Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 13 - Prepared for the Coming of the Lord
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me begin my day grounded and surrounded in Your Presence -- embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...
 
"The angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before Him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord'" (Luke 1:13-17).
 
This time of year, in these days before Christmas, people prepare their homes for parties, stores prepare their shelves for shoppers, and churches prepare their sanctuaries for visitors. Everybody seems to be preparing for something.
 
But before the first Christmas, before the first coming of Christ, Your Holy Spirit was preparing the way of the Lord in the earth. You prepared the wombs of Elizabeth and Mary. You prepared the hearts of Zechariah and Joseph. And then after the birth of John and Jesus, You would be preparing a people who would turn their hearts in repentance and faith to the Lord their God. By the Spirit and the Word, "in the spirit and power of Elijah," John would help many make room in their hearts for Jesus the Christ, the Messiah of Israel, and the Lord of all the earth. He would "make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (v. 17).
 
Today, between Your first coming and Your second, by the Spirit and the Word, You are still turning hearts and releasing hope to "make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Make my heart ready, Lord. Make my world in my generation ready, Lord. May we prepare You room in us, "Christ in (us), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
 
In the spirit and power of Elijah that prepared the way of the Lord for Your first coming, may we be Your messengers and ambassadors preparing the way of the Lord for Your second coming (Malachi 4:5-6; Zechariah 14:4; Acts 1:11; Matthew 24:3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 19:11-16). "So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). 
 
Come, Lord Jesus -- both here in our hearts today and here in our world forever (Revelation 22:12). "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!'" (Revelation 22:17) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




Friend, I pray you experience and embrace the Word and the Spirit preparing the way of the Lord in you and that in the spirit and power of Elijah, the Holy Spirit would use your life to prepare the way of the Lord in our generation and our world, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of 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, December 12, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 12 - Leaping for Joy, Filled with the Spirit!
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill my heart with Your Spirit and guide my steps into Your will -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...
 
"In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb.... For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy!" (Luke 1:39-44)
 
Deep calls to deep, as Spirit calls to spirit (Psalm 42:7). Elizabeth's spirit leaped with joy with Mary's spirit. And John, the child within in Elizabeth's womb, leaped with joy with Jesus, the Child within Mary's womb. When Elizabeth and her baby encountered Mary and her Baby, Elizabeth was "filled with the Holy Spirit" until joy overflowed! (Luke 1:41) "In Your Presence there is fullness of joy!" (Psalm 16:11)
 
Lord Jesus, we can encounter You every day. We can be filled with Your Spirit until joy overflows every day (Ephesians 5:18). We can welcome Your kingdom that has no end right here in the kingdom of our world, in the kingdom of our hearts every day to experience the same joy that Elizabeth and Mary experienced that day. "For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within (us)" (Luke 17:21). "For the kingdom of God is ... righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill me afresh with Your Presence and Your joy today. Let everything within me leap for joy! "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!" (Psalm 103:1) And in this season of preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ, help me prepare my heart for the coming of Your Spirit every day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




Friend, I pray you are filled afresh with the Holy Spirit, leaping for joy, as you encounter the living Presence of the risen Christ today, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of 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, December 11, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 11 - Favored One of God
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Centered in Your Presence, grounded in Your Word, I wait to follow Your leading on my journey of faith in prayer with You today.  ...
 
"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.... Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son and you will name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end'" (Luke 1:26-33).
 
Mary was a "favored one" -- she had "found favor with God." And how was she favored? As the angel Gabriel confirmed to her, the Lord was with her. The Lord had chosen her and called her, empowered and anointed her to know her identity and fulfill her destiny. 
 
Though Mary didn't understand at the beginning all it would involve and all it would mean, by faith and obedience, she said Yes. Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (v. 38).
 
Like Mary, we are chosen and we are called. We are favored with the Presence of God who is with us. And like Mary, we are empowered to know our identity and fulfill our destiny, as the Holy Spirit comes upon us and the power of the Most High overshadows us (v. 35). In Christ, we are "filled with the Spirit" -- the same Spirit the conceived Christ in Mary's womb and favored Mary with the Presence of God (Ephesians 5:18).
 
None of us will carry the Son of God in our womb, but all of us who will say with Mary "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" will carry "the Spirit of Christ" in our hearts (Romans 8:9). Like Mary, we won't understand from the beginning all it will involve and all it will mean for us, but You invite us to trust Your heart and embrace Your word to "walk by faith" and obedience as favored ones of God (2 Corinthians 5:7). 
 
With the favor of Your Presence, we have nothing to fear, but only our identity and destiny in Christ to embrace. "In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of Him who accomplishes all things according to His counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of His glory!" (Ephesians 1:11-12) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




Friend, I pray you embrace your identity and destiny as a child of God by the anointing and presence of Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ in you, favored one of the Most High God, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!
   
 


My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

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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Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 6 - Conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Likeness of a Human Being
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. In these first moments of my morning, I want to give You first priority in my day.  ...
 
"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14 NKJV).
 
You are the One who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. You are the One who is fully God and fully Man, Son of God and Son of Man, the One who set aide the glory of Heaven to humble Yourself in the likeness of human flesh and blood to live and to love among us as Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). You are "Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made (Yourself) of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, (You) humbled (Yourself) and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" -- all from Your mercy and love for us (Philippians 2:6-8 NKJV).
 
I can't truly conceive and all it means that You willingly humbled Yourself to be conceived in the womb of woman for me. "The sufferings of Christ" began in the womb, not only at the cross or the tomb (1 Peter 1:10). You had it all, yet You chose to sacrifice it all for me and for all who would embrace Your sacrifice of love and grace -- "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 2:9).
 
In Your humanity, You showed us the way to the Father -- how to live a life by the leading of the Holy Spirit, only doing what the Father was doing and saying what the Father speaking, as You lived a life in the fellowship of the Father and in the communion of the Holy Spirit (John 5:19 and 12:49). 
 
And just as You were the Son of Man, born to live for us, You were the Son of God, willing to die for us, that in Your death as a sinless sacrifice for us, we might live forever with You in the power and glory of Your resurrection. "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His suffering by becoming like Him in His death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection form the dead.... I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own" (Philippians 3:10-12).
 
Son of God, Son of Man -- One with the Father, One with the Holy Spirit -- come be One within me. Immanuel, God with us, come live in me, that I can live for You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




Friend, I pray the One who is Immanuel with be with you and live within you, as you live for Him today in the fellowship of the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!
  

I'm excited to be sharing a message of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service of Worship & Prayer for Healing this Wednesday Night December 6th at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge Campus in San Antonio at 7pm. Our Rapha God Ministries Prayer Team will be joining the OHC Prayer Team to offer personal prayer ministry. All are welcome! Please come join us!


My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

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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Tuesday, December 05, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 5 - Longing for the Coming of Christ -- Jesus, the Messiah

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

"Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah" (Luke 2:25).

Simeon longed for the coming of the Messiah. He longed to see and embrace the One who would bring consolation and comfort, healing and hope, forgiveness and freedom to all who would welcome Him into their hearts.  

He knew from the prophecies of Scripture that this Child to be born -- the Messiah, the Christ -- would be fully God from the glory of Heaven, but also fully man in the likeness of human flesh and blood. "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" -- meaning "God with us" (Isaiah 7:14 NKJV, fulfilled in Matthew 1:23). By the Spirit of the Lord, Isaiah had prophesied long ago:  "For a Child has been born for us, a Son given to us; authority rests upon His shoulders; and He is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.... The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this" (Isaiah 9:6-7). 

In this Christmas season of Advent, we long for the coming of the Messiah. Like Simeon, we long to see and embrace the One who brings consolation and comfort, healing and hope, forgiveness and freedom to all who welcome You into our hearts. And at the same time, we no longer have to wait for a day on the calendar to welcome You into our hearts. You are with us always (Matthew 28:20). You are Immanuel -- God with us (Matthew 1:23). Every moment of every day, You are our "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). So as we long for Your coming, we also celebrate Your Presence. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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




I pray you experience the Presence of Immanuel -- the One who is your Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

 

I'm excited to be sharing a message of hope and healing at the First Wednesday Service of Worship & Prayer for Healing this Wednesday Night December 6th at Oak Hills Church, Crownridge Campus in San Antonio at 7pm. Our Rapha God Ministries Prayer Team will be joining the OHC Prayer Team to offer personal prayer ministry. All are welcome! Please come join us!


My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

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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Monday, December 04, 2017

Morning by Morning, December 4 - Abide in Me, Abide and Be
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are One with the Father and One with the Holy Spirit. And in the extravagance of Your love and the mystery of faith, You come to abide and be One within me as well.  ...
 
As I worship and wait for the leading of Your Spirit this morning, it seems I hear You singing a new song You're writing in my spirit.  ...
 
Abide in Me,
Abide and be,
One who seeks My heart.
 
Come to Me,
Come and see,
I'm the One who loves your soul.
 
There is none greater,
There is none safer,
Than the One who calls you My own.  ...
 
Yes, Lord. Your Word invites me, "Abide in Me, as I abide in you.... As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; abide in My love.... I have said these things to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete (John 15:4-11).

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




My Friend, I pray you experience the deep, abiding Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart and every moment of your day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same of me. God bless you, my friend!

    

Friends, thank you so much for your prayers for us as I preached by live-streaming through the internet at Abundant Life Church in Karachi, Pakistan Sunday morning. I was able to share most of my message, but their was a technical disruption before I could end and pray with the people. I'll have a chance to finish and pray this through a video this week, but Pastor Ishaq said the people were greatly encouraged and moved by the Holy Spirit and will be sending a praise report of what the Lord has done. More opportunities will be coming. Praise God!

We had a wonderful day of ministry on Saturday, as I led a Healing Prayer Seminar at Oak Hills Church, Alamo Ranch Campus in San Antonio (Senior Pastor, Max Lucado) from my role as Pastoral Director of Rapha God Ministries. We heard many testimonies during the seminar of lifting of burdens and healing from pain! Praise God! Thank you so much for your partnership through prayer with me in ministry!

My friend, I invite you to join with me on the spiritual journey of hungering and thirsting for more with a couple of my books I believe I've been led to write and to share:

God bless you and thank you for joining with me in the journey!

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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