My Friend,
I just received this email from Rick Joyner at MorningStar Ministries where I'm ordained with the Fellowship of Ministries. Please join with me in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Iraq and everywhere they are being persecuted for our faith in the earth during these troubling times. Even as our heart breaks, we pray from the place of victory, not defeat, in the mighty name of Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-7).
God bless you, my friend,
Tommy
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Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Urgent Prayer for Persecuted Christians 8-27-14
Morning by Morning, August 27 - Forgiven and Free
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me start this day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart, as I worship You and wait for Your leading. ...
"For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14).
We are forgiven and free in Christ. It's a gift of God we could never deserve and never repay. But it's a gift we can only receive if we're willing to give it away.
Unless we forgive one another, Your Word says You won't forgive us. That's a sobering truth at the heart of what it means to have an authentic, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Saving faith means much more than having the right thoughts in our minds; it also involves having the right attitudes in our hearts. And perhaps one of the most characteristic attitudes of a heart that's truly surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is a heart that chooses to forgive.
Only as we choose to forgive and free others from our hearts are we truly forgiven and free (Matthew 18:35). That's the heart of Jesus -- "Father, forgive them ..." (Luke 23:34). And that's the heart of faith You require of all who would have a personal relationship with You.
Forgiveness is not optional. And apart from a living faith in You and the power of Your Holy Spirit at work within our hearts to make us more like You, forgiveness is not even possible. But in the power of Your grace, we are forgiven and free. And by that same power of Your grace, we are empowered to forgive and free one another. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, by the power of God's grace, may you be forgiven and free, as you forgive and free those who have hurt you the most and deserve it the least. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Friends, please come join us Friday Night, August 29 in San Antonio for a Worship Event with Matthew West, who wrote the powerful songs on Forgiveness and our Identity as Children of the One True King.I'm excited that my ministry partner Tammy Watts and I will also be speaking on forgiveness and then leading a time of prayer ministry after Matthew West leads us in worship. Our Rapha God Ministries teams and the Oak Hills Church teams will then be offering personal prayer ministry in English and Spanish. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in our hearts and come join us if you can!
Matthew West | Worship Event | Aug. 29
What are you facing right now that has been hard for you to overcome? Is there somebody in your life who has wronged you? Do you sometimes feel like life isn't anything like you hoped? There are times when some situations or maybe even some relationships feel impossible to get beyond. Forgiving isn't always easy. But through God, you can overcome the impossible.
If you want to know how you can overcome the impossible, we invite you to join Mathew West for an evening of worship, teaching, and prayer as he shares what God has shown him about overcoming the impossible. This is a powerful opportunity to find the peace and freedom that God offers to each of us.
DATE: Friday | August 29
TIME: 7-9 pm | Doors open at 6:30 pm
LOCATION: Crownridge Worship Center
COST: Free and Open to the Public
Spanish Translation Available
TIME: 7-9 pm | Doors open at 6:30 pm
LOCATION: Crownridge Worship Center
COST: Free and Open to the Public
Spanish Translation Available
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Share this word to encourage a friend! 
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 26 - The Abundance of the Heart
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I set my face toward Your will and set my feet toward Your way, as best as I can and all by Your grace. ...
"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:43-45).
Lord, I want to speak good words from a good heart. I want to bear good fruit from good roots, grounded in Your Word and nurtured by Your Spirit. Let the abundance of my heart be full of the abundance of Your grace -- all that You've poured into me, as I've opened my heart up to You.
So remind me to come deliberately and intentionally into Your Presence each day. Guard my time to seek Your face and listen for Your voice so I can be filled with Your Spirit. And then continue to abide in me as You continue to invite me to abide in You throughout the moments of my day. Let the abundance of my heart be filled with Jesus. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, may you be filled with the abundance of Jesus today and every day! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Friends, please come join us Friday Night, August 29 in San Antonio for a Worship Event with Matthew West, who wrote the powerful songs on Forgiveness and our Identity as Children of the One True King. I'm excited that my ministry partner Tammy Watts and I will also be speaking on forgiveness and then leading a time of prayer ministry after Matthew West leads us in worship. Our Rapha God Ministries teams and the Oak Hills Church teams will then be offering personal prayer ministry in English and Spanish. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully in our hearts and come join us if you can!
Matthew West | Worship Event | Aug. 29
What are you facing right now that has been hard for you to overcome? Is there somebody in your life who has wronged you? Do you sometimes feel like life isn't anything like you hoped? There are times when some situations or maybe even some relationships feel impossible to get beyond. Forgiving isn't always easy. But through God, you can overcome the impossible.
If you want to know how you can overcome the impossible, we invite you to join Mathew West for an evening of worship, teaching, and prayer as he shares what God has shown him about overcoming the impossible. This is a powerful opportunity to find the peace and freedom that God offers to each of us.
DATE: Friday | August 29
TIME: 7-9 pm | Doors open at 6:30 pm
LOCATION: Crownridge Worship Center
COST: Free and Open to the Public
Spanish Translation Available
TIME: 7-9 pm | Doors open at 6:30 pm
LOCATION: Crownridge Worship Center
COST: Free and Open to the Public
Spanish Translation Available
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Share this word to encourage a friend!
Friday, August 22, 2014
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Thursday, August 21, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 21 - Costly Faith
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to start my day in the communion of prayer, in the intimacy of personal, spiritual relationship with You -- heart to Heart, spirit to Spirit. Make me one with You, one with Your Body of Christ, one in ministry to all the world until I feast with you at Your heavenly banquet in final victory. ...
"Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4).
Now is the time to have settled in our hearts the question of who is Lord of our lives. Now is the time to choose whether I would surrender my life rather than renounce my Savior. Let me have the humility to choose now so that I will have the courage to choose then on a day that may come when I find out just how sincere my faith truly is and what a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ I truly am.
Many are already being forced to make that choice today in our generation. Many will be forced to make that choice in the times to come, according to Your Word:
"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs. Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. Then many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:7-14).
Lord Jesus, give me grace to hold fast to You, that I many endure to the end -- not only enduring, but faithful to be proclaiming with my life the good news of Your mercy and love throughout the world, to the ends of the earth, in testimony to all nations. Draw me closer to You every day that I will have to the courage to die for You if that day may come and the courage to live for You every day that comes now.
You asked Your first disciples, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8) I pray You will find faith in me on that day to come and find faith in me every day between now and then (Luke 21:27).
"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:5). Lord, let pleasing You be the central desire of my life. May I die to self to I can live for Christ. By the power of Your grace, may I be able to say with the sons and daughters of God, the disciples of Christ of every generation, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is not longer I who live, but it is 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 love me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:19-20). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, I pray you will be empowered by the Holy Spirit, embraced in the strong arms of your heavenly Father, to endure in your vibrant, personal, intimate faith in Jesus Christ until the end. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Friends, please join together with me in prayer for the people in Iraq and around the world who are being forced to choose to renounce their faith and convert to Islam or die. Though I passionately desire all to choose Christ, every human being has the right and the responsibility to choose to worship God alone according to the faith in their hearts, not according to the deranged, barbaric threats of evil tormentors.
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 20 - "Shine like Stars"
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Your name is the name above every name. At Your name, my knees bow, my tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, my Father (Philippians 2:9-11). ...
"Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world... holding fast to the Word of Life" (Philippians 2:14-16).
Grounded in Your Word, filled with Your Spirit, let my hope in You shine like a star in the midst of all the darkness going on this world around us today. By the power of Your grace, I'm holding fast to You and holding fast to Your promise that You are with us through all we endure -- fighting for us in ways we don't always see, speaking to our hearts in ways we don't always hear, causing all things to ultimately work together for good, despite how much darkness and evil we see (Romans 8:28).
"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness shall cover the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn" (Isaiah 60:1-3). Let my hope shine today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, may you shine like a star in the midst of whatever darkness surrounds you in our world today, as you hold fast to the Word of Life. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 19 - Praying for Persecuted Christians in Tribulation
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the King of kings and Lord of lords. Be my King and Lord over every moment of my day, every desire of my heart, every thought of my mind, every choice of my will. ...
"And when they had preached the gospel to the that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, 'We must though many tribulations enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:21-22 NKJ).
I keep waking up in the night with a stirring my heart to pray for my persecuted Christian brothers and sisters in the world, especially in Iraq where they are being forced to convert of die in the face of threats of beheading, rape, and torture by the Islamic State terrorists. Their time of tribulation is today. And their faith has to be grounded in much more than correct doctrine or intellectual assent to theological principles. It's Jesus or death in the flash of a moment for each one of them.
We are to "rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Romans 12:15). So I shouldn't be surprised or selfish when Your Holy Spirit wakes me up to lose some sleep with those who have no sleep to cry out to my Father in the name of Jesus according to the Word of God: "O Lord, You will hear the desire of the meek; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that those from the earth may strike terror no more" (Psalm 10:17).
A U.S. Senator on our Foreign Relations and Intelligence committees noted yesterday, "Although the Mount Sinjar crisis further revealed to the world the sheer brutality of the Islamic State, for months these terrorists have been occupying and destroying churches across Iraq, pulling down crosses, destroying religious documents and holy sites, and forcing Christians to convert or face death. They have seized bridges, dams, and other infrastructure that Christian towns and communities rely on for survival. Christians have been the primary target in Iraq, raising the stakes and the need for U.S. leadership. Christians have inhabited Iraq and Syria for 2,000 years; but if the Islamic State has its way with its "convert or die" tactics, not a single Christian will be left."
Come, Holy Spirit. Strengthen the faith of the followers of Jesus in Iraq and throughout the earth. Give us courage to endure whatever tribulation may come, as we persist in prayer for one another to "bear one another's burdens" with our intercession and our voices to speak up and take action as we are able, to "fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). In Jesus' name I pray.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, please join with me in prayer for our Christian family in Iraq and around the world facing unspeakable terror in a time of tribulation. I pray you will intercede, speak up and act in the ways you can and the Holy Spirit leads. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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Monday, August 18, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 18 - Conformed to Christ
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice -- You are our Good Shepard and Your sheep hear Your voice (John 10:14). ...
As I listen, it seems I hear You say, "My son, put your heart in My hands, My nail-scarred hands. I want to lead you by your heart, as I change your heart into Mine. Let Me give you My heart, My mind, My will, My desires. Let Me make you more like Me today."
Yes, Lord. Make me more like You today. Conform me into Your image (Romans 8:29). Help me abide in You as You abide in me (John 15:4). Put Your thoughts in my mind (Philippians 2:5). Put Your desires in my heart (Psalm 51:6). Fill my human spirit with Your Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10).
Together with all who are called by Your name, listening for the leading of Your voice, with our hearts in Your hands, help me grow up, a little more every day, "to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ ... growing up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:13-15). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, may you be conformed into Christ a little more each day, as you put your heart in His nail-scarred hands. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Share this word to encourage a friend!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 15 - How Beautiful is Love
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I open my heart and welcome You in to lead me in the way of life in Your truth today. ...
"Scarcely had I passed them, when I found the one I love ... Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases ... How beautiful you are, my love ... You are altogether beautiful, my love ... You have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes ... Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love ... Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it" (Song of Solomon 3:4-8:7).
O Lord my God, in the heart of Your Word is the most powerful, romantic love song ever written. Thank You for the gift of love -- Your deepest expression of who You are -- "So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16).
I embrace Your love and every beautiful way You express it to me. And I love You back, with all my heart, as best as I can and all by Your grace. "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, may you be filled with the fullness of God's love for you and every way He expresses His love so beautifully to you through your life in Him. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
I praise God for His beautiful expression of love for me throughRocio, who just accepted my proposal for marriage. I am a blessed man! Thank you for joining me in this journey of prayer in the love of God. I join with you in praying for the desires of your heart too.
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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Thursday, August 14, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 14 - Our Rock and Refuge
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are One and I worship You my God in every dimension of Your Being from every dimension of my being. ...
"David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; You save me from violence. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies..." (2 Samuel 22:1-4).
When we hear the news of the Yazidi people in Iraq driven from their homes and chased up a mountain to escape with their lives, now surrounded by their enemies, my heart cries out to You, O Lord, for Your deliverance. When I hear of the terror raining down on Israel, the riots and mayhem in St. Louis, the rumors of war in Ukraine, the Ebola plague in Africa, suicide and depression, my heart cries out to You, O Lord, for Your deliverance.
You are our only Rock and Refuge, our only Fortress and Shield, our only Savior and Deliverer, no matter what forces of evil we face, injustices we endure, and challenges we overcome. "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Jesus, would You come to our rescue. Jesus would You step into the midst of the darkness of our broken and fallen world in the glory of the light of Your Presence. Jesus, would You stretch out Your hands through our prayers, speak out through our voices, reach out through our actions, as the Body of Christ in the Spirit of Christ through the trials and tribulations of these days (1 Corinthians 12:27).
By Your grace, we will not give in and we will not give up, no matter what comes. Your Word encourages us to have hope and trust through every dark day: "Arise, shine; for your Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will appear over you" (Isaiah 60:1-2). Lord, let it be so in us and let is be so in the midst of all the tumult and terror in our world today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, I stand with you in prayer for courage, hope, and faith in the midst of every dark day in the world and in your life. May you never give in and never give up, but call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, your Rock and Refuge, your Fortress and Shield, you Savior and Deliverer, and see the salvation of God. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
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Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 13 - "Come and See"
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You today. ...
"The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walked by, he exclaimed, 'Look, here is the Lamb of God!' The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and say them following, He said to them, 'What are you looking for?' They said to Him, 'Rabbi' (which translated means Teacher), 'where are you staying?' He said to them, 'Come and see' " (John 1:35).
As I start my day centered in You, I listen for the leading of Your Spirit. I want to follow You. I want to come and see what You're doing, come and see the lives You're changing, come and see how Your Presence and Your power will make a difference in the challenges and circumstances around me today.
You're the One I'm looking for. You're the One I've found. And by the grace of God, I'll never let go and never turn back. Embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit, I'm ready to come and see the spiritual adventures You have in store me today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, I pray the Holy Spirit will fill you with excitement and anticipation to come and see what Jesus will do in all the challenges and circumstances around you today. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Share this word to encourage a friend!
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Morning by Morning, August 12 - Nothing without Love
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I give to You the first thoughts of my day and welcome You into every moment to come. ...
"If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
A life lived in love is the "more excellent way" (v. 12:31). And if I do not have love, I really have nothing at all. And You've created us to grow in wisdom and maturity to come to understand that love is the heart of life because love is at the heart of who You are. "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).
That's why the enemy of our souls hates love so much. He comes "to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). He loves to crush our hearts and then harden them. He loves to isolate us, disappoint us, betray us and then tries to get us to vow to never love or trust again. But "the One who is in (us) is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). You are a God who is always "near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit" (Psalm 34:18). Your "love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:8, NKJ).
As we humble ourselves to entrust our hearts into Your hands, You heal our broken hearts and set our spirits free to live and love with all hearts again (Isaiah 61:1-4, fulfilled through Jesus Christ in Luke 4:18-19). So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I entrust my heart into Your hands. Help me grow in the wisdom and maturity of love. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays
My Friend, may you grow in the wisdom and maturity of love and may you experience the fullness of the love of God through Jesus Christ. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
Friends, thank you so much for all outpouring of kind notes and wishes on the announcement of my engagement with Rocio! May God be the Lord of our hearts for Him and one another! God bless you and thank you for joining with me in this journey of prayer at the heart of my life.
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Share this word to encourage a friend!
Monday, August 11, 2014
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