Thursday, March 21, 2019

Morning by Morning, March 21 - "Look Up!"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice, here in my heart, rising up in my thoughts, and guiding my steps -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"I look up to the hills, but where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let me be defeated. He who guards (me) never sleeps.... The Lord will protect (me) from all dangers; He will guard (my) life. The Lord will guard (me) as (I) come and go, both now and forever!" (Psalm 121:1-8 NCV)
 
I believe I hear You saying in my heart, "Look up! No matter what you see before you, Look up! No matter what you see coming against you, Look up! See Me above all your challenges, all your circumstances. See Me high and lifted up, sovereign and exalted over all. As you look up to Me, I lift you up in Me so that you overcome all that I have already overcome."
 
Yes, Lord. I look up to You. My help comes from You. I am in You and You are in me (John 15:4). "God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love which He has loved us even when we were dead through or trespasses, made us alive tougher with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- and raise us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-7). 
 
As I look up, You lift me up. So by the power of Your grace always at work within me, I keep looking up and You keep lifting me. "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us!" (Romans 8:37). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
 
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you keep looking up as the Lord keeps lifting you up over all that face as an overcomer and more than a conqueror in Him, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

          
Friends, please keep us in prayer as we travel today for our Rapha God Ministries Retreat at Horeshoe Bay with all our volunteer prayer ministers for a time of renewal and joy together in the Presence of the Lord! I pray the Lord's refreshing and renewal for you too! God bless you!


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, March 19, 2019

Morning by Morning, March 19 - Communion with God in the Tent of Meeting
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Just as closer walk with You, a little closer every day -- here in the communion of prayer and throughout every moment of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old regularly each day. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer in the evening ... with it a grain offering and its drink offering ... for a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you, to speak to you there. I will meet with the Israelites there, and it shall be sanctified by My glory; I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate, to serve Me as priests. I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of Egypt that I mighty dwell among them; I am the Lord their God" (Exodus 29:3846).
 
All that was spoken as a type and shadow in the Old Covenant is fulfilled in Christ in the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:5-6). Their tent of meeting was a temple of cloth; while my tent of meeting in the temple of my heart. They were on a journey out of the bondage of Egypt, through the wilderness of testing their faith, and into the promised land of their inheritance of God; while my journey is a spiritual journey of the bondage of my self-centeredness and sin, through the wilderness of the testing of my faith, and into the fulfillment of my inheritance, my identity, and my destiny as a child of God in the promises of the Word of God. All the while, I'm learning to love, learning to trust, learning to obey, and learning to live into the fullness of all I am in You and all You are in me as a child of God and disciple of Christ.
 
Every morning, every evening, and throughout the moments of my day, I receive can receive the gift of Your abiding Presence through the Blood of the Lamb. I can come into the tent of meeting with You through Your holy communion with me -- Heart to heart, Spirit to spirit, Deep to deep. "Anyone united to the Lord becomes one with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17). Through the Blood of the Lamb, I am "God's temple" and "God's Spirit dwells in (me)" (1 Corinthians 3:16). Through the Blood of the Lamb, I have "the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit" (2 Corinthians 13:13).
 
My life -- surrendered and yielded to You, as best as I can and all by Your grace -- is my burnt offering that releases a pleasing aroma to You as "an offering by fire to the Lord." By all You've done for me, I am "a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is (my) spiritual worship" for You (Romans 12:1).
 
Lord, let me never take this for granted -- the gift of Your Presence, the glory of the manifest Presence of God with me every morning, every evening, and throughout the moments of my day. The "tent of meeting" is always open to me. You abide in me as I abide in You (John 15:4). You are with me always (Matthew 28:20). You are our God and we are Your people; You are my Father and I am Your child (Romans 8:16). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
 
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you join in communion with God in the tent of meeting in your heart every morning, every evening, and throughout the moments of your day through the Blood of the Lamb provided for you, 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, March 18, 2019

Morning by Morning, March 18 - "According to Your Faith"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. My Father and Friend, my Master and Mentor, my Lord and Lover of my soul, You are my All in All; and I give my all to You today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ...
 
"As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying loudly, 'Have mercy on us, Son of David!' When He entered the house, the blind men came to Him; and Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to Him, 'Yes, Lord.' Then He touched their eyes and said, 'According to your faith let it be done to you.' And their eyes were opened" (Matthew 9:27-30).
 
My faith matters. "According to (my) faith" it will "be done to (me)."
 
So Lord, open my eyes to see with eyes of faith. Open my ears to listen for the words of God. Open my heart to receive all that's in Your heart to give. Like the blind men, let my spirit say "Yes, Lord" with expectant faith to look and see what God will do.
 
Where disappointment and doubt say "No," let my faith say "Yes." Where naysayers and negative nellies say "No,' let my faith say "Yes." Faith accepts nothing less than God's best. Faith dares to believe there's always more of Your goodness and grace, that You know the plans You have for me, to provide for me and never harm me, to give me a certain hope and a clear future where my faith is fulfilled in You and Your good will for me (Jeremiah 29:11).
 
Let me "think on these things" -- these good things of Your goodness and grace (Philippians 4:8 NKJV). For "as (one) thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7 KJV). And it will be done for me "according to (my) faith" (Matthew 9:29). By the power of Your grace at work within me, line up my faith with Your will and my hope with Your heart -- holding nothing back and settling for nothing less. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you be free to believe with expectant faith all the Lord has for you, receiving all the goodness and grace of God according to your faith, 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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Friday, March 15, 2019

Morning by Morning, March 15 - "The Confession of Our Hope"
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. You're welcome here in my heart and every moment of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23).
 
Faithful One, hold me close to You. Hold fast to me as I hold fast to You. This is my confession -- that You are my Hope. "May the God of hope fill (me) with all joy and peace in believing, so that (I) may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
 
And this is my prayer of surrender to the One who fills me with hope and with all joy and peace in believing -- that as I honestly and sincerely surrender my heart and my life to You, as best as I can all by Your grace, You will guide my steps, putting Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart. As long as I seek to walk in humility with You, You will clearly confirm my steps that are right and true; and at the same time, You will lovingly correct my steps that are out of alignment with Your will and Your ways. 
 
So as I keep my hope fixed on You, as I keep believing and trusting in You, I can't lose. In that sense, it's all good in God. In that sense, I can be filled with all joy and peace even in the midst of all the "wavering" and unclear "confession" of what is right and true going on around me. My hope is in the One who does not change, the One who never wavers, the One who has promised to be faithful to me to the end. You are "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). You "will never leave (me) or forsake (me). So (I) can say with confidence, 'The Lord is my Helper; I will not be afraid'" (Hebrews 13:5-6).
 
"Now may the God of peace (and hope), who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make (me) complete in everything good so that (I) may do His will, working among us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever!" (Hebrews 13:20-21) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you hold fast to the confession of our hope, holding fast to the One who is holding fast to You, 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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Thursday, March 14, 2019

Morning by Morning, March 14 - Resisting Spiritual Drift
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I speak out Your name and listen for Your voice, as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit. Now I watch and wait for Your leading today. ...
 
"So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself and then delivered to us by those who heard Him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever He chose" (Hebrews 2:1-4 NLT).
 
It seems to me these are days of great spiritual "drift." From every direction, from without and even from within, we are constantly bombarded with messages that assault "the truth we have heard" of our "great salvation." "By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith" (1 Timothy 1:19). We desperately need the anchor of Your truth, grounded in Your Word and confirmed by Your Spirit. We desperately need the assurance and confidence of Your "unchangeable character" and Your "unchangeable" truth, for "we have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:17-20).
 
Lord, let Your Word and Your Spirit be my Anchor. Keep me steadfast in You and Your truth in the face of all the forces and pressures of spiritual drift. You are "the same yesterday and today and forever," so let me "not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace" (Hebrews 13:8-9). In these days of great drifting, wavering, and shaking, I thank You that "what cannot be shaken will remain" because "we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken" (Hebrews 12:27-28). You and Your Word and Your Spirit are my Rock, my Refuge, my Strong Tower, my Plumb Line of Truth, my Firm Foundation, and the "Anchor of (my) soul" (Psalm 18:2; Isaiah 28:17; Matthew 7:24; 2 Timothy 2:19; Hebrews 6:20). 
 
By the power of Your grace at work within me, may I not drift with the currents and tides of my times, but remain forever firm in You, "rightly explaining the Word of Truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). By the power of Your grace, may I be "found faithful" and "hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering" (1 Corinthians 4:2; Hebrews 10:23).  I rest in the promise of Your Word:  "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You. Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the Eternal Rock" (Isaiah 26:3-4 NLT). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you hold fast in the Lord and His Truth, resisting all spiritual drift to be found faithful 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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Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Morning by Morning, March 13 - Carriers of the Presence of God
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Before I say "Here I am, Lord; send me," let me first say "Here I am, Lord; embrace me, speak to me, fill me, and then send me forth from this deep place of Your intimacy and communion with me. Let me know without wavering or doubt that wherever You send me, You always go with me." ...
 
"Moses said to the Lord, 'See, You have said to me, 'Bring up this people'; but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, 'I know you by name, and You have also found favor in My sight.' Now if I have found favor in Your sight, show me Your ways, so that I may know You and find favor in Your sight. Consider too that this nation is Your people.' He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.' And he said to Him, 'If Your Presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and your people, unless You go with us? In the way, we shall be distinct. I and Your people, from every people on the face of the earth.' The Lord said to Moses, 'I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name'" (Exodus 33:12-17).
 
Lord, Your Presence went with Moses and Your people of the Old Covenant, but now through Christ, we have an ever "better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises" (Hebrews 8:6). In Christ, not only does Your Presence go with us, Your Presence abides within us, as we abide in You and You abide in us (John 15:4). Our bodies are the temple of Your Holy Spirit and our hearts are the home of Your abiding Presence (1 Corinthians 3:16). In the favor we have found in Your grace, You know us by name and we are carriers of the Presence of God everywhere we go (John 10:14).
 
In all I do and everywhere I go, may I be actively aware of Your Presence -- resting in Your grace, secure in the intimacy of Your love, confident in my identity as Your child, and determined in the fulfillment of my destiny in You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. You have called me by name and I am Yours (Isaiah 43:1; John 10:3). And forever I abide in the anointing of Your Presence (1 John 2:27). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you be actively aware that you are a carrier of the Presence of God in all that you do and everywhere you go, as a child of God and disciple of Christ, 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, March 12, 2019

Morning by Morning, March 12 - The Lord Lifts Up His Banner Over Us
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I lift up my eyes and open up my heart to seek You and rest secure in You here at the beginning of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit if the Lord will lift up a standard against him" (Isaiah 59:19 NJKV). 
 
The enemy of our souls and the Kingdom of God hates to see the army of the Lord advancing. So he pushes back and sneaks around, playing dirty, sowing strife, distorting truth, and telling lies. He comes "to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10), "like a roaring lion" that "prowls around, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). And sometime he "comes in like a flood" trying to overwhelm us and knock us off our feet before we have a chance to "resist him, steadfast in (our) faith" and call upon the name of the One who stands ready to "restore, support, strengthen, and establish (us)" in victory against every attack (1 Peter 5:10).
 
But when the enemy comes in like a flood, You lift up Your standard, You raise up Your banner. Your flag of victory flies high over us. And on that flag is the sign of the cross. You lift high the cross over us and remind us of Your victory over the darkness and Your power over all the power and plans of the evil one. At the sign of Your cross that forever declares the authority and majesty of Your name, every knee must bow and every tongue must confess that "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!" (Philippians 2:9-10)
 
Your cross declares Your love, for "there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends" (John 15:13). And the banner of Your cross is the banner of Your love, for Your "banner over me (is) love" (Song of Songs 2:4 NKJV).
 
When You lift up Your banner, You rally the troops under our identity in You to send us forth together as one in You. And the flood of the enemy is turned back at the gate. Even what he intended for evil, You turned it around and use it for good (Genesis 50:20). Though our enemy comes at us one way, he will "flee before (us) seven ways" as You "command (Your) blessing upon (us)" and Your victory over us (Deuteronomy 28:7-8). "If God be for us, who can (stand) against us!" (Romans 8:31 NJKV) "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:57)
 
Thank You for the victory of Your cross! Thank You for the glory of Your name! Thank You for the majesty of Your banner over us of love! Thank You that You have "disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of the, triumphing over them!" (Colossians 2:15). And thank You that "the God of peace will shortly crush Satan under (our) feet. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with (us)!" Romans 16:20) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you be strong in the strength of the Lord, as He lifts up His banner over you and decrees His victory for you against every spiritual enemy coming against you, 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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