Thursday, August 22, 2019

Morning by Morning, August 22 - "Right with God" Who is Right Here with Me
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I abide in You and You abide in me, to begin my day in the communion of prayer -- embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit (John 15:3). ...
 
"Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, who through our faith has brought us into that blessing of God's grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God's glory. We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out His love to fill our hearts. He gave us His love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us" (Romans 5:1-15 NCV).
 
It's good know you're "right with God." And it's so freeing to know there's nothing I can do that makes me right with God and there's nothing I can do that can keep me from being right with God. It's through my faith that You've brought me into this blessing of Your grace. "I mean that you have been saved by grace through believing. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift of God. It was not the result of your own efforts, so you cannot brag about it. God has made us what we are" (Ephesians 2:8-10 NCV).
 
My faith in You is what makes me right with You. "Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real and that He rewards those who truly want to find Him" (Hebrews 11:6 NCV).
 
So when I go through the "troubles" -- the troubles we all go through in one form another on our daily journey of faith through this broken and fallen world -- it's knowing I'm "right with God" in my heart that gives my heart the peace and patience and perseverance I need to get through whatever troubles I face. That's how You keep building my faith and forming my character. That's how I can even have "joy with (my) troubles" because I know in my heart I'm right with You through my faith in trusting You. That faith tells me I'm "right with God" and my God is right here with me.
 
Holy Spirit, keep filling my heart with faith and hope and love. Keep assuring my heart I'm "right with God" and my God is right here with me through every trouble I face. By faith I believe You won't waste any of my troubles as an opportunity to keep growing my character and my faith. I can't mess this up by anything I do, as long as I keep opening my heart to Your Spirit and trusting in You. So I begin the journey of my day declaring by faith what I believe in my heart -- I'm right with God and my God is right here with me! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you be filled with the Holy Spirit, who is filling your heart with love and peace and joy to know that you are right with God and He is right here with you through every trouble you face, 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! 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Posted by at

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Morning by Morning, August 21 - Dust into Mud into Me!
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Let me hear Your voice and be led by Your Spirit, as I begin my day centered and grounded in You and Your Word -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"For He knows how we are made; he remembers we are dust."
 
You know all my fears and failures, all my insecurities and insensibilities, all my sins and selfishness. You see me and You know all about me. And yet, You love me. You remember that I am dust, but You also remind me that I'm Your dust.
 
You keep gathering me up in Your hands and soaking me in Your living waters until my dust becomes Your mud in Your hands. You keep taking me on the turns around Your potter's wheel, applying just the right pressure I need to be shaped into the one You've created me to be. "In Christ (I) also have obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of Him who accomplishes all things according to His counsel and will, so that (I) ... might live for the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:11).
 
Soak me and shape me today, My Father. Mold me and make me with Your nail-scarred hands, Lord Jesus. Breathe the breath of Your life into me, Holy Spirit of the Living God. As best as I can and all by Your grace, I yield to Your will and Your ways.
 
One day it will be "ashes to ashes and dust to dust" for me. As it is for us all:  "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you were dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). But every day until then, I'm trusting You to keep working in me to make something beautiful out of my life. "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago" (Ephesians 2:10 NLT).
 
Though I began as "dust," I'll also always be Your dust -- dust that's "fearfully and wonderfully made!" (Psalm 139:14) and being fearfully and wonderfully made a little more every day into the image of the Son of God (Romans 8:29). In Your loving and gracious hands, I'll "grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ" (Ephesians 4:15). In Your hands, my dust becomes Your holy mud! Dust into mud into me! And this I know:  He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you be soaked in the Living Waters and filled with the Holy Spirit, growing up in every way into the image of the Son of God -- from dust into mud into who you are and destined to be, 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! 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Posted by at

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Morning by Morning, August 20 - You Say Who I Am
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart. Make me more like You today (1 John 4:17). Lead me now, into the deep place of communion in prayer with You -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"'Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.' Then the Lord put out His hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, 'Now I have put My words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.' The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 'Jeremiah, what do you see?' And I said, 'I see a branch of an almond tree.' Then the Lord said to me, 'You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it'" (Jeremiah 1:8-12).
 
When he was young in age and young in spirit, Jeremiah questioned his identity. Insecurity and fear were getting the best of him. And so many times, it's the same with us. But You spoke Your word to cancel the power of every other word; You uttered Your voice to silence the sound of every lesser voice, that he would find security in his identity and faith in fulfilling his destiny. Like an almond branch, his life and his spirit would grow to bear the fruit You intended, all in the right season to come.
 
We are who You say we are. And You watch over Your word to perform it. What anyone else says about us, what anyone else thinks about us falls to the ground and dies without bearing any fruit in the face of Your word over us. Their words are like chaff in the wind that blow away, while Your words are like arrows that fly straight and hit their mark. As You have said, "So shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
 
I am who You say I am. I can do what You say I can do. I will become all You say I'll become. So every word, every lie, every curse, every assignment of the kingdom of darkness that says anything less than the King of the kingdom of light over my life is powerless and meaningless and will not stand. "Let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:  'That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged" (Romans 3:4-4 NKJV).
 
Lord, let Your words wash over me. Let them penetrate my heart like arrows. Let them rise up in my spirit like a fountain. Let them be a seal over my heart and a shield around my mind. I am who You say I am. I can do what You say I can do. I will become all You say I'll become. 
 
I am Your beloved child; I will receive and I will be all You have intended for me (Romans 8:14-17). And there are no words from hell or anywhere else that will ever change that! "If God is for (me), who can be against (me)!" (Romans 8:31 KJV) Your word will have it's way! Just say the word, and it shall be done! (Matthew 8:8) You say who I am. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be secure in your identity and fulfill your destiny, confidently knowing you are who God says you are, doing all He says you will do, and becoming all He says you will become as His beloved child, in Jesus' name. Let every word and everything less than His word over your life fall to the ground and die, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

        

Ministry in Honduras. Coming Home Tonight from a powerful time of ministry!

Thank you so much for praying for my wife, Rocio, and the team from our ministry this week (Laura and Milagros) in Honduras -- ministering the healing love of God to young girls recently rescued from the trauma and terror of sex trafficking by the Casa de Ester ministry. They were having prayer ministry times for the girls and helping equip the staff and leaders for healing and deliverance prayer ministry. So proud of them! 

 


 

Thank you for joining with me on this journey of prayer -- Morning by Morning! 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Posted by at

Monday, August 19, 2019

Morning by Morning, August 19 - Glorious Adventure of Pursuing God's Hidden Treasures
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I watch and wait for Your leading, as I begin my day embraced my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.  ...
 
"It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out" (Proverbs 25:2).
 
You've created us for adventure. Even the things You've concealed, You've concealed them so You can reveal them, as we seek for them with You. You could have told us plainly all the truth we need to know; You could have given us fully all we need to have -- all in an instant, all in a moment. But You didn't create us that way and You've not arranged our lives that way. You created us to seek in order to find, to pursue in order to apprehend. You set in motion our mission to pursue the mysteries of God, saying, "When you search for Me, you will find Me; if you seek Me with all your heart, I will let you find Me" (Jeremiah 29:13-14).
 
We were never meant to be passive or grow complacent. We were never meant to mindlessly sit back and meld into our world to become one with the universe and lose all the sense of individuality and uniqueness in which You created our identity and planned for our destiny. We were never meant to float around on the clouds, playing our harps, and bored out of our minds. No, we were created for adventure! We were created to "run with the perseverance the race that is set before us.... struggle against sin.... endure trials.... (and) pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Hebrews 12:1-14).
 
It's like a treasure hunt. You are the Treasure, along with all the good treasure You have stored up for us to search out on our great adventure of faith. "My child, if you accept my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures -- then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God" (Proverbs 2:1-5).
 
In Your glory You've hidden these treasures for us. And now You've given us this glorious adventure to search them out. You stir up our passion for the mission and our hope for the journey, as You inspire us to come and see and to come and seek, saying, "Call to Me and I will answer you tell you great and hidden things that you have not known" (Jeremiah 33:3). So I begin my day excited to see what great treasures You've hidden for me to find today! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you get excited about your glorious adventure of pursing God's hidden treasures, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!
        

Ministry in Honduras
Praying for my wife, Rocio, and the team from our ministry this week (Laura and Milagros) in Honduras -- ministering the healing love of God to young girls recently rescued from the trauma and terror of sex trafficking by the Casa de Ester ministry. They are having prayer ministry times for the girls and helping equip the staff and leaders for healing and deliverance prayer ministry. So proud of them! Please join with me in prayer for them all.

 


 

Thank you for joining with me on this journey of prayer -- Morning by Morning! 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Posted by at

Friday, August 16, 2019

Morning by Morning, August 16 - True Faith, Lived-out in the Spirit of Love
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Your name is above every name and everything I'll encounter today! (Philippians 2:8-11) So I declare the authority and power of Your name over my day and every dimension of my life, to begin my day well and to begin my day with You! ...
 
"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 forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your Vindicator shall go before you, 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)
 
Fasting and prayer without faithfully living it out in love is just religious and empty. Worship and praise without joyfully being about the Father's business with a willing heart is just offering up empty words that fall flat and never reach Your throne or Your heart. 
 
We have salvation through faith in You alone, not by our works or anything we do, no matter how righteously religious or socially good (Ephesians 2:8-9). But You've saved us to display Your love and grace through us. You've given us faith to put it to action; You've given us grace to be full of grace for others; You've given us Your heart full of Your Spirit to express Your heart to all who are weary and waiting to know the One who sees them and loves them and comes to save them, whether they know it or not. That's a measure of what Your Word means when You say, "the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6). That's a measure of what Your Word means when You say, "Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead" (James 2:23).
 
The Body of Christ without the Spirit of Christ is dead (Romans 8:9). And faith spoken in words alone or acted out in religious ritual without the power and love of the Living God touching and changing everything around us as it flows through us is dead. "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us -- and we also ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.... We obey His commandments and do what pleases Him. And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He commanded us. All who obey His commandments abide in Him, and He abides in them. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit that He has given us" (1 John 3:16-24).
 
Come, Holy Spirit. Fill me up and pour me out. Let the life and love of the Living God flow through me today in the power and authority of the name of Jesus and in the mercy and grace of my Father's heart. Then we will see Your light break forth like the dawn and Your healing love spring up quickly! When we call, You will answer! When we cry for help, You will say, Here I AM! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My Friend, may the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Love, fill your heart and flow out of your hands, your words, your prayers, and every dimension of your life in true faith, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

        

Ministry in Honduras
Praying for my wife, Rocio, and the team from our ministry this week (Laura and Milagros) in Honduras-ministering the healing love of God to young girls recently rescued from the trauma and terror of sex trafficking by the Casa de Ester ministry. They are having prayer ministry times for the girls and helping equip the staff and leaders for healing and deliverance prayer ministry. So proud of them! Please join with me in prayer for them all.

 

Thank you for joining with me on this journey of prayer -- Morning by Morning! 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

Please share this word to encourage a friend!
Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)