Morning by Morning, January 7 - Follow Me

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Have Your way in me this day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

 

"Early in the morning, Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites, and they came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing over. At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, 'When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place. Follow it, so that you may know the way you should go, for you have not passed this way before...." (Joshua 3:1-4).

 

All that happened to Israel in their physical journey out of Egypt, through the wilderness, and into the promise land speaks to us of our spiritual journey out of our Egypts, through our wildernesses, and into our promise lands. "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).

 

You are our Joshua, our Yeshua -- the Salvation Of God. And just as Joshua instructed the people at Your command to follow the ark of the covenant of the Lord, so You call us to follow You. The ark of the covenant of the Lord spoke of God's Presence among His people, and You are our Ark of the Presence of God among us, our Immanuel -- God With Us.

 

As I begin this New Year, You are leading me to places where I "have not passed this way before." But You already see where I'm going and who I'm going with and how I'll get there and all I'll encounter along the way. You the God who sees the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end; and You hold all time and space in Your hands -- Your nail-scarred hands (Isaiah 46:10). "For in (You) all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether throne or dominions or rulers or powers -- all things have been created through (You) and for (You)" (Colossians 1:16).

 

Just as Joshua directed the eyes and hearts of the people to the ark of the covenant and said "Follow it," by Your Holy Spirit abiding in us, You lift our eyes and hearts to You to say, "Follow Me" (Matthew 4:19).

 

I've followed You out of my Egypts and into Your salvation. I've followed You through my wildernesses and times of testing and trial, producing in me endurance and faith, correction and discipline, learning to trust and learning to obey. And I've followed You into my promise land of my inheritance in You and the promises of Your Word for me and all the children of God. And on this side of Heaven, it will be a never-ending journey of faith and prayer, of faithfulness and perseverance, of mistakes and forgiveness, of healing and deliverance, of transformation and sanctification, of growing up into the image of Christ, "to a maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.... (to) grow up into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:13-15). As You are, so am I to be in my world (1 John 4:17).

 

But as I journey on, even into places where I've "never passed this way before" on this great adventure of faith and life in You, I'm confident of this -- He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it until the day that Christ returns for His pure and spotless bride, His "glorious church" who has been faithful to come and follow Him (Philippians 1:6; Ephesians 5:27). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you faithfully follow Jesus everywhere He leads you by His Holy Spirit in you this year, even to the places where you have never passed this way before, as He makes you more like Him each day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you and Happy New Year, my friend! 

 

Friends, it's good to be back with you on our journey of prayer. I was away over the holidays with family and am looking forward to joining with you in prayer. I'm sensing a deep expectancy and enthusiasm for great transformation and revival in our hearts and lives as the Body and Bride of Christ this year! God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

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, January 6, 2020 - Vessel of Honor

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I begin another year of my daily journey of prayer with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- help me listen for Your leading and walk with You in the Spirit, morning by morning and then moment by moment throughout my day. ...

 

As I listen and wait for the leading this morning, I'm especially listen for Your word for me for this New Year. ...

 

I hear You continuing to speak to my heart of being "a vessel of honor." ...

 

Your written Word to us all comes to mind to confirm Your spoken word to me. ...

 

"In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their sense and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:20-26 NKJV).

 

I'm called to be "a vessel for honor." And while we might tend to think we are created either for honor or dishonor, created of "gold and silver" or of "wood and clay," and that we have no choice or responsibility in the matter other than to acknowledge our sovereignty over all, Your Word emphasizes something else. Your Word says, "If anyone cleanses himself from the latter (from dishonor), he will be a vessel for honor."

 

First, the invitation of Your Word is available to "anyone." Second, the invitation of Your Word is a promise for "anyone (who) cleanses himself." And along with every promise of the Word of God comes the provision of the grace we need to live into Your promise in fulfillment of Your Word. "For God is working in (us), giving (us) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him" (Philippians 2:13 NLT).

 

So come, Holy Spirit. Give me the desire and the power to desire and to do what pleases God. Empower me by Your grace to "cleanse (myself) from (dishonor)." Empower me by Your grace to be "sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work."

 

Lord Jesus, You said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing (John 15:5). But You also promised us Your Presence and Your provision for all we need to become all we're created to be as we abide in deeply personal and intimate relationship with You, saying, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples" (John 15:7-8).

 

Father God, it strikes me that Your Word emphasizes our active participation in the cleansing from dishonor, rather than emphasizing our active participation in making ourselves a vessel for honor:  "Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor" (2 Timothy 2:21). We will "be" a vessel for honor as we cleanse ourselves from dishonor. 

 

How do we do this? According to Your Word, we "flee" what is wrong and "pursue" what is right; we "flee" the lusts of the world, the flesh, and the devil, as we "pursue" righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" -- all as best as we can and all by the power of Your grace (2 Timothy 2:22).

 

Yes, we are saved by grace through faith alone in Christ, not by any works of anything we have done but only by what You have done for us (Ephesians 2:8-9). And at the same time, "we are (Your) workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). We're going to heaven when we die, and nothing can snatch us from Your hand of salvation (John 10:28). And at the same time, we are created for so much more than salvation alone. We're created to be vessels of honor, "sanctified and useful to the Master for every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). So we can praise You and thank You for our salvation by the power and mercy and grace of God where "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" (Romans 8:1). And at the same time, we can embrace Your power and grace to "pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 2:14). "For this is the will of God, (our) sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

 

This New Year, may I be changed into Your image, more and more, morning by morning, moment by moment, "from glory to glory," as I behold You in a deeper intimacy and embrace You in a greater awareness of Your Presence (2 Corinthians 3:18). May I be cleansed from every defilement and every dishonor. "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1).

 

By the power of Your grace at work within me, I choose to be Your vessel of honor. I desire to be sanctified and useful to You, my Master, for every good work. Rather than the wood and clay, I choose the silver and gold! Lord, have Your way in me! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be a vessel of honor, like silver and gold formed and shaped in the Master's hands for every good work, secure in your identity to fulfill your destiny in Him, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you and Happy New Year, my friend! 

Friends, it's good to be back with you on our journey of prayer. I was away over the holidays with family and am looking forward to joining with you in prayer. I'm sensing a deep expectancy and enthusiasm for great transformation and revival in our hearts and lives as the Body and Bride of Christ this year! God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

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 27 - 50 Year Jubilee -- The Year of the Lord's Favor

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You here in my heart and every moment of my day.  ...

 

"The year of the Lord's favor" (Isaiah 61:2; Luke 4:19 NIV).

 

Today's the 50th birthday for my ministry partner and 30-year friend, Tammy Watts. She says I was her "first real boss" because she came to work for me and our law firm, where she also came to meet and marry another one of my great 30-year friends, Mikal Watts. Whatever she may or may not be doing today or tonight, I join with all those whose lives have been touched and forever changed by the love and joy, the wisdom and passion, and the life-long witness of God's grace that flows so easily and powerfully through her life.

 

The 50th year is the Jubilee Year -- the Year of the Lord's Favor! After every fifty years, the Lord brought deep rest and great restoration, with extravagant freedom and liberty to His people and to their land. "And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you" (Leviticus 25:8-12).

 

The 50th year was the year of great healing for the brokenhearted, liberty for the captives, release for the prisoners, to give them beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, and praise for heaviness, so with gratitude and grace the people of God would display the righteousness and mercy of God that He might be glorified (Isaiah 61:1-3). And all of this was ultimately fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ (Luke 4:18-19).

 

And in Christ, the year of Jubilee continues! There's healing and freedom, rest and restoration, joy and jubilation in Jesus who is our Jubilee!

 

So today I pray Your Jubilee Blessings for my great friend Tammy. She's finished her first fifty years, but You're the God who saves His best wine for last (John 2:10) and the glory of the latter house is always greater than the glory of the former house (Haggai 2:9). So in You, the best is yet to come!

 

And I thank You for Your Jubilee Blessings for all of us who have come to know Your love and receive Your grace through Jesus Christ, our Jubilee! You're the God of extravagant mercy and grace, who does exceedingly abundantly far more than we could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). So Lord, let this be the Year of the Lord's Favor for Your people in Your exceedingly abundant ways! May we release the Spirit of Jubilee to every life we touch in every place You send us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you experience the Jubilee of Jesus, in all the extravagance of God's mercy and grace in your life and every life He touches through you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you and Happy New Year, my friend! 

And please join with me in wishing Tammy Watts a Happy Jubilee Birthday today! (tammywatts@RaphaGodMinistries.com)

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 26 - After Christmas Morning

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm listening for Your leading -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- as I begin my day in the communion of prayer with You. ...

 

"The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them" (Luke 2:20 NKJV).

 

After Christmas morning, "the shepherds returned" to where they had been and went back to what they had been doing. But they were different. And their lives were forever changed. They returned "glorifying and praising God" after their encounter with You!

 

Now that Christmas is passed, now that the presents are opened and the pies are eaten and the parties are over, we begin to return to where we were and what we were doing. But we are different now. We've drawn closer to You through these days of Advent, full of anticipation and expectant faith, excited to see the King and encounter our Savior.

 

A moment in Your Presence changes us forever. And those moments are meant to be so much more than one morning on the calendar. Morning by morning, moment by moment, You wake us up and draw us near for each new day and each fresh encounter with the Living God. And as we behold You, again and again, we are forever changed every time. "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 3:18).

 

Now, as You send me out into my day, filled afresh with Your Spirit and forever changed from a fresh encounter alone with You in Your Presence, I go out "glorifying and praising God for all the things (I've) heard and seen!" I've been changed and send me out to be Your ambassador of change everywhere I go and in everything I do (2 Corinthians 5:20). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you go out into your day glorifying and praising God, forever changed by your fresh encounter with the Living God in the communion of prayer with Him, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. Merry Christmas and God bless you, my friend!

    

Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer.

Please keep our ministry in mind for your Year End Giving, to help provide hope and healing through Messiah Ministries, fulfilling our calling of preparing the way of the Lord in the hearts of God's people and in our world. All contributions are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. God bless you!

Click Here for Year End Contributions to Messiah Ministries

I write these prayer devotionals from my morning prayer time most every day and send them out right away the same morning -- real prayers, expressed and shared in real time from my spiritual life. If you would like to have a collection of these as a 365 Day Prayer Devotional for you or a friend, please order a copy today. God bless you!

 

Click Here to Order Morning by Morning or My Other Spiritual Books through 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, December 25 - Merry Christmas!

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Worshippers of God around the world will celebrate the birth of Christ today! And every day I celebrate my new birth in You (John 3:3).  ...

 

Thank You, Lord Jesus - You are One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit. You set aside the glory of Heaven to humble Yourself in the likeness of human flesh and blood, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, to be our Savior and show us the way that leads to a life filled with the peace and joy that only a life in Christ can bring (Philippians 2:5-11; Romans 14:17; John 15:11). 

 

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given; 

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6 NKJV).

 

As worship You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- and as I wish a Merry Christmas for all my friends, I praise You that You're the One who makes Christmas merry for me. For "in Your Presence there is fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11)  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be filled with the peace and joy that only a life in Christ can bring, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me.  God bless you, my friend! 

Merry Christmas and God Bless You,

from Tommy & Rocio Hays

and Messiah Ministries!

 

 

  

Thank you for joining with me on this daily journey of prayer.

Please keep our ministry in mind for your Year End Giving, to help provide hope and healing through Messiah Ministries, fulfilling our calling of preparing the way of the Lord in the hearts of God's people and in our world. All contributions are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. God bless you!

Donote to Messiah Ministries Year End Giving

I write these prayer devotionals from my morning prayer time most every day and send them out right away the same morning -- real prayers, expressed and shared in real time from my spiritual life. If you would like to have a collection of these as a 365 Day Prayer Devotional for you or a friend, please order a copy today. God bless you!

 

Order Morning by Morning on Amazon 

or Other Books by Tommy Hays

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!