Morning by Morning, February 20 - "Sharing in the Spirit"

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

"If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete:  be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:1-5).

When we're "sharing in the Spirit," we're sharing in the mind and heart and nature of Christ Jesus. We don't insist on our own way; but instead, we yield to Your way. We don't "look out for number one;" but instead, we look up to the One who is always giving, always loving, always seeking to build up others to help them see themselves in the way You see them. And when we're "sharing in the Spirit," we're sharing in Your joy so that our joy is made complete.

Lord, convict me of my self-centeredness, convict me of my selfishness, and awaken within me a heart of selflessness. Let that same mind be in me that was in Christ Jesus, who "humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross" (v. 2:8). Let that same Spirit be in me that led You and empowered You to lay down Your life in love for the sake of others.

I know I have far to go to truly have that kind of selfless and humble desire. But I welcome You to keep putting Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart to align my will with Your will and my ways with Your ways, a little more each day. When I'm "sharing in the Spirit," I'm allowing Your Spirit to keep changing my spirit from the inside out, as You continue Your faithful work and purposeful plan of conforming me into Your image (Romans 8:28). Lord, have Your way. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray you're being conformed into the image of the Son of God, sharing in His Spirit and growing in His nature, a little more each day, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

Living in the Freedom and Authority of a Spirit-filled Life!

 

https://www.amazon.com/Free-Like-Jesus-Revised-3rd/dp/1975922581/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

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, February 16 - Empowered to Do Good

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are worthy of it all--all my heart and mind and soul and strength, O Lord, my God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  ... 

"Then Peter began to speak to them:  'I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. You know the message He sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:  how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. We are witnesses to all that He did both in Judea and in Jerusalem" (Acts 10:34-39). 

Anointed "with the Holy Spirit and with power," You "went about doing good" everywhere the Father sent You, as You walked this earth as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Man living in compete communion with the living God. "Being born in human likeness" and "being found in human form," You are our Model and Mentor, for the Spirit-filled life lived out by a child of God (Philippians 2:7). You were fully yielded to the will and ways of God, doing what You saw the Father doing, speaking what You heard the Father speaking, always available and completely empowered to go about doing good with the heart of God. 

Anoint me today with Your Holy Spirit and with power. Empower me and send me to go about doing good, with the authority of Your name and nature of Your heart. As You said to Your first disciples, You continue to speak to me and every one of Your disciples in every generation:  "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses (wherever I send you)" (Acts 1:8). Lord, let it be so in me today and every day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray you are anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit of the Living God, to go about doing good as a witness and disciple of Jesus Christ in the authority of His name and nature of His heart, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

 

I welcome you to join with me in a daily journey of passionate, pursuing prayer through my 365 Day Prayer Devotional, Morning by Morning, Second Edition, for a deeply intimate and personal journey of prayer each day.

https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Daily-Prayer-Journey-Second/dp/1540466922/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515422684&sr=8-2

 

Living in the Freedom and Authority of a Spirit-filled Life!

 

https://www.amazon.com/Free-Like-Jesus-Revised-3rd/dp/1975922581/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

 

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, February 15 - "Where is the God of Elijah?"

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let Your light shine in my heart and through my life today.  ... "

(Elisha) picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, 'Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?'" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over. When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, 'The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha'" (2 Kings 2:13-15). 

The "spirit of Elijah" was the Holy Spirit of the Living God that rested upon him and moved in power through him (1 Kings 18:46). The "mantle" of Elijah was the extension and expression of Your authority that You chose to release in Your power through his life to accomplish Your purposes according to Your will. And the "God of Elijah" is the same Lord our God who is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). 

The same Holy Spirit that parted the waters before Elijah and before Elisha and before Moses before them is the same Holy Spirit that parts the waters before us today. The same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the same Holy Spirit that lives and abides and abounds to move in the power and authority of the Lord our God through our lives to accomplish Your purposes according to Your will (Romans 8:11). 

When we cry out, "Where is the God of Elijah? Where is the God of Elisha and Moses, of David and Abraham, of Deborah and Esther, of Peter and Paul and James and John?" You say, "I AM--I AM here with you, I AM here upon you, I AM here within you. And in the power of My grace, I will accomplish My purposes and My will through your life. I AM the God of Elijah and I AM the God of every one of My children in every generation who love Me and who are called according to My purpose."  ... 

Yes, Lord. You are I AM (Exodus 3:14). And You are here (Matthew 28:20). Here I am, Lord; send me in the power and authority of Your Spirit to fulfill Your purposes according to Your will through my life today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, I pray you are anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit of the Living God, who is with you and upon you and within you, to fulfill the Lord's purposes according His will through you life today, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

 

 I welcome you to join with me in a daily journey of passionate, pursuing prayer through my 365 Day Prayer Devotional, Morning by Morning, Second Edition, for a deeply intimate and personal journey of prayer each day.

https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Daily-Prayer-Journey-Second/dp/1540466922/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515422684&sr=8-2

 

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, February 14 - A Day of Love

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You're my Savior and the Lover of my soul.  ...

"I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go" (Song of Solomon 3:4).

We love You because You first loved us. We give our hearts to You as Savior and Lord because You've given Your heart to us our Creator and King--as the God who is love and created us for a personal relationship of love with You and with one another (1 John 4:19).

On this day, we celebrate love and call it Valentine's Day. And this year it also falls on the day we call Ash Wednesday, marking the forty-day journey to the cross. Both are a day of love, a day to celebrate Your gift of love--for us and for one another. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17 NKJV).

As we celebrate love today, let us celebrate Your love for us with a deeper surrender of our heart and our love to You and let that pour out in love to those around us. "In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us.... 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" (1 John 4:10-16). Lord, let Your love abide in me today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

Friend, I pray you will be filled with a deep sense of God love's for you and allow His love to pour out of you today and every day, as you abide in Him and His love, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. Happy Valentine's Day! God bless you, my friend! 

 

My friend, I welcome you to join with me in a daily journey of passionate, pursuing prayer through my 365 Day Prayer Devotional, Morning by Morning, Second Edition, for a deeply intimate and personal journey of prayer each day.

https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Daily-Prayer-Journey-Second/dp/1540466922/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515422684&sr=8-2

 

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, February 13 - Finding Favor in the Ways of the Lord

 Good morning, Lord Jesus. My Lord and Savior, my God and King, come have Your way in my heart and life today.  ... "Moses said to the Lord, 'See, You have said to me, 'Bring up this people'; but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.' Now if I have found favor in Your sight, show me Your ways, so that I may know You and find favor in Your sight....' He said, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.' And he said to Him, 'If Your Presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people, unless You go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and Your people, from every people on the face of the earth.' The Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name'" (Exodus 33:12-17). I thank You, Lord, that You know me by name, that Your Presence is always with me wherever I go, that I have found favor in Your sight, that I am one among Your people who are distinct from all other people on the face of the earth--not because of anything I've done, but all because of what You've done for me, not because of who I am apart from You, but because of who You are within me. So show me Your ways and empower me to walk in them. Show me Your Presence and remind me I'm never apart from You. You've blessed me and favored me, You know me by name and go with me to live out my destiny in the security of my identity as a child of God. I've found favor with You because You found me, because You've lavished Your mercy and grace upon me, and because You've called me Your own. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My Friend, I pray you walk in the ways of the Lord, embraced by His Presence every day, having found favor in Him as the child of God you are, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

 

I welcome you to join with me in a daily journey of passionate, pursuing prayer through my 365 Day Prayer Devotional, Morning by Morning, Second Edition, for a deeply intimate and personal journey of prayer each day.

https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Daily-Prayer-Journey-Second/dp/1540466922/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515422684&sr=8-2

 

 

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, February 12 - Before Me and Behind Me, Always With Me

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, here with me now and in every moment of my day.  ...

"For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight; for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard" (Isaiah 52:12).

You're the God who goes before me. You're the God who comes behind me. You're the God who's always with me, even within me--never leaving me, never forsaking me, but forever seeing me, knowing me, and understanding me, even with all my quirks and needs, even with all my sins and failures. You're the God who created me and loves me and has plans for me that will come to pass, all in Your way and all in Your time. You are God and You are good and You are a good God to me.

So I don't have to worry about what lies ahead, and I don't have to worry about what's left behind. You've already been there, just like You'll always be there. My part is to simply trust in You and embrace Your mercy and love for me. As I do, there's joy in the journey and anticipation in the adventure; there's peace in every step and there's hope in every challenge. You've already gone before me and You remind me every day it's a good place You've prepared and set before me (John 14:1-3). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray for great joy in your journey, anticipation in the adventure, peace in every step, and hope in every challenge, knowing the love and Presence of our good God who goes before you and behind you and always with you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

 

I welcome you to join with me in a daily journey of passionate, pursuing prayer through my 365 Day Prayer Devotional, Morning by Morning, Second Edition, for a deeply intimate and personal journey of prayer each day.

https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Daily-Prayer-Journey-Second/dp/1540466922/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515422684&sr=8-2

 

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, February 9 - The Secret

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You here in my heart and every moment of my day.  ...

 

"I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:11-13).

 

Like Paul, I have learned "the secret." You are The Secret. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can be content in all things through the One who makes me content, who satisfies my soul, who constantly assures me that I'm never alone and never in need. "My God will fully satisfy every need of (mine) according to His riches in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever!" (Philippians 4:19-20)

 

You've taught me the key to this secret of being content in You is to continually thank You for all that You are and all that You've done in me. You remind me of the moments when I thought I was desperately in need and You showed me You were there and You brought me through everything I faced. You remind me of the moments when my heart was full of joy and peace and You showed me You were there celebrating with me in the joy of the Lord. And You remind that You ever abide within me by Your Holy Spirit, that You're always with me and will never forsake me, here in this moment and for all eternity.

 

Gratitude makes me content. And Your ever-abiding Presence fills me with gratitude--whether I have a little or whether I have plenty--because I always have plenty in You. And it's in this contentment that You stir in my spirit to always want more--more of You, more of Your Presence, more of the confidence in Your promise that "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled!" Matthew 5:6) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray you are continually content, knowing the secret of gratitude in the ever-abiding Presence of the One who is your strength, who is always with you, and who is always suppling your every need according to His riches in glory, 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, February 8 - All for the Glory of the Lord

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

"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).

If whatever I do, I seek to do unto You, it's never in vain. Under the Old Covenant, all the sacrifices were devoted to You and offered "unto the Lord" so that "every devoted thing (was) most holy unto the Lord" (Leviticus 27:28). And now under our New Covenant in Christ, we offer our hearts and our lives, all that we have and all that we are, unto You. 

No matter what I do throughout the moments of my day--no matter how basic or boring, no matter how seemingly significant or insignificant--all is devoted to You if I've dedicated my day to You, all is holy unto You. And none of my labor will be in vain. "We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again so that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living" (Romans 14:7-9).

So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I dedicate my life and this day to You as holy unto You, O Lord my God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In all that I am and all that I do, may I do everything for You, may I "do everything for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My Friend, I pray you glorify God in all that you are and all that you do this day, knowing nothing you do will be in vain as you do it all as an offering unto Him, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend! 

 

I welcome you to join with me in a daily journey of passionate, pursuing prayer through my 365 Day Prayer Devotional, Morning by Morning, Second Edition, for a deeply intimate and personal journey of prayer each day.

https://www.amazon.com/Morning-Daily-Prayer-Journey-Second/dp/1540466922/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1515422684&sr=8-2

 

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!