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Saturday, September 21, 2019
Friday, September 20, 2019
Morning by Morning, September 20 - More Like Jesus Each Day
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind, Your desires in my heart, Your words in mouth. Align my will and my ways with Yours. Make me more like You today. ...
"For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters" (Romans 8:29 NLT).
Father God, from all eternity, You've known me because all eternity is eternally present to You. You see the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end, from everlasting to everlasting (Isaiah 46.8). "Just as (You) chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before (You) in love" (Ephesians 1:4).
So You've always known every choice I'll ever make, everything I'll ever do, and everything I'll ever become. You've always known how everything in my life will end up. And even though You've eternally known every choice I'll make, my choices are real and my choices are mine to make. You continually set before me the choice of blessings or curses, life or death, obedience or disobedience, trusting in You or trusting in myself, being conformed to the ways of heaven or being conformed to the ways of this world (Deuteronomy 30:15; Joshua 24:14; Romans 12:1-2).
You say those who truly love You will choose to obey You (John 14:15). You say those who seek to please You will choose the ways of Your Spirit and not the ways of our flesh (Galatians 5:16). And then You empower me by Your Spirit to desire the right choices and to make the right choices that honor You and confirm my love for You. "For God is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him" (Philippians 2:13 NLT).
All along the way, You're at work in every opportunity in every moment of my day to help me become more like You -- "to become like (Your) Son" (Romans 8:29 NLT), "to be conformed to the image of (Your) Son" (Romans 8:29 NKJV) -- to make me more like Jesus every day. "Because as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17). We are called and empowered to "live like Jesus here in this world" (1 John 4:17 NLT).
As we both know, Lord, I have a long way to go -- a long, long way to go. But I trust You and Your Word that "the One who is faithful will do this" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). "And I am certain that God, who began this good work within (me), will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns!" (Philippians 1:6 NLT) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you be moved with the desire and the power to be more like Jesus by God's Spirit at work within you, trusting in Him to be faithful to complete His good work in you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
My friend, Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to grow in intimacy with God and the character of Christ. Thank you to all those who join with me in support and prayer of this ministry of helping people experience and encounter the Living God through intimate prayer and transformational ministry of healing and freedom in Christ -- "healing from the inside out" of "spirit and soul and body." God bless you!
For Speaking Engagement, Spiritual Retreats, Seminars, and Conferences, please contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org
God bless!
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, September 19, 2019
Morning by Morning, September 19 -- Everyday, Manifest Presence of Jesus
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I lift up my heart and open up my spirit to begin my day focused and centered in You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
"A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him" (John 14:19-21 NKJV).
Lord Jesus, would You manifest Yourself to me today? Open my eyes to see You. Open my ears to hear You. Open all my senses to perceive You and Your manifest Presence -- here in my heart and all around me.
You said You are with me always, and I believe You (Matthew 28:20). You said Your sheep hear Your voice, and I trust You (John 10:3). You said You fill heaven and earth, so You certainly fill every moment of my day and every place I'll go and every situation I'll encounter all along the way (Jeremiah 23:24). And You've invited me to abide in You as You abide in me -- heart to heart, hand in hand, moment by moment -- so I will (John 15:4).
As I seek to obey and live into Your commandment to love (John 13:34), as I seek to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), as I seek to know and embrace how great my Father's love for me and Your love for me truly is, I will be expectantly seeking Your manifest Presence with me all day long. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you experience and embrace the manifest Presence of Jesus with you throughout the moments of your day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
My friend, Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to grow in intimacy with God and the character of Christ. Thank you to all those who join with me in support and prayer of this ministry of helping people experience and encounter the Living God through intimate prayer and transformational ministry of healing and freedom in Christ -- "healing from the inside out" of "spirit and soul and body." God bless you!
For Speaking Engagement, Spiritual Retreats, Seminars, and Conferences, please contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org
God bless!
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, September 17, 2019
Morning by Morning, September 17 - Inheriting the Promises through Both Faith and Patience
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Take hold of my heart and lead me by the Your Spirit on our adventure of faith today. ...
"Beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust; He will not overlook your work and the love that you showed for His sake in serving the saints, as you still do. And we want each of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end, so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises" (Hebrews 6:9-12).
Through both faith and patience, we inherit the promises of God. Through both faith and patience, we keep diligently showing love and serving You. It's not just faith. It's not just patience. It's through both faith and patience.
Faith empowers us to believe. Patience empowers us to persevere. And both faith and patience have to come from You. My faith is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) and so is my patience (Galatians 5:22). Apart from the faith You give me, I can't believe. Apart from the patience You give me, I can't persevere. So as it turns out, I'm desperately dependent upon You. "Apart from (You), (I) can do nothing" (John 15:5). And that's really what humility is all about -- coming to the place and perspective in my heart and soul that I willingly choose to be desperately dependent upon You (James 4:6-10).
Yet there's often a struggle between my faith and my patience. My faith wants to take hold of my promises right now. They are Yes and Amen. No more waiting. No more blockages. No more delays. And at the same time, my patience reminds me to wait for it, to see it through, to hold fast, to keep on asking, to keep on seeking, to keep on knocking. As it turns out, I need both faith and patience to inherit Your promises -- not just faith, not just patience, but both faith and patience.
O Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. O Lord, I'm patient; help my impatience. As You know, I need more -- much more -- of both faith and patience.
You're a good Father. And a good Father loves to give good gifts to His children. I may not like the circumstances I go through on my journey of development of my faith or my patience, but I know You'll go with me on my journey. And I know one day I'll look back and say it was worth it all. Just give me a little more faith and a little more patience to believe and persevere today for all You've promised I'll inherit in the days to come. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you inherit all the promises of God, as He empowers you with both faith and patience to believe and perseverance into all He has for you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
My friend, Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to grow in intimacy with God and the character of Christ. Thank you to all those who join with me in support and prayer of this ministry of helping people experience and encounter the Living God through intimate prayer and transformational ministry of healing and freedom in Christ -- "healing from the inside out" of "spirit and soul and body." God bless you!
For Speaking Engagements, Spiritual Retreats, Seminars, and Conferences, please contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org
God bless!
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!
Monday, September 16, 2019
Morning by Morning, September 16 - We Can Walk with God
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I thank You that Your heavens are always opened over me and Your Spirit is always here within me. ...
"Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him" (Genesis 5:24).
Enoch was a man of flesh and blood like me. Yet there was something about his deeply personal relationship with You that allowed him to transcend barriers of this earthly realm. Your Word says Enoch "was known as a person who pleased God" and that "it was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying" (Hebrews 12:5 NLT).
I think there's more to the story and more of a point to the story than the fact that somebody left this earth without ever dying a physical death. I believe there's also something here about drawing us into a deeper intimacy with You in trusting faith and a daily spiritual journey that opens the heavens to us.
Enoch was "under the Old Covenant" (Hebrews 10:11). "But Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree He is the mediator of a better Covenant, which has been enacted through better promises" (Hebrews 8:6). Now, not only can we walk with You, we can abide with You as You abide with us (John 15:4). Now, our hearts can be Your home and our spirits can live in constant communion with Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 8:9). "Anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). These better promises are part of "the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
In that sense, I don't need to be longing for something Enoch had. Instead, I should be celebrating every day, gratefully thankful to You every day for the depth of intimacy and communion we can have in You today which is infinitely greater than anything Enoch could even ask or imagine. Through the New Covenant in Your blood, "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace (we) have been saved -- and raised us up together with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6).
Enoch had to wait three hundred and sixty-five years to be taken up into the heavenly realm, but I can be taken up with You right now! (Genesis 5:23) In a sense -- in the spiritual realm of Your heavenly, eternal dimension -- I'm already taken up, I'm already seated with You, I'm already eternally in Your presence, as I abide in You and You abide in me (John 15:4; Ephesians 2:4-6). In that sense, I'm already dead to this world and fully alive in You. "May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14). "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. 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 2:18).
Lord, give me grace to grow into this depth of intimacy with You You've made possible for me. Teach me how to come up higher, to live up higher, to believe that You've already taken me up higher so that I can daily live from that heavenly place up higher in You. "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!" (Romans 11:33) I'll spend a lifetime, even all eternity growing into the fullness of Your grace and all You've done for me in Your love! But for today, I'm choosing to "walk with God" in Your heavenly realm as best as I can and all by Your grace. Like Enoch, may I be known as one who pleases You and walks with You by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you walk with God by faith in the heavenly realm of intimacy and communion with Him every day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
My friend , Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to grow in intimacy with God and the character of Christ. Thank you to all those who join with me in support and prayer of this ministry of helping people experience and encounter the Living God through intimate prayer and transformational ministry of healing and freedom in Christ -- "healing from the inside out" of "spirit and soul and body." God bless you!
For Speaking Engagement, Spiritual Retreats, Seminars, and Conferences, please contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org
God bless!
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, September 13, 2019
Morning by Morning September 13 - "Sanctify You Entirely"
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, align my spirit, soul, and body with Your will, Your ways, and Your Word today. ...
"May the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do this" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
You are faithful. And You are at work within me -- in my "spirit and soul and body" -- to make me more like You, to "sanctify (me) entirely," to make me "sound," healthy, healed, whole, and free, to make me "blameless," forgiven, pure, and clean. I can't do it, but You can. I can be faithless, but You are always faithful. "For God (Himself) is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him" (Philippians 2:13 NLT).
That's how I want to be in my heart "at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." I want to be part of Your passionate and faithful remnant, part of Your people called by Your name who are the "many sons (brought) to glory" (Hebrews 2:10 NKJV) and the "bride" of Christ" (John 3:29; Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 22:17). I want to be among those who are sold-out, all-in, fully committed and wholly surrendered, "found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:10) like the wise virgins with oil in their lamps (Matthew 25:1-13) and the faithful stewards of all that's been entrusted to them to spend their lives for Your glory (Matthew 24:45-47).
Come, Holy Spirit. Sanctify me entirely. Let Your Holy Fire burn out of me all that is not yet like You (Matthew 3:11-12). Make me more like Jesus each day (Romans 8:29; 1 John 4:17). It's already finished and done in the heavenly realm where I'm already raised up and seated with Christ (Ephesians 2:6) as the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Now, at the same time, let it also be so "on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10) -- here in this earthly realm of my spirit and soul and body living out the moments of my day, as it is already is in the heavenly realm. "The One who is faithful will do this." So I'm confident of this, He who began a good work in me with be faithful to complete it by the day of Christ (Philippians 1:6). Thank You, Lord -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My friend, may you be sanctified entirely in your spirit and soul and body to be sound and blameless by the power and grace of God at work within you at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Jesus' name. May you be found faithful, fulfilling your destiny, secure in your identity as a child of God and disciple of Jesus Christ. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
My friend, Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to grow in intimacy with God and the character of Christ. Thank you to all those who join with me in support and prayer of this ministry of helping people experience and encounter the Living God through intimate prayer and transformational ministry of healing and freedom in Christ -- "healing from the inside out" of "spirit and soul and body." God bless you!
For Speaking Engagement, Spiritual Retreats, Seminars, and Conferences, please contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org
God bless!
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!
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