Thursday, January 30, 2020

Morning by Morning, January 30 - "The Commander of the Army of the Lord"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You here in my heart and every moment of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. Now, I wait in the silence of surrender before You and then listen for the leading of Your Spirit. ...
 
"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, 'Are You for us or for our adversaries?' So He said, 'No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.' And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, 'What does my Lord say to His servant?' Then the Commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, 'Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.' And Joshua did so" (Joshua 5:13-15 NKJV).
 
In a spiritual encounter with You -- an epiphany of the Pre-incarnate Christ -- Joshua took off his shoes, for he was standing on holy ground. It was holy because You were there. He worshipped because You were there. He called You "Lord" because he surrendered in trusting faith to Your lordship and authority over his life and all You entrusted to him.
 
Even so, the first question on Joshua's mind was about himself, about the people entrusted to him, and about the battles and the mission at hand, asking, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?"
 
But Your answer turned his attention off of himself and on to You. You were not there to serve -- neither Joshua nor his adversaries. You were there to be served. You were not there to be commanded; You were there to command. There's only one Commander of the army of the Lord -- not Joshua, not a mighty archangel or mighty warrior angel or mighty revival breakthrough angel or anyone else. You alone are the Commander of the Lord's army. Joshua and the angels and all the army of the Lord -- whether in the spiritual realm or the natural realm, whether in the heavens or on the earth -- were to bow in humility in the holiness of Your Presence to listen, to trust, and to obey Your command.
 
Commander of the Army of the Lord, I take off my shoes and bow before You in humility and worship. Here at the beginning of this new day, this new year, this new season, this new decade, this new era, I want to turn my focus away from myself and my battles and my mission to look to You first. I want to intentionally, deliberately seek You first and Your Kingdom and Your righteousness (Matthew 6:33). I want to press into You first for Your wisdom and Your guidance and Your command, not leaning on my own understanding, but fully trusting in You with all my heart (Proverbs 3:5-6).
 
Like Joshua, I want to lift my eyes and look. I want to behold the One who stands before me, who is with me now and always. I want to open my spirit to the One wants to ever-abide within me by Your Spirit (John 15:4; 1 Corinthians 3:16). Draw the sword of the Your Word and speak it into my heart (Ephesians 6:17). I'm here at Your command to come follow You (Matthew 4:19). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you bow in humility and trusting surrender to listen and trust and obey the Commander of the Army of the Lord who will lead you into victory after victory in your Promised Land, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      


I'm excited to be teaching the Healing Academy at Aldersgate Renewal Ministries again this year, the first week of February -- February 3-7, 2020 in Goodlettsville, TN just north of Nashville. Register today and come join us! Please spread to word to anyone who may be interested in this week-long equipping and experience of healing prayer ministry: 
 
 

I will be teaching based on my book Free to Be Like Jesus-Transforming Power of Inner Healing and Deliverance, which I'm so honored to be endorsed by Max Lucado, Randy Clark, and Andy Reese.
   

 



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!

Posted by at

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Morning by Morning, January 29 - The Day the Manna Ceased
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let me sense Your leading and hear Your voice, as I seek Your face and begin my day "looking to Jesus" (Hebrews 12:1-2). ...
 
"While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the Passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year" (Joshua 5:10-12).
 
There came a day that "the manna ceased." What fed the people of God in the last season would no longer feed them in the next season. They were no longer just surviving in their wilderness; now they were going in to take dominion of their Promised Land.
 
Just as You were the Source of the manna, You would be the Source of their grain. But You were bringing them to a place on the journey to take a more active part. You were giving them more responsibility and more authority. They were hungry for more and You were making a way. "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness" (2 Corinthians 9:10). 
 
The "harvest of righteousness" is the ultimate goal of our Promised Land. That we would be like Jesus -- "conformed to the image of (God's) Son" (Romans 8:29); "as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). That we would "come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:13-15).
 
On our journey to spiritual maturity -- to take hold of our Promised Land of all we are in You and all You desire to do through us -- we're hungry for more. As You increase our responsibility and authority, as You deepen our relationship and understanding of our desperate dependence upon You alone in both humility and faith, You desire to take us from milk to meat (Hebrews 5:12). You desire for us to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). And You're the One who stirs in our hearts to be hungry for more, to be hungry to grow. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).
 
On the day the manna ceased, in the celebration of the Passover, You reminded Your people of the blood of lamb, when death passed over so they could be free. You reminded them that just as You were with them in their deliverance from their past, You would be with them in the conquest of their future. Like them, we need to always remember the Blood of the Lamb. Like them, we need not fear letting go of the manna and milk. You will be faithful to teach us and equip us with all we need to live into the harvest of righteousness -- this place of ever deepening, every growing spiritual maturity in You -- in our Promised Land at hand. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Christ, continuing to grow deeper in relationship with Him as He makes you more like Him, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

     


I'm excited to be teaching the Healing Academy at Aldersgate Renewal Ministries again this year, the first week of February -- February 3-7, 2020 in Goodlettsville, TN just north of Nashville. Register today and come join us! Please spread to word to anyone who may be interested in this week-long equipping and experience of healing prayer ministry: 
 
 

I will be teaching based on my book Free to Be Like Jesus-Transforming Power of Inner Healing and Deliverance, which I'm so honored to be endorsed by Max Lucado, Randy Clark, and Andy Reese.
   

 



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!

Posted by at

Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Morning by Morning, January 28 - How Deep the Father's Love for Us -- to Free us from our Past and Prepare us for our Future
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I take time to look to You, to wait in Your presence and behold Your glory, Your Spirit changes me into Your image -- more and more, morning by morning, day by day, step by step, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). ...
 
"When the circumcising of all the nation was done, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. The Lord said to Joshua, 'Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.' And so that place is called Gilgal to this day" (Joshua 5:8-9).
 
As I listen for Your leading and mediate on Your Word, I hear a worship song in my heart that speaks of Your deep love for us:
 
How deep the Father's love for us.
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss --
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One bring many sons to glory
(Stuart Townsend, How Deep the Father's Love for Us)
 
You deeply loved Your children when You brought them out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into their Promised Land. But even though they had crossed over the Jordan River and into their Promised Land, they still carried the "disgrace of Egypt." And it was there, in their crossing over into the next season, that Your heart was to cut away their reproach, to strip away their "flesh," to set them free from all that would hold them back from entering into the fullness of all Your desired for them to have.
 
Stripping away their flesh was a physical act of spiritual suffering. But is was necessary in order to learn obedience, to experience freedom, and to enter into the fullness of their destiny, secure in their identity in You. Even Jesus -- the Chosen One, the Son of God, God in the Flesh as Immanuel with us -- "learned obedience through what He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). "In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverent submission. Although He as a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered; and having been made perfect, He became the Source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him" (Hebrews 5:7-9).
 
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it as accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life --
I know that it is finished.
(Stuart Townsend, How Deep the Father's Love for Us)
 
Their suffering was necessary, just as Your suffering was necessary. It was part of their sanctification, their consecration, their being set apart as holy unto the Lord, to carry the beauty of holiness in their hearts into their world to display Your glory through their lives. Though there would be battles to fight, walls and strongholds to bring down, giants in the land to face and overcome, You would be with them to guide them and lead them into their Promised Land. All that they experienced on their physical journey under the Old Covenant is an example for us to learn and experience on our spiritual journey (1 Corinthians 10:11) as "a shadow of things to come" in our New Covenant in Christ (Colossians 2:17).
 
Their suffering was necessary but it was worth it -- just as Your suffering and our suffering was. As we die to self, we can truly live in Christ (Galatians 2:20). As you strip away the "flesh," we can truly arise in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Through the circumcision of the heart, through the crucifixion of the flesh, we are free to enter into all You have for us (Romans 2:28). It's not by what we have done or ever will do, but all by what You have done for us.
 
I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart --
His wounds have paid my ransom!
(Stuart Townsend, How Deep the Father's Love for Us)
 
After their suffering, You called them to a place and gave them a time to heal (Joshua 5:8). Even though the timing and the place for their circumcision and suffering and healing -- enemy territory in the face of their enemies -- may not have seemed ideal or wise, You were right there with them to protect and heal them, to prepare them for You to advance them into their Promised Land. In our eyes, they were vulnerable; but in Your eyes they were invincible!
 
Thank You rolling away our disgrace. Thank You for giving us a place and a time to heal. Thank You for protecting us from our enemies and then giving us Your strategies to overcome them and advance against them into the fullness of our Promised Land (1 John 4:4). Whatever suffering that's necessary for our sanctification and consecration will be worth it. It's all part of "the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:2). "For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure!" (2 Corinthians 4:17)  You are preparing a bride (Revelation 19:7), and You are bring many sons to glory! (Hebrews 2:10)
 
How deep our Father's love for us! How powerful our Savior's blood for us! How vast beyond all measure! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


My friend, may you know how deep our Father's love for us to free you from your past and prepare you for your future, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      


I'm excited to be teaching the Healing Academy at Aldersgate Renewal Ministries again this year, the first week of February -- February 3-7, 2020 in Goodlettsville, TN just north of Nashville. Register today and come join us! Please spread to word to anyone who may be interested in this week-long equipping and experience of healing prayer ministry: 
 


I will be teaching based on my book Free to Be Like Jesus-Transforming Power of Inner Healing and Deliverance, which I'm so honored to be endorsed by Max Lucado, Randy Clark, and Andy Reese.
   

 



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!
Posted by at

Monday, January 27, 2020

Morning by Morning, January 27 - Circumcised in the Heart to Cross Over and Take Hold of the Promised Land
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, rule and reign over my life and every moment of my day. ...
 
"At that time the Lord said to Joshua, 'Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites at Gibeath-haaraloth. This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them:  all the males of the people who came out of Egypt, all the warriors, had died during the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt. Although all the people who came out had been circumcised, yet all the people born on the journey through the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been circumcised. For the Israelites traveled forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the warriors who came out of Egypt, perished, not having listened to the voice of the Lord. To them the Lord swore that He would not let them see the land that He had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So it was their children, whom He raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way" (Joshua 5:2-7).
 
A whole generation of warriors never entered the Promised Land. Their disobedience and lack of faith kept them out. "Not having listened to the voice of the Lord," they "perished."
 
And all that they experienced on their physical journey speaks to us of the spiritual principles and the ways of Your Spirit we are to learn on our spiritual journey -- out of our Egypts, through our wildernesses, and into our Promised Land. "Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.... These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing He will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:5-13).
 
You are "faithful" and You will provide "the way" for us to endure and pass every test You set before us. And "the way" You provided for Your people -- Your warriors -- in the Old Covenant of the days of Joshua to cross over and take hold and possess the Promised Land was to be "circumcised." It's the same for us under the New Covenant in Christ. Though theirs was a physical circumcision, ours is a spiritual circumcision -- a circumcision of the heart. "Real circumcision is a matter of the heart -- it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God" (Romans 2:29). "Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live" (Deuteronomy 30:6). "Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 4:4).
 
The old has to be cut away so that what is new can be revealed. The hardness of our hearts through the disappointments and disillusionments and disobedience of the past must be cut away so that our hearts are tender and surrendered to hear You and trust You and obey You. The flesh must die so that the spirit can arise (Galatians 5:16).
 
Our identity in God is not to be determined by our flesh but by our spirit. "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). "For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3). "In Him also (we) were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision in Christ" (Colossians 2:11).
 
Your Word warns us that if we resist Your Spirit we are not yet circumcised in our hearts. "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you" (Acts 7:51). Father, in the name of Jesus, I repent of every time I've resisted Your Holy Spirit, every time I've failed to take time to listen so I could hear and trust and obey, every time I let my flesh rule instead my spirit in submission to Your Spirit.
 
Lord, cut away all that would hold me back from embracing all You have for me. Circumcise my flesh and awaken my spirit! Let me hear Your voice and sense Your Spirit. Let me trust You and obey You to cross over and press in to the promises and purposes of God. This is "the way" You have provided for me to come out of my wilderness and into my Promised Land. Give me Your grace to fully embrace all You've done for me and all You yet desire to do through me. The old generation of warriors "perished" "not having listened to the voice of the Lord." By the power of Your grace, I choose to learn to listen and live! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you be circumcised in your heart, letting the Lord cut away your flesh, to hear the voice of the Lord so you cross over and take hold of your Promised Land in Him, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

    


I'm excited to be teaching the Healing Academy at Aldersgate Renewal Ministries again this year, the first week of February -- February 3-7, 2020 in Goodlettsville, TN just north of Nashville. Register today and come join us! Please spread to word to anyone who may be interested in this week-long equipping and experience of healing prayer ministry: 
 


I will be teaching based on my book Free to Be Like Jesus-Transforming Power of Inner Healing and Deliverance, which I'm so honored to be endorsed by Max Lucado, Randy Clark, and Andy Reese.
   

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!

Posted by at

Friday, January 24, 2020

Morning by Morning, January 24 - Melting the Hearts of My Spiritual Enemies Before Me
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. In surrender and trust, I watch and wait for the leading of Your Spirit to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. ...
 
"When all the kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted, and there was no longer any spirit in them, because of the Israelites" (Joshua 5:1).
 
When the fear of the Lord is in our hearts, it strikes the fear of the Lord into the heart of our enemies! Our enemies are not human flesh and blood, but the spiritual forces of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). And what our spiritual enemies greatly fear is that we would come to the place in our spiritual journey with You to know You, to trust You, and to obey You. For then we advance into the fullness of the Kingdom of God, for then we cross over and press in all the promises of God. And our enemy is powerless to stop it! "For greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!" (1 John 4:4)
 
Mighty God, melt the hearts of my spiritual enemies before me today! Empower me with Your Word, anoint me with Your Spirit to cross over into the land You have for me. Let there be no spirit left in them because Your Spirit is in me (Ephesians 5:18) -- "Christ in (me), the hope of glory!" (Colossians 1:27) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you see your spiritual enemies flee before you, as you cross over into the fullness of the promises of God, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  


I'm excited to be teaching the Healing Academy at Aldersgate Renewal Ministries again this year, the first week of February -- February 3-7, 2020 in Goodlettsville, TN just north of Nashville. Register today and come join us! Please spread to word to anyone who may be interested in this week-long equipping and experience of healing prayer ministry: 
 
 

I will be teaching based on my book Free to Be Like Jesus-Transforming Power of Inner Healing and Deliverance, which I'm so honored to be endorsed by Max Lucado, Randy Clark, and Andy Reese.
   

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!

Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)