Friday, April 28, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 28 - "Excelling in the Work of the Lord" -- the Labor of Love
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me in the way that leads to life in You today.  ...
 
"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:57-58).
 
You're the God who has given me the victory already; and, at the same time, You're the God "who (continually) gives (me) the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 57). Empower me to live victoriously today -- not just embracing the victory You've already won for me, but also, at the same time, living into that victory, more and more, every day. By the power of Your grace, may I live out each day "always excelling in the work of the Lord" (v. 58).
 
What is "the work of the Lord?"  ...
 
As I wait and listen, it seems I hear You saying, "You are My body in this world. My people who are called by My name, filled with My Spirit, seeking to walk in My ways to allow My nature to grow in them and allow My love and My power to flow through them. This is the work to which you are called -- to be My body, My people, My messengers, My ambassadors, My hands and My feet, My words and My truth, displayed in My glory through your lives."
 
Yes, Lord. You're reminding me now of Your Word to us:  "The only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6).
 
We are Your body -- "the body of Christ and individually members of it" (1 Corinthians 12:27). We are filled with Your Spirit -- "For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body ... and we were all made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13). And You send us forth each day into our world to be Your ambassadors -- "So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20).
 
You're nature is love and You've called us, commanded us, and commissioned us to go and to love with Your Spirit in our hearts and the power of Your love flowing through our lives -- "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. God's love was revealed among us in this way:  God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him.... No one has ever seen God; if we love another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit" (1 John 4:7-13).
 
Empower me to excel in this "work of the Lord" today -- here in my heart and here in my world. As You empower me to love -- my labor of love -- my labor will never be in vain. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


I pray you will excel in the work of the Lord, living victoriously in the His labor of love through you 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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Thursday, April 27, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 27 - Song of Deliverance
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You into my heart and every moment of my day.  ...
 
"You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance!" (Psalm 32:7 NKJV)
 
As I listen for Your leading, I believe I hear You forming the words of a new song of deliverance in my spirit:
 
Tossed to and fro
But ready to go
Battered and bruised
Pressed in on every side
But ready to break through
 
Persecuted and perplexed
Stuck down but not destroyed
Afflicted and resisted
But nothing's going to take my joy
 
When everything is shaken
That must be shaken
What can't be shaken will remain
When everything is crumbled
That must be crumbled
My God is my rock and will forever reign
 
Yes, Lord!
 
"I love You, O Lord, my strength. 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. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.... The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation.... Great triumphs He gives to His king, and shows steadfast love to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever!" (Psalm 18:1-50)
 
You are with me always. Even when everything is shaken that can be shaken, "what can't be shaken will remain" -- steadfast in the power of Your love -- and by the power of Your grace, "we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken," so "let us give thanks" (Hebrews 12:27-29). "But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies" (2 Corinthians 4:7-10).
 
You are a mighty God -- "mighty to save!" (Isaiah 63:1) And You are my ever-present God -- "with (me) always, to the end of the age" and with me in every moment of every day between this day and that day to come (Matthew 28:20). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


I pray you will be filled with faith, courage, and songs of deliverance as you press through and overcome whatever faces you and those who are on your heart, 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, April 26, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 26 - Believe Bigger
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm at my post, positioned in my morning place of prayer, listening for Your leading, as I begin my day deliberately seeking and embracing You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...
 
"Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, 'Father, I thank You for having heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that You sent Me.' When He had said this, He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.' Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him" (John 11:40-45).
 
I want to believe bigger. I want to see Your glory more. I want to trust in Your words with faith in Your heart to display Your glory in the power of Your love all around me today. Open my eyes to see it and stir in my spirit to expect it. "What was promised through faith in Jesus Christ (will) be given to those who believe" (Galatians 3:22).
 
As the father said, just before You set his son free from the spiritual attack trying to destroy his son's spirit, soul, and body, "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24). You told that father, just as you tell every one of us, "All things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23 NKJV). It's just as You told Mary, who was heart-broken and disappointed over her brother's death, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (John 11:40)
 
Set me free from any doubts or disappointments that would try to dampen my faith. Let me begin my prayers with fresh faith, grounded in Your Word, led by Your Spirit, rather than any unfulfilled experiences of the past. There's much mystery on this journey of faith, but let my expectations be firmly established in Your promises, rather than my problems, and in Your Word, rather than the ways of my world. 
 
"Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). By the power of Your grace, I'm seeking You and I'm believing You. Help me seek more expectantly and believe bigger. I'm believing Your Word -- "As it is written, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him'" (1 Corinthians 2:9 from Isaiah 64:4 NKJV). In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

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


I pray the Lord will empower you to believe bigger, trusting in His Word and His Spirit, to be at work mightily in the the things on your heart that you bring to Him in prayer, 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, April 25, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 25 - The Spirit of Christ in Me
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You said You'd always be with me, and I praise You that You always are (Matthew 28:20).  ...
 
"Abide in Me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I Am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in Me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).
 
Lord Jesus, You are my Vine. I am one of Your branches. You abide in me and I abide in You. "In (You, I) live and move and have (my) being," and I welcome You to live and move and have Your Being in me (Acts 17:26). "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
 
Thank You for the promise of Your Spirit to always abide within me, to always lead and guide me, to make me more like You each day. As You said before Your crucifixion and resurrection, "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" (John 14:18-20).
 
The Same Spirit that flows in You is the same Spirit that flows in me -- the Holy Spirit of the Living God (Romans 8:11). This is Your Spirit -- "the Spirit of God" (Romans 8:9), "the Spirit of Truth" (John 16:13), "the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9), "the Spirit of Jesus" (Acts 16:7). This is "the Promise of the Father" Who comes to abide within me and empower me to be Your witness in my world (Acts 1:4-8).
 
Thank You for the promise of Your Word and the fulfillment of Your prayer from Your heart as You walked this earth as the Son of Man in the likeness of human flesh and blood:  "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one. 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. The 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 17:20-23).
 
So, Lord Jesus, I welcome You into my heart as I welcome Your Spirit into every dimension of my life. You in me and I in You (John 14:20; John 17:23). "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" -- Your glory arising upon me and Your glory shining through me because Your Spirit abides within me (Colossians 1:27). In the power of Your grace each day, may I "arise (and) shine, for (my) Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon (me)," because the glory of the manifest presence of Christ is within me! (Isaiah 60:1, fulfilled in John 17:22) In Jesus' name I pray. 

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


May the Spirit of Christ abide with in you and shine through you everywhere in your world our Father sends you in the authority of the name of Jesus and the power and presence of His 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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Monday, April 24, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 24 - From the Frist Five Hundred to the Final Harvest
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You today.  ...
 
"For I handed on to you as of first importance what I had received:  that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me has not been in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:3-10).
 
Like Paul, "I am what I am." But You've appeared to me in Your resurrected power and glory in so many ways, so many times to forgive me, to heal me, to free me and empower me to be all You created me to be -- despite who I am and what I've done. Like the first five hundred, I'm also a witness to Your resurrection. I'm a witness to the One Who is alive and Who lives in me.
 
From the first five hundred to the final harvest of all who will experience Your love, Your power, and Your presence, we are forever changed (Matthew 13:39). And we're created to forever experience the ever-abiding presence of our Savior, so that we "might live for the praise of (Your) glory" (Ephesians 1:12). "In (You, we) also, when (we) heard the word of truth, the gospel of (our) salvation, and believed in (You), were marked with the seal of (Your) promised Holy Spirit; that is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of His glory" (Ephesians 1:13-14).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. Let me live my life today to the praise of the glory of God, as one who has encountered the living Christ, living in me. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


May you live your life today to the praise of the glory of God our Father, ever-encountering Jesus, and filled with His 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, April 21, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 21 - Encountering Emmanuel on Our Walk to Emmaus
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Rule and reign as King of my heart and Lord of my life today.  ...
 
"Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.... Then He said to them, 'Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared. Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter His glory?' Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things about Himself in all the Scriptures" (Luke 24:13-27).
 
"All the Scriptures" speak of You. "All the prophets" point to You. You are "the Word (that) became flesh and lived among us ... full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Lord, open my eyes to see You in every word of the Word of God. Just as You opened the eyes of Your disciples in the breaking the bread, open the eyes of my heart to recognize You in the breaking of the Bread of Your Word with me (Luke 24:31). You are the "Bread of Life" (John 6:35). You are "Emmanuel ... God with us" (Matthew 1:23).
 
Let my heart burn within me, as You speak to my spirit and walk with me on the path of the journey of faith You've set before me each day  (Luke 24:32). Like those two disciples whose eyes and hearts were opened to know and embrace their Emmanuel on their walk to Emmaus, let me boldly proclaim from the confidence of my daily encounters with You that "the Lord has risen indeed!" -- here in my heart and here in our world (Luke 24:34). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


I pray you encounter the abiding presence of our Emmanuel on your walk to Emmaus every day in journey of faith, grounded in His Word and filled with His 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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Thursday, April 20, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 20 - Deeper "Communion of the Holy Spirit"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I am Yours and You are mine. Lead me and align me with Your Word and Your Spirit today.  ...
 
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you" (2 Corinthians 13:13).
 
Lord, help me embrace a deeper communion of Your Holy Spirit. How do I do that?  ...
 
It seems I hear You saying, "Know that I desire to commune with you and every one of My children even more than you desire to commune with Me. Open your heart to Me by trusting Me. Open your spirit to Me by welcoming My Spirit to abide in your spirit, conforming your nature to My nature. Allow Me to put My thoughts in your mind, My desires in your heart, so that My will becomes your will and My ways become your ways. This is how you allow Me to conform you into the image of the Son of God. The more you allow yourself to hunger and thirst for this, the more deeply My Holy Spirit abides in your spirit."
 
Yes, Lord. That's what I desire. Give me a deeper desire still. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 4:6). Let me be filled afresh and filled more deeply with Your Holy Spirit today, as Your Word encourages us to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). 
 
"Anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). Unite me in deeper communion with You, Lord. In the power of Your grace, may I become one spirit with You. On the one hand, it's done already and always, because I am in Christ and Christ is in me (2 Corinthians 5:21). And at the same time, on the other hand, it's a daily journey as I "press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). 
 
Come, Holy Spirit. Come bring me into deeper communion with You today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of the Living God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


I pray you experience a deeper communion of the Holy Spirit today and every day on your journey with our Father to press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus, 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, April 19, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 19 - Trusting Love
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are my Vine and I am one of Your branches. I want to abide in You and welcome You to abide in me, as I begin my morning seeking You in the communion of prayer (John 15:5). ...
 
"Those who love Me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know My name. When they call to Me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them, and show them My salvation" (Psalm 91:14-16).
 
I love You, Lord. Help me love You more. I trust You, Lord. Help me trust You more. Help me know in my heart You are with me in Spirit  -- fighting for me in ways I don't always see, moving on my behalf in ways I don't always know. 
 
You deliver me and protect me; You speak to me and respond to me; You honor me and satisfy me. All in Your way and all in Your time, You show me the fullness of Your salvation and the power of Your love. You are forever "My Refuge and my Fortress; my God, in whom I trust" (Psalm 91:2). You are the God I trust and the God I love because You first loved me (1 John 4:19). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


I pray you grow in the trusting love of the Lord our God every day, confident in His abiding presence and the fullness of His salvation for 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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Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Morning by Morning, April 18 - Living "The Resurrected Life"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak Your name and listen for Your voice, for Your sheep hear Your voice and do not follow another (John 10:3-5).  ...
 
As I listen, it seems I hear You saying, "Arise and follow Me. I Am the Resurrected One and I Am the Resurrecting One. I raise you up to follow Me in resurrected life."  ...
 
Yes, Lord. As You said, "I Am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die" (John 11:25).
 
Lord Jesus, what is this "resurrected life" You're calling me to live?  ...
 
It seems I hear You saying, "Your resurrected life is the life you live in Me -- where you daily choose to die to your will that's apart from My will and your ways that are apart from My ways, allowing Me to form My thoughts in your mind and My desires in your heart, so you can arise and follow Me in newness of life."  ...
 
Yes, Lord. Give me the desire and the power to arise and follow You in this newness of life, in the resurrected life You have for me today. "Therefore we have been buried with Him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we will certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His" (Romans 6:4-5). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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


I pray you will be empowered by the grace of God to arise and follow Jesus in newness of life to live out your resurrected life in Him 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

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