Morning by Morning, November 7 - Friends and Children of God as the Body and Bride of Christ

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I need You today. Apart from You, I can do nothing, but with God, all things are possible. You are with me and I am with You, right now in this communion of prayer and also with me throughout every moment of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

 

"I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. You did not choose Me but I chose you. And 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 15:15-17).

 

We're no longer servants, but sons. We're no longer slaves, but free. We're no longer stuck in our sins, but saved by Your grace. We're no longer just anybody, but the body of Christ. We're no longer orphans, but adopted as heirs into the family of God. We're no longer alone and available to be used and abused by the world, but the very bride of Christ.

 

We are who You say we are. And we will do what You say we will do. We go in the power and authority of Your name and in the nature of Your character of love to bear fruit that will last. In Your grace and for Your glory, we are anointed and appointed, chosen and called, sent forth to display Your glory through our lives that are laid down and wholly surrendered to You and filled with Your Spirit.

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Give me eyes to see myself and see those around me with Your eyes and Your heart -- my fellow friends and sons and daughters of God, Your beloved bride and body of Christ. Your Spirit bears witness in our spirits that that is who we are! "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For (we) did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but (we) have received a Spirit of Adoption. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ -- if in fact, we suffer with Him so that we may also be gloried with Him" (Romans 8:14-17).

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

My friend, may you see yourself as God sees you -- a friend and child of God, part of His body and beloved bride, display His glory in your world, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to begin each day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. It's my fervent prayer these devotionals are a blessing and encouragement to you!  Please pass them on to someone who could use the blessing and encouragement of God's Word and Spirit!

 

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Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

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 6 - "Let Justice Roll Down!"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be my Vision, with Your character being formed in my heart and Your words flowing out of my mouth. ...

 

"Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream!" (Amos 5:24)

 

Justice is important to You. And so is righteousness. You don't justify wrong and You set right what is wrong. "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne" (Psalm 89:14). 

 

You are a Father to the fatherless and a Comforter to the widow and the orphan (Psalm 68:5). You are our Advocate and Voice, who speaks up and speaks out against injustice (John 14:16). And You call us to do the same, in the power of Your grace and the authority of Your name. "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy" (Proverbs 31:8-9).

 

Evil and injustice, wickedness and wrongdoing, may seem to have their way for a season, but they will not have the last say. You will have the last word, as we cry out to You and call on Your name. Your Word is the final word (Daniel 7:9-14). You set things right and call us to do the same for one another in the opportunities You provide -- "to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke" (Isaiah 58:6).

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Stir in my heart today. Open my eyes to injustice and my heart to Your answers. Give me courage to take a stand, to speak up and speak out and not hold back. For that's what You require of us all each day -- to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). Then Your justice will roll down like waters and Your righteousness like a mighty stream! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you experience the power and protection of the One who speaks up and speaks out for you, and may you go and do the same for others as He leads you in the power of His grace, in Jesus' name. Let His justice roll down like water and His righteousness like a mighty stream for you! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to begin each day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. It's my fervent prayer these devotionals are a blessing and encouragement to you!  Please pass them on to someone who could use the blessing and encouragement of God's Word and Spirit!

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

  

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

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 - Anointing Oil and Cleansing Blood, Both Spirit and Word

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day grounded in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit, to flow in Your anointing and carry Your presence wherever You send me.  ...

 

"Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood that was on the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his vestments, and also on his sons and their vestments. Thus he consecrated Aaron and his vestments, and also his sons and their vestments" (Leviticus 8:30).

 

The priesthood and the tabernacle, all the rituals and the practices of the law of the Old Covenant are prophetic pictures of the spiritual principles that are fulfilled in Christ in the New Covenant. "The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves" (Hebrews 10:1 NLT). "For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ Himself is that reality" (Colossians 2:17 NLT).

 

In Christ, "(we) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that (we) may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called (us) out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). "To Him who loves us and freed us from our sins by His blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever!" (Revelation 1:6).

 

Aaron and the priests under the Old Covenant were anointed with the oil and with the blood by Moses. "In this way, he made Aaron and his sons and their garments holy" (Leviticus 8:30 NLT). Under the New Covenant in Christ, Father God, You cleanse us in the blood of Jesus and anoint us with the oil of the Holy Spirit. Lord Jesus, You are the Word of God (John 1:1, 14). You set us apart and make us holy to serve You and proclaim You as priests of the Kingdom of God. "(We) have an anointing from the Holy One.... As for (us), the anointing which (we) received from Him abides in (us)" (1 John 2:20-27).

 

By the grace of God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- I am holy and set apart for You -- cleansed by the blood of Jesus and anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit. By the blood and by the oil, I am saved and filled and sent forth. You ground me in Your Word and fill me with Your Spirit, secure in my identity as a beloved child of God to fulfill my destiny as a dedicated disciple of Jesus Christ. Here I am, Lord. Send me today (Isaiah 6:8). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you go forth today, grounded the Word and filled with the Spirit, carrying the presence of God every where the Lord sends you as a beloved child, dedicated disciple, and anointed priest of the Kingdom of God, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to begin each day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. It's my fervent prayer these devotionals are a blessing and encouragement to you!  Please pass them on to someone who could use the blessing and encouragement of God's Word and Spirit!

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

  

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

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 4 - "Let the Favor of God Be Upon Us"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. In humility and faith, in surrender and trust, I look to You and listen for Your leading -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

 

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands; yes, establish the work of our hands" (Psalm 90:17).

 

I do need Your favor, Lord. I need Your wisdom and Your guidance, Your power and provision. I need You to open the doors that no man can close and close the doors that no man can open, as You order my steps and direct my path (Revelation 3:8). Apart from You I can do nothing (John 15:5).

 

And at the same time, even as my spirit rests in You, in desperate dependence upon You alone to be the Source of everything I need and everything I receive, You set my hands to work. Whether typing a prayer on my laptop or casting out a demon by the finger of God in our prayer room (Luke 11:20), let the work of my hands be an extension of Your hands at work through me into my world. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

 

Whether our work is in a prayer room or a conference room, whether picking up a briefcase or a lug wrench, let all we do be done for the sake of Christ. "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:17). By Your Holy Spirit who abides in our spirits, we are Your body, about our Father's business (1 Corinthians 1:27).

 

You stretch out Your hands and speak out Your words through us, as Your ambassadors, commissioned in Christ, anointed by Your Holy Spirit to be Your people who display Your glory in the desires of our hearts and the work of our hands. "All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

 

So I do pray for Your favor to fulfill all You've put in my heart to do through the work of my hands today. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (Psalm 84:11). By the power of Your grace, empower me to walk uprightly in the steps of Your will through the doors You open today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

My friend, may you walk in the favor of God in all you do for the sake of Christ today, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to begin each day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. It's my fervent prayer these devotionals are a blessing and encouragement to you!  Please pass them on to someone who could use the blessing and encouragement of God's Word and Spirit!

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

  

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

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 Mind of Christ is a Heart of Humility

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. ...

 

"Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should ben, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father" (Philippians 2:5-11).

 

To have the mind of Christ is to have a heart of humility. And a heart of humility is a heart of obedience and desperate dependence upon God alone.

 

Lord Jesus, Your life in the flesh is our model for life in the Spirit. We're to "follow in (Your) steps" (1 Peter 2:21). 

 

You humbled Yourself to set aside the glory of Heaven to come into our world as the Son of Man, in the nature of man "being born in human likeness" and "being found in human form." We can't begin to comprehend that sacrifice. You suffering for us didn't begin on the cross, it began in the womb -- in the womb of a young woman named Mary when You were conceived by the Holy Spirit to live out a life in the flesh in our world (Luke 1:31).

 

You were tempted in every way, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). You were confronted by Satan himself, yet without wavering (Luke 4:2). You were challenged to let the cup pass of the sufferings of the cross and all that would mean for You to take upon Yourself the sins of the world and pay our price, yet without resistance (Luke 22:42). You were humble and obedient, desperately dependent upon God the Father in perfect surrender to His will "to the point of death -- even death on a cross." All for us.

 

I know I don't have that depth of humility in me yet. I know my heart is not wholly surrendered to Your holy will yet. So I am desperately dependent upon You to make me more like You -- to "have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), to "let the same mind be in (me) that was in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5). But I do desire this, because I do believe You put that desire in our hearts, to desire to be like Jesus. "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this:  when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). "Love has been perfected among us in this:  that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17).

 

In humility and faith, as best as I can and all by Your grace, I say, "Lord, let it be so." And I know as I seek to follow in Your steps, allowing You to Your conform my mind and my heart to Yours, as I humble myself in the sight of the Lord, You will lift me up (James 4:10), just as You humbled Yourself before the Father, and He lifted You up to give You the name above every name (Philippians 2:9).

 

As the Apostle Paul acknowledged, "Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do:  forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind" (Philippians 3:12-15). And I am confident this, from the promise of Your Word:  He who began a good work in me with be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

My friend, may you have the mind of Christ and His heart of humility, that God may lift you up and grow you up into the maturity of all you were created to be and fulfill all you are called to do, following in His steps, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer, seeking to begin each day embraced by the Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. I hope these prayers are a blessing and encouragement to you!  

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

  

 

Click Here to Order My Books on Amazon

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!