The Good News! 4-16-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I greet You this Easter morning with the ancient greeting of Christians throughout the generations since that first Resurrection Sunday: "He is risen! He is risen indeed!" Arise in my heart and in my church and in my community and in my land and in my generation in Your resurrection power this day! ... "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen! Remember how He told you while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.' Then they remembered His words, and returning from the tomb, they told all of this to the eleven and to all the rest" (Luke 24:1-9). The stone of death is rolled away! The seal of death is broken by the power of life! You are Life -- "the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). You are "the Resurrection and the Life;" and in You, I am alive and I "will never die" (John 11:25-26). "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you" (Romans 8:11). "And we bring you the Good News that what God promised to our ancestors He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You.' As to His raising Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken in this way, 'I will give You the holy promises made to David.' Therefore He has also said in another psalm, 'You will not let Your Holy One experience corruption.' For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died, was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption. Let it be know to you, therefore, my brothers, that through this Man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; by this Jesus, everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:34-39). Praise You, Lord Jesus, for this Good News! Praise You, Father God, for the fulfillment of Your promises. You spoke to me at the beginning of this year that this would be a year of fulfillment. You led me to fast and pray for these forty days from Ash Wednesday to Resurrection Sunday for the fulfillment of Your promises in my life and my generation. And every promise is fulfilled in You. By Your grace, I am emptied of myself, to be filled with the fullness of Your Spirit (Ephesians 3:19). Keep on emptying me and keep on filling me. As the light of Your glory filled the tomb that day, let the light of Your glory fill my soul this day. By Your grace and the mercy of Your love, I rise "in newness of life" to feast on Your presence -- my life in You and Your Life in me (Romans 6:4). Christ in me, "the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). This is the Good News! He is risen indeed! In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Happy Easter, Friends! I pray that the Lord will bring to fulfillment all of His purposes and plans for you in this year! Thank you for covering me in prayer for my fast. I actually lost 25 pounds, but more importantly I lost pounds of "flesh." Please pray that I will keep it off -- both the flesh and the fat! Thank you for covering us in prayer at Church of the Savior last night. It was a glorious evening in the presence of God watching and waiting for the coming of this glorious morning. God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's (and now cd's) for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, write to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502. On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

The Day of Waiting 4-15-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I watch and wait for Your coming in glory, here in my heart and here in my life again today. ... "When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate wondered if He were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether He had been dead for some time. When he learned from the centurion that He was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb" (Mark 15:42-46). This Holy Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday is the Sabbath day of rest -- the day Your body lay at rest, buried in the tomb behind the stone. What a day a mourning and grief, hopelessness and despair for those who did not remember or did not believe Your words of hope when You walked among them: "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill Him, and on the third day He will be raised" (Mathew 17:22-23). But this was only the second day -- the day to be "waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God," the day to come "boldly" before the throne of grace, asking "for the body of Jesus" to be raised from the dead in Your resurrection of life and glory. Lord, help me to be honest with my grief and sorrow, but also help me to be hopeful with anticipation of the coming of Your kingdom. Let me be thankful for all You have done for me through the suffering and agony of the cross, but also expectant of all You are doing for me in the glory and power of Your resurrection. Give me faith to believe not only the anguish of Your death, but also the victory of Your resurrection, even in the days when all I can do is rest in You and keep waiting expectantly for Your coming. You are the King of the Kingdom of God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, my King and my Lord. Death cannot hold You and the devil cannot stop You. "He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there will be no end!" (Luke 1:33) In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, if you can please come join us at Church of the Savior on Brannon Road in Lexington Tonight (Saturday 4/15) at 7:00 pm. Rob Poindexter will lead in worship and I will lead in ministry we move from repentance and sorrow to peace and joy at the close of this Holy Week. To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

The Day of Sacrifice 4-14-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. On this Good Friday, the day of Your suffering and sacrifice of love for me, I thank You and I worship You. You are my Passover Lamb -- the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the Lamb of God who has taken away my sins (John 1:29). ... The prophet Isaiah saw the glory of Your birth and life and death eight hundred years before You came in the flesh. He prophesied of Your willing sacrifice of amazing love for each of us to be restored and reconciled in relationship with You (John 12:41; Matthew 12:17): "Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; as one from whom others hid their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account." "Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, though he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth." "Yet it was the will of God to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of God shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge: The righteous one, My servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot his portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:1-12). Thank You, Lord Jesus, for pouring out Yourself to death for me, for making intercession for me. For I am a transgressor, but in You and through Your sacrifice, You have made me righteous. Though I can't image the depth of this love or this sacrifice, I find joy in knowing You "find satisfaction" in seeing the will of God prosper through Your eternal act of unfailing love. Like all those who now know the love and peace of God because of Your sacrifice of love, I am "looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). Only in the knowledge of Your joy can I find peace in the sadness and anguish of this day of Your sacrifice. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, if you can please come join us at Church of the Savior on Brannon Road in Lexington at 7:00 pm on Saturday night. Rob Poindexter will lead in worship and I will lead in ministry we move from repentance and sorrow to peace and joy at the close of this Holy Week. To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Two Gardens 4-13-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I love You, Lord and I need You, Lord. Come fill my mind with Your thoughts; come fill my heart with Your desires; come fill my soul with Your Spirit. Continue to give me the grace to follow Your steps throughout this Holy Week. ... " 'Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet, not My will but Yours be done.' Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and gave Him strength. In His anguish He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground" (Luke 22:42-44). If there was no cross, there would be no empty tomb. And if there was no Garden of Gethsemane, there would be no cross. Though You were the Son of God, You were also the Son of Man as You walked this earth. You set aside the glory of heaven to humble Yourself to come into this world to be "born in human likeness" (Philippians 2:5-8). You are the One who was born to die, "obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross" (verse 2:8). Yet, even knowing Your calling, Your identity, and Your purpose, in the moment of trial, even You wrestled with Your will and the Father's will. "Because He himself was tested by what He suffered, He is able to help those who are being tested" (Hebrews 2:18). The test of the Garden of Gethsemane called for the most significant choice ever made in the history of the sons of men -- "nevertheless, not My will, but Thine, be done" (Luke 22:44, KJV). Before that moment in the Garden, the most significant choice of the sons of men took place in another Garden long ago (Genesis 3:1-7). But the choice of the Garden of Gethsemane was to forever redeem the choice of the Garden of Eden. Adam chose disobedience because he did not fully trust plan and purpose of the Father; but You chose obedience because You completely trusted the plan and purpose of the Father. And You made the hard choice of obedience in submission to the will of the Father, You were strengthened from heaven to pray even "more earnestly." With each choice of obedience in submission to Your will, we are strengthened by grace and empowered in prayer to press through the anguish and the suffering we fear. As we trust You and obey You, every cross of crisis becomes an empty tomb of triumph! Lord, give me courage in the Gardens of Gethsemane to choice well, to choose Your will. Strengthen me with Your grace from heaven; empower me to earnestly wrestle in prayer as You conform my will to Your will. Keep the joy of resurrection ever before me as I choose each cross of death to my self-will apart from Your perfect will. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

The Peace of Christ 4-12-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me listen; help me trust; help me obey. ... "Now My soul is troubled. And what should I say -- 'Father, save Me from this hour?' No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name. Then a voice came from heaven, 'I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again' " (John 12:27-28). In the final days of Your life on earth, You were not too proud to confess Your soul was troubled. Though You had the peace of the presence of the Holy Spirit and the power of the affirmation of Your Father in heaven, Your soul was troubled at the same time. You knew Your calling, Your identity, and Your destiny; You knew the will of the Father; and You knew the suffering of the sacrifice of Your love for us You were choosing to make in the days to come. And though Your soul was troubled, You chose to press on in obedience and trust in fulfillment of Your destiny. This is the heart that glorifies the name of our Father. We often use the sense of peace as the test of whether we are in the will of God or not. But Your own example shows us that it is not either/or -- either we have peace or we don't. Instead, it is a knowing peace deep down in our soul, even though our soul may be troubled at the same time because we are aware of the reality of our circumstances and we are aware of the cost of the sacrifice of our obedience. Lord, forgive me for the times I have held back from Your will because I said "I don't have a peace about it." Those were the times when I didn't have a peace about the suffering of the sacrifice in obedience to Your will, even though I had the knowing sense of peace of Your purpose despite the sacrifice You were calling me to. Help me be more honest with the truth of my feelings and willing to test and discern the sense of Your leading and calling. Give me grace to trust and obey, that my choices in every hour will glorify Your name. This is true peace -- not the peace of the world, but the peace of Christ (John 14:27). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

"Follow Me" 4-11-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As best as I can and all by Your grace, I seek You so I can follow You wherever You lead this day. ... "Jesus answered them, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and where I am, there My servant will be there also. Whoever serves Me, the Father will honor' " (John 12:23-26). There is a death that leads to glory. Death to my self -- to the will of my self apart from Your will -- leads to the glory of the life of Your presence living in me. As I die to my will in this world, You awaken in me a will to live for You in this world and throughout eternity. But only as I die in this way, can I truly live. Only as I follow You as Your servant and disciple in Your steps as my Master and Lord, can I truly be with You. It is only those who follow You who remain with You. It is those who remain with You that our Father will honor. This is the honor and glory I desire. Keep giving me the grace to die, that I may have the grace to live. Keep giving me the grace to serve and to follow, that I may have the grace of the glory and honor of Your presence forever. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

I Honor You 4-10-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As we sang yesterday, "Amazing love, how can it be, that You my King, would die for me? Amazing love, I know it's true, and it's my joy to honor You. In all I do, I honor You." ... "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He love us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:7-12). I honor You when I love. I honor You by allowing You to live in me. And when You live in me, You love through me, for You are Love. We cannot see You because "God is Spirit" (John 4:24). But You are the Spirit of Love, living in the hearts of all who honor You by allowing You to live and love through us. As others sees us love, they see You, the One who is Love, living through us. "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent His Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us" (1 John 4:13-16). As I follow in Your steps through this Holy Week, let me see Your love for me and for this world in every step of love: As You weep over Jerusalem knowing the rejection that will come; as You boldly confront the secular and religious authorities of the day knowing the penalty for speaking the truth in love will be death on a cruel cross; as You gather with Your disciples to give Yourself to them of Your Body and Your Blood to live eternally in communion with You by Your Spirit abiding in them; as You wrestle in the garden with the calling of the ultimate sacrifice of Your life under the burden of all the world's sins and shame and pain, yet willingly choose to surrender to the will of our Father out of the sacrifice of Your perfect love; as You face the mockery and injustice of blasphemy and rebellion as the holy Lamb of God willingly led to the slaughter; as hands that were created to worship You will turn against You to scourge You and nail You to the cross that will become the eternal sign of Your ultimate sacrifice of love for us; and as You rise in the resurrection power of Your glory to display the ultimate victory of Your Love and Your Life over all sin and death. You have honored me in the sacrifice of Your love in a way that I will not fully comprehend until the day I see You face to face. In Your amazing love, You are my King who died for me. I choose to love You and honor You by embracing Your gift of love for me. Come live and love through me. In all I do, I honor You. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Hosanna! 4-9-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. On this Palm Sunday, I lift my palms and my praise to You. Hosanna! Hosanna in the highest! ... "The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm tress and went out to meet Him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord -- the King of Israel!' Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: 'Do not be afraid Daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt' " (John 12:12-15). Lord Jesus, You are the One who comes in the name of the Lord. You are the Lord, for You and the Father are One (John 10:30). You humbled Yourself on a donkey as You entered the Jerusalem for what would become the "Holy Week," just as You humbled Yourself "in human likeness" when You set aside the glory of heaven to enter the struggle the our lives in a broken and fallen world (Philippians 2:5-8). Here You willingly chose to enter the gates of Jerusalem where the same crowds who would shout Hosannas! and praises on Palm Sunday would become the crowds who would shout "Crucify Him!" on Good Friday. Yet for the love of each of them and each of us, You "became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross" (verse 2:8). Forgive me, Lord, for the times I have praised You in one moment and crucified You with my sin in the next. Lord Jesus, humble Yourself to enter again into the gates of my heart today. As I waive the palms of praise, let me follow in Your steps through this Holy Week. As You laid down Your life for me, give me grace to lay down my life for You. Hosanna! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord -- the King of Israel and the King of my heart! In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

International Harvesters 4-8-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Lord of the harvest. Let the seeds of life You have sown by Your Spirit in my soul grow up into maturity until the day I am ready for Your reaping. ... "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you will reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith" (Galatians 6:7-10). This is a day of harvest. We've gathered here in the little town of Benham in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with spiritual leaders from across this region of Appalachia. Amazingly, leaders, intercessors, and watchmen have come from Tennessee, Georgia, Minnesota, and even Alaska to join in the launch of this war in heavenlies for the freedom of this region. Today will begin a prayer assault of worship and praise, prayer and proclamation, declaring the God-given destiny of this land and its people where the thief has come to steal and kill and destroy for generation. But this is the generation of breakthrough. And as You break through the strongholds of poverty and depression, hopelessness and despair, disease and death, false religion and witchcraft, perversion and impurity, Your power will be made perfect in our weakness. The victory of Your breakthrough will be "made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in who we have boldness an access with confidence through faith in Him" (Ephesians 3:10-12). On the wall of the old Benham schoolhouse now restored to be an inn where we gathered last night, someone has used the incredible gift of Your creativity locked away in the hearts of the people of these mountains to paint a beautiful mural of the life of this region. In a corner is written a slogan from the past, "Benham -- the little town that International Harvester built." That was a company that essentially created this little town and stayed as long it was profitable to stay. And when they left, they left with the hope of everyone who had put their faith in a corporation as their creator. Those who trusted in the corporations and coal mines of men for security and salvation rather than God have been deeply disappointed, discouraged, and depressed ever since that trust was broken. But You are releasing hope in these hills. You are declaring Your redemptive purposes and releasing Your redemptive gifts from the land and the hearts of the people. You are teaching the principle of walking by faith in the opposite Spirit of whatever the enemy has tried to crush us under by doubt and depression and unbelief. You are teaching us to sow to the Spirit and not the flesh, to arise from the weariness and complacency of a victim mentality bound in the cycles of past disappointments into a new day of victory over the darkness and the flesh in the power of Your Spirit. As Ray Hughes prophesied last night, You will indeed raise up a generation of international harvesters from these hills of Kentucky. You will display the power of Your glory in the very place of our deepest brokenness and darkest bondage. As You said, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Let the eyes of the nations be turned to Kentucky in these days of our prayer and Your power, as You call forth the hearts of this people of this land to be the international harvesters You have created them to be. Father, we cry out to You as the Lord of the harvest from our hearts to send us out as laborers into Your harvest. For this region, the time of reaping is at hand. Lord, redeem the sin and shame of my past and that of the generations of my region. Deliver me from every victim mentality and give me the mentality of the victorious. Father, Your love for us and the purpose of Your plan for us overcomes it all through the power of the blood of Jesus that redeems our past and the power of the light of Your Holy Spirit that displaces the darkness of every principality. "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57). "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please join us in prayer for breakthrough in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Today, a Spirit-filled inventor will unveil for the first time breakthrough technology that can take sound and transfer it to a laser beam of light. The Word of God, along with the worship, prayers, and proclamations of His people in the unity of the Spirit will be recorded and projected through this "portal projector" 25,000 miles at the speed of light into the heavens and into the very stones of these mountains and as far as His grace will go. May this be an instrument of His grace for the harvest of souls. I have to get home to my new baby and beautiful wife; so, like you, I will be joining in the prayer of agreement in the Spirit for our region and yours. God bless! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

The Ultimate Destination 4-7-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Holiness unto the Lord -- giving as much of me as I can and receiving as much of You as I can, all by Your grace. This is my desire, because You have put that desire in my heart. You have put this in my heart, because You have led me to ask it of You. So I come and ask; I come and give; I come and receive again this day. ... "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there any among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Of if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (Luke 11:9-13) Heavenly Father, I am asking and searching and knocking. I want more of Your manifest presence in my life, more of Your Holy Spirit filling my soul, more of the nature of Christ formed in my heart. Let me never become satisfied or complacent with where I am in my spiritual journey. "Therefore let us go on toward perfection" (Hebrews 6:1). This kind of perfection is the goal of coming to a place of giving as much of me as I can and receiving as much of You as I can, all by Your grace. The more I give, the more I receive. And the more I receive, the more I want to give. Help me give more of me to You today and receive more of You in me today. Baptize me more deeply in Your Holy Spirit. Release Your gifts more fully in my ministry. Bear Your fruit more abundantly through my life. No matter how far You lead me along this journey, lead me farther. No matter how deeply You fill me with Your Spirit, fill me more deeply. No matter how painfully You crucify my flesh in the death of my self-centeredness and pride, crucify me more. No matter how purely You baptize me in Your refining Fire of holiness, baptize me more purely. This is the greatest purpose of this life of relationship in Your love -- that I be conformed into the image of the Son of God -- day by day, moment by moment, morning by morning (Romans 8:29). This is the ultimate destination of my spiritual journey. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.org Come to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

"In His Steps" 4-6-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I turn my eyes of my heart to You, as I watch and wait for the leading of Your Spirit in the embrace of my Father. ... As Josiah is a type of apostolic leader under the Old Testament, so Paul is a type of apostolic leader under the New Testament. One of the marks of a true leader is one who can lead through controversy -- pressing through it rather than avoiding it, overcoming it rather than being overwhelmed by it, growing because of it rather than being embittered by it. Even the church at Corinth that Paul birthed and fathered challenged his leadership when he challenged their ways. Yet in affirming his authority of leadership, he didn't point to his position or his educational degrees; he pointed to Your grace in his life to lead and persevere through adversity and affliction: "We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamites, beating, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, yet true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see -- we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything" (2 Corinthians 6:3-10). As disciples of Christ, we are called to lead by following You. As Isaiah prophesied of You eight hundred years before You would come as the suffering servant of God, "He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," but at the same time, "the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand" (Isaiah 53:3, 10). Give me courage to follow You in order to lead others to You, to endure every affliction and hardship with purity and patience in order for You to work into my soul the holiness of spirit and genuine love You desire from me. "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). In Jesus' name I pray Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Generation of Josiah 3-5-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14 and 19:16). Those who are found in You are "called and chosen and faithful" (verse 17:14). You have called me and chosen me to be faithful to You. At the beginning of a new day, I continue to call upon on Your name and continue to choose You as my King and my Lord. ... During the reign of King Josiah, he "purged the land and the house" of the Lord that had been defiled by generations of sin and spiritual adultery. Then he began "to repair the house of the Lord his God" (2 Chronicles 34:8). At the Josiah's direction, the governmental leaders of the land "came to the high priest" and "delivered the money that had been brought into the house of God." It was then distributed to the workers who had the oversight of the house of the Lord, and the workers who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house." It was given to "the carpenters and the builders" to restore all the former leaders of the land "had let go to ruin." Certain of the Levites were given spiritual oversight for the rebuilding and restoration. And "other Levites, all skillful with instruments of music, were over the burden bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service; and some of the Levites were scribes, and officials, and gatekeepers." In all this, "the people did the work faithfully" (verse 34:8-13). Lord, in this day of the generation of Josiah, raise up those You have anointed with apostolic leadership and kingdom authority to direct the purging of the devastations of many generations and then to direct the rebuilding of the house of the Lord. In this day, Your people are Your house and our hearts are Your temple. Call forth the funds of the kingdom of God into the hands of Your spiritual leaders, to be distributed to the carpenters and builders of Your kingdom, who will see Your plans and execute them faithfully in bearing the burden of restoration. Anoint the worship leaders who will hear the song of the Lord and sing it over the people to encourage them and direct them with prophetic worship and prophetic intercession. Establish in their strategic positions the scribes who will write the words of the Lord, the officials who will execute the commands of the Lord, and the gatekeepers who will open the way of the Lord. In all this, let us each find our place and fulfill our calling, so that we may be found faithful to You in our generation. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Please join with us in prayer for the regional transformation of Kentucky and the surrounding regions. Though there are exciting breakthroughs along the way, this is a steady, lasting move of God that is growing in intensity. We don't know what it will look like because it is part of the "new wine skin," but we are praying in the unity of the body of Christ as never before. If you know anyone who would like to be on our ministry's list to be informed of updates and key prayer events in our community and region, please send us a note at: PrayLexington@aol.com to be on our list. I'll include two recent notes below for those who are interested in coming or praying with us and for us: 1) 7 Day Prayer Assault beginning April 8th; 2) A recent note from Heather Butler of Wales who was here with Mary Burt of Wales last year with encouraging and convicting words for Kentucky. God bless you as we behold the Lord and are transformed into His image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Rev. Tommy Hays, Spiritual Director Messiah Ministries of Lexington, Kentucky www.messiah-ministries.org Kentucky Prayer Focus and 7 Day Prayer Assault! Begins April 8th-Benham, KY There is a real outpouring of the Spirit beginning to happen in Eastern KY. In light of this strategic time when God is moving in incredible and powerful ways, we would like to invite you to the KY Prayer Focus in Benham, KY. at the Benham School House Inn and Kingdom Come State Park. This area is one of the regions that we are beginning to see some signs of breakthrough and transformation and we would like for you to come and be a part of this focused time of release and intercession. After the Prayer Focus meeting on April 8th, we begin 7 days of non stop focused worship and intercession in a 7 Day Prayer Assault! We need worship leaders and musicians to enlist and to come and help us on April 8th through the 15th. See below for more information and for the exact location of the Prayer Focus and the Prayer Assault. If you can't attend please pray for us and for all those in attendance at these meetings. We look forward to sending out testimonies soon of all God is doing! Ray Hughes and Selah Ministries Benham School House Inn Saturday April 8th 10:00 a.m. The Prayer Focus Meeting begins at 10:00a.m. on Saturday April 8th, at the Benham School House Inn and then after lunch we go to the Kingdom Come State Park for a strategic intercession and release time. There is no registration fee, but a love offering will be taken to help offset the cost of the luncheon. Benham School House Inn 100 Central Avenue Benham, KY 40807 1-800-231-0627 RSVP is required and you may send this to tammy@selahministries.com if you will be attending. There is a limited amount of seating, so please RSVP early to assure a seat. Please state how many be attending with you and their names if you have them. The Benham School House Inn has no more hotel rooms for overnight accomodations. We have other hotels in the area. Ask for the Selah Ministries Rate. Cumberland Hotel 2203 East Main Street Cumberland, KY 40823 606-589-2181 Holiday Inn Express 2608 South Highway 421 Harlan, KY 606-573-3385 7 Day Prayer Assault! April 8th 6:00p.m.- April 15th 6:00p.m. 7 days of 24/7 non-stop worship and intercession. Intercessors are welcome and worship teams and musicians are needed! If you are interested in being a part of the worship teams during these 7 days or if you can just sign up for one day, please email michael@selahministries.com for more information. His phone number is #615- 838-6361. Location: New Life Church, Hwy. 11 Barbourville, KY 606-546-5966 email: info@selahministries.com web: http://www.selahministries.com "Be passionate about what God has done. Be passionate about what God is doing. And see what God will do!" - Ray Hughes A tempest blast for Kentucky in the Spirit Heather Butler Hidden Treasures Ministries International April 4th 2006 Kentucky it is time to raise the standard of the lord in your state high, release the prophetic word spoken over you to fulfil the move of the lord in your land. Stand tall in the Spirit of God as a state you have been set apart unto the lord. This is the time to release light into the darkness so piercing that the enemy cannot stand and has to flee. The wild whirlwinds of faith and fire have touched down in your land, those wild prayers of faith have roused and captivated the Fathers heart concerning you. He has seen your passion for His will and purposes to be fulfilled in these last days, and he stands and watches ready to release a tempest blast, the breath of His nostrils against the enemy in your land. He is roused from His Holy Habitation as all heaven waits with baited breath to see what He is about to release into you children of destiny. You are a voice that will affect government in your state and nation, do not be silent, as He fills your mouth with wisdom and truth bring it forth. He has given you a powerful rod, a rod that will bud and bear much fruit for the kingdom of heaven as you move into that strategic position in him. He has had you in that secret place with Him, and you have listened to the beat of His heart, now its time to take that rod and slam it into the ground of your nation and watch that rod take root! Use the Rod of your mouth to hit the Ground of the land that you are standing on to bring forth that authority of God instilled within you. There is nothing that can stand against the authority of His Spirit invested within this state. The Lord sent the fire into your state, to purge and to cleanse, a fire that had two courses, to cleanse and to ignite a fierce fire within the hearts of the men women and children of your land. Release your children into their destiny, many are called , from the youngest to the oldest, do not hold them back, the Spirit that moves within you is the same Spirit within them. I see many vessels of His glory ready to be poured out upon the land. There is release and freedom in the Spirit like you have never known before, a release that brings breakthrough into the heart of the body of Christ in Kentucky. I keep coming across Methodists! I have only once met a Methodist until this last month and they are everywhere! I believe that the lord is to enter the chambers of this movement and bring an explosion of faith back into the heart of this denomination You have been restless for the things of God and many have entered that place of sacrifice, you have held onto the horns of the alter and He has taken note of you as you Methodists and denominations of every kind have met together not looking to your own agenda but looking to Him. Kentucky You wear a prophetic mantle, and have been given a mandate to cover those you serve with that garment, so that those words of the prophets are activated in your land and bear much fruit. You have been trained in the ways of the lord concerning the fire. You are the forerunners, those that dared to run with the horses, you did not hold back, but poured your lives out before me as a living sacrifice in every way. He has seen you in the quiet times, hidden in your prayer closets and on your tearstained faces before the lord, pleading, calling, worshipping, praising, enjoying just being with Him, ministering to the lord first, and Now He gives back to you in full measure to running over. The nations will tremble as they recognize the hand of the lord at work in this state to fulfil that prophetic calling to the surrounding states and nations. KENTUCKY break forth into your calling – the ground is prepared for you to step into the final chapters of this age. Strike the ground with the rod of your mouth . That still small voice. Heather Butler Hidden Treasures Ministries Intl Wales UK God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Leaping for Joy! 4-4-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit. As I settle in to the peace of Your presence, let my soul leap for Joy that You are near. ... "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me that the mother of our Lord has come to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord' "(Luke 1:41-45). The delivery nurse assisting our doctor in the birth of our son Josiah was a young woman named Tatianna from Brazil. She, too, was expecting a child. Near the time of Josiah's birth, her eyes grew wide and she stepped back, with her arms wrapped around the baby in her womb. She was saying, "No, baby. Not yet." It seems her baby was thrilled at the coming of our baby, leaping for joy in the womb! But it was not yet the time of fulfillment in birth for her baby. Though my wife carried Josiah and not Jesus in her womb, we also believe that there will be a fulfillment of what was spoken to us by the Lord. This is a child, like every child, of great promise and destiny. Someone we love and respect as a person and a prophet has said with the birthing of this child will be a birthing of a season of revival in Kentucky, and it will touch the heart of our nation and the hearts of nations. No doubt, there are many such children of destiny being birthed in this season as we pray the promises of fulfillment. And after the birth of Josiah, but while he was very young, a great revival was birthed in Israel (2 Chronicles 34:1-33). Our little Josiah will live his first years in Wilmore, where many famous revivals have been birthed, where many are praying for the re-digging of the ancient wells of revival to spring up from here again, and where there have already been the first contractions of birth again in recent months. Holy Spirit, in this day, You are birthing a revival of hearts and souls to be set ablaze with a passion for Jesus and to bear our Father's likeness in the remnant of believers throughout the earth. There have been many promises not yet fulfilled of a great harvest of souls at the end of the age (for example, Matthew 13:36-43). Let it begin in my soul. And let my heart leap for joy as I see it being birthed in the hearts of others around me. Let the wells of revival spring up again, in fulfillment of all that You have spoken. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.org Come to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Big Brother 4-3-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I look to You and call on Your name with a grateful heart of thanksgiving and praise. ... Our little boy, Elijah, loves to tell everybody, "I'm the big brother." He's only three years and ten months older than Josiah, but to him it's like another generation. He loves to bend down and kiss his brother's head and makes sure he never misses his turn to hold the baby. The spirit of Cain asks, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:4), but the spirit of Elijah proclaims, "I'm the big brother!" "He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him" (1 John 2:10). Lord, give us the heart of Elijah to watch over the generation of Josiah. Gives us hearts to hold them and love them, to nurture and protect them until they are ready to step into their calling for their generation. Let us be as elder brothers who celebrate the life and destiny of the generations being birthed and entrusted to our nurture and care. Let us be filled with joy and not jealousy, as we bless what You are doing in them and rejoice in what You are doing in us. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Dear Friends, mother and baby are home now and doing great! Thank you for all your prayers and blessings. Please pray that we all sleep well! God bless! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Big Brother 4-3-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I look to You and call on Your name with a grateful heart of thanksgiving and praise. ... Our little boy, Elijah, loves to tell everybody, "I'm the big brother." He's only three years and ten months older than Josiah, but to him it's like another generation. He loves to bend down and kiss his brother's head and makes sure he never misses his turn to hold the baby. The spirit of Cain asks, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Genesis 4:4), but the spirit of Elijah proclaims, "I'm the big brother!" "He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him" (1 John 2:10). Lord, give us the heart of Elijah to watch over the generation of Josiah. Gives us hearts to hold them and love them, to nurture and protect them until they are ready to step into their calling for their generation. Let us be as elder brothers who celebrate the life and destiny of the generations being birthed and entrusted to our nurture and care. Let us be filled with joy and not jealousy, as we bless what You are doing in them and rejoice in what You are doing in us. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Dear Friends, mother and baby are home now and doing great! Thank you for all your prayers and blessings. Please pray that we all sleep well! God bless! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

It's a Boy! Josiah Benjamin Hays is Born! 4-1-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Thank you for the birth of my son -- Josiah Benjamin Hays -- born at 6:11 p.m. on March 31, 2006 at 8 pounds, 10 ounces, 21 inches long, with curly blonde hair. Praise You for a healthy mama, a healthy baby, and a happy daddy! ... "For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to Him. Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, I have given him to the Lord" (1 Samuel 1:27-28). The day we found out this baby would be a boy, Tricia and I believe You impressed the name of our son upon our hearts. In Your Word, a person's name speaks of their nature. Every time we call his name, we are calling forth his nature. In the Hebrew of the Old Testament, "Josiah" means "the fire of the Lord" and "Benjamin" means "son of my right hand." Josiah was a king of Israel who ruled with righteousness, authority, and boldness, knowing his calling and destiny from an early age and then living it out in obedience and faith. "He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left" (2 Chronicles 34:1-2). You set him ablaze with passion and zeal to purge and purify the land and the people in the holiness of the fire of the Lord. There was great revival throughout the land in the days of the reign of King Josiah. Benjamin was one the sons of Jacob, the last born of the twelve tribes of Israel, speaking of the last generation of the sons of men before Your return. At Joseph's table, Benjamin received fives times as much as his brothers and when they were given provisions for the journey, Benjamin again received fives times as much as his brothers, along with a wealth of silver (Genesis 43:34; 45:22). Your glory and grace upon this latter generation will be greater than the former in an exceeding abundance of provision and power than ever seen before. This is a generation of abundance and fulfillment of the purposes and promises of God. At Josiah's birth, our obstetrician Dr. Owen said, "He's great." This morning, our pediatrician Dr. Wilkes said, "He's perfect." That's a pretty good start and a pretty high calling, but we entrust him to You and to Your calling alone. Father, it seems You are saying, "Josiah Benjamin Hays is a carrier of My fire and a son of My right hand." Lord, You have answered our prayers and we give him to You as long as he lives. With Dr. Owen and the nurses, I held my son in my arms and blessed him, as his mother and I dedicated and consecrated his life to You as holy unto the Lord, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Lord, let it be so in his life and in our lives and in the lives of the generations who live out their calling and destiny for Your glory and Your kingdom. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers. Mama and baby are doing great! I am now a father of five, please keep praying for us! God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

The Celebration is worth the Sacrifice 3-30-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I quiet my soul to begin this day in the silence of surrender, watching and waiting for the leading of Your Spirit. ... "Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you" (John 16:20-22). Tomorrow morning, we have an appointment to have a baby. Our doctor will induce the process of labor for the birth of our child. Already, Tricia's body is experiencing the contractions of birth, as these nine months of preparation will come to a close in a final burst of the intensity and anguish of travail. But as our son breathes his first breath and I hand him into his mother's embrace, all the suffering and struggle of pregnancy will be consumed in the celebration of birth. Tears of pain will turn to tears of joy. These forty days of preparation for the pain of crucifixion of Good Friday is really preparation for the joy of resurrection of Easter Sunday. "Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5). The celebration is worth the sacrifice. You teach us that lesson through the pain of travail in birth that gives way to the joy of new life. You teach us that lesson through Your journey to the cross that gives way to the joy of eternal life. We look to Jesus, "who for the sake of the joy that was set before Him endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2). Give me courage and faith to endure the travails of life, to press through the sufferings of a broken and fallen world, for the sake of the joy that is set before me through life in You. The celebration is worth the sacrifice, as You turn all my tears of pain into tears of joy. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

King Josiah will Reign 3-29-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the King of Kings and the King of Glory. Come in to the kingdom of Your glory in my heart again this day. ... "Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his ancestor David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left" (2 Chronicles 34:1-2). A spiritual generation is being birthed in the earth who will begin to reign at an early age in the authority you have given them. They will know who they are in You and they will know who You are in them. They will know their place as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation" to "proclaim the mighty acts" of God throughout the earth (1 Peter 2:9). They will be "saints from every tribe and people and language and nation; You have made them to be a kingdom of priests serving our God, and they will reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:9-10). The spiritual generation of Elijahs before them have been preparing the way of the Lord through prayer and proclamation, and now this generation of Josiahs will rule and reign with the authority and power of Christ living in them and living through them. This will be a generation of those who are called by Your name and called to Your ministry, who will do the "greater works than these" that You prophesied of long ago (John 14:12). "For in the eight year of his reign, while he was still a boy, Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Jerusalem and Judah of the high places, the sacred poles, and the carved and cast images. In his presence they pulled down the altar of the Baals; he demolished the incense altars that stood above them. He broke down the sacred poles and the carved and cast images; he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of their priests on their altars, and purges Judah and Jerusalem" (2 Chronicles 34:3-5). In this generation, let us not fear man, nor his false religions, false idols, and false priests. Let us confront them and overcome them with authority and zeal to purge the land and the hearts of Your people. Let us "repair the house of the Lord" and welcome the coming of the King of Glory to take Your place on Your throne in our land and in our hearts (verse 34:8). Let us be a priesthood of kings who rediscover Your Word and renew our covenant of commitment to trust You and obey You with all our hearts and souls for all of the days of our generation (verses 29-33). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

"With Eager Longing" 3-28-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face and welcome the glory of Your presence in my heart and in my world. ... "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God" (Romans 8:18-19). Tricia and I are waiting with eager longing for the revealing of our next son -- to be born any day. Some contractions have already begun to prepare the way for birth. We've been praying for him and speaking blessings over him, that he is welcome and honored. We want him to know in the depths of his spirit that he is being received with thanksgiving and joy into his family and into this world, to fulfill his calling and destiny in his generation for Your kingdom. We have prayed "even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:15). So it is throughout Your creation today. You are moving on the hearts of the spiritual mothers and fathers of the body of Christ to prepare the way with eager longing for the revealing of Your glory in the earth. The earth itself and all who live in Christ are experiencing the stress and strain of contractions to prepare the way of the Lord. One day You will come in glory in the skies (Matthew 24:30; 1 Thessalonians 4:16). But even now, You are coming in glory into the hearts all of who seek You with eager longing and are preparing the way of the Lord in our hearts and souls. As we do, You are revealing the children of God. Soon we will see that the sufferings and struggles of these birth pains and contractions were worth it, to behold the fullness of Your glory in our hearts and throughout the earth. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.org Come to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

"Unfailing Treasure" 3-27-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I entrust my life to You today, as best as I can and all by Your grace. ... "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, your heart will be also" (Luke 12:32-34). Today, we will sell our most significant material possession, as we close on the sale of our former home. Thank You, Lord, for the grace of selling it quickly and for leading Tricia to this new home she truly loves. May the peace of Your presence rest on the home we have left and the home we have received. And may the peace of Your presence rest on those who have no home at all, as You remind us daily that our true home is a kingdom not of this earth. "But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). Our new home in Wilmore is a little smaller, with a little less space for our possessions. Thank You, Lord, for the grace of giving, as we have received of the blessing of simplifying our possessions and our hearts. And even then, You have given my wife a gift of making our home a place of simple beauty and welcoming warmth. But while our possessions will wear out and one day our treasures in this world will cease, You will endure and the treasures that are truly worth possessing will last forever. "So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen in temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Lord, continue to simply my life and help me release my hold on the material possessions and the passing treasures of this world. Remind me every day that all that I have and all that I am belongs to You and is to be used by You in the service of Your kingdom. Continue to open my eyes and my heart to Your eternal perspective. You are my "unfailing treasure." In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Come Speak to Me 3-26-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I lift my spirit to seek Your face and open my heart to hear Your voice. ... "When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he would hear the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the covenant from between the two cherubim; thus it spoke to him" (Numbers 7:89). Word of God, Lord of my heart Come speak to me. Word of God, Lord of my heart Come reign in me. Word of God, Lord of my heart Come live Your life through me. I want to hear You, Lord To be near You, Lord Closer than I've ever been. I want to see Your face I want to know Your grace Come lead me deep within. Voice of God, You're in my heart Come speak to me. Voice of God, You're in my heart Come reign in me. Voice of God, You're in my heart Come live Your life through me. Thank You, Lord, for drawing me in to the tent of meeting in holy place of prayer. Thank You for the voice of Your Spirit singing this song of intimacy and praise through my spirit to You as "deep calls to deep" (Psalm 42:7). Open the eyes of my heart to see You. Open the ears of my heart to hear You. Let me be forever changed and forever changing in Your presence and into Your image, as I behold the glory of Your face and the power of Your voice (2 Corinthians 3:18). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Obedience, Love, and Joy 3-25-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I love You, Lord. Help me hear You more clearly and obey You more completely. Open Your Word of truth and life to Me today. ... "I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father" (John 14:31). "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. I have said these things to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:9-11). There is a relationship between obedience and love and joy. To abide in the love of God requires obedience to the commands of God. You want me to love You enough to trust Your commands, trusting that You know what is best for me and trusting that You call me to obedience to Your will out of the wisdom of Your love. And to the degree that I abide in Your love in trusting surrender and obedience to Your will, Your joy will abide in me and my joy will be complete. As I do, I will hear in my heart, "Well done, good and faithful servant ... enter in to the joy of your Lord" (Matthew 5:21, NKJV). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Filled Up and Squeezed Out 3-24-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill me afresh with Your Spirit today, as I welcome You, God the Father and God the Son, to come abide in me by God the Holy Spirit this day and every day (John 14:18-24). ... "For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27). Father, continue to baptize me into Christ by Your Sprit through faith, continue to clothe me with Christ. To "baptize" is to saturate, to immerse, to soak. Like a dry sponge that is soaked in the water, then squeezed out in use, then soaked in the water again, keep soaking me, keep squeezing me, keep using me, and keep soaking me again. Every time You squeeze me to let the Living Waters of Your Life pour out of me, You make room for me to be filled again by "the Spirit of Christ" who is "the Spirit of God" abiding in me by Your Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9). Every time You squeeze me, the sponge of my heart becomes softer and more tender, more sensitive to Your hand and more able to be filled and squeezed and used in Your service. The hard, crusty places are being soaked and saturated until they are emptied and open, ready to be filled again and filled more fully -- but always filled for the purpose of being squeezed out again. As You keep baptizing me into Christ, You keep filling me with Your Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). As You keep filling me up to keep squeezing me out, Your rivers of Living Water will keep flowing in and then flowing out of me (John 7:37-39). Filled up, squeezed out, and filled up again -- this is the way I am continually and increasingly "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Diamond in the Rough 3-23-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are My Lord and Savior, My Healer and Deliverer, My God, My King, and My Best Friend. You are the One who sees my heart and loves me anyway. ... "He's a diamond in the rough." Those words have always stuck with me. I had grown up on a cotton farm and then in little oil towns around west Texas and eastern New Mexico. I had worked my summers in middle school, high school, and college mostly hauling hay and driving tractors. I even filled in a couple of weeks as a roughneck on an oil rig until the reality of losing a finger or a toe from hauling drill pipe up and out of a greasy derrick really sank in and I went back to hauling hay. But now I was being considered for position as a trial lawyer in a Dallas law firm where I had worked part of my summer through law school as a law clerk. The lawyer who was pulling for me to be on the list of new hires from the graduating class passed along the summary of how I was seen by the hiring committee -- "a diamond in the rough." It felt good and it hurt at the same time. They were willing to see my potential but not fooled by my present and my past. That's how You are, Lord. With Your Father's heart, You see me as You created me to be. You see me in the fullness of the potential of my purpose and destiny, along with all the gifting, calling, and anointing You have given me and imparted to me by Your grace. But at the same time, You are not fooled by my present and my past. You see the diamond, but You also see the rough. You see my true self that needs to be nurtured and healed as You call forth my true identity and destiny, but You also see the false self that I have created and I have allowed others to create out of my own hurts and wounds, pride and insecurities, that needs to broken off in order to reveal the diamond hidden beneath the rough. When You called me to the ministry of inner healing -- healing from the inside out -- You began to remind me of those words and that image from long ago. You began to give me Your Father's heart to see Your sons and daughters as You see them, like a diamond in the rough. You taught me how to confront the "rough" and call the sin for the sin that it was in order to lead a person to confession and repentance in submitting every area of their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. You taught me how to help them acknowledge the pain and the shame that was still buried in the hurts and wounds of their past, from the things they had done and the things done to them. You taught me how to help them let Your Holy Spirit release it all to You -- step by step and layer by layer, liking pealing the layers of an onion with patience and faith, persistence and truth. You taught me how to speak life to the dry bones in the power of Your name and call forth their God-given purpose and passion to see and be who You created them to be. You began to teach me how to listen to You and speak Your heart to them, as You called forth the diamond and broke off the rough, through inner healing. And You began to teach me how to take the authority You had given me as Your disciple and Your ambassador over all the power of the enemy of our souls who seeks to keep us bound up in the idolatries and addictions of the bondage of self in our flesh. You were teaching me how to bind up the broken-hearted and set the captives free, as You proclaimed through my prayers the coming of the kingdom of God and the year of the Lord's favor in each person's life (Isaiah 61; Luke 4). Much of it You taught me as You used others to minister this kind of life and healing to me, as You gave me the courage and humility to set aside my pride and fear to receive the ministry of the healing love of God through those You had anointing to be Your healing hands and living words to me, as instruments of Your grace. You reminded me how when You saw the woman at the well, You went much more deeply than the surface (John 4:1-42). You looked into her past and confronted her shame and her need for love and acceptance. You could have just ministered a miracle, but You ministered inner healing as You exposed her past, so she could release it to You. In her healing, her eyes were opened to see You as her Messiah; and in her joy, she hurried off to tell everyone she knew about the love of the One "who told me everything I have ever done!" (verse 4:29) "Many Samaritans in the city believed in Him because of the woman's testimony" (verse 4:39). And You reminded me how the friends of the paralyzed man pressed through the crowds and every barrier to bring him to you for healing (Mark 2:1-12). You could have simply worked the miracle as said, "Rise and walk." But instead You looked beneath the surface of the problem to the root of the issue, ministering inner healing from the inside out. You spoke to the sins of his past as well as to the manifestation of that sin in his body; and he was healed. You expressed Your authority divine insight and revelation knowledge to not only work miracles, but also to expose the root and the source of all that keeps Your people from experiencing the healing and freedom of Your will. " 'But so that you many know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' -- He said to the paralytic -- 'I say to you, stand up, take up your mat and go to your home' " (verse 2:10-11). Thank You for the ministry of Your healing love. Thank You for the ministry of inner healing and deliverance. In the same way that You have ministered Your healing and deliverance to me, now You have given me the heart and the joy to minister Your healing love to others by the power and authority of Your Spirit living through me. In the same way we are healed and comforted by You, so You send us to be Your heart and hands of healing and comfort to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). There is still much to receive and there is still much to give. Freely have I received, now freely am I to give (Matthew 10:8). Lord, thank You for letting others see the diamond in the rough in me, so now I can minister that same Father's heart of Your healing love to others. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, this morning's devotional become a little more involved than I expected to express much of my calling and ministry. If you would like to know more about these biblical, spiritual principles for personal transformation through inner healing and deliverance, you might consider ordering my dvd's from a healing prayer weekend called "Preparing the Way of the Lord." You can send a note or order it from the resources page of our web site: http://www.messiah-ministries.org To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Signs of the Times 3-22-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I look to You and await Your coming, for You are always coming to those You watch and wait for You. ... "The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, 'When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah'" (Matthew 16:1-3). The first day of Spring came this week. And then a day of snow came this week. What are the signs of the times? How should we interpret these things? It seems, at the very least, these signs would say that things are not right. Like a fever lets us know that something in the body is not right, so the earth is letting us know that something is not right. "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. ... We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, grown inwardly while we wait for adoption, for the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:19-23). It is Your judgment and Your mercy to let us know when things are not right. It is a call to join in the travail of prayer, to awaken us to the reality of the evil and adultery in our generation and in our own hearts. It is a call to repentance -- to confess our sin and the sins of our generations so we can turn away from sin and turn to You by the grace of Your love for us. Through repentance, Your "mercy triumph over judgment" (James 2:13). Father, open my eyes to the signs of the times. Open my ears to the cry of creation and cry of the Spirit. Give me courage and hope to enter into this season of birth pangs, as Christ is being formed in me and in all who turn to You in repentance and faith. The sign of Jonah was the ark -- the only place of safety in the coming days of judgment. You are the Ark. You are the only Place of safety in the coming days of judgment, and You will lift us up into the safety of Your protection. As we turn to You in repentance for ourselves and for our generations, Your mercy will triumph over judgment. This is the redemption of our bodies and the adoption of our souls as the children of God we long to have in the fullness of Your salvation -- not only our redemption, but the redemption of all creation. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, we recorded The Fountain live last Friday Night. Please send me a note if you would like to order it on CD and experience it with us. We are working out the distribution details and want to share the blessing. To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Forty Days 3-21-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of the morning, I turn my eyes toward You, opening my heart to Your Holy Spirit and resting in the arms of my Father, here in the communion of prayer. ... "Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty day and forty nights" (Exodus 24:15-18). Lord, You have called me again this year to a season of fasting for forty days from to the repentance of Ash Wednesday to the resurrection of Easter Sunday. Thank You for allowing me the grace of juices of fruit and fluids of vitamins to help sustain my strength and health. You are drawing me up to the mountain of Your presence; but the closer I come, the more Your devouring fire is revealing and consuming my flesh -- the unsanctified areas of my soul that are not yet like Jesus. Like Isaiah, the more I behold Your glory, the more I find myself crying out in my spirit, "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5). John Wesley charged his preachers with nineteen questions to affirm their calling and commitment to You before commissioning them as ambassadors of Your gospel. At ordination, I also affirmed those historic vows as a Methodist minister -- one of "Mr. Wesley's preachers," but above all, one of Your preachers. Question sixteen affirms the spiritual discipline of fasting as a means of growing in holiness of heart and life: "Will you recommend fasting and abstinence, both by precept and example?" -- to teach it and to live it. Fasting speaks of the process of sanctification and spiritual transformation -- death to the indulgences of our own desires of the flesh in order to be awakened to a life of the desires of the Your Spirit. "So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh -- for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God 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 also may be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:12-17). By grace You have called me to this process, and by grace You are bringing me through it. Morning by morning and day by day, I become more desperate and dependent upon You alone. May this season of fasting be a means of Your grace to join in the struggle of Your suffering, as it becomes a means of Your grace to join the joy of Your resurrection. "He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards He was famished" (Matthew 4:2). Lord, make me more famished still for You, for Your Word, and for Your Spirit. I stand on Your promise by faith, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (verse 5:6). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please join with me in praying for Rev. Jeffrey Bealmear and his mission team as he preaches and ministers to the people of Honduras this coming week. To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

"Go Out to War" 3-20-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I prepare my heart for You, as I welcome You to come and prepare me for the battles and adventures of the day. ... "When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots, an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Before you engage in the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the troops, and say to them: 'Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic, or be in dread of them; for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory!' " (Deuteronomy 20:1-4). The wars and battles in the natural realm of the Old Testament speak to us of the wars and battles in the spiritual realm of the New Testament. Our true enemies are not flesh and blood, but the spiritual forces of wickedness of "this present darkness," who often deceive and confuse those of flesh and blood to be the instruments of wickedness and destruction through their words and actions in our lives (Ephesians 6:12). Every day is a new battle. And in this broken and fallen world cloaked under cover of darkness and deception by "the ruler of this world," we are called to "go out to war" (John 12:31, 14:30, and 16:11). As we do, Your light overcomes the darkness by every choice we make to walk in the truth of Your light rather than bowing to the deception of the darkness. You give us the victory as we enforce the victory of Your cross in the power of Your Spirit. "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:31). Sometimes it seems like I am outnumbered and overwhelmed, but I do not fight alone. In fact, I cannot fight alone. Apart from you I would already be defeated. But You are the Priest who stands before me to encourage me and fill me with courage and faith for the battle. You are the Warrior who rises within in me to give me Your heart and to give me Your victory. I need not fear, for You are with me, and by Your Holy Spirit, You are within me. You do not stand back in the safety of Heaven and send me "out to war", You arise in my heart to go out to war through me along with all those who welcome You into their hearts to give us heart for the battles we face on earth. The moment I take we stand in You and allow You to take Your stand in us, our enemy is defeated and the victory is won. "The Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's!" (1 Samuel 17:46) In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com

Obedience Brings Blessing 3-19-06

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I worship You, my Father. I welcome You, Holy Spirit. Teach me the wisdom of Your ways and give me the desire to obey Your will. I watch and wait for Your leading in silent surrender before Your throne. ... "You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord. If you follow My statutes and keep My commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and the vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and live securely in your land. And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid. ... And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be My people" (Leviticus 26:3-12). Obedience brings blessing. You desire from me the obedience of a son, not the obedience of a slave or a hired hand. You desire obedience "from the heart" (Romans 6:17). This is the obedience that comes from the desire to please You and to trust You because I believe You love me and You know what is best for me. If I keep Your sabbaths, I will learn to rest in You. If I reverence Your sanctuary, I will know the place of peace in Your presence. If I lie down from the labors of my flesh and rest in the strength of Your Word and Your will, I will experience the Your love that casts away all my fears and anxieties and stress. As I continually welcome You to walk with me through the moments of my life, I will know with ever-increasing certainty that You are my God and I am Your son. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, or to order my teaching and prayer dvd's for spiritual transformation through inner healing and deliverance, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord." Address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, Kentucky 40502.On the Web: http://www.messiah-ministries.orgCome to The Fountain the 3rd Friday night of every month at 7 pm for our citywide gathering for prayer and worship in the chapel. Daily archives: http://morningbymorning.injesus.com