“Seek the Lord and Live. Hate Evil and Love Good.” - Morning by Morning, January 8, 2026

“Seek the Lord and live,

    or He will break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it will devour Bethel,

    with no one to quench it.

You who turn justice into bitterness

    and cast righteousness down to the ground! ...

“They hate the one who prosecutes at the gate,

    and abhor the one who speaks with integrity. ...

“Seek good and not evil,

    so that you may live;

then the Lord, the God of Hosts, will truly be with you,

    as you claim.
 Hate evil and love good,

    and establish justice at the gate.

It may then be that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious

    to the remnant of Joseph.” ...

“But let justice roll down like water,

    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” 
 (Amos 5:6-7, 10, 14-15, 24).

Freshly written and sent out immediately "morning by morning" from the morning prayer time of Tommy Hays each day.

God bless you and you have a great day!
—Tommy Hays | Messiah Ministries

http://messiah-ministries.org

Transcript

Morning by Morning, January 8, 2026 — “Seek the Lord and Live. Hate Evil and Love Good.”

Good morning, Lord Jesus. I worship You and welcome You here in my heart and every moment of my day. ...

As I wait on You, the Words of the Prophet Amos, spoken during troubled times of great turmoil in Israel, come to mind:

“Seek the Lord and live,

    or He will break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it will devour Bethel,

    with no one to quench it.

You who turn justice into bitterness

    and cast righteousness down to the ground! ...

“They hate the one who prosecutes at the gate,

    and abhor the one who speaks with integrity. ...

“Seek good and not evil,

    so that you may live;

then the Lord, the God of Hosts, will truly be with you,

    as you claim.
 Hate evil and love good,

    and establish justice at the gate.

It may then be that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious

    to the remnant of Joseph.” ...

“But let justice roll down like water,

    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” 
 (Amos 5:6-7, 10, 14-15, 24).

Once again, tensions are high in our land. Even the very facts of what we see and hear are disputed and distorted, twisted to align with a pre-determined narrative.

What comes out of our mouths reveals what’s in our hearts. Our state of mind is a reflection of the condition of our heart.

So no matter what our perspective or our position or our politics, Your call is the same to every soul: “See Me and live!” (v. 4)

As You affirmed these Words in Your own way, relentlessly calling us to follow Your way and not the way of the world, the flesh, and the devil: “The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

You must be the Source of our sense of justice and righteousness. And let not our desire for justice turn to an ungodly bitterness or our passion for righteousness turn to unholy rage.

May our hearts be turned to You. Seeking You and Your righteousness of Your kingdom—first in our hearts and then as we pray for the people of our land and the heart of our nation.

Hating evil and loving good, seeking good and not evil, is what allows You to establish justice at our gates.

Put Your thoughts in our minds, Your desires in our hearts, Your words in our mouths, as we seek You and Your good. Deliver us from the temptation of our times to turn away from You and make room for the enemy of our souls and the soul of our nation, who seeks only to steal and kill and destroy through deception and division, through hatred and strife, confusing us and desensitizing our discernment until we’re so far gone that we’ll even begin to call what is good evil and what is evil good.

As a famous preacher often quoted from Your Word in an earlier time of turmoil in our land in his dream for our nation, we desperately need Your justice to roll down like waters and Your righteousness to flow like a mighty stream. That only happens as we seek You, as we seek You and live, as we choose life and not death, and let You establish Your justice and Your righteousness first in our hearts and then in our land. 

Lord, let it be so in me. Let it be so in our land. Before we destroy one another at the merciless hand of the evil one who comes only to kill and steal and destroy. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.