Morning by Morning, December - The Secret Place

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are One with my Father, One with Holy Spirit. Come be One within me, as I look to You and listen for Your leading in the communion of payer to begin my day, O Lord my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 17:21).  ...

 

"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you" (Matthew 6:5).

 

Thank You for the gift of the "secret" place. It's the secret place of prayer, the secret place of deeply personal and intimate relationship with You with You where it's only us. It's "the secret place of Your Presence" (Psalm 31:20 NKJV).

 

You draw me close to take some time to come away with You -- behind closed doors to the world and even to the most wonderful things in my life, until it's just You and me alone in the secret place for a little while. It doesn't replace the truth that You're always with me, that You never leave, that You never forsake me, that You hem me in before and behind and all around. But at the same time, it's a  separate time, a sacred time, set apart for You and just the two of us -- my God and me.

 

Here in the secret place, You remind me that You're my Father and I'm Your child (Romans 8:16; 1 John 3:1). You remind me You're my Savior and I'm Your servant, Your disciple, and even Your friend (Luke 2:11; Matthew 10:24; John 15:15). You remind me You're my Comforter, my Counselor, my Advocate, and the One who leads me in truth and empowers me to be all You've created me and called me to be (John 14:16, 26; Acts 1:8). You remind me of all the gifts and graces I have in You as one of Your children "who dwells in the secret place of the Most High" and seeks to daily "abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1 NKJV).

 

Here in the secret place, I rest in You so I can then arise in newness of life, refreshed and renewed, encouraged and empowered, secure in my identity and fulfilling my destiny -- embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. These are just a few of the priceless rewards for me when I come and meet You in the secret place I have in You and that You have in me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you are drawn into the secret place of deeply personal and intimate encounters with God, along your journey with Him every day, embracing all the rewards of His Presence He has for you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Morning by Morning. Order my 365 Day Prayer Devotional for yourself or a friend to begin the New Year starting off each day embraced by the Father, centered in Jesus, and filled afresh with the Holy Spirit.

 

Order Morning by Morning through Amazon

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, December 5 - Courage that Overcomes Cowardice

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your leading, as I wait on You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- in surrender and silence, in the communion of prayer.  ...

 

"Next to him was Shammah son of Agee, the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the army fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the middle of the plot, defended it, and killed the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory" (2 Samuel 23:11-12).

 

Israel battled the Philistines, who came to plunder their land and steal their harvest, time and time again. All that happened to them under the Old Covenant is to serve as an example to us under the New Covenant, to teach us the spiritual lessons and spiritual principles to face our spiritual enemies, to embrace our spiritual promises, and receive our spiritual inheritance. "These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come" (1 Corinthians 10:11). 

 

Under the New Covenant in Christ, our battle is not against the physical Philistines but the spiritual Philistines, not defending our harvest field of lintels but our harvest field of the fullness of the kingdom of God. "For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the principalities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). And in our daily struggle to live by the grace of God into the fullness of the kingdom of God, we continue to face our spiritual enemy, "the thief (who) comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10a). But at the same time, we look to the One who has overcome our enemy and empowers us by Your grace to overcome him as well in the power of Your name and the character of Your nature You're forming in us. "(You) came that (we) may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10b).

 

We have much to learn from the example of Shammah, one of David's "mighty men" (2 Samuel 23:8). He refused to run. He refused to compromise or appease. When others fled away, "he took his stand" (2 Samuel 23:12). His courage inspired courage in his companions; his stand encouraged others to stand. "And the Lord brought about a great victory!" (2 Samuel 12:12).

 

Give me more courage, Lord. Deliver me from the "snare" of people-pleasing, rooted in "the fear of man," insecurity, false humility, self-centered pride and self-preservation, that would keep me from standing firm in the faith, defending the truth, and honoring Your name, no matter the cost (Proverbs 29:25). Give me a holy disgust for cowardice that masquerades as tolerance and appeasement that disguises itself as cultural correctness and social sensibility. By the power of Your grace, may I be done with that. "But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted ... their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:8). And that's no place for anyone who is called by Your name and being conformed to Your nature to proclaim Your truth and live it out by the power of Your grace.

 

You didn't die for a lie, but that I would live in Your truth. "For God has not given (me) a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7). The "spirit of fear and timidity," the "spirit of cowardice," must go in Jesus' name! (2 Timothy 1:7 NLT, NRSV). And in it's place, come, Holy Spirit, and give me courage -- courage to take my stand for the truth, to take my stand for You and the honor of Your name. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel" (Romans 1:16).

 

Your Word commands me to "stand firm" against "the spiritual forces of evil" however they manifest in my world -- whether through people, through culture, through institutions, or even through a compromising church (Ephesians 6:12). Your Word commands me to "Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around (my) waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness" along with "the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:13-14). 

 

So by the power of Your grace, I do so. By the power of Your grace, may I continue to do so. And by the power of Your grace, may I "be strong and very courageous" to take my stand in Your truth and the honor of Your name, to live into the fullness of the kingdom of God, and to lead those You've entrusted to my charge to live there too, in the promise of Your harvest and the fullness of our inheritance in You (Joshua 1:6). In You, I can be "strong and very courageous; (not) frightened or dismayed, for the Lord (my) God is with (me) wherever (I) go" (Joshua 1:9). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

Beloved one, I pray you are empowered to be strong and very courageous, to take your stand and see a great victory of God in the power and love and sound mind of Christ in you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Morning by Morning. Order my 365 Day Prayer Devotional for yourself or a friend to begin the New Year starting off each day embraced by the Father, centered in Jesus, and filled afresh with the Holy Spirit.

 

Order Morning by Morning through Amazon

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, December 4 - Eternity in Our Hearts, God's Presence Infusing Our Present

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak Your truth into my spirit, as my spirit embraced Your Spirit in the communion of prayer with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ... 

"For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:  I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.... Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the Lord; and I will heal them" (Isaiah 57:15-19). 

You inhabit eternity. And at the same time, in the mystery of faith and the trans-dimensional nature of Your Presence, You also inhabit us. And it's humility that welcomes Your habitation.  

As I humble myself in Your sight, You lift me up (James 4:10). As I humble myself in Your sight, I draw near to You and You draw near to me (James 4:8). When I acknowledge my desperate need of You, my desperate dependence upon You alone, You fill my heart with Your Presence and revive my spirit with Your Life. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.... Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matthew 5:3-8). 

When heaven infuses my heart, eternity infuses my present. When the Presence of God fills my heart, my heart is full of the hope of eternity and my heart is full of "the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity." That's how You created me, and that's how You've created me to experience You and the eternity of Your Presence right here, right now, in my present. You "put eternity in (our) hearts" (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV). So You invite me to pray with expectant faith that my spirit may be infused with Your Spirit, that I "may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19 and 5:18). 

My body is Your temple; my heart is Your home. And Your Word asks of us as Your children and Your disciples, "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ... God's temple is holy, and you are that temple" (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). You've prepared a place for me, and You invite me to prepare a place for You -- right here in my heart, where Your eternity infuses my present -- saying to all who have ears to hear and a heart to receive, "where I AM, there you may be also" (John 14:3). "Anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). 

So come, Holy Spirit -- Spirit of the Living God. Come live in me; come dwell in me; come fill Your temple with Your glory, as Your eternity infuses my present and Your Presence infuses my spirit. You've put this desire of eternity in my heart, just as You've put this passion for this unity and intimacy of communion with You in my spirit. So come, be One within me, as You make me one with You -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit of God (John 17:20-26). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

Beloved one, I pray God's Presence infuses your present, with His glory filling the temple of your heart, as you draw near to Him in humility and He draws near to You in His intimacy and love, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Morning by Morning. Order my 365 Day Prayer Devotional for yourself or a friend to begin the New Year starting off each day embraced by the Father, centered in Jesus, and filled afresh with the Holy Spirit.

 

Order Morning by Morning through Amazon

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, December 3 - Changing My Heart, Renewing My Mind

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill my heart and order my steps into Your will to walk in Your ways throughout the moments of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...

 

"The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse -- who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.... Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me; and I shall be saved; for You are my praise" (Jeremiah 17:9-14).

 

Thank You for the power of Your grace that changes my heart and renews my mind. You create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). You transform me by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2). You put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart, giving me both the desire and the power to do what pleases You, secure in my identity as a child of God in whom You take pleasure (Philippians 2:13).

 

You have saved me and You keep on saving me. You have healed me and You keep on healing me. You are conforming me into the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29). You are filling me more and more with Your Spirit and giving me more and more of Your nature (Ephesians 5:18). As I seek You and behold You, as I humble my heart to keep welcoming You into my heart, as I open my mind to keep receiving the mind of Christ, You keep changing my heart and my mind, You keep changing me to be more like You every day -- "being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). 

 

By the power of Your grace at work within me, "I am certain that God, who began a good work within (me)" will be faithful to complete it, "will continue His work until it is finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns" (Philippians 1:6 NLT). So here's my heart, Lord; here's my mind, Lord. Fill me, change me, renew me, conform me, and complete me -- step by step, morning by morning, moment by moment, on my journey to become all You've created me to be (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you keep opening your heart and your mind to the One who is at work in you by the power of His grace to make you more like Him every day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Morning by Morning. Order my 365 Day Prayer Devotional for yourself or a friend to begin the New Year starting off each day embraced by the Father, centered in Jesus, and filled afresh with the Holy Spirit.

 

Order Morning by Morning through Amazon

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 30 - "First Place in Everything"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. It's all about You. So I seek to begin my day centered in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit. ...

 

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in Him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through Him and for Him. He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:15-20).

 

Do You "have first place in everything" in me? Do I seek You first? Do I put Your first? Do I live my life throughout the moments of my day with no other gods before me, with no idols in Your place, with no compromised in my "sincere and pure devotion to Christ"? (2 Corinthians 11:3) ...

 

As I sense Your leading to honestly lay the question before You this morning, it seems I hear You speaking in my heart, "Honestly, no. You do not. Nor can you completely, sincerely, purely, and fully. No one can. Even in this, you need My grace. Especially in this, you need My power of My grace to be at work in your heart and your mind to seek Me and surrender to Me, to passionately pursue Me and allow Me to make your heart more pure and more wholly devoted to Me. But is it My great desire and delight to answer your prayer and move in your heart every time you turn to Me and invite Me to move in you. This is a life-long journey, with breakthroughs along the way. And I breakthrough more deeply as you surrender more deeply to Me."  ...

 

Yes, Lord. I want to love You and surrender to You and Your love for me with "an undivided heart," with "my whole heart" so "turn to me and be gracious to me" (Psalm 86:11-16). I want to "love the Lord (my) God with all (my) heart, and with all (my) soul, and with all (my) mind, and with all (my) strength" (Mark 12:30). I want to hold nothing back from You, wholly devoted to You, completely surrendered to You. I want You to be first, to "come to have first place in everything" in me -- all by the power of Your grace at work within me. 

 

You are "the Alpha and the Omega, the Frist and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 22:12). You are my "All in All," as All in One -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:28). So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I choose to keep turning my heart to You and inviting You to keep moving in me on this life-long journey of faith in You and Your love for me, with breakthroughs of deeper surrender all along the way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you keep turning your heart to Jesus and inviting Him to keep moving in you to trust more fully and surrender more deeply to Him as the One with first place in everything in you -- all by the power of His grace, 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 29 - "What Christ Has Done"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I open my heart to hear Your Word and respond to Your Holy Spirit from the embrace of my Father's arms, here in the communion of prayer to begin my day.  ...

 

"Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God's Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum" (Romans 15:18-19 NLT).

 

My boast is what You have done through me -- not what I have done for You, not what I have done for myself, but only what You have done through me. That's the boast of our hearts, our pride and joy -- "what Christ has done."

 

By the power of Your Spirit, You amaze us and encourage us with Your "signs and wonders" and even with Your signs that make us wonder, that make us dig deeper, that make us press in harder to take hold of Your Word and let Your Spirit take hold of us.

 

And whether our divine assignment and sphere of influence is between Jerusalem and Illyricum, between Dallas and Austin, between my street and Main street, or between the coffee pot and the copy machine, You're presenting Your Good News through us every day. You're sharing hope, releasing peace, exuding love, and stirring up joy through the message of our lives and the way we live them out by the power of Your grace in us. These are "signs and wonders" indeed, in the midst of all the chaos and confusion, the frustration and anger, the darkness and discouragement we tend to encounter in the mission field of our world every day.

 

But You show up and You show off. You display Your glory and shine with the light of Your love. You change the spiritual atmosphere in our hearts and then, through our hearts, You change the spiritual atmosphere around the hearts of everyone we encounter. That's how we make a difference every day. That's how our lives matter. And that's how we can boast in "what Christ has done" while we get excited to begin our day in expectant faith of what Christ will do! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you make a difference today as you change the spiritual atmosphere around every heart you encounter by the power of the Spirit of Christ in you, boasting in all that Christ has done and excited to see what Christ will do, 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!