Baptism of Fire - October 17, 2022

Morning by Morning, October 17 - Baptism of Fire   Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me hear Your heart, as I rest in Your Presence and wait for Your leading -- Heart to heart, Spirit to spirit, Deep to deep. ...   On the last night of the School of the Prophets at MorningStar Ministries last weekend, about a hundred of us in the center of the gathering, along with Chris Reed, all smelled an overpowering smell of smoke. There wasn’t anything burning or smoking in the natural realm, but something was certainly on fire in the spiritual realm!   The Director of the School, Ed Perez had referred early in the weekend to “the baptism of fire.” What came to my mind was the words of John the Baptist, in his ministry of preparing the way of the Lord for Your first coming:   “In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;     make His paths straight’” (Matthew 3:1-3).   John declared to all who were drawing near to God to embrace the Kingdom of heaven with repentant and pursuing hearts:   “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into the granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:11-12).   And the very next Verse says: “Then Jesus came...” (v. 13).   Part of the purpose of this baptism “with the Holy Spirit and fire” is to prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts and in the earth. Just as John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord for Your first coming, so the Father has sent the Holy Spirit to prepare the way of the Lord in the Body and Bride of Christ for Your second coming.   The Last Book of the Old Testament, just before the proclamation of the coming of Christ in the First Book of the New Testament prophesied of this:   “See, I am sending My Messenger to prepare the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple. The Messenger of the covenant in whom you delight--indeed, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming, and who can stand when He appears?   “For He is like a refiner’s fire and like washers’ soap; He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years” (Malachi 3:1-4).   Holy Spirit, You are that Messenger. You are that Refiner’s Fire. Just as You filled John the Baptist when he was still in his mother’s womb for this calling and assignment to prepare the way of the Lord (Luke 1:15), so You are filling the hearts of the Body and Bride of Christ to prepare the way of the Lord for the second coming of Christ. You are refining and burning “the chaff” out of us. You’re burning out of us all that is not yet like Jesus. And You are setting us a blaze with a passion for Jesus.   Who will endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? ... Those who have been purified and refined in the Refiner’s Fire, those who have embraced the baptism of “the Holy Spirit and Fire.”   As David prophesied long ago of this day:   “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?     And who shall stand in His holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,     who do not lift up their souls to what is false     and do not swear deceitfully. They will receive blessing from the Lord     and vindication from the God of their salvation. Such is the company of those who seek Him,     who seek the face of the God of Jacob” (Psalm 24:3-6).   Come, Holy Spirit. Baptize me in Your Holy Fire. Burn the chaff out of me, everything in me that is not yet like Jesus. Wash and cleanse my soul. By the power of Your grace, I want to be part of that Body and Bride of Christ, with the way of the Lord prepared in my heart:   “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to Himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, so that she may be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).   By the power of Your grace working in me, burning in me, cleanse my hands and purify my heart to be lifted up to the Lord my God alone, as I seek the face of God and embrace the Fire of God -- this holy baptism of Fire. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays My friend, may you embrace the baptism of the Fire of God as you seek the face of God, preparing the way of the Lord in your heart and in the earth, in Jesus' name. God bless you! Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 Please share this word to encourage a friend! Anyone can sign up for free at: https://messiah-ministries.org

Please Keep us in Prayer for These Messiah Ministries Events October 18 - Tuesday Night Class at Bridge Church Teaching my 9 Month Freedom Equipping Course: Based on my Book Free to Be Like Jesus The Bridge Church at 6:00 in Fredericksburg. All are welcome! Click Here to Order Free to Be Like Jesus and My Other Books on Amazon November 17-19 Teaching our Level 2 Weekend Intensive School of Ministry in Lampasas, Texas Wednesday Mornings Joining with MorningStar Ministries to Lead Online Inner Healing and Deliverance Ministry Sessions for the Online Connect Groups from around the world. Personal Ministry Appointments Spiritual Direction Sessions and Personal Prayer Ministry Sessions of Inner Healing & Spiritual Freedom by Appointment and as the Holy Spirit leads. Please keep us in prayer for spiritual breakthrough and transformation! Let us know if you'd like to set up a session:  tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org Sessions are without cost and all contributions help support the calling and vision of Messiah Ministries. https://messiah-ministries.org/partner/contribute

Free On-line Video Series Setting Hearts Free! My Core Teaching and Ministry Sign Up Today at: https://messiah-ministries.org/resources

Order these Spiritual Books by Tommy Hays Today!

https://www.amazon.com/Tommy-Hays/e/B002BMDCXM

Seeing and Speaking “the Substance” of Faith - October 14, 2022

 

Morning by Morning, October 14 - Seeing and Speaking “the Substance” of Faith   Good morning, Lord Jesus. Help me hear Your voice in my heart and following the leading of Your Spirit, as I seek to begin my day embraced by my Father, centered in Christ, and filled with Your Holy Spirit (John 10:3). ...   “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers,  that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power for us who believe, according to the working of His great power” (Ephesians 1:15-19).   I’m here at “The School of the Prophets” taught by Chris Reed and his team at MorningStar Ministries for a long weekend of equipping and training for ministry. An emphasis has been on seeing with eyes of faith, seeing with the eyes of our heart, seeing the “blueprint of heaven” according to Your plans and Your will with the “substance” of faith. Not only seeing, but also creatively speaking what we see and hear from that heavenly perspective -- all in submission to Your will and plans and purposes.   I know I need more sensitivity, more faith, more expectancy -- which only You can provide as the Source of all those things. I know I need “a spirit of wisdom and revelation as (I) come to know (You).” Apart from You, I can do nothing (John 15:4). And part of the journey of my faith is growing in understanding and embracing the truth that I’m never apart from You and that You are always here with me, even here within me -- “Christ in (me), the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).   Teach me more about the “substance” of faith. Teach me more about the “substance” of the One who is our Faith, who seeks to abide in us with even Your words abiding in us (John 15:7). Teach me more about the One who is the Word of God made flesh and still desiring to speak the words of God through us, by grace, through faith (John 1:14; 1 Corinthians 14:1).   “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:1-3).   There’s more to this connection between seeing things with the eyes of our hearts and speaking things with a heart of faith that I know I need to learn. There’s more to understanding what You have “framed by the word of God” and the words You entrust to us to speak according to what we see that I need to learn.   There’s a “substance” to faith and a “substance” to words that I believe You’re wanting us to learn, that You’re desiring for the Body and Bride of Christ to understand.   Why? ... What comes to me this morning are these Words of Yours of our true identity and prophetic destiny in Christ:   Because “we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Because “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). Because we are “predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). Because “we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Because we “should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Because “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).   “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:10-11).   Give me a humble heart and a teachable spirit. Put Your thoughts in my mind, Your desires in my heart, Your words in my mouth. Help me see what You’re doing and hear what You’re saying and then be obedient to speak and to act as You are leading -- all by the power of Your grace at work within me. “For God is working in (me and all of the Body and Bride of Christ who will seek, surrender, and submit to Your will and Your ways in our lives and through our lives), giving (us) the desire and the power to do what pleases (You)” (Philippians 2:13).   Give me the grace to be “a good steward” of this “manifold grace of God” entrusted to me and to each of Your sons and daughters of God, as disciples of Jesus, and as “ambassadors for Christ” in our world. Let Your words become flesh, become “substance,” through us. “Christ in (us), the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays My friend, may you grow in the grace of God to see and speak the substance of faith as an ambassador for Christ in our world, in Jesus' name. God bless you! Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 Please share this word to encourage a friend! Anyone can sign up for free at: https://messiah-ministries.org

Pakistan Ministry Praise Report! From Pastor Rizwan Fazal from our Skype Internet Outdoor Evangelistic Outreach last week: "Good Morning Pastor Tommy. Thanks very much to share Powerful Word of God. Thanks Lord 259 Souls are Saved and 38 persons are Healed! One man healed from hernia and doctors said that he didn't need operation. One boy Healed from liver swelling. One Woman Healed from breast cancer in our last Meeting!" We praise God for all He is doing in Pakistan! And we pray for a move of God in our hearts and our land and in every nation! Thank you for being a part through all your prayers, encouragement, and support that make this ministry possible! God bless you, my friends!

Please Keep us in Prayer for These Messiah Ministries Events October 12-15 Attending School of the Prophets at MorningStar Ministries, Fort Mill, South Carolina. October 16 - Sunday Morning Class at Bridge Church Teaching my 6 Week Survey Freedom Equipping Course: Based on my Book Free to Be Like Jesus The Bridge Church at 9:00 in Fredericksburg. All are welcome! October 11 - Tuesday Night Class at Bridge Church Teaching my 9 Month Freedom Equipping Course: Based on my Book Free to Be Like Jesus The Bridge Church at 6:00 in Fredericksburg. All are welcome! Click Here to Order Free to Be Like Jesus and My Other Books on Amazon October 21-23 Mens' Retreat in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, where I'll be teaching and equipping on Freedom Prayer Ministry. Please let me know if you would like more information or to register: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org November 17-19 Teaching our Level 2 Weekend Intensive School of Ministry in Lampasas, Texas Wednesday Mornings Joining with MorningStar Ministries to Lead Online Inner Healing and Deliverance Ministry Sessions for the Online Connect Groups from around the world. Personal Ministry Appointments Spiritual Direction Sessions and Personal Prayer Ministry Sessions of Inner Healing & Spiritual Freedom by Appointment and as the Holy Spirit leads. Please keep us in prayer for spiritual breakthrough and transformation! Let us know if you'd like to set up a session:  tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org Sessions are without cost and all contributions help support the calling and vision of Messiah Ministries. https://messiah-ministries.org/partner/contribute

Free On-line Video Series Setting Hearts Free! My Core Teaching and Ministry Sign Up Today at: https://messiah-ministries.org/resources

Order these Spiritual Books by Tommy Hays Today!

https://www.amazon.com/Tommy-Hays/e/B002BMDCXM

Embracing the Place Prepared for Us - October 12, 2022

 

Morning by Morning, October 12 - Embracing the Place Prepared for Us   Good morning, Lord Jesus. Be high and lifted up -- here in my heart and every moment of my day (John 12:32). ...   “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).   Your Father’s house is not merely a mansion in Heaven. It’s wherever we make room for our Father in our hearts, as sons and daughters of the Living God. You’ve not merely prepared a place for us in the sky when we die. You’ve prepared a place for us wherever we welcome You into our hearts, wherever we embrace Your invitation to abide in You as You abide in us (John 15:4).   You bring us into our Father’s house; You bring us into the place You’ve prepare for us, as we open our hearts to Your Holy Spirit to live in us, to abide in us, to dwell in us, filling us with the love and Presence of the Living God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit of God.   You expressed this beautiful promise of spiritual intimacy to Your first disciples and to all who are willing choose to become Your faithful disciples:   “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.   “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him” (John 14:15-21).   Lord Jesus, “manifest” Yourself to me, I pray. “Manifest” Yourself within me. Help me, Holy “Helper”, Holy Spirit of God to enter into the place prepared for me -- the place of spiritual intimacy with You -- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Let my mansion of glory be the “manifest” Presence of God abiding in me and me abiding in You.   Help me experience the truth of the apostle Paul’s powerfully intimate prayer for every disciple of Christ:   “I pray that, according to the riches of His glory, He may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through His Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16-19).   “Filled with all the fullness of God” -- that seems too amazing, too intimate, too good to be true. Yet that is exactly what the Bible says. And that’s exactly what You desire, as we make room for You, as we embrace the place You’ve prepared for us. So, by Your grace, I do. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays My friend, may you embrace the place prepared for you in your heart by Jesus Himself, in Jesus' name. God bless you! Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 Please share this word to encourage a friend! Anyone can sign up for free at: https://messiah-ministries.org

Pakistan Ministry Praise Report! From Pastor Rizwan Fazal from our Skype Internet Outdoor Evangelistic Outreach last week: "Good Morning Pastor Tommy. Thanks very much to share Powerful Word of God. Thanks Lord 259 Souls are Saved and 38 persons are Healed! One man healed from hernia and doctors said that he didn't need operation. One boy Healed from liver swelling. One Woman Healed from breast cancer in our last Meeting!" We praise God for all He is doing in Pakistan! And we pray for a move of God in our hearts and our land and in every nation! Thank you for being a part through all your prayers, encouragement, and support that make this ministry possible! God bless you, my friends!

Please Keep us in Prayer for These Messiah Ministries Events October 12-15 Attending School of the Prophets at MorningStar Ministries, Fort Mill, South Carolina. October 16 - Sunday Morning Class at Bridge Church Teaching my 6 Week Survey Freedom Equipping Course: Based on my Book Free to Be Like Jesus The Bridge Church at 9:00 in Fredericksburg. All are welcome! October 11 - Tuesday Night Class at Bridge Church Teaching my 9 Month Freedom Equipping Course: Based on my Book Free to Be Like Jesus The Bridge Church at 6:00 in Fredericksburg. All are welcome! Click Here to Order Free to Be Like Jesus and My Other Books on Amazon October 21-23 Mens' Retreat in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, where I'll be teaching and equipping on Freedom Prayer Ministry. Please let me know if you would like more information or to register: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org November 17-19 Teaching our Level 2 Weekend Intensive School of Ministry in Lampasas, Texas Wednesday Mornings Joining with MorningStar Ministries to Lead Online Inner Healing and Deliverance Ministry Sessions for the Online Connect Groups from around the world. Personal Ministry Appointments Spiritual Direction Sessions and Personal Prayer Ministry Sessions of Inner Healing & Spiritual Freedom by Appointment and as the Holy Spirit leads. Please keep us in prayer for spiritual breakthrough and transformation! Let us know if you'd like to set up a session:  tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org Sessions are without cost and all contributions help support the calling and vision of Messiah Ministries. https://messiah-ministries.org/partner/contribute

Free On-line Video Series Setting Hearts Free! My Core Teaching and Ministry Sign Up Today at: https://messiah-ministries.org/resources

Order these Spiritual Books by Tommy Hays Today!

https://www.amazon.com/Tommy-Hays/e/B002BMDCXM

“Praise and Prophecy. Worship and Warfare. Holiness and Humility. Authority and Authenticity. Faithfulness and Fullness.” - October 11, 2022

 

Morning by Morning, October 11 - “Praise and Prophecy. Worship and Warfare. Holiness and Humility. Authority and Authenticity. Faithfulness and Fullness.” Good morning, Lord Jesus. Lead me by the heart as You take me by the hand into all You have for me today. ... As I listen for Your leading, waiting in the silence before You, I hear in my heart: “Praise and Prophecy. Worship and Warfare. Holiness and Humility. Authority and Authenticity. Faithfulness and Fullness.” ... Yes, Lord. What are You speaking and revealing and teaching for me today? ... As I wait, I believe I hear these words forming in my heart and rising up into my mind: “As you praise and worship, as you humble yourself to allow Me to form My nature in your heart, you will become all I have created you to be, with both My character and My authority expressed through your life. Your life will be full, as you are faithful to Me. You will be secure in your authentic identity and fulfill your prophetic destiny. As you allow Me to put My thoughts in your mind, My desires in your heart, My words in your mouth, I will move mountains, I will pull down strongholds, I will display My glory through My people who call on My name and allow Me to form My nature in them. My grace is sufficient for all you need and for all I desire for you and for all who would be My true disciples.” ... Yes, Lord. I do want to be a true disciple. By the power of Your grace moving in me, giving me both the desire and the power to please You (Philippians 2:13). I do praise You and worship You; I do humble myself before You; and I do ask You to form Your character in my heart and express Your authority through my life. It has to be You, because apart from You, I can do nothing (John 15:5). And I praise You and thank You that I am never apart from You (Matthew 28:20). You’re right here with me, right here within me (Colossians 1:27).  By the power of Your grace, You’re making me more like You every day (Romans 8:29; 1 Corinthians 3:18; 1 John 4:17). You’re causing me to “grow up” into “maturity” to “the measure of the full stature of Christ” as I take my part in “the body of Christ” -- secure in my identity and fulfilling my destiny in the measures of authority You’ve entrusted to me (Ephesians 4:11-16). In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Be encouraged today! In the love of Jesus, Tommy Hays My friend, may you embrace all the grace God has for you in praise and prophecy, worship and warfare, holiness and humility, authority and authenticity, faithfulness and fullness, in Jesus' name. God bless you! Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries Mailing Address: 412 S. Adams Street #148 Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 Please share this word to encourage a friend! Anyone can sign up for free at: https://messiah-ministries.org

Thank you for the prayers for the birth of my granddaughter — Alice Jaqueline Shutt —  born on October 7, 2022 at 7:39 am at 7 lbs 2 oz (during the 7th month on the Biblical calendar) in Orlando, Florida as my first grandchild from my first child, Elizabeth, and her husband Sergey! We are so blessed and so thrilled!

So blessed to be able to get there and pray a Grandaddy's Blessing for her just a few hours after Alice's birth! Thank you for joining with me in prayers of blessing for her and the life set before her by God.

Please Keep us in Prayer for These  Messiah Ministries Events October 11 - Tuesday Night Class at Bridge Church Teaching my 9 Month Freedom Equipping Course: Based on my Book Free to Be Like Jesus The Bridge Church at 6:00 in Fredericksburg. All are welcome! Click Here to Order Free to Be Like Jesus and My Other Books on Amazon October 12-15 Attending School of the Prophets at MorningStar Ministries, Fort Mill, South Carolina. October 16 - Sunday Morning Class at Bridge Church Teaching my 6 Week Survey Freedom Equipping Course: Based on my Book Free to Be Like Jesus The Bridge Church at 9:00 in Fredericksburg. All are welcome! October 21-23 Mens' Retreat in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, where I'll be teaching and equipping on Freedom Prayer Ministry. Please let me know if you would like more information or to register: tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org November 17-19 Teaching our Level 2 Weekend Intensive School of Ministry in Lampasas, Texas Wednesday Mornings Joining with MorningStar Ministries to Lead Online Inner Healing and Deliverance Ministry Sessions for the Online Connect Groups from around the world. Personal Ministry Appointments Spiritual Direction Sessions and Personal Prayer Ministry Sessions of Inner Healing & Spiritual Freedom by Appointment and as the Holy Spirit leads. Please keep us in prayer for spiritual breakthrough and transformation! Let us know if you'd like to set up a session:  tommyhays@messiah-ministries.org Sessions are without cost and all contributions help support the calling and vision of Messiah Ministries. https://messiah-ministries.org/partner/contribute

Free On-line Video Series  Setting Hearts Free! My Core Teaching and Ministry Sign Up Today at: https://messiah-ministries.org/resources

Order these Spiritual Books by Tommy Hays Today!

https://www.amazon.com/Tommy-Hays/e/B002BMDCXM