Battle for the High Places of Praise 6-27-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I honor You, Lord. Let me honor You with my heart and not just my lips, with my actions and not just my intentions, with the journey of my life and not just a moment of decision. ... "Once again the Philistines made a raid in the valley. When David again inquired of God, God said to him, 'You shall not go up after them; go around and come on them opposite the balsam trees, then go out to battle; for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.' David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer" (1 Chronicles 14:13-16). The physical battles and enemies of the Old Covenant speak to us of the spiritual battles and enemies of the New Covenant. "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction" (Romans 15:4). "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). As someone wise has said, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it." So we are to learn from the history of Israel's physical battles -- both defeats and victories -- how to fight our spiritual battles. "For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). Every enemy is different and every battle is different. So, like David, we must always look to You and inquire of God for the divine strategy to win the battle of the moment and enforce the victory of the cross in the war already won for eternity (Colossians 2:15; Revelation 12:11). A common strategy from the lessons of the Old Covenant is to reclaim the spiritual ground of "the high places" in a territory or region (For example 2 Kings 18:4; 23:19; 2 Chronicles 33:17; Micah 1:3; Psalm 78:58). The physical high place of a region speaks of the spiritual seat of authority (1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Kings 3:2). Where the One, True God is worshipped and honored, holy authority and blessing is released over the people of a region; but where the false gods are worshipped and honored, unholy authority and curses are released instead. So the battle for the high places of praise is a persistent and powerfully significant strategy of spiritual warfare. This is one of "the weapons of our warfare" (2 Corinthians 10:4). This past Sunday after church, my five year old son Elijah and I made our first journey together up the mountain in the center of Ruidoso, New Mexico, where my mother and brother now live. I've climbed that mountain with all of my older kids through the years of our summer trips out here to see our family. It's become a tradition for us to take a moment to pray and praise at the peak of this high place in the center of the community. We've often built a cross of branches and twigs to mark and seal our prayers and proclamations of Your Word and Spirit over this region. This year, as Elijah and I made it to the top, we saw that someone else had already planted a cross at the peak. As in the days of David, it was like God had gone out before us to reclaim the ground and strike down the army of the enemy (1 Chronicles 14:15). So we added our voices of prayer to the song of Your Spirit like "the sound of marching in the tops of the [pine] trees" (v. 14:15). Lord, let Your holy authority and divine blessings be released in the high places of our hearts and homes. "Let God rise up, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee before Him.... Sing to God, sing praises to His name; lift up a song to Him who rides upon the clouds -- His name is the Lord -- be exultant before Him" (Psalm 68:1-4). Pull down the false altars to every false idol lifted up in the place of authority in our souls, as we lift high the cross and exalt Your holy name. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, we will be heading back to Kentucky in the morning. I will be teaching and preaching on spiritual warfare in a number of settings during the remainder of this summer and would really appreciate your prayers: Aldersgate Renewal Ministries' National Conference of the Holy Spirit in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas in July; Southeast Jurisdictional Ministers' Conference of the United Methodist Church in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina in July; and the National Ministers' Conference for the Methodist Church of Estonia (next to Russia) in August. And I'll be joining others to pray a father's blessing over the young people gathering at The Call in Nashville, Tennessee on 7-7-07. Thank you for joining me in the battle and declaring the victory of the cross at home and around the world. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 http://www.messiah-ministries.org/ Daily Archives: http://www.morningbymorning.injesus.com/

No Longer Just Scratching the Surface 6-26-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me center my heart and my thoughts on You. ... "When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession, the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, 'There seems to me to be some sort of leprous disease in my house.' ... He shall examine the disease; if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish and reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, the priest shall go outside to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days" (Leviticus 14:34-38). Through repentance and faith, we enter into the promised land of salvation in Christ. Now our bodies are the house of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16). Yet even now sin can enter in and plague our house as a leprous disease. So we need to keep short accounts with You and with one another, ready to have the house of our hearts examined and any disease of sin exposed. Every place touched and tainted must be "scraped thoroughly" and we must see it that "the stones in which the disease appears be taken out" and cast away and replaced with the clean stones of a holy heart (Leviticus 14:39-42). If not, the disease will spread until the whole house becomes "unclean" and "the house torn down" (v. 14:43-45). But by Your grace, You have made provision for cleansing from the disease of our leprous sin through the water and the blood (v. 14:48-53). Through the confession and cleansing of repentance and faith in the tainted walls of our hearts and souls, You "pronounce the house clean; the disease is healed" (v. 14:48). Forgive us for not humbling ourselves to acknowledge we need Your Holy Spirit to continually search our hearts for the leprous diseases that defile our spirits, souls, and bodies in many ways -- sin, shame, false beliefs, unbelief, unhealed hurts and wounds, bondage and barriers, resentment and regret, rebellion and pride. Though we are saved and living in the land of Your promises in Christ, the house of our hearts can still be defiled and unclean, needing to be exposed and cleansed. This is the ministry of inner healing and deliverance -- binding up the broken-hearted and setting the captives free (Isaiah 61). This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, preparing the bride of Christ -- in "the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 96:9, KJV). You don't want us to just scratch the surface with a promise and a prayer. You want us to allow You purify us and sanctify us in the holiness of heart and life. Come search our hearts and see if there is anything in us that needs to be scraped thoroughly, taken out, and cast away (Psalm 139:23-24). You are calling us to be cleansed and free, redeemed and restored, committed and empowered -- to display Your glory through our lives throughout all the earth (Isaiah 60). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I am convicted as never before to no longer be willing to waste my time just scratching the surface any more. I hope you are not either. Let's pray for one another, for our ministries and churches and communities. It seems I hear the Lord saying, "I will have a holy people, a holy bride. I will settle for nothing less. And I don't have to. My grace by My blood is sufficient for all who will choose to humble themselves in repentance and faith to receive it." If this rings true with you, please join me in this covenant of complete abandonment to God. By God's grace, through His cleansing process and in His power, "Holiness unto the Lord." God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Spirit of the Sovereign Lord 6-25-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I worship, I hear You writing a new song in my heart -- Lord I am waiting To hear Your voice again. Lord I am seeking Your face. Lord I am watching To see You come again. Lord I am longing For Your touch. Lord I am walking To where You want to lead. Lord I am willing To follow You. You are my King My Savior and my Friend. You're Everything to me. You are my Lord My Father, Almighty God. You're Everything there is to me. Yes, Lord. I wait and watch for You. Help me humble myself to listen for Your leading and follow where You lead, my Lord and my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ... "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come, and with it, the day of the Lord's anger against their enemies. To all who mourn in Israel, He will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the Lord has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for His own glory. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities long ago destroyed. They will revive them, though they have been empty for many generations. Foreigners will be your servants. They will feed your flocks and plow your fields and tend your vineyards. You will be called priests of the Lord, ministers of our God. You will be fed with the treasures of the nations and will boast in their riches. Instead of shame and dishonor, you will inherit a double portion of prosperity and everlasting joy" (Isaiah 61:1-7, The New Living Translation). Yes, Lord. You are Sovereign and You are Lord. You have called me by name and I am Yours. You are reminding of this Scripture You gave me as I began the journey of my calling through Messiah Ministries over ten years ago. Others have come and gone -- to encourage and inspire me, to help and correct me, even to test and tempt me -- and I am thankful for how You have used each one in my life and used me in theirs'. But You alone have been with me every step of the way. As it should be, for each of us -- so that we are all ultimately dependent upon no one but You alone. "Messiah" from the Hebrew and "Christ" from the Greek of Your Scripture means "the anointed one." Anointed by the Spirit of God and appointed in the power of God to share the good news of the Gospel of Christ, the Anointed Messiah of God. You spoke this Word of Scripture to Isaiah, and through Isaiah to Israel, and through Israel to the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And through Christ, You speak this Word to all who are in Christ, in Messiah -- anointed by the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord to display Your glory through Your people (Isaiah 60:1-3). This time away with my family has also been a time away with You. I needed to be refreshed, renewed, and refocused. And I believe You are showing me I needed to be reminded of my calling and destiny, but also always to be reminded of the One who called me and destined me for Your purposes through relationship with You. You are also showing me I needed to be reminded of the simple truth that You are always much more concerned in who I am becoming than in what I am doing. As You taught me through a spiritual teacher along the way, "I am a human being, not a human doing." It seems I hear You say, "Will you allow Me to bind Your submitted will to My sovereign will?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Will you allow Me to conform your nature to My nature through the trials, the troubles, and the tribulations I allow through the mystery and marriage of My sovereignty and your submission?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Will you receive My power and My provision to accomplish My purposes in your life and through your life?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Will you choose, in the freedom I have given you required by a true relationship of love with Me, to be desperately dependent upon Me alone with the means I choose to bring fulfillment of life to you and to your generations?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Will you humble yourself in My sight, that I may lift you up into My arms and under My shelter and over the enemy of your soul?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Will you remember the roots of My Word, receive the nurture of the Water of My Spirit, seek to grow daily into newness of life in Me, and become an oak of righteousness to display My glory through the brokenness and healing of your life?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Will you believe that you are My son, that I am bringing many sons to glory, as I live in and through the hearts of My children and redeem My creation?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Will you trust Me? Will you love Me? Will you allow Me to love you?" Yes, Lord, by Your grace, I will. "Then let it be so; for it is so, by the sacrifice of My love and through the covenant of My blood." Thank You, Lord, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- for Your sovereign will and Your steadfast love. As I rise to embrace this day and every day You choose to give me in this journey of faith in relationship with You, help me remember and believe that this moment is real and this memory is true. "I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For He has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness. I am like a bridegroom in his wedding suit or a bride with her jewels. The Sovereign Lord will show His justice to the nations of the world. Everyone will praise Him! His righteousness will be like a garden in early spring, filled with young plants springing up everywhere" (Isaiah 61:10-11, NLT). Lord, let Your righteousness spring up in me and in the hearts of all the sons and daughters You are bringing to glory throughout all the nations and generations of the world. Let us display Your glory -- "For this is the secret: Christ lives in you, and this is your assurance that you will share in His glory" (Colossians 1:27, NLT). "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (NRSV). Yes, Lord, let it be so; for it is so, by the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for joining me in this journey and for all your prayers, support, and encouragement for me and my family and Messiah Ministries. We have a few days left of our two weeks away for our family vacation we spend with my mom and family out in New Mexico and Texas. We would appreciate your continued prayers for us personally and as a family for all the Lord intends to do in us in these special days. Our family has been broken, blended, and blessed. I know yours has too in different ways, so I join in the agreement of prayer for your life and family and ministry as well. God bless you! Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for Israel and the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 The Fountain is not meeting this summer, but will resume in September for our monthly, city-wide gathering for prayer, praise, and healing worship. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Whole-Hearted Devotion 6-24-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Before I think of anyone or anything else, I think of You. Be the beginning and the center and the end of my day. ... "Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you" (Psalm 73:25). This relationship with You requires my all. You will have no other gods before You. You will have no other gods along with You. The foundation and the capstone of my faith must be "a sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3). Anything less is being led astray and led away. But as I seek You and Your kingdom, looking to You first and You only, then all I need will be added to me (Matthew 6:33). By Your grace I choose to ground my faith and my life in You with single-minded focus and whole-hearted devotion. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Prepare Me for Your Purposes 6-23-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I dedicate and consecrate my life and this day to You and Your will for me and for those under the covering of my care. ... "The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands" (Psalm 138:8) A yielded vessel in the hands of a compassionate and wise Creator, a sharpened sword in the hands of a mighty Warrior -- I am available to You. Prepare me for Your purposes. Let me be rested up and tested up. Let me be trained and equipped, inspired and empowered. Give me patience to wait for Your timing and courage to advance at Your command. Bring those alongside me who will move forward with me in accordance with Your strategy and will. "May we shout for joy over Your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners" in celebration of our participation in Your purposes and plans in our generation (Psalm 20:5). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Make a Difference 6-22-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. With all that I am, I worship all that You are -- my Lord and my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ... "Your wickedness affects others like you, and your righteousness other human beings" (Job 35:8). Our lives affect one another -- for better or for worse. We make a difference in each other's lives -- one way or the other. Lord, I want my life to make a difference -- a good difference -- in the lives of others. I want my life to have significance, to be an encouragement, in the lives of those around me. So I ask You to keep exposing and removing the wickedness of self-centeredness and selfishness that remains in my soul. Help me live more into Your righteousness through Your grace and by Your power. You said, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). I know I have so far to go to have this heart of Christ in me. So help me to be more teachable, more conformable to Your nature and Your ways. Then my life will make a difference in the ways that matter, in the ways that have eternal significance. Lord, I look to You for both the desire and the power for that to be my perspective, my life, and my legacy. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Science and Faith 6-21-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to breathe in Your Spirit, think Your thoughts, and pray Your prayers. ... "But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding" (Job 32:8). Isaac Newton was one of the most brilliant, highly respected scientists of all time. Many call him the father of physics. They recently uncovered more of his personal writings relating to desire to study and understand Scripture and revealing him to be a man with a reverential awe for the wisdom and design of his Creator. He strongly believed in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy and seems to have trusted the Word of God. I don't know yet about his personal faith or specific beliefs, but I will be interested to find out more how his faith influenced his life. As Isaac Newton's life demonstrates so vividly, there is no conflict between faith and science. All truth is Your truth. All the laws of nature are laws because You are the God of nature. You spoke them into existence and set them in motion, according to Your purpose and Your plan. Any wisdom or understanding that we have comes from You, the Almighty. Father, forgive us for the sin of pride and arrogance that we have any wisdom or understanding apart from You. Help us humble ourselves before our Creator and honor You as the Source of all truth and wisdom. You are the Source of all (Genesis 1:1). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 http://www.messiah-ministries.org/ Daily Archives: http://www.morningbymorning.injesus.com/

Everlasting Love 6-20-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome Your Spirit into my spirit, Your thoughts into mine as I entrust this day to Your care. ... "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you" (Jeremiah 31:3). Your faithfulness comes from Your love. You are faithful to me because You love me. And Your love is "from everlasting to everlasting" (Psalm 103:17). So Your faithfulness is also "from everlasting to everlasting." I won't always know Your purposes, but I can always know Your nature -- You are love and You love me, no matter what. That's what "everlasting" means. I thank You for the peace and the rest of Your everlasting love. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Walk Awhile with Me 6-19-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the face of my Father. I seek Your face and embrace Your grace -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ... "Know, then, that I have sent this command to you, that My covenant with Levi may hold, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was a covenant of life and well-being, which I gave him; this called for reverence, and he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with Me in integrity and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 2:4-7). It seems I hear You singing in my spirit: Come away with Me Take Me by the hand. Come and you will see All that I have planned. Walk awhile with Me Draw near to My side. Listen as we go With a heart that's opened wide. Will you trust in Me? As I lift you from the ground. I won't pull away I won't let you down. Take each step with Me Trusting in My way Know that I'm with you Every single day. Yes, Lord. Sometimes I question and wonder. Sometimes I sin in worry and doubt. Sometimes my vision grows dim and my sense of the present is not as clear as my sense of destiny. But You are faithful and Your Word is true. Your promises are always "Yes and Amen." Though the vision may tarry, though the battles are hard-fought, though it often seems darkest before the dawn of a new day, You have not forgotten me or Your plans and purposes for my life -- "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29). "As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been 'Yes and No.' For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus, Timothy, and I, was not 'Yes and No'; but in Him it is always 'Yes.' For in Him everyone of God's promises is a 'Yes.' For this reason it is through Him that we say the 'Amen' to the glory of God. But it is Christ who has established us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting His seal on us and giving us His Spirit in our hearts as a first installment" (2 Corinthians 1:18-22). Thank You, Lord, for encouraging me to walk with You this day and every single day. In Jesus' name I pray, Yes and Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Steadfast Love 6-18-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I know I need to be in constant communion with You. So by Your grace, I try to turn my heart and thoughts to You alone in the first moments of my morning each day. ... "Let me hear of Your steadfast love in the morning, for in You I put my trust. Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul" (Psalm 143:8). I thank You that I can trust You always with my heart and soul. You are steadfast in Your love for me. Let me hear it, let me believe it, let me receive it. Let it be true to me in the morning and let it be true to me throughout my day. Teach me and lead me in the way I should go. I can trust Your leading because I can trust Your love. Your love unfailing Your love prevailing You never let me go. Others may falter But You never alter You never let me go. So I will seek You I know that I need You You never let me go. I will go where You lead me. I know You'll never leave me. I will trust in You With all my heart and soul. Speak the words of Your wisdom Give me ears that I can hear them. I will trust in You With all my heart and soul. Yes, Lord. Thank You for this song of trust You've written on my heart. Thank You for the sense of trust You've sealed to my soul. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for Israel led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

"Where I Am" 6-17-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. No matter where I go, here You are. Help me realize always the reality of Your presence. ... "Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and where I am, there My servant will be also. Whoever serves Me, the Father will honor" (John 12:26). I trust You, because You are worthy of my trust. I love You, because You first loved me. And with my trust and faith in You, You move me to love You by loving others; You move me to serve You by serving others. As I follow You through the gospel stories, I see you loving and serving. I see You honoring the Father with Your life, and I see the Father honoring You with an amazing and abundant life that always touches the lives of others. As I follow You through my life, I will be loving and serving and honoring my Father. That's how I will know I am truly following You. That's how I will know my faith is true. I don't have to earn Your love through my service; but at the same time, my heart of service reveals my heart of faith. For wherever You truly are, there Your servant will be also. And as I serve You through my life in trusting faith and faithful obedience, I will find the Father honoring me. "The only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). Show me how to follow You and serve You in faith through love today. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Grace for Gaza 6-16-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. There is peace in no place and no person but You. Draw me into Your presence and fill me with Your peace. Help me pray out of peace, not anxiety and out of love, not fear. ... "Gather together, gather, O shameless nation, before you are driven away like the drifting chaff, before there comes upon you the fierce anger of the Lord, before there comes upon you the day of the Lord's wrath. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do His commands; seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the Lord's wrath. For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted" (Zephaniah 2:1-4). The nations and cities of the ancient prophecies of Your Word fill the headlines of our news today. You hold all time and space, past and future, presently in Your hands. To You all hearts are known, all choices that have been made and all that will ever be made are known to You now. And though You see the rebellion of human will and the hardness of human hearts, Your desire is always that we would turn to You in repentance, obedience, and faith. "For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live" (Ezekiel 18:32). Though there is a day of Your wrath, there are many days for repentance before that day -- yet, they are not days without end. Your Word will go forth and it will not return void; It will accomplish all that You have purposed (Isaiah 55:11). But You call us to pray for ourselves and for others, that souls may be saved even in the midst of the wrath of Your Word. Your ancient Word is going forth in the land of Gaza in these days. The blood of violence and vengeance soaks the land where the ancient Philistines seized their enemy Samson and gouged out his eyes in retaliation and hatred (Judges 16:21-22). Violence and vengeance have continued to soak the land in blood ever since. I join the prayers of people throughout the earth, praying for peace in the land of the Philistines, among the people now called Palestinians. True peace will come only as they truly turn to the One who is Peace (Isaiah 9:6). "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that He may have mercy on them, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:6-7). The same is true with those of the remnant and those of the rebellion in every tribe and tongue and nation. Gaza needs Your grace, and so do we all. We all need Peace -- the peace that comes only through the provision of Your grace and the power of Your love expressed through Your cross. "I have said this to you, so that in Me, you may have peace" (John 16:33). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Stairway of Heaven 6-15-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. All creation declares Your glory. I praise Your name as I greet the new day. ... "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). We've come west with our family for our summer visit to see Mom in the mountains of New Mexico. Yesterday we took the kids to see the spiral staircase in the Loretto Chapel in Sante Fe. They say the beautiful staircase was built in answer to prayer by the sisters who only had a ladder to go up into the choir loft to sing. One day a man no one knew came and began to build the spiral staircase with only a hammer and saw, with water to soak and bend the wood -- no nails and no supporting structure between the top and the bottom. In six months time, he left as suddenly as he came, not seeking any payment and not revealing his name, only leaving behind the gift of what the sisters called the miraculous staircase which still stands today. Your Holy Spirit comes into our lives, as a miraculous gift of God. Sometimes as silent as a breath of air and sometimes as mighty as the wind of a storm, yet always unseen except by the fruit of the gifts and blessings He brings. He "will not speak on His own, but will speak whatever He hears," not drawing attention to Himself, but always glorifying You (John 16:13-14). Like the carpenter who came to Loretto and the wind that comes and goes as it pleases, Your Spirit is always at work building the kingdom of heaven on earth -- bearing the miraculous marks of the gifts and glory of God in our hearts. Your Spirit is like a stairway to heaven and a stairway of heaven to us. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 http://www.messiah-ministries.org/ Daily Archives: http://www.morningbymorning.injesus.com/

Abandoned to God 6-14-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I need You, Lord, to guide my thoughts and direct my desires. As best as I can and all by Your grace, I entrust and abandon myself to You. ... "I will most gladly spend and be spent for you" (2 Corinthians 12:15). I've been reading a biography of the life of Oswald Chambers, Abandoned to God. And so he was. Though he had a deep and intimate relationship with You almost all of the entirety of his life, he came to a place of full surrender, emptied of himself and filled with You -- he called it "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5). From that day forward, though he continually grew in grace and maturity of spirit, his life was fully abandoned to You. Like Paul and the faithful remnant of Spirit-filled followers of Christ through the generations in between and since, he was willing to spend and be spent for Your purposes according to Your plans. Like Paul, he longed and labored to see Christ formed in the lives of all You touched through his writings and words and prayers (Galatians 4:19). Every where You sent him, he yearned to see Your people "saved, sanctified, and healed." So do I. Lord, bring me to that place of abandon and full surrender. I confess I still see too much of me and not enough of You in the motives of my heart. I still seek too much the approval of man instead of only the approval of God. I still tend to find my sense of security and significance in the opinions of others instead of only in the opinion of the One who matters most. Continue to uproot my pride, crucify my flesh, and deliver me from false humility. Give me the desire and the power to yield my life completely to You, that I may spend and be spent for You. Then my writings and words and prayers will have Your power and will accomplish Your purposes through my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I have been sensing an increasing desire to devote a significant part of my time to writing and would appreciate your prayers. I have been working on a book about the spiritual principles I have been learning in prayer ministry for some time, but need to bring it to completion. Other have been helping me and encouraging me to put these devotional prayers into a book form. The thought has been coming to me to begin spending much of the summer months focused more on writing than prayer ministry. Please join me in praying for confirmation of the Lord's leading, the necessary provision of time and resources if it is, and the necessary correction and shift of focus and desire if it is not. Thank you for joining me in the journey, and I pray for clarity of your calling in this season of your ministry to the Lord as well! To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

"Like a Bursting Flood" 6-13-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Like my electric razor, I want to be charged up, ready to be used, and ready to travel. These first moments of the morning with You alone are when You charge me up in the power of Your Spirit for the assignments and travels of each day. ... "So he went up to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. David said, 'God has burst out against my enemies by my hand like a bursting flood' " (1 Chronicles 14:11). Yesterday morning I went to pray at the Asbury House of Prayer, where students from the college and seminary gather in watches throughout the day and night to pray. Our little community of Wilmore is making preparations for the twenty thousand or so young people who converge here every year from across the nation for the Ichthus Christian music festival. Many lives will be forever changed and sent home to set fire to the lives they touch. As I prayed for Asbury and for Ichthus, You began to show me the image of a large dam holding back flood waters from a dry river bed. But there were cracks in the dam, widening as water began to trickle through from the pressure of the flood waters behind the dam ready to burst through. I sketched out the scene and wrote out this prayer and proclamation that came to my spirit: "Be broken, O dam, of all that would hold back the flow of the Spirit of God in power to touch a dry and thirsty land and a dry and thirsty people. Be broken, strongholds of religion and pride and control, that the river of God may flow freely and swiftly in a flood of God's love and grace." Through the victory of the cross, our spiritual enemies are defeated and You are bursting through their strongholds in our lives and our communities. Let our prayers continue to build the pressure of Your power to be released in a flood of Your Spirit. Let the River of Life break through the barriers and overflow the banks of our man-made attempts to try to control Your power and direct Your presence in our way instead of embracing Yours, leaving our souls and our land dry and thirsty. Come, Holy Spirit, like a bursting flood with the freedom to flow as You will in our lives and our land. The stones and rocks of our dry river beds are crying out for Your flood waters to come bursting forth. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, we will be leaving tomorrow to take our family out to spend a couple of weeks with my mom and family out west. I plan to keep up my devotional times and sending out my prayers as I am able. I would appreciate your prayers for a restful and joyful time, and I pray the same for you and your families. Thank you for joining me in the journey. God bless, Tommy To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Parables of Life 6-12-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Open the eyes of my heart and the ears of my spirit, as I watch and wait for You. ... "With many such parables He spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; He did not speak to them except in parables, but He explained everything in private to His disciples" (Mark 3:33-34). Though You created the heavens and the earth in the power of Your words, You humble Yourself to speak Your words to us in the ways we can hear it. As in the parables, You use the things we know to teach us the things we don't know. You use the ordinary things of this earthly realm to speak to us of the extraordinary things of the spiritual realm. These are the parables of life. But it's as we draw away with You in the privacy of our personal relationship with You, that You explain everything. In the communion of prayer, You open the eyes of our hearts and give us "a spirit of wisdom and revelation" as we come to know You (Ephesians 1:17-19). Let everything I see around me today speak Your word to me. Keep in a constant communion of prayer as You explain what I'm seeing and hear what You're saying. Reveal to me as much of Your truth and Your word as I am able to bear. And help me grow in grace to be able to bear a little more each day, as I choose live out Your words by Your power in my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Just to remind everyone, The Fountain on Friday nights will not be meeting during the summer, but will resume in September. Come to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Miracle of New Life 6-11-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let my life be hidden in Your life today. ... "For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all nations" (Isaiah 61:11). Tricia's family always had a little vegetable garden in their back yard, so she was teaching Elijah how to start one in ours. They tilled a little spot of ground and planted some seeds. Every day Elijah has been watching and waiting for something to happen. The other day, he came running into the house shouting, "It's a miracle! It's a miracle!" Tender bean plants are starting to break through the soil. There is the green of new life now where there was only the brown of preparation and waiting before. What was sown in anticipation and hope is now springing up in fulfillment of faith. Throughout my life, You have sown seeds of truth and life into my soul. Throughout the earth, You have sown seeds of revival and harvest into the souls of all nations in all generations. With great anticipation and eager longing, we pray for the day when new life springs up. Morning by morning, we look to see if this is the day that righteousness and praise will spring up before all nations. "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God" (Romans 8:20). In Your perfect timing, the seeds of revival will break through as shoots of new life where Your Spirit has tilled the soil of our souls, rising up and growing out into the final harvest to come. And all You have planted in the hearts of Your people throughout the generations of the nations of the earth "shall flourish as a garden; they shall blossom like the vine" (Hosea 14:7). And we will run to each other and shout with joy, "It's a miracle!" In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy HaysCome to The Mountain! on Monday Nights for our ministry's weekly prayer for the peace of Jerusalem led by Doris and Bob McCray. 7 pm in the upstairs Community Room at First Southern National Bank on Harrodsburg Rd. in Lexington. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 Just to remind everyone, The Fountain on Friday nights will not be meeting during the summer, but will resume in September. To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Of Noble Birth 6-10-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Open my heart to hear what You would speak to me today. ... "Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing the things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord' " (1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Forty-six years ago today, I was born in a small town on the dusty plains of west Texas. Born to two teenagers, who had not even finished high school yet, I suppose by human standards, it was not a noble birth. Yet, I don't judge my birth or the birth of anyone by human standards. We are each created by Your hands and created for Your purpose. "For it was You who formed my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:13-14). Though my earthly mother and father made their choices that led to my conception, You alone had the power to choose whether life would be created in that moment or not. So You chose with deliberate intention and creative design to gather in Your hands the dust of the earth from my mother and father, and to breath into existence my human spirit. By Your breath of life, I became a living soul. Though You knew all the challenges and obstacles to be faced and overcome in the journey before me to be conformed to the image of Christ in the crucible of a broken, fallen world, You said, "Let there be life." I was conceived in humility, but destined for nobility. "But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13). "When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is that 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 glorified with Him" (Romans 8:15-17). Through the new birth of the Spirit of Christ living in me, I am a child of God; I am a son of the King; I am of noble birth. And by Your grace, I will live my life to fulfill my noble destiny. "In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the promise of Him who accomplishes all things according to His counsel and will, so that we, who are the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:11-12). It seems I hear You say, "My son, you are of noble birth -- not the nobility of human blood, but the nobility of the blood of My Son. Hold your head high, for I am your glory and the lifter of Your head. You are an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. You will spend all eternity growing in your understanding of all that means. Choose to believe and live your life as if it were true -- for it is." Yes, Lord. I thank Your for the gift of Your words of truth and life this day and every day. "You, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head" (Psalm 3:3). Thank You for creating me and calling me, for being patient to conform me into the image of Your Son. By Your grace and in Your power, I choose to live my life for the praise of Your glory. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Speaking in the Power of the Spirit 6-8-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I choose to begin my day with You, as You set the foundation for the unfolding of my day. ... "While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word" (Acts 10:44). After You baptized Peter in Your Holy Spirit, he was never the same. You forgave his sins, healed him from his brokenness, and freed him from his bondage. Then You filled him with Your Spirit and entrusted him with Your word. And he knew "God shows no impartiality" (v. 10:34). What You did for him, You will do for each of us. What You did in Peter's day, You will do in our day. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Lord, You did in Peter all that was necessary to give him unflinching faith in You, speaking the words You gave him with power and authority. By the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, he taught the generations to follow to minister to others with both deep humility and profound faith: "Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 4:11). As You did in Peter, do also in me. Give me courage to embrace the process of conviction and repentance, brokenness and healing, humility and faith. Crucify my flesh and purify my soul. Infuse my human spirit with Your Holy Spirit. Cause my heart to be more like Your heart, my thoughts more like Your thoughts, my words to be more like Your words, my actions to be more like Your actions. Convict me when they are not; lead me to repentance; and restore me to the path to pursue holiness of heart and life (Hebrews 12:14). Though I have so far to go, I ask You to take me there -- all by Your grace, all in Your power, in Your perfect timing, in Your perfect way. I want to see the day, when I speak Your word in Your way, that Your Holy Spirit falls upon all who hear it, and their lives are changed forever -- just like mine. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com

Never Passed This Way Before 6-7-07

Good morning, Lord Jesus. This is a new day and Your mercies are new every morning, so I've never been this way before. As best as I can and all by Your grace, I want to walk this way this day with You. ... "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). I hear You writing a new song in my spirit: This is a new day Not like any other day I've never been this way before. Would You come with me? Would You come lead me? I've never been this way before. I will not fear I know You're near I've never been this way before. Without You I'd be frightened But with You I'm excited I've never been this way before. This morning, it seems something has shifted in the heavenly realm, and I eagerly anticipate it's manifestation in the earthly realm. I want to camp and rest, waiting patiently and faithfully for Your command to rise and go in these few days of transition. I want to watch and wait for the ark of Your presence to lead me across the Jordan of this season into the fulfillment of the promises of Your covenant. I want to follow You along with the others You have joined with me. Thank You for the joy of the journey and the excitement of the adventure along this way we've never been before. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe, please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Ministering the Healing Love of God ... Preparing the Way of the Lord." 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 www.messiah-ministries.org Daily Archives: www.morningbymorning.injesus.com