Setting Twisted Things Straight - June 22, 2020

Morning by Morning, June 22 - Setting Twisted Things Straight

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I look to You and listen for Your leading, help me begin this day grounded in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit. ...

 

"On that day the Lord with His cruel and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will kill the dragon that is in the sea" (Isaiah 27:1).

 

On a day when it seems our world is swimming in a sea of confusion, struggling for stability, crying out for security against wave after wave of anarchy, we find ourselves finally turning to You. You alone are our Strength and Strong Tower, our Wisdom and the One who leads us in the ways of life, grounded in Your truth and guarded in Your love.

 

While it may look like cultural wars and political battles and social turmoil, the deeper truth is that we're in the midst of an epic spiritual battle. We're in the midst of days where good is called evil and evil is called good, where what is true is called a lie and what is a lie is called the truth. And without the grounding of Your Word and the guidance of Your Spirit, we are doomed to lose our discernment to know the difference.

 

"Ah, you who call evil good

    and good evil,

who put darkness for light

    and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

    and sweet for bitter!

Ah, you who are wise in your own eyes,

    and shrewd in your own sight!" (Isaiah 5:20-21).

 

While the twisting serpent wants to twist our sense of what is true and what is false, what is good and what is evil, what's of the Spirit and what's of the flesh, what will stand the test of time and what will be consumed in the Fire of the Lord like wood and hay and stubble, we turn to the One who defeats the twisted lies with the truth. We cry out to the One who cuts off the head of the serpent with the Sword of the Lord, the very Word of God, wielded in the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:17).

 

Come, Holy Spirit! Set the twisted things straight. Make our paths straight. Set us free from this twisting serpent of our times! Set our hearts right on the path that is straight and true, even though it's the way that's more difficult to walk against the headwinds of our world. "For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many go by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

 

Lord, let us find it! Lord, let us live into it! Lord, let us see in our day Your mighty defeat and manifestation of Your eternal victory over this ancient and twisted serpent! As we stand firm in You and walk in Your ways, You will crush his head under our feet (Roman 16:20) and You will cut off his head with Your strong sword in Your mighty name! (Isaiah 27:1) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, may you be strengthened and encouraged, filled with the Holy Spirit to stand firm in the Lord and walk in His ways, as He sets twisted things straight and cuts off the head of the twisting serpent in your world, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

      

  

Listen and join me in today's Morning by Morning

Prayer Devotional Podcast

https://anchor.fm/morningbymorningtommyhays

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway

Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

"He Who Sits in the Heavens Laughs" - June 19, 2020

Morning by Morning, June 19 - "He Who Sits in the Heavens Laughs"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I love You, Lord, and I listen for Your leading to begin my day seeking to follow You and even become more like You today -- all by Your grace at work within me and within all who open their hearts to trust in You. ...

 

What I hear in my heart this morning is this bold declaration -- "He who sits in the heavens laughs!" ...

 

Immediately Your Word comes to mind from Psalm 2:

 

"Why do the nations conspire,

and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and His Anointed, saying,

'Let us burst their bonds asunder

And cast their cords from us.'

 

He who sits in the heavens laughs! 

The Lord has them in derision.

Then He will speak to them in His wrath,

and terrify them in His fury, saying,

'I have set My King on Zion, My holy hill'"

(Psalm 2:1-6).

 

The question comes to mind, "Lord, why are You laughing? Right now our world is full of poverty, injustice, sickness, fear, hatred, and greed. Right now there are millions of souls bound in spiritual darkness and given over to hopeless despair. I know You are good and the very essence of love. I know righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne. I know You hate evil in every form and Your heart breaks at the brokenness of our broken and fallen world. So Lord, why are You laughing?" ...

 

And what comes immediately to mind is the rest of the Psalm....

 

"I will tell of the decree of the Lord:

He said to Me, 'You are My Son; 

Today I have begotten You.

Ask of Me, and I will make the nations Your heritage,

and the ends of the earth Your possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron,

and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.'

 

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear,

with trembling kiss His feet,

or He will be angry, and you will perish in the way;

for His wrath is quickly kindled.

Happy are all who take refuge in Him!"

(Psalm 2:7-11).

 

Yes, Lord! You're not laughing at our misery; You're laughing at Your victory! You're not laughing at all we're going through; You're laughing at all You're bringing us through! You already see the day when Your Word will be fulfilled here on earth as it in heaven: "The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ!" (Revelation 11:15)

 

You're the God who sees the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. You're the God who already knows how it all turns out, how You turn it all around for our good and Your glory. You're the God of whom it is said "For the sake of the joy that was set before Him (He) endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).

 

That's the joy that fills Your heart! That's the joy that flows out of Your belly laugh from the heavens like Rivers of Living Water washing over our world. Wicked people and evil kings of this world may laugh now. The wicked and evil "ruler of this world" and so-called "god of this age" who "knows his time is short" and goes about our world "like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" may think he's winning, as he's defying the will and breaking the heart of the Most High God. "But He who sits in the heavens laughs!" He who sits in the heavens already sees the day when all will be well and all will be right and all will be just and all will even say, "It was worth it all to receive what we have and become who we are, forever and ever and ever!"

 

Yes, Lord! As You said long ago through Your prophet Nehemiah to Your people so troubled by all they were going through in their world, "Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" (Nehemiah 8:10) And in the strength of Your joy we declare: "The Lord is my Strength and my Shield; in Him my heart trusts and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him!" (Psalm 28:7) And now "May the God of hope fill (us) with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit (we) may abound in hope!" (Romans 15:13) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, may you be comforted and filled with hope, strengthened in the joy of the Lord, as you believe and trust in the One who is at work in our world and in our hearts in the power of His love and joy even in the midst of all we're going through, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

     

  

Listen and join me in today's Morning by Morning

Prayer Devotional Podcast

https://anchor.fm/morningbymorningtommyhays

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway

Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

"An Undivided Heart" - June 18, 2020

Morning by Morning, June 18 - "An Undivided Heart"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill my heart with Your words of spirit and life as I begin my day centered and grounded in You and Your Word. ...

 

"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws. They will be My people, and I will be their God" (Ezekiel 11:19-20).

 

When our hearts are divided from one another, they are divided from You. And when our hearts are divided from You, they are divided from one another. 

 

How we need Your Spirit to fill our spirits! How we need Your Heart to change our hearts! The spirit of division would seek to harden our hearts like stone against one another and against You. But there is a Spirit who unites us and aligns us, that gives us grace for one another in our differences and that we may even see great value in our differences that strengthen us instead of separate us.

 

There's power in agreement. "How can two walk together unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3) "Again, I tell you truly that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:19-20).

 

No wonder our enemy would seek to divide us! No wonder Your Holy Spirit is so determined to unite us! "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! ... For there the Lord commanded the blessing -- Life forevermore!" (Psalm 133:1-3)

 

Give us Your Life, Lord. We're desperate for Your blessing, Lord. Soften our stony, hardened hearts and attitudes toward one another and give us a tender heart toward each other -- even if we disagree about direction or decisions, even if we hold firm opinions and stick up for our values, even if we will not compromise on truth or appease the ways of the world, the flesh, and the devil, give us Your Spirit and Your Heart for one another. For "whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar" (1 John 4:20). Instead, You said, "By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).

 

Father, fill our hearts with Your Holy Spirit. Unite us as one with Your heart and with the hearts of one another. "With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as (we) were called to one hope when (we) were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all!" (Ephesians 4:1-6) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

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

My Friend, may you be filled with the Holy Spirit, undivided in your heart for God and for your brothers and sisters in Christ in the bond of peace and power of God's love as you are blessed with the commanded blessings of God -- Life forevermore, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

    

  

Listen and join me in today's Morning by Morning

Prayer Devotional Podcast

https://anchor.fm/morningbymorningtommyhays

Pakistan Preaching Praise Report from Tuesday Night!

Friends, I'm excited to share this praise report from Pastor Rizwan after out outdoor evangelistic meeting in a new village for our outreach in Pakistan Tuesday night:  Over 350 souls were saved! And there were testimonies of healing received already, as the Pastor reported this morning: "41 Persons are healed from different things. Last night one person had heavy teeth pain so pain gone after he went to his home. Two sisters came with heavy stomach pain so they told our team that today they are healed perfectly!"

 

My Friend, thank you so much for all your prayers, encouragement, and support for us to be able to hold these monthly evangelistic outreach meetings through our Internet Ministry into Pakistan. Each month, I am preaching in different villages around Lahore, Pakistan in the Punjab Region through Skype in these outdoor evangelistic meetings. Leading our local team, Pastor Rizwan Fazal sets up a big screen in an outdoor meeting usually and interprets my message of hope and healing live in Pakistan. Then we follow up with prayer and discipleship through our partnership of ministry with Pastor Fazal. We're excited to see what God is doing in these days!

 

"And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come!" (Matthew 24:14)

From Tuesday Night's Meeting. Praise the Lord!!!

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway

Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

"The Threshing Floor" - June 17

Morning by Morning, June 17 - "The Threshing Floor"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Your sheep hear Your voice and Your children are led by Your Spirit. Help me hear and follow You today, Lord God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ... 

 

As I wait for Your leading this morning, I hear in my heart "the threshing floor." ...

 

Yes, Lord. What are You speaking to my spirit? ...

 

What comes to mind are the words of John the Baptist who had the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord in the hearts of the people:

 

"In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 'Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!' This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight! ... Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into the granary; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire'" (Matthew 3:1-12).

 

John spoke of the "threshing floor" as a place where the wheat is separated from the chaff, just as he spoke of the bad roots that produce bad fruit being uprooted and removed. The chaff and the roots were to be consumed in the fire -- the Fire of the Holy Spirit at the hand of Jesus. By the spirit of Elijah, John was preparing the way of the Lord before Your first coming (Matthew 11:4) just as the same spirit of Elijah -- the Holy Spirit in the consuming Fire of God -- is preparing the way of the Lord before Your second coming (Matthew 17:1-13). As was prophesied long ago: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their father, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse" (Malachi 4:5-6).

 

We are in Your threshing floor. Our hearts are being threshed. Our bad roots that bear bad fruit are being uprooted. All is being consumed in the Fire of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, in our land, in our world. "For our God is a Consuming Fire" (Hebrews 12:29).

 

John referred to this "threshing floor" as Your threshing floor -- "He will clear His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into the granary" (Matthew 3:12). That's not talking about the world; that's talking about us! The threshing floor is Your threshing floor. It's Your threshing floor for those who are Yours so You can separate the wheat from the chaff in us. Just as You're the Lord of the harvest, You're also the Lord of the threshing (Matthew 9:38).

 

Come, Holy Spirit! Come, Holy Fire of God! Burn the chaff out of me. Burn the chaff out of Your Church. This is the time of "the threshing floor!" Give us grace to get through this "threshing," that the wheat of pure hearts, wholly devoted to God, can be gathered up into the granary of God. Prepare the way of the Lord in us before the "great and terrible" day of the Lord comes in our world. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, may the Holy Fire of God burn in you and give you His grace to come through the threshing floor of Jesus, as the Holy Spirit prepares the way of the Lord in your heart for the great and terrible day of the Lord to come, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

   

  

Listen and join me in today's Morning by Morning

Prayer Devotional Podcast

https://anchor.fm/morningbymorningtommyhays

Pakistan Preaching Praise Report from Last Night!

Friends, I'm excited to share this praise report I just received from Pastor Rizwan after out outdoor evangelistic meeting in a new village for our outreach in Pakistan last night:  Over 350 souls were saved! And there were testimonies of healing received already, as the Pastor reported this morning: "41 Persons are healed from different things. Last night one person had heavy teeth pain so pain gone after he went to his home. Two sisters came with heavy stomach pain so they told our team that today they are healed perfectly!"

 

Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers, encouragement, and support for us to be able to hold these monthly evangelistic outreach meetings through our Internet Ministry into Pakistan. Each month, I am preaching in different villages around Lahore, Pakistan in the Punjab Region through Skype in these outdoor evangelistic meetings. Leading our local team, Pastor Rizwan Fazal sets up a big screen in an outdoor meeting usually and interprets my message of hope and healing live in Pakistan. Then we follow up with prayer and discipleship through our partnership of ministry with Pastor Fazal. We're excited to see what God is doing in these days!

 

"And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come!" (Matthew 24:14)

From Last Night's Meeting. Praise the Lord!!!

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway

Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

My friend, we've updated our new ministry website. Take a look and tell us what you think!

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

When "To Pluck Up and Pull Down, to Destroy and Overthrow" = June 16, 2020

Morning by Morning, June 16 - When "To Pluck Up and Pull Down, to Destroy and Overthrow"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Merciful and Mighty, Faithful and True, my Strength and Shield, my Lord and King, O Lord my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- I bow before You and look up to You, to begin my day intentionally and intimately embracing Your Presence. ...

 

When we're wavering and wondering, You're always here reminding us to turn to You. And as I turn to You today, You're Word comes to mind from the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke into the hearts of Your people through troubled times:

 

"Then the Lord put out His hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, 'Now I have put My words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:9-10).

 

It's Your word that's anointed "to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow" just as it's Your word that's anointed "to "build and to plant." And all that's truly of You and Your word will always be counterfeited by the enemy of all that is right and true, "the thief who comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy" (John 10:10).

 

There's a right way and wrong way. There's Your way and the enemy's way. There's Your word and Your way; and there's his words and his way. And we desperately need Your discernment to know the difference.

 

Give us humility to see and to allow what needs to be plucked up or pulled down, what needs to be destroyed or overthrown. And at the same time, give us courage to embrace what is of You and to stand against what's not of You. May we stand up and speak up for what You've build and planted, what You've sown and grown, what You've established to stand through the tests of time.

 

We'll stand on the right side of history when we kneel by the side of our beds and at the foot of Your cross to hear Your words, to receive Your guidance, and to obey Your commands as we seek to walk in Your ways.

 

We need the same Holy Spirit who anointed Jeremiah to hear and to speak, to respond and to act, to anoint us with Your words and Your power, with the wisdom of Your ways in our generation. Let nothing be plucked up or pulled down, be destroyed or overthrown that You have not marked for destruction, even as You uproot and remove all that is. Give us the God-given sense to know the difference.

 

Just as a tree is known by its fruit, so are our motives and actions. Let our motives and actions bear the fruit that comes from obedience and courage to hear and obey Your words is spirit and truth. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, may you be anointed to know when to pluck up and pull down to destroy and overthrow, to build and plan, by the discernment and the power of the Holy Spirit of the Living God who abides in you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

  

  

Listen and join me in today's Morning by Morning

Prayer Devotional Podcast

https://anchor.fm/morningbymorningtommyhays

Pakistan Preaching - Our Next Monthly Evangelistic Outreach Today - Tuesday June 16th

Friends, please keep us in prayer today for our next monthly evangelistic outreach meeting through our Internet Ministry into Pakistan.  (Tuesday morning here; Tuesday night in Pakistan). Each month, I am preaching in different villages around Lahore, Pakistan in the Punjab Region through Skype in these outdoor evangelistic meetings. Led by our local team, Pastor Rizwan Fazal sets up a big screen in an outdoor meeting usually, along with our interpreter who interprets my my message of hope and healing live in Pakistan. Then we follow up with prayer and discipleship through our partnership of ministry with Pastor Fazal. We're excited to see what God will do!

"And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come!" (Matthew 24:14)

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway

Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Friends, we've updated our new ministry website. Take a look and tell us what you think!

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!