"Walking and Leaping and Praising God!" 7-3-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this place.... I welcome Your Presence here in my heart and throughout my day. ... "But Peter said, 'I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.' And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God' " (Acts 3:6-8). Peter had no silver or gold to give. But what he had, he gave freely and powerfully in Your name. Lord, what really was it, what exactly was it that Peter had and that Peter gave to that man that day? As I watch and wait in the silence of surrender before You, seeking Your face and listening for Your voice, it seems I hear You say: "Peter gave to that man what I gave Peter -- the power of My love. My son and my disciple, Peter, didn't just keep walking and he didn't just look at the problem. Peter 'looked intently at him,' deep down into that man's heart and soul to see him as I see him -- healed and whole, free in Me, walking and leaping and praising God. That's how I saw Peter, even in his sin and brokenness and shame. That's how I saw him even before I empowered him with My Spirit from on high and set his heart ablaze with a passion for Me and for My people who are just as sinful and broken and ashamed as he was. But I restored him, redeeming his suffering into a display of My glory. The one who is forgiven much, loves much. The one who has received much, loves to give much. This is the power of My love. This is the power that made that man whole and free -- not only in his body, but also in his soul and spirit. He couldn't help but go into that temple walking and leaping and praising Me, all the while giving away what he had received. And you should have seen Peter and John, full of the faith and fire of My Spirit, walking and leaping and praising God, right there beside him." Yes, Lord. I've never seen that story quite like that before. Thank You for all the ways You've taken my sin and brokenness and shame, restored me and redeemed me, filled me with Your Spirit, and released me in the power of Your love to give away what You've poured into me. Freely have we received and freely are we to give (Matthew 10:8). There's much that I don't have and much that I wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it. But such as I have, I will give away in the name of Jesus. And the most precious gift I have to give, worth so much more than even silver or gold, is the power of Your love, living in me and flowing through me by Your Holy Sprit (Romans 5:5). So whether I rise up and walk into the temple or the marketplace, around the world or across the street, I'll go walking and leaping and praising God! In the Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep me in prayer today as the Lord continues to build His message in my spirit to share tonight at the Aldersgate Conference, based on healing of spirit, soul, and body from Acts 3. A recording will be available through Aldersgate Renewal Ministries: www.aldersgaterenewal.org I'll also be teaching two equipping sessions this afternoon: Healing Damaged Emotions and Developing a Healing Prayer Ministry. The Lord is also using this environment of community and love to refresh and renew me in spirit, soul, and body. Praise God! And thank you for all your prayers for me to get my book on healing prayer ministry finally done, Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance. It's finally here and available at the Conference! Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

"A Little Child Shall Lead Them" 7-2-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I worship You and welcome You into every moment of my day. ... "But Jesus called for them and said, 'Let the little children come to Me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it' " (Luke 18:16-17). Last night a little four year old girl sang us a song she had written for You with her daddy. Then her big brother, a few years older, told us his testimony of the healing miracle of his life and showed us he could do all the things they said he would never do. How You must be a proud Pappa of Your children. How You must be a proud Pappa of all Your children who come to You and enter Your kingdom in trusting faith with thankful hearts. "Little ones to Him belong...." Lord, help me receive Your kingdom as a little child. Help me trust You without doubt; help me praise You without fear. Give me courage and joy to honor You with my songs of Your love and testimonies of Your glory. Cleanse my soul from all that would try to harden my heart or dampen my faith through the experiences and disappointments of life. Let me never grow too old in my body or my spirit to know and to sing, "Yes, Jesus loves me.... For the Bible tells me so." And when I need a little child to lead me or remind me, give me the humility to hear and follow (Isaiah 11:6). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep me in prayer today and tomorrow as the Lord continues to build His message in my spirit to share Friday night at the Aldersgate Conference, based on healing of spirit, soul, and body from Acts 3. A recording will be available through Aldersgate Renewal Ministries: www.aldersgaterenewal.org Thank you for all your prayers for me to get my book on healing prayer ministry finally done, Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance. It's finally here and available at the Conference! Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Equally Yoked in Passion for Christ 7-1-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As best as I can and all by Your grace, I entrust my life and this day to You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. ... "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together" (Deuteronomy 22:10). Most every summer I join with old friends and make new ones from across the country at the annual Aldersgate Conference, hosted in a different city each time by Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. It's named after the prayer meeting on Aldersgate Street in London where John Wesley was baptized in the Holy Spirit. And it's always a deeply, spiritually refreshing and renewing time for me, as I receive through the anointed worship, teaching, and messages just as much as I give. And it never seems to fail that You forge new bonds of friendship and ministry, while You strengthen the ones You've long since established, for the advancing of Your kingdom through our lives and ministries in the year to come. Here, You give me the gift of being equally yoked with those of like hearts and kindred spirits, always digging deeper, pressing in further, reaching up higher for more of You (see Amos 3:3 and 2 Corinthians 6:14). As we share in the stories of Your glory, praising the wondrous works of God we've seen, and expressing our insatiable desire for more, You inspire us, encourage us, equip us, and anoint us to keep pressing on in the power of Your Spirit for the glory of Your name. You remind us we're not alone in our passionate quest to see Your Kingdom come in our hearts and in the earth, until Your glory covers the earth as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). I always like to come for the pre-conference of worship and prayer that prepares the way of the Lord -- first in us and then for the conference. The very first people I saw when I made it to town and checked in at the hotel late last night could hardly wait, telling me and everybody in the lobby, "We're ready to be emptied out and filled up!" Yes, Lord. Empty me out of everything that would hold me back from being "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). Through the worship and prayer, praise and proclamation of these coming days, lift every heavy burden and free me to fully enter into Your yoke with Your people who are hungry and thirsty for more of You. Your yoke is easy and Your burden is light; and in You I know I'll not be disappointed to find rest for my soul and renewal of my spirit with my friends and fellow travelers in the journey (Matthew 11:28-30). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep us in your prayers for a great outpouring of God's Holy Spirit at the Aldersgate Conference here in Greensboro, NC, July 1-5: www.Aldersgate09.org I'll be teaching two equipping sessions on Healing of Damaged Emotions and Developing a Healing Prayer Ministry, as well as sharing a message on healing of spirit, soul, and body as the Friday Night Keynote Speaker. Evening sessions are free if you're in the area. And I pray for an outpouring of God's Spirit in your heart and community as well. God bless you! Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Peace with God 6-30-09

Good Morning, Lord Jesus. Align my heart and mind with Yours, now and throughout my day. ... "Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and 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" (Romans5:1-5). What could be more important that to "have peace with God?" What is more powerful than to know that though our sins were as scarlet, we are whiter than snow (Isaiah 1:8). Though none are righteous apart from the grace of God, we need never be apart from the grace of God, forever made available to us through the blood of the cross of Christ. And in Christ, we "become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). It takes faith to believe that. And it takes faith to keep on believing that. But just having "faith the size of a mustard seed" can dig up the most deeply rooted tree of doubt and deception and cast it into the sea of Your truth (Luke 17:6). By Your grace, my faith is in You. My faith is not in all I think I want or need from You. My faith is not in some kind of idea that through faith, there will be no sufferings or disappointments or injustices in this broken, fallen world not yet redeemed as it will one day be (Romans 8:22-23; Revelation 21:5). My faith is in the God who created me, who loves me, who is always for me. My faith is in the God who keeps pouring His love into my heart by His Holy Spirit, giving me the hope and faith to know that He's at work in all the circumstances of my life. And that brings me peace, as I believe it by faith. In that peace, I can "boast in (my) hope of sharing in the glory of God" and I can "boast in (my) sufferings" that are always at work producing the character Your righteousness in my heart. And in that peace, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Joy and Gladness will Come 6-29-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Show me the way, be my truth, breathe Your life into me today. ... "For the Lord will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song" (Isaiah 51:3). You are the God who turns the waste places into abundance and the wilderness into gardens. You redeem and restore, resurrect and revive. You give beauty for ashes, praise for depression, and joy for mourning (Isaiah 61:3). You see us as we are, never ignoring our suffering and pain. But You also see us as we will be, always redeeming our suffering into new testimonies of the comfort and glory of Your presence though the seasons we endure. So we can thank You now, for what will be evident then. We can praise You now, for all that will surely come to pass from the heart and hands of our redeeming God (Job 19:25). "Sing praises to the Lord, O you His faithful ones, and give thanks to His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.... You have turned my mourning into dancing; You have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I give thanks to You forever" (Psalm 30:4-12). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I was really excited this weekend to be the final teacher for the inaugural class of graduate students receiving their Masters in Christian Leadership at Lindsey Wilson College, affiliated the Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church: www.lindsey.edu Dr. Terry Swan asked me to spend the final day with his students for a time of teaching, inspiration, and impartation for the prayer ministry of healing and deliverance. And this is the subject of my new book being printed for release at the Aldersgate Renewal Ministries' Conference on the Holy Spirit later this week, Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance. Please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't at the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-Filled Living, held this year in Greensboro, NC beginning this week, the first week of July: www.Aldersgate09.org I'm thrilled to be one of the Keynote Speakers this year with the Friday Night message on healing and also teaching two equipping sessions on healing of damaged emotions and healing prayer ministry. With deep, renewing worship and an atmosphere of people hungry for more of the Lord, Aldersgate is always a highlight of my year. Come if you can and also make plans to join us next summer. Please pray for a great move of God at this Conference! Becoming a People of Prayer Conference, Sept 17-19, 2009 in Brentwood, TN jointly hosted by the General Board of Discipleship and Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. Friends, I'm excited to be one of the speakers at this prayer conference for deepening personal and corporate prayer life for Christians of all traditions. Please register on-line, come join us and spread the word: www.GBOD.org/PeopleofPrayer Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Stand Firm, Keep Still, and See 6-26-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek Your face, listen for Your voice, and follow Your lead. ... But Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still' " (Exodus 14:13-14). You are the God who makes a way when it seems there is no way. You are the God of breakthrough and brokenness. Sometimes You breakthrough the barriers that block us from Your blessings, astounding us with Your power; sometimes You redeem and work together for good our brokenness and disappointment, not wasting a moment of our suffering in Your plan for our transformation. "Ah Lord God! It is You who made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You" (Jeremiah 32:17). "Abba, Father, for You all things are possible" (Mark 14:36). Whether it's the miracle of breakthrough or the transformation of brokenness, You are God; and we can trust You to accomplish Your deliverance from whatever would capture us or consume us. Your instructions to Your people through Moses were clear. "Do not be afraid" -- give no place to fear, and all the worry, anxiety, doubt, and unbelief it tempts us to embrace. "Stand firm" -- open our hearts to the faith of God to fill our hearts with courage, trusting in Your Spirit, not our own power, might, strength, or wisdom. "See the deliverance of the Lord" -- look with eyes of our heart opened to see the hand of God at work in all things, especially the things that are out of our control and contrary to Your perfect will, praising You for what You are doing instead of complaining to You about what it seems You're not doing. You are fighting for us in ways we cannot always see and working in us things we cannot always know. So sometimes we "have only to keep still" and believe -- believe in You, believe that You love us and You are for us, believe that You never leave us nor forsake us, no matter how things may seem or even what things may happen. "From ages past no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides You, who works for those who wait for Him" (Isaiah 64:4). As we do, the very enemies of our soul who come to steal and kill and destroy our peace and hope and joy will be ambushed by our God; and we will never see them again. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I'm excited to be teaching a one day seminar this Saturday on healing and deliverance at Lindsey Wilson College, affiliated the Kentucky Conference of the United Methodist Church: www.lindsey.edu Please keep us in prayer for healing, inspiration, and impartation into the lives and ministries of these college students. Becoming a People of Prayer Conference, Sept 17-19, 2009 in Brentwood, TN jointly hosted by the General Board of Discipleship and Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. Friends, I'm excited to be one of the speakers at this prayer conference for deepening personal and corporate prayer life for Christians of all traditions. Please register on-line, come join us and spread the word: www.GBOD.org/PeopleofPrayer Please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't at the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-Filled Living, held this year in Greensboro, NC the first week of July: www.Aldersgate09.org I'm thrilled to be one of the Keynote Speakers this year with the Friday Night message on healing and also teaching two equipping sessions on healing of damaged emotions and healing prayer ministry. With deep, renewing worship and an atmosphere of people hungry for more of the Lord, Aldersgate is always a highlight of my year. Come if you can and also make plans to join us next summer. Please pray for a great move of God at this Conference! We hope to have my new book in time to introduce it at Aldersgate called Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance. Please keep this in your prayers and I hope you'll want to be one of the first to order one. Please prayerfully consider joining with me in the vision and calling of Messiah Ministries as an Isaiah 35 Streams in the Desert Covenant Partner this year if it would bring you joy to stand with us in this way. I'll be glad to talk with you about this means of God's steady provision for the advance of His Kingdom through our ministry of proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God, binding up the brokenhearted and setting the captives free, in the love and power of God: MessiahMin@aol.com Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Stay connected and tighten your budget with a great mobile device for under $20. Take a Peek!

No Excuses 6-24-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be my vision today. ... "Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is ready now.' But they all alike began to make excuses.... Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.... For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner' " (Luke 14:16-24). Throughout Your ministry on earth, You were always proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God -- through Your words and actions, Your teachings and parables, and Your example of life. Your message then is Your message today, "The Kingdom has come. It's available to you now. Don't hold back, don't turn away, come enter in." The Kingdom is not just going to heaven when we die; it's having heaven in us as we live. "For, in fact, the Kingdom of God is within (us)" (Luke 17:21). "For the Kingdom of God is ... righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). Yet the response to Your message then is often also the response to Your message today. We "make excuses." Though You are the King of the Kingdom and You've prepared for us all the most incredible meal we'll ever taste, though You've welcomed us to come and "everything is ready now," we make excuses instead of entering into the fullness of all You long for us to have. Like those You called in that first generation, we've let so many things get in the way throughout every generation -- our possessions (Luke 14:18), our jobs (v. 14:19), our relationships (v. 14:20), and so much more. All these can be good things, but they are never to be the first thing (v. 14:26). All that would hold us back or turn us away must be surrendered to You at the foot of the cross, or we will never enter into the fullness of the Kingdom of God (v. 14:27). Lord, by the mercy of Your grace You've given me a heart to want to enter in. Help me settle in my heart that there will be no excuses, no holding back, no turning away. "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). In You and Your Kingdom alone will I know the "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" that You long for each us to have. So Your Kingdom come, Your will be done -- here on earth and here in my heart -- as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Becoming a People of Prayer Conference, Sept 17-19, 2009 in Brentwood, TN jointly hosted by the General Board of Discipleship and Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. Friends, I'm excited to be one of the speakers at this prayer conference for deepening personal and corporate prayer life for Christians of all traditions. Please register on-line, come join us and spread the word: www.GBOD.org/PeopleofPrayer Please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't at the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-Filled Living, held this year in Greensboro, NC the first week of July: www.Aldersgate09.org I'm thrilled to be one of the Keynote Speakers this year with the Friday Night message on healing and also teaching two equipping sessions on healing of damaged emotions and healing prayer ministry. With deep, renewing worship and an atmosphere of people hungry for more of the Lord, Aldersgate is always a highlight of my year. Come if you can and also make plans to join us next summer. Please pray for a great move of God at this Conference! We hope to have my new book in time to introduce it at Aldersgate called Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance. Please keep this in your prayers and I hope you'll want to be one of the first to order one. Please prayerfully consider joining with me in the vision and calling of Messiah Ministries as an Isaiah 35 Streams in the Desert Covenant Partner this year if it would bring you joy to stand with us in this way. I'll be glad to talk with you about this means of God's steady provision for the advance of His Kingdom through our ministry of proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God, binding up the brokenhearted and setting the captives free, in the love and power of God: MessiahMin@aol.com Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Faith Tested by Fire 6-23-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I give You my heart and soul this day and every day. Come guide my thoughts and steps in the way that leads to life in You. ... "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith -- being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire -- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:3-7). When I "suffer various trials" and when my faith is "tested by fire," I will not fear, my peace will not flee, my inheritance will not fade. No matter what comes, I am "protected by the power of God," steady and secure in Your steadfast and unfailing love for me as Your son. In this world, there will be fires and waters that come, but they will not consume me or overwhelm me for You are with me through them all (Isaiah 43:1-7). You will only use them to strengthen me in the certainty of Your hand upon me and Your heart within me. All this is by Your grace and for the "praise and glory and honor" of Your name, as You seek to form Your nature in me. "My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4). So Your Holy Spirit leads me to pray these crazy prayers that are guaranteed to lead me through these crazy trials, all because You are crazy about me. You only want the best for me, and You've already paid the price for me to have it (Revelation 5:9). This is my "inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading." This is my "salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't at the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-Filled Living, held this year in Greensboro, NC the first week of July: www.Aldersgate09.org I'm thrilled to be one of the Keynote Speakers this year with the Friday Night message on healing and also teaching two equipping sessions on healing of damaged emotions and healing prayer ministry. With deep, renewing worship and an atmosphere of people hungry for more of the Lord, Aldersgate is always a highlight of my year. Come if you can and make plans to join us next summer! We hope to have my new book in time to introduce it at Aldersgate called Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance. Please keep this in your prayers and I hope you'll want to be one of the first to order one. Please prayerfully consider joining with me in the vision and calling of Messiah Ministries as an Isaiah 35 Streams in the Desert Covenant Partner this year if it would bring you joy to stand with us in this way. I'll be glad to talk with you about this means of God's steady provision for the advance of His Kingdom through our ministry of proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God, binding up the brokenhearted and setting the captives free, in the love and power of God: MessiahMin@aol.com Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Turn Aside to See 6-22-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I steady my soul and focus my thoughts on You alone. ... "Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, 'I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.' When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses! Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am' (Exodus 3:1-4). Moses got up one morning, like every morning, and went to work. He was going about his business, tending the flock and the things entrusted to his care. Yet he didn't know how close he was to "the mountain of God." He didn't know the Living Presence of the Living God was so near, even in his everyday life -- "though indeed He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:27). But it was as Moses "turned aside to see" that You spoke to him out of the flame of fire of the blazing bush. There You gave him eyes to see and ears to hear that You were present. And there in Your Presence, Moses stood on "holy ground" (Exodus 3:5). O God, You are "a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29). And You have poured the consuming fire of Your steadfast love and ever-abiding Presence into our hearts by Your Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Every day, Your Spirit longs to set our hearts ablaze with the fiery passion for Jesus and for the flocks and things entrusted to our care. By Your grace, we carry the fire of God wherever we go. We don't have to go to a mountain in the desert or to a temple downtown to turn aside to see You in our midst. You are always here, always abiding within us by Your Spirit -- the "Spirit of Christ" within us, the hope of glory (Romans 8:9; Colossians 1:27). Through the blood of the Lamb cleansing our sins and the purifying fire of the Holy Spirit consuming our hearts, we are Your sons and daughters. And wherever we go is Your holy ground, for You are with us and You are within us. In Christ we have become "the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). And like Moses and Isaiah and all who have eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of Your ever-abiding Presence, our right response to Your mercy and love is to turn aside to see and say, "Here I am, Lord. Send me" (Exodus 3:4; Isaiah 6:8). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please come join us if you can and pray for us if you can't at the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-Filled Living, held this year in Greensboro, NC the first week of July: www.Aldersgate09.org I'm thrilled to be one of the Keynote Speakers this year with the Friday Night message on healing and also teaching two equipping sessions on healing of damaged emotions and healing prayer ministry. With deep, renewing worship and an atmosphere of people hungry for more of the Lord, Aldersgate is always a highlight of my year. Come if you can and make plans to join us next summer! We hope to have my new book in time to introduce it at Aldersgate called Free to Be Like Jesus -- Transforming Power of Healing & Deliverance. Please keep this in your prayers and I hope you'll want to be one of the first to order one. Please prayerfully consider joining with me in the vision and calling of Messiah Ministries as an Isaiah 35 Streams in the Desert Covenant Partner this year if it would bring you joy to stand with us in this way. I'll be glad to talk with you about this means of God's steady provision for the advance of His Kingdom through our ministry of proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God, binding up the brokenhearted and setting the captives free, in the love and power of God: MessiahMin@aol.com Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Love Deeply from the Heart 6-20-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I call on Your name and trust in Your grace. ... "Through (Jesus) you have come to trust in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart" (1 Peter 1:21-22). I do trust You, Lord; help me trust You more. I do love You, Lord; help me love You more. My faith and hope are set on You alone, in every dimension of Your Being. You are God my Father, full of compassion and tender mercy, creating me with purpose and calling and destiny, grounded in my identity as a child of God. You are God the Son, my Lord and Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords, always perfectly revealing the heart and word of our Father. You are God the Holy Spirit, always sustaining and filling me, purifying and renewing me, guiding me to Jesus and leading me in the ways of truth and intimacy in the communion of a deeply personal relationship with God. I trust that You are for me. And if God be for me, who can be against me? "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1) And at the same time, while I know You love me. I also know I need to give and receive "genuine mutual love." I know You also created me to love and be loved "deeply from the heart." That's also Your will and Your heart for me as Your child. What father doesn't long to have that for his sons and daughters? And I know that's a longing of the heart of my heavenly Father. For all of Your children to know that we are deeply loved by You and one another is of highest priority among all the principles and commands of the Kingdom of God. "Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony" (Colossians 3:14). So Lord, keep making Your priorities my priorities. Keep forming the nature of Your heart in my heart, giving me grace to love and be loved "deeply from the heart" and experience Your great gift of "genuine mutual love." In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please prayerfully consider joining with me in the vision and calling of Messiah Ministries as an Isaiah 35 Streams in the Desert Covenant Partner this year if it would bring you joy to stand with us in this way. I'll be glad to talk with you about this means of God's steady provision for the advance of His Kingdom through our ministry of proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God, binding up the brokenhearted and setting the captives free, in the love and power of God: MessiahMin@aol.com Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Breath of Life 6-19-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be my Way, my Truth, my Life today. ... "The God who made the world and everything in it, He who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He himself gives to mortals all life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:24-25). You are not a distant God. You are not indifferent, detached, or aloof. And You are not a God created by our own hands in our own image so that we can live our lives on our own terms. That's just another way of worshipping ourselves instead of worshipping You. You are the God who gives us life and breath and all things. Apart from You, we can do nothing. Apart from You, we are nothing (John 15:5). And it has been in Your heart from the beginning of our creation that we would never be apart from You. When You gathered up the dust of the earth and breathed Adam's human spirit into existence, You could have merely spoken the word, "Let there be life!" as when You created the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the rest of Your creation. But instead, when You created human beings, You drew very near. You put Your hands in Your dirt and carefully shaped Adam's body in Your image. And then You drew nearer still, so near as to breathe Your "breath of life" into his very nostrils (Genesis 2:7). There are few images more intimate than that. You are the God who created us for intimacy with You. And when we pull back or turn away, You're always there, calling out for us to come back to You, speaking by Your Spirit to our spirits, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9) "Deep calls to deep" (Psalm 42:7). You're always watching and waiting, "filled with compassion," longing for us to come back to the place of intimacy in the embrace of Your arms, always stretched out to welcome us home (Luke 15:20). You long for us to realize that apart from the breath of Your Holy Spirit abiding in our human spirits, we would shrivel and die. It's only in You, and only as we allow You to abide in us, that we can "live and move and have our being" as we were created to be (Acts 17:28). So come, Holy Spirit of the Living God; fill me afresh with Your breath of life in Christ today and every day (Ephesians 5:18). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Come to The Fountain This Friday Night 6/19! --the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 or send a note to Marilyn at DirOfMinistries@aol.com Invitation for Spiritual Retreat with Laura Beach: There is still room for you to attend the spiritual refreshment retreats for women of faith this month. Open dates are June 29 or 30 at A Quiet Place Retreat Center in Bryantsville, Kentucky. If you need a day to be still and know God (Psalm 46:10), these retreats are designed for just that purpose. Testimonies of renewal, healing and restoration have poured from women who have attended in past months. For details or to register, contact laura@equippinglydia.org . These retreats are sponsored by Equipping Lydia, www.equippinglydia.org in association with Messiah Ministries. It's not too late to register to come join us the first week of July in Greensboro, NC for the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-filled Living: www.Aldersgate09.org It's always a refreshing, empowering highlight for my year, and I'm excited to be a Keynote Speaker this year with a message on healing. Please register on-line to come join us for these Messiah Ministries prayer ministry events later this summer: July 31-August 2, 2009 -- Healing Prayer Weekend at Cliffview Retreat Center in Lancaster, Kentucky led by Tommy Hays. You'll receive teaching and ministry in a peaceful, worshipful retreat setting. Spiritual Principles of Deep Healing— Explore God’s order in every dimension in spirit, soul, and body. Past hurts require healing to realize true freedom. It’s only God’s redemptive power that can bring us back to God’s created plan. Hindrances To Healing— Scripture provides principles that reveal possible barriers that hinder healing, freedom and wholeness. These given over to God, prepare the way for God’s powerful healing love. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterHealingWeekend August 10-13, 2009 -- The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry - Level I Come for a focused time of training, equipping, and impartation through discipleship, personal ministry, and mentoring, led by Tommy Hays and the teaching team. We will study and experience a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterSchoolOfMinistry Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

To Die and Live 6-18-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be high and lifted up in the place of honor and authority throughout my day. ... "The saying is sure: If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him; He will also deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful -- for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Timothy 2:11-13). Lord, what does it mean to die with You and to live with You? ... It seems I hear You say, "My son, to live and to die with Me is to entrust yourself to Me. It's your choice to allow Me to change the way you think and choose and feel in your mind and will and emotions. It's a daily death and a daily life. As you die daily, you live forever in Me." Yes, Lord. That's what I choose. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart. Help me die to my will and entrust myself to Your will. Transform my nature into Your nature, a little more each day and all along the way. Expose and uproot those things in me that are not yet like You, and replace them with Your Spirit. You increase as I decrease, and make me more like You. It's in You that I want to "live and move and have (my) being" (Acts 17:28). It's in You that I want to be "crucified with Christ" and made alive "in Christ." Let it become more true each day that "it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:19-20). So Lord, as best as I can and all by Your grace, I entrust myself to You. Let it become true on earth, as it already is in heaven, that all I am and all I have is Yours. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Come to The Fountain This Friday Night 6/19! --the 3rd Friday night of every month for our ministry's gathering of the body of Christ from every tradition and stream to worship the Lord in Sprit and in Truth. Come drink deeply from the Living Waters in the freedom of the Spirit. 7 pm in the chapel at Centenary. All are welcome. Call for details: 859-422-1794 or send a note to Marilyn at DirOfMinistries@aol.com It's not too late to register to come join us the first week of July in Greensboro, NC for the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-filled Living: www.Aldersgate09.org It's always a refreshing, empowering highlight for my year, and I'm excited to be a Keynote Speaker this year with a message on healing. Please register on-line to come join us for these Messiah Ministries prayer ministry events later this summer: July 31-August 2, 2009 -- Healing Prayer Weekend at Cliffview Retreat Center in Lancaster, Kentucky led by Tommy Hays. You'll receive teaching and ministry in a peaceful, worshipful retreat setting. Spiritual Principles of Deep Healing— Explore God’s order in every dimension in spirit, soul, and body. Past hurts require healing to realize true freedom. It’s only God’s redemptive power that can bring us back to God’s created plan. Hindrances To Healing— Scripture provides principles that reveal possible barriers that hinder healing, freedom and wholeness. These given over to God, prepare the way for God’s powerful healing love. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterHealingWeekend August 10-13, 2009 -- The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry - Level I Come for a focused time of training, equipping, and impartation through discipleship, personal ministry, and mentoring, led by Tommy Hays and the teaching team. We will study and experience a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterSchoolOfMinistry Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Hear My Heart 6-17-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I am in You and You are in me. Make me more like You today. ... "David went out to meet them and said to them, 'If you have come to me in friendship, to help me, then my heart will be knit to you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, though my hands have done no wrong, then may the God of our ancestors see and give judgment' " (1 Chronicles 12:17). David didn't trust everyone with the hurts and burdens of his heart. But he was willing to open his heart to those who were willing to come alongside him and help him in true friendship. He knew sometimes we just need someone to hear our heart, whether we're right or wrong, rational or irrational, in the Spirit or in the flesh. Sometimes just speaking out loud to trusted friends where we are in our heart at the moment helps us move on to where You want our heart to be. In a broken, fallen world full of broken, fallen people there's always the risk of the ones you trust betraying your heart. But the blessing of true friendships that can only be built on the foundation of honest trust is worth the risk. You've created us to need that, to need one another in that way, so we can help "bear one another's burdens" to You and "in this way (we) will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). This is at the heart of what it means to live our lives in Christ. "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35). We can't really love one another if we don't trust one another. And we can only truly love someone to the depth that we truly trust someone. Thank You, Lord, for the true friends You've given me to trust and to love, and who trust and love me. Thank You for those You've brought along the journey of my life and brought me along the journey of their lives to hear one another's hearts and bear one another's burdens -- without judgment or condemnation, but in compassion and love. And thank You, Lord, for being both my Savior and my Friend -- the One who's always ready to hear my heart and bear my burdens. "For I know the One in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to Him" (2 Timothy 1:12). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for praying for our renewal meeting with the Methodist ministers and annual conference delegates yesterday at Lake Junaluska, NC. The Lord really poured out His Spirit to refresh us and renew us. I pray the same for you! And I've been blessed to share some time talking and resting with some dear friends tucked away in their cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains, before heading home. I pray that blessing of dear friends for you. It's not too late to register to come join us the first week of July in Greensboro, NC for the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-filled Living: www.Aldersgate09.org It's always a refreshing, empowering highlight for my year, and I'm excited to be a Keynote Speaker this year with a message on healing. Please register on-line to come join us for these Messiah Ministries prayer ministry events later this summer: July 31-August 2, 2009 -- Healing Prayer Weekend at Cliffview Retreat Center in Lancaster, Kentucky led by Tommy Hays. You'll receive teaching and ministry in a peaceful, worshipful retreat setting. Spiritual Principles of Deep Healing— Explore God’s order in every dimension in spirit, soul, and body. Past hurts require healing to realize true freedom. It’s only God’s redemptive power that can bring us back to God’s created plan. Hindrances To Healing— Scripture provides principles that reveal possible barriers that hinder healing, freedom and wholeness. These given over to God, prepare the way for God’s powerful healing love. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterHealingWeekend August 10-13, 2009 -- The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry - Level I Come for a focused time of training, equipping, and impartation through discipleship, personal ministry, and mentoring, led by Tommy Hays and the teaching team. We will study and experience a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterSchoolOfMinistry Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Healing Words 6-16-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are One with the Father, One with the Holy Spirit, and yet, in the mystery of Your grace, You humble Yourself to be one within me and all who all on Your name. So I call on Your name, now at the beginning and throughout my day. ... "Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.... Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body" (Proverbs 12:25 and 16:24). Yesterday I stopped in Knoxville to have lunch and spend some time with my oldest daughter who's away at college on my way to minister at Lake Junaluska. As I got back on the road, I realized how deeply her kind and healing words were ministering to me. They were the kind of words, spoken so naturally in conversation over burgers and fries, that continued to linger in my heart and soul. They were the kind of words a father longs to hear but never dares to ask to receive. And as Elizabeth's words continue to wash over me in waves of healing love even this morning, I realize they're Your words, spoken through my daughter to my heart. They are sweetness to my soul and health to my body. They are "spirit and life" to me (John 6:63). Now as I rise to go share the gospel of Your Kingdom today, let Your healing words of spirit and life flow out of me into the hearts of others. As I have been encouraged and comforted, anoint the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart to be an encouragement and comfort to those who need to hear a good word today. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please cover us in prayer as I have the opportunity to speak and minister to pastors and delegates from Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia at Annual Conference for the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church at their renewal meeting this morning, hosted by Aldersgate Renewal Ministries. It's not too late to register to come join us the first week of July in Greensboro, SC for the annual Aldersgate Conference on Spirit-filled Living: www.Aldersgate09.org It's always a refreshing, empowering highlight for my year, and I'm excited to be a Keynote Speaker this year with a message on healing. Please register on-line to come join us for these Messiah Ministries prayer ministry events later this summer: July 31-August 2, 2009 -- Healing Prayer Weekend at Cliffview Retreat Center in Lancaster, Kentucky led by Tommy Hays. You'll receive teaching and ministry in a peaceful, worshipful retreat setting. Spiritual Principles of Deep Healing— Explore God’s order in every dimension in spirit, soul, and body. Past hurts require healing to realize true freedom. It’s only God’s redemptive power that can bring us back to God’s created plan. Hindrances To Healing— Scripture provides principles that reveal possible barriers that hinder healing, freedom and wholeness. These given over to God, prepare the way for God’s powerful healing love. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterHealingWeekend August 10-13, 2009 -- The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry - Level I Come for a focused time of training, equipping, and impartation through discipleship, personal ministry, and mentoring, led by Tommy Hays and the teaching team. We will study and experience a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterSchoolOfMinistry Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

"He Restores My Soul" 6-15-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As I wait in the silence of surrender before You at the beginning of this new day, align my thoughts and desires with Yours. ... "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake" (Psalm 23:1-3, NKJV). You are the God who restores my soul and renews my spirit. You feed me in the green pastures of Your Word and keep me safe and secure under the watchful gaze of Your Spirit. You heal the wounds of body and soul, heart and life. You straighten and correct all that is out of joint. And You fight off anything that would try to cripple my walk, take my joy, or steal the peace of my soul. And when it's time to rise and go, You lead me in the paths of righteousness -- the paths where You know what is right for me. I can't see where those paths will lead and I don't know all that lies ahead, but You do. You see the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. All things are eternally present to You. There may be valleys of the shadow of death along the way, but I trust You to lead me through those valleys (v. 23:4). There may be spiritual enemies of my soul who seek to steal and kill and destroy, but You are greater than any enemy I'll face; and You promise to prepare a table of blessing and honor for me even in their presence for all of them to see (v. 23:5). In fact, that's the very place where You will "anoint my head with oil" and fill me up with Your Spirit until "my cup runs over" (v. 23:5). You love to redeem a hundredfold all that comes against me, using all that is intended for evil for my good; so "I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (v. 23:4). One day at the end of my journey, I will look back in awe at Your faithful guidance and mighty protection and provision in so many ways I couldn't always see or hear or feel. But it will have always been true and I will see that You were always there. So give me grace to know by faith now what I will know by sight then: "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (v. 23:6). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please register on-line to come join us for these Messiah Ministries prayer ministry events later this summer: July 31-August 2, 2009 -- Healing Prayer Weekend at Cliffview Retreat Center in Lancaster, Kentucky led by Tommy Hays. You'll receive teaching and ministry in a peaceful, worshipful retreat setting. Spiritual Principles of Deep Healing— Explore God’s order in every dimension in spirit, soul, and body. Past hurts require healing to realize true freedom. It’s only God’s redemptive power that can bring us back to God’s created plan. Hindrances To Healing— Scripture provides principles that reveal possible barriers that hinder healing, freedom and wholeness. These given over to God, prepare the way for God’s powerful healing love. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterHealingWeekend August 10-13, 2009 -- The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry - Level I Come for a focused time of training, equipping, and impartation through discipleship, personal ministry, and mentoring, led by Tommy Hays and the teaching team. We will study and experience a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterSchoolOfMinistry Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

All Things to All People 6-14-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I am Yours and You are mine. ... "For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one of those outside the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). I've spent the last few days in a tent, in the mud, with two of my kids and about 20,000 other people at the Ichthus Christian Music Festival just outside of Wilmore, Kentucky, the little town where I live and went to Asbury Seminary, south of Lexington. There was a sea of tents as far as you could see, fanned around the music stages. For the most part, it's not the kind of praise and worship that stirs my spirit, though there were pocket of that as well for some of us "older folks." The t-shirts say "Peace. Love. Loud Music" and it's not false advertising! But the kids love it. And when over a thousand of them responded to the altar calls for salvation and prayer, I know You love it too. Ichthus and this form of high energy, high volume music seems to be one of the ways You're reaching a generation in ways others can't. And I found myself going back and forth from one world to another. I was making some last minute adjustments to be able to be there since my teenage daughter really wanted to go, so you clear the decks for a chance like that. But I was already committed to officiate a wedding at my home church in Lexington. So I washed off the mud, snuck off for a cherished hot shower, changing from shorts to suits for the rehearsal one night and wedding the next. I felt like Paul as I became all things to all people for the sake of the gospel -- literally back and forth from open air preaching and praise to a stain-glassed chapel with quartets and tuxedos. After I prayed the prayer of blessing and sealing of the marriage covenant with the bride and groom, speaking of Christ and His Bride, I headed back to the sea of mud and kids among a slightly different picture of the same Bride of Christ. The same message of faith, hope, and love was being proclaimed just as powerfully, but in such a dramatically different means. As I moved among the masses last night, the Lord reminded me that my name is literally on the title deed of the property on behalf of Ichthus Ministries, since I was Chairman of the Board the year we purchased the property and moved from the old Holiness Camp Meeting grounds on the other side of Wilmore. That mud was my mud! And I thought of the irony that I had just signed my name to the title deed of a marriage when I signed their Certificate of Marriage a few moments before. I laughed out loud to myself of this prophetic picture of how we are all called to be ambassadors of Christ, sharing the life and hope that is within us, no matter where we are, how we're dressed, or who we're among. In that sense, we are to be all things to all people for the sake of Christ. I was moved to think of the honor we have as children of God to share Your peace and love by any means You choose. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please register on-line to come join us for these Messiah Ministries prayer ministry events later this summer: July 31-August 2, 2009 -- Healing Prayer Weekend at Cliffview Retreat Center in Lancaster, Kentucky led by Tommy Hays. You'll receive teaching and ministry in a peaceful, worshipful retreat setting. Spiritual Principles of Deep Healing— Explore God’s order in every dimension in spirit, soul, and body. Past hurts require healing to realize true freedom. It’s only God’s redemptive power that can bring us back to God’s created plan. Hindrances To Healing— Scripture provides principles that reveal possible barriers that hinder healing, freedom and wholeness. These given over to God, prepare the way for God’s powerful healing love. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterHealingWeekend August 10-13, 2009 -- The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry - Level I Come for a focused time of training, equipping, and impartation through discipleship, personal ministry, and mentoring, led by Tommy Hays and the teaching team. We will study and experience a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterSchoolOfMinistry Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Deep Waters 6-10-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are my faithful Friend, loving Father, wonderful Counselor, and mighty God. You are the Prince of my peace and the Rock of my salvation. I entrust my heart and life to You today and every day. ... "When He finished speaking, He said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch'.... When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break" (Luke 5:4-6). You could have worked the miracle in the shallow water. It would've been a spectacular display of the power of God right in front of the crowd for all to see. It wouldn't have taken Peter long to get there. And it wouldn't have taken much faith, obedience, determination, or surrender of will. The shallow waters would've been a great place to teach the principle, "It's not about you, Peter, or anything you do; it's all about Me." But that wasn't Your plan or purpose for Your disciple at that moment of his life. So You sent him into the deep waters. You were teaching him to trust You more deeply. And there's a deep trust that only comes in the deep waters. It's one thing to trust in the shallow waters of the easy places. It's quite another out in the deep where the waters are way over your head and out of your control. That's the place where you begin to understand the deeper things of God, where "Deep calls to deep" (Psalm 42:7). That's the place where you begin to understand that grace is free, but it will cost you everything. That's the place where you being to understand that it's all about You, and that means it's also about Your purpose of making me more like You (Romans 8:29). Lord, give me grace to trust You in the deep waters. Give me courage to go where You send me, just as You sent Peter out into the deep and the Holy Spirit led You out into the wilderness (Luke 4:1). No doubt, there will be opportunities to turn back or turn away, with the enemy of my soul there to tempt me and taunt me. But I do desire to return from this place more like You, "filled with the power of the Spirit" because You've emptied me of myself and my will so I can be more filled with You and Your will (Luke 4:14). I know You'll be faithful to be with me through it all, just like You've always been. You do this for me, but You'll also do this for the lives You desire to touch through me -- just as You desire for each of Your disciples. It's not because You're mad at us or don’t care about us, but because You love us, that You send us out into the deep waters. And there's nothing deeper than Your love (Romans 8:38-39). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please register on-line to come join us for these Messiah Ministries prayer ministry events later this summer: July 31-August 2, 2009 -- Healing Prayer Weekend at Cliffview Retreat Center in Lancaster, Kentucky led by Tommy Hays. You'll receive teaching and ministry in a peaceful, worshipful retreat setting. Spiritual Principles of Deep Healing— Explore God’s order in every dimension in spirit, soul, and body. Past hurts require healing to realize true freedom. It’s only God’s redemptive power that can bring us back to God’s created plan. Hindrances To Healing— Scripture provides principles that reveal possible barriers that hinder healing, freedom and wholeness. These given over to God, prepare the way for God’s powerful healing love. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterHealingWeekend August 10-13, 2009 -- The Fountain School of Spiritual Ministry - Level I Come for a focused time of training, equipping, and impartation through discipleship, personal ministry, and mentoring, led by Tommy Hays and the teaching team. We will study and experience a biblical perspective of the ministry of healing and wholeness of spirit, soul and body, and apply the foundational principles of the Kingdom of God for prayer ministry. The course combines dynamic classroom teaching in a small group setting with personal hands-on experience as students receive personal ministry and are guided in ministry for others. For Information or To Register: ClickHereToRegisterSchoolOfMinistry Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org Download the AOL Classifieds Toolbar for local deals at your fingertips.

Sure and Steadfast Anchor 6-9-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I love You, Lord. And I know You love me. So I choose to see everything else that comes and goes in my life in the light of that truth. ... "We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul ..." (Hebrews 6:19). It seems I'm going to be going through a painful transition in my marriage. It's not the road I choose, but it's the road I find myself on. But no matter where that road will lead, I do know You'll be with all of us every step of the way. You are the God who never leaves us and never forsakes us, using every experience of life to teach us how certain and sure You love for us really is (v. 13:5). There is no big sin or scandal, just "complicated" reasons, she says. And I have very "complicated" feelings as well. I can't control the choices of those around me, but I can try to choose right responses. And when I stumble, I can choose to turn to the only One who is always right. No doubt this will be another season of deep brokenness in my life, where You will keep leading me to come to the end of myself. You'll show me things in my heart and soul that need to change. Some may need to heal, some may need to die, some may yet be resurrected to life. But as best as I can and all by Your grace, I choose to keep putting my life in Your hands -- healing hands with nail-scarred proof of Your unfailing love for me and every person in my life. This is my hope. This is the sure and steadfast anchor of my soul. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Dear Friends, many have been walking with us and praying with us at varying levels of relationship for awhile. I apologize for any disappointment any may feel in me, and would really appreciate your prayers for my family through whatever may come. But I have no doubt that our God always redeems all things we will entrust into His care. Please join with me in entrusting all of this into His hands. God bless you and thank you for joining me in the journey of prayer and life. Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Stand Secure 6-5-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are steady and pure; and I stand secure in the certainty of Your love and grace. ... "Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord protects the simple; when I was brought low, He saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you" (Psalm 116:5-7). Lord, I simply, but deliberately, lift my eyes to You. As I seek Your face, You lift my spirit. As I steady my thoughts on Your unfailing love, You give rest to my soul and hope to my heart. In bountiful abundance, You have poured out Your mercy and grace in measures I can never begin to repay -- and never have to. My part is to receive and to be grateful, never taking a moment of my life or a measure of my blessings for granted. Your grace is sufficient. Your love is extravagant. So I will rise and begin each new day, confident and secure in the love that never fades and the mercy that never ends. I stand secure in You alone, as You steady my feet and calm my soul to walk the path that leads through all that each day holds. "Keep my steps steady, according to Your promise" (Psalm 119:133). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org

Treasured and Loved 6-4-09

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I feed on Your Word and wait on Your Spirit. ... "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on earth to be His people, His treasured possession" (Deuteronomy 7:6). In Christ, I am Your treasured possession. I am grafted in to the tree of life, sealed in covenant relationship, and loved as child of God. All the "blessings of Abraham" are mine as I "receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:14). By Your grace, I have chosen You and You have chosen me; I love You because You first love me (1 John 4:19). With my hope and trust in You -- my Father, my Friend, my Savior, my Lord -- I am "marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of (my) inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of (Your) glory" (Ephesians 1:13-14). For several days, I've had the joy of being with old friends, sharing prayers and meals in their homes and hearts, along the way of my ministry engagements in Texas, back where my journey of ministry began. And among the laughter and tears, as we share our stories of both rejoicing and pain, I praise You for the blessing of friendship and the bond of love with those with whom I can trust my heart. Friends are like family You get to choose. And though I've been going through a hard season of much pain in my personal life, the comfort and hugs of my faithful friends, here and at home, make me feel treasured and chosen and loved. And I know that comes from You. Every good and perfect gift comes from You (James 1:17). And to be treasured and loved as a friend is one of Your greatest gifts of all. Thank You, dear Lord, for allowing me the blessing of this priceless, treasured gift. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I'm in Corpus Christi, Texas for a few days to receive my annual appointment from my Bishop to continue my ministry (1 Timothy 3:1). Though Messiah Ministries is an ecumenical ministry serving people in prayer ministry from all the diverse streams of the Body of Christ, I'm personally under appointment as an ordained United Methodist minister to this ministry the Lord led me to found and lead. Corpus Christi is where I was practicing law as a when the Lord called me into this new season of ministry about sixteen years ago. So it's been great to spend time with old friends in Austin, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi before heading home to Kentucky. God bless you and thank you for walking with me as friends in prayer along the journey! Subscribe by email to me at Messiah Ministries --MessiahMin@aol.com -- "Preparing the Way of the Lord ... Ministering the Healing Love of God" www.messiah-ministries.org 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502 Daily Archives at: www.morningbymorning.blogspot.com Order our Ministry Resources or Contribute to our vision and calling: www.shop.messiah-ministries.org