Thursday, October 17, 2019

Morning by Morning, October 17 - "My Strength and My Song!"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords, come rule and reign in my heart and my day. ...
 
"See, God has come to save me! I will trust in Him and not be afraid. The Lord God is my strength and my song; He has given me victory!" (Isaiah 12:2 NLT)
 
You are my Strength and my Song! When I'm weary or discouraged, Your Holy Spirt rises up within my spirit to empower me and remind me that I already have the victory in You. When I wake up in the middle of the night with anxious thoughts or get out of bed with dread for what the day may hold, Your Holy Spirit lifts up my spirit with songs of deliverance and songs of praise. 
 
When my mind asks, "What are you so happy? What do you have to be singing about?" or my enemy whispers, "You're a fool to think you can just live by faith and trust in a God you can't see, with you're your wishful thinking and hopeful thoughts, believing that somehow, once again, your God is going to show up and get you through this," You just lift up my spirits a little higher and I just turn up the praise song in my heart a little louder.
 
You do always show up. Do You do always get me through this. Again and again. You even use whatever I'm going through to make me stronger, to become more humble, to trust more deeply. Through the struggles, You make stronger. Through the battles, You make me wiser. Through the victories You bring through the challenges I overcome in the power of Your grace, You make me even more faithful to trust You even more.
 
In that way, whatever gets me closer to You is good -- no matter if it was my own mistakes or the devil himself that got me in that position. You have Your way of turning it all around, even using it all for good, to make me more like You, a little more each day, through every battle I face. And that makes my heart sing! That makes me celebrate the victory that's already mine, even before I see it manifested before my eyes! O Lord, my God, You are my Strength and my Song! And I choose to sing Your praises for my salvation through whatever I face today! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you sing songs of deliverance and praise to the One who is your Strength and your Song throughout your day and through every challenge you face, knowing He will get you through this and you already have the victory in Him, 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, October 15, 2019

Morning by Morning, October 15 - The God Who Inhabits Eternity Inhabits My Heart
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm beginning my day in Your Word and in Your Spirit. Help me live out the moments of my day in Your will -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"It shall be said, 'Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from My people's way.' For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:  I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isaiah 57: 14-15).
 
When my spirit is low, You build me up. When I feel I'm blocked from embracing Your presence with the walls of my worldliness and my waywardness getting in the way of the intimacy I long to have with You, You remove every obstacle. As I humble myself in Your sight, You revive my spirit and my heart; You lift my up into Your embrace and You push aside every barrier. 
 
Though You're the God who dwells in the high and holy place of the heavens, at the same time, You're the God who also dwells right here in my heart. Though You're the God who inhabits eternity, at the same time, You're the God who also inhabits every moment of my day.
 
I thank You that You're omniscient and mighty, but I also thank You that You're so intimate and personal. Make me more aware of Your presence. Remind me that You're with me. Help me to more fully comprehend that You're even right here within me (John 14:17; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19). "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).
 
So even as I hunger to pursue You and Your presence, I thank You that You've already pursued me and embraced me in Your ever-abiding presence (John 15:4). "In (You), I live and move and have (my) being" for I am Your child, a beloved one, who carries Your presence and Your glory, with me and within me, everywhere I go, throughout every moment of my day (Acts 17:28). And nothing in this world will ever separate me from Your love. "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angles nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate (me) from the love of God in Christ Jesus (my) Lord!" (Romans 8:37-39). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you become more aware of the ever-abiding presence of the God who inhabits eternity and also 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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Monday, October 14, 2019

Morning by Morning, October 14 - Successful Plans
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. In silence and surrender, I wait for the leading of Your Spirit to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. ...
 
"We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed" (Proverbs 16:1-3 NLT).
 
I want my plans to be Your plans. I want the work of my hands and expression of my words to be by the leading of Your Spirit in the fulfillment of Your will. I want my heart, my motives, and my actions to be right in Your sight. 
 
All that I plan apart from Your plans will only be consumed in the fire of Your judgment as wasted time. Worse yet, they will distract me and detain me from all You desire for me. "For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have -- Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials -- gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames" (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
 
So as best as I can and all by Your grace, I commit my actions to You. I commit my heart and all my desires, my mind and all my thoughts to Your will for my life this day. I thank You and praise You for the great gift of my My salvation -- there is no greater gift. But I believe You've also put it in our hearts to live for so much more! "Christ in (us), the hope of glory!" (Colossians 1:27) "Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father!" (Colossians 3:17)
 
As best as I can and all by Your grace, I choose to trust in You with all my heart -- not leaning on my own understanding, not seeking to build on a faulty foundation or with foolish materials for what has no lasting value or eternal significance  -- but seeking You and acknowledging You in all my ways to fulfill Your plans (Proverbs 3:5-6). Then "my" plans will succeed for they will be Your plans fulfilled in me and through me for Your glory (Jeremiah 29:11). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you succeed in your plans, filled with the Holy Spirit who aligns your plans with God's plans to glorify Him in all you do with eternal significance, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 
Friends, Thank you for joining with me on this journey of prayer, Morning by Morning, to grow in deeper intimacy with God!

 



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, October 11, 2019

Morning by Morning, October 11 - "Abounding in Thanksgiving!"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice, for Your sheep hear Your voice, Your sheep know Your voice, and they will not follow the voice of another (John 10:3). ...
 
"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving!" (Colossians 2:6-7)
 
This morning, I am "abounding in thanksgiving!" I'm thanking You for loving me, for saving me, for never giving up on me, for walking with me on my journey every day in this adventure of faith, for lifting me up when I was down, for filling me up when I was empty, for reminding me that I'm a child of the King, a beloved son, created for significance and living into the destiny You've intended for me from before the foundations of the earth!
 
Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for. And above all, I have You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- to be thankful for.
 
I could whine, but I'd rather worship. I could complain, but I'd rather celebrate. I could give in to wallow down in the pit of self-pity, but I'd rather party down in praise as You lift my up in Your presence!
 
Like everyone I know, I have my share of struggles. The battles are intense and unrelenting. I live in a broken fallen world full of broken fallen people; and there, but for the grace of God, go I. But I do have the grace of God. I do have a God who sees me and knows me and loves me. I do have a God who's for me. I have a God who knows the plans He has for me, plans for my welfare and not my harm, for blessings and not curses, for life and not death, to prosper me and uphold me, to anoint me and empower me to be all I'm created to be and fulfill all I'm created to do, all in the power of His grace! (Jeremiah 29:11; Matthew 17:20; Philippians 4:12; 3 John 1:2)
 
So I just start off my day with a big Hallelujah! Thank You, Jesus! You're so good to me, my heavenly Father! Come, Holy Spirit! Come and do "great and mighty things" as You show up and show off in my life today! (Jeremiah 33:3) I'm looking forward to look and see what You will do, with my eyes on You and my heart abounding in thanksgiving! "As it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love Him!" (1 Corinthians 2:9). With expectant faith and a thankful heart, I know it's going to be "exceedingly abundantly above all (I) ask or think, according to (Your) power that works in (me)!" (Ephesians 3:20) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you seize the day, abounding in the thanksgiving, excited and expectant for exceedingly abundantly more than you could ask or imagine, even in the midst of the struggles and battles, joyfully trusting in the One who loves you and who is for you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 
  Thank you for joining with me on this journey of prayer, 
Morning by Morning, to grow in deeper intimacy with God!

 



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, October 10, 2019

Morning by Morning, October 10 - God's Love Will "Spring Up Quickly" Now!
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the heart and center of all I am and all I do today. I'm watching and waiting now for the leading of Your Holy Spirit and the heart of My Father. ...
 
"Is not this the fast that I choose:  to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break froth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your Vindicator shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and He will say, Here I Am!" (Isaiah 58:6-9)
 
As I listen for Your leading this morning, I hear in my spirit, "Spring up quickly!" And Your Spirit has led me to Your words of hope and healing through Your prophet Isaiah -- "Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly!" (v. 8) ...
 
Lord, what are You speaking to me? What are You speaking to us in these days? ...
 
I believe I hear You saying in my heart:  "My beloved ones, seek My heart, seek My ways. Allow My heart to form the desires of your heart. Allow My thoughts to form the thinking of your thoughts. Allow My will and My ways, My nature and My character, My perspective and My priorities to form yours. Allow Me to love through you. Allow Me to act through you. You are My hands and feet. You are My voice. You are the expression of My Word in your world. This is what it means to be My children. This is what it means to be My body. Those who love Me will love like Me. Those who love Me will pursue Me to become more like Me. And this is who I Am -- I Am Love." ...
 
Yes, Lord. You are Love (1 John 4:16). And as You are, so are we to be in our world (1 John 4:17). You have revealed what Love looks like in Jesus Christ (John 10:30 and 14:10). "He is the image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). "He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being" (Hebrews 1:3). And Jesus showed Love everywhere He went and in everything He did. Jesus revealed and manifested Love in every moment He expressed Your mercy and grace, Your healing and freedom, Your justice and hope, and the fullness of Your complete salvation in our broken and fallen world (John 5:19 and 8:28).
 
Lord, what about this word of "spring up quickly?" ...
 
I believe I hear You saying in my heart:  "My Love is sown like seeds through your life. What you have sown in My Love will come forth. My seed will produce fruit after its own kind. You have sown Love and you will reap Love. And now is the time! My Love will spring forth quickly! Like seed sown into the ground, you cannot see it for a season. You wonder if it there, if it will arise, if it will come forth, or if it will remain dead and hidden forever, coming to nothing. But I say to you, every seed you have sown in Love will come forth! Every seed you have sown in Love will spring up quickly in this season! Expect it! Believe it! Continue to pray it and proclaim it and you will see it! As I have said in My Word, 'I Am about to do a new thing; NOW it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert!' (Isaiah 43:19)" ...
 
Yes, Lord. Let it be so! Let Your Love spring up quickly! Let this be the season of Your great harvest of Love! As Your Word declares, "Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). And Your Love never fails! (1 Corinthians 13:8) "It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things!" (1 Corinthians 13:7) So let every seed of Your Love in my heart, every seed of Love You have sown into my world spring up and spring up quickly NOW! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you believe and see God's Love spring up quickly now in your heart and in your world for a great harvest of Gods' Love in this new season, 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, October 09, 2019

Morning by Morning, October 9 - God's Message to Me on The Day of Atonement
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I love You and thank You for loving me -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. We love You because You first loved us (1 John 4:9). ...
 
"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.... God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 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). ...
 
On the biblical calendar, today is the Day of Atonement -- Yom Kippur (Leviticus 23:27). Around the world, Jewish families will fast and pray together, seeking to encounter God at the close of the year and to begin anew on this holiest day of the Hebrew year. And before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, after the death and resurrection of the Messiah of Israel and all mankind, the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and dash the blood of the atoning sacrifice on the mercy seat atop the ark of the covenant to cleanse the people of their sins for another year. All that this represented was "only a shadow of the good things to come.... For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world ("Christ" or "Christos" in the Greek Language; "Messiah" or "Mashiach" in the Hebrew language), He said, 'Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but a body You have prepared for Me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'See, God, I have come to do Your will, O God' in the Scroll of the Book it is written of Me.' ... And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:1-10).
 
Since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, there has been no shedding of blood through the rituals of the law under the Old Covenant. And "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22). But thanks be to God that You have come as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world! (John 1:29). As You proclaimed at the last supper before Your death and resurrection, "This is My blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). "For in (Jesus Christ) all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to reconcile to Himself all things whether on earth or in heaven by making peace through the blood of His cross" (Colossians 1:19-20).
 
In fasting and prayer, I see to encounter You today, O Lord, my God   -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. Because You're my High Priest and Your my Atoning Sacrifice, I can enter into the Holy of Holies of Your Presence through the blood of the Lamb -- this day and every day. "Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain (that is, through His flesh), and since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodes washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:19-23).
 
As I watch and wait for You and Your leading on this high and holy day, I admit I've been seeking to hear something profound for my life and for this coming year. But really what I hear in my heart is this:  "Love. It's all about love. You love Me because I first loved you. I showed My love for you in this, that while you were yet a sinner, I laid down My life for you. And this is love, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Go into this new year with clean hands and a pure heart. Go in love. Go in Me, for I Am Love." ...
 
Yes, Lord. It really is as simple and as profound as that. "God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16). Let this be my message from You and Your message through me -- on this high and holy Day of Atonement and on every day, as I seek to live in You and allow You to live (and love) through me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
 
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays


My friend, may you enter into the Most Holy Place of the presence of God on the Day of Atonement and every day through the Sacrifice of Christ; and may you live the message of God's love through your life this day and every day, 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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