You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that He has give you" (Deuteronomy 8:2-10).

 

Lord Jesus, when You confronted Satan with the Word of God in Your forty days of wilderness, You quoted the Word of God from Israel's forty years in the wilderness, declaring, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:3 quoting Deuteronomy 8:3). Those words of God, from God's mouth into their spirits as they journeyed through their wilderness spoke of humility, faith, discipline, obedience, and hope. They spoke of learning life lessons along "the long way" through the "wilderness." They spoke of trusting in a God who is always with us, who never leaves us nor forsakes us, and who is always leading us into the fullness of His promises and our inheritance in the "good land" of His grace and mercy and love.

 

Those words empowered You to confront Your enemy, when he came to attack Your identity and destroy Your destiny as "the thief (who) comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). And those words empower us to overcome him as well (Revelation 12:11). Those words, and all they speak of and all they invite us to live in to, empower us with the humility, faith, discipline, obedience, and hope we need to overcome and even grow up into maturity in the face of every attack along "the long way" of our wilderness through this broken and fallen world. They are "weapons of our warfare" (2 Corinthians 10:4). They are "keys of the kingdom" (Matthew 16:19). They are words of "spirit and life" (John 6:63). And they are words that go forth from Your mouth and into our spirits that "shall not return to (You) empty, but shall accomplish that which (You) purpose, and succeed in the thing for which (You) sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).

 

My years on this earth, passing through the wilderness of this world, sometimes seem like "the long way" home, "the long way" into the fullness of my inheritance in You. But I pray that by the power of Your grace at work within me, I'll learn every life lesson You desire for me learn and grow up into the maturity of my identity in You and live out the fullness of my destiny in You (Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 2:12).

 

And all along "the long way" of this wilderness, let Your words and Your Spirit fill my heart with this hope and this promise: "This slight momentary affliction is preparing (me) for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because (I) look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary but what cannot be seen is eternal.... He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 4:17-5:5). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you live by every word that comes from the mouth of God into your spirit, as you live into the fullness of your identity and destiny in Christ, all along "the long way" through the wilderness of this world, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Preaching in Pakistan. Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers and support for our evangelistic meetings in Pakistan through our Skype Internet Ministry. Each month, I am preaching in a different village around Lahore, Pakistan in the Punjab Region. I'll be preaching again this coming Friday (Friday night for them, and Friday morning for me). Despite much persecution in their land, they come hungry to hear the Word of God proclaimed through these outdoor meetings with a big screen and an interpreter in these small villages, where they consistently respond in great faith. Last month, Pastor Fazal reported that over 300 souls were saved and over 50 people experienced healing and freedom in the name of Jesus! Praise God! Please keep us in prayer for salvation, healing, deliverance, and revival in the mighty name of Jesus! God bless you!

Register for the Healing Academy. Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!