Morning by Morning, October 6 - Shine Like Stars!

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice to begin my day in the communion of prayer with You, my God  -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  ... 

"Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever" (Daniel 12:3). Even through "the time of anguish," we can be at peace in You (v. 1). Even in the midst of the darkness, we can shine "like the stars" (v. 3). You are our Hope. You are our Strength. And You are the One who keeps us strong in our faith and hopeful in our hearts no matter what's going on in our world around us. 

As we remain faithful to You, You remain faithful to us. "Happy are those who persevere" (v. 12). And as we persevere -- steadfast in faith, embraced by Your grace, and secure in Your love -- we will even "lead many to righteousness," to the Righteous One who sets things right, here in our hearts and here in our world (v. 3). As You spoke of these days to come from long ago, "many shall be purified, cleansed, and refined.... None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand" (v. 10). 

Lord, give me the grace to be wise and faithful and true. Let Your light shine through me and Your love flow through me, even through the dark days and anxious times. Even when "many shall be running back and forth, and evil shall increase," empower me to hold fast in You as You remind me that You're always holding fast to me (v. 4).  

By the power of Your forgiveness and grace, Your mercy and love, may I be found faithful as a child of God, living out the promises of God to the people of God in our days -- "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation in which (we) shine like stars in the world.... holding fast to the word of life" (Philippians 2:15-16). In You, may we "Arise, shine; for (our) Light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon (us)! For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon (us), and His glory will appear over (us). Nations shall come to (our) light, and kings to the brightness of (our) dawn!" (Isaiah 60:1-3)  In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

May you shine like a star in the midst of your world every day -- steadfast in faith, embraced by God's grace, secure in His love, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Friends, I'm excited to be publishing my new book -- 

Free to Be Like Jesus! (Updated and Revised 3rd Edition) endorsed by Max Lucado, Andy Reese and Randy Clark. 

Click Here to Order One Today through Amazon/CreateSpace

 

Endorsement from Max Lucado:

"Tommy Hays has spent a lifetime studying the place of prayer in inner healing. I have personally benefitted from his teaching, writing, and encouragement. This book gathers a wealth of helpful insights and experiences into one volume. I am honored to have it on my shelf and honored to call Tommy my friend."

Endorsement from Andy Reese,

Author of Freedom Tools:

"Tommy Hays combines a lawyer's keen logic with a spiritual intuition to bring inner healing to a practical, effective, and applied level. His proven techniques have been used in hundreds of ministry settings and can serve as simple yet profound tools in the hands of even the novice minister."

Endorsement from Randy Clark,

Global Awakening:

"Free to Be Like Jesus! will take you on a journey to learn more about the inner healing ministry. This book has many foundational spiritual truths and will help you if you want more healing in your own life, or if you want more tools to assist you in your inner healing ministry."

 

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!

 

New Friends and Subscribers: Please Click Here if you would like to be added to the list to receive Morning by Morning by email each day 

Morning by Morning, October 5 - Jesus Said, "I Will Come Again!"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...

 

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in Me.... I will come again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1-3).

 

Lord Jesus, one day You will come again. One day the promises of the Word of God and Your return will be fulfilled:  "For the Lord Himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). O glorious day! Come, Lord Jesus, come!

 

But even today -- even every day between this day and that glorious day to come -- You come again and take us to Yourself here in every heart that's open to You, here in every life that's surrendered to You as Lord and Savior. Even today You invite every one of us to open the door of our hearts wide to welcome You come in and abide intimately with us:  "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with Me" (Revelation 3:20). In that invitation, You were speaking to "the church in Laodicea," not just the "un-churched" and "non-believers," and not just to the children of God of that age, but to the children of God of every age (Revelation 3:14).

 

So come, Lord Jesus! Come today. Come here in me. Come again and again and take me to Yourself (John 14:3). Fill me afresh with "the Spirit of Christ" every day (Romans 8:9). Never stop coming, never stop moving, never stop loving and living and saving and encouraging, here in us, here in the ones who are called by Your name, here in me. "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). "The spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let everyone who hears say, 'Come!'" (Revelation 22:17) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

May you be filled afresh with the Spirit of Christ even day, as He comes again and again in your heart and in our world where we desperately need Him so much , in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, I'm excited to be publishing my new book -- 

Free to Be Like Jesus! (Updated and Revised 3rd Edition) endorsed by Max Lucado, Andy Reese and Randy Clark. 

Click Here to Order One Today through Amazon/CreateSpace

 

Endorsement from Max Lucado:

"Tommy Hays has spent a lifetime studying the place of prayer in inner healing. I have personally benefitted from his teaching, writing, and encouragement. This book gathers a wealth of helpful insights and experiences into one volume. I am honored to have it on my shelf and honored to call Tommy my friend."

Endorsement from Andy Reese,

Author of Freedom Tools:

"Tommy Hays combines a lawyer's keen logic with a spiritual intuition to bring inner healing to a practical, effective, and applied level. His proven techniques have been used in hundreds of ministry settings and can serve as simple yet profound tools in the hands of even the novice minister."

Endorsement from Randy Clark,

Global Awakening:

"Free to Be Like Jesus! will take you on a journey to learn more about the inner healing ministry. This book has many foundational spiritual truths and will help you if you want more healing in your own life, or if you want more tools to assist you in your inner healing ministry."

 

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!

 

New Friends and Subscribers: Please Click Here if you would like to be added to the list to receive Morning by Morning by email each day 

Morning by Morning, October 4 -- Freedom to Ask God "Why?"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I seek You and need You. So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I entrust this day and my life to You.  ...

 

"Why, O Lord, do You stand far off? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1)

 

In the midst of all the tragedies we're enduring in our land -- wave after wave, one after another -- hurricanes and earthquakes, fires and floods, mass shootings and mass hysteria -- we're tempted to ask "Why?"  We want to know "Are we under attack or under judgment?" We wonder, "What have we done and what can be undone? What can we do now or is there anything we can do?" And in the midst of our questions, we find ourselves directing our questions to You -- "Why, God? Why, O Lord, do You stand far off? Why, God? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? Where, God? Where we You when we needed You? Where are You now?"

 

Some would say we should never ask "Why?" Some would say that's dishonoring and disrespectful, allowing our thoughts and our hearts to be filled with doubt that could lead to disbelief or hopeless despair. But that's not my theology. That's not my experience in my journey of faith with You. 

 

I've found that You're a God who calls us to come with our questions, to open up our hearts with our need for guidance and our desire for answers. You're a God who listens, who cares, who comes alongside us in our confusion and concern, who sees us in our suffering and in our frustrations and fears. And You're a God who reminds us that You're always with us through whatever we endure on our journey of faith through this broken and fallen world, though the things that break our hearts and Yours.

 

So I bring You my questions and listen for Your answers. We don't turn our own children away when they come to us with their questions. And neither do You. A loving father or mother doesn't tell their children "Be silent. Don't question. Just learn to take it. Just get over it." And neither do You. We allow them to ask "Why?" And so do You. 

 

"Why?" is an expression of one of the deepest yearnings You've placed in our hearts to draw us nearer to You. As we ask our questions, seeking to know and understand, to sort out the confusion and the chaos of all our tragedies and trials, seeking to learn the principles and solve the problems, to learn from our mistakes as we learn to love in the midst of it all, our questions of "Why?" ultimately lead us to the question of "Who?"

 

As our "Whys?" turn to "Who?" our questions may begin with "Who did this?" or "Who allowed this?" but sooner or later, they will lead us to the questions of "Who will be with me through this? Who will give me the grace and the wisdom and the power to overcome this?" Then, in the fullness of time -- after the journey of shock and denial, anger and pain, forgiveness and healing -- our questions will even become, "Who will use this in my life and in the lives of others? Who will even cause good to come out of this evil and triumph out of this tragedy that You never intended and You will not ignore?" 

 

You never waste a moment of our suffering or miss an opportunity to draw us nearer. In the power of Your grace and the sovereignty of Your love, You will always have the last word as we turn our questions and our hearts to You. And Your word for us is always good for Your nature is always good (Exodus 33:19, Mark 10:18). In Your time and in Your way, You cause it all to work together for good because You love us and You're for us, because You're always with us to always bring us through it all (Romans 8:28). 

 

As You promised Your children in their times of questions long ago and still promise us in our times of questions today, "Do not fear, 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.... You are precious in My sight, and honored, and I love you.... Do not fear, for I Am with you" (Isaiah 43:1-5).

 

Through countless experiences of Your constant Presence, I have come to find peace in the One who always allows me to wrestle through my questions and always walks with me along my journey. Thank You for giving me permission to ask the questions of "Why?" And thank You that in one of the most profound examples of our freedom to ask "Why?" You asked that very qustion of our Father as You hung upon the cross in Your unfailing love for every one of us:  "And about three o'clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?' "(Matthew 27:46). There, You bore upon Yourself for each one of us all "our griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:4, NKJV). Then You entrusted Your spirit and Your questions into the hands and the heart of our loving and faithful Father (Luke 23:46). 

 

There at the cross, for You and for us, the question of "Why?" led to the Answer of "Who" -- to the One who sees the end from the beginning and causes all things to work together for good -- even the things that break our hearts and Yours. Lord, keep giving me grace to keep asking my questions and giving me faith to keep finding my Answer in the One who's always so faithful to me. "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness" (Lamentations 3:22-23). In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

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

May you always be free to ask God "Why?" as He uses your questions to bring you closer to Him in the sovereignty and faithfulness of His unfailing love for you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. I join with you in prayer for all who are suffering or shaken by what has happened in Las Vegas and has been happening in our world. Together we call upon the name of the Lord who hears us when we call to answer us and lead us to His salvation and peace. God bless you, my friend!

 

My friend, I join with you in prayer to bring your questions to God. May He bring you and me to the place where we know in our hearts that He is the Answer to every question we have.

Friends, I'm excited to be publishing my new book -- 

Free to Be Like Jesus! (Updated and Revised 3rd Edition) endorsed by Max Lucado, Andy Reese and Randy Clark. 

Click Here to Order One Today through Amazon/CreateSpace

 

Endorsement from Max Lucado:

"Tommy Hays has spent a lifetime studying the place of prayer in inner healing. I have personally benefitted from his teaching, writing, and encouragement. This book gathers a wealth of helpful insights and experiences into one volume. I am honored to have it on my shelf and honored to call Tommy my friend."

Endorsement from Andy Reese,

Author of Freedom Tools:

"Tommy Hays combines a lawyer's keen logic with a spiritual intuition to bring inner healing to a practical, effective, and applied level. His proven techniques have been used in hundreds of ministry settings and can serve as simple yet profound tools in the hands of even the novice minister."

Endorsement from Randy Clark,

Global Awakening:

"Free to Be Like Jesus! will take you on a journey to learn more about the inner healing ministry. This book has many foundational spiritual truths and will help you if you want more healing in your own life, or if you want more tools to assist you in your inner healing ministry."

 

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, October 3 - In the Shelter of the Most High

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Every morning is a good morning in You. No matter what's going on in my world, You're always here in my heart. As you said long ago, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33 NLT).  ...

 

As I enter in to our time of communion in prayer this morning, my heart is still heavy with the massacre of so many in the Las Vegas shooting so fresh in all our thoughts and prayers. The music turned to mayhem with nowhere to hide from a hailstorm of bullets out of a hell-storm of hatred and cowardice and evil. They'll try to find out what darkness filled his mind, but we know all too well and see all too often the darkness that seeks to invade any of our hearts to turn us against God and one another and ourselves. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10 NRSV).

 

Ultimately, evil is not a person, but a spiritual force of darkness looking for every opportunity to divide and conquer and destroy. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV). So it's only in You and the mercy of Your grace and the power of Your name that we can find the security and peace we need in these dark days to "stand against the wiles of the devil" through every onslaught of his hatred, cowardice, and evil (Ephesians 6:11).

 

The only true shelter we have is "the Shelter of the Most High" as we seek to "abide in the Shadow of the Almighty," choosing to humble ourselves and call on Your name, to "say to the Lord, "My Refuge and my Fortress; my God, in whom I trust" (Psalm 91:1-2). You alone are our Comforter and Healer. You alone are our Redeemer of all that doesn't make sense and is so out of our control.

 

You never intend or will the evil in our world. But at the same time, You are never unaware of our suffering and our needs, our fears and our fights. And You never leave us nor forsake us through whatever we endure in our lives or in our land through the darkness of these days. Evil will never have the last word or the find say. And You never back down from the promise and the hope of Your Word to those who choose to find Shelter in You:  "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 NRSV).

 

Here in my heart, here in our land, be our Shelter again. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

May you be safe and secure in the shelter of the Most High, knowing God is with you through whatever you endure, making sure His Word will have the final say over your life, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. I join with you in prayer for all who are suffering or shaken by what has happened in Las Vegas and happening in our land. Together we call upon the name of the Lord who hears us when we call to answer us and lead us to His salvation. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, I'm excited to be publishing my new book -- 

Free to Be Like Jesus! (Updated and Revised 3rd Edition) endorsed by Max Lucado, Andy Reese and Randy Clark. 

Click Here to Order One Today through Amazon/CreateSpace

 

Endorsement from Max Lucado:

"Tommy Hays has spent a lifetime studying the place of prayer in inner healing. I have personally benefitted from his teaching, writing, and encouragement. This book gathers a wealth of helpful insights and experiences into one volume. I am honored to have it on my shelf and honored to call Tommy my friend."

Endorsement from Andy Reese,

Author of Freedom Tools:

"Tommy Hays combines a lawyer's keen logic with a spiritual intuition to bring inner healing to a practical, effective, and applied level. His proven techniques have been used in hundreds of ministry settings and can serve as simple yet profound tools in the hands of even the novice minister."

Endorsement from Randy Clark,

Global Awakening:

"Free to Be Like Jesus! will take you on a journey to learn more about the inner healing ministry. This book has many foundational spiritual truths and will help you if you want more healing in your own life, or if you want more tools to assist you in your inner healing ministry."

 

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, October 2 - God Goes Before Us and With Us

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the start and the center of all I am and all I do this day.  ...

 

"I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name" (Isaiah 45:2-3).

 

You go before us. You anoint us with Your presence and power, Your wisdom and guidance, Your favor and blessing. You clear the way of all that would stand between us and the calling of our destiny that You have chosen for each of us. And at the same time, You go with us. You grasp us by hand and lead us by the heart "to open doors before (us)" (v. 1). "(You are) the Lord, and there is no other; besides (You) there is no god" (v. 5).

 

Thank You for going before me today. Thank You for going with me today. Thank You for opening the doors aligned with Your will and giving me the courage to step through them. Thank You for blessing me with Your favor and grace and giving me the humility to embrace and know that it comes from You alone. Awaken me in Your righteousness to walk rightly before You in the straight paths of Your will today -- as best as I can and all by Your grace (v. 13). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

May you be anointed with the presence and power, the wisdom and guidance, and the favor and blessing of the Lord our God to walk in His will to fulfill your calling and destiny, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, I'm excited to be publishing my new book -- 

Free to Be Like Jesus! (Updated and Revised 3rd Edition) endorsed by Max Lucado, Andy Reese and Randy Clark. 

Click Here to Order One Today through Amazon/CreateSpace

 

Endorsement from Max Lucado:

"Tommy Hays has spent a lifetime studying the place of prayer in inner healing. I have personally benefitted from his teaching, writing, and encouragement. This book gathers a wealth of helpful insights and experiences into one volume. I am honored to have it on my shelf and honored to call Tommy my friend."

Endorsement from Andy Reese,

Author of Freedom Tools:

"Tommy Hays combines a lawyer's keen logic with a spiritual intuition to bring inner healing to a practical, effective, and applied level. His proven techniques have been used in hundreds of ministry settings and can serve as simple yet profound tools in the hands of even the novice minister."

Endorsement from Randy Clark,

Global Awakening:

"Free to Be Like Jesus! will take you on a journey to learn more about the inner healing ministry. This book has many foundational spiritual truths and will help you if you want more healing in your own life, or if you want more tools to assist you in your inner healing ministry."

 

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, September 29 - "Treasures in Heaven"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart to guide my steps along my journey of faith in You today.  ...

 

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also" (Matthew 6:29-21).

 

My heart will be in the right place when my treasure is in the right place. What I treasure most is what get's the most of me -- my time, my attention, my resources, my passion. And You said my treasures should be in heaven.

 

Lord, what are "treasures in heaven?"  ...

 

It seems I hear You speaking in my spirit, "Treasures in heaven are the things that are treasured most in the kingdom of heaven. They are not treasures of silver or gold or diamonds or rubies. They are treasures of humility and faith, obedience and love, kindness and joy. They are treasures of all I treasure most in your heart as you allow Me to form My heart in you. For the kingdom of heaven is within you, and My desire is to see the treasures in heaven become My treasures in you."  ...

 

Yes, Lord. Grow these treasures in me. Store them up in me. Give me the grace to grow and embrace humility and faith, obedience and love, kindness and joy, and everything else that You long see maturing in me. Let this be my treasure and let this be my heart. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

May you treasure what Jesus treasures, and may His treasure grow in you every day, as you keep growing in Him, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of 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!