Morning by Morning, May 16 - "The Only Thing that Counts"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- You are One, and You are here -- here with me and here within me. Let me be fully aware of Your Presence and fully awakened to Your leading, as I begin my day deliberately seeking and embracing You, while I welcome You to see and embrace me.  ...

 

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6).

 

Faith without love is not really faith. And love without faith is not really love. It's only through faith in You, Lord Jesus Christ, that we can truly or fully love. Faith is fully trusting You and fully trusting You because we've come to truly know You. "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.... And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 4:16-5:20).

 

A sincere, authentic, and true faith in You will always lead me to love. "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from Him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also" (1 John 4:20-21). "If we love one another, God lives in us" (1 John 4:12). "The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:13). "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10).

 

What counts is love -- my faith working through my love. In fact, Your Word says this is "the only thing that counts" (Galatians 5:6).  Wow, that's pretty strong language, directly from the very Word of God. It doesn't say "the only thing that counts is winning souls" or "healing the sick" or "casting out devils" or "being a good person" or "having a good name" or anything else. No, what counts is my faith -- that kind of faith in You that's always working through my love for others.

 

That's what You modeled for me, and that's how You empower me to live my life for You -- "faith working through love" -- because as You are, so am I to be in my world (1 John 4:17). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will be empowered by God to live out your faith in love today, just like Jesus, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, May 15 - "A Vessel for Honor"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice.  ...

 

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:20-22 NKJV).

 

Lord, let my heart be "a vessel for honor." Cleanse me from dishonor and clothe me with Your honor -- "clothed with Christ" (Galatians 3:26). Stir in my heart by Your Spirit to "pursue righteousness, faith, love, (and) peace" -- not merely admiring these qualities as lofty goals and noble ideals, but passionately pursuing them "out of a pure heart." 

 

When my heart is right -- right in relationship with You, pursuing You and Your nature, not out of obligation but out of love -- I will be "sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work." That's not what my flesh desires, but it's what Your Spirit desires, seeking to align my desires with Your desires, my thoughts with Your thoughts, as my ways become Your ways. "For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness" (Galatians 5:5).

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Prepare the way of the Lord in my heart today -- set me apart as one willing to be useful for my Master. "For God is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13 NLT). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will be stirred by the Spirit, pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace, from a pure heart entrusted to the work of the Master through your life, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, May 12 - Purged of People-Pleasing

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Make me more like You today.  ...

 

"Am I now seeking human approval, or God's approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10).

 

A root of insecurity feeds the spirit of intimidation. When we're intimidated by the opinions of people, we're striving for the approval of people so we can feel secure about ourselves and accepted by others. But it's hard to have two masters (Matthew 6:24). We can't fully serve God when we're entangled and enslaved by the shackles of pleasing people. "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe" (Proverbs 29:25 NKJV). O Lord, set us free! Purge the people-pleasing spirit out of Your people and out of me!

 

The key to freedom is not beating ourselves up for the burdens of this bondage. The key is to allow You to show us how secure we are in You. With a true revelation of who You are, we begin to see more clearly who we are in You and who You are in us. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For (we) did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear (or intimidation or insecurity or the snare of living our lives forever trying to please people we can never really please anyway), but (we) have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' It is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ -- if, in fact, we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him" (Romans 8:14-17).

 

Abba! Father! I'm a child of God, filled with the Spirit of God. Your Word encourages me, "Do not fear, (Do not fear man or anything else), for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I Am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.... Because you are precious in My sight, and honored, and I love you.... Do not fear, for I Am with you.... everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made" (Isaiah 43:1-7).

 

Embracing my security in You heals every root of insecurity in me. "For (You have) not given (me) a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). "(Your) perfect love (for me) casts out fear," uproots insecurity, delivers me from the evil of intimidation, and breaks every chain of the bondage of pleasing people above honoring my God as a bond servant of Christ (1 John 4:18).

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, filled with the Spirit, may I be confident and secure as the beloved child of God I am -- not intimidated or controlled by anyone or anything, but whole and free, "mature in Christ" (Colossians 1:28). In Jesus' name I pray.

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

I pray you grow every day in the revelation and security of the truth of who you are in Christ and who Christ is in you -- as a child of God, embraced by your Father, centered in Christ, 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

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, May 11 - Grace to Patiently Grow

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my heart by Your Spirit, I pray.  ...

 

"(Jesus) also said, 'The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come" (Mark 4:26-29).

 

Lord, give me the grace to patiently grow. The things that spring up quickly don't always last (Mark 4:17). And it doesn't do any good to insist on a harvest before its time. You're the God who makes "everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV).

 

So help me not get in a hurry -- not so hasty, not so frustrated, not so pushy or demanding. That doesn't take away from the excitement of expectant faith, but helps me grow in the grace of trusting You. It's "through faith and patience" (we) inherit the promises" of Your kingdom (Hebrews 6:12).

 

Your seed will produce Your harvest, but there is a process, according to Your plan, and all in Your time. That's why I need Your grace to patiently grow -- to grow up to maturity in my heart and to allow all You've planted around me and even through me to grow up to the maturity of the harvest You've promised and planned. By the power of Your grace, help me embrace the seed of every word of Your kingdom You've planted, as I "hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance" -- the fruit of the harvest of Your kingdom here on earth and here in my heart (Luke 8:15). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you'll grow in grace for yourself and those around you, patiently but expectantly waiting on God to produce the harvest of his kingdom in and through your life, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, May 9 - Salty

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be my wisdom and my strength, as You lead my spirit and direct my path through the moments of my day. ...

 

"You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot" (Matthew 5:13).

 

We say someone is "the salt of the earth" as a way of saying they a good person, trustworthy, thoughtful, considerate, and kind. When they're around, life tastes a little better.

 

I want to be salty, Lord -- salty for Jesus. Salt preserves what is good, melts what is cold, and adds a little flavor. I want to be found faithful, "worth my salt" because I'm secure in my identity as a son of God, destined to be alive and strategically positioned by my Creator in my generation for such a time as this. Make me saltier still -- filled with "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).

 

You're my Savior so I can be Your salt. Give me grace to make life taste a little better today for everyone around me. Let them "taste and see that the Lord is good" because they taste a little bit of You in me (Psalm 34:8). "Christ in (me)" -- The Salt of the Earth in me. (Colossians 1:27). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you'll be salty for Jesus today -- the salt of the earth, worth your salt, full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control -- all by the power of the grace of God at work within you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, May 8 - "Oaks of Righteousness"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- I entrust every dimension of my being into every dimension of Your Being.  ...

 

"They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display His glory" (Isaiah 61:3). 

 

You've planted the seed of Your Word here in my heart. You've nurtured it and nourished it in waters of Your Spirit. Morning by morning, day after day, You're growing me up into maturity to become an oak of Your righteousness, planted with purpose according to Your plans, to display Your glory. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" -- Your glory displayed through my life, daily seeking to be fully entrusted, wholly surrendered to You and Your will and Your ways for me (Colossians 1:27).

 

On my spiritual journey into Christ-like maturity, I thank You for Your promise:  "The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generation; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.... You shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken" (Isaiah 58:11-14).

 

By the power of Your grace at work within me and those You've aligned with me in my life as "the body of Christ" together, help "all of us come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ" to "grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:11-16). Together as one in the Spirit and one in the Lord, help us "grow in the grace and knowledge of (my) Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity" (2 Peter 3:18). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, to live your life as an oak of righteousness to the glory of our Father, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, May 5 - The Word of the Kingdom

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You're welcome into my morning and every moment of my day. Take me by the hand and lead me by the heart, as I abide in You and You abide in me.  ...

 

"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what is sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, the person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty" (Matthew 13:18-23).

 

Sow the word of Your kingdom deeply into soil of my heart, Lord. Let it be good soil -- cultivated and weeded, watered and waiting for You to produce the fruit of Your kingdom through my life. I believe the more deeply I yield my heart to Your will and Your ways the greater harvest You will yield through me. I pray that by Your grace, there may even be "a hundredfold" harvest.

 

Guard my seed from "the evil one." Protect me from "the cares of the world and the lure of wealth." Empower me to persevere through "trouble or persecution." And maybe above all, let me not be shallow ground, but deeply grounded in Your Word, filled with Your Spirit, choosing to fully yield my life completely to You. Let the harvest of Your kingdom come -- here in me and through my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray the word of the kingdom is planted deeply in your heart to yield a great harvest through your life -- even a hundredfold and more, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, May 4 - National Day of Prayer

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Jesus Christ, and filled Your Holy Spirit.  ...

 

"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and act and do not delay! For Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people bear Your name!" (Daniel 9:19)

 

It's the law of our land that our President shall proclaim a National Day of Prayer every year on the first Thursday in May:  "The President shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals" (36 U.S. Code Sec. 119). And today I bow my heart and my knees before the Lord my God to join my prayers with my brothers and sisters across this land in the freedom we have to call on Your great name in humility and faith.

 

In our freedom of religion, guaranteed by our Constitution in the First Amendment of our Bill of Rights, every American is free to pray in the way they desire in their own understanding of God. And in my understanding I believe You are the God who created us, who knows us by name, and welcomes us to turn to You in humility and faith to call on Your name in thanksgiving and praise, in worship and trust, for provision and protection, for abundance of life and fulfillment of destiny, for all that we need, for all that we are, and for all that we are to become -- both personally and as a people together.

 

You are the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You are the God of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And You are the God of Daniel, who called on Your name and cried out for his nation in humility and faith -- "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, listen and act and do not delay! For Your own sake, O my God, because Your city and Your people bear Your name!" (Daniel 9:19) I join in his prayer for my nation today.

 

We need You, Lord. We need Your wisdom, Your guidance, Your correction and discipline, Your mercy and grace. We need to be awakened and revived, alive and on fire, secure in our identity to fulfill our destiny as a people and a nation, as "one nation, under God," because we choose as a people to entrust our hearts and our nation to You, O Lord, our God. "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance" (Psalm 33:12 NKJV). 

 

In Your Covenant of Revival, I join my heart with every heart that would join me in faith to believe the promise of Your Word:  "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV).

 

Father God, in the name of Jesus and the power of Your Holy Spirit, move in our hearts to turn to You, to know You as You are, admitting our desperate need of You, welcoming You in our hearts, praying our leaders and all those in authority would welcome You into theirs, to guide us in Your ways and honor Your name. May we experience a breakthrough revival in our hearts and in our nation, and in the nations of our world in our generation, for the sake of Your name and every generation to come. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you experience a breakthrough of revival in your heart, joining your heart with all who are called by the name of the Lord in prayer for our nation and every nation of our world to know the love and grace of our great God, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

Healing from the Inside Out

www.Messiah-Ministries.org 

  

Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries

4 Dominion Drive, Building 1

San Antonio, Texas 78257

www.RaphaGodMinistries.com 

Please share this word to encourage a friend!