Morning by Morning, June 5 - "God of Hope"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Thank You for meeting me every morning -- here in my prayer chair today and here in my heart, wherever I am each day.  ...

 

"May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

 

Daddy Abba! My Father God, You are the God of hope (Romans 8:15). You fill my heart with all joy and peace, as I believe Your Word and trust Your nature. You fill me with the power of Your Holy Spirit, that I may abound and overflow in even more hope still. "For You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord!" (Psalm 71:5)

 

When my hope is in You -- instead of the fleeting pleasures, uncertain security, and ultimately unsatisfying provision and disappointing promises this world has to offer -- there is an authentic joy and genuine peace that fills my soul and satisfies my heart. Only You can provide that.

 

I'm reminded of the old hymn that proclaims this eternal truth:  "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness....  When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.... On Christ the Solid Rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand." My hope is in You, Lord. Fill me with all peace and joy in believing today. Fill me afresh with the power of Your Holy Spirit, as I confidently trust in You, O God of hope. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

I pray you will be filled with all joy and peace in believing, filled afresh with the power of the Holy Spirit today, by the God of Hope, 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, June 2 - Strike the Match in Me for a Personal Pentecost

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be at the center of my heart and in the middle of every moment of my day.  ...

 

"On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared to settle on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed" (Acts 2:1-7 NLT).

 

You told Your first disciples they would "be baptized with the Holy Spirit," they would "receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon" them, and they would then be emboldened and empowered to "be (Your) witnesses ... to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:5-8). And so they were.

 

It's like the Father struck a match and fanned a flame into a consuming fire that has never gone out and never will! This is the promise of the Father, that He would have a people, filled and anointed with His Holy Spirit, who would proclaim the name of Jesus in the power of God's mercy and love to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:4). And so we do -- even to this day.

 

 As "the body of Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:7), filled with "the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9), proclaiming the message of Christ, (Acts 2:36), continuing the "ministry of Christ" (Romans 16:3), we fulfill the commission of Christ (Matthew 2819). "And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Fall afresh on me today. Fall afresh on Your church today. Strike Your match and light the fire again -- here in me, here in us. Rekindle the flame. Fan it into a fiery blaze. "Stir up the gift of God which is in (us).... For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:6-7 NKJV). I pray for a personal Pentecost for me and a worldwide Pentecost for the people of God -- today and everyday, here in me and to the ends of the earth. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

 

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

I pray the Father will strike the match of His Holy Spirit in you for  personal Pentecost today, 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, June 1 - Preparing for Pentecost

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I praise Your name and welcome Your Spirit into every moment of my day.  ...

 

"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.... You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth'" (Acts 4-8).

 

You told Your first disciples to "wait" in preparation for Pentecost. You told them to go nowhere in the authority and power of Your name to be Your "witnesses" until they were "baptized with the Holy Spirit." Though they each had an intimate, personal relationship with You, though they each knew the victory of Your cross and the glory of Your resurrection, they needed to be empowered from on high and empowered within when Your Spirit would fill their hearts. And from that day forward, Your Word compels each of us who are Your disciples, who would be Your witnesses, to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).

 

John the Baptist, in the spirit of Elijah, spoke of the coming glory and power of Your Holy Spirit to fill Your disciples, as he fulfilled his calling to "prepare the way of the Lord" (Matthew 3:3). He boldly proclaimed, "I baptize you with water for repentance, but One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire!" (Matthew 3:11). May I embrace Your Word and Your Spirit to prepare the way of the Lord in me. Every day, as I surrender and entrust my heart and my life fully to You, baptize me with Your Holy Spirit and fire!

 

This Sunday, much of Your church all around the world will celebrate this day as the Day of Pentecost. It marks fifty days from Passover. From Passover to Pentecost -- from the sacrifice of the Lamb and the victory of the Cross to the coming of the Spirit and the ignition of the flame of the church -- we are a people on a spiritual journey. We're invited to know and experience the glory of Your resurrection and also the power of Your Spirit. Then we can be a people who are empowered by Your Presence to proclaim the good news of Your gospel and the coming of Your kingdom, here on earth as it is in heaven.

 

So Lord, prepare my heart for my personal Pentecost every day. Baptize me, saturate me, immerse me -- filled to overflowing -- with the fullness of Your Spirit. May I be "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19). Fill me afresh every day. Rekindle the flame every day. Set me ablaze every day to burn with a passion for You, as You display Your glory through my life and Your church. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit and filled with the Spirit of the Lord every day to be a faithful disciple and passionate witness of Jesus Christ everywhere He sends you in His name and His power, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers for us these past two weeks in Budapest, Hungary to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with my wife Rocio, invited to join the team from the Vineyard Church of San Antonio. Our team was ministering almost non-stop in many personal prayer ministry appointments, teaching and equipping sessions, preaching and ministering in healing, deliverance, and words of encouragement, as well as divine appointments all along the way. We saw much healing and freedom of spirit, soul, and body. All by the grace of God, we were able to have significant impact in the local church as well as the national leadership for the Alpha Course evangelistic ministry in Hungary. I was excited to be teaching the Biblical, spiritual principles from my book Free to Be Like Jesus! -- Transforming Power of Inner Healing & Deliverance.  Please continue to keep us in prayer for all the seeds the Lord has sown to grow to maturity in His harvest. And I pray for His anointing upon you for His ministry through your life! God bless you!

Sorry that our schedule didn't allow the time I needed to write and send out my morning devotional while we were away! Thank you for continuing to join me in this daily journey of prayer, 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, May 31 - Returning with Joy!

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I am in You and You are in me. Give me Your grace to live out my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.  ...

 

"The seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, in Your name even the demons submit to us!' He said to them, 'I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.' At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will!'" (Luke 10:17-21)

 

We "returned with joy" from our ministry trip to Budapest, Hungary the past two weeks. By the power of Your grace and in the authority of Your name, You sent us "preaching" and "teaching" and "healing" to express Your love and share Your hope to our brothers and sisters in that land (Matthew 4:23-25). And they will forever remain in our hearts, as we continue the relationships You've established and celebrate the great things You have done. "All glory to God forever and ever!" (Galatians 1:5)

 

Just as it was with Your first disciples, when we go in Your name, in obedience to Your will, You still rejoice (Luke 10:21). And the enemy of our souls, who tries to hold the nations of this world in the grip of the kingdom of darkness, continues to fall (Luke 10:18). As Your Word promises, "The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!" (Romans 16:20) As You proclaimed, "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!" (Matthew 16:18 KJV)

 

Help me hear Your voice (John 10:4). Help me sense the leading of Your Spirit (Romans 8:14). Help me trust You and obey You to go where You send me and do what You tell me, whether in my neighborhood or to the nations, each day. "We are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Every day we do, Your kingdom comes and Your will is done -- here on earth and here in our hearts -- on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will go everywhere the Father sends you in authority of the name of Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit, fulfilling your calling and destiny in Christ, in Jesus' name! As you do, may you return with joy every day! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

  

Friends, thank you so much for all your prayers for us these past two weeks in Budapest, Hungary to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with my wife Rocio and a team from the Vineyard Church of San Antonio. Our team was ministering almost non-stop in many personal prayer ministry appointments, teaching and equipping sessions, preaching and ministering in healing, deliverance, and words of encouragement, as well as divine appointments all along the way. We saw much healing and freedom of spirit, soul, and body. All by the grace of God, we were able to have significant impact in the local church as well as the national leadership for the Alpha Course evangelistic ministry in Hungary. I was excited to be teaching the Biblical, spiritual principles from my book Free to Be Like Jesus! -- Transforming Power of Inner Healing & Deliverance.  Please continue to keep us in prayer for all the seeds the Lord has sown to grow to maturity in His harvest. And I pray for His anointing upon you for His ministry through your life! God bless you!

Sorry that our schedule didn't allow the time I needed to write and send out my morning devotional while we were away! Thank you for continuing to join me in this daily journey of prayer, 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, May 18 - "Teaching" and "Preaching" and "Healing"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my heart, as I listen for Your voice, Good Shepherd of my soul (John 10:4).  ...

 

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him -- from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordon" (Matthew 4:23-25 NKJV).

 

As the Son of Man, anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, doing what You saw the Father doing and speaking what You heard the Father speaking, You were "moved with compassion" for everyone You encountered (Matthew 9:36). You went everywhere the Father sent You -- "teaching" and "preaching" and "healing" from the Father heart of God in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

 

And it was Your great joy to equip and empower Your disciples to go and do the same (Luke 10:21). As Peter would later proclaim, as he continued Your ministry in the authority of Your name and the power of Your Spirit as one of Your faithful disciples:  "'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.... He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.... He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the One ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about Him that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.' As Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word" (Acts 10:38-44).

 

You have commissioned us, as Your disciples, to "receive the Holy Spirit," to go in the authority of Your name, to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, in the compassion and power of the Father's heart, speaking into our spirits, "As the Father sent Me, so I send you" (John 20:21-23). And by the power of the grace of God, I receive Your commission (Acts 1:8).

 

O Lord, my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- may You send forth Your word to save and stretch out Your hand to heal everywhere You send me "teaching" and "preaching" and "healing" in the authority of Your name and the power of Your Spirit (Mark 16:15-18). May the fame of Your name continue to spread throughout all the earth (Matthew 4:24). Give me faith to believe and courage to embrace the fulfillment of the promise of Your Word for me and every one of Your disciples:  "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in My name you ask Me for anything, I will do it" (John 14:12-14). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will go everywhere the Father sends you in authority of the name of Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit, fulfilling your calling and destiny in Christ today, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 

Friends, I'm excited to be traveling with my wife Rocio to Budapest, Hungary today to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church of San Antonio for the next 10 days. I'll be teaching the Biblical, spiritual principles from my book Free to Be Like Jesus! -- Transforming Power of Inner Healing & Deliverance.  Please keep us in prayer for the Lord's covering and anointing, as we go in the authority of His name and the power of His Spirit! I pray for His covering and anointing upon you! God bless you!

 

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, May 17 - The Anointing of the Presence of God

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let Your Word speak to my spirit, as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit.  ...

 

"You have been anointed by the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.... Let what you have heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.... As for you, the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in Him" (1 John 2:20-27).

 

Spirit of the sovereign Lord, anoint me and abide within me. Teach me Your truth and empower me to live it. Correct me when I'm wrong, convict me when I sin, encourage me when I waiver. Lead me in the way that leads to life -- "alive in the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God... When we cry, 'Abba! Father!' it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:14-16).

 

Your anointing is Your Presence. And You are always present with me (Matthew 28:20). You are "the Way, and the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:16). Awaken my spiritual senses, always aware of the abundant anointing of Your Presence -- to hear and see and touch and taste and smell Your abiding Presence. You are always abiding with me and always abiding within me by "the Spirit of Christ" (Romans 8:9). "Christ in (me), the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27). 

 

"These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.... Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.... Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifs of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny.... But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).

 

So with the mind of Christ, I embrace the anointing of Your Spirit. And I say, "More, Lord." More of You, more of Your Spirit, more of Your nature conforming me to Your nature, as I respond to Your invitation -- every moment of every day -- to "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will be continually filled withe Spirit of God, constantly aware of His ever-abiding Presence with you and within you, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!

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, May 16 - "The Only Thing that Counts"

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- You are One, and You are here -- here with me and here within me. Let me be fully aware of Your Presence and fully awakened to Your leading, as I begin my day deliberately seeking and embracing You, while I welcome You to see and embrace me.  ...

 

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6).

 

Faith without love is not really faith. And love without faith is not really love. It's only through faith in You, Lord Jesus Christ, that we can truly or fully love. Faith is fully trusting You and fully trusting You because we've come to truly know You. "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.... And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 4:16-5:20).

 

A sincere, authentic, and true faith in You will always lead me to love. "Those who say, 'I love God,' and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from Him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also" (1 John 4:20-21). "If we love one another, God lives in us" (1 John 4:12). "The whole law is summed up in a single commandment, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'" (Galatians 5:13). "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10).

 

What counts is love -- my faith working through my love. In fact, Your Word says this is "the only thing that counts" (Galatians 5:6).  Wow, that's pretty strong language, directly from the very Word of God. It doesn't say "the only thing that counts is winning souls" or "healing the sick" or "casting out devils" or "being a good person" or "having a good name" or anything else. No, what counts is my faith -- that kind of faith in You that's always working through my love for others.

 

That's what You modeled for me, and that's how You empower me to live my life for You -- "faith working through love" -- because as You are, so am I to be in my world (1 John 4:17). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will be empowered by God to live out your faith in love today, just like Jesus, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!

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, May 15 - "A Vessel for Honor"

 

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

 

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Timothy 2:20-22 NKJV).

 

Lord, let my heart be "a vessel for honor." Cleanse me from dishonor and clothe me with Your honor -- "clothed with Christ" (Galatians 3:26). Stir in my heart by Your Spirit to "pursue righteousness, faith, love, (and) peace" -- not merely admiring these qualities as lofty goals and noble ideals, but passionately pursuing them "out of a pure heart." 

 

When my heart is right -- right in relationship with You, pursuing You and Your nature, not out of obligation but out of love -- I will be "sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work." That's not what my flesh desires, but it's what Your Spirit desires, seeking to align my desires with Your desires, my thoughts with Your thoughts, as my ways become Your ways. "For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness" (Galatians 5:5).

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Prepare the way of the Lord in my heart today -- set me apart as one willing to be useful for my Master. "For God is working in (me), giving (me) the desire and the power to do what pleases Him (Philippians 2:13 NLT). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

I pray you will be stirred by the Spirit, pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace, from a pure heart entrusted to the work of the Master through your life, in Jesus' name! Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Friends, please keep us in prayer as Rocio and I prepare to travel to Budapest, Hungary on Thursday to teach and minister inner healing personal prayer ministry with a team from the Vineyard Church. God bless you!

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!