Morning by Morning, September 12 - Healing and Hope on The Day After
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my spirit, as I listen for Your voice (John 10:3). ...
After September 11th comes September 12th. Just like that morning in America in 2001 when we all woke up to a new day after such unspeakable tragedy the day before. You were with us that day, just as You are with us every day -- ready for us to cry out to You, to call on Your name, to seek Your hope and healing that only You can provide.
Healing takes time. Hope has to build. Restoration rarely comes in a moment. But when we humble ourselves in Your sight, when we turn our hearts and our ways to You in prayer and faith, You hear us and answer us. Evil doesn't have the last word. Wickedness doesn't win. Death has no victory. Hopelessness and despair have no say. Tragedy does not define us. "I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to Him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34:4-7).
Since that day, You have been healing and restoring and answering our prayers. While it's true that many turned to violence and vengeance, that many even turned away from You in their confusion and shock, in their anger and pain, it's also just as true that many bowed their knees and bowed their hearts in more desperate dependence upon You than ever before. Through that seed of national tragedy, a seed fell to ground and died; but at the same time, that seed has germinated and is growing in ways we don't even fully see to produce a great harvest that we can't even image. You explained this spiritual principle long ago, "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).
There will be a great "harvest" at "the end of the age .... He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 13:36-43) And I'm one of those who believes with all my heart that we will be part of Your great harvest. I believe You take every tragedy -- whether in our nation or in our lives -- and You turn it all around in Your time and in Your way (Romans 8:28). Even what was meant for evil, You will redeem it and use it for good (Genesis 50:20). Even in the very places where we were defeated and helpless and hopeless, where we were depending on ourselves and our own power and our own wisdom to protect us and provide for us apart from You, You will forgive us and free us and empower us as more than conquers when we turn to You in humility and faith (Revelation 3:14-22).
Come, Holy Spirit! Come stir in our hearts -- as a people and as a nation -- with a fresh spirit of intercession, with a fresh spirit of revival and awakening that comes alive in us through humility, repentance, and faith! "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!" (Ephesians 5:14). "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will appear over you! Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn! ... Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice!" (Isaiah 60:1-5)
Yes, Lord. Let it be so -- here in my heart, here in my land, and here in my generation to the ends of the earth. Let us be a part of Your great harvest at the end of the age. Let us be a part of the fulfillment of Your Word, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14). "And this Good News of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come!" (Matthew 24:14) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you know the healing love of God and be filled with His hope in a great awakening of your spirit to His light in the midst of the darkness of our world, in Jesus' name. May you fulfill you destiny, secure in your identity as a child of God and as a nation under God. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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