Morning by Morning, April 3 - The Compassion of God in the Heart of the Good Samaritan

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You, today. ... 

"Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus" (Luke 10:25). 

Oh boy. Here it comes. A lawyer standing up to test Jesus -- now some sparks are going to fly! I used to be a lawyer (actually still licensed in the State of Texas but on "inactive" status since I'm "active" doing other things besides testing Jesus now). I was a trial lawyer and now all about asking testy questions and then seeking to "justify (ourselves)" when we don't get the answers we want to hear! (Luke 10:29) 

But You used this little time of cross-examination to lead us all to more closely examine our own hearts. You turned the lawyer's testing into a teaching moment about compassion, mercy, grace, and love. You spoke about loving God and loving our neighbor, then told the shocking parable of the Good Samaritan to show us just how abundantly extravagant our love is to be toward everyone around us when we abundantly extravagantly love our God who loves us that way (Luke 10:30-37). You told the story of one who set aside all his pride and prejudice to give his time and resources to compassionately help someone in need. 

As it turns out, the lawyer wound up being the one on trial. And I think the evidence of his life wound probably show his heart of love was weighed on the sales of justice and found wanting. Maybe our hearts would be too. At that time, many Samaritans in general hated the Jews and many Jews in general hated the Samaritans. They had many theological differences, many cultural differences that kept them from seeing one another with God's eyes and loving one another with God's heart.  

You were never one to water down the truth or compromise with confused theology, even among the Samaritans like the Samaritan woman at the well when you spoke the truth in love to her to say "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know" (John 4:22). But even in compassionately talking with her about the touchy, testy issues of theology and sin in her life, You pointed her to the God who loves her want deeply, personal relationship with her, saying "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Instead of feeling condemned, she ran away free to tell everybody about You and the expression of God's love in the spirit and truth through You (John 4:28-30). Who knows, maybe that's even why there winds up being a "good Samaritan" who crosses the road to help a hurting Jew who was so different from himself and so different from the beliefs of his religion and culture (Luke 10:33). 

After the verdict for this lawyer's heart came down, the decree from the court of Heaven was to "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37). The execution of the judgment of the court from the One who is the Judge of the living and the dead was to go and show "mercy" in the love of God to all who are in need -- in need of compassion, mercy, grace, and love no matter where they stand in the community or even how they stand on theological truth. 

Lord, teach me how to love like that -- not compromising with truth, but always walking in love. Teach me how to abundantly, extravagantly love You just like You love me and then love everyone around me -- my neighbors -- with that same abundant, extravagant love. As You said to the lawyer, "Do this and you will live" (Luke 10:28). By the power of Your grace, let it be so. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you keep learning to love like Jesus, never compromising with the truth in the face of cultural or religious pressure but always full of the abundant, extravagant love of God, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      

First Wednesday Worship and Healing Service, April 3rd.

Friends, I'm excited to be sharing a word of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge, in San Antonio this coming Wednesday Night at 7PM in the West Auditorium.(Oak Hills Church led by Max Lucado and Travis Eades). All are welcome so please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. 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 2 - "Preparing the Way of the Lord" with "Patient Endurance"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face and listen for Your voice as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ... 

"I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the Kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches" (Revelation 1:9-11).

John was Your faithful disciple and close friend (John 21:20). He taught Your word and obeyed Your word, offering his life as a living sacrifice and passionate ambassador of the testimony of Jesus. He lived into the fullness of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of God lived in him. "For the Kingdom of God is ... righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). And, at the same time, he also endured "persecution" with "patient endurance" for the faith in his heart and the witness of his life. Though he was full of faith, abiding in Your Kingdom, with the King of the Kingdom in his heart, he also endured "tribulation" as a "companion in tribulation" with his fellow believers and disciples of his day (Revelation 1:9 KJV). He was willing to remain true to You and Your word in his heart, even if it meant suffering for the sake of Christ. 

As John encountered You, You encouraged him. You said, "Do not be afraid; I Am the First and the Last, and the Living One. I was dead, and see, I Am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this" (Revelation 1:17-19). Just as You encouraged John, so John encourages us through all that You spoke and all that he wrote to encourage and inspire Your faithful disciples of John's generation and of every generation to come. 

Living in the Kingdom does not exempt us from persecution and tribulation. But by living in the Kingdom, You equip us and empower us to live out our faith, to be the testimony of Jesus with our lives, in the "patient endurance" that only Your Spirit abiding in our hearts can supply. 

We truly have no idea of the measure of persecution and tribulation we may be called to patiently endure until Your return. But now is the time to be prepared -- to prepare our hearts and to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17). Just like John the Baptist came "with the spirit and power of Elijah (to) go before (You), to turn the hearts of parents to the their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" before Your first coming, so You are sending Your Spirit to do the same before Your second coming (Luke 1:17; Malachi 4:5). 

Come, Holy Spirit. "Prepare the way of the Lord" in my heart (Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3). Equip me and empower me to stand firm in the faith no matter what may come in my generation just like it came in John's generation. We need "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" as much in our day as in his day (Revelation 1:1). But like John, my we look up to You with the eyes of our heart; may we say with the eyes of our faith, "Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him" (Revelation 1:7). And like John, may we hear Your eternal words in to our troubled or fearful hearts, "I Am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty!" (Revelation 1:8). 

Just as You said to Your first disciples of that first generation, so You continue to say to Your disciples of our generation, "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!" (John 16:33 NKJV) "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" come! (Revelation 22:20 NKJV) "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!" (Revelation 22:17) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be equipped and empowered by the Spirit of Christ in you, preparing the way of the Lord with patient endurance, even as we long for the coming of the Lord, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      

First Wednesday Worship and Healing Service, April 3rd.

Friends, I'm excited to be sharing a word of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge, in San Antonio this coming Wednesday Night at 7PM in the West Auditorium.(Oak Hills Church led by Max Lucado and Travis Eades). All are welcome so please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. 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 1 - The Beautiful Gift of Repentance

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Unite my heart with Yours, my mind with Yours, my will with Yours, as I seek to begin my day wholly surrendered to You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ... 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10 KJV). 

You've given us the beautiful gift of repentance. You've given us the extraordinary power of humbling our hearts before You, honestly admitting our sins, and turning to You for the mercy and grace that only You can give. And You are so willing, so ready, so wonderful to forgive our sins and cleanse our hearts -- to even restore us to the joy of our salvation! (Psalm 51:12) 

You are so "faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteous" when we humble ourselves to set aside our pride to call on Your name and ask for Your mercy and grace (1 John 1:9). You don't shame us or condemn us; You forgive us and free us, as we turn to You allow You to empower us to walk again in Your ways. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death!" (Romans 8:1-2 NKJV)

The same Power that frees me from my sins is the same Power that frees me to walk according to the Spirit instead of according to the flesh. "For God is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him" (Philippians 2:13 NLT). And the same Power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same Power at work within me to raise me up from the death of my sins, with all of its guilt and shame and regret, into the life of Your Spirit -- forgiven and free in You! (Romans 8:11)  "Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace!" (Romans 8:5-6 NLT) 

Life and peace, the joy of my salvation, renewed with a right Spirit -- what great gifts You give us through the beautiful gift of repentance. No wonder that's the first step of entering into the Kingdom of God, the first word You began to speak everywhere You went during Your ministry of God's reconciliation and love on the earth, and the first word You continue to speak into every heart who desperately needs the forgiveness and freedom we have in You alone:  "Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God's Good News. "The time promised by God has come at last!' He announced. 'The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!" (Mark 1:14-15 NLT) 

Thank You Lord Jesus for continuing to speak God's Good News into my heart every day. Thank You Holy Spirit of God for reminding every step of my journey of Your beautiful gift of repentance. Thank You Father God, for Your Good News of mercy and love, forgiveness and freedom that continues to set me free from the law of sin and death, as You empower me to walk according to Your Spirit. Morning by morning, moment by moment, step by step, keep creating in me a clean heart and renewing a right spirit within me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you embrace the beautiful gift of repentance, empowered to walk according to the Spirit in the joy of your salvation with a clean heart and a right spirit every day , in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

      

First Wednesday Worship and Healing Service, April 3rd.

Friends, I'm excited to be sharing a word of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge, in San Antonio this coming Wednesday Night at 7PM in the West Auditorium.(Oak Hills Church led by Max Lucado and Travis Eades). All are welcome so please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't. 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, March 28 - Jesus Said "I AM"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your leading, Good Shepherd of my soul.  ...

 

"Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.' Then they took up stones to throw at Him" (John 8:58-59 NKJV).

 

You said:

"I am the Bread of Life" (John 6:48);

"I am the Light of the World" (John 8:12);

"I am the Gate" (John 10:9);

"I am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:11);

"I am the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11:26);

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6); and

"I am the Vine" (John 15:5).

 

You said, "I am." And I believe You are. One with the Father, one with the Holy Spirit, You are the great "I AM" (Exodus 3:14; John 14:10). As You said to those who challenged Your identity, Your dominion, and Your authority: "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). And they knew the claim You were making, as they picked up stones to stone You to death for blasphemy, not understanding that You were the very Stone the builders rejected that was the very Cornerstone of heaven and earth (Psalm 118:22; Acts 4:11).

 

You are I AM; You are my "All in All;" and You are the Source of all that am and all that I need (Ephesians 2:23; John 1:1-4). For "all things have been created through (You) and for (You)" and You are to "have first place in everything" (Colossians 1:10, 18):  "(Our Lord Jesus Christ) 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 through the Blood of His Cross" (Colossians 1:15-20).

 

Lord Jesus, be my Bread, be my Light, be my Gate, be my Good Shepherd, be my Resurrection and Life, be my Way, my Truth, my Life, be my Vine. Be my All in All. Be First Place in my life, as I believe in my heart and confess with my lips "that Jesus is Lord" (Romans 10:9). 

 

Be I AM, as I believe in You and fully entrust myself to You this day and every day. "To all who received (You), who believed in (Your) name, (You) gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12). And "from (Your) fullness we have all received grace upon grace" (John 1:16). You said "I AM" and I believe You are. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you embrace the One who says "I AM" -- as your Source of all that you are and all that you need in the power and unity of God's love -- God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit , 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 26 - Beholding the Glory of the Lord

 

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

 

"Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:17 NKJV).

 

Spirit of the Lord, Spirit of the Living God, come fill me afresh today (Ephesians 5:18). Come set me free in Your liberty to passionately pursue the Presence of God. You lift up my eyes, You open up my heart. You move away every veil and break through every barrier so I can behold the glory of the Lord. "When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away" for "the veil is taken away in Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14-16).

 

Lord, as I "behold" You, I worship You. As I "behold" You, I seek You first, I hold no other gods before You, I allow nothing to have any place in my heart that only You are to have. As I "behold" You, I take hold of You and allow You to take hold of me, I open up my heart in love with You and allow You to pour out Your love into my heart "because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit" (Romans 5:5). And as I "behold You, You "show me Your glory" and change me into Your image "from glory to glory" (Exodus 33:19, Corinthians 3:18).

 

Morning by morning, moment by moment, step by step, You're making me more like You -- "from glory to glory" -- as I "behold" You. Beholding You in worship, communing with You in prayer, surrendering to You in trusting faith, and allowing You to change me into Your image is Your discipleship program, Your mentoring project, and Your church growth plan. It's Your strategic plan to turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6) until the kingdoms of the world have become the Kingdom of our God and His Christ (Revelation 11:15) and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea! (Habakkuk 2:14)

 

Come, Holy Spirit. My Father God, in Jesus' name and by the power of Your grace through Jesus' blood, keep changing me. Keep transforming me. Keep making me more like You each day. As You are, so am I to become in this world (1 John 4:17). Your nature is to become my nature (Romans 8:29; 2 Peter 1:4). And Your life is become my life (Colossians 3:4). Keep taking me deeper and lifting me higher until I can say "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).

 

Grounded in Your Word, filled with Your Spirit, beholding Your Glory, may I "grow up in all things into Him who is the head -- Christ," may I grow up in spiritual maturity as a child of God and a disciple of Christ "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" along with all who are called by Your name and living for the praise of Your glory (Ephesians 4:11-16). "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, may you grow up into Christ, being changed into His image from glory to glory -- grounded in His Word, filled His Spirit, and beholding His glory, 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 22 - Going Through the Gate of Greater Expectation on Our Great Adventure of Faith

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As begin to stir in my day, You're already stirring in my heart with great anticipation for another day in my great adventure of faith with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

 

"O that You would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at Your Presence -- as when fire kindles brushwood and fire cause water to boil -- to make Your name known to Your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at Your Presence! When You did awesome deeds that we did not expect, You came down, the mountains quaked at Your Presence! From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who works for those who wait for Him!" (Isaiah 64:1-4)

 

Great and awesome God, who does great and awesome things -- You've torn open the heavens and entered my heart, You've broken through barriers of my rebellion and pride and set me free, You've ignited a fire down in my soul that I can't contain and can't control and set me ablaze with a passion for You. And the amazing thing is -- You've given me great, expectant faith to believe the best is yet to come!

 

We face battles every day, but they are battles You've already won! Every day, we face mountains that seem to hard to climb and valleys that seem to deep to cross, but You've already provide all we'll ever need to get over and get us through, building our confidence and faith all along way. Every problem is an invitation to take hold of Your promises. Every obstacle is an opportunity to become overcomers and more than conquerors. 

 

We can't be overcomers unless we've had something to overcome. We can't be more than conquerors unless we've had something to conquer. Just like we can't have a testimony unless we've passed some tests. But all things are possible for You and for those who believe! (Mark 10:27 and 9:23) And though apart from You we can do nothing, we never have to be apart from You (John 15:5). Just as You said long ago, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become My disciples. As the Father loved Me, so I have loved you; abide in My love" (John 15:7-9).

 

This is our great adventure of faith! And I'm excited to see what You will do in my life today and in the season ahead. Come and do Your great and awesome deeds we do not even expect, even has You come and take us through the gate of even greater expectations of faith in You! By the power of Your grace we will "Go through! Go through! Go through the gates!" (Isaiah 62:10) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, may you be stirred in your spirit to keep arising and shining and going through the gate of greater exceptions on you great adventure of faith in our God, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

          

 

Friends, please keep us in prayer this weekend for our Rapha God Ministries Retreat at Lake LBJ near Austin with all our volunteer prayer ministers for a time of renewal and joy together in the Presence of the Lord! Our theme this is year has been "Go Through the Gates!"  I pray the Lord's refreshing and renewal for you too! Go through the gates and 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!