Morning by Morning, April 23 - "Good Treasure of the Heart"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Align my heart with Yours.  ...

"The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45).

You've given me Your Spirit to change my heart. You save me and heal me and free me as You transform me from the inside out. Your Word says, "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). 

Your love is the good treasure in my heart. Your love is what produces good in my life and through my life. Your love is what causes good thoughts to come into my mind and good words to come out of my mouth.

So I need You to pour the good treasure of Your love into my heart every day. Apart from You, there's nothing good in me. "We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7). You're the Potter and my heart is Your clay (Isaiah 64:8). Mold my heart with Your nail-scarred hands and fill me up with the good treasure of Your love today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

May the Holy Spirit fill your heart with the good treasure of God's love today, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 22 - Pursuing Christ

Good morning, Lord Jesus. In the communion of prayer I want to start my day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:8 NLT).

Nothing compares with You, Lord Jesus. Nothing is to have a higher place in my heart. Thank You for family and friends, for provision and purpose, for the love of my life and all the good things I could never imagine I'd experience in this world. But above all, let the passionate pursuit of knowing You consume my life. 

As I pursue Your Presence and listen for Your voice in these first moments of my morning, it seems I hear You say:  "I am your Treasure. I am your Prize. Pursue Me with all your heart. My greatest gift to you in an insatiable hunger for Me."  ...

Yes, Lord. Give me a greater hunger still. As best as I can and all by Your grace, I willingly choose to passionately pursue You with all my heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

May you be filled with an insatiable hunger to pursue Christ, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 21 - Called to Be Like Jesus

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let Your words of spirit and life saturate my soul, as I begin my day in the communion of prayer with You, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  ...

"Love has been perfected among us in this:  that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).

I am to be like You in this world. I'm to love like You and to live like You. There is no other standard; there is no other goal. And as I look in my heart and look at my life, I see how far I have to go.

So I need more of You -- more of Your Spirit, more of Your Word. I need more of Your love and more of Your power. And I am forever in need of more of Your grace, which is the power of God at work within me to make me more like You. "For it is God who is at work in (me), enabling (me) both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). 

Let me never settle for less that all You created me to be. "Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do:  forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12-14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

May you be empowered by the grace of God at work within you by His Spirit to make you more like Jesus each day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

   

Friends, Thank You for all your prayers for us this weekend for our Breakthrough Prayer II Conference at Bear Creek United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas where I was teaching on healing prayer ministry. I spent all day Sunday in 30 minute prayer sessions to model prayer ministry. Please join me in prayer to see breakthrough  and transformation, with healing from the inside out in every life and situation we brought before the Lord. And I pray for a fresh awakening of prayer and healing ministry through your church and the Body of Christ. God bless you!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 17 - Impartation of Spiritual Gifts

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I am Yours and You are mine. I love You because You first loved me.  ...

"I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you -- or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine" (Romans 1:11-12).

Thank You for the gift of my salvation. Thank You for the gift of life and then the gift of new life. Thank You for the gift of the Father's love and the Father's blessing and the Father's favor. Thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit living in me and Your spiritual gifts flowing through me. And thank You for the gift of getting to give away all You've given to me in the never-ending flow of Your life through my life. This is all part of our inheritance as children of God, as we grow in our understanding of our identity and live into the fullness of our destiny in Christ (Romans 8:17).

One of the ways You equip us and empower us to live our lives for Your glory is through the impartation of spiritual gifts. Paul said he was longing to come encourage the believers in Rome and to "impart" to them spiritual gifts (Romans 8:11 NKJV). What You had done in him, what You had poured into him, he wanted to give away to them. "Freely (we) have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8 NKJV). That's an expression of the heart of a spiritual father, an expression of the heart of our heavenly Father.

Near the end of his life, Paul reminded Timothy of the spiritual gifts that were imparted to him:  "Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders" (1 Timothy 4:14). And in the parting words of his last letter, Paul spoke to Timothy as "my beloved child" to leave a legacy of encouragement and spiritual confidence in the heart of his spiritual son (2 Timothy 1.2). He spoke again of the impartation of spiritual gifts:  "For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands" (2 Timothy 1:6).

You give us Your Holy Spirit, and You give us spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12:7).  And, at the same time, You also impart spiritual gifts to us through one another as You will. Thank You for those who were willing to share with me and impart to me all You desired to pour into me through them. And thank You for the opportunities to go and do likewise, freely receiving and freely giving, for the glory of Your name, for the coming of Your kingdom, and for the maturing of Your bride. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

May you freely receive and freely give all the gifts of God He pours into you and through you for His glory through your life, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

   

Friends, I'm excited to be returning to Bear Creek United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas this weekend to continue speaking on Inner Healing Prayer Ministry and equipping prayer ministry teams during our Level 2 Training. Please keep us in prayer, and I pray for a fresh awakening of prayer and healing ministry through your church and the Body of Christ. God bless you!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 16 - God's Words in Our Mouths

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and wait for Your leading to begin my day in the communion of prayer -- embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...

"I have put My words in your mouth, and hidden you in the shadow of My hand, stretching out the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, 'You are My people' " (Isaiah 51:16).

Let Your words be in my mouth. Let Your thoughts be in my mind and Your desires in my heart. Conform my nature into Your nature. Make me more like You today.

Lord Jesus, You are the Word of God (John 1:1). You are the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Now by Your Spirit living in my heart, renewing my mind, conforming me into Your image, speak forth Your word through my flesh today (Romans 8:29; Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Peter 1:4; 2 Thessalonians 5:23). In that way, let my life become an expression of Your word in my world each day.

Sanctify my tongue and put Your burning coal from Your heavenly altar to my lips (Isaiah 6:7). As I talk or teach, as I prophecy or preach, as I exhort or encourage, let my words be Your words, secure in the knowledge that the One who is the Word lives in me, putting Your words in my mouth. Give me both the humility and the confidence to fulfill Your promise and obey Your command:  "Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

May your heart and mind, your tongue and words be sanctified by the Spirit as the Lord expresses His words through your life today, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Friends, I'm excited to be returning to Bear Creek United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas this weekend to continue speaking on Inner Healing Prayer Ministry and equipping prayer ministry teams during our Level 2 Training. Please keep us in prayer, and I pray for a fresh awakening of prayer and healing ministry through your church and the Body of Christ. God bless you!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 15 - Burning Heart

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart. Lead me in the way that leads to life today.  ...

"Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.... When he was at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. They said to each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while He was talking to us on the road, while He opened the Scriptures to us?' " (Luke 24:13-32).

Lord Jesus, as I speak of You, would You come near to me? As read of You, would You cause my heart to burn within me? 

The words of Moses and the words of the prophets speak of You, the One who fulfills the promises of God (v. 24:27). The words of the Scriptures of God prepare the way of the Lord in my heart to encounter the Presence of God. And You come near. You open my eyes to see and awaken my faith to believe.

In the communion of Your Presence, grounded in Your Word, let Your Spirit burn in my heart. Set me ablaze with a passion for You in these first moment of my morning and let my heart burn within me throughout the moments of my day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

Friend,   May your heart burn within you as Jesus comes near by His Spirit and through His Word, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Friends, I'm excited to be returning to Bear Creek United Methodist Church in Houston, Texas this weekend to continue speaking on Inner Healing Prayer Ministry and equipping prayer ministry teams during our Level 2 Training. Please keep us in prayer, and I pray for a fresh awakening of prayer and healing ministry through your church and the Body of Christ. God bless you!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 13 - "My Lord and My God!"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I believe You and I trust You. Help me live like it today.  ...

"But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, 'We have seen the Lord.' But he said to them, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in His side, I will not believe.' And week later His disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' Then He said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it in My side. Do not doubt but believe.' Thomas answered Him, 'My Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe' " (John 20:24-29).

The highest declaration of the Deity of Jesus Christ recorded in all of Scripture -- "My Lord and My God!" -- came from the lips of the one who had doubted the most. Thomas said, "I will not believe." But when he saw Your hands, scarred by Your love, and heard Your voice, inviting him near, all his doubts were flooded with faith.

Years ago, I was honored to preach near the place in southern India where Thomas laid down his life in the sacrifice of his love for You as his Lord and His God that never waivered from that moment forth. I was humbled to remember how blessed we are by the power of Your grace to believe. We're not able to see You in the flesh and put our fingers in Your hands, but we are able to trust You in our hearts, as You turn our doubts to faith and we come to believe.

Lord, give me greater compassion for those who find it hard to believe. In one sense, they are fighting a battle they didn't choose:  "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Corinthians 4:4). Let them see Christ in me. Let them hear Your voice reaching out to them in Your love through me. "We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us (2 Corinthians 5:20). Let their minds be freed and their eyes be opened to see You for who You are for all of us -- our Lord and our God. In Jesus' name I pray Amen.

 

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

Friend,   May you grow in the confidence of your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and your God, sharing the light of the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ through your life every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Friends, thank you for your prayers for us last weekend in Lexington, Kentucky at our conference with Voice of Joy Ministries. We saw miracles and experienced the powerful presence of the Lord! I pray the same for  you everywhere Christ send you!       

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 7 - Saved and Sent

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are my risen Savior. Come live in my heart today.  ...

"When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you.' And after this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, 'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.' When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained' " (John 20:19-23).

After Your resurrection, You came to Your disciples to give them peace for their souls and fire in their spirits. You saved them and You sent them. You never intended for them to become complacent in the peace of their salvation, but to be empowered by the breath of Your Spirit.

Just as the Father sent You, so You sent them. They were to go in Your name and the power of Your Spirit -- teaching what You taught and doing what You did in the power You had. The same Spirit that anointed You, empowered You, and raised You from the dead, would be with them.

Now in every generation since that first generation, You still send Your disciples in the power of Your Spirit (John 14:12). "Because as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). We are the Body of Christ, filled with the Spirit of Christ, continuing the ministry of Christ, throughout the nations and throughout the generations to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 12:12).

Lord, breathe the breath of our Spirit upon Your Body today. Let us come alive today, as You send us in Your name -- saved and sent in the power of God for the glory of God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

My Friend,   May you be filled with the Spirit of Christ and go in the name of Christ to teach what He taught and do what He did in the power He had, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

 

Friends, if you're in the Lexington, Kentucky area, please come join us April 10-11 at All Nations United Methodist Church for the Walking in the Spirit Conference hosted by Voice of Joy Ministries. I'm excited to be preaching Friday Night and joining many old friends in times of teaching, worship, and ministry. All are welcome! Register Online at www.VoiceOfJoyMinistries.com

         

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 6 - "The Resurrection and the Life"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Fill me with Your life, teach me Your truth, and lead me in Your way today.  ...

"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?' She said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One coming into the world'" (John 11:25-27).

Before the journey to the cross, You knew the journey of fulfillment of all the plans and promises of God would take You through death and into life. You knew that there would be a day of the cross, but also a day of the empty tomb, a moment of death, but also an eternity of life.

You promise the same journey for all who believe -- through death and into life.  Believing in You, we follow You through the death of relying on ourselves into the life of completely trusting in You, through the death of being led by our flesh into the life of being led by Your Spirit, through the death of all the empty promises and unfulfilling dreams this broken, fallen world has to offer us and into the life of being more than conquerors, overcoming this world because the One who has overcome this world now lives in us. 

"(We) have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer (we) who live, but it is Christ who lives in (us). And the life (we) now live in the flesh (we) live by faith in the Son of God, who loved (us) and gave Himself for (us)" (Galatians 2:19-20). 

Yes, Lord. I believe that You are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is coming into the world. You've come into my world and into my heart. Now as I journey through this world, I journey by faith in the Son of God and with the Spirit of the living God living in me. "The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in (me)" (Romans 8:11). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

My Friend,   May you go in the way of Christ through your world today with His resurrection life and power in you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

 

Friends, if you're in the Lexington, Kentucky area, please come join us April 10-11 at All Nations United Methodist Church for the Walking in the Spirit Conference hosted by Voice of Joy Ministries. I'm excited to be preaching Friday Night and joining many old friends in times of teaching, worship, and ministry. All are welcome! Register Online at www.VoiceOfJoyMinistries.com

         

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 5 - Christ Arise!

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Arise in my heart today!  ...

"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" (Luke 24:5-7).

Today, we remember and celebrate Your resurrection. And everyday You invite us to remember and celebrate we are also alive in Christ. "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!" (Ephesians 5:14)

Come, Holy Spirit -- You are the Spirit of the living Christ, living in me (Romans 8:9). Make me more like Jesus today. Let the light of Christ shine in me and the love of Christ flow though me. This is the resurrection power of the resurrected Christ. Let Christ arise in me so that everywhere I go everyone knows Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

Friend,   May the Spirit of Christ arise in you and the love of Christ float through you in resurrection power, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

          

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 3 - "What is Your Verdict?"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Before I draw near to You in intimacy, I first bow before You in humility. Thank You for forgiving me of all that would ever separate me from You. Thank You for Your sacrifice of love for me through the cross of Christ. ...

"Those who arrested Jesus took Him to Caiaphas the high priest, in whose house the scribes and the elders had gathered.... No the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put Him to death, but they found none, through many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, 'This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.'" The high priest stood up and said, 'Have You no answer? What is it that they testify against You?' But Jesus was silent. Then the high priest said to Him, 'I put You under oath before the living God, tell us if You are the Messiah, the Son of God.' Jesus said to Him, 'You have said so. But I tell you, From now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.' Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard His blasphemy! What is your verdict?" They answered, "He deserves death." Then they spat in His face and struck Him; and some slapped Him, saying, 'Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck You?'" (Matthew 26:57-68).

It sickens my stomach as I read and remember all they did. And it saddens my heart as I read and remember all You did. And this day, before I hurry on to the joy and celebration of Your resurrection and mine, I want to take time to reflect how much the joy of my salvation and resurrection cost You. "For the sake of the joy that was set before (You, You) endured the cross, disregarding its shame" -- all for me and for all You love so much to save.

They didn't believe You. They didn't receive You. They mocked You and cursed You and spit in Your face. They handed You over to be tortured to death in the cruelty of the cross (Matthew 27:1-2). And even as You hung on the cross, innocent as a Lamb, for their sins and mine, rejected and despised despite all Your love, You still cried out in Your dying breaths for the mercy of God: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

How ironic that they stood to judge You, the One "who (now) stands ready to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5). In their arrogance and pride that blinded them from seeing who You were and what You were sacrificing for them, they defiantly asked of themselves, "What is your verdict?" And their mistaken response was "He deserves death."

Yet that is the question You set before us:  "What is your verdict?" From heaven's throne, seated at the right hand of Power, You ask each one of us, "Who do you say that I am?" (Matthew 16:15)  The rightful response is "We deserve death." But by the grace and the power of God through Your love and sacrifice for us, You have overcome death and its judgment for sin for all of us. "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring (us) to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18).

My verdict is that I am guilty, but You are my Savior. Now I am forgiven and free, alive in the Spirit, because Your Spirit lives in me. "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). And on this day we remember the sacrifice of the cross, I proclaim to You with all my heart the mystery of faith, "Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again." In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

My Friend,  I join with you this day in remembering all Jesus has done for us. May you know with all your heart you are forgiven and free through the sacrifice of Christ, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

          

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 2 - The Cup of Communion in Christ

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me to the cross and through the cross into resurrection life in You.  ...

"While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it He broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' Then He took the cup, and after giving thanks He gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:26-29).

On the night You were betrayed, You offered Your disciples the bread, speaking of Your body, and the cup, speaking of Your blood. You offered Yourself completely to them, inviting them of offer themselves completely to You in the cup of communion in Christ.

Once before, You had spoken of this cup. James and John were seeking places of position and power in Your kingdom to come, saying, "Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your glory" (Mark 10:37). And that's when You told them about the cup of communion in Christ -- that the same cup of communion of life in Christ is also the cup of communion of death to self in Christ:  "But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?' They replied, 'We are able.' Then Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at My right hand or at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared'" (Mark 10:38-40).

This cup of communion in Christ that leads to the place of glory in the intimacy of Your presence begins in the place of suffering the death of self -- surrendering our will to Your will, no longer living for ourselves but living for You. Through Your sacrifice of love for us, "we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ -- if, in fact, we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:16-17).

Truly our minds can't fully fathom and our hearts can't begin to conceive just how much that cup of communion cost You in the sacrifice of the cross. After You offered the cup to Your disciples, You went away to pray in the communion of the presence of the Father, "deeply grieved, even to death" (Matthew 26:38). You spoke again of this cup, crying out to the Father in the anguish of Your spirit, knowing the cost of this cup of sacrifice at hand:  "And going a little farther, He threw Himself on the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible; let this cup pass from Me; yet not what I want but what You want" (Matthew 26:39).

It's only by the power of the grace of God that I can drink of this cup that You drank for me. It's only by the power of the grace of God that I can choose, or even desire, to lay down my life in the death to my self, to take up my cross and follow You (Matthew 16:24). I may never fully know just how much it cost for You to drink that cup, but with all my heart, I'm thankful You did. I'm forgiven and free, all because of Your sacrifice in love and grace for me. Now I can live forever in communion with You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

My Friend,  by the power of the grace of God, may you live your life fully surrendered to Him in the communion of Christ, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

         

  

Friends, Thank You for your prayers for me and and our team at the First Wednesday Worship & Healing Service last night at Oak Hills Church. I was honored to get to share a message on hope and healing, then join our Rapha God Ministries team and the Oak Hills Prayer Team to pray personally with people after the message. I had the joy of leading someone to embrace Jesus as Lord and Savior in their  heart last night and at least one other young man did too with one of our other teams. Many gave testimonies of healing and encouragement at the end. Praise God! I pray God's blessing for you and your ministry to others in the name of Jesus!
 

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, April 1 - Looking for a Way to Kill the Spirit of Christ

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Here in the communion of prayer, help me start off my day and every day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...

"Every day He was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill Him; but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard" (Luke 19:47-48).

Control and conformity hate freedom. Self-righteousness and arrogance detest humility. Power and position fear persistence and passion. And evil abhors all that is holy and pure and good.

But every day, You proclaimed the truth. Every day You taught about the righteousness, peace, and joy of the kingdom of God in the power of Your Spirit (Luke 9:11; Romans 14:17). Every day You lived out the law of love and the power of grace in the face of lifeless ritual, suffocating legalism, and spiritual oppression. And they hated You for it.

They looked for a way to kill You. The spirit of evil was looking for a ay to kill the Spirit of Christ. And finally the evil thought came to their evil minds to use the authority of this world to put You to death in the most cruel and humiliating way they could conceive (Matthew 27:15-23). Yet at the same time, all was foreseen in the sovereign will of the Father to turn this greatest travesty of justice into the greatest act of mercy, this horrendous act of evil into the eternal victory of good over evil, love over hate, and life over death. "But we speak of God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:7-8).

Lord Jesus, come speak Your truth in the temple of my heart every day. Give me courage to stand firm in the faith, persisting with passion, to do the will of my Father in the power and grace of Your Holy Spirit, overcoming evil with good (Romans 12:21). Let me look for a way to die to my self, crucified with Christ, and alive in Your Spirit (Galatians 2:19-20). Empower me to live in the grace of Your eternal victory of life over death through the power of the cross. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

Friend,  May the Spirit of Christ arise in you to overcome evil with good in the grace of God and the power of the cross as you die to self, alive in Christ, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

         

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, March 31 - Very Costly Anointing

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You call my name to come along and follow You along the journey of my day in the constant communion of prayer.  ...

"Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on His head as He sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, 'Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.' But Jesus, aware of this, said to t hem, 'Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service to Me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have Me. By pouring this ointment on My body she has prepared Me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her' " (Matthew 26:6-13).

The anointing of the oil poured over Your head prepared You for burial. And the anointing of Your Spirit poured over my heart prepares me for the death to my self and the resurrection into life in Christ.

The ointment was very costly. And so is the anointing of Your Holy Spirit. It costs us all we have. It costs us our self-centered pride, our insistence on our own will apart from Your will, our claim to absolute ownership of all we have and all we are.

And the disciples who saw the extravagance of her sacrifice were angry. Though their time would come when they would also experience the anointing of Your Spirit, they had not yet come to the place of complete surrender of self. They were resentful of one who was, mocking her and judging her for wasting her time and her resources, foolish in her choices of priorities.

They didn't get it because they didn't have It. They had not yet been willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Christ, to be emptied of themselves that they could be filled with Your Spirit. "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Lord, don't let me be that kind of disciple. Don't let me ever settle for that -- following You with my words, but not fully following You with all my heart, resentful of those who long to be closer to You and of those who seem to have Your blessing and favor, as they offer all they are and all they have to You alone. Give me a right heart, an extravagant heart, that's willing to pour out my life for the fullness of life in You. 

This is what it really means to follow You on the journey to the cross. Your invitation to Your first disciples is still Your invitation to every disciple:  "Whoever does not take up the cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:38). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

Friend,  May you freely pour out all you have and all you are to Christ alone, as He anoints you with His Holy Spirit to fully follow Him, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

          

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, March 30 - Cleanse the Temple of My Heart

Good morning, Lord Jesus. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit -- I worship You, O Lord, my God; and I welcome You in every dimension of Your Being into every dimension of my being.  ...

"Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said them, 'It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers.' The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that He did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!' they became angry and said to Him, 'Do You hear what these are saying?' Jesus said to them, 'Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself'?" (Matthew 21:12-17)

In the temple You confronted the money changers and spiritual merchandisers. You confronted the false teachers and religious hypocrites. And You confronted the spirit of antichrist that blinded the eyes and hardened the hearts of the leaders and the people from seeing that You were the Christ, the Son of the Living God, who had come to rule and reign the temple of their hearts in fulfillment of the promises and prophecies of the Word of God (2 Corinthians 4:4).

"By this you know the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world" (1 John 4:2-3).

One day the spirit of antichrist will be fully manifested in one who will seek to rule and reign from the temple of God. "He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God" (1 Thessalonians 2:4). He will deny You and try to replace You as Lord and Christ, in Your temple and in the hearts of all people. "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also" (1 John 2:22-23).

Come, Holy Spirit. You are "the Spirit of Christ," living the temple of the hearts of all who believe and confess Jesus as Christ and Lord of all (Romans 8:9). Drive everything out of the temple of my heart that would deny or dishonor Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:16). I reject and renounce the spirit of antichrist in the name of Jesus and command it to go (James 4:7). In its place, keep filling me with the Spirit of Christ, to rule and reign in the temple of my heart, forever in communion with You (Ephesians 5:18). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

Friend,  May your heart be cleansed from all that would ever deny or dishonor Jesus as Christ and Lord of all, as you are forever filled with the Spirit of Christ in the temple of your heart, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

         

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!