Thursday, June 02, 2016

Morning by Morning, June 2 - "Need of Only One Thing"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me start this day and every day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ the Son, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.  ...
 
"Now as they went on their way, He entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha, welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what He was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to Him and asked, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.' But the Lord answered her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:38-42)
 
Martha was so sure of Your answer she didn't even wait to her it. She asked, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?"  But she didn't wait to hear what You would say. She assumed You would be saying, "Yes. You're right. Mary is wrong and you are right. Mary, get to work and quit wasting your time sitting at My feet and listening to Me." No, she just went right on with her assumption to say, "Tell her then to help me."
 
But You didn't tell Mary to help Martha. No, You defended Mary. In fact, You insisted that what she had in those moments of waiting and listening in the intimacy of Your Presence would "not be taken away from her." Incredibly, You didn't just say it was the best thing she could be doing or the most honoring or most effective thing she could be doing. You said "There is need of only one thing."
 
So before I go about the work that surrounds me today, before I get busy doing all the things that need to be done, I choose to embrace Your truth that "There is need of only one thing." And by the grace of God, it was not be taken from me. In fact, I believe You insist upon it.  ...
 
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays



I pray you will embrace the truth and the invitation of Jesus that there is need of only one thing, as you begin your day in the intimate Presence of the Lord, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. I have to smile as I write these words this morning. I had several unexpected challenges that almost convinced me I didn't have time to pray and write my devotional to send out this morning. But I heard, "One thing" in my heart and knew I needed to take the time -- that it was a gift of God that would not be taken from me. Thank you for joining with me in the daily journey of prayer, morning by morning. 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, June 01, 2016

Morning by Morning, June 1 - Marvelous Light, Merciful Love
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I breathe in Your Spirit, rest in Your embrace, and wait for Your leading to begin the journey of my day with You, O Lord, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10).
 
We find mercy in Your marvelous light. And we find our identity and our destiny in Your merciful love -- "God's own people," created and called to experience and "proclaim the mighty acts of Him who called (us)."
 
Let Your marvelous light shine through me. Let Your merciful love flow through me. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness (does) not overcome it" (John 1:5). "(We) are from God, and have conquered (the darkness at work in this world); for the One who is in (us) is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).
 
Lord Jesus, You are the marvelous Light. You said, "I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). You said, "I have come as Light in to the world, so that everyone who believes in Me should not remain in darkness" (John 12:46). And You also said of all who follow You and allow Your light to shine through us, "You are the light of the world.... In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).
 
By the power of the grace of God, let darkness flee from my presence today because the Presence of the One who is the Light lives in me. "For it is the God who said, 'Let light shines out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays



I pray you will shine with the marvelous light and flow in the merciful love of our mighty God today, in Jesus' name. 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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Friday, May 27, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 27 - Repent and Return to Our First Love
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm excited to see where You'll lead me today on our adventure of faith.  ...
 
"I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostle but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of My name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this is to your credit; you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:2-7).
 
Lord Jesus, You didn't speak these words to the world. You spoke them to us. You were speaking to all who are called by Your name to "listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches" -- in the generation of John at the time of his Revelation, but also to every generation of believers since that day You first spoke those words.
 
Thank You for the good things You see in me and my church -- the hard work, the patient endurance, the discernment and desire to seek what is true and reject what is false. But I also thank You for loving us enough to all call out the things in me and my church that are not right, where we've lost our way, where our faithfulness and love for You and Your ways have grown cold. Thank You for the grace that reminds us in love "from what (we) have fallen" and invites us to "repent" and return.
 
There can be no revival without repentance. There can be no awakening without awareness of where we have fallen. But just as a deeply loved child is both encouraged and corrected by a loving Father, You're always encouraging us by Your Spirit to take a look at our hearts, to test our ways against the plumb line of Your Word, and embrace the invitation of Your grace to fully return to You and "the love (we) had at first."
 
As we do, we will overcome. As we do, we will conquer the deadening of our consciences and the hardening of our hearts from our compromises with the ways of our world. "To everyone who conquers, (You) will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God." In fact, "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:37-39). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays



I pray we will hear in our generation what the Spirit is saying to us and our church, that we will repent of all that's not right and return to the Lord and our first love, in Jesus' name. May we overcome and conquer by the power of the grace of God at work within us to be all He created us to be, knowing our identity and fulfilling our destiny in our generation of making disciples of Jesus Christ in all the world. Please join me in that prayer. 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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Thursday, May 26, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 26 - Urges of Love
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I want to begin well and end well, this day and every day. So I want to begin and end my day with You and welcome You into every moment in between.  ...
 
"For the love of Christ urges us on" (2 Corinthians 5:14).
 
Make me more sensitive to Your urges. Open my eyes to see what You see around me, who You see around me. And let Your love urge me on.
 
Forgive me from the times I've held back, from the times I've turned away, from the times I've not been willing to wait and listen for the leading of Your Spirit when Your love was urging me on. Thank You for Your grace that forgives me and cleanses me from every failure and all unrighteousness so that I never have to remain in regret from my past mistakes (1 John 1:9). 
 
I embrace Your grace and receive Your forgiveness. Now I'm free to be moved again by the prompting of Your Spirit and the urges of Your love. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God" (Romans 8:14). "And when (I) turn to the right or when (I) turn to the left, (my) ears shall hear a word behind (me), saying, 'This is the way; walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21). Let me walk in the urges of Your love today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays



I pray the Spirit of Christ will urges you on in His love throughout the encounters of your day, in Jesus' name. 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, May 25, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 25 - Jesus, the Face of God
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my day, all I do and all I say.  ...
 
"For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:5-6).
 
Lord Jesus, Your face reveals the glory of God. You are "the image of God" revealed in human flesh to show us the heart of God in ways we can see, to speak the words of God in ways we can hear, to live the will of God in ways we can embrace (v. 4). 
 
And through faith in You, Your Spirit lives in me. "(We) are not in the flesh; (we) are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in (us). Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him" (Romans 8:9). And by Your Spirit in me, let the light of Your glory shine through the countenance of my face today. May everyone I encounter throughout the adventure of my day see Your love in my eyes, hear Your truth in my words, and experience Your grace through my ways. 
 
Through "prayers and the Spirit of Jesus Christ," let me be a faithful and true witness and ambassador of the heart of God today (Philippians 1:19). "We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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



I pray you will shine with the light of the glory of God through your face, your words, and your ways in God's grace today, in Jesus' name. 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, May 24, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 24 - "Come Trust Me"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Keep changing my ways, all of my days, to make me more like You by Your Spirit at work within me.  ...
 
I hear Your Spirit speaking to me, singing to me, down in my heart and rising up in thoughts.  ...
 
Come trust Me
Walk with Me
I put My hand within your hand
I put My heart within your heart
I change your ways all of your days
To make you more like Me
 
Surrender control
Trust Me alone
I put My thoughts within your mind
I put My Spirit within your soul
I change your ways all of your days
To make you more like Me
 
Yes, Lord. Make me more like You today. 
 
Keep transforming me by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:1). Keep conforming me into the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29). Keep renewing a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10). Keep softening my heart and giving me Your heart (Ezekiel 36:26). Keep giving me the grace to fully embrace the promise of Your Word to keep changing me as I keep seeking You:  "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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



I pray you will keep trusting in Jesus, letting His Spirit keeping changing you into His image more every day, in Jesus' name. 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, May 23, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 23 - Safety and Joy in "The City of God"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords, be King of my heart and Lord of my life, as I commit my day to You.  ...
 
"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psalm 46:4-7).
 
The city of God is a community of faith. It's a place of genuine relationships and authentic love. It's a place in our hearts, in our attitude, in our perspective where we seek to love God and love one another with all our hearts, all our minds, all our souls, and all our strength. It's a place of safety and joy where we are glad in the salvation of our God.
 
It's a city of refuge and a city of revival. And when the nations are in an uproar and the kingdoms of this world totter and tumble, we are safe and secure in the holy habitation of the Most High. Our city shall not be moved. Our city is founded upon Your Rock and our city will shine upon the hill of the Lord, the mountain of our God.
 
When all things are shaken, the city of God will remain. And all who seek their refuge in You will be safe in the strong tower of our God. It's always Your heart for all to come and find their city of refuge in the city of God. "See that you do not refuse the One who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the One who warns from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.' This phrase, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of what is shaken -- that is, created things -- so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:25-29).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. In the salvation of Jesus, my heart is "the holy habitation of the Most High" (Psalm 46:4). As child of God, my Father is my city of refuge and my source of revival. Let the river of life -- my eternal life in Christ -- flow in me. Let the streams of Your river make glad the city of God. In this city, I'm never alone and never have to fear. "God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved" (Psalm 46;5).

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



I pray you will be safe and glad in the city of God -- embraced by our Father, secure in Jesus, and filled with the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name. 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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Friday, May 20, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 20 - "Water of Rebirth and Renewal by the Holy Spirit"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You today.  ...
 
"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to His mercy, through water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is sure" (Titus 3:4-8).
 
Every day I want to drink deeply from the "water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." Every day I want to "draw water from the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3). Fill me up and overflow, afresh and anew. Let Your living waters never run dry in my soul. "Those who drink of the water that (You) will give (us) will never be thirsty. The water that (You) will give will becomes in (us) a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:14).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. I pray for Your renewal. Fill me afresh with the living waters of life in Christ today (Ephesians 5:18). It's not by any works of my righteousness, but all by Your great mercy, by the goodness and loving kindness of God my Savior, that I am saved and being saved, that I am filled with Your Spirit and being filled with Your Spirit, that I am a son of God and continually being conformed into the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29). I pray for Your renewal in me and in Your Church throughout our land and all the earth. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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



I pray you will be refreshed and renewed by the Holy Spirit today and every day in the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me and for all the Church of Jesus Christ in our land and all the earth. 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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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 19 - "Close to the Father's Heart"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Take me by the hand and lead me by the heart, as I begin the journey of my day with You.  ...
 
"And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.... From His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made Him known" (John 1:14-18).
 
Lord Jesus, You are the Son of God; You are God the Son. You are "close to the Father's heart" because You and the Father are "One" (John 10:30). You are "the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very Being" (Hebrews 1:3). You are "the image of the invisible God" for "in (You) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1:15-19).
 
Just as You are "close to the Father's heart," You long for every one of us, as sons and daughters of God, to be just as close. You passionately prayed that prayer for us when You walked this earth:  "As You, Father, are in Me and I am in You, may they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. That glory that You have given Me I have given them, so that they may be one, as We are One, I in them and You in Me, that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me" (John 17:21-23). That's a deep expression of the desires of Your heart that we fully receive "grace upon grace" (v. 1. 16).
 
My Father God, I draw near to You, close the Father's heart, as best as I can all by Your grace, through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. I embrace Your Holy Spirit, abiding in me -- living in me that I may live in You (John 14:17). "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of (us)" (2 Corinthians 13:13). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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



I pray you will draw close to the Father's heart -- closer every day, with grace upon grace in deepening communion with Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit abiding in you, in Jesus' name. 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, May 18, 2016

Morning by Morning, May 17 - Boldness in Prayer through Boldness in the Heart of God
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm looking and listening, watching and waiting, to see and to hear where You'll lead me today, as I begin my morning with You in the communion of prayer on my adventure of faith.  ...
 
"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the boldness we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him" (1 John 5:13-15).
 
I can have boldness in prayer because I have boldness in You. I can have faith for what I ask because I have faith in You. I can have boldness and faith in Your heart for me that is always good (Matthew 19:17). As I seek You first -- seeking Your will, Your way, and Your heart for Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done in my life -- I can boldly trust in Your promise "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33 KJV).
 
By the grace of God, I do believe in Your name and I seek to pray in Your name -- in Your nature, with Your heart, in alignment with Your will. And by the grace of God I choose to believe the promise of Your Word:  "Very truly, I tell you, that one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in My name you ask Me for anything, I will do it" (John 14:12-14).
 
Increase my faith, increase my boldness -- in prayer and in life. Increase my desire to align my life, my heart, and my will with Yours  -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. Not my will, but Yours be done (Luke 22:42). As I seek to pray in both deep humility and faithful boldness, give me greater faith to believe that You will be answering my prayers. Give me greater faith to believe Your Word that whenever I pray according to Your will I know that You hear me; and if You hear me, I know that I will have the petitions of my heart (1 John 5:15). Make my heart more like Yours every day (John 15:5). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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



I pray you will grow in your faith, grace upon grace, believing God and His promises for you and your destiny in Him, in Jesus' name. May you in your soul that your faith in Him is reckoned to you are righteousness by the power of the grace of God at work within you. 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!
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