Morning by Morning—Daily Prayer Journey with Tommy Hays

Thursday, February 18, 2021

"Be Prepared to Power Up!" - February 18, 2021

Morning by Morning, February 18 - "Be Prepared to Power Up!"

Good morning Lord Jesus. I welcome You here in my heart and every moment of my day. Lead me now, as I listen -- heart to Heart, spirit to Spirit, deep to Deep -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

As I listen for Your leading, I believe I hear in my heart: "Be prepared to power up." ...

Yes. Lord. ...

What comes immediately to mind in Your written Word to confirm what I believe I'm discerning from Your spoken word is this timeless Truth and calling to "be prepared to power up" from the Book of Acts:

"In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen. After His suffering He presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, He ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. 'This,' He said,

is what you have heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'

So when they had come together, they asked Him, 'Lord, is this the time when You will restore the kingdom to Israel?' He replied, 'It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.' When He had said this, as they were watching, He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While He was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven'" (Acts 1:1-11).

When You were lifted up into heaven, those first disciples of Yours were about to receive a great power up! But as they were looking up to watch You go, the angels suggested they shouldn't "stand looking up toward heaven" but be listening up to what You had just said. You told them to "wait there for the promise of the Father" because they would "be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." You told them they would "receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon (them)" so that they could be Your "witnesses" wherever they were and then "to the ends of the earth."

So to be prepared for their power up, they needed to wait with expectant faith for a great outpouring of Your Holy Spirit. To be prepared for their power up, they needed to be hungering and thirsting for this infilling and overflowing of Your Holy Spirit. To be prepared for their power up, they needed to stop standing around and looking up to watch You go away into heaven and start pressing in and praying through until heaven came down into them!

Come, Holy Spirit! Let heaven come down into us now! We're watching and waiting. We're pressing in and praying through. We're ready with a holy restlessness and relentless hunger to be prepared to power up!

"O that You would tear open the heavens and come down so that the mountains would quake at Your Presence!" (Isaiah 64:1) With both the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord and the deep intimacy of the infilling Presence of the Lord, may we quake at Your Presence here in our hearts. And may we be powered up to display Your glory and Your power as Your witnesses in our world wherever we are and to the ends of the earth! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, may you be filled up and powered up as you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, pressing in and praying through in the both the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord and deep intimacy of the Presence of the Lord in you, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Pakistan Pastor and Leaders' Gathering for Fasting and Prayer Last Night.

I was excited to be invited last night to speak a word of encouragement to a group of pastors and leaders in Pakistan who are fasting and praying for 3 days for revival in Pakistan! Praise God! And I will also be preaching through our Skype Internet Ministry this Saturday (Saturday night in Pakistan, and Saturday morning in Texas). Please keep us in prayer!

Fasting and Prayer Gathering Last Night

Friends, please keep us in prayer for the upcoming Messiah Ministries Events:

Central Texas Area Aglow Spring Conference May 14-16.

I'm excited to be invited to be the Keynote Speaker at the Annual Gathering for the Central Texas Area Aglow in Kerrville Texas this coming May, in conjunction with Terry MacAlmon leading in worship at The Empty Cross in Kerrville.

Pakistan Evangelism Ministry this Saturday!

Our next monthly evangelistic outreach is set for Saturday February 20th through our Skype Internet Ministry. Our team sets up a projector screen in an outdoor meeting in a different village every month, where I preach through Skype with an interpreter to invite the people to come experience the love and power of God through Jesus Christ. Please keep us in prayer for another outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Pakistan!

Save the Dates!

March 19th-20th Speaking at Voice of Joy Ministries' annual Gathering hosted at Cornerstone Church, Danville, Kentucky. Contact Pastor Amy Barkman: amyb_love@att.net

March 21st Preaching Sunday morning at All Nations UMC Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Contact Pastor Hunn Choi: moc.nsm@iocnnuh

Teaching Weekly Healing Prayer Ministry Course Online at Coker UMC in San Antonio, Texas. Our weekly online zoom series Healing Prayers: Free to Be Like Jesus on Thursdays. I'm teaching and equipping a prayer ministry team to serve at Coker United Methodist Church in San Antonio. God is getting His people ready for the great harvest to come! I pray for your equipping and serving as well in your calling and destiny with the gifts the Lord is giving and stirring up in you! God bless you!

Teaching The Life Transformation Course

live in person every week at the Bridge Church in Fredericksburg, Texas beginning Tuesday Night, February 23th at 6:30. Based on the principles of my book Free to Be Like Jesus!

Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Anyone can sign up for free to receive them at:

Messiah-Ministries.org

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Restore Our Power! - February 17, 2021

Morning by Morning, February 17 - Restore Our Power!

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I declare Your name above every name and all that I face on my journey of faith in You today. ...

Just a moment ago the lights came back on in our home. We went to bed by candlelight last night. Apparently much of America has lost its power and needs to be restored.

What a word picture of what many are feeling and experiencing in these days. Many struggle with feeling distant and disconnected from the Source of our Power. As You said long ago:

"I am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in Me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5).

We need You, Lord Jesus. ...

Take all our turmoil, all our questions, all our divisions and accusations and strife, all our fears and failures, all our worries and anxieties about our health, our safety, our economy, and our freedoms and remind us how much we need You, how much apart from You we can do nothing.

Your Word warns us of the challenges we'll face and are already facing in the latter days:

"You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:1-5).

Set us free from both ungodliness and false godliness. One has no power and the other denies its power. You are our Power. You're our Higher Power and You're our Only Power. For apart from You we can do nothing.

The mighty wind turbines may be frozen over, but there is a rushing, mighty Wind of Your Holy Spirit that never freezes and never fails! As we abide in You and You abide in us by Your Holy Spirit, "(we) are not in the flesh; (we) are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in (us). Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in (us), though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in (us), He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to (our) mortal bodies also through His Spirit who dwells in (us)" (Romans 8:9-11).

Come, Holy Spirit! Come lift our eyes to Jesus, come fill our hearts with Jesus! Come fill us afresh with "the Spirit of Christ" as we turn to Him and abide in Him, for apart from Him we can do nothing!

Come, restore our Power! Come, turn on the Lights because Somebody's home and His name is Jesus! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit -- the Spirit of Christ in you, the hope of glory -- that your power may be restored by the Power of the One who abides in you as you abide in Him, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer for the upcoming Messiah Ministries Events:

Central Texas Area Aglow Spring Conference May 14-16.

Pakistan Evangelism Ministry this Saturday!

Save the Dates!

March 19th-20th Speaking at Voice of Joy Ministries' annual Gathering hosted at Cornerstone Church, Danville, Kentucky. Contact Pastor Amy Barkman: amyb_love@att.net

March 21st Preaching Sunday morning at All Nations UMC Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Contact Pastor Hunn Choi: moc.nsm@iocnnuh

Teaching The Life Transformation Course

live in person every week at the Bridge Church in Fredericksburg, Texas beginning Tuesday Night, February 23th at 6:30. Based on the principles of my book Free to Be Like Jesus!

Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Anyone can sign up for free to receive them at:

Messiah-Ministries.org

Monday, February 15, 2021

Snow Day! - February 15, 2021

Morning by Morning, February 15 - Snow Day!

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Arise in my heart, as you arise and shine with Your light in the hearts of Your people throughout the earth (Isaiah 60:1). ...

Signs in the heavens and wonders on the earth -- we woke up to a blanket of snow covering San Antonio this morning! Not just a dusting, but inches deep!

To me, there's something pure about snow. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18). We speak of someone with a good heart being "as pure as the driven snow." It comes down from the heavens and covers the earth -- white and pure, refreshing and bright. And it always makes me think of the Promise of the Word of God from Isaiah:

"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth;
it shall not return to Me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11)

At the time of the snow, we don't yet see what is to come in the season ahead. Like rain, the snow waters the earth so that when the time is right, new life will spring forth and sprout.

Just like Your written Word recorded in Your Scripture and Your spoken word that goes forth from Your mouth, we may not always see the immediate result, but Your word will never return empty and will always accomplish Your purpose in Your time and in Your way. So the snow also speaks to me of hope -- hope for the good things to come from the pure heart of our good God:

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5).

"May the God of hope fill (us) with all joy and peace in believing, so that (we) may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

This day, as the waters cover the sea and as the snow covers my city, my hope is in You, Lord. As beautiful and pure as it is today, one day soon all these inches of snow will melt away. But it will soak the earth and nourish the soil so that every seed that's been sown will spring forth and sprout in its time.

It may be a snow day today, but there will be a great need of the laborers of the harvest in the great day to come (Matthew 9:37). And there is no doubt that there is a great harvest to come! (Matthew 13:39) Just as You've sent forth Your snow and sent forth Your word, You're sending forth Your Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with hope for the great harvest to come! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

Friends, may you be filled with hope in the harvest to come of every word of God He has sent down from heaven and sown into your heart to be soaked and nourished with his Living Water, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer for the upcoming Messiah Ministries Events:

Central Texas Area Aglow Spring Conference May 14-16.

Pakistan Evangelism Ministry.

Our next monthly evangelistic outreach is set for Saturday February 20th through our Skype Internet Ministry.

Save the Dates!

March 19th-20th Speaking at Voice of Joy Ministries' annual Gathering hosted at Cornerstone Church, Danville, Kentucky. Contact Pastor Amy Barkman: amyb_love@att.net

March 21st Preaching Sunday morning at All Nations UMC Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Contact Pastor Hunn Choi: moc.nsm@iocnnuh

Teaching The Life Transformation Course

live in person every week at the Bridge Church in Fredericksburg, Texas beginning Tuesday Night, February 23th at 6:30. (Has been moved to Feb 23th for planning). Based on the principles of my book Free to Be Like Jesus!

Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Anyone can sign up for free to receive them at:

Messiah-Ministries.org

Friday, February 12, 2021

They Can't Cancel the Culture of Christ - February 12, 2021

Morning by Morning, February 12 - They Can't Cancel the Culture of Christ

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Take me by the hand and lead me by the heart into all You have for me today and all I am in You today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

They tried to cancel Christ, but could not. They're trying to cancel us, the followers of Christ, but they will not. For our witness is not based on the world's wisdom and our culture is not based on the world's culture, but on the victory of Your Cross, the power of Your Blood, and the glory of Your resurrection, as those who are called by Your name, grounded in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit.

In the words of an early witness of the culture of Christ, the Apostle Paul declared:

"When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:1-8).

They thought Your crucifixion would silence Your movement. They thought their intimidation and threats and all their efforts to cancel the culture of the Cross would force Your people to shrink back and shut up, to stand down from their firm faith in the King of Glory, the victory of Your Cross, and the power of Your resurrection. But they were wrong.

Their threats and retaliation and vengeance, only served to fan the flames of revival in the wake of a great outpouring of Your Holy Spirit:

"After (Peter and John who had been arrested and threatened not to speak or teach or reveal the power of God in the name of Jesus) were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard it, they raised their voices together to God and said, 'Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and everything in them, it is You who said by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant:

'Why did the Gentiles rage,
and the peoples imagine vain things?

The kings of the earth took their stand,
and the rulers have gathered together
against the Lord and against His Messiah.'

For in this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against Your Holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to Your servants to speak Your Word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your Holy Servant Jesus.' When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness!" (Acts 4:23-31)

We are Your servants. Shake us up and fill us up with Your Spirit that we my speak Your Word with boldness in our day against every threat we face. And confirm Your Word by the power of Your Spirit, as You stretch out Your hand in our day "to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your Holy Servant Jesus!"

They couldn't cancel Christ in those days. And they won't cancel the culture of Christ in our day. The Christ culture cancellers still believe they can try to crucify the Lord of glory without reaping the whirlwind of His glory that's being multiplied and magnified all over the earth. Just as You prophesied long ago of the power Your Cross, Your resurrection, and this great move of Your Holy Spirit:

"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:23).

Let the culture of Christ bear Your fruit! Much more fruit than the world or even Your servants can imagine! Far from being cancelled, this great movement of our times has just begun! Even the best is yet to come! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be grounded in God's Word and filled with God's Spirit to stand firm in the faith and boldly proclaim the victory of the Cross, the power of the Blood and resurrection of Christ in this great revival and movement of the Holy Spirit in our day, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer for the upcoming Messiah Ministries Events:

Postponed: Canyon Lake, Texas Aglow Meeting Saturday Being Postponed due to Icy Weather.

But I'm excited to be invited to be the Keynote Speaker at the Annual Gathering for the Central Texas Area Aglow in Kerrville Texas this coming May, in conjunction with Terry MacAlmon leading in worship at The Empty Cross in Kerrville. Details to follow later.

Pakistan Evangelism Ministry.

Our next monthly evangelistic outreach is set for Saturday February 20th through our Skype Internet Ministry.

Save the Dates!

March 19th-20th Speaking at Voice of Joy Ministries' annual Gathering hosted at Cornerstone Church, Danville, Kentucky. Contact Pastor Amy Barkman: amyb_love@att.net

March 21st Preaching Sunday morning at All Nations UMC Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Contact Pastor Hunn Choi: moc.nsm@iocnnuh

Teaching The Life Transformation Course

Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Anyone can sign up for free to receive them at:

Messiah-Ministries.org

Thursday, February 11, 2021

"With Wings Like Eagles" - February 11, 2021

Morning by Morning, February 11 - "With Wings Like Eagles"

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me in the way that leads to life in You today. ...

"Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31).

Unlike other birds, eagles fly toward the storms. They use the windstream of the currents coming against them to lift them and empower them to soar through the storm and above its destruction. Like a fearless warrior that runs to the battle, that doesn't back down, that doesn't surrender, that doesn't retreat, they persevere as they overcome. They turn the storm to their advantage as they mount up with their wings set firm against the stormy winds.

For all who are weary and wavering, for all who are fainting in the firmness of their faith, send Your Windstream of the Holy Spirit. Even use the windstream of the challenges and currents of the storm to lift us up into the higher places You've prepared for us. "We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting asway, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day" (2 Corinthians 4:16).

As You've done so many times when You "carried (us) on eagles' wings and brought (us) to (Yourself)," You will continue to do now through every storm we face, being faithful and true to all who watch and wait for You (Exodus 19:4). By the power of Your grace, we will mount up on eagles' wings and soar! In Jesus' name I pray.

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

My friend, may you mount up on eagles' wings and soar through every storm you're facing, as the Lord even uses the storm to lift you up to a higher place in Him, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer for the upcoming Messiah Ministries Events:

Speaking at the Canyon Lake, Texas Aglow Lighthouse This Weekend, Saturday Feb. 13. Please contact Sheila Kolaja for details and to rsvp at: sheilakolaja1@gmail.com

Pakistan Evangelism Ministry.

Our next monthly evangelistic outreach is set for Saturday February 20th through our Skype Internet Ministry.

Save the Dates!

March 19th-20th Speaking at Voice of Joy Ministries' annual Gathering hosted at Cornerstone Church, Danville, Kentucky. Contact Pastor Amy Barkman: amyb_love@att.net

March 21st Preaching Sunday morning at All Nations UMC Church, Nicholasville, Kentucky.

Contact Pastor Hunn Choi: moc.nsm@iocnnuh

Teaching The Life Transformation Course

Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Anyone can sign up for free to receive them at:

Messiah-Ministries.org