Morning by Morning, November 12 - How to "Draw Near to God"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You and worship You, here in my heart and throughout the moments of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...

 

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you" (James 4:6).

 

Lord, how do I "draw near" to You?  ...

 

It seems I hear You saying in my heart, "Surrender and seek. In an attitude of your heart, surrender your heart to Mine, your will to Mine. Allow Me to form My thoughts in your mind and My desires in your heart. To surrender to Me is to rest in Me. As You do, My Spirit stirs in your spirit to seek Me, to passionately pursue Me, to put Me first above all else. In this trusting surrender and seeking pursuit, you draw near to Me, as You give Me room to move in you to desire and to do this very thing I created you to be -- My beloved one."  ...

 

Yes, Lord. May I be Your beloved one (Song of Solomon 5:1; Ephesians 5:1; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4; Jude 1:1). May I be one who surrenders and seeks, one who draws near and doesn't hold back, one who presses in through passionate pursuit to be as close to You as I can be. Uproot and remove everything in me and everything between us that would ever separate us (James 4:6b; Romans 8:38-39). And replace that all with the intimacy with You that You've created me to know.

 

May I seek You first and fully abide in You (Matthew 6:33; John 15:4). May I draw near to You and become one with You. "Anyone united to the Lord become one spirit with Him.... (My) body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within (me), which (I) have from God" (1 Corinthians 6:17-19). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you draw near to God and become one with Him as His beloved one, just as He created you to be, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Register for the Healing Academy. Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

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, November 9 - "Fruit that Will Last"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Vine and I am one of Your branches. Let Your light and life and love flow through me today, as I abide in You and You abide in me (John 15:5).  ...

 

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.... I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask Him in My name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another" (John 15:12-17).

 

I come to You to begin my day in the communion of prayer. I look to You; I seek Your face; I listen for Your voice; I wait in the silence of surrender to Your leading; and I rest in Your Presence. Here in the heart of my innermost being, here in the depth of my spirit where deep calls to Deep, I'm embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit. This is where You anoint me and empower me to go out into my day to "go and bear fruit, fruit that will last."

 

"Fruit that will last" must be an expression of Your love. This is not the world's love; this is Your love -- "the love of Christ" (Romans 8:35). "For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And He died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died and was raised for them" (2 Corinthians 5:14). This is a love that urges me on to lay down my life for You, my Friend, and to lay down my life for the sake those You love through me. 

 

This is the power of Your love that changes my world. This is the power of Your love that's backed up by the authority of Your name when I ask my Father to love through me with the love of Christ. And this is the power of Your love that bears much fruit -- "fruit that will last."

 

Lord, I want my fruit to last. I want my life to matter. I want to know I make a difference in the moments of my day, instead of wasting my time, just going through the motions, just spinning my wheels, just living for myself and nothing that really matters. 

 

So empower me to love. Show me how to take the opportunities that come to lay down my life for You and for the sake of the ones You'll love through me today. I want to "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that (I) may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). And in "all the fullness of God" -- because I'm abiding in You and You're abiding in me -- may my life bear "fruit that will last" today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you will bear much fruit today -- "fruit that will last" -- as you abide in Christ, as you're empowered to love, as you're "filled with all the fullness of God," in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Register for the Healing Academy. Friends, I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

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, November 8 - "Look Up! Look Up!"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. All to You, I surrender. All to You, I entrust my heart and mind and soul and strength. Align my heart with Your heart and my thoughts with Your thoughts as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. ...

 

"To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in the heavens!" (Psalm 123:1)

 

I hear in my heart this morning, "Look up! Look up!" ...

 

Yes, Lord. I look up to You. I lift up my heart to You; I open up my spirit to You. "My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct (my heart and my prayer) to You, and I will look up" (Psalm 5:3 NKJV).

 

As I'm looking up, You're lifting me up in spirit. Your holy angels lift me up and Your Holy Spirit fills me up, as You draw me into "the secret place of the Most High" and invite me to "abide under the shadow of the Almighty" as my "Refuge and my Fortress, my God (in whom) I will trust" (Psalm 91:1-2, 11-12 NKJV).

 

Yes, Lord. By the power of Your grace I "have been raised with Christ, seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (I) set (my) mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for (I) have died, and (my) life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1).

 

Yes, Lord. "I lift up my eyes to the hills -- from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let (my) foot be moved; He who keeps (me) will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is (my) Keeper; the Lord is (my) Shade at (my) right hand.... The Lord will keep (me) from all evil; He will keep (my) life. The Lord will keep (my) going out and (my) coming in from this time on and forevermore!" (Psalm 121:1-8). 

 

Lord, keep my spirit looking up throughout the moments of my day. As I do, You will guide my steps, guard my heart, and direct my path to walk in the way that leads to life in You. "You, O Lord, are a Shield around me, my Glory, and the One who lifts up my head" (Psalm 3:3). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you are moved in your spirit to look up to the Lord and allow Him to lift you up in the joyful pleasure of His Presence now and throughout the moments of your day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

(Looking up in worship from a time of ministry in The Philippines)

Friends, please keep us in prayer tonight for our time of celebration, blessing, and impartation at the closing night of our Level 2 School of Ministry for equipping in personal prayer ministry here in San Antonio. God bless you and your ministry in the Lord wherever He positions you and sends you!

I'll be teaching at the Healing Academy on Healing and Deliverance Prayer Ministry this coming February 5-8, 2019 in the Nashville area at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries Center. Please come join us if you're being called to healing prayer ministry! Sign up today:    Healing Academy

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, November 7 - "Citizens of Heaven"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- align my spirit, soul, and body with You and Your will and Your ways for my life today (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).  ...

 

"We are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same power with which He will bring everything under His control. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord" (Philippians 3:20-4:1 NLT).

 

When You walked this earth in Your mortal body, You paid taxes and so do we (Matthew 17:24-27). Your Word says to pray for those in authority in our government, and so we do (1 Timothy 2:20). We are citizens of our country, but we are also citizens of heaven. We live in the world, but we are not of the world (John 17:14). You sent us into the world, but we don't belong to the world (John 17:16-18). And we thank You that You have already "overcome the world" (John 16:33 NKJV).

 

Through our faith in You, with our eyes on You, we overcome the world too. "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world -- our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:4-5 NKJV). So no matter who wins or loses the election, no matter what positions our politicians proclaim, the Kingdom of God prevails and our citizenship of heaven trumps our citizenship on earth. It's from there we pray and proclaim the victory of the One who has overcome -- the One "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty! (Revelation 1:8 NKJV) To borrow from and paraphrase the words of an old country song, "It don't matter who's in Austin, Jesus is still the King!"

 

So as we engage our world, let us pray and proclaim, with our voices and our votes; let us be Your salt and light -- "the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world," that "they may see (our) good works and glorify (our) Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV). As citizens of heaven, You've already "raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:16 NKJV). 

 

From our position in Christ and our citizenship in heaven, let us make a difference through the principles of our lives and the power of Your Spirit here on earth, here in our world "in which (we) shine like stars in the world" (Philippians 2:15). That's how Your kingdom comes and Your will is done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). And at the same time, we long for the day of Your return and the fulfillment of Your Word that "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15 NKJV)  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you shine like a star in your world, like the salt and light of Christ in you, secure in your citizenship in heaven to make a difference on earth, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, please come join us for the First Wednesday Service of Prayer and Healing at Oak Hills Church tonight, Crownridge Campus, where I'm excited to join in sharing a message of hope and healing. All are welcome! In the South Room at 7pm.

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, November 5 - "No Longer I Who Live"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Abide in me, as I abide in You; come into my heart, as I give my heart to You; be Lord of my life, as I acknowledge You as Lord of all.  ...

 

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:19-21).

 

Live in me today, Lord Jesus. Keep forming me into Your image; keep conforming me into Your character; keep transforming me into Your nature. 

 

By Your Spirit at work within me in the mind and will and emotions of my soul, You're changing me from the inside out to have "the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), to "bear the name of Christ" (Mark 9:41), to be filled with "the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9), "sharing in the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16), "sharing in the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:16), releasing the "aroma of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:15), urged on by "the love of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:14), steadfast in "the truth of Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:10), living each day in "the grace of Christ" (Galatians 1:6), sharing "the gospel of Christ" (Philippians 1:27), joining my fellow workers and servants as "partners of Christ" (Hebrews 3:14), seeking to be "a faithful minister of Christ" (Colossians 1:7), letting the "peace of Christ" dwell in my heart (Colossians 3:15) and the "word of Christ" dwell in my spirit (Colossians 3:16), empowering me to be "crucified with Christ" so I can live my "life in Christ" more and more each day (1 Corinthians 1:30). As You are, so I am to be in my world (1 John 4:17).

 

I was created for this and called to this -- to be "conformed to the image of (Jesus Christ)" (Romans 8:29). Everything I do, everything I encounter, everything I overcome, and everything I become is for this purpose -- for You to make me more like You each day. Every choice and challenge throughout every moment of my day is an opportunity for me to grow "to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ" as I "grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-16). I can't do this, but "the One who calls (me) is faithful, and He will do this" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you growing up into Christ, into the full measure of the stature of Christ, more and more every day, so that it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you, 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, November 2 - "The Eyes of the Lord"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm listening for Your leading, as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.  ...

 

"The eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth, to strengthen those whose heart is true to Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9).

 

Lord, let my heart be true to You. Empower me to "do what is right in the sight of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 13:18). By Your Spirit alive and at work within me, You are "working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases (You)" (Philippians 2:13).

 

So shape my desires and guide my thoughts to be faithful and true to You. Convict me when I stray and redirect me when I misstep. Strengthen me when I stumble and awaken me when I slumber. Keep my feet and my faith on the path that leads to the fullness of life in You. "(My) steps are made firm by the Lord, when He delights in (my) way; though (I) stumble, (I) shall not fall headlong, for the Lord holds (me) by His hand" (Psalm 37:23).

 

I don't need to fear "the eyes of the Lord" that watch over me. And I don't need to worry that You don't see me when I need You or hear me when I cry. "Truly they eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His steadfast love" (Psalm 33:18). "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer" (1 Peter 3:12). Because I've welcomed the Righteous One into my heart and entrusted my life to the One who is my life, You've made me righteous in Your sight to set my heart right with Yours -- not by anything I've done, but by all You've done for me.

 

With "the eyes of the Lord" upon me, You see me and everything about me. Yet, You love me and pour out Your grace to me. Help me see myself more like You see me, through "the eyes of the Lord," through the eyes of Your steadfast love. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

My friend, I pray you see yourself through "the eyes of the Lord," through the eyes of His steadfast love for you -- knowing He sees you and understands you, hearing you and helping you, as He orders your steps and guides 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!

Morning by Morning, November 1 - The Place Prepared for Me in the Mansion of Heaven and the Mansion of My Heart

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I am Yours and You are mine (Song of Solomon 6:3).  ...

 

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1-3 NKJV).

 

You've prepared a place for me, and I've prepared a place for You -- just like You invite me to abide You as I welcome You to abide in me. There's a mansion for me in Heaven when I die, but You want me to make much room for You right here in the mansion of my heart now (John 15:4).

 

When You're abiding in me in the mansion of my heart, I'm already abiding in You in my mansion in Heaven. I don't even have to wait 'til I die before I go to Heaven. In that heavenly dimension of the spiritual realm, I'm already home. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has (already) blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3). Already, "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us ... made us alive together with Christ ... and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6). Where You are, that's where I am also; I am in Christ, and Christ is in me (Colossians 1:27).

 

Lord Jesus, come into my heart now and throughout every moment of my day, just as You promised to "come again and receive (me) to (Yourself)" (John 14:3). Come, Holy Spirit. Take me to Heaven in my heart. And let Heaven come fill my heart, right here on earth, right here in me, right here in this moment. My Father God -- "Abba! Father!" -- "hallowed by Your name! Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven!" (Romans 8:15; Matthew 6:9) Your kingdom is "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). And "in Your Presence there is fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11) Fill me now with the joy of Your Presence, as all the joy of Heaven fills my heart! 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 Presence of the Lord, as you abide in Him and He abides in you, in your heavenly mansion and in the mansion 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!