Morning by Morning&#8212;Daily Prayer Journey with Tommy Hays

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Thursday, June 14, 2018

Morning by Morning, June 14 - Loyalty and Love - "The Bride has Made Herself Ready!"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit. Be One within me and make me more like You today. ...

"I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go" (Song of Songs 3:4). "Let us rejoice and be glad ... His bride has made herself ready! (Revelation 10:7)

We just returned from my oldest daughter's wedding. I had the great joy of walking her down the aisle and the great honor of leading her and her beloved in their wedding vows. I believe You led me to share and pray from this passionate, romantic love story in the heart of the Bible from the Song of Songs. Truly Elizabeth and Sergey found the one their soul loves. They found love and Love found them. And from the first flicker of a flame in their high school romance a dozen years ago, "with one glance of (her) eyes" she had "ravished (his) heart!" and his heart never stopped burning for her (v. 4:9).

They wanted a simple but spiritual wedding at her aunt and uncle's mountain home in the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee, with mostly family and a few of their closest friends to mark and seal this sacred moment. And at times the emotions of their hearts almost overwhelmed the capacity of their voices to speak the solemn words of loyalty and love. But with pure hearts, surrendered to God and one another, they entrusted themselves to the sacred journey of learning to "love one another deeply from the heart" all the days of their lives (1 Peter 1:22).

Their covenant of love is to be a picture of Your covenant of love with us and ours with You (Ephesians 5:32). It's to be an "everlasting covenant" sealed by the promises and empowered by the grace of our "everlasting God" (Genesis 9:16; Isaiah 40:28). You are our Bridegroom and we are Your bride (Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 22:17). And just as we celebrated the joy of this beautiful bride and her bridegroom, we long for the day all heaven and earth will proclaim, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory. For the wedding day of the Lamb has come, His bride has made herself ready!" (Revelation 19:7 NAB) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you know in your heart that with one glance of your eyes you ravish the heart of your Beloved and He loves you with an everlasting love, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please join with us in your prayers for Elizabeth and Sergey Shutt as they begin their journey of loyalty and love together as husband and wife!

Tommy Hays' 365 Day Prayer Devotional

Morning by Morning, 2nd Edition

"A Deeply Intimate Journey with Jesus"

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Tuesday, June 05, 2018

Morning by Morning, June 5 - The Treasure of "Infinite Value"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of all I am and all I do. ...

"I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared to the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead.... Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things" (Philippians 3:7-15 NLT).

Come, Holy Spirit. Bring me to the place in my heart where knowing Christ is the most important thing in my life. Bring me to the place in my heart where I see every struggle of suffering, every disappointment or delay, every failure when I stumble or fall, everything I experience during this small sliver of time of my journey while I'm on this earth in the flesh, as a opportunity to grow in spiritual maturity to become "one with (Christ)."

Let this be the treasure I seek above all else. This is the treasure of "infinite value" - "the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." I admit, I'm not there yet. Like the apostle Paul, "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things... but I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me.... I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling (me)" (Philippians 3:12-14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray the Holy Spirit stirs in your spirit to pursue the treasure of infinity -- knowing Jesus and experiencing His Presence and power in your life as you are becoming one with Him, 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"

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Friday, June 01, 2018

Morning by Morning, June 1 - My Lamp Full of Oil with a Burning Flame

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Good Shepherd, I'm listening. ...

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps" (Matthew 25:1-4).

My Father God, I thank You for Your Word. "Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). And I thank You for the oil of Your Spirit, the Anointing of the Presence of God. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1-2). With Your Word and Your Spirit in our hearts, we are the body of Christ here in our world. "It is God who establishes with (one another) in Christ and has anointed us, by putting His seal on us and giving us His Spirit in our hearts as a first installment" (2 Corinthians 1:21).

And at the same time, I want to be wise with all You've entrusted to me. I don't want to settle for the level oil of Your Holy Spirit I began with in my lamp of Your Word in my heart. I want more -- more of You, more of Your Spirit, more of Your Presence, more of Your heart, more of Your nature, more of Your anointing of Your power and Your love flowing more freely through my life. I want to be being filled with Your Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). I want "a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over!" (Luke 6:38)

So keep making me hungry and thirsty for more. Thank You for the promise of Your Word: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). I want to be one who is filled -- filled up and ready for Your coming, ready to embrace You with my lamp full and my flame burning (Matthew 25:10). May You "fan into flame" the Gift of God within me (2 Timothy 1:6).

One day You'll come again in Your glory in the clouds (1Thessalonians 4:16; Acts 1:11; Revelation 19:11-16). And at the same time, I hunger and thirst for You to come in Your glory here in my heart right now and every moment between this day and that day to come. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory!" (Colossians 1:27) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray your lamp is full with a burning flame, with God's Word and God's Spirit, flowing freeing in you and through you, always hungering and thirsting for more, 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"

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Thursday, May 31, 2018

Morning by Morning, May 31 - Fire of God, Fall Afresh on Me!

Good morning, Lord Jesus. O Lord, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- stir in my spirit with a passion for Your Presence, as I entrust my life and my day completely to You. ...

"So Ahab sent to all the Israelites, and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel. Elijah then came near to all the people, and said, 'How long will you go limping with two different opinions? ... Let two bulls be given to us; let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it; I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god and I will call on the name of the Lord; the God who answers by fire is indeed God.' All the people answered, 'Well spoken!' ... As midday passed, (the prophets of Baal) raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice, no answer, and no response.... At the time of the offering of the oblation, the prophet Elijah came near and said, 'O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your bidding. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back!' Then the Fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, 'The Lord indeed is God! The Lord indeed is God!'" (1 Kings 18:20-39)

Holy Fire, fall on me! I offer afresh my life as my sacrifice (Romans 12:1). I don't' want to be one limping between the ways of this world and the Word of God, between the gods of this age and the God of the Word. I don't want to compromise or be complacent, double-minded to question the authority of Your Word or wavering to doubt the power of Your Spirit. In the name of Jesus, I renounce the "baals" that would seek to take Your place in my heart and Your authority over my life. And I command them, "Go now, away from me and out of my life, in the mighty name of Jesus and by the power of the Blood of the Lamb!" (Mark 16:17; James 4:7; Revelation 12:11) Come fill me afresh and overflowing with Your Presence and Your power! (Ephesians 5:18; Acts 1:4-8)

Come, Holy Spirit! Consume my offering in the Fire of Your Spirit! Burn out of me all that is not yet like You. Purify me and sanctify me--wholly, completely, entirely -- in my spirit and soul and body, that I may be sound and blameless at the coming of my Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Thessalonians 5:23) You indeed are God! You indeed are God! You are the God who answers by Fire! Let Your Holy Fire fall! Fall on me and everything around me! ...

Even as I pray now, I praise You and worship You in spirit and truth (John 4:23). I praise You in the Spirit and "pray in the Spirit" in "holy faith" (Jude 20). I pray by Your Spirit stirring in my spirit "with sighs too deep for words!" (Romans 8:26) "For indeed our God is a consuming Fire" consuming me right now! (Hebrews 12:29) ...

O Lord, my God, keep on consuming me so that the Fire down in my soul is forever fanned into flame and never burns out! (2 Timothy 1:6; Leviticus 6:12; Matthew 25:1-13) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray the Holy Fire of God falls afresh on you today and every day, fanning into flame the Fire of the Lord hat will never burn out, 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"

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Morning by Morning, May 30 - Awakening Desire to Pursue Holiness of Heart and Life

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

"Then I heard Him speaking to me from the temple, while a man stood beside me. And He said to me, 'Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. No more shall the house of Israel defile My holy name, they nor their kings, by their harlotry or with the carcasses of their kings on their high places. When they set their threshold by My threshold, and their doorpost by My doorpost, with a wall between them and Me, they defiled My holy name by the abominations which they committed; therefore I have consumed them in My anger. Now let them put their harlotry and the carcasses of their kings far away from Me, and I will dwell in their midst forever" (Ezekiel 43:6-9 NKJV).

Your heart is to dwell in our midst forever. In Christ, our heart of Your dwelling place and our body is Your temple (2 Corinthians 3:16). Your Father heart of God longs to have fellowship and intimacy with us. From the beginning You've created us to walk with You in the cool of the day and the garden of Your Presence, but so often our sin and shame, our rebellion and regrets, our compromises and complacency, separate us from hearing Your voice and knowing Your heart and embracing Your love (Genesis 3:8). So often we build our own thresholds and set up our own doorposts by insisting on our own will and our own ways according to what seems right in our own eyes to cover up and displace what is holy and right and pure. That breaks Your heart and sets a wall between us, defiling Your name and our spirits and the intimacy and purity of our relationship with You.

So come, Holy Spirit, in Your purifying, Holy Fire. Burn out of me all that would separate me from You. Refiner's Fire, restore within me a passion to pursue holiness of heart and life and awaken within me an unrelenting desire for Your Presence with no wall between us. Give me a spirit of repentance to keep turning to You and yielding to You with all my heart and mind and soul and strength. "For He is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.... For I the Lord do not change.... Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 3:2-7).

I thank You that in Christ, I am forgiven and free, cleansed from all unrighteousness through the Blood of the Lamb (1 John 1:9). I thank You that "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). And I thank, Lord Jesus, that You who knew no sin were willing to be made sin as my sacrifice for every sin and separation from the Presence of God so that I "might become the righteousness of God" through You and Your grace for me (2 Corinthians 5:12).

But at the same time, I want to truly desire true holiness of heart and life, "the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:14). I want to truly desire to "pursue righteousness" (1 Timothy 6:11). "Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life and honor" (Proverbs 21:21). "The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but He loves the one who pursues righteousness" (Proverbs 15:9).

So keeping putting Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart, giving me the desire and the power to live my life pursuing Your heart and Your nature (Philippians 2:13). For that is the very purpose of every experience and encounter of my life in this little sliver of time and opportunity I have on this side of heaven, as You make me more like You each day (Romans 8:29). By the power of Your grace, may I "live for the rest of (my) earthly life no longer by human desires but by the will of God" (1 Peter 4:1-2). "For this is the will of God, (my) sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). "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). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you are given an awakening desire to pursue holiness of heart and life, passionately pursuing the Presence of the Lord and His righteousness in your heart, all by the power of the grace of God at work within you to make you more like Jesus each 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"

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Morning by Morning, May 29 - The Ark of God's Presence

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be in the midst of my heart and my thoughts and every moment of my day-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

"I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord.' It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; nor shall another be made. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the Presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall not longer stubbornly follow their own evil will" (Jeremiah 3:15-17).

The ark of the covenant of the Lord was made of wood, covered with gold, and carried the law of the Lord and evidence of the power of the Lord in its chest (Exodus 25:10-22; Hebrews 9:4). But today the ark of the covenant of the Lord seems to be lost or hidden from view, though many have searched for it. Even the ark of the covenant of the Lord--carrying the ten commandments of Moses, the budded staff of Aaron, and the manna of the wilderness journey, sealed with the mercy seat and covered by the holy cherubim-was but "a shadow of things to come" pointing toward "the substance of Christ" (Colossians 2:16-17; Hebrews 8:5).

Lord Jesus Christ, You are the Presence of God. You are Immanuel, God with us, always with us, always within us, abiding in us as we abide in You, that we may carry the Word and the Spirit of God in our hearts and along our journey (Matthew 1:23). Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God, You are One and Your are holy and You are within us (John 14:18). We don't seek after or worship a box covered in gold; we seek after the One we were created to worship in spirit and truth-for "the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24).

Thank You, Lord, that our bodies are Your temple and our hearts are Your ark of the covenant of the Lord (1 Corinthians 3:16). You surround us with Your holy angels and lift us up into Your holy Presence, where we are safe and secure, forgiven and free, in the fullness of Your salvation (Psalm 91:1-16). Thank You that in Your Presence there is fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11) Thank You for Your shepherds after Your own heart who lead us into Your truth to feed us with knowledge and understanding of Your Word and Your Spirit (Ephesians 4:11). "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" which is "the surpassing grace of God that He has given (us)" in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 9-14-15). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you know how precious you are to God, that your body is His temple and your heart is the ark of His Presence, as He abides in you and you abide in Him, worshipping the Lord our God in spirit and truth, 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"

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257