Morning by Morning, May 7 - "Go Out and Grow Fat!"

 

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

"'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the Lord of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,' says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 4:1-3 NKJV).

Finally! I knew there was a verse in the Bible somewhere that said "go out and grow fat!" Thank You, Lord for leading me to this verse today! My wife and friends seem to think I'm supposed to go out to the gym and grow skinny. But no doubt, that would only lead me to be among "the proud" and find myself among the "stubble" instead of among the humble and hearty. Yes, Your ways are truly higher than our ways and Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts! 

But somehow, even as I write my morning prayer today, I sense You are speaking something deeper. You're speaking of the blessings that come with obedience to You, flowing out of a trusting relationship with You. When we are among those "who fear (Your) name," who honor Your Word, who entrust their lives to the One who loves us and leads us in the paths of righteousness, "the Sun of Righteousness" arises in our lives. And even the enemy of our souls is trampled under our feet.  

So, Lord, please forgive me for taking a little liberty and having a little fun with my morning prayer today. But after all, You are the One who said, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17 NKJV) and "in Your presence is fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11 NKJV)  "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope" (Psalm 16:9 NKJV).  

Forgiven and free, would You fill me afresh with Your Spirit today (Ephesians 5:18).  By the power of Your grace, may I go out and grow fat in the security of my identity in You, living into the fullness of the destiny of my blessings in You--"leaping like a (fat) calf from the stall!" (Malachi 4:2 NRSV)  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you are filled with the joy of the Lord today, going out and growing fat in the fullness of all He has for you and desires to do through you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

   

   

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Available Today through Amazon

 

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, May 4 - Always Ready for the Presence of God

  

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain.... So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones; and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, 'The Lord (YHWH)'" (Exodus 34:1-5). 

O Lord, my God--Yahweh, Jehovah, Great I AM, Abba Father--I want to "be ready in the morning" to come up to the mountain of Your Presence, here in the communion of my heart in worship and prayer. Touch Your finger to the tablet of my heart and write Your will for my day along the journey of my life into my soul. 

When Moses came down from the mountain, "the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God" (Exodus 34:24). And now in the "New Covenant, not of letter but of Spirit" in Christ, I never have to come down from the mountain or out of Your Presence (2 Corinthians 3:6; Luke 22:20). By Your great mercy and loving grace, I can be always ready, always available, always waiting on You and welcoming You, always embracing You and Your Presence with me--here in communion with my spirit, shining with the light of Your glory through my heart and upon the countenance of my face. "For it is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray you are always ready for the Presence of God, always available for His manifest Presence to fill your heart and flow through your life every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

   

   

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Available Today through Amazon

 

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, May 3 - National Day of Prayer

Good morning, Lord Jesus. O Lord, my God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--You are holy and You are here--here in my heart and here in every moment of my day.  ... 

"Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.... Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in You" (Psalm 33:12-22 NKJV). 

Let Your mercy be upon us, Lord--upon the people of our nation and the nations of our world. We need You. So move in our hearts to seek You, to humble ourselves before You, to call on Your name and turn from our sins and embrace Your ways. Let our rule of law be just and fair. Let our attitude of heart be welcoming and kind, loving and strong. Let our state of mind be the mind of Christ--standing firm in the truth, but also speaking and living the truth in love, sacrificially and courageously for the sake of all that is right and true. And "let (our) light so shine before men, that they may see (our) good works and glorify (our) Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16 NKJV). 

This is my prayer for my nation and for the nations of our world. Just as Daniel stood in the gap to intercede for his land, so I join in prayer with all those who humble themselves to pray for our land on this National Day of Prayer:  "We do not present our supplication before You on the ground of our righteousness, but on the ground of Your great mercies. O  Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and act and do not delay! For Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people bear Your name!" (Daniel 9:18-19)  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I join in prayer with you and all who love our nation to the Lord our God to hear and move in our hearts and our land, to be a shining light in our world, in Jesus' name! God bless you, my friend! 

   

   

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Available Today through Amazon

 

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, May 2 - Appointed and Anointed

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to start my day in the center of Your will and surrounded by Your presence--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ... 

"Whenever the unclean spirits saw (Jesus), they fell down before Him and shouted, 'You are the Son of God!' ... He went up the mountain and called to Him those whom He wanted, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve, whom He also named apostles, to be with Him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons" (Mark 3:11-15). 

Your first followers to came to You and were sent out by You. They were Your disciples, Your apostles--appointed and anointed to grow in the nature of Your character and to go in the authority of Your name. They were not "the Son of God," but they were sons of God. And so are we--the sons and daughters of God, coming to You and being sent out by You (Romans 8:16). We're led by the same Spirit (Romans 8:14). And the same Spirit and power that raised You from the dead lives in us and flows through us to proclaim Your message of forgiveness and freedom, healing and hope, by Your authority and in Your power, everywhere You send us (Romans 8:11). 

Just as the Father sent You, so You send us--filling us with Your Spirit and grounding us in Your Word (John 20:21). Our names are written in heaven and on the palms of Your hands (Isaiah 49:16). And in the authority and power of Your name, even the demons must submit to us and our position in You as disciples of Christ and children of God (Luke 10:19). Thank You for the invitation to keep coming to You in the intimacy of prayer and the communion of Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). 

Thank You for the assurance of Your presence, that You are always with me, abiding in me as I abide in You (Matthew 28:20; John 15:4). And thank You for appointing me and anointing me to go with joy and faith, as You send me to be Your ambassador as an extension of Your Word and Your Spirit, secure in my identity and fulfilling my destiny. This is Your will and Your plan for every one of Your sons and daughters. And even all "creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God" (Romans 8:19).  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray you go in joy and faith everywhere Jesus sends you in His authority and power, growing in His nature and going in His name, appointed and anointed as a disciple of Christ and a child of God, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

   

   

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Available Today through Amazon

 

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 30 - "Filled with All the Fullness of God"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Majestic and mighty One, fill my heart and my life today.  ... 

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of His glory, He may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:14-19). 

Lord, how is it possible that I may be "filled with all the fullness of God?"  ... 

It seems I hear You saying in my heart:  "The more you yield, the more you are filled. Yield to My love--to love Me and love others, as you receive My love for you. I Am Love. As I fill you with My love, I am filling you with all the fullness of God." ... 

Yes, Lord. Help me learn to yield. Help me learn to love. Help me learn how to be filled with all the fullness of God. 

"God's love has been poured into (my) heart through the Holy Spirit that has been given to (me)" (Romans 5:5).  

As You said long ago to Your first disciples, so You continue to speak into the hearts of every disciple:  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40). "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35).  

Yielding to You and Your love is the only way to be filled with Your Spirit and conformed to Your nature--to "become participants of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). "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 is love and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:7-16).  

As best as I can and all by Your grace, I yield to You and Your love today. Free me to be faithful to yield even more to You tomorrow. Morning by morning--even moment by moment--keep filling me "with all the fullness of God." In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

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

My Friend, I pray you are filled with all the fullness o God--yielding to Him and His love for you and His love through you, more and more every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

   

   

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Available Today through Amazon

 

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 25 - Every Day with Jesus

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords, be King and Lord of my heart and my life this day and every day. ...

 

You're our Savior. And You're also our Example. Your life on earth is a model for our life in You. You teach the way by showing us the way--how to live well, how to love well, even how to suffer well and ultimately die well. "For this (we) have been called, because Christ also suffered for (us), leaving (us) an example, so that (we) should follow in His steps" (1 Peter 2:18). "As He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).

 

Let Your Word come alive in my thoughts. Let Your Spirit arise in my heart. Let Your example be a compass for my soul in every choice I make along the journey of my day. Remind me every moment that I'm never alone. You're with me "always" (Matthew 28:20). And remind me every moment that I'm never on my own to try to live out this life in my own power, my own wisdom, or my own righteousness, but by the power of Your grace at work with me, making me more like You each day. "For God is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what please Him" (Philippians 2:13 NLT).

 

So I look forward to start each day with You--to intentionally, deliberately welcome Your Spirit and Your Word and Your Presence into me and every moment of my day. In daily trust and surrender, "(my) life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1). You're showing me the way to live every day in You--every day with Jesus. In Jesus' name pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray you walk with Jesus every day--in His steps, by His example, in His Spirit with your life hidden with Christ in God, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

   

   

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Available Today through Amazon

 

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 24 - Live and Move and Be in Him

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Here in my heart, here in the communion of prayer to begin my day, let me be embraced in my Father's arms, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit to begin my day well and live my day well, all in the power of Your grace and the intimacy of Your Presence.  ...

 

"In Him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:25).

 

Lord, let there be less of the world in me and more of You in me. Let there be less of my will and more of Your will, less of my ways and more of Your ways. Instead of it being all about me, let it be all about You. Free me from myself so that I live and move and have my being in You rather than me. 

 

How to I do that, Lord?  ...

 

It seems I hear You saying in my heart, "Turn Your attention to Me. Take time to look to Me and listen to Me, to sit silently before Me with your spirit actively worshipping Me and welcoming Me into union with you. Allow Me to put My thoughts in your mind and My desires in your heart so I can guide your steps in My ways as I walk with you on the journey of each day."  ...

 

Yes, Lord. Let it be so. "Anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). As I abide in You, You abide in me (John 15:4). May it become "not longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). 

 

Give me a deeper hunger, even an insatiable yearning in my spirit, to become one spirit with You. By the power of Your grace, may I live and move and have my being in You--more and more, every day. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with (us) all" (2 Corinthians 13:13). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

Tommy, I pray you live and move and be in the Lord--embraced by your Father, centered in Christ, and filled with His Holy Spirit, becoming more like Him and walking more closely with Him every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

   

   

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Available Today through Amazon

 

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 23 - The Face of Christ

 

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

 

"For it is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But 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 4:6-7).

 

Lord Jesus, let Your face shine through my face today. Let Your light pierce through my darkness and push back any darkness around me today. Let Your glory overcome my clay and Your Spirit consume my flesh to make me more like You today. And let Your power--Your extraordinary power that comes only from You--be made perfect in my weakness, as I rest in Your grace to shine with Your glory. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

M Friend, I pray the face of Christ shines through your face every day, 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!