Morning by Morning—Daily Prayer Journey with Tommy Hays

Monday, September 23, 2019

Morning by Morning, September 23 - Worthy, Wanted, and Welcome

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Looking to You, I listen for Your leading to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. ...

"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 glory to glory; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

I had an opportunity to speak at church yesterday during a study of the Father's love in my friend Jim Barker's class. As I sought You for how to share and pray for them, You brought to mind these words -- unworthy, unwanted, unwelcome -- and how somethings these distortions of our Father's love can get in the way of the deeply intimate and loving relationship You long to have with us. These distortions of Your image can veil our hearts and minds from seeing You as You are and seein ourselves as we are in You.

Sometimes we feel and believe we're unworthy. Through the things that have happened or our misperceptions, we feel we don't measure up, we're not good enough, we'll never get it right. We feel we have to earn Your love and work for our salvation. And it leaves us stuck in the lie that we are unworthy. But the truth is You have made us worthy -- not by what we have done but by all You have done for us. "God proves His love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by His blood, will we be saved through Him from the wrath of God.... We have now received reconciliation" (Romans 5:8-11).

Sometimes we feel and believe we're unwanted. Through the hard and painful times, we can feel abandoned or rejected, we can feel all alone, we can wonder why and wonder where You are in the midst of our suffering. But the truth is You are with us always, fighting for us in ways we don't always see and guiding us in ways we don't always know. You bring us through the rivers, through the waters, through the fires, reminding us that You are with us and You love us and whatever we go through will not have the last word over us (Isaiah 43:1-7; 2 Corinthians 4:7-12).

Sometimes we feel and believe we're unwelcome. When we feel unworthy and unwanted, we can sense a deep separation between us. We know You are holy and we feel so unholy; we know You are perfect and we feel so imperfect. It feels like You are way up there in heaven and we are here far below in a much different world on earth with a great gulf and unsurpassable distance between us. But the truth is You have bridged the gap through Your cross; You have reached down to take us by the heart and lift us up in the Spirit to dwell and abide in deep intimacy with You in Your Presence. "But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace (we) have been saved -- and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus!" (Ephesians 2:4-7)

The truth is we are worthy, we are wanted, we are welcome -- all by what You've done for us and all by what You desire for us. You created us for love because that's the essence of Your nature (1 John 4:18). We love You and we love one another because You first loved us and You always will (1 John 4:19). And when we get Your truth settled in our hearts -- that we are worthy and wanted and welcome -- then we can be true expressions of Your love and Your nature. As You are, so are we to be in our world (1 John 4:17). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you see the Lord and see yourself as you truly are in Christ -- worthy, wanted, and welcome -- knowing how great the Fathers love for you truly is, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

My friend, Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to grow in intimacy with God and the character of Christ. Thank you to all those who join with me in support and prayer of this ministry of helping people experience and encounter the Living God through intimate prayer and transformational ministry of healing and freedom in Christ -- "healing from the inside out" of "spirit and soul and body." God bless you!