Sometimes Isolated but Never Separated from the Presence of God and Fulfillment of His Promises - December 16, 2020

 Morning by Morning, December 16 - Sometimes Isolated but Never Separated from the Presence of God and Fulfillment of His Promises

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome here in the Bethlehem of my heart and the manger of my spirit -- heart to heart and deep to deep.  ...

 

"After those days (Zechariah's) wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, 'This is what the Lord has done for me when He looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I endured among my people'" (Luke 1:24-25).

 

Elizabeth knew the God of miracles had burst into her life to conceive the life of an anointed son in her barren womb. She knew the favor of God had come upon her, even as she still endured the shame and reproach from the people that had come upon her during all the long years of her barrenness. Even so, she "remained in seclusion."

 

Maybe this season of seclusion and isolation came out of a measure of doubt -- choosing to believe this miracle of God, but at the same time just needing to carry this child and feel it move for a few months just to make sure her miracle was real and would last. Maybe this season came out of a measure of shame -- thanking God for all He had done but also afraid of all the people might say, maybe even mocking her or making fun of her for her faith in such a foolish thing to believe she had conceived a child in her elder years. Maybe she even wondered if she had been under the curse of God rather than the favor of God. Or maybe, just maybe, this season, if fact, came out of a deep measure of trust -- choosing to trust the promises of God and the timing of God, the God who takes time to bring to pass His promises at just the right time and sovereignly in His time and His way.

 

The truth is there would soon come a time--in the fullness of time--when Elizabeth, Zechariah, and all the people would look and see what God had done! All would soon see God's promises fufliflled in the birth of Elizabeth's anointed son John, who would "be filled with the Holy Spirit" while still in his mother's womb (Luke 1:14).  Just like the angel Gabriel had declared at the command of the Lord, her son would prepare the way of the Lord "with the spirit and power of Elijah" turning hearts to God and to one another (Luke 1:15-17).

 

Elizabeth's season of seclusion would be turned to joy. Her time of isolation would lead to deeper intimacy. Her days of doubt and disgrace would be turned to celebration and joy in the favor of God for all to see! (Luke 1:25) Her story gives us hope for our story! Her faith stirs up grace for our faith!

 

Lord, give us grace in the seasons of seclusion and the times of isolation. Give us grace to wait on You, to rest in You, to yield to Your timing and trust in Your ways. Give us grace to persevere with expectant faith for the days of fulfillment and favor in Your joy to come. Give us grace to embrace Your Presence while we wait and we pray for the provision of Your promises.

 

Even our seasons of seclusion and isolation are not seasons apart from You. It was during her seclusion that Elizabeth had one of the most powerful spiritual encounters of her life. Her young relative named Mary would come to see her in her place of seclusion -- almost as if to remind her that even though she was hidden away from the world for a season, she was not hidden away from God (Luke 1:36). The miraculous child in Elizabeth's womb would leap with joy in the presence of the miraculous Child in Mary's womb, as "Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit" (Luke 1:39-45). In her great joy, she celebrated the faith and favor of both of their lives as women who trusted the God of miracles in His timing and His ways, shouting, "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord!" (Luke 1:45)

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Fill us afresh today to sing with joy of the goodness of God. You are always faithful and true. It may not always be in our timing and in the way we would choose, but You're the God of miracles who rolls away all reproach and shame, doubt and worry, frustration and fear, to give us the grace to keep trusting in You and Your promises. 

 

Through every season, Your Presence and Your power are with us and Your favor is upon us, as children of God and disciples of Christ. You never forget us or never forsake us, You never leave us out or leave us behind. And every word of Your promises will be fulfilled -- all in Your time, all in Your way, and all for Your glory. 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 and expectant faith as you wait on the promises of God which will certainly be fulfilled in His perfect time and His sovereign way, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. And I join with you and so many in prayer for our nation through this challenging time. God bless you, my friend! 

 

 

My friend, please consider our ministry in 

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Messiah-Ministries.org/YearEndGiving

Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

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Continuing to Take Our Stand "For Just Such a Time as This" - December 15, 2020

 Morning by Morning, December 15 - Continuing to Take Our Stand "For Just Such a Time as This"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I press in to pursue You, to listen for Your leading and follow Your Spirit. ...

 

"So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. On the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, 'What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.' Then Queen Esther answered, 'If I have won your favor, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me--that is my petition--and the lives of my people--that is my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king.'  Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, who has presumed to do this?' Esther said, 'A foe and enemy, this wicked Haman!' Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. The king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that the king had determined to destroy him. When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining; and the king said, 'Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?' As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman's face. Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, 'Look, the very gallows that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, stands at Haman's house, fifty cubits high.' And the king said, 'Hang him on that.' So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king abated" (Esther 7:1-10).

 

In the days of Mordecai, Haman had plans to destroy him, along with Esther and all the people of God. He was consumed with a lust for power and driven by jealousy, hatred, and rage against Mordecai's place of honor in the nation and place of position in the heart of the king. And the same spirit at work within the heart and soul of Haman is at work within the heart and soul of our world today.

 

But our battle is not against the person of Haman or any human. Our battle is not against human flesh and blood. It's not against those are confused or deceived, mistaken in their beliefs or blinded to the truth. Ultimately, it's not even against those who would intentionally deceive and defraud for their own benefit and their own agendas at the expense of what is right and true, sacred and just. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).

 

While Haman made plans to celebrate his victory and the destruction of Mordecai and his people, You made plans to expose the truth that would reveal his plot and save Your people. And at the heart of Your plans was the heart of Esther -- the heart of the queen, the heart of the bride of the king.

 

Esther and her people fasted and prayed (Esther 7:16). And in time--at just the right time, though it must have surely seemed like a long time in the face of such a great threat--Esther was granted favor to come before the king with her passionate petition for the salvation and deliverance of her people. In fact, You put her in that very position "for just such a time as this" (Esther 7:14).

 

Yes, the spiritual enemy of our souls and the soul of our nation has his plans, but You have Yours. The spirit of Haman is planning his great celebration, but the Spirit of the Lord is planning Yours!

 

Call up Your Esthers. Call up the bride of the King. Call up Your people who are called by Your name, who are fasting and praying, to keep the faith and hold fast to the promise of Your words. Surely this is not the time to give up or run away but to draw near to the King!

 

Let our petition be heard! Let our prayers be answered! Let the gallows our spiritual enemy has prepared for us become the place of its own humiliation and defeat in the light of Your truth! The spirit of Haman is no match for the Spirit of the Living God!

 

Let the desires You've placed in our hearts and the burden of prayer You've placed on our spirits be fulfilled. Give us the grace to wait it out--not passively sitting by, but actively pursuing the leading of Your Spirit. Surely You have called us and positioned us to boldly, courageously, faithfully take our stand "for just such a time as this!" In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you continue to take your stand in the spiritual position entrusted to you and the body and bride of Christ for just such a time as this , in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. And I join with you and so many in prayer for our nation through this challenging time. God bless you, my friend! 

 

Tommy,please consider our ministry in 

Your End Giving!

Messiah-Ministries.org/YearEndGiving

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

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Trusting the God Who "Does Not Call Back His Words" - December 14, 2020

Morning by Morning, December 14 - Trusting the God Who “Does Not Call Back His Words”

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face and listen for Your voice, as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. ...

 

“Alas for those who go down to Egypt for help
    and who rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
    and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
    or consult the Lord!

Yet He too is wise and brings disaster;
    He does not call back His words,
but will rise against the house of the evildoers,
    and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

The Egyptians are human, and not God;
    their horses are flesh, and not Spirit.
When the Lord stretches out His hand,
    the helper will stumble, and the one helped will fall,
    and they will all perish together.

For thus the Lord said to me,
As a lion or a young lion growls over its prey,
    and--when a band of shepherds is called out against it--
is not terrified by their shouting
    or daunted at their noise,
so the Lord of hosts will come down
    to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.

Like birds hovering overhead, so the Lord of hosts
    will protect Jerusalem;
He will protect and deliver it,
    He will spare and rescue it” (Isaiah 31:1-5).

 

Like Israel in the days of Isaiah, we’re tempted to trust in the things that are “human, and not God ... flesh, and not Spirit” (v. 3). We’re tempted to look to things that are many in number like the chariots of Egypt and strong in the powers of this world like the horsemen of Egypt.

 

But our hope is not in the numbers of men, and our faith is not in the powers of this world. Our hope and our faith are in You alone -- the One who “does not call back His words” (v. 2).

 

Today and in the rising tensions of the days to come, we may hear a lot of “shouting” and a lot of “noise” coming from the mouth of our spiritual enemy who’s always seeking to steal and kill and destroy like “a young lion growls over its prey” (v. 4). But our God hears and our God sees and our God is still raising up His “band of shepherds” who are “called out against it” to pray and proclaim, to decree and declare the words of the One who does not call back His words (v. 4). 

 

By the power of the grace of God, Your shepherds and intercessors, Your prophets and prayer warriors, Your faithful ones who seek only what just and right, what is accurate and true, will not be “terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise” (v. 4)  For the Lord our God, the One who is mighty to save in His miraculous power where He alone receives all the glory, honor, and praise, “the Lord of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill!” (v. 4) “He will protect and deliver it, He will spare and rescue it!” (v. 5)

 

This battle will not be won with horses or chariots, nor with the numbers of men or the powers of this world, but by the sovereign move of the Lord our God! All will be humbled by the hand of God to look up and say, “Only God could have done this!”

 

“Some may trust in chariots and some may trust in horses, but we will trust in the name of our God! They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. Lord, give victory to the king! Answer us when we call!” (Psalm 20:7-9).

 

You are the King -- the King of Kings and Lord of Lords -- our sovereign and mighty One! (Revelation 19:16) So we don’t lose faith; we don’t shrink back. We keep praying and proclaiming, decreeing and declaring, in accordance with Your words that are never called back until we see Your sovereign and mighty move in our hearts and in our land! This battle is not over, for this “battle belongs to the Lord!” (1 Samuel 17:47; 2 Chronicles 20:15) In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you keep the faith and not lose heart, trusting the God who does not call back His words and will display His sovereign miraculous power in ways that He alone receives all glory, honor, and praise, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. And I join with you and so many in prayer for our nation through this challenging time. God bless you, my friend! 

 

Run to the Battle! DVD Set Now Available

from Our Recent Conference at Ignite Church

Messiah-Ministries.org

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

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Star of Hope Rising - December 11, 2020

 Morning by Morning, December 11 - Star of Hope Rising

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart, as I seek to follow in Your steps today. ...

 

"In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, 'Where is the Child who has been born King of the Jews? For we observed His star at its rising, and have come to pay homage'" (Matthew 2:1-2).

 

Before hope was fulfilled, the wise men saw hope from afar.

 

Long before the day of the birth of Christ, they looked up to the sky and saw a star of hope in the heavens. As the star was rising in the sky, hope was rising in their hearts. So they followed that star until their hope was fulfilled.

 

There was something unique about this star that spoke to their hearts that there was something unique about this Child. They probably didn't know that the fulfillment of their hopes was destined to be the fulfilment of the Promises of God and the hope of mankind. 

"For so it has been written by the prophet: 'And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a Ruler who is to shepherd My people'" (Matthew 2:5-6).

 

The wise men followed their hearts and hopes. They followed "the star they had seen at its rising until it stopped over the place where the Child was" (Matthew 2:9). And on that day, their hopes were turned to joy. "When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they knelt down and paid Him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh" (Matthew 2:9-11).

 

Holy Spirit of the Living God, come fill our hearts with hope. Come lift up our eyes to the heavens, from where our help comes from. Give us courage and faith to keep following the star of hope You cause to shine in our hearts until our hopes are fulfilled in You. "Hope deferred make the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled in a tree of life" (Proverbs 13:12).

 

Fulfill the desires You've put in our hearts, Father. Fill our hearts with Your new life. Like wise men on a journey going to see the King, we believe with expectant faith and hopeful hearts that our journey will end in joy! And we will bow down and pay homage to the One whose hope does not disappoint. 

 

"Hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). So arise and shine in our hearts, Holy Spirit of God, O Star of Hope, who always leads us to the King. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may hope rise in your heart with expectant faith and courage to pursue the promises our Father has put into your hearts by His Holy Spirit on your journey to the King and His kingdom purposes in your life and our world, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. And I join with you and so many in prayer for our nation through this challenging time. God bless you, my friend! 

Monthly Pakistan Evangelistic Crusade through our 

Skype Internet Ministry Yesterday.

We praise God for a great gathering of people hungry to hear the Gospel at our meeting last night in Pakistan, where I was able to share a message of hope and healing. So many came even though it was very cold. 

We're excited to have just received this Praise Report from Pastor Rizwan Fazal who sets up the meetings and interprets my message and prayer live: "Thank the Lord! 247 Souls are Saved and 19 Persons are Healed from different things. Me and my wife Mehwish request please help us to support Bonded Labor Christian Slaves Families at Brick Kiln before 20th December." If you would like to join us in helping these families, please add this message to your on-line contribution for this designation.

Here are a few photos Pastor Rizwan just sent:

 

 

 

 

Please keep us in prayer to continue these monthly crusades and evangelistic outreach in Pakistan! God bless you!

Run to the Battle! DVD Set Now Available

from Our Recent Conference at Ignite Church

 

Messiah-Ministries.org

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!

Anyone can sign up for free to receive them at:

Messiah-Ministries.org