Deliver Us from Evil 3-31-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let the peace of Your presence settle over me, as You draw me in to the place of prayer. ... "Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you, and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one" (2 Thessalonians 3.1-3). In this broken and fallen world, where we face the challenges of suffering and sickness and death each day, we also face evil. According to Your Word, there are "evil people" and there is "the evil one." Help us to keep the distinction clear. We are to love the people and hate the evil one. You call us to love the people and to forgive them, while confronting them by speaking the truth in love -- even when they are doing evil things that hurt others and hurt us (Matthew 5.43-48). But we are to war against the evil one. "For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6.12). Thank You for Your faithfulness. You are always there to strengthen us and to guard us from the evil one. You deliver us from evil as we entrust ourselves to Your care -- not passively, but actively, as we take up our armor to be clothed in Christ in order to take our stand against our true enemy. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6.10-11). What peace You bring even in the midst of the battles -- battles we win by Your grace as we keep loving the people even in the face of evil. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Come to Me 3-30-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I humble myself in Your sight to watch and wait for Your leading. Fill my heart with the fullness of Your presence, I pray. ... Thank You for Your promise to sustain us when we become weary and renew us when we are weak. There is so much pain and so much need in this broken and fallen world, as time continues to accelerate to the fulfillment of all things. Yet in Your grace, You remind us that we are but the instruments in Your hands. We are not to bear the burdens on ourselves, but we are to bear them to You. We are not the answer, but we are to lead others to the One Who is. "Come to Me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11.28-30). You are singing a new song of the Spirit over us, as You lift these burdens we've been bearing from our shoulders and take them onto Yours: "Come to Me; Come rest in Me; Come lay your head down. As I arise; Though I had died; I rise up in you. I am your strength; Your friend in deed; I supply your every need. Just trust in Me; Believe in Me; With your mind and with your heart. Then you will see; I'm all you need; Your Master and Your King. I'll walk with you; I'll see you through; I'll lead you in My ways. Give Me your sorrows; Give Me your pain; I free you from all shame. Come seek My joy; Come know My peace; I fill you with My love. Receive My life; Let go of strife; Be made one and whole in Me. For I am Love; And I love you; Come receive My love. Forevermore; And for every day; I am always here. I never leave; So just believe; Put your trust in Me. There's no other way; To face each day; Apart from My love for you. So come and rest in Me." Yes, Lord. Thank You for this new song You've written in my spirit. We come to You this day to rest in You as You arise in us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please feel free to use any of these songs, peoms, or words that come from the Lord as He may lead. They belong to Him. The words in quotes in my devotionals, not referenced by a Scripture, are from the Lord in prayer that day. God bless you! To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Touch Me 3-29-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Fill me afresh with Your Holy Spirit, as You abide in me and I abide in You. ... As You walked into the room where Your disciples hid, You've come to walk into the room of our spirits, in the closet of prayer. You humbled Thomas' pride and unbelief by offering the body of Christ to him that day (John 20.19-25). Now, You call us to humble ourselves to receive Your body and Your blood in the communion of prayer with Your Holy Spirit every day: "Touch My hands -- they were nailed to the cross for you. Touch My side -- it was pierced to let the water and the blood flow down for you. Touch My feet -- as you humble yourself in My sight, I will lift you up. Touch My head -- the crown of thorns has become My crown of glory. Touch my back -- the stripes I bore were for your healing and the punishment that should have been laid up you has been laid upon Me, that you might be made whole. I am the fullness of your salvation by the sacrifice of My love for you. Touch Me with your hearts, welcome Me in your spirits, and receive the full measure of all I have suffered for you to receive." Yes, Lord. You don't want us to hold back, but to draw near -- with humble hearts, in trusting faith. Let us honor You by receiving all that the sacrifice of Your life has given. Remove our pride that causes us to hesitate, though we think it is humility. Remove our doubt and unbelief that causes us to question, though we think it is wisdom. "For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1.18). Thank You for the power of God released to us through the sacrifice of Your cross and the glory of Your resurrection. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Resurrection Power! 3-28-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Arise in my heart as we begin this new day together. ... Today begins the season of forty days we remember how You appeared in Your resurrection glory, beginning to point Your disciples to the Holy Spirit, Who would come lead them in Your ways to fulfill their destiny. "After His suffering He presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of God. While staying with them, He ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. 'This,' He said, 'is what you have heard from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now' " (Acts 1.3-5). Thank You, Lord, for the many convincing proofs of Your life and Your power when we turn our eyes to You and call upon Your name. You lift the burdens we can't bear alone, You turn our mourning into joy, You free us from the bondage of the world, the flesh, and the devil. And You give us the gift of Your Holy Spirit, as our Father has promised to send in Your name, to dwell in our hearts and empower us to live our lives in Your resurrection power. Breathe the breath of Your Spirit into our spirits afresh this day and every day, that we may fulfill our destiny in our generation, as Your first disciples did in theirs'. As was said of those first believers, let it be said of us: "These people who have been turning the world upside down have come here also!" (Acts 17.6). In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I will be preaching a revival in Canton, Georgia the weekend of April 8-9 called "the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory." If you're in that area, please come, and if not, please cover us in your prayers. God bless! To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

He is Risen! 3-27-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Consume my thoughts in these moments alone with You at the start of a new day. ... "He is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" Since the beginning of Your church, Your disciples have greeted one another this way on the day we celebrate Your resurrection. You were crucified, dead, and buried, but on the third day, You arose! Death could not hold You, Satan could not defeat You -- You are Life itself, and life always overcomes death just as light always overcomes darkness. "But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again" (Luke 24.1-7). Roll away the stones of doubt and unbelief, and arise in our hearts in the power of Your resurrection. We've been looking for the living among the dead for too long. Free us from the hold of mediocrity in our lives, trying to live the life of faith without being crucified in our flesh and dead to the ways of this world. You are not there in those places and in those ways, You are here before us in Your resurrected glory calling us to arise with You. "If the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you" (Romans 8.11). "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you" (Ephesians 5.14). Yes, Lord. Let this day be our third day, as we arise in newness of life with You. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

The Day of Silence 3-26-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let my body be still; let my soul be quiet; let my spirit soar, as I settle in to the place of prayer to follow where Your Spirit leads. ... You breathed Your last on Good Friday and they laid You in the tomb behind the stone. On Resurrection Sunday the stone would be rolled away and You would rise in the victory of resurrection power. What of Saturday -- the day the silence of the grave must have been deafening? "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which He also went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you--not as removal of dirt from the body, but as a appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to Him" (1 Peter 3.18-22). "But they will have to give an accounting to Him Who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does" (1 Peter 4.4-6). Though the tomb was silent on the day between the first day and third day, You were not. The One Who would rise to the highest heaven also descended to the depths of hell (Ephesians 4.8-10). You were proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom of God, as "the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead." You are relentless in the sacrifice of Your love for us; You are relentless in Your pursuit of our hearts for You. Open the blinded eyes to Your truth and soften the hardened hearts to Your love, so that through repentance and faith, even "death is swallowed up in victory" by the power of Your resurrected Life (1 Corinthians 15.54). Thanks be to God! In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

It is Finished 3-25-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Open my eyes to see You and open my ears to hear you, as I wait and watch for Your leading. ... "It is finished" (John 19.30). On a Friday long ago that we now call good, You poured out Your blood and gave up Your spirit for us all. You Who knew no sin were made to be sin for us. Everything that could keep us from receiving the fullness of our salvation and living in deepest intimacy in relationship with our God was laid upon You that day -- as You hung naked and alone, rejected and despised upon the cross for us. "Surely He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the punishment that made us whole, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53.4-6). Though it did not seem good that day, it would be revealed to be the greatest day. Death would give way to life, despair would give way to joy, and defeat would give way to victory. Your light overcame the darkness, and the Kingdom of Heaven was eternally established upon the earth. The plan and purposes of God were finished, accomplished, and fulfilled. Give us the faith to believe it and the courage to live it. The power of Your blood is available to overcome every obstacle to the fullness of our salvation through the victory of Your cross, but You have left it to us to enforce the victory and apply the blood, by Your grace. Let us fulfill our responsibility, because You have already fulfilled Yours. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

The Place of Surrender 3-24-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Teach me Your ways and lead me in Your paths -- the truth is I have so very far to go. Yet You are my example, my light, and my strength as I choose to follow in Your steps, by Your grace. Strengthen me for the journey each day in our time of prayer together. ... Your steps on this earth led You to a garden called Gethsemane -- the place of absolute surrender to the will of our Father. "Then He said to them, 'I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here and stay awake with Me.' And going a little farther, He threw Himself on the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not what I want but what You want" (Matthew 26.38-39). There is a cup for each of us to drink, just as there is a cross for each of us to bear. "If any want to become My followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for My sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it" (Mark 8.34-35). Blinded by their own insecurities and puffed up in their own pride, Your first disciples thought they were ready to drink of the cup, as they revealed the blind-spots in their vision of themselves. "And they said to Him, 'Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and one at Your left, in Your glory.' But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized with?" They replied, "We are able" (Mark 10.37-39). They said they were able, but they were not. They thought they had come a long way, but they had far to go. We cannot share in the glory of Your resurrection without first sharing in the crucifixion of Your death. We cannot rise up and follow You until we bow down and surrender. Show us what is our cup to drink, what is our cross to bear. Open our eyes to see the flesh that still needs to be crucified in our soul and the hardness of our pride that still needs to be humbled. Bring us each to the place where we surrender and submit to Your will and Your way. This is the place where we say with You, by Your grace, "Not my will, but Thy will, be done." In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Freely Receive, Freely Give 3-23-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I enter in to the place of prayer with this praise song on my heart: "He gave His life, what more could He give? -- O how He loves you; O how He loves me; O how He loves you and me." ... You gave Your life freely for us so that we can give our lives freely to others. As You sent out Your first disciples to lay down their lives for others in ministry, You told them"...Freely have you received, freely give" (Matthew 10.8). Then, as we give our lives away for others as You have given away Your life for us, there is no limit to the blessings and favor and grace You lavish upon our lives in Your ways and in Your timing. It's an application of Your spiritual principles: "For with the judgment you make, you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get (Matthew 7.2). "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow" (Galatians 6.7). It would be wrong to try to manipulate these principles for our own gain; and, at the same time, it would be foolish not to know these principles apply to our lives. Praise You for the beautiful and amazing revelation of these principles last weekend. A lady named MaryAnn came up to the team for prayer because of the pain in her shoulder from severed tendons, where she couldn't lift her arm. Her livelihood was as a woodworker and she had just restored and refinished a communion table for the local Baptist Church. Though she didn't have much, she felt You laid it on her heart to write across their bill, "No Charge." As she asked for prayer Friday night and tried to describe what she couldn't do, she was doing it as she lifted her arm straight up in the air. Soon she was lifting it up with joy and praise! It was as if You said from heaven, "No Charge," as You restored and refinished her. Then, if that were not enough to make Your point, another lady named Dianne ran up to her Saturday morning after hearing the testimony. She said she knew about the joy and blessing of giving in response to Your call to give when it seemed there was nothing to give, as she put several twenty dollar bills in MaryAnn's hand. It was a humbling moment for all of us. Then some of us heard "the rest of the story" Sunday morning at Dianne's local Methodist Church! She had come home Saturday night and her kids immediately noticed a fresh joy and peace in their mother's heart. Then she opened the mail to find a letter from Eastern Kentucky University offering a full, four-year scholarship for her oldest child. She couldn't quit shouting from the front of the church, "You can't out-give God!" No, we can't. It might not always happen so quickly and so directly from our limited perspective, but it is one of the ways You have called us to be like You. You gave Your life, what more could You give? Freely have we received, now we are to freely give. Whether it's our love, our time, our resources, or our forgiveness, any gift we have to give is just a gift you've first given to us. Give us the wisdom and the courage, the humility and the faith, to give our lives away to one another as You lead. For as we give to one another with grateful hearts, we are giving to You (Matthew 25.40). In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com God bless you!

Holy Week 3-22-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I welcome You in to the temple of my body; be exalted on the throne of my heart. ... Changed hearts; changed lives -- You did not come to die on the cross to start a new religion; You came to change us into the people You created us to be. We are created for relationship, not religion; we are created for intimacy, not independence. Yet You can only change us to the degree that we admit we need to be changed. We confess we are often blinded by our pride and our wounds have grown calloused so that we lose our sensitivity to Your touch and dull the discernment of Your voice. Sometimes we need You to come bursting into the temples of our lives and turn over the tables. We need You to come drive out the moneychangers we've allowed to come in and set up shop in the holy ground of our hearts (Matthew 21.12-17). That's when we'll know that Holy Week is more than a few days on the calendar before Easter Sunday. Come set up Your house of prayer in our hearts. Come let judgment begin in the house of the Lord (1 Peter 4.17). Come slay our pride, cleanse our hearts, and change our lives in the power of Your coming. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Every Day Matters 3-21-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Open my eyes to see You in the Word; open my ears to hear You in the still, small voice. ... It seems You are saying, "In these days, every day matters. When I call you to rest, then rest for you will need your rest in the day I call you to arise. When I call you to go, then go for I have already prepared the way. When I call you to wait, then wait for I am ordering your steps and the steps of others. Every encounter is a divine encounter; every moment is a holy moment, if you will entrust each day to Me." Yes, Lord. Give us this perspective that every day matters, every moment matters. Yet as we look to You as our guide and our source of provision, it is not a burden we cannot bear because You bear it for us. It's not a responsibility we cannot fulfill because You fulfill it through us. In the wilderness, they sought You and Your provision every day. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not" (Exodus 16.4). Every day mattered to them and every day must matter to us. As You taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread" (Luke 11.3). You are the source of our provision and You provide all we need. You call us to be ready to do our part, each day, so that all the parts come together to accomplish Your purpose in these days. Let us not waste a single day. Every day matters, because every life You would touch through us every day matters. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, thank you for your prayers for our weekend retreat. There were incredible testimonies already of God's healing love and the desire to pray for others to recieve it. May you recieve His healing love and give it away to others each day. To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Palm Sunday 3-20-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Hosanna, praises to the King! ... This is the day we call Palm Sunday -- the day all the people of Jerusalem waved their palm branches and laid them at Your feet to welcome You as King. "The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is the One Who comes in the name of the Lord--the King of Israel!' Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: 'Do not be afraid, Daughter of Zion. Look your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!' His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of Him and had been done to Him" (John 12.12-16). As they lifted their palm branches, we lift our hands and hearts and faces to You. When we look upon You and the sacrifice of Your love for us and the power of Your love You release into our lives, we can't help but praise You. We lift our arms in praise like the branches of the trees to declare Your glory. "For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands" (Isaiah 55.12). As You said on that day, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out" (Luke 19.40). We lift our hearts in praise and bow them down at Your feet. We welcome You as King of kings and Lord of lords in our hearts and in our cities. We join all creation in shouting Your praises and giving You glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Welcomed, Taught, Healed 3-19-05

Morning by Morning, Saturday 3-19-05 -- Welcomed, Taught, Healed Good morning, Lord Jesus. I lift my hand to take Your hand; I lift my face to seek Your face. ... When the people drew near to You as You walked this earth in the flesh, You welcomed them, You taught them about the kingdom of God, and You healed them as they had need (Luke 9.11). You have not changed. As we draw near to You, You draw near to us. You welcome us into Your presence as we lift up our hearts and open our spirits to You. You teach us Your word and Your ways as we listen for the leading of Your voice and allow Your thoughts to be our thoughts. You heal us and make us whole as we entrust our spirits and souls and bodies into Your care. Little by little and step by step, You bring our lives back into created order, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, refreshed and renewed by the Spirit of God. As You have welcomed us, You send us out in our day to welcome others into Your presence. Because we have welcomed Your presence in us, we carry Your presence wherever we go. Because we have allowed You to teach us and allow Your thoughts to shape our thoughts, we teach others about Your kingdom with our lives along the way. Because we have embraced Your healing touch, we are vessels of Your healing love to released through us into the lives we touch each day. Thank You Lord, for loving us. Thank You Lord, for loving through us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please keep praying for us at our prayer ministry training retreat in Kentucky. The Lord moved mightily to touch His people with deep emotional healing of a lady's soul and with a physical healing miracle of a lady's shoulder! May He touch you today! To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Forgiven and Forgiving 3-18-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Here in my heart, I step in to the closet of prayer and close the door to everything else in these moments I give to You. ... "My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves" (Galatians 6.1-3). As it is said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I." How humbled we should be by Your steadfast love and Your amazing grace. You forgive us of every sin by Your mercy and our repentance, then You cast them "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103.12). You humble our pride and slay our self-righteousness further by calling us to restore one another when they have fallen, even coming along side them to bear their burdens to the foot of Your cross. This is part of Your grace of taking away the shame but not the memory of the sins of our past. You remember them no more, but is Your grace to allow us to remember, for he who has been forgiven much, loves much (Luke 7.47). You allow the joy of forgiveness rather than the shame of failure to rise up within us when we remember, when we need to, so that we will be humble enough to be Your hands of restoration to one another, not being too prideful to bear one another's burdens. "For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins (2 Peter 1.9). Thank You for the blessing of forgiving and cleansing us of much, and thank You for the blessing of restoring and loving one another with much. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, I'll be leading a prayer ministry retreat this weekend in a series of meetings in Princeton, KY with the churches of the Madisonville District of the Methodist Church. Please keep us in your prayers, and I pray the Lord will be equipping you to fulfill your calling as His body wherever you are. To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Led by The Spirit 3-17-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You refresh and renew me in Your presence. ... There are many facets to Your identity and many dimensions to Your nature. You are humble, yet You are bold. You are gentle, yet You are determined. You were humble as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world, like a lamb led to slaughter but did not open Your mouth (Isaiah 53.7; John 1.29). Yet, You boldly confronted hypocrisy, deception, and evil (Matthew 23.13; 16.23). You call us to be like You, to learn from Your ways, but we must be led by Your Spirit in every moment if we are to live out Your nature in every circumstance. We have in You the greatest example we could have, yet we are not to merely imitate Your actions from a passage of Scripture, we are to allow Your living presence to live through us in every moment. Yes, we need You to teach us Your ways, but we also need You to live Your ways through us. We are to be taught by the Master and "led by the Spirit" (Galatians 5.18). In this way, we will be Your body and reveal Your nature in the encounters and circumstances of our lives. Come teach us and come lead us moment by moment and day by day. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, please Come to The Fountain this Saturday night (3rd Sat. of every month) for our ecumenical, Spirit-led gathering of prayer, praise, and healing worship in the chapel at Centenary in Lexington. All are welcome. To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Holy Double-Vision 3-16-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. "Be Thou my vision, O Lord, my God." ... You told Nicodemus, "No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.... What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3.3-6). Lord, open our eyes to see as You see. Let us not only see the kingdoms of this world in their present state, but let have Your vision to see the kingdom of God being made manifest in their midst. Let us not only see the flesh of one another on the outside, but let us also see the spirit of one another on the inside. Let us not only see things as they now are, but also see things as You intend them to be. Teach us how to come into agreement with the Redeemer instead of the accuser. Give us Your holy double-vision -- vision to see things as they are in the flesh, but to also see things as they are to be redeemed in Your Spirit by the blood of Jesus. Give us Your vision of Your kingdom so that we may see more as You see and agree with Your redeeming words of life. You are the God "Who gives life to the dead and call into existence the things that do not exist" (Romans 4.17). Teach us to see more as You see, so that we may speak more as You speak. Then we will be Your instruments to release life instead of death, healing instead of hurt, and peace instead of pain. By Your grace and through Your people, Your kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven -- in our lives and in the lives of those around us. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Persistence in Prayer 3-15-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be the heart of my prayer, the center of my thoughts, and the foundation of my day. ... Three years ago my Grandmother lost the wedding ring Papa gave her over sixty years ago. Nanny was heartsick and couldn't quite bring herself to just let it go. She must have been like the woman who kept coming to the judge for justice or the friend who kept banging on the door for bread in the middle of the night in the parables You taught on persistence in prayer. You must have put it on her heart to pray through to victory. She was digging holes to plant tulips for Easter in her little flower garden when her garden tool hit something hard deep down in the dirt. There it was -- her pearl of great price! You gave her the desires of her heart. The delay in the answer to prayer only made her grow more determined to persevere. The value of her treasure only made her shout of praise that much louder. I had to pull the phone back from my ear while her eighty-seven year old lungs filled that little west Texas town with shouts of praise and hallelujahs to You. The prayer of perseverance is like the prayer You put on the hearts of the watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem: "Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted sentinels; all day and all night they will never be silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest, and give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes it renowned throughout all the earth" (Isaiah 62.6-7). Lord, give us grace to know the prayers You are putting on our heart that we are to pray through to victory. Teach us how to persevere until we see the victory or You lift the burden. And thank You for answering Nanny's prayer. How you must have delighted in her celebration of thanksgiving and how You have touched the hearts of all who can't help but hear her shouts of praise! In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

The Gift of Friends 3-14-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. You are the priority of my day and I offer You the first fruits of my thoughts in prayer. ... Thank You for the gift of friends. Someone has said that we are born into our families, but we choose our friends. By its very nature, friendship requires relationship. "A friend loves at all times" (Proverbs 17.17). Though it is a costly gift of love because of the vulnerability and honesty and commitment it requires, that just makes it all the more precious and all the more fragile. It is precious because it is rare; it is fragile because it can be broken. To be a true friend is to be one who has chosen to love and to keep on loving -- to bear with one another, to fight for one another, to speak the truth to one another, to forgive one another. In the commitment and covenant of friendship, "iron sharpens iron" (Proverbs 27.17). "Some play at friendship, but a true friend sticks closer than one's nearest kin" (Proverbs 18.24). You have called us Your friends and You have called us to be friends to one another (John 15.14-15). Teach us how to be good friends. "As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful" (Colossians 3.12-15). Yes, Lord, let us be thankful for Your gift of friends. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

Rock of Ages 3-13-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. As the old hymn proclaims, "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee." ... Moses asked to see Your glory. You hide him in the cleft of the rock, so that You could draw near and speak Your name but his flesh would not be overcome by the glory of Your presence (Exodus 33.17-28). "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 33.17). You are the Rock of our salvation. Though no flesh can stand in Your presence or see the face of God, when we are dead to our flesh and alive to Your Spirit, we find favor in Your sight and Your glory draws near. As we turn our eyes and open our hearts to You, we call upon Your name and You speak ours for You know us by name through the relationship of prayer. In the cleft of the Rock, our flesh is hidden in Christ so that Your glory may draw near and we may hear Your voice. "So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ Who is your life is revealed, then you will be revealed with Him in glory" (Colossians 3.1-4). Hidden in You, the flesh of our old self is stripped away and we are clothed with the new, being renewed into the image of our Creator (Colossians 3.9-10). Rock of Ages, Your flesh was cleft open for us upon the cross, that we could live in the presence of Your glory even on this earth -- only as we are hidden in You, in the cleft of the Rock of our salvation. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays Friends, we'll be traveling to south Texas today where I'll have a series of personal prayer ministry appointments this week. Please keep us in prayer and I pray for the presence of the glory of the Lord to minister to each of you as you are hidden in Him. To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!

The Joy of the Lord 3-12-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Here I am, Lord, watching and waiting in Your presence for the leading of Your Spirit. Thank You for the blessing of beginning my day with You. ... "This is My delight, My son; this is My joy. That My people whom I have created turn to Me and take their delight in Me. This brings Me joy." Praise You, Lord. Sometimes we don't always think of You as One Who expresses emotion, but Your Word makes it clear that You do. "You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you" (Isaiah 62.4-5). What godly father does not delight in seeing the eyes of his children looking into his eyes with a smile on their face. What godly mother is not moved with joy at the call of her child's voice when he or she wakes in the morning. Yet You have the nature of a perfect father and perfect mother, Who loves Your children and welcomes our gaze and the call of our voice more than we can imagine. Let our prayers bring You joy this day and every day, our holy and perfect, loving Father. Let us grow in becoming the grateful, loving children in whom You take delight. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!