The Power of God’s Love Living in Us through Jesus Christ - July 15, 2020

Morning by Morning, July 15 - The Power of God's Love Living in Us through Jesus Christ

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Word of God, Word Made Flesh, I welcome Your Word, Your abiding Presence, into every moment of my day and every area of my life. Be made Flesh in me today, for as You are, so are we to be in our world (1 John 4:17). ...

 

"If we love one another, God lives in us" (1 John 4:12).

 

In these days of so much vitriol and violence, where everything is so politicized and polarized, it's hard to walk in love. With so much judgment instead of mercy, so much criticism instead of compassion, so much negativity infused with toxic words and poisonous attitudes instead of patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control and all the other fruit of the Spirit and expressions of God's love, it's hard to even see what "love" looks like or even is supposed to look like in our world. 

 

Yet, "love" is our standard, nonetheless. Love is the exact imprint and express image of who You are. "God is Love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them" (1 John 4:16).

 

No matter how "weak" it might sound, no matter how "naive" it may appear, no matter how "passive" it may be judged, love is our command (1 John 4:21), love is our goal (1 John 4:7), and love is the measure by which we are judged (1 John 4:20). "Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is Love" (1 John 4:18).

 

So how do we "love?" It's only by Your Spirit -- abiding in us, teaching us, empowering us, changing us from the inside out, putting Your thoughts in our minds and Your desires in our hearts, making us more like You every day. "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit" (1 John 4:13).

 

That's not just any "spirit." That not just some kind of "love" by the world's definition of "love" or some kind of "spirit of love" like some kind of good attitude or idealistic aspiration of love. No; Love is a Person of God who must be welcomed to abide in our hearts by His Spirit. "And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent His Son as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us" (1 John 4:14-16).

 

So the bottom line is that we can only truly love and be true expressions of God's love in our world when we have Jesus Christ, "the Spirit of Christ," in our hearts (Romans 8:9). Everything less is something less than the fullness of God's Love, with the power of God's love to change our hearts and change our world through us.

 

Lord Jesus -- Word of God, Word Made Flesh, Living Word who manifests the Love and Heart and Mind of God -- come live in me by Your Spirit today. "God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9). Come live through me, as I live through You today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be filled with the Spirit of Christ, abiding in God's Love as He abides in you, changing your heart and allowing God to change your world by the power of His love through you in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Prayer for Revival in San Antonio!

Friends, I'm excited to be part of a group of prayer warriors in our community planning times of prayer for awakening and revival in our community and beyond, being led by Max Lucado in San Antonio. 

We met in the parking lot where the San Antonio Spurs play basketball and they hold the San Antonio Rodeo to scope out the land and pray. Plans are coming together for a time of prayer in a Solemn Assembly of heartfelt humility and repentance through citywide prayer for ourselves and our land on Saturday, August 8th and 15th. Please keep us in prayer to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. If you would like to be involved and help spread the word when the time comes, please send me a note: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Lifting Up Our Voices with the Power of Our Words - July 14, 2020

Morning by Morning, July 14 - Lifting Up Our Voices with the Power of Our Words

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I'm listening for Your leading, as I worship and wait -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God. ...

 

In the beginning, You created order out of chaos and light out of darkness with the power of Your words (Genesis 1:1-3; John 1:1). And that's one of the ways we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). You've put the power of life and death, blessing and curses in the power of our words. "Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit" (Proverbs 18:21). "With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, this should not be!" (James 3:10)

 

Father, forgive us for misusing the power of words. Forgive us for cursing instead of blessing, for speaking death instead of life, hatred instead of love, evil instead of good. Cleanse our hearts and heal our land from the destruction of our words that opened the door for our actions that that have defiled us and defaced us. In our lives and throughout our generations, forgive us and cleanse us, that You can free us and heal us, to set things right within us and throughout our land.

 

"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!" (Psalm 107:2) Let the sons and daughters of God, the remnant of those who will humble their hearts in repentance and prayer, in forgiveness and mercy, in standing up to speak out in righteousness and love, say so! As we lift up our voice, empower our words to shift the atmosphere of our times! Open Your heavens and we open our hearts and open our mouths to proclaim Your heart and Your words over one another and over our land!

 

Even as I pray this morning, with expectant faith for the revival and awakening that's on its way in the very midst of these dark and troubling days, I hear in my heart "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the Lord; make His path straight in the desert!" (Isaiah 40:3)

 

Yes, Lord! Let Your Voice rise up in our voices. Let Your Heart rise up in our hearts. Let Your Words rise up in our words. Let there be a shifting. Let there be a turning. Let there be a great shaking and awakening. Let there be a fulfillment of the Promise of Your Word in our days and in our land:  "The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:  'Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever! -- and those who will bring the sacrifices of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,' says the Lord" (Jeremiah 33:11).

 

Revive us and restore us! Set things right within us! That Your joy and gladness may return to our hearts and to our land. Even now, even before we see it made manifest with our eyes all we expectantly embrace by faith in our hearts, we lift up our voices and cry out with our words, "Prepare the way of the Lord! Praise the Lord of hosts! For the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever!" Lord, let it be so in our words and let it be so in our hearts. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be empowered to stand up and speak out the words of spirit and life and truth and love the Lord puts in your heart to proclaim over our land, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Prayer for Revival in San Antonio!

Friends, I'm excited to be part of a group of prayer warriors in our community planning times of prayer for awakening and revival in our community and beyond, being led by Max Lucado in San Antonio. 

We met yesterday in the parking lot where the San Antonio Spurs play basketball and they hold the San Antonio Rodeo to scope out the land and pray. Plans are coming together for a time of prayer in a Solemn Assembly of heartfelt humility and repentance through citywide prayer for ourselves and our land on Saturday, August 8th. Please keep us in prayer to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. If you would like to be involved and help spread the word when the time comes, please send me a note: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

Steady Steps - July 13, 2020

Morning by Morning, July 13 - Steady Steps

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Your sheep hear Your voice, and I'm listening for Your leading, to begin my day centered in Christ, grounded in Your Word and filled with Your Spirit. ...

 

"Keep my steps steady according to Your Promise, and never let iniquity have dominion over me" (Psalm 119:133).

 

Let the Promises of Your Word set the path for my day. Go before me and order my steps to lead me where You will and according to Your will. Though You've given me the freedom of will to choose, I choose You -- Your will, Your plan, Your purposes according the Promises of Your Word for this day and all of my life. "Your Word is a Lamp to my feet and a Light to my path" (Psalm 119:105).

 

There are consequences for every choice I'll make and every step I'll take (John 3:18). But I've known You long enough and You've seen me through so much, that I've learned to trust Your ways and follow Your will to let You make my steps steady according to Your Promises -- as best as I can and all by Your grace. With Your Spirit in my heart and Your Light leading my way, "Righteousness will go before (me), and will make a path for (my) steps" (Psalm 85:13). 

 

Lord, lead on today -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God -- as I seek to "follow in (Your) steps" (1 Peter 2:21). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be grounded in God's Word and filled with His Spirit, allowing Him to steady your steps according to His Promises and fulfilling His plans for this day and your life, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Prayer for Revival in San Antonio!

Friends, I'm excited to be part of a group of prayer warriors in our community planning times of prayer for awakening and revival in our community and beyond, being led by Max Lucado in San Antonio. 

We're meeting today in the parking lot where the San Antonio Spurs play basketball to scope out the land and pray. Please keep us in prayer to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. If you would like to be involved and help spread the word when the time comes, please send me a note: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

We Choose Life. We Choose Love. We Choose the Cause Worth Fighting For - July 10, 2020

Morning by Morning, July 10 - We Choose Life. We Choose Love. We Choose the Cause Worth Fighting For.

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me into the abundant life You have for me today. ...

 

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" --Jesus (John 10:10).

 

There's a "thief" at work in our world. And his work is "to steal and kill and destroy." Right now, we see his "handiwork" everywhere we turn.

 

One of his most wicked works is to turn us against one another, to divide us and conquer us. He knows a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. When President Abraham Lincoln said those words in the midst of the horrendous civil war in America, he was not quoting some social philosopher or politically astute sage of his times; he was quoting the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 12:25).

 

As we read and hear the violent and hateful rhetoric of our times in this horrendous civil war being waged before our eyes, we know the "thief" is at work again. But Your Holy Spirit reminds us that our true enemy is not one another. Our true enemy is our enemy. Our true enemy is the thief at work in the weakness of our flesh, in the unhealed wounds of our past, in the strongholds of our selfishness and self-centeredness, in the places where we've made room for the devil and given him a foothold in our hearts and minds, in our words and actions, in our rebellion and pride, in our arrogance and attitudes of insisting on our own ways instead of following Your ways. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).

 

There is a fight that is right. There is a cause that is worth fighting for and dying for. But that fight is not against one another and that cause is not to come into agreement and become a part of the wicked purposes and plans of the "thief" who "comes only to steal and kill and destroy."

 

The fight that is right is "the good fight of the faith" as we "take hold of the eternal life to which we were called" (1 Timothy 6:12). The cause that is just is the cause of the Kingdom of God that we would stand up for one another, speak out against what is wrong, and fight for one another with "the weapons of our warfare" of love and truth, of humility and faith, of proclamation and prayer, as a people grounded in God's Word and filled with God's Spirit to be ambassadors of His light in the darkness and His hope in the midst of despair (2 Corinthians 10:4-6). For God "has given us the ministry of reconciliation.... Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us" (2 Corinthians 5:18-20).

 

So by the power of Your grace, I choose life this day. I renounce death this day. I renounce the "thief" and all his works in my world to "steal and kill and destroy," to divide and conquer. And I choose the One who is Life, the One who laid down His Life that all may live and love and overcome in the authority of His name, the power of His grace, and the mercy of His love to make a difference in our world. "For God so loved the world that He have His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17). In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

Tommy, may you be grounded in God's Word and filled with His Spirit, choosing Life and Love to overcome the evil of this world and the thief of our souls in the Cause worth fighting for, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Aldersgate National Conference on Spirit-Filled 

Living - Free Virtual Conference with Prayer Ministry Opportunities this week.

Friends, please register for free at the Virtual On-line Conference of Aldersgate this year (evenings July 8-11, 2020) with anointed speakers and opportunities for prayer ministry. I'll be part of the Prayer Ministry Team in breakout prayer ministry sessions. Come join us!

Register for Aldersgate 2020 Virtual Conference

Prayer for Revival in San Antonio!

Friends, I'm excited to be part of a group of prayer warriors in our community planning times of prayer for awakening and revival in our community and beyond, being led by Max Lucado in San Antonio. Please keep us in prayer to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. If you would like to be involved and help spread the word when the time comes, please send me a note: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!

God's Sovereignty is Our Security -- The Lamb will have the Last Word! - July 9, 2020

Morning by Morning, July 9 - God's Sovereignty is Our Security -- The Lamb will have the Last Word!

 

Good morning, Lord Jesus. King of Kings and Lord of Lords, come rule and reign as King of my heart and Lord of my life, this day and every day (Revelation 19:16). ...

 

"They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with Him are called and chosen and faithful" (Revelation 17:14).

 

I praise You, Father God, that the Lamb will have the last word in this spiritual war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. I praise You, Holy Spirit of the Living God, that You are not absent from our world or blind from our plight or indifferent to our pain. Now and throughout the end of the age and the ages to come, the Lamb of God will have the full measure of His reward and will reward with His presence and power all who are with Him, who are called and chosen and faithful. "The words of God will be fulfilled" (v. 17). The One who is the Word of God will win and already has eternally won!

 

O Lord my God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- Your sovereignty is our security. Your power to redeem all things -- even the wicked things of the world, the flesh, and the devil -- and even cause those things to work together for good to fulfill Your words and Your will through our lives and our world in every generation is our hope. Your sovereignty and presence gives us all the hope and courage and faith we need to endure and overcome. 

 

Worthy is the Lamb! Majestic and Mighty is the Lamb! -- the One who is and who was and who is to come! (Revelation 1:8)

 

Trusting in Your sovereignty and Your ever-abiding presence and power in our lives, we press on and persevere, not just surviving but even thriving, to see Your Kingdom come in our hearts and our world even in the midst of all that's going on. We long for "the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which (You) will bring about at the right time -- He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!" (1 Timothy 6:15) In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

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

My friend, may you be confident and secure in the sovereignty of our soon and coming King, thriving and overcoming in His presence and power with you every day between this day and that day to come, in Jesus name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friend!

Aldersgate National Conference on Spirit-Filled 

Living - Free Virtual Conference with Prayer Ministry Opportunities this week.

Friends, please register for free at the Virtual On-line Conference of Aldersgate this year (evenings July 8-11, 2020) with anointed speakers and opportunities for prayer ministry. I'll be part of the Prayer Ministry Team in breakout prayer ministry sessions. Come join us!

Register for Aldersgate 2020 Virtual Conference

Prayer for Revival in San Antonio!

Friends, I'm excited to be part of a group of prayer warriors in our community planning times of prayer for awakening and revival in our community and beyond, being led by Max Lucado in San Antonio. Please keep us in prayer to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. If you would like to be involved and help spread the word when the time comes, please send me a note: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org

New Mailing Address for Messiah Ministries:

Tommy & Rocio Hays

Messiah Ministries

17503 La Cantera Parkway, Suite 104407

San Antonio, Texas 78257

Tommy & Rocio Hays | Messiah Ministries

Messiah-Ministries.org

Please share this word to encourage a friend!