Thursday, September 12, 2019

Morning by Morning, September 12 - Healing and Hope on The Day After
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. Speak to my spirit, as I listen for Your voice (John 10:3).  ...
 
After September 11th comes September 12th. Just like that morning in America in 2001 when we all woke up to a new day after such unspeakable tragedy the day before. You were with us that day, just as You are with us every day -- ready for us to cry out to You, to call on Your name, to seek Your hope and healing that only You can provide.
 
Healing takes time. Hope has to build. Restoration rarely comes in a moment. But when we humble ourselves in Your sight, when we turn our hearts and our ways to You in prayer and faith, You hear us and answer us. Evil doesn't have the last word. Wickedness doesn't win. Death has no victory. Hopelessness and despair have no say. Tragedy does not define us. "I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to Him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed. This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was saved from every trouble. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and delivers them" (Psalm 34:4-7).
 
Since that day, You have been healing and restoring and answering our prayers. While it's true that many turned to violence and vengeance, that many even turned away from You in their confusion and shock, in their anger and pain, it's also just as true that many bowed their knees and bowed their hearts in more desperate dependence upon You than ever before. Through that seed of national tragedy, a seed fell to ground and died; but at the same time, that seed has germinated and is growing in ways we don't even fully see to produce a great harvest that we can't even image. You explained this spiritual principle long ago, "Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).
 
There will be a great "harvest" at "the end of the age .... He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" (Matthew 13:36-43) And I'm one of those who believes with all my heart that we will be part of Your great harvest. I believe You take every tragedy -- whether in our nation or in our lives -- and You turn it all around in Your time and in Your way (Romans 8:28). Even what was meant for evil, You will redeem it and use it for good (Genesis 50:20). Even in the very places where we were defeated and helpless and hopeless, where we were depending on ourselves and our own power and our own wisdom to protect us and provide for us apart from You, You will forgive us and free us and empower us as more than conquers when we turn to You in humility and faith (Revelation 3:14-22).
 
Come, Holy Spirit! Come stir in our hearts -- as a people and as a nation -- with a fresh spirit of intercession, with a fresh spirit of revival and awakening that comes alive in us through humility, repentance, and faith! "Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!" (Ephesians 5:14). "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you! For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and His glory will appear over you! Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn! ... Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice!" (Isaiah 60:1-5)
 
Yes, Lord. Let it be so -- here in my heart, here in my land, and here in my generation to the ends of the earth. Let us be a part of Your great harvest at the end of the age. Let us be a part of the fulfillment of Your Word, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14). "And this Good News of the Kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come!" (Matthew 24:14) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
 
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you know the healing love of God and be filled with His hope in a great awakening of your spirit to His light in the midst of the darkness of our world, in Jesus' name. May you fulfill you destiny, secure in your identity as a child of God and as a nation under God. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

 
   
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Morning by Morning, September 11 - Even "On a Day of Great Slaughter, when the Towers Fall" God is with Us

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I need You here in my heart and my thoughts every moment of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ... 

"Truly, O people of Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say to them, 'Away with you.' He will give rain for seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures; and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water -- on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of His people, and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow" (Isaiah 30:19-26). 

On this day of 9-11, forever written into our hearts as a nation and sealed with the scars upon our land, may we humble ourselves to seek Your face and pray. In the mysteries of good and evil, of divine protection and divine judgment, of the consequences of both humility and pride, of obedience and rebellion, of hope and despair, may we turn to the One who's heart toward us is to bind up our injuries and heal our wounds. May we listen for the One who longs to speak to us, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 

As I listen, I believe I hear You saying in my heart, to me and to my nation:  "This is the way; walk in it. This is My hand to restore and redeem you; embrace it. This is My desire to honor you as you honor Me; trust it. This is My invitation to lift you up as you humble yourself in My sight; receive it." ...

Yes, Lord.... We need You. Apart from You, we can do nothing (John 15:5). And by Your mercy and grace, we never have to be apart from You. You never leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Though our enemy comes in like a flood, You raise up a banner over us (Isaiah 59:19). Even when we "make room for the devil" by opening doors to the darkness and closing doors to Your Light in our hearts or in our land, even when we "grieve the Holy Spirit" by disobedience or rebellion or indifference, You remind us we are still "marked with a seal for the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:25-32). Even when suffer the consequences of our actions in our generation and the generations before us, You always love us and long to restore us (Isaiah 30:18; Psalm 103:8-14).  

You're always calling out to us to remind us to humble ourselves and pray, to repent of our sins and call on Your name, that You may forgive us and comfort us and heal us and restore us to our identity and destiny as the people of God who are called by Your name (2 Chronicles 7:14). You're always speaking to us, "This is the way, walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21). Knowing Your heart to redeem and restore, to seek out what was lost, to set things right again, "we can say with confidence, 'The Lord is my Helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6). 

Even "when the towers fall," You are our security and strength, our resilience and redeemer, because our hope, our faith, and our trust is in You. "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for You are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy" (Psalm 61:2-3). "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe" (Proverbs 18:10). O Lord our God, You are our Strong Tower that shall never fall.  

No, towers may fall, the kingdoms of this world may come and go, but You will never fall (Revelation 11:15). Your love will never fail (1 Corinthians 13:8) and Your word will never fail (Luke 1:37). May we be the ones who fall -- who fall before You in humility, repentance, and prayer, that You may lift us up again to fulfill our purpose and destiny in You (Ephesians 1:11). When we humble ourselves in Your sight, You lift us up (James 4:10). When we are lifted up in You, we can be all You created us to be -- "a light to the nations, that (Your) salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6), a "city built on a hill (that) cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:14). Lord, let it be so. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

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

My friend, may we join together in the humility and repentance of faith for the healing of our land and the fulfilling of our destiny to be a light to the nations and a city on a hill, that God's salvation may reach to the ends of the earth, in Jesus' name. God bless you, my friend!


   
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Morning by Morning, September 11 - Even "On a Day of Great Slaughter, when the Towers Fall" God is with Us

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I need You here in my heart and my thoughts every moment of my day -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.  ... 

"Truly, O people of Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide Himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.' Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say to them, 'Away with you.' He will give rain for seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures; and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water -- on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of His people, and heals the wounds inflicted by His blow" (Isaiah 30:19-26). 

On this day of 9-11, forever written into our hearts as a nation and sealed with the scars upon our land, may we humble ourselves to seek Your face and pray. In the mysteries of good and evil, of divine protection and divine judgment, of the consequences of both humility and pride, of obedience and rebellion, of hope and despair, may we turn to the One who's heart toward us is to bind up our injuries and heal our wounds. May we listen for the One who longs to speak to us, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 

As I listen, I believe I hear You saying in my heart, to me and to my nation:  "This is the way; walk in it. This is My hand to restore and redeem you; embrace it. This is My desire to honor you as you honor Me; trust it. This is My invitation to lift you up as you humble yourself in My sight; receive it." ...

Yes, Lord.... We need You. Apart from You, we can do nothing (John 15:5). And by Your mercy and grace, we never have to be apart from You. You never leave us, nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). Though our enemy comes in like a flood, You raise up a banner over us (Isaiah 59:19). Even when we "make room for the devil" by opening doors to the darkness and closing doors to Your Light in our hearts or in our land, even when we "grieve the Holy Spirit" by disobedience or rebellion or indifference, You remind us we are still "marked with a seal for the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:25-32). Even when suffer the consequences of our actions in our generation and the generations before us, You always love us and long to restore us (Isaiah 30:18; Psalm 103:8-14).  

You're always calling out to us to remind us to humble ourselves and pray, to repent of our sins and call on Your name, that You may forgive us and comfort us and heal us and restore us to our identity and destiny as the people of God who are called by Your name (2 Chronicles 7:14). You're always speaking to us, "This is the way, walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21). Knowing Your heart to redeem and restore, to seek out what was lost, to set things right again, "we can say with confidence, 'The Lord is my Helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6). 

Even "when the towers fall," You are our security and strength, our resilience and redeemer, because our hope, our faith, and our trust is in You. "Lead me to the rock that is higher than I; for You are my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy" (Psalm 61:2-3). "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and they are safe" (Proverbs 18:10). O Lord our God, You are our Strong Tower that shall never fall.  

No, towers may fall, the kingdoms of this world may come and go, but You will never fall (Revelation 11:15). Your love will never fail (1 Corinthians 13:8) and Your word will never fail (Luke 1:37). May we be the ones who fall -- who fall before You in humility, repentance, and prayer, that You may lift us up again to fulfill our purpose and destiny in You (Ephesians 1:11). When we humble ourselves in Your sight, You lift us up (James 4:10). When we are lifted up in You, we can be all You created us to be -- "a light to the nations, that (Your) salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (Isaiah 49:6), a "city built on a hill (that) cannot be hid" (Matthew 5:14). Lord, let it be so. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

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

My friend, may we join together in the humility and repentance of faith for the healing of our land and the fulfilling of our destiny to be a light to the nations and a city on a hill, that God's salvation may reach to the ends of the earth, in Jesus' name. God bless you, my friend!


   
Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries
Healing from the Inside Out
  
Pastoral Director | Rapha God Ministries
4 Dominion Drive, Building 1
San Antonio, Texas 78257

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Morning by Morning, September 10 - Ever-Abiding Presence of God

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Abide in me and I in You, as I begin my day in the communion and intimacy of prayer -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God (John 15:4). ... 

"If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever -- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.... At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.... If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:15-23 NKJV). 

What if I were to live this day as if God Himself was right here with me, even right here within me? What if I truly believed every thought in my mind, every desire in my heart, every word from my mouth was seen and known by the One who is holy and pure and undefiled? ... 

The truth is You are here with me. The truth is You are even here within me. Awaken my awareness of Your presence. Sensitize me to the ever-abiding indwelling of Your Spirit. Restore to me a healthy and holy fear of the Lord that stirs me to reverence You with the awe and wonder, with the obedience and faithfulness, with the honor and respect You deserve. My heart is now Your home. My spirit is now one with Your Spirit. You do hear me and see me in all I do and all I am. But You also help me to keep Your word and walk in Your ways, because You are my Helper, my Father, and my Best Friend who abides with me forever. You not only watch over me, You walk with me. You not only surround me, You abide within me.  

My Lord God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- give me grace to believe and embrace this deep truth of Your ever-abiding presence more deeply than I ever have. I am not alone; I am not an orphan. I am a beloved child of God, filled with Spirit of God, called and empowered to live my life each day to the glory of God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. 

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

My friend, may you be freshly awakened to the awareness of God's presence and sensitized to the ever-abiding indwelling of His Holy Spirit to live your life today to the glory of God by the power and grace of the One who dwells in you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!


Friends, please keep us in prayer for our Rapha God Ministries' Level 1 School of Ministry Intensive. We have DVDs available: Rapha God Ministries Resources for Prayer Ministry

If you can't be with us here in San Antonio for our School of Ministry, I'm available for ministry weekends, seminars, and retreats for churches and groups. Just contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org


Our Level 1 School of Ministry is based upon my book Free to Be Like Jesus, in a comprehensive Prayer Ministry training based on God's Word, designed to inform and provide a Biblical foundation for inner healing and freedom prayer in a casual learning environment. Topics include Biblical Principles of Inner Healing -- "Healing from the Inside Out," Spiritual Gifts, and Potential Barriers to Healing, as well as a brief overview of Inner Healing and Personal Prayer tools. The training includes six, three hour evening sessions over the course of three weeks in the early Fall.


 

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!

Monday, September 09, 2019

Morning by Morning, September 9 - First Wait on the Holy Spirit

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Put Your thoughts in my mind and Your desires in my heart, as I entrust my day into Your will -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ... 

"Then (Jesus) said to them, 'These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you -- that everything written about Me in the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.' Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are My witness of these things. And see, I am sending upon you What My Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high'" (Luke 24:44-49)

Every day, I need You to clothe me with power from on high. Every day, I need You send upon me the Promise of the Father -- the Holy Spirit of the Living God. Every day, I need You to open my mind to understand the Scriptures and all that is written about You and fulfilled in You. So every day, I need to "stay here" a little while -- watching and waiting in worship, pressing in and pressing through in prayer, centered and surrendered in communion with Your abiding Presence -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then I'll be ready to go out into my day and be Your witness in my world. ... 

As I listen for Your leading, it seems I hear You saying in my spirit:  "Waiting on Me is surrendering to Me. Giving Me first place in your day allows Me to go before you into every place in your day. I am with you always; but it is so much better, so much more fulfilling in your spiritual journey, to take time to acknowledge My presence and embrace My companionship." ... 

Yes, Lord. Thank You for the gift of Your Presence. Like Moses, I don't want to go anywhere or do anything without Your Presence, without knowing and acknowledging You are with me (Exodus 33:15). As You said, "Apart from (You), (I) can do nothing" (John 15:5). So I thank You that I never have to be apart from You; and by Your Holy Spirit, the Promise of the Father within me, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be fulfilled in your spiritual journey, as you first wait on the Holy Spirit to clothe you with power from on high and abide within your heart to be a witness of Jesus throughout your day, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!


        Photo of a man in prayer during our recent ministry in Pakistan through our Internet Ministry

Pakistan Ministry Report.
So Excited for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit in Pakistan again through our Skype Internet Preaching Ministry!
We are Praising God for this report and photos just in from Pastor Fazal from the last Saturday Night Meeting: "Thank you very much to share Powerful Word of God Pastor Tommy in Village, 316 Souls are saved and 68 People are healed from All Different Body Pains and 3 Persons are healed from Eyes Problem and 1 Person is healed from Kidney Disease. We give all glory to Jesus Christ and Thanks very much to do every month Skype." 
Amen!! Thank you to all my friends who pray for us and support us to make this ministry possible! Each month, I'm preaching in a different village around Lahore, Pakistan in the Punjab Region through Skype in these outdoor evangelistic meetings. We set up a big screen with our interpreter, Brother Suleman, and with our follow up prayer team in our partnership of ministry with Pastor Fazal.
God bless you! And please keep us in prayer to make arrangements for our meeting next month in Pakistan!
"And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come!" (Matthew 24:14)



My friend, Please keep us in prayer for our Level 1 School of Ministry Intensive. If you can't be with us here in San Antonio for our School of Ministry, I'm available for ministry weekends, seminars, and retreats for churches and groups. Just contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org


Our Level 1 School of Ministry is based upon my book Free to Be Like Jesus, in a comprehensive Prayer Ministry training based on God's Word, designed to inform and provide a Biblical foundation for inner healing and freedom prayer in a casual learning environment. Topics include Biblical Principles of Inner Healing -- "Healing from the Inside Out," Spiritual Gifts, and Potential Barriers to Healing, as well as a brief overview of Inner Healing and Personal Prayer tools. The training includes six, three hour evening sessions over the course of three weeks in the early Fall.


 

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!

Thursday, September 05, 2019

Morning by Morning, September 5 - Blessed and Highly Favored
 
Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm listening for Your voice and waiting on Your leading -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...
 
"For the Lord is a sun and shield; He bestows favor and honor. No good thing does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, happy is everyone who trusts in You" (Psalm 84:11-12).
 
You're a good, good Father. And You withhold no good thing from Your children, as You empower us to walk in Your ways and abide by the principles of Your kingdom. "O fear the Lord, you His holy ones, for those who fear Him have no want. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.... Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.... The Lord redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned" (Psalm 34:9-22). "Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12: 32).
 
Father, I ask for Your favor. I ask that You would be honored through my life today, as I trust in You to provide all I need. By faith I receive every good thing You have me. And by grace I embrace Your guidance and wisdom, the anointing of Your Presence and power, the open doors of Your opportunities, and the keys of Your kingdom it's Your good pleasure to place in my hands (Matthew 16:19). And in hope I take hold of the promise of Your Word, "How much more will your Father give good things to those who ask Him" (Matthew 7:11) "Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock; and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8).
 
Secure in my identity as a child of God and confident in Your promises to fulfill Your destiny for my life, I am "blessed" and "highly favored" to hear and believe Your words of spirit and life (Luke 1:28). As I read Your Word and embrace Your Spirit, may all You're speaking into my heart and inviting me to receive with trusting, expectant faith in my spirit begin to unfold and come to pass in moments of my day, walking uprightly with You. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
 
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays

My friend, may you know you are blessed and highly favored as a child of God; and may you receive all your Good Father pours into your life today, withholding no good thing from you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!


        

Our School of Ministry Started This Week!
Please keep us in prayer! We're off to a great start for our Training and Equipping in personal prayer ministry, being hosted this year at Oak Hills Church, Alamo Ranch Campus, in San Antonio.


Friends, if you can't be with us here, I'm available for ministry weekends, seminars, and retreats for churches and groups. Just contact me at tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org


Our Level 1 School of Ministry is based upon my book Free to Be Like Jesus, in a comprehensive Prayer Ministry training based on God's Word, designed to inform and provide a Biblical foundation for inner healing and freedom prayer in a casual learning environment. Topics include Biblical Principles of Inner Healing -- "Healing from the Inside Out," Spiritual Gifts, and Potential Barriers to Healing, as well as a brief overview of Inner Healing and Personal Prayer tools. The training includes six, three hour evening sessions over the course of three weeks in the early Fall.


 

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!