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Mondays with Marilyn

Mondays with Marilyn Blog

Farmer God

“I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” (John 15:16)

There is something about being sensitive to the voice of God that has to do with your intimate relationship with Him.  When you begin to love Him and listen to His voice, you’re going to produce fruit because love always creates: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.” (John 15:16).

So why aren’t we more creative? Why aren’t we producing more? Isaiah said it’s because we don’t listen enough:

Listen to me, listen as I plead: Does a farmer always plow and never sow? Is he forever harrowing the soil and never planting it? Does he not finally plant his many kinds of grain, each in it own section of his land? He knows just what to do, for God has made him see and understand. (Isaiah 28:23-26 TLB)

God prepares you to listen in many ways; He prepares your heart to listen to what He has to say to you.  He also gives you seed in your heart, and when you obey Him, you bring forth the harvest He wants.  Yet He tells different things to different people because we are not all alike.  He has “many kinds of grains,” and we are planted in different places.  He prepares you for what He has for you.

When He speaks, He “threshes” what He gives you and harvest it in a most unique way:

He doesn’t thresh all grains the same.  A sledge is never used on dill, but it is beaten with a stick.  A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin, but it is beaten softly with a flail.  Bread grain is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it.  The Lord Almighty is a wonderful teacher and gives the farmer wisdom. (Isaiah 28:27-29 TLB)

God uses different threshing tools on us.  In the same way that dill is too fragile to use a sledge on, some people are too fragile, so He uses a little stick because that is what it will take to get their attention.  At other time, He may use a flail because He wants us to be the seasoning in someone’s life—sometimes we’re the dill and sometimes we’re the cumin.

God might use a stick, a flail, a sledge, or even a wheel to get your attention.  But remember, God always has a purpose in what He tells you.  God’s ultimate reason for speaking to you is to encourage you to be a “farmer” just like He is.  He wants you to go forth and bring forth fruit, and for your fruit to remain.  Once you know what God wants you to do, you must obey.  Even when it looks like you’re failing, God can still use you to “season” the people around you.  After all, just a little dill added to cucumbers makes great pickles!

2026-05-26T12:51:19-06:00June 15th, 2026|

A New Image

I will allow others to see the image of Jesus Christ in me.

Have you ever been concerned about your IMAGE? Well don’t be! See yourself through God’s eyes; He sees you as perfect, because He sees you in the complete image of His Son, Jesus. Colossians 3:10 says we have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. The knowledge that renews us comes from the Word of God, and the Word is the mirror that reflects our new, beautiful image back to us. As we read the Word it renews our minds and shows us who are in Christ. If we don’t look daily into the mirror of God’s Word, we can forget who we are and lost the image that God has of us. What is that image? The GLORIFIED image of Jesus Christ!

Today as you read the Word, put on your “new man” and walk in the image of Jesus Christ. Walk victoriously, triumphantly and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let others see the IMAGE of Jesus Christ in you today!

2026-05-26T12:38:07-06:00June 8th, 2026|

Walk by Faith

Thank you for following Mondays with Marilyn, a blog offering timeless devotional reflections and ministry teaching. In light of Marilyn’s passing on April 25, 2026, future posts will be curated from her existing teachings and excerpts from her books. We hope they continue to minister to you for years to come.

For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

The Christians who are affecting and transforming lives in a dramatic way are those who know that faith is the secret to everything they do.  Look at the courageous Christians in China and the Middle East.  They “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). The threat of persecution is ever-present.  In order to survive and spread the gospel, they must live daily on a greater level of faith than many of us in freer countries can imagine.  We may not face the same dangers they do, but does that mean we can relax in our faith?  No! We need to have faith for miracles right where we are.

You may say, “Faith is important, but it’s not the most important.” I’m not knocking things other than faith; but you have to have faith before you can have anything else.  Romans 1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” You were saved by grace—through faith (Ephesians 2:8)—and now God wants you to live by faith.  If that’s how you’re supposed to live, then faith must be important! It is important to keep your faith active if you plan to be an effective, productive Christian.

Faith is different because it is not in your sensory realm.  Faith takes you into the supernatural realm so that you can have God’s supernatural miracles.  In other words, faith brings God’s substance from heaven into your earthly life.

Christians in communist and Islamic countries are overcoming much evil through their faith.  Because of that, they are successful soul winners who see many miracles. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).  You don’t have to be in the midst of a trial to use your faith.  You may just have some goals and dreams for which you are aiming.  Those are hopes, and Hebrews 11:1 says that it takes faith to see those hopes fulfilled: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

 The key to receiving your substance of faith is through God’s Word, which tells you what God has for you.  If I had never read, “The seed of the righteous shall be delivered” (Proverbs 11:21 KJV), I would never have known that God had deliverance planned for my children.  If your faith is going to reach into heaven to get substance for your life, then you’d better know what is available.

Set your goal by finding the promises in God’s Word and by using your faith for those things.  Do you want to do great things?  Do you want to accomplish your goals and see the victories God has for you? Then bone up on faith! Romans 10:17 tells you that faith comes by hearing God’s Word.  You need to hear about faith every chance you get.  Don’t just read this and walk away from it.  Read it with the intention of receiving a rejuvenation of faith in your spirit so that you can overcome whatever trial you are experiencing right now!

2026-05-20T14:14:57-06:00June 1st, 2026|

I am the Way

Thank you for following Mondays with Marilyn, a blog offering timeless devotional reflections and ministry teaching. In light of Marilyn’s passing on April 25, 2026, future posts will be curated from her existing teachings and excerpts from her books. We hope they continue to minister to you for years to come.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). This verse is from a portion of Scripture where Jesus is preparing His disciples for His death. In chapter 13, He washes their feet and here He is leaving His final words with them. He tells his friends that He is going before them to prepare a place for them. The apostle Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Jesus responds to his worries by saying “I am the way!”

Family, how many times do we overthink the blessings of God? Jesus is telling his friends that there is a place for them, that He is preparing a blessing for them in the future! This is a good thing, a gift from Him. But Thomas is confused. He doesn’t know what Jesus means and He is uncomfortable with not knowing. He doesn’t want to miss out on any of the blessings that God has for him, so he asks Jesus for some clarification.

I imagine that Thomas wanted Jesus to tell him one of two things. Either to describe the details of the place Jesus was preparing for him, or a step-by-step list on how to get there. Instead, Jesus says “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Thomas wanted an easy answer. He wanted Jesus to tell him what to do, when to do it, and what was on the other side. Instead, Jesus refocused him. “It’s all about me!” He said, “I am the way, you don’t need to do anything else except know Me!”

How many times have you wanted Jesus to give you answers to your questions. “Jesus, what should I do for my next job? Jesus when will I get healed of this-or-that? Jesus, will my friends ever turn back to you?” These are questions that have answers, and it would be easy for Jesus to give us a simple answer. However, more often than not, He reminds us of who He is. Jesus is the answer. He knows it all, sees it all, and can do anything. So, when He responds to our questions and says, “Just be with me,” that is the most comforting thing He could say. How relieving is it to know that Jesus is the way? I think about all the different ways that I’ve failed, and I am filled with comfort knowing that it’s not by my own strength.

The next time you feel overwhelmed with your situations and all the “Jesus, why?” questions start to crowd your mind, remember, He is the answer. Take rest in Him. Know that He is the way, and He will get you through.

2026-05-05T13:56:24-06:00May 25th, 2026|

Praying God’s Word

Thank you for following Mondays with Marilyn, a blog offering timeless devotional reflections and ministry teaching. In light of Marilyn’s passing on April 25, 2026, future posts will be curated from her existing teachings and excerpts from her books. We hope they continue to minister to you for years to come.

When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus always responded him by saying “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” 11 Then the devil left Him and behold, angels came and ministered to Him (see Matthew 4:4-11). Jesus beat the devil with the Word. You also must pray God’s Word to defeat Satan.

For every problem, you should pray a promise because it’s the promise (the Word) that does not return void So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (see Isaiah 55:11).

Praying God’s Word accomplishes three things—it reminds God of His Word, it reminds the devil he is defeated, and it increases your faith because “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Praying the Word brings the provision that you need.

2026-05-05T13:46:07-06:00May 18th, 2026|

Winning Through the Nature of the Lamb and Lion

Thank you for following Mondays with Marilyn, a blog offering timeless devotional reflections and ministry teaching. In light of Marilyn’s passing on April 25, 2026, future posts will be curated from her existing teachings and excerpts from her books. We hope they continue to minister to you for years to come.

The Lamb Nature

When John the Baptist announced that Jesus was the “Lamb of God,” I wonder if he realized the full significance of the statement. John was pointing to the perfect Lamb who would be sacrificed on Calvary. Though God had revealed to John earlier that the man upon whom he saw the Spirit descending and remaining would be the Son of God, John probably did a double take when he saw the Spirit upon Jesus, his own cousin.

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Lamb who was “…slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). God had the sacrifice of Jesus already settled in His mind before Jesus was ever born in Bethlehem. God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and that He would need to provide a Lamb for mankind’s redemption.

Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, the only Lamb whose death was final and acceptable to God as an atonement for the sins of man. He came to die and was raised from the dead to remove your sins, and when He did, He gave you a brand-new nature that doesn’t want to sin. John alluded to this new nature when he said that Jesus would take away the sins of the world. John didn’t live long enough to see what the Lamb of God would do in order to take away man’s sin, but by calling Him the Lamb of God, he indicated Jesus’s role in your salvation. Jesus is your savior, the Lamb of God. And now “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12).

The Lion Nature

But just being the Lamb of God wasn’t enough for a God who loves you so much that He sent His own son to die for you. The Bible also tells us that Jesus is the Lion of Judah because you need the nature of both a lamb and a lion.

The lion nature of Christ was represented in several ways in the Old Testament. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah—the largest tribe (Numbers 1:20-46). Whenever the Israelites moved in the wilderness, Judah led the way and, if necessary, led the fight as well. That’s because Judah represented the lion nature of Jesus.

Israel was also represented as a lion. When Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam instead prophesied blessings upon Israel, which he called a lion (Numbers 23:24). In addition, Jerusalem was called “Ariel” in Isaiah 29:1. The word Ariel means “lion of God.”

As a Lamb, Jesus died to free you from the bondage of sin. As a Lion, all power in heaven and earth is given to Him. Jesus alone can give you the power to walk in this life in the fullness of what the Lamb purchased for you on the cross. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He indicated that God had done everything He was ever going to do for you.

Now, I don’t mean that God is never going to do anything else for you ever again. What I do mean is that He has already done it. That means your salvation is finished. No one else can do anything more to get you saved! It is finished! Your healing is finished. No one else has to take stripes on their back because Jesus already finished your healing for you! Your finances are finished because He became poor that you might be rich. Your relationships are finished because He came to heal the brokenhearted. The Lamb of God “finished” all your needs.

You can’t have His lion nature unless you first have His lamb nature. You have to be saved before you can grow and mature in the Lord. Jesus’s lamb nature gives you authority over the devil and all his evil wiles. It makes you very bold to do the works of the Lord.

Salvation is the lamb’s nature; the lion’s nature is manifested in power. When you take on the lion nature of Christ, you become “the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath” (Deuteronomy 28:13). You don’t need to hand your head down, drag around, and look pitiful because you have Jesus’s lion nature. God never intended for you to be a king and priest, and a victorious one at that!

I thoroughly enjoy being a lion! Proverbs 28:1 tells us, “… the righteous are bold as a lion.” Why? Because we have the real Lion inside! That means that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Lions are among the strongest of beasts and are often referred to as “the king of the jungle.” The Bible tells us they don’t run away from anything (Proverbs 30:30). Instead, the confront their enemies and prey with equal valor and strength. The lion in you wants you to take authority and “…trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19).

Psalm 91:13 says, “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.” You’re supposed to walk on lions and snakes. I can hear you now: “Marilyn, that doesn’t make any sense. If we’re supposed to be lion-like, why would we tread on the lion?”

The answer is found in 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” I put the keyword in bold: the devil is not a lion, but he sure ties to act like one. So, everyone who has a lion nature is supposed to stomp on that imposter.

There’s something about treading on the devil that really makes you feel like a lion king. When someone gets healed, I like to hear that “crunch” sound of the devil under my feet. One morning, we had a woman delivered from demons during a church service. She got up free and smiling, joyful in the Lord. I walked out of the service and thought, GRRRRRRRRR! Where’s another devil? I just want to crunch him good!

There is another aspect of the lion’s nature we need to consider. Jesus first came to earth as a lamb, but He’s coming back as a lion! Joe tells us He’s going to return at the time of the Antichrist. The Antichrist thinks he will be able to take over the whole world, but he’ll never be able to rule the whole world. Leaders like Napoleon and Hitler have tried and failed—miserably. There is only one who will assume control over the earth, and He is going to “roar” out of Zion to do so:

The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. (Joel 3:16)

Now, lambs don’t “roar,” do they? So, who is coming back? It must be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will defeat the Antichrist, take the title deed of the earth, and set up His kingdom forever. Remember the words one of the elders in heaven spoke to John: “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).

After God casts Satan and the fallen angels out once and for all, there will be a great exclamation in heaven:

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” (Revelation 12:10)

Government is not going to change the world. Only the Lion of the tribe of Judah can do that. As our Savior, He’s a Lamb, but as ruler of the earth, He’s a Lion. Since you are to be like Him in all ways, you have His lamb nature. Yet, He also gives you His lion nature because He wants you to have the ability to wield power against the enemy until He returns to reclaim His earth.

2026-05-05T13:40:25-06:00May 11th, 2026|

The Lord My Peace

In this busy world, peace might seem hard to attain; however, it doesn’t have to be when you know Jehovah Shalom.

Shalom appears more than four hundred times in the Bible. I believe our deepest desire is to have peace. It is the one thing that all the money in the world can’t buy. Peace is ever eluding the busy world, and it is wonderful that we, the children of Jehovah Shalmon, have exactly what the world is looking for—perfect peace!

Shalom is also translated as “welfare, prosperity, a harmony of relationships.” Because of this, it is a common form of greeting in Israel.

In the New Testament, peace is not something but Someone. Christ made peace by His shed blood. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). His peace is better than anything the world has to offer. And the best part is, His peace will never leave you!

Peace, I leave with you, My peace I will give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, “I am going away and coming back to you.” If you loved Me, you would rejoice… (John 14:27-28)

You can have peace while everyone and everything around you seems to be falling apart. Jesus is coming back soon! Live in His peace. Let it reign and rule in your life. Jehovah Shalom is something to have peace about.

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.” (Ephesians 2:14)

2026-03-04T07:58:56-07:00May 4th, 2026|

Ask Marilyn-Health and Healing

Q: Does God still heal people today? I’ve heard that physical healing was just for the first-century Church.

A: Yes, God still heals people today! I’ve heard that rumor about the first-century Church, too; but I can tell you that God loves us just as much as He loved those, Christians. Jesus’ final words to His disciples included this promise: “And these signs will follow those who believe; In My name they will cast out demons; …they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17, 18).

I’ve seen many, many healings take place, and I’ve experienced healing in my own body as well. It often takes consistency in prayer, standing on the Word, and persistent patience.

Sometimes people plant the healing “seeds” of God’s Word at an advanced stage of illness, and the death process is too far advanced for the life of God’s Word to manifest. It is important to plant God’s Word in our hearts before Satan ever tries to attack us with sickness so that the roots of sickness and disease will have no place in our lives. This is one reason people are sometimes no healed. There are many other reasons, and we don’t know each individual’s discouragement or level of faith for healing. The important thing is to remember that God’s Word is ALWAYS true, and the Word is our standard of truth.

The Scriptures are loaded with dynamite promises for healing. Among these promises are Exodus 15:26; Psalm 91; 103:3; Proverbs 4:20-23; Isaiah 53:4, 5; Malachi 4:2; Matthew 8:16, 17; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24; and 3 John 2.

Q: Marilyn, I heard you talking about daily health scriptures. What did you mean?

A: I’m sure you know that Jesus was anointed with power to heal those oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38); you may even be sure that healing is of God. Well, now I want to help you see that walking in divine health is even better! That’s why I take my daily dose of health scriptures—I speak scriptures that affirm the divine health that God wants for my life. Some scriptures that you can use for this purpose are Psalms 91:10; Proverbs 3:8; 4:20, 22; 16:24; and Romans 6:13.

As you confess scriptures like these, they are like a prescription of healing from the Lord. I know that these scriptures will not go forth in your life and return void; I am absolutely certain that they will produce health for you.

Q: I have prayed and prayed for healing, but I still have the symptoms of my disease. Why haven’t I been healed?

A: Sometimes when believers lay hands on sick people, the healing manifests instantly. It is a wonderful miracle; but when someone doesn’t recover immediately, it is important to keep your faith in God’s Word and not look at the symptoms.

When healing takes a period of time, it is important to understand that God’s Word works like a seed planted in your spirit. When you plant a carrot seed, you don’t run outside the next day expecting to pull carrots! It is sometimes necessary to stand in faith for a long time; but as you continue to stand, the day will come when healing is evident because the seed will have matured.

We know that all sickness and disease originated with the devil (Acts 10:38), and sometimes demonic personalities manifest various diseases or disorders in people. Nevertheless, believers have power and authority given by Christ to rebuke any such thing (Luke 10:18, 19). When you are praying for yourself or another, “cover all the bases” by coming against Satan and any demonic activity that may be present as well as speaking the healing Word of God to the body and soul. I know an evangelist who comes against all sickness, disease, and infirmity as though it comes directly from evil spirits; and he has unusual success. You do have the victory over all these things in the name of Jesus (1 John 3:8).

Q: Is it an indication of unbelief for me to follow the instruction of a physician and not lean solely on God?

A: First of all, God is your healer (Psalms 103:2, 3); and you should depend upon Him, through the promises of His Word, to perform healing on your behalf.

However, that does not mean that you are wrong to take advantage of a doctor’s knowledge. Jesus said that the sick has need of a physician (Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:17; and Luke 5:31). We need to use balance and wisdom in every area of our life, and I believe it is only good wisdom to use modern medicine to aid in the healing of our bodies.

I want to reiterate that all healing comes from God. Sometimes healing comes in a supernatural manner; sometimes it comes through the natural processes of healing with the assistance of the medical profession. Either way, the healing is from Him and He is to receive the glory for it.

2026-05-26T07:58:25-06:00April 27th, 2026|

This is the Day the Lord has Made

So how do we get out of worry? I have good news: it can be done. God wouldn’t tell us not to worry if it wasn’t possible. The Bible tell us not to worry, and it tells us how to trust God and get out of worry.

I learned something very interesting about ships. To keep water from flooding the entire ship, the captain can pull a lever, closing doors and locking them, isolating a flooded section. That keeps the water from flowing into the rest of the ship and sinking.

One of the keys to getting out of worry is to live in today. Just like a ship, we need to seal off worry from the present. You see people all around you fussing and fretting, going around in a circle of worry. They haven’t locked it up.

Worry about the past? Lock it up. Worry about the future? Lock it up. We can’t control it anyway.

Focus on today. I love how the Psalmist puts it:

This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

Keeping a “today” mentality is a very important key. Life is fragile but today is a wonderful gift from God. If you spend it worrying about what has already happened or what might happen next, you will drown in a spiral of things you cannot control.

We may not feel glad. We may not feel like thanking God for the day. Do it anyway. When I get up in the morning, I begin with: “Thank you, God, for the gift of this day.”

2026-02-19T11:39:08-07:00April 20th, 2026|

Cast all My Cares on Him

…For I know he cares for me

Has your heart been carrying around unnecessary burdens and anxieties? First Timothy 1:1 tells us that Jesus Christ is our hope. If you are troubled by worries or fear, you should ask yourself the same question that David rebuked his burdened heart within Psalm 43:5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? Don’t be cast down and lose hope! Paul said that Jesus Christ is the hope of your glory (Colossians 1:27). Focus your thoughts upon Him, and He will keep your heart in “perfect peace.”

Psalm 16:7-11 gives you a beautiful prescription showing how you can unburden your heart:

I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved [troubled]. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. 10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Unburden your heart today: CAST ALL your cares on Him!

2026-05-05T13:26:17-06:00April 13th, 2026|

Purpose and Power

Everything Has Its Time

To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

When God opens doors of favor, there is always a purpose.  Ruth’s favor saved her family lineage and put their names in the genealogy of Christ. The servant girl’s favor brought healing to her master. Esther’s favor saved all of the Jews living in Persia.  Abigail’s favor changed the outcome of a major conflict that could have brought death to her entire household.

God’s purpose is always much bigger than you could ever anticipate or dream.  God has a purpose for everyone reading this.  Nobody is an accident because we’re all created in the image of God. So, when God begins to move in your life and give you favor, know that He has a purpose for your favor. He gives favor not just to bless you or make people like you. It’s not just to make you feel warm and good. He’s got a powerful, long-term purpose for that favor. Even in your smallest circumstances, God could be cooking up something that has a purpose far beyond what you can imagine or expect.

  • Which Bible story about favor resonates most with you—Ruth, Esther, Abigail, or the servant girl? What does their story teach you about God working behind the scenes?
  • What small circumstance in your life right now might God be using for a bigger purpose?
  • What steps can you take this week to align yourself with God’s purpose in your current season?
2026-02-19T11:14:19-07:00April 6th, 2026|

Your Inheritance in Jesus

A lot of people wonder, “What happens after we die?”

As children of God, we have a preview of what to expect. We know that even though we die, we will live eternally. The truth of this is illustrated in the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

David foretold the ascension in Psalm 68:18: “You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, even from the rebellious, that the Lord God might dwell there.” David even saw what would go on in heaven when Jesus ascended there: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’” (Psalm 110:1). Jesus Himself told His followers He would ascend and return to His Father (John 6:62; 14:28; 16:5; 20:17).

Jesus was taken up into heaven while His disciples looked on. He was literally raptured! “He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:50-51).

Prior to His ascension, Jesus appeared on earth for 40 days. In the Old Testament, the number 40 often relates to preparation or testing. During the flood of Noah, rain fell for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7:12). Moses was on the mountain for 40 days before receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28). Elijah’s 40-day journey to Mt. Horeb prepared him for a deeper encounter with God (1 Kings 19:8). The Israelites wandered in the wilderness 40 years, and God prepared a new generation to take the promised land (Joshua 5:6).

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness, fasting and being tempted by the devil in preparation for His earthly ministry (Luke 4:1-2). Later, He appeared on earth for 40 days following His resurrection (Acts 1:3). He was preparing for His greatest ministry: to sit at the Father’s right hand and intercede for us.

When Jesus led His disciples to Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them before He ascended. A blessing of victory went with raised hands. The Israelites were victorious in battle as long as Moses’ hands were raised (Exodus 17:11). Also, when the high priest blessed the people, he lifted up his hands (Leviticus 9:22). So Jesus, our great High Priest, lifted up His hands and blessed His disciples. He didn’t want them to be defeated; and He doesn’t want you to be defeated, either! He is in heaven, interceding for you (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:25; 9:24).

Scripture tells us: “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Clouds are usually present when heaven and earth touch. In Exodus, a cloud guided the Israelites through the wilderness, descended on Mt. Sinai, and filled the Tabernacle once it was complete (13:21-22, 24:15-18, 40:34-38). When Solomon’s temple was dedicated, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, and the priests were unable to stand in the glory of God (1 Kings 8:10-11). Jesus was taken up into the clouds because God was going to touch the earth with His presence in a special way.

On Pentecost, 120 of His followers were baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). Jesus went up and the Holy Spirit came down and touched the earth and is still working here today! Through the work of the Spirit, the church produces fruit in God’s kingdom. In John 16:7, Jesus said it was for our advantage that He go away. We profited not only through Jesus’ death and resurrection, but also His ascension because now the Holy Spirit works through us. As a Christian, sin and death no longer rule us because Jesus rose from the dead. He sent us the gift of the Holy Spirit and a seat with Himself in heavenly places! (Ephesians 2:4-6)

2026-02-12T14:29:02-07:00March 30th, 2026|

I Am the Answer

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). This verse is from a portion of Scripture where Jesus is preparing His disciples for His death. In chapter 13, He washes their feet and here He is leaving His final words with them. He tells his friends that He is going before them to prepare a place for them. The apostle Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Jesus responds to his worries by saying “I am the way!”

Family, how many times do we overthink the blessings of God? Jesus is telling his friends that there is a place for them, that He is preparing a blessing for them in the future! This is a good thing, a gift from Him. But Thomas is confused. He doesn’t know what Jesus means and He is uncomfortable with not knowing. He doesn’t want to miss out on any of the blessings that God has for him, so he asks Jesus for some clarification.

I imagine that Thomas wanted Jesus to tell him one of two things. Either to describe the details of the place Jesus was preparing for him, or a step-by-step list on how to get there. Instead, Jesus says “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Thomas wanted an easy answer. He wanted Jesus to tell him what to do, when to do it, and what was on the other side. Instead, Jesus refocused him. “It’s all about me!” He said, “I am the way, you don’t need to do anything else except know Me!”

How many times have you wanted Jesus to give you answers to your questions. “Jesus, what should I do for my next job? Jesus when will I get healed of this-or-that? Jesus, will my friends ever turn back to you?” These are questions that have answers, and it would be easy for Jesus to give us a simple answer. However, more often than not, He reminds us of who He is. Jesus is the answer. He knows it all, sees it all, and can do anything. So, when He responds to our questions and says, “Just be with me,” that is the most comforting thing He could say. How relieving is it to know that Jesus is the way? I think about all the different ways that I’ve failed, and I am filled with comfort knowing that it’s not by my own strength.

The next time you feel overwhelmed with your situations and all the “Jesus, why?” questions start to crowd your mind, remember, He is the answer. Take rest in Him. Know that He is the way, and He will get you through.

2026-03-24T11:21:29-06:00March 25th, 2026|

Ask Marilyn-Feelings & Attitudes

Q. What are “soul ties” and how do they hinder the Christian walk?

A. A soul tie, or bonding between two individuals, may be formed by shared experiences or by similar mental likes and dislikes. Some people in the New Age Movement use this term, and there may be many different definitions possible. In our Christian walk a soul ties may simply be the strong affection that links a mother and her children. This type of bond may hinder a parent-child relationship if the mother is unwilling to “release” her child to develop adult skills and responsibilities. The mother may also become so bound up in her child’s life that all her waking hours are spent in fear and worry over what the child is doing while away from home. Emotional dependency of this kind is not good. We must always be dependent on the Lord.

Soul ties can also be formed through sexual relationships. The Scripture warns that this type of bond outside of the marriage union is a sin against your own body and literally defiles the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:15-20).

Q. Where is the line between murmuring, which is displeasing to God, and asking, which is our God-given privilege?

A. The fine line between murmuring and asking is an attitude of the heart. God desires to give us answers to our questions, and these answers will always be in line with His Word. Murmuring is complaining! When we murmur and complain, we reveal a lack of gratitude and faith in God to change circumstances or to provide what is needed (Exodus 14:10-14). Murmuring is a very serious sin which opens us up to satanic attack (Numbers 11:1; Psalm 77:3; 1 Corinthians 10:10).

Q. I have an overwhelming problem with jealousy. It is so ugly, and it is practically killing me. Can you help me conquer this?

 A. The Bible says that jealousy is as cruel as the grave (Song of Solomon 8:6). Jealousy motivates revenge and can cause you many problems unless you repent. The only way you can overcome jealousy is to go to God and ask Him to help you with your problem. God guarantees in His Word that is we resist the devil he will have to flee (James 4:7). As you feel this spirit of jealousy trying to overtake you, speak out loud, “Jealousy, I resist you in Jesus’ name.” Remember the root of jealousy is fear, and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Q. I have heard you say we are not to take up another’s offense. Is there a scripture reference to support this statement?

A. Proverbs 26:17 gives us advice about keeping out of someone else’s quarrel. In the Amplified Bible it reads, “He who, passing by, stops to meddle with strife that is not his business is like one who takes a dog by the ears.”

Q. How are Christian the salt of the earth?

A. Salt contains three qualities: it preserves or purifies, it seasons, and it causes one to be thirsty. As Christians we are to do all three of these things if we are to be the salt of the earth. It is the light of our testimony and our holy walk with the Lord which will preserve and sanctify the cities and nations in which we live. Jesus in a Christian’s life makes life worth living. We are seasoning—and Jesus is our “spice of life!” It is our relationship with the Lord which will cause others to be thirsty for the “living water”—Jesus Christ.

2026-02-04T08:43:03-07:00March 23rd, 2026|

Don’t be a Yo-Yo Christian

But let him ask [for wisdom] in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind…he is a double-minded, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6, 8)

“I feel like a yo-yo Christian,” wrote one of my readers. “One day I’m up and the next day I’m down.” He’s not alone.  Yo-yo Christians are believers who waver between winning today and losing tomorrow.  On the other hand, consecrated Christians overcome defeat by getting a strong grip on God and letting Him pull them through every situation.

Lot was a yo-yo believer.  Even though the Bible calls him a righteous man, Lot’s level of consecration was at ground zero!  He was what James 1:8 calls “a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” One consequence of being a yo-yo Christian is the likelihood of making foolish choices.  Lot’s troubles began when he foolishly chose to do his own thing rather than follow the godly leadership of Abram.

When Lot moved to Sodom, he “was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked” (2 Peter 2:7).  I believe the vulgar lifestyle of the Sodomites further eroded Lot’s consecration.  Similarly, the current culture in America is also eroding many Christians’ consecration.  Lot at Lot’s reaction when the Sodomites demanded that he hand over God’s angels.  Did Lot say, “God, these are your angels, I trust you to protect us all from evil”? No! Lot was on the downswing of the yo-yo; and although he may have been spiritual enough to know that he was entertaining angels, Lot didn’t trust God’s provision for the situation.  Instead, he acted out of his own reasoning and tried to bargain with the mob (see Genesis 19).

Yo-yo Christians soon lose the ability to discern spiritual things.  Do you remember what happened in Genesis 14 when Lot was taken hostage by Chedorlaomer’s army?  Lot had no spiritual discernment.  He couldn’t see that God wanted to use this hostage situation as an opportunity to move Lot and his family back to Canaan.  So, when Abram and his army of 318 servants pursued Chedorlaomer, defeated him, and rescued the hostages, Lot took his family right back to Sodom.

Yo-yo Christians make all kinds of excuses for their carnal behavior; drinking alcoholic beverages certainly compounded Lot’s misery (see Genesis 19:32-38).  Mentally and emotionally, Lot was probably at his lowest ebb.  Driven from Sodom, he may have had a pity party.  “Oh, poor me! I have lost everything: my lovely wife, my position at the gate of the city, my beautiful home with the two-donkey garage.  One drink won’t hurt!” So, Lot took a drink.  In fact, Lot got drunk; and while he was in a drunken stupor, his daughters committed incest with him. Yuck!

Although Lot knew God, his relationship with God had become distant and cold.  This condition is present in many believers’ lives today.  They may love God, but they have failed to wholly consecrate their lives and enter into an intimate relationship with Him.  If that describes you; tomorrow we will look at how you can consecrate yourself and be set free from the yo-yo syndrome.  For now, prepare for your consecration and pray with me:

Dear Lord, I’m tired of living a yo-yo life.  I repent of my unstable ways and want
to be a consecrated Christian.  I believe you will guide me and correct me in all
my ways, so that I can be a righteous Christian.  In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Today’s blog is an excerpt from Marilyn’s 101-day devotional, Beautiful Inheritance.

2026-05-07T07:53:48-06:00March 16th, 2026|

Exercise Your Faith

When we want to get our bodies in shape and keep them that way, it takes exercise—and a lot of it.  Exercise is important to developing physical fitness, but it’s even more important to develop our spiritual fitness.

First Corinthians 12:10 tells us that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the discerning of spirits.  To discern means “to know the difference between good and evil,” and discernment only comes with practice.

Spiritual discernment was given to the Church to help us distinguish between evil spirits, our human spirit, and the Holy Spirit.  Hebrews 5:14 tells us we learn to discern through exercise:  “…who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (NKJ).  Exercise is practice.  The more you practice and build your spiritual muscles, the better you become at discerning between good and evil.  In your daily life, you need to learn to discern by the Spirit of God.

Discerning Matters of the Heart

Sometimes a situation can look bad even though the motive of the heart is good, and at other times, a situation can look good when the motive of the heart is bad.  By exercising the discerning of spirits, you can learn to look beyond personality and see what is in the heart, which allows you to handle situations in such a way that God can set people free.

The best place to begin to exercise spiritual discernment is in your own heart (see Hebrews 4:12).  If you apply the Word to your own heart, then you can discern your own spirit, which is good exercise for discerning the spirit of others.

The crippled man in Lystra was healed by God (see Acts 14:8-10) because Paul discerned that the man had faith to be healed, which made it possible for God to heal him.  If you exercise faith, then God can work a miracle in your life, too.

Elisha discerned a spirit of pride in Naaman the leper that would hinder him from receiving healing (see II Kings 5).  First, Naaman was upset by the reception he received when he went to Elisha; second, Naaman couldn’t believe that simply washing in the Jordan River could heal him; and third, Naaman thought he could pay Elisha to heal him.  When Naaman finally gave up his pride, he received his healing; and he received not only physical healing but healing in his heart attitude as well.  Elisha discerned this change of heart when Naaman asked for some of Elisha’s dirt to take home so he could kneel on it and worship God.  If you acknowledge God as your source, then the “pride of life” won’t be able to gain a foothold in your heart.

Read Between the Words

God also want us to be able to discern when evil spirits are working in a situation so we can take authority over them and stop them.  Paul dealt with many evil spirits in his ministry.  Once he came across a girl who had a spirit of divination.  It took Paul several days to discern the true spirit of the girl, because she was saying all the right things (see Acts 16:16-18).  When Paul finally discerned it, he spoke directly to the spirit and commanded it to leave her; and it left her that same hour.

You, too, need spiritual discernment “to read between the lines” and discover the heart’s motivation.  Then you can minister to people and let the truth set them free.  Don’t be discouraged if you aren’t able to discern good and evil right away.  Remember, it takes practice—but practice makes perfect.

Don’t Neglect Your Spirit Workout

Spiritual workouts develop your spiritual discernment, and discernment lets you know when it’s an evil spirit, the Holy Spirit, or your own human spirit.  Even if the devil send a demon to your door to get you, you can stand on God’s Word that you are complete in Jesus; “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians 2:15 (NKJ).

Let the devil know he came to the WRONG door, because you’ve been working out lately, and you have the victory in Christ Jesus.

2026-02-04T08:27:44-07:00March 9th, 2026|

God Is Always Leading Us

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  (Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV)

You must realize—and if you absorb this truth, it will change your life—God never leads His people aimlessly.  He always has a direction, a plan, a purpose.  He leads us with divine precision and accuracy, and always for good.

Keep your mind and heart tuned to the Great Shepherd’s voice and He will continually lead you into places of provision, security, restoration, and righteousness.

If you continue to follow Him, your family will be going somewhere, and that somewhere will be a place full of God’s promise and power.

2026-02-04T08:24:04-07:00March 2nd, 2026|

Ask Marilyn-Health and Healing

Q: Does God still heal people today? I’ve heard that physical healing was just for the first-century Church.

A: Yes, God still heals people today! I’ve heard that rumor about the first-century Church, too; but I can tell you that God loves us just as much as He loved those, Christians. Jesus’ final words to His disciples included this promise: “And these signs will follow those who believe; In My name they will cast out demons; …they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17, 18).

I’ve seen many, many healings take place, and I’ve experienced healing in my own body as well. It often takes consistency in prayer, standing on the Word, and persistent patience.

Sometimes people plant the healing “seeds” of God’s Word at an advanced stage of illness, and the death process is too far advanced for the life of God’s Word to manifest. It is important to plant God’s Word in our hearts before Satan ever tries to attack us with sickness so that the roots of sickness and disease will have no place in our lives. This is one reason people are sometimes no healed. There are many other reasons, and we don’t know each individual’s discouragement or level of faith for healing. The important thing is to remember that God’s Word is ALWAYS true, and the Word is our standard of truth.

The Scriptures are loaded with dynamite promises for healing. Among these promises are Exodus 15:26; Psalm 91; 103:3; Proverbs 4:20-23; Isaiah 53:4, 5; Malachi 4:2; Matthew 8:16, 17; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24; and 3 John 2.

Q: Marilyn, I heard you talking about daily health scriptures. What did you mean?

A: I’m sure you know that Jesus was anointed with power to heal those oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38); you may even be sure that healing is of God. Well, now I want to help you see that walking in divine health is even better! That’s why I take my daily dose of health scriptures—I speak scriptures that affirm the divine health that God wants for my life. Some scriptures that you can use for this purpose are Psalms 91:10; Proverbs 3:8; 4:20, 22; 16:24; and Romans 6:13.

As you confess scriptures like these, they are like a prescription of healing from the Lord. I know that these scriptures will not go forth in your life and return void; I am absolutely certain that they will produce health for you.

Q: I have prayed and prayed for healing, but I still have the symptoms of my disease. Why haven’t I been healed?

A: Sometimes when believers lay hands on sick people, the healing manifests instantly. It is a wonderful miracle; but when someone doesn’t recover immediately, it is important to keep your faith in God’s Word and not look at the symptoms.

When healing takes a period of time, it is important to understand that God’s Word works like a seed planted in your spirit. When you plant a carrot seed, you don’t run outside the next day expecting to pull carrots! It is sometimes necessary to stand in faith for a long time; but as you continue to stand, the day will come when healing is evident because the seed will have matured.

We know that all sickness and disease originated with the devil (Acts 10:38), and sometimes demonic personalities manifest various diseases or disorders in people. Nevertheless, believers have power and authority given by Christ to rebuke any such thing (Luke 10:18, 19). When you are praying for yourself or another, “cover all the bases” by coming against Satan and any demonic activity that may be present as well as speaking the healing Word of God to the body and soul. I know an evangelist who comes against all sickness, disease, and infirmity as though it comes directly from evil spirits; and he has unusual success. You do have the victory over all these things in the name of Jesus (1 John 3:8).

Q: Is it an indication of unbelief for me to follow the instruction of a physician and not lean solely on God?

A: First of all, God is your healer (Psalms 103:2, 3); and you should depend upon Him, through the promises of His Word, to perform healing on your behalf.

However, that does not mean that you are wrong to take advantage of a doctor’s knowledge. Jesus said that the sick has need of a physician (Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:17; and Luke 5:31). We need to use balance and wisdom in every area of our life, and I believe it is only good wisdom to use modern medicine to aid in the healing of our bodies.

I want to reiterate that all healing comes from God. Sometimes healing comes in a supernatural manner; sometimes it comes through the natural processes of healing with the assistance of the medical profession. Either way, the healing is from Him and He is to receive the glory for it.

2026-02-04T08:15:23-07:00February 23rd, 2026|

Favor for your Family

FAVOR FOR YOUR FAMILY

To me, Ruth is one of the sweetest books in the Bible.  It’s the eighth book of the Old Testament, and eight is the number of new beginnings.  In this chapter, I want you to see how a family can be blessed with tremendous favor, despite how their story may have started.

At the beginning of the book of Ruth, it says there was a famine in Israel, and a man named Elimelech and his wife Naomi, moved with their sons to the country of Moab.  Over the course of 10 years, Elimelech died, the two sons married Moabite women, and then the sons died.  After the deaths of her husband and two sons, Naomi decided to return to Israel, and she encouraged her daughter-in-law—Orpah and Ruth—to return home to their birth families”

But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands?  Turn back, my daughters, so—for I am too old to have a husband.  If I should say I have hope, if I should have a husband tonight and should also bear sons, would you wait for them till they were grown?  Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”

Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.

And she said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” (Ruth 1:11-15)

This is where the story of Ruth really begins.  No matter how much Naomi implored her, Ruth refused to leave, saying:

“Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my god.  Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.  The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17).

Now, the Moabites were a cursed people, first, because they were born out of incest, and second, because they worshiped an idol called Chemosh.  But when Ruth said to Naomi, “I want your God to be my God,” the power of blessing came onto a family lineage that could have been very cursed, Ruth dropped her idolatry, the curse was broken, and the blessings of God were really upon her.

Ruth and Naomi ended up back in Bethlehem, but Naomi was very whiny.  When the people call her “Naomi,” she says, “Oh, don’t call me Naomi, call me Mara, because God has dealt so bitterly with me” (Ruth 1:20), I think, Lady, it wasn’t God that made the decision to move to Moah.  You and your husband made that decision, and you shouldn’t have.  But isn’t that how we are sometimes?

“Oh God, why did you do this?”

“Well, why did you make the wrong decision?”

So, Naomi was quite negative upon returning to Bethlehem, but they returned right at the time of the barley harvest, and Ruth went to glean in the fields after the harvesters. She ended up in the field of Boaz, who was related to Naomi’s dead husband.  When Boaz’s servants told him about Ruth, he said to her

“You will listen, my daughter, will you not?  Do not go to glean in another field, nor go from here, but stay close by my young women.  Let your eyes be on the field which they recap, and go after them.  Have I not commanded the you men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.”

So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

And Boaz answered and said to her, “It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before. The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

Then she said, “Let me find favor in your sight, my lord; for you have comforted me, and have spoken kindly to your maidservant, though I am not like one of your maidservants.”

Now Boaz said to her at mealtime, “Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar.” So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back.  And when she rose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her.  Also, let grain from the bundles fall purposely for her; leave it that she may glean, and do not rebuke her.” (Ruth 2:8-16)

This is the first place where we really see the favor of God on Ruth.  Boaz gives her food, water, and a safe place to glean.  Then, in chapter three, Naomi tells Ruth to meet Boaz at the threshing floor, lay at his feet, and ask him to be her kinsman-redeemer.  Here, her favor increases even more with Boaz, and he says:

“Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich.  And now, my daughter, do not fear.  I will do for you all that you request, for all people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.  Now it is true that I am a close relative; however, there is a relative closer than I.  Stay this night, and in the morning, it shall be that if he will perform the duty of a close relative for you—good; let him do it.  But if he does not want to perform the duty for you, then I will perform the duty for you, as the Lord lives! Lie down until morning.” (Ruth 3:10-13)

Becoming a kinsman-redeemer was quite a thing for a man to do.  First, he had to take the widow, in this case Ruth, to be his wife.  Then, he had to have enough money to buy the land that would belong to her family and pay off any debts that were owed.  Finally, their children would have to bear the name of her deceased husband.  A lot of men wouldn’t have wanted to do this.  But Ruth had favor with Boaz, and he took her as his wife.

In Ruth 4:11-12, all of the people who were there said, “We are witnesses.  The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring which the Lord will give you from this young woman.”

This transaction was a very spiritual thing.  These witnesses understood that this was not just a man buying some land that belonged to a dead relative.  They also understood that this was not just a man taking a wife and making a promise that he would raise up seed in the dead relative’s name.  they understood that they were to bless that home and the family lineage that would come out of it with favor.  I want you to look again at verses 11 and 12.

“The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel…May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah…” (vv. 11-12). Now wait a minute.

Rachel and Leah bore the 12 sons that became the 12 tribes of Israel.  I would be out of their household, the tribe of Judah in fact, that the Messiah would come. Now how can Ruth be blessed like that? She’s a Moabite. She’s not in that lineage.  But they said, “Bless her so that her lineage will be like Rachel, Leah, and Tamar.”

Ruth and Boaz had a son who was the grandfather of King David.  But that’s not the end of it.  Ruth shows up in the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:5. Where did it start? With Ruth refusing to leave Naomi, and committing herself to Yahweh, the Hebrew God.  Ruth took care of her mother-in-law and submitted herself not just to the authority of God but also to Naomi’s authority when she impressed upon Ruth the need for Boaz to become their kinsman-redeemer. Finally, when the witnesses blessed the entire household, and there was favor upon the family line.

Did you know that you also have a kinsman-redeemer? Jesus Christ. He came in the flesh to redeem us, he paid for our debts on the cross, and he became our bridegroom.  When we become the bride of Jesus Christ, we become co-heirs with Him, and His blessings come to us. And we pass that on to our spouses, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  Talk about favor!

Remember how I mentioned that the book of Ruth is the eighth book in the Bible, and eight is the number of new beginnings? Well, I believe that reading this book and putting into practice what you will learn is a new beginning of favor for you and your family that will last for generations!

2026-01-06T07:47:36-07:00February 16th, 2026|

God Will…Recover…Restore…Reclaim What Rightfully Belongs to You!

Whatever the enemy has planned against you, God’s going to reverse it!  When God declares a season of recovery, restoration, and reclamation, everything that’s been kept from you—regardless of the reason—can come back to you!  “…I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD you God…” Joel 2:25, 26 (NKJ).

We sense in our hearts that it is time to catch the thief and for you to receive a seven-fold return on everything that’s been stolen, ripped-off, and wrongfully taken from you!  Just as it says in Proverbs 6:31 (NKJ), “Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold….”

Are you ready to get your stuff back?  I earnestly believe the Lord wants you to recover and regain what the enemy has stolen.  The Lord first planted this seed in my heart when I read the account of David in a place called Ziklag.  It was truly one of David’s darkest hours.  (See 1 Samuel 30).

The word Ziklag means “overwhelming despair.”  The cause of David’s despair was the fact that while he and his men were out doing battle, the enemy came into his town—burned it to the ground—and took everything!  David and his men came home to a gruesome discovery.  Every woman, every child…every possession had been carried off by the enemy.

David did two things, in the face of these overwhelming circumstances.

FIRST, he “…encouraged himself in the LORD…” 1 Samuel 30:6 (NKJ)  He didn’t try to encourage himself by what he saw; he turned to the Lord instead.  Just like I’m going to ask you to turn to the Lord with me.

SECOND, he prayed, sought the Lord’s leading, and stepped out in faith.  Then he pursued the enemy by faith and corresponding action.

God honored David’s steps of faith.  I just love what happened next:  “So David recovered all…And nothing of theirs was lacking…sons or daughters, spoil, or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered ALL…” 1 Samuel 30:18, 19 (NKJ).  They not only recovered all their possessions…they also gained all the possessions of the enemy.

Would you like to recover ALL and more?  Have you been praying and asking God for a “word” or indicator of what you should do?  This may be exactly what you need.  Today could be the supernatural turning point in some area of your life, when you pursue by faith what’s been stolen from you!

Please remember that Jesus always asks you to do something to put your faith into action.  If you never step out, you will never walk on the waters of your troubled sea with Jesus.

2026-01-06T07:17:11-07:00February 9th, 2026|

Extravagant Love!

I think it’s the most important message of your whole life, the outrageous love of God. You know, we say, well, God is love. That’s true, no question, but he has outrageous love don’t you agree? And I see it more and more in my life.

I don’t think we can ever know or say enough about God that God is love. Now. I like this John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave. His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. How do we know that? Because God is love. The second thing I want you to see is that his love is everlasting. I think a lot of times we think, well, I’m disappointing to God. You know, I failed him. I didn’t read my Bible. I didn’t pray. You know, I got involved in all kinds of adultery, drugs, alcohol, whatever.

But I like what Jeremiah says. He says his love is everlasting. Look at Jeremiah 31:3, Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with lovingkindness I have drawn you. So how long does his love last is everlasting? So his love doesn’t run out. That is so wonderful to me. I’m very interested in Jeremiah because when Jesus came, they said to him, are you Jeremiah? What a compliment people would think you’re Jeremiah. What was it that Jeremiah showed? He showed love.

When you come to Jeremiah, I mean, this guy is really persecuted by the people. I mean, they throw him in a prison. They throw him in a pit. They don’t give him any food. A man named Ebed-Melech puts rags down and drags him out, or he would have died there. And yet he says, his love is everlasting.  Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, said you can come with us to you know, Babylon, or you can stay here with the people who were people who couldn’t do very much. And he said, I want to stay with the people. And he stayed with the people.

How could he do that? Because he knew the everlasting love of God. And when you read, and this is so beautiful where he says, you know, His mercies are new every morning.  When I get up in the morning, I say, good morning, father, good morning, Jesus, good morning Holy spirit. This is your beloved. Marilyn. You say, how do you know you’re His beloved? He says that it is over 42 times in the new Testament.  You can believe that.  Say I’m his beloved and his love is everlasting.

I got out of it out of sync, but he loves me out of sync. Why? Because his love is everlasting. Now I don’t think many people, many Christians recognize that his love is everlasting. So let’s just talk about the rich young ruler. Remember him, you know, Jesus says when he saw him, he loved him. So Jesus didn’t love him by what he did. And Jesus just loved him period. The rich young ruler said to him, “You know I do everything. I keep all the law. I really do everything because he thought he was loved by what he did. And Jesus said, okay, you keep all the law, then sell all you have and give it to the poor and come follow me. Now. I don’t know if you know the richness of that, that rich young ruler could have been the 13th disciple.

Cause he said, come follow me. You didn’t do that to anyone else. And the rich young ruler said, I can’t do that. Cause he didn’t recognize how great Jesus’ love was for him. And I think folks, sometimes we think he half loves us. Well, you know, he loves me when I’m good, but he’s mad at me when I’m bad. He loves this. He loves that, but it says his love. And that’s why I called it outrageous love. Nobody loves you like Him. It says his love is how long everlasting.  It’s an everlasting love that we’re involved with.

Now. I look at the prodigal son, and I see in Luke 15, the example of the father, the father’s love. So the prodigal son comes once everything, the father can give him, that’s his inheritance. In other words, he’s saying to the father, you won’t die soon enough for me to get it.

So give it to me now. So it doesn’t show much love. And he leaves with his inheritance, and he spends it all and ends up in a pig pen. But the thing that is key is that he still knew his father loved him because he said, I can go home and live better than this. And you know, my father, even has slaves, he treats better than this. And I blew it, but I can go home and his right because the father saw him coming. I love Luke 15. I just love it because he was looking for him to come home and you see, he looks for us to come home.  And when the son gets home, what does he do? He has a party. And I think God is very party conscious when somebody gets saved.

God loves parties because parties show love. You know, we, we care about that person. So we have a party for them. So he has a party. Why? Because God loves us. And he has a party for us and stand waiting. And to me that’s outrageous love. I just can’t believe anyone would love me like that. And they don’t, but God does. God loves me with an outrageous love. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins. This is interesting that God’s love, covers all your sins.

The love of God is not just one love it’s Purim. So it’s the loves of God. So we get all kinds of love. He loves us when we blow it. He loves us. When we feel sick, he loves us. When we’re poor, he loves us. When people think we’re stupid, he loves us.

He has many kinds of love. And if you will just let him talk to you and love you, whatever it is just know, he loves me. Why? Because His love is extravagant.  Even Jeremiah said, his love is new every morning.  And then I go through the things that he’s done that day. And I just think, your love is so extravagant.

2025-12-31T10:33:06-07:00February 2nd, 2026|

Ask Marilyn

Prophecy and the End Times

Q: Where are we now in relation to the Bible’s prophetic timetable?

A: Daniel 9:25-27 is one of the best prophetic “timetables” we have. Each week in the prophecy equals seven years for a total of 490 years. Sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years, were to transpire from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah appeared—an event which is historically verifiable. The last “week” or seven-year period is the Tribulation. We are presently in between the 69th and 70th week of this prophecy, a “break” in which God is dealing primarily with the Gentiles before resuming His plan for the Jews.

No one but God knows when Daniel’s 70th week will begin; however, we are told to “occupy” until the Lord returns (Luke 19:13). This word occupy means “to trade in business”; therefore, we are to be about our Father’s business until Jesus returns.

Q: When will the Tribulation take place?

A: There is much discussion among believers today as to whether the Tribulation will take place before or after the Rapture of the Church. I believe that it is very important that we not let the devil divide us on this subject. It is interesting to discuss and study the scriptures about end-time events; however, it is absolutely vital that we not forget Christ’s commandment to love one another.

Christians are to be ready for the moment when Jesus comes back for us. Our lives and hearts are to line up with God’s Word, and we must walk in holiness and love toward one another. Only God knows the exact timing of Christ’s Second Coming.

Q: What is the Rapture? I can’t find the word in my Bible.

A: The word “rapture” is not in the Bibe. However, I Thessalonians 4:13-18 does clearly state in the Greek that believers will be “caught up” to be with Christ. Whatever you call it, the Scriptures teach it.

There is much discussion about the Rapture and when it will occur. People who believe in a pre-Tribulation rapture base this belief on references from II Thessalonians 2:6,7 (NAS): “And you know what restrains him [the Antichrist] now, so that in his time he may be revealed… only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”  This view states that the one restraining the Antichrist at this time is the church. Revelation 3:10 and the parable of the bridegroom are also cited as proof of a “pre-trib” rapture.

Revelation 14:14-16 seems to indicate a rapture at the midpoint of the Tribulation. Those who believe in a post-Tribulation rapture, one occurring at the end of the Tribulation, base their stand on Matthew 24:13-31.

Quite frankly, your salvation does not depend on what you believe about the Rapture. It does depend on what you believe about Jesus Christ. There are many fascinating books on end-time events but be sure as you read and study that you do not lose sight of the eternal life which is yours through believing in Jesus as your personal Savior.

Although I personally believe the Rapture will be pre-Tribulation, I refuse to argue or have any contention or strife over this subject. I believe the Body of Christ has been called into unity, and it is important to know that we all agree that Jesus is coming!

Q: Could you explain to me what the coming revival is all about?

A: The word “revival” means a lot of different things to different people, depending on your denominational background and upbringing. Perhaps you are referring to the outpouring that has been prophesied in the latest renewal that God has brought upon the earth. In this outpouring, Joe 2 prophesies that the Spirit of the Lord will be poured out upon all flesh and great miracles, signs, and wonders will take place in order to bring in the final harvest before Christ’s return.

I believe that this revival will also see believers doing the “greater works” that Jesus promised we would do (John 14:12). Jesus’ prayer in John 17 indicates to me that a time is coming when we will see a greater oneness and anointing on the Body of Christ than ever before— “that the world may know” about our Lord.

Q: Marilyn, do you really believe that the end is near—that Jesus’ coming is imminent?

A: Yes, I do believe that we are living in the end times, and that Jesus will soon return for the Church in what we call the Rapture. That event will usher in the seven years of Tribulation, then Jesus will return to earth. All the end-time prophecies indicate this, that is why I am busy covering the earth with His Word.

Q: How many beasts are there in the book of Revelation and what do they represent?

A: There are four beasts or living creatures described in Revelation 4:6-9. This passage is very similar to Ezekiel 1:10. I believe these four living creatures reflect the nature of God. The four gospels present Jesus as man (Luke), a lion (Matthew), an ox (Mark), and as an eagle (John).

In Revelation 13 two more beasts are introduced. These beasts are definitely not of God. Revelation 13:1 describes the Antichrist while verse 11 deals with the false prophet who will do signs and wonders with the Antichrist.

2025-12-31T10:37:33-07:00January 26th, 2026|

Integrity of the Heart

The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. (Proverbs 11:3)

God wants you to be blessed in your health, relationships, finances, and in every area in which you have need.  Sometimes we miss God’s blessing because we try to cover up our shortcomings or hidden sins.  But God will bless the person who openly confesses and forsakes the gray areas within their heart.  The Bible calls that person full of “integrity,” and that’s the kind of person God wants you to be.

God wants us to be completely transparent with Him so that He can dispel any darkness we may try to hide.  If there’s some secret sin you’re covering up, allow the Lord to cleanse your heart from any defilement so that you can begin to enjoy the benefits of integrity.

Integrity will guide you: “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them” (Proverbs 11:3). Sin in our lives will block God’s directions for making right choices.  Clear up any sin that may be hindering you from receiving God’s instructions and godly wisdom.  Integrity of the heart will make it easy for God to speak to you and make a straight path before you to follow.

Integrity will preserve and uphold you: “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:21).  David knew that the benefits of integrity were long-lasting.  In addition, your personal integrity will be evident to those around you, and it will be a protection in times of need.  Look at Job.  Even God commented on his integrity after he had lost everything he had, except a nagging wife (see Job 2:1-10).

He was so intent on maintaining his integrity that when he was defending his righteousness, he said, “Let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity” (Job 31:6).  In the end, God upheld him in his circumstances, and he was preserved.

Integrity will bless you.  I believe that Christians don’t have to be poor because God wants to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).  And look at what Proverbs 19:1 says: “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse in his lips and is a fool.” Do you see how important integrity is to God?  God says it’s better to have integrity and be poor than to have everything and be living in darkness.

It’s okay to go to God with some dark spots in our hearts; He doesn’t expect us to wait until our hearts are perfect before we approach Him.  Let Him cleanse away the sin and darkness and set you free.  Walking in integrity will allow God to bless you!

Today’s blog post is from Marilyn’s Winning the Battle Every Day book. For more information, please visit https://www.winningthebattleeveryday.org/

2025-12-31T10:37:03-07:00January 19th, 2026|

Daily Prayer Pattern

Prayer—when you know how—is one of the most exciting and well-spent activities you can do!

Jesus taught us a manner of prayer in the Lord’s Prayer.  But the Holy Spirit has shown me that Jesus also taught us the Lord’s Prayer as an outline.  The Holy Spirit has shown me that we are to expand on that outline with His guidance.  He wants to participate in our prayer and make it specific in our day.  He wants it to touch us and others in very personal ways.

The Lord’s Prayer consists of six parts that correspond to major areas of your life.  Listed in this pamphlet are those six parts, as well as things the Holy Spirit may quicken to you within each area for your personal prayers.

The time you spend on each section of prayer will vary from day to day, according to your needs and the leading of the Holy Spirit.  I recommend that you pray all the way through the entire Lord’s Prayer each day, even if you have to finish it later in the day.

1 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name” (Matthew 6:9b NKJV).

Use this first part of your prayer get in tune with the Holy Spirit for your day.  Thank God that because of the hallowed name of Jesus Christ:

  • You have been forgiven of sin.
  • You have been cleansed with Christ’s blood.
  • You have a new nature of righteousness.
  • You have the Holy Spirit to lead you.
  • You have healing.
  • You have victory!

Because of the name of Jesus, you have the provision for your every need.

2 “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10 NKJV).

Now pray that the work of God’s kingdom will be active in these areas of your life:

  • Your relationship with God.
  • Your relationship with spouse, children, and any other family member.
  • Your job/ministry.

You can also pray each of the above for your family members and their relationship with God, etc.  The Holy Spirit may lead you to pray for specific people, whether family, friends, or work associates.

3 “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11 NKJV).

Pray that you will receive:

  • The spiritual bread of revelation knowledge.
  • The physical bread of healing.
  • The material bread of finances.
  1. “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12 NKJV)

Ask God to show you where you have trespassed.

  • Ask God to forgive you for those parts of your life that have not lined up with His Word. Yield those parts of your life to Him.
  • Forgive others who have sinned against you.
  • If you have a difficult time forgiving, release the gift of forgiveness.
  1. “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13a NKJV)
  • Ask God to lead you away from temptation in the path of His perfect will for your day.
  • Pray that your family members and job/ministry will be delivered from evil before it even happens!

During your day if the devil tries to tempt you, say, “I have already been delivered from that temptation!”

  1. “For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13b NKJV)

Praise the Lord! And now, because you are a temple of prayer, the power of God will flow through your day.

2025-12-31T10:36:32-07:00January 12th, 2026|

Priceless Gift of Hope

Do you feel the challenges confronting you are more than you can handle? You don’t have to handle things by yourself. Lay your burdens on God’s shoulders. He has the strength and wisdom you need. He offers you the priceless gift of hope.

  1. Claim the Lord as your source of joy.

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)

  1. Ask God for a heart that is open to His love, encouragement, and discipline.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights. (Proverbs 3:11-12)

  1. Memorize and meditate on the Word.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16)

  1. Focus on Christ in you and the glory which He has prepared for you.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

  1. Hide the Word in your heart.

Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. (Psalm 119:11)

  1. Allow the Word of God to overcome the most impossible situations.

Through God we will do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies. (Psalm 108-13)

  1. Cry out to the Lord who alone has the perfect solution for your troubles.

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17)

  1. Praise God that you are a winner in Jesus.

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

  1. Allow the healing hope of the Lord to flow over you.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. (Ephesians 3:20)

  1. Ask God to give you a joyful heart which is good medicine.

A merry heart does good, like medicine. (Proverbs 17:22)

  1. Expect the Lord to make your bitter places sweet.

Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. (Exodus 15:25 NIV)

2025-12-31T10:36:00-07:00January 5th, 2026|

God in the Context of the Impossible

El Shaddai

Grace is like a blank check drawn upon the Bank of Heaven. However, a check is only as good as the person who stands behind it. To know that our grace check will cash, we need to find out Who the signer of the check is and discover if His “grace” reserves are adequate to our needs. The signer on your grace check is El Shaddai.

Over the centuries, God has used various methods to reveal Himself to mankind. In early times, even before Moses penned the first word of the Old Testament, God had begun to reveal Himself through His “names.” (Of course, the Bible is where God is most clearly revealed.) In our culture, an individual’s name can mean anything—or nothing—but in early times, names defined an individual. God used various names to describe Himself to ancient people.

In the Bible, there are some 20 names for God. Most people are familiar with the name Jehovah, which means “the revealing One” and refers to the intimate and very personal way God relates to us as a Father relates to His children.

Another name for God is El Shaddai, which means “He who is more than sufficient to meet your needs.” Abraham was the first person to meet God as El Shaddai. (El Shaddai is the God of the impossible, God of all grace, God of all miracles, God of all supply.)

When Abraham was 99 years old and his wife was 89, God came to them in the context of the impossible and told them they were going to have a child. Even in ancient times, when people lived longer lives, 89 and 99 years of age were too old to have a child. The situation sounded impossible! In the natural, it truly was impossible; however, no situation is hopeless for El Shaddai! Within a year’s time, baby Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah.

The name El Shaddai is used 48 times in the book of Job. Why does God manifest Himself as El Shaddai in this book? Because God was saying, through every step of Job’s trails—the loss of his fortune, his children, and his health— “I’m the God who can resolve your impossible situation. My grace is bigger than your loss. Your God is El Shaddai Who can meet ALL your needs.”

El Shaddai is knocking upon your door. He stands waiting for you to get past blame and guilt and to call upon His grace. God is “waiting in the wings” to take center stage in the tragedies of your life.

2025-11-05T10:53:08-07:00December 29th, 2025|

The Christmas Star

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalms 19:1

When Jesus was born, God Himself was incarnate. This was a tremendous moment. He became the physical image of God, his righteousness and the outbeaming of His glory. The face of Jesus carries all the beauty of heaven in it. The birth of Jesus is one of the most powerful moments in history.

So, it would make sense that the stars would announce his birth. The heavens shifted to declare His birth, rejoicing that the earth was blessed with the gift of Christ. The Christmas star was seen by the wisemen, and they immediately set out to find Jesus. They had heard from some of their wise counterparts about the prophecies surrounding the birth of the Messiah, so they set off. The star brought them to Jesus.

Matthew 2:9-11 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

The miracle of Jesus’s birth is extravagant. Creation itself rearranged itself to appropriately celebrate the most important birth in history. How are you celebrating the birth of Christ? We all have our traditions and Christmas is such a special time to celebrate, but what about in your own heart? We can put on a good show for our families, but in private, how do we respond to the truth of the miracle of His birth? The wisemen saw the star and they rejoiced, and then when they saw Jesus they fell down and worshipped Him. How are you responding? The miracle of Jesus’s birth should fill us with joy and cause us to worship Him. But, the wisemen were led to the Lord by the star. It was the evidence that they needed to believe in Christ.

What is your Christmas Star? What is the evidence of Jesus in your life that you can celebrate and remember to lead you into a heart of worship? I know for me, when I see my children and grandchildren serving the Lord, I am reminded of God’s goodness and His faithfulness, and I am so grateful to Him.

So, today, look around you? Where are the blessings of God that lead us to thanksgiving and worship?

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

2025-11-05T10:47:51-07:00December 22nd, 2025|

P.U.S.H.

Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar.  He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.  And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. (Revelation 8:3-4)

If I told you I have the answer to every problem in your life, wouldn’t you like to know what it is?  Well, it’s prayer! That’s because, without a good prayer life, we are powerless.

If you are praying and not getting answers, examine your prayer life.  If you just drop in on God once a week, it’s not going to work.  Only effective, fervent prayer will change things (see James 5:16).  Elijah’s prayers brought the widow’s son back to life (1 Kings 17:23), proclaimed a drought (1 Kings 17:1), and then three years later, called an end to the drought (1 Kings 18:41).

Prayer will give you purpose.  When your pray, your heart touches God’s heart, and you begin to pray God’s purpose.  God looks for somebody who will get in unity with Him.  It’s easy for us to tell Him everything that’s wrong with our government, church or family.  God’s not looking for gap finders—He has plenty of them!  He looking for gap-standers:  people who will stand in the gap with Him and pray His will.  Moses’s compassion for the people prompted him to stand in the gap for the Israelites when God threatened to wipe them out.  In fact, he said, “God, if you blot them out, then blot me out, too.” He prayed, and God spared them.

Our prayers are precious to God.  Look at Revelation 8:3-4:

Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar.

                He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all

                The saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.  And the

                smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God

                from the angel’s hand.

Prayers rise with the incense on the golden altar before the throne of God!  When we pray, it is sweet, smells good, and it goes up!  Our prayers activate God’s angels, and they move because we pray God’s Word.  God thinks our prayers are so important.  He puts them on a golden altar and says, “Mm, they smell good.”

When you pray God’s purpose, you will pray His provision to meet the need.  This is intercession, and intercession means “to come between.”  We can all intercede—we can pray and change things.  There are great examples of intercession in Nehemiah 2-4.  Nehemiah saved Jerusalem with his prayers.  Abigail interceded for her cruel husband and saved his life (1 Samuel 25).  Conversely, Isaiah 59:16 says that God looked and looked but found not one person to intercede.  God is looking for people who will stand in the gap.  What about you?  Can you stand in the gap for others so that God doesn’t have to look any further?

One last secret to an effective prayer life is P.U.S.H.—pray until something happens! Don’t give up! God doesn’t always work in our timing.  Sometimes it may seem He’s never going to answer.  That’s when the devil wants you to give up.  That’s when you have to P.U.S.H.!  What’s going to rescue you or your family? Pay your overdue bills? Heal you or your loved one? Your stubborn prayers! Prayer that never ceases changes things. So P.U.S.H.!

2025-11-05T10:31:28-07:00December 15th, 2025|

Set Your Pace…To Win Your Race!

Faith is Contagious

I want to show you how running alongside a positive role model can change people’s lives.  In spite of his trouble with Bath-Sheba, David ran his race well and is called a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22).  We all know the story of David and the giant, Goliath’s, but David was not the only giant killer in the Bible.  There was a man from Bethlehem named Elhanan who killed Goliath’s brother (II Samuel 21:19).  This was no coincidence because David was also from Bethlehem, and he had been a positive role model for Elhanan.  If Elhanan had set his eyes upon the giant—or upon all those losers in Saul’s army—then he would have paced himself with poor runners.  However, Elhanan chose David as his role model; and he allowed David’s giant faith in God to witness to him.  The results were that Elhanan’s faith soared; and like David, Elhanan became a giant killer too!

There were four more giants killed in addition to Goliath because of David’s faith and courage (II Samuel 21:15-22).  Elhanan, Abishai, Sibbechai, and Jonathan (David’s nephew) chose to pace themselves with David, so they all ran well and finished the race that God had set before them!  Why?  Because they ran along beside one of God’s winners!

What about you?  Are you weighted down because you have been hanging out with whiners—Christians who focus on their problems rather than on the problem-solver?  If so, then you need to change your pace and start running along with running Christians!  Complainers never run well; and if you pace yourself with them, pretty soon, you will not be running well either!  Find winning believers who are confessing the Word into their situations and who are walking in giant-killing faith.  Run with winners—not with the whiners!

What You Hear Affects Your Faith

The second area in which we believers need to “shape up” spiritually concerns what we hear.  Friends, we need to guard what comes into our spirits through our ears.  Second John 10 says, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him…”  When people knock at your door with false doctrine, don’t invite them in!

A pastor told me that his son was born again, but at age 16 he got in with a group of high school students who were involved in Satanism.  This pastor allowed his son to entertain his friends in their home—thinking they could win his son’s friends to the Lord.  Wrong thinking!  They didn’t win anyone; instead they lost their son to drugs for three years before Jesus began to deliver him!  You need to be very conscious of the things you hear and the things you allow your children to hear because wrong teaching causes you to take your eyes off Jesus!  Then, rather than running the race that God has set before you, you may find yourself on an entirely different course—on which leads to destruction!

Romans 16:17 says, “…note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.”  We might as well face it; there will be people in the Body of Christ who are divisive—until Jesus comes!  They will talk against the leaders, and they’ll talk against other Christians.  And if you’re hanging around them, when you turn your back—they will talk against you!

The Bible says that you should “mark” or “be aware” of these people; and instead of running with them, you should run the other way!  Why?  Because they are going to slow you down!  The power of life and death is in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21); so if you allow divisive words to seep into your spirit, then you are receiving death.  If you want to run well and finish your course, then find positive Christians to run with; and get away from gossips and critics fast!

Failure Is Not Final

Do you remember the story of the Samaritan woman at the well?  One day she “heard” the Word, she was born again, and immediately she began to run her race (John 4).  The Samaritan woman went back to the city and told everyone about Jesus.  As a result, those who heard her and went unto Jesus were saved!  Now those Samaritan men could have continued to align themselves with the evil custom of that day which prohibited dealings between Jews and Samaritans—even Jesus’ disciples were surprised when they saw Him talking with the Samaritan woman (John 4:27).  The Samaritan men also could have aligned themselves with the tradition which did not allow women to speak in public and silenced her.  If that wasn’t enough, they could have used her reputation as a reason to discount her as God’s “witness.”

But, thank God, they chose to receive God’s Word through that woman; and they paced themselves with God’s positive role model.  All those people began to run the race that God had set before them—simply because of one woman’s encounter with Jesus!

Acts 2 records that after receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the 120 “witnesses” spoke in other tongues.  They addressed the crowd in several different languages, witnessing to the wonderful works of God.  Peter preached the first Pentecostal message, and 3,000 people gladly received his words and were saved.  Wow!  That must have been some preaching!

Some of the people in that first altar call undoubtedly remembered that when Jesus hung on the Cross, all the disciples except John, ran out on Him—Peter even denied knowing Jesus altogether!  These people could have easily held on to this negative view of the disciples and mixed it with the Pharisee’s vain doctrines of legalism and tradition.  Instead, the 3,000 converts believed the positive Word they “heard” from Peter and began the race by pacing themselves with the witnesses God provided—and they ran well!

Take some time—right now—to examine what sort of witnesses your eyes are seeing—and what kind of confessions your ears are hearing.  Don’t allow yourself to be weighted down by negative people or circumstances.  Behold Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of your faith, so you can run your race well and finish your course.  Keep in mind that Jesus is a WINNER, and through Him you can win too!

2025-11-05T10:24:22-07:00December 8th, 2025|

A Seeking Heart

With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!  Psalm 119:10

Do you read your Bible with your head or with your heart?  Head knowledge provides information about what God wants, but heart knowledge inspires to serve Him.

God alone sees your heart, and your heart alone can see God.  When your heart cries out to God for His guidance and wisdom, God answers.  Our own free will often urges us to stray.  If you give your whole heart to God, holding nothing back of your own, then you will not want to stray.

Not only must we seek out the hidden treasure, but we must take the treasure and hide it in our hearts.  When you read God’s Word, according to Proverbs 2:10, “…wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul.”

If you seek God with your whole heart, with everything you have and are, then He will be there to strengthen and guide you.  He will help you to obey His commands; He will lead you on the righteous path.

Lord, give me a heart that seeks only You.

2025-11-05T10:17:18-07:00December 1st, 2025|

The Power of Thanksgiving

Heaven is a place of Thanksgiving.

Revelation 4:9 -Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever.

Jesus gave thanks during His two greatest miracles!

John 6:11 -Then Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples. And likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

John 11:41– They took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.”

Prayer with Thanksgiving!

Philippians 4:6 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

Thanksgiving with food

Romans 14:6 – He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord, he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and give God thanks.

Thanksgiving feeds faith!

Acts 27:35 Then he took bread and gave thanks to God before them all, and when he had broken it he began to eat.

Thanksgiving has rising power.

Daniel 6:10 – Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

Luke 17:12-19 (10 Lepers) – As He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers who stood afar off.  And they lifted up with voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” So, when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed, and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks.  One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, “praise God!” He fell to the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done. And he was a Samaritan. So, Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

2025-09-24T10:45:01-06:00November 24th, 2025|

Winning Through the Nature of the Lamb and Lion

The Lamb Nature

When John the Baptist announced that Jesus was the “Lamb of God,” I wonder if he realized the full significance of the statement. John was pointing to the perfect Lamb who would be sacrificed on Calvary. Though God had revealed to John earlier that the man upon whom he saw the Spirit descending and remaining would be the Son of God, John probably did a double take when he saw the Spirit upon Jesus, his own cousin.

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Lamb who was “…slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). God had the sacrifice of Jesus already settled in His mind before Jesus was ever born in Bethlehem. God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and that He would need to provide a Lamb for mankind’s redemption.

Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, the only Lamb whose death was final and acceptable to God as an atonement for the sins of man. He came to die and was raised from the dead to remove your sins, and when He did, He gave you a brand-new nature that doesn’t want to sin. John alluded to this new nature when he said that Jesus would take away the sins of the world. John didn’t live long enough to see what the Lamb of God would do in order to take away man’s sin, but by calling Him the Lamb of God, he indicated Jesus’s role in your salvation. Jesus is your savior, the Lamb of God. And now “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12).

The Lion Nature

But just being the Lamb of God wasn’t enough for a God who loves you so much that He sent His own son to die for you. The Bible also tells us that Jesus is the Lion of Judah because you need the nature of both a lamb and a lion.

The lion nature of Christ was represented in several ways in the Old Testament. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah—the largest tribe (Numbers 1:20-46). Whenever the Israelites moved in the wilderness, Judah led the way and, if necessary, led the fight as well. That’s because Judah represented the lion nature of Jesus.

Israel was also represented as a lion. When Balak asked Balaam to curse Israel, Balaam instead prophesied blessings upon Israel, which he called a lion (Numbers 23:24). In addition, Jerusalem was called “Ariel” in Isaiah 29:1. The word Ariel means “lion of God.”

As a Lamb, Jesus died to free you from the bondage of sin. As a Lion, all power in heaven and earth is given to Him. Jesus alone can give you the power to walk in this life in the fullness of what the Lamb purchased for you on the cross. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He indicated that God had done everything He was ever going to do for you.

Now, I don’t mean that God is never going to do anything else for you ever again. What I do mean is that He has already done it. That means your salvation is finished. No one else can do anything more to get you saved! It is finished! Your healing is finished. No one else has to take stripes on their back because Jesus already finished your healing for you! Your finances are finished because He became poor that you might be rich. Your relationships are finished because He came to heal the brokenhearted. The Lamb of God “finished” all your needs.

You can’t have His lion nature unless you first have His lamb nature. You have to be saved before you can grow and mature in the Lord. Jesus’s lamb nature gives you authority over the devil and all his evil wiles. It makes you very bold to do the works of the Lord.

Salvation is the lamb’s nature; the lion’s nature is manifested in power. When you take on the lion nature of Christ, you become “the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath” (Deuteronomy 28:13). You don’t need to hand your head down, drag around, and look pitiful because you have Jesus’s lion nature. God never intended for you to be a king and priest, and a victorious one at that!

I thoroughly enjoy being a lion! Proverbs 28:1 tells us, “… the righteous are bold as a lion.” Why? Because we have the real Lion inside! That means that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Lions are among the strongest of beasts and are often referred to as “the king of the jungle.” The Bible tells us they don’t run away from anything (Proverbs 30:30). Instead, the confront their enemies and prey with equal valor and strength. The lion in you wants you to take authority and “…trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19).

Psalm 91:13 says, “You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.” You’re supposed to walk on lions and snakes. I can hear you now: “Marilyn, that doesn’t make any sense. If we’re supposed to be lion-like, why would we tread on the lion?”

The answer is found in 1 Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” I put the keyword in bold: the devil is not a lion, but he sure ties to act like one. So, everyone who has a lion nature is supposed to stomp on that imposter.

There’s something about treading on the devil that really makes you feel like a lion king. When someone gets healed, I like to hear that “crunch” sound of the devil under my feet. One morning, we had a woman delivered from demons during a church service. She got up free and smiling, joyful in the Lord. I walked out of the service and thought, GRRRRRRRRR! Where’s another devil? I just want to crunch him good!

There is another aspect of the lion’s nature we need to consider. Jesus first came to earth as a lamb, but He’s coming back as a lion! Joe tells us He’s going to return at the time of the Antichrist. The Antichrist thinks he will be able to take over the whole world, but he’ll never be able to rule the whole world. Leaders like Napoleon and Hitler have tried and failed—miserably. There is only one who will assume control over the earth, and He is going to “roar” out of Zion to do so:

The Lord also will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. (Joel 3:16)

Now, lambs don’t “roar,” do they? So, who is coming back? It must be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will defeat the Antichrist, take the title deed of the earth, and set up His kingdom forever. Remember the words one of the elders in heaven spoke to John: “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5).

After God casts Satan and the fallen angels out once and for all, there will be a great exclamation in heaven:

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” (Revelation 12:10)

Government is not going to change the world. Only the Lion of the tribe of Judah can do that. As our Savior, He’s a Lamb, but as ruler of the earth, He’s a Lion. Since you are to be like Him in all ways, you have His lamb nature. Yet, He also gives you His lion nature because He wants you to have the ability to wield power against the enemy until He returns to reclaim His earth.

2025-09-24T09:41:25-06:00November 17th, 2025|

I will Not be Moved

Today the Lord with Establish my heart, and I know that it will not be moved. 

Has your heart ever felt troubled or torn over difficult decisions? Perhaps you were so frustrated that you simply didn’t know which way to turn. The Word has some very special promises that will ease your heart and bring it peace whenever you find yourself in such a predicament. Meditate upon the following Scriptures:

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues life…Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:23, 26-27)

He also brough me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. (Psalm 40:2)

Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. (Proverbs 16:3)

The Lord will establish your thoughts, and by doing so He will give you direction and show you the paths that He desires you to follow. Commit your heart to diligently following His Word; don’t turn away from it, neither to the right nor to the left, and He will ESTABLISH your heart in His peace!

2025-09-24T09:27:26-06:00November 10th, 2025|

El Shaddai–The All-Sufficient One

When you first studied the name Elohim, you discovered that El displays God’s qualities of power and might. El Shaddai is also a compound name, and it first appears in Genesis 17.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”  (Genesis 17:1-2).

Does “God Almighty” mean the same as “the God of might and power?” No, it does not. The name El Shaddai bears a different meaning entirely.  Basically, this name is derived from the word “field,” as in, “the fields produce abundance.” It is also translated as “breast,” or “the many-breasted One,” which signifies nourishment and productiveness. In this sense, God is shown as the One who is more than enough— “He who is all-sufficient.” When you see the name El Shaddai, God is saying, “I am more than enough to meet your needs in each situation.”

Throughout Abraham’s life, God promised to bless and multiply him. And the Bible says that Abraham’s blessings are also ours. As El Shaddai, God came to Abraham in the context of total impossibility. He came saying, “I’ll give you seed as numerous as the dust of the earth,” when Abraham was ninety-nine years old. And if that’s not impossible enough, Abraham’s wife was eighty-nine years old.

God shows His all-sufficiency by turning nature around and providing miracles that are contrary to natural events. Although God Himself set the course of nature in motion. He is more than capable of superseding all natural events. That’s what happened when He caused Abraham and Sarah to have a child.

Abraham’s son was named Isaac, and Isaac also knew God as El Shaddai. When Isaac’s own son, Jacob, left home to find a wife, Isaac spoke to him.

Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and charged him, and said to him; “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 “Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. 3 “May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples; (Genesis 28:1-3)

Isaac was saying, “Jacob, may El Shaddai, the God who is all-sufficient, bless you and multiply you! He will work contrary to nature to overcome any difficult circumstances.”

Jacob left home with his father’s blessings and the birthright, but with nothing but his staff in his hand. In fact, he left behind an irate brother, whom he had cheated out of the birthright. The brother’s name was Esau and he was more than ready to kill Jacob. Jacob had been a” mother’s boy,” and he was entering a totally strange situation that didn’t look prosperous at all.

On the way to Padanaram, Jacob slept and dreamed of a ladder that angels were ascending and descending. God spoke to him, saying, “I’m giving this land to you and your seed, and I am going to protect you.”

Greatly encouraged, Jacob continued on his way. When he arrived, he fell in love with a beautiful girl named Rachel. But Rachel’s father, Laban, didn’t possess many beautiful qualities; he was tricky and mean. Jacob agreed to work seven years to pay for Rachel, but then Laban gave Jacob Leah, Rachel’s older sister, instead. Jacob then had to work another seven years in order to have Rachel as his wife, too.

Some people want everything right away; instant coffee, instant tea, and instant answers to prayer. But there’s more to it than instant everything. You have to hold fast to your confidence in order to obtain reward.

God inspired Jacob with a plan for prosperity. Jacob told Laban, “For my hire, I want all of the speckled, spotted, and striped animals that are born.” Laban thought, Great! There are hardly ever any of those.

However, when the strong animals were drinking water at the place where they usually mated, Jacob placed speckled, spotted, and striped stakes and mate. Then, when they conceived, they bore speckled, spotted, and striped animals. Those animals belonged to him. Laban then regretted the deal, because all of the best animals born that year were spotted, speckled, and striped! (See Genesis 30:31-43).

Jacob and his animal kept seeing those stakes. God set forth a vision to bring His Word to pass, and Jacob left as a very wealthy man. Why? Because the all-sufficient El Shaddai was in control. El Shaddai took hold of the natural things and turned them around into supernatural miracles. Jacob knew El Shaddai, as did his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham.

Genesis 35 tells of a third vision that Jacob had.

Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So, He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. (Genesis 35:9-11)

Jacob had lived in the midst of strange circumstances and strange people, but God said, “Your situation doesn’t matter! I am what matters. Let Me turn your circumstances around and bless you!”

God brought Jacob out from Laban’s household as a wealthy man, reconciled him with his angry brother, Esau, and gave him many children, Jacob lived as a wealthy, blessed man to a ripe, old age, because he knew El Shaddai.

2025-09-24T09:02:49-06:00November 3rd, 2025|

Ask Marilyn

Sharing Your Faith

Q: I’m not sure I know how to lead someone to the Lord. Are there any specific “rules” I should follow? What do I say?

A: Any Christian can lead someone to the Lord, so let me first encourage you not to succumb to fear or worry about what to say. Pray first and ask the Lord to fill your mouth with the words He would have you say. Then, follow this simple scriptural approach:

  1. Open a Bible to Romans 10. Have the person read aloud verses 9 and 10.
  2. Explain to the person that because these scriptures say that “… confession is made unto salvation,” you are going to lead him/her in a short prayer. Ask the person to repeat after you as you pray.
  3. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer so that the person will be sure to
  • Acknowledge that he/she is a sinner (repentance).
  • Ask the Father to cleanse him/her, by the blood of Jesus, from every sin he has committed—from the day he/she was born to this very moment.
  • Invite Jesus to come into his/her heart and to be Master and Lord of his/her life.
  • Thank God for saving his soul.
  1. Ask the person to read Romans 10:13 aloud. Now, ask him/her to read it again, but this time have him/her substitute his/her own name for “whosoever” in this verse.

The candidate will realize that he/her has fulfilled the simple requirements of verse 13 and that he/her is saved according to God’s Word, whether or not he feels any different!

You may warmly affirm this momentous decision and welcome your new brother or sister to the Body of Christ.

Q: What can I do to help a friend receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

A: The person for the baptism in the Holy Spirit must be a born-again child of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is essential for Christian growth. Through this baptism God empowers the believer to develop and express his/her new life in Jesus Christ.

Many people desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but they don’t know how to do so. Frequently, I open the conversation by saying, “I would love to pray with you to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit.” Then I proceed to:

  1. Open a Bible to Luke 11:10-13 and ask the person to read this passage aloud. These verses establish the way to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We simply “ask” in faith because we know that our loving heavenly Father would never give us a “counterfeit.”
  2. Ask the person to read Acts 2:4 aloud. Assure the individual that just as Jesus’ disciples spoke in tongues when the Holy Spirit came upon them, the individual will also speak in tongues when baptized in the Holy Spirit.
  3. Ask the individual to read Romans 8:26-28 aloud. This will confirm the purpose and the benefits of praying in “tongues.”
  4. Lead the individual in a short prayer during which he asks the Father to baptize him with the Holy Spirit. Now tell the individual that, by faith, you are going to pray in the Spirit together: Encourage the person to speak freely—as the Holy Spirit directs—regardless of how it may sound to the natural ear.
  5. You, the leader, should begin to pray aloud in tongues. After you have prayed together in tongues for a while, you may wish to sing in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:15).

Although the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a one-time event, the “infilling” of the Holy Spirit goes on and on and never stops. Encourage your friend to pray in the Spirit every day and to expect to find a new richness in his/her Christian experience.

2025-09-17T11:25:49-06:00October 27th, 2025|

Stand on the Word of God

Do you realize how important it is to spend time reading and meditating on the Word? When we surround ourselves with the favor of God’s Word, we can confidently step out in faith and change situations around us.  The wisdom of the Word in your spirit will give you favor, regardless of the circumstances which may confront you or the people whom you may meet.  Again, remember Psalm 5:12, “For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.” You have an invisible shield of favor surrounding you.

Whenever you are in a state of doubt, fear, or anxiety, remind God of His promises: “But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head” (Psalm 3:3). Likewise, Hebrews 10:35 tells us to “not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.” Always lift your head high above all circumstances. You are wearing His glorious crown of divine favor.

Many times, we experience deep levels of grief and frustration, but if we hold fast to God’s promises, any situation can be altered! Hebrews 10:23 commands us to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

David understood the awesome power of favor because in Psalm 30 he writes, “Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong…” (v. 7). If God’s favor is powerful enough to hold you up, no matter how heavy the pressures may be which come against you! Always remember that He is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). If you are standing on His Word, you can count on Him to uphold all the things in your life and give you wide open doors of favor. Hallelujah!

SCRIPTURES ON FAVOR

The following Scriptures are intended to prove that God will produce favor in your life. Meditate upon these Scriptures and memorize them until they penetrate deep down into your spirit. If you plant them in your heart now, when you are in a time of need, they will be firmly rooted, and you will be able to stand upon them. I just love these verses, and I believe you will, too!

“You have granted me life and favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit.” (Job 10:12)

For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield. (Psalm 5:12)

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” (Psalm 35:27)

By this I know that You favor me, because my enemy does not triumph over me. (Psalm 41:11 MEV)

For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them. (Psalm 44:3)

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. (Psalm 84:11 NIV)

For You are the glory of their strength, and in Your favor our horn is exalted. (Psalm 89:17)

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17 NIV)

Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation. That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance. (Psalm 106:4-5)

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)

He who earnestly seeks good find favor, but trouble will come to him who seeks evil. (Proverbs 11:27)

A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions He will condemn. (Proverbs 12:2)

Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. (Proverbs 13:15)

Fools mock at sin, but among the upright there is favor. (Proverbs 14:9)

In the light of the king’s face is life, and his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain. (Proverbs 16:15)

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22)

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold. (Proverbs 22:1)

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2 NIV)

So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46-47)

For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. (Romans 14:18)

This excerpt was taken from Wide Open Doors. Wide Open Doors Book | Marilyn and Sarah

2025-09-17T10:49:59-06:00October 20th, 2025|

Jesus Our Refuge

Jesus Our Refuge

OP December, 1987

Can you remember a time when you were facing a situation that looked simply hopeless? Perhaps there was a battle with sin or a crisis that overwhelmed you, and you didn’t know where to turn. Anytime is a good time to remember that just as Joseph and Mary found refuge for Jesus in a stable, you can find refuge in Jesus for the peace, joy, and victory that you desire whenever “hopeless” or troublesome situations arise.

The Old Testament gives us a beautiful picture of all that Jesus is to us as our refuge in times of trouble. In Exodus 21:13 Moses made reference to “a place” where those who had accidentally killed someone could take refuge to avoid any negative consequences from the killing. Then in Numbers 35:6 the Lord told Moses to make arrangements for six cities of refuge. Anyone who had unintentionally killed someone could run to one of these cities and there receive protection from revenge-seeking relatives of the dead person.

Jesus is our refuge whether we have intentionally or unintentionally sinned against God or man. If we’ll repent and run to Jesus, He can reverse any curse that results from our sin. No matter how devastating our circumstances, we can find real peace and joy by fleeing to Jesus our refuge.

Did you notice that God provided the appointed place of refuge long before the Israelites ever entered the Promised Land? The same is true for our refuge Jesus: Revelation 13:8 says that He is the Lamb which was slain before the foundation of the world. God provided for our complete well-being before He laid the foundation of the world. Let’s run to Jesus when we sin; He was waiting for us long before we ever blew it!

According to Joshua 20:5 the Old Testament cities of refuge were to provide shelter from the avenger of blood. The devil is your avenger, and there is only one place to go for protection from the avenger. You may try to run to other people or flee here and there seeking help, but Jesus is your only place of permanent victory over the devil.

In Colossians 2:15 Paul says that Jesus … disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Jesus undid the works of the devil; that’s why we can flee to Him and avoid the avenger.

Most of the cities of refuge were set on a hill so that they would be very visible. A light was kept burning at all times, which made the city accessible even at night.

This aspect of the cities reminds us that Jesus, in Matthew 5:14, said Christians are like a city set on a hill, and Christians are the light of the world. We need to be shining lights, plainly visible to anyone in need of shelter from the darkness that is in the world. Like the star that led the wise men to Jesus, we are the ones to point sinners to the true Light—Jesus Christ.

The roads to these cities of refuge were plainly marked. In Deuteronomy 19:3 Moses instructed the Israelites to … shall prepare roads for yourself … to each city. Tradition says that rocks were painted white, labeled miqlat, or “refuge” and placed along the route leading to the cities of refuge.

Likewise, Jesus is easy to find. Paul, in the first chapter of the book of Romans, says that even nature points the way of God. The way of salvation is clearly given in the Scriptures, and everyone can find refuge in Jesus.

Numbers 35:14 says that God graciously provided for three cities east of the Jordan River and three cities west of the Jordan River; thus, all the Israelites had easy access to a refuge near them.

Is Jesus easily accessible, or do you have to do ten push-ups, take a hot shower, and run around the block to get His attention? He’s accessible! You don’t have to look far to find Jesus; the Bible says, The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart … (Psalm 34:18), and The Lord is near to all who call upon Him … (Psalm 145:18).

Jesus is always accessibel. He’s really close. Romans 10:8 says “… The word is [Christ] near you in your mouth …” Jesus is as close as your mouth; call on Him as your refuge in times of need!

Let’s remember for whom these cities of refuge were built originally—they were built for murderers! Who is Jesus for –the “righteous”? No Jesus is for the sinner. If you sin, don’t cover it up—confess it. Don’t run from Jesus; run to Jesus! He can absolutely transform your worst circumstance.

The murderer was required to stay within the city of refuge. Numbers 35:26-27 says that if he walked out of the city gates, the avenger could kill him. The murderer’s only place of safety was within the city walls.

Our only place of safety is “in Christ”. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7). We need to abide, abide, abide—and that means staying in the Word! When we quit abiding, the devil, the avenger, can bring every imaginable curse upon us. Our only protection from illness, fear, strife, and all the other deadly things in this life is to abide continuously in Jesus.

Look at Numbers 35:15 “These six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them…”. These cities were for Jews and gentiles—God’s chosen people and the strangers.

Jesus is for the “strangers” among us. Jesus loves them all. He wants to be a refuge for everyone.

The last comparison I want to make is probably the key one: the murderer was completely delivered. Numbers 35:28 tells us that when the High Priest of the city died, the murderer could go completely free without fear of any retaliation.

You and I have a great High Priest Who has died, making us completely free from the avenger’s power. We can go any place without fear, because Jesus is always with us; He has promised never to leave us or forsake us.

One time I was traveling into a communist country and someone asked me, “Aren’t you afraid to go to a communist country?”

No, frankly, I’m not. Jesus is more powerful than communism, and when I go into a communist country, Jesus goes with me. He died to set me free from fear and from the power of sin and Satan. I’m free, and so are you! In addition, our great High Priest rose from the dead, and Hebrews 7:25 declares “… He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

The six cities of refuge met the needs of the whole nation of Israel. Jesus our refuge is sufficient to meet the needs of the entire Bod of Christ. Don’t look to people to meet your needs; at best they can only lead you to Jesus to His Word. Seek refuge in the One Who is the fulfillment of the six cities of refuge:

  1. Kedesh means “holy.” When we run to Jesus, He takes our sin and gives us His holiness.
  2. Shechem means “shoulder.” The Bible says that the government shall be upon His shoulder (Isaiah 9:6). Jesus knows how to govern our affairs. We can trust Him to administer justice on our behalf in all our relationships.
  3. Hebron means “fellowship.” Jesus is available, day and night, to hear our prayers and share our concerns. If we ever feel lonely, we can call on Him; Jesus will never snub us or turn us away.
  4. Bezer means “a fortified place.” The Lord is a stronghold to us. When all the world looks as though it’s caving in, hold onto Jesus; He’s a rock and an anchor.
  5. Ramoth means “exaltation.” When we run to Jesus, He lifts us up with Him far above all the powers of darkness. He will never let us down.
  6. Golan means “joy.” Jesus says that He wants our joy to be full. Regardless of what we’ve done or where we’ve been, Jesus will turn our sadness into joy if we will seek refuge in Him.

Jesus is our eternal refuge. Today, and every day, let’s seek to abide in Him and in His Word. When pressures or circumstances try to overwhelm us, Jesus is more than sufficient to meet our needs. Let’s run to Him, abide in Him, and experience the best week ever!

This classic teaching is an excerpt taken from Outpouring Magazine, The Voice of Marilyn Hickey Ministries, December 1987

 

2025-09-10T10:43:05-06:00October 13th, 2025|

Ask Marilyn

HEARING FROM GOD

AND KNOWING HIS WILL

Q: I’m not sure if I’m hearing God’s voice or someone else’s. What does God’s voice sound like?

A: We all struggle with the question: “Is this the voice of God?” John 10 offers us a wonderful promise: The Lord’s sheep know His voice, and the voice of a stranger they will not follow. The voice of God can come to us in different ways.  In the Old Testament the voice of God is described as still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12).  Most often God’s voice sounds very much like our own thoughts.  But these thoughts do not originate from the mind; they come from deep within our own spirit.

Believers have been promised that as we continue to walk with God, He will guide us with His eye upon us and lead us in the way that we should go (Psalm 32:8). And according to Galatians 5:16, we can know that we are being led by the Holy Spirit if we are walking in the Spirit; and walking in the Spirit means to act on God’s Word, no matter what “sense-knowledge” tells us.  I believe that our flesh seeks after signs—something we can see or feel.  Check out the leadings you have by asking yourself, “Is this my flesh wanting a sign, or is this God’s Word directing my spirit?” If you follow the Word, you will never be disappointed.

Q: Several people have told me that God has a special call on my life. Please help me find out what God’s will is for my life.

A: I want to share with you three steps that have helped me discern the will of God for my life: (1) the desire must line up with the Word; (2) you should have an inner witness of your leading—the Holy Spirit bears witness with God’s Word in your spirit which brings you peace; and (3) circumstances should like up accordingly. At times there may be a waiting period.  The desire may be scriptural; you may have an inner witness; but circumstances may take some time before coming together.  When this happens, it’s important to be patient.  It is never wise to try to make things come together on your own. God will bring to completion what He’s begun (Proverbs 3:5-6).

You can trust God for your future.  As you learn to rely more on Him and less on your own “feelings,” you will find a peace that truly passes all understanding.  Be very careful about accepting any “Word from the Lord” from others.  Remember, all “words” must line up with the Word, your own inner witness, and the circumstances.  Anytime we depend on someone else’s understanding of God’s will for our lives, we are putting ourselves in a place of danger.

Q: What do people mean when they talk about revelation knowledge?

A: God is continually giving us deeper revelation knowledge (insight) into His Word. However, the key to revelation knowledge is that it must always line up with and be tested according to the known Word of God—the Bible.  Revealed knowledge often opens up God’s Word to us in a fresh way—not adding to the Word nor taking away from it, but revealing it to us in a deeper way: “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.  For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10 NKJV).

Jesus very clearly indicated to us that the Holy Spirit would be our teacher and teach us things by revelation (see John 14). I believe the apostle Paul was referring to revelation knowledge when he wrote about the revelation of mystery (Romans 16:25) and when he instructed the Corinthians in the use of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:26). Paul also prayed that God would give the Church revelation in the knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17).

Nevertheless, Paul also warned that if anyone, including an angel from heaven, came with a revelation other than the gospel which was brought to the world by Jesus, then we would know that revelation was not from God. So then any “revealed knowledge” beyond God’s Word as found in the Bible is not of God.  Nearly every cult has an additional source of written authority besides the Bible. These extra-Biblical scriptures are not from God.

Q: I think that God has called me to full-time ministry. Do you have a witness of my call? Where should I begin ministering?

A: There is nothing that delights my heart more than to see a believer called into full-time ministry. If you are truly called, it will be the number-one, consuming desire of your life and God will begin to open the doors for you. I cannot tell another person whether or not they are called, because God wants you to be certain in your own heart. It never hurts to “knock on doors” in order to find opportunities to minister.  Be wise and discreet as you watch God open doors for you.

Also, I believe Bible school is a wise step in preparing for ministry.  Second Timothy 2:15 tells us to, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed…” I recommend my Bible college as a possibility for your training.  We offer an Associate of

Arts degree in Christian Education, Counseling, Pastoral Ministry, Youth Ministry, Missions, and General Ministry.  The General Ministry Program is available either on-campus or through independent study by correspondence.

Q: I am struggling trying to keep the vision of my ministry. Have you ever been discouraged about serving God?

A:  My heart has been deeply touched as I’ve traveled around the country and have met many individuals in the five-fold ministry asking similar questions. I do know how it feels to be discouraged, and at times I wondered whether I was really in God’s will for my life and my ministry.

I want to encourage you not to give up hope. Please continue to press on to victory—it will come eventually as you trust in God’s ability to deliver you from your circumstances.

God’s Word promises that “…lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the ” (Matthew 28:20). Above all: “…do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Hebrews 10:35 – 36 NAS)

Q: I’m resting now from near burnout from church duties, outside women’s organizations, my family responsibilities, etc. My quiet times during this time were not what they should be, but now I find myself having regular, quality quiet time but feeling a lack of fulfillment. I don’t seem to have any vision, and the Lord seems to be silent.  Do you have any suggestions or scriptures?

A: The answer to your burnout problem and present lack of fulfillment is found in John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

In every life there are seasons of bearing fruit, pruning, growing, and bearing more fruit. Certainly, in the times of “fruit bearing,” where there is evidence of what our life is producing, we have a sense of fulfillment because we can “see” what we have done.

However, there are necessary times when God puts us in a “dormant” state so that we can abide in Him and He in us: “…As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4 NKJV). I believe you may be experiencing an “abiding time” in your life.  God is giving you a season of rest, consolidation, and a chance to re-energize.  Enjoy it! Receive this time as God’s wisdom for this season in your life.

If the Lord is silent, then you can be certain that you are in His will! The Holy Spirit gets “noisy” within us when we begin to walk outside of God’s will.

Q:  There is a man who loves to argue in the Sunday school class my husband and I teach. It doesn’t matter what the subject is or how we approach it; he is very vocal in his criticism of our understanding of the Bible and our presentation. No one else complains.  The pastor has talked with him, but he continues to cause problems.  What should we do?”

A:  You and your husband are being harassed by the devil, and you are being much too nice to him! Satan knows your potential and your heart for God, and he is doing everything he can to stop you. Take your God-given authority and power over Satan in Jesus’ name, and command him to stop in his activity against you and your class.

After seeking God’s guidance and wisdom, you need to go to this man and confront him in love but in firmness.  You also need to forgive him and put the matter under the blood of Jesus; BUT this kind of disturbance needs to be stopped.  This man is in rebellion by not coming under the leader’s authority, whether it be you as a teacher, or the pastor. Satan will use him to bring dissension in the Body.

Brief comments and discussion that both build and enforce the teaching should always be welcome, IF time and circumstance permit; but negative and derogatory remarks are absolutely out of order: Follow the Biblical pattern in Matthew 18:15-20 in a spirit of meekness, and trust the Lord to resolve this problem.

You also have ministering spirits—angels—who are sent to perform the Word of God as you speak it from your lips.  They will aid you in carrying out your authority based on God’s Word.

Q:  I know that God has a calling on my life either to preach or to teach so I quit my job because I didn’t want anything to hold me back. Some doors have been opened, but I really need more financial support. Would it be all right for me to work part-time at a secular job?

A:  Yes, you can be called to the ministry and still work at a secular job. There are many faithful men and women in the ministry today who are holding down full-or-part-time jobs in order to support themselves. And in the Bible we find that it was the apostle Paul’s custom to provide for his needs by working with his own hands (see 2 Thessalonians 3:8).

Q:  Marilyn, I just don’t understand how someone can be truly close to God, like David in the Bible, and still sin so terribly.

A:  Being close to God does not make one exempt from sin. Saul, David, and Solomon certainly had the hand of God upon them, but as humans they were still given to temptation and sin. Like each of us, these great men had a choice—each day brought new opportunities either to be defeated or to be victorious.  These Old Testament men did not have the New Testament covenant rights that we now have, which include understanding our authority and power through God’s Word.

Because all humans have a sin nature, there is no person on earth who is exempt from temptation and sin.  We have seen that in the Body of Christ when great men and women of God have been tempted and, in a time of weakness, have fallen.  You have experienced this type of temptation and succumbed to sin, and so have I. Being in a leadership position often makes a person even more vulnerable because Satan has assigned demon spirits to tempt leaders and try to cause them to fall.  That is why it is important for all of us to stay close to God through His Word, prayer, and fellowship with one another.

And always remember the good news that “…The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27 NKJV). The word possible refers to “miracle-working power.” The miracle-working power of God’s grace can keep you in His righteousness.

2025-08-06T12:46:14-06:00September 29th, 2025|

Seeing Jesus in Rosh Hashanah (The Feast of Trumpets)

The Feast of Trumpets (also known as Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year) starts on September 22 this year. In the Old Testament (Leviticus 23:25), it was in preparation for the Feast of Atonement and announced the voice of God and His might in warfare, gatherings, and coronations. When the feast was eaten, the people knew that were eating victory, that nothing was impossible with God, and that they could be free from anything.

During this time in history, the ram’s horn was very important, serving as a representation of Jesus’s victory in our lives. Every feast began with the blowing of the shofar (a trumpet made from the ram’s horn), then the people would feast on who God was, giving them a revelation of their true Messiah. The first time we see the horn of a ram mentioned in Scripture was when Abraham was about to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord, but God provided a ram instead, sparing Isaac’s life (see Genesis 22:13).

Several hundred years later, the Israelites blew the trumpets as they conquered Jericho. They marched once around the city for seven days, then on the seventh day they marched seven times—each time they marched around, the priests blew their trumpets. This blowing of the trumpets gave the people confidence that they were going to win because God would make them victorious.

Seen throughout the Bible close to 20 times, the blowing of the trumpets had several different meanings and announcements to the people:

  • Trumpets were blown before going into battle, claiming victory (Numbers 10:9).
  • In the year of Jubilee, the trumpets were blown to kick off the celebration (Leviticus 25).
  • The trumpets were blown for a calling to repentance, and repentance led to victory (Leviticus 23).
  • Trumpets were blown when someone became king (2 Samuel 15:10; 2 Kings 9:13; 11:14, 2 Chronicles 23:13).
  • Isaiah 27:12-13 reveals the prophecy of the coming of Jesus through the blowing of trumpets. This meant that Jesus would raise the believers from the dead and take them to heaven to be with Him eternally.
  • The harvest resurrection will start with the sound of a trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

The greatest Feast of Trumpets will be when Jesus comes back, and we are all caught up to be with Him in heaven. Just as the trumpets were blown for the coronation of a king, the trumpets will again sound when the King of Kings comes to reign victoriously forever!

2025-08-06T12:37:12-06:00September 22nd, 2025|

Bury Your Unbelief

I have a special scripture God gave me. So put your hand on your heart because I want you to listen Okay. And this is, Mark 11:23 “Whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed and cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe the things that he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.” So now I want you to put your hands up because you’re going to speak to your mountains. Why? Because you’re going to get what’s on the other side, right? Okay. Say Father in the name of Jesus, I speak to this mountain that is obstructing me from what I need to have. I thank you Father, that today, today I get what’s on the other side. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I like this about God. He always wants to give you dramatic changes that are good. So put your hand on your heart. Say I’m getting a dramatic change that is good.

I want you to look at five areas of your life.  You know, there’s some things I have wanted and wanted to see God do, but I have doubts. It has you, looking at it like, I never had a doubt in my life. I have, I don’t believe you.

I think we both had doubts. And so what do we do? And I’m really dealing with five of the basic doubts that can come your way and want to do with them. So number one is David had a wife who was a jerk. You know, Michael got upset with him because she saw him dancing before the Lord. That’s really bad news. And she despised him in her heart because she thought he wasn’t sophisticated enough so he never went with her again. He divorced her. And folks, sometimes I looked at this, you have to divorce your unbelief. You know, there are some things that you think, well yeah, God can do it, but I don’t know if he’ll do it for me. And so you have to say, okay, can God do all things? Can I believe God in these challenging times? You say, no, I can’t.

Now we’re going to pray. Okay, ready? Say Father, I believe according to the Bible, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so it’s important for us to separate ourselves from those unbelief’s. Now you say, how do you do that? And it’s a shame that she didn’t divorce herself from her unbelief because she never had any children. So, unbelief keeps you in a negative place. And what was it? It was criticism. Did you ever criticize anybody? But criticizing others and how they did it, what they didn’t do, or how they dressed or how they treated their children or how they don’t handle their money right.

Don’t criticize because it does something to you. It caused her to lose her opportunity for a child. Really, and that’s big time. Bury your criticism of others. Who are you mad at today? Who are you criticizing today? I’m not going to ask you to raise your hand. Just put your hand on your heart and pray and say, Father, that criticism I have of that person, whether it’s right or wrong, I am burying. I’m leaving it here, and I’m not picking it up and taking it home. I’m not called to criticize. I’m called to change. Amen.

Okay. Now I want to talk about another D, and this is death because sometimes death can be a real hard thing for us. So here David has a son and Bathsheba and the child dies and David is fasting during this time. You know, everyone has had disappointments in prayer.

Well, you’ve had disappointments in circumstances. You get disappointed at God sometime and if you say you haven’t, you’re a liar. Cause I’ve been disappointed at God sometimes I thought he should do it faster and just do it. He hasn’t even done it yet. You know what I’m saying? And David had a son and you know, the son was very sick and David fasted and prayed. Now he could have taken a lot of condemnation on himself because this baby was born out of wedlock but he didn’t, he fasted and prayed and says, maybe the lord will bring him back. I don’t want him to die. I don’t want him to die.  David stood that I want this child to live.  And there are some things I have wanted I didn’t get.

And so then do you give up on God and wave God goodbye? No way. What did he do? He’s fasting and praying and it doesn’t happen. And he said, I can’t bring him back to life, but someday I can go to him. He can’t come back to me, but I can go to him. Do you look for the positive part of what God can do? I find sometimes we carry grief because we don’t like the way God did it. We wanted him to do such and such and it didn’t happen. So that can be a dangerous thing. I’m going to share some family things. When my father died and my father was hard to live with, he had mental problems. My mother didn’t have a picnic with him and you know, he got all right and then he died and my mother went into grief and she was grieving all the time, all the time.

And I thought, why are you doing this? One day I called her and I felt like God gave me an answer.  I called her one day and I said, mother, do you believe that Jesus carried your grief and sorrow? The Bible says it. Yes. She said, I believe it. I said, then why are you carrying the grief of your husband? Because if Jesus carried it for you, what are you doing carrying it? And she cried and prayed, and that was the end of it. You can carry grief. But does the Bible say he carried your griefs?  Are you going to carry this? Because grief can break you down. It can wound you to no end. We know that. I looked at this and I thought David was smart.  He can’t come to me, but I can go to him. He chose the path of what God could do in this situation and he could do a great miracle. Now, grief, let’s just talk about it. People say to me, well, grief is good for you. Well, it might be good for a little while, but when people carry it and carry it, they quit going to church, quit reading their Bible because they’re mad at God and grieved at God. That’s dangerous.  Grief can be dangerous. We have to bury our grief and trust God’s word.

Now I’ve had disappointments. Oh God, I wanted this door to open and it didn’t open. Where are you? You know, but you’re going to have to leave some of these things with God and trust God. Everybody say it, trust God, and my mother was a different person after that and she lived very well until she died.

Now the third thing is disease. You know the leper.  I’m wild in faith, you know I always will be. It says a man with leprosy came and knelt before Jesus. Lord, if you’re willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. I am willing. He said, be clean. Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Does God want you to be whole? Yes. Now he was cleansed of leprosy. Jesus said, I’m willing.  I think you have to stand on this, I am willing, and I may take a while, but I think wholeness here is bigger. Jesus said be clean. I’m willing. Be clean. Immediately he was cleansed of the leprosy.  That’s wonderful.  But I think also leprosy chewed off their fingers, their toes, parts of their body. Jesus restored what he had lost. I think he got some new fingers and some new toes. I bet he really looked good. Maybe he hadn’t had a nose, but I think wholeness can be more than just getting rid of it. It can be getting hold of what you lost. Do you like that? You turn down what God can give you. And what about timing? I don’t understand God’s timing. I wish he’d get faster and some things are fast.  You need to bury your unbelief that God is not willing to heal and just not give up. So let’s do it. Father, I bury unbelief. I thank you Father, that I am free from disappointment. You called me here. You have a purpose. I’m not looking down. I’m looking up.

Okay, the next one is disaster. Everybody say disaster and that’s kind of what we think we’re in right now is a disaster. Shall we fall apart? Have a nervous breakdown? I don’t think so. Suddenly. Now when we look at this, this is Paul and Barnabas in a prison, and what are they doing at midnight?

Where is God? I can’t believe he deserted us. We’re so good. We preach the gospel. Then we get in trouble and he looks the other way. Watch your behavior in disaster and help others when they are in disaster. You have to bury your unbelief. And what did they begin to do? They began to praise God. Wow. And immediately, all the doors and everyone’s chains were loosed. You realize I wasn’t just their chains that were loosed. It was everybody. Your faith affects everybody. And what I see in my life is faith pleases God. If I want to whine and murmur around it, it doesn’t please God. But if I want to believe and people think I’m crazy and relatives doing man neighbors, Hey, it’s very important that I please God, very important. And sometimes it takes a long time on some things, and some things you don’t understand, but you trust God. Anyway, so bury your unbelief that God cannot bring your freedom.

Despair is a horrible thing. And I think about Absalom’s sister, she was raped by her half-brother. I’m sure you would want to kill them. Somebody hurting your sister, your half-sister or hurting your family. That’s a horrible, horrible thing. And you can live in bitterness, you can live in it. And this is a very serious thing.

And probably some of you know mine, I don’t know, you’ve been here a long time, but what are we going to do? Are we going to hold on to bitterness? Are we going to hold on to despair? You know, I don’t believe we can hold on to bitterness.

It’s just something that latches itself onto you and suddenly you realize, Oh yes, I am bitter about that. And you can be free. Why hold onto it. Bitterness hurts you.  If you live in that bitterness, wow, you’re going to hurt yourself and you think you’re hurting them. But the one you are hurting the most is yourself.

You know, folks, there comes a point when it can be buried and you don’t have it.  I want you to pray now. Say, Father, I want to give up bitterness. I want to give up despair because I don’t want to have bitterness destroy me. Because if you don’t bury it, how can I tell you this? It can bury you. I don’t want to be buried. Amen. hat keeps us in despair. Say, Father, I don’t want to be bitter. I don’t want to think I deserve to be bitter. I want to be free. I am repenting of any bitterness I’ve held toward anyone and I believe that you are doing things in me. I’m going to leave here in freedom in Jesus’ name. Amen. God, we thank you that we’re not going to carry bitterness out of here and what is it comes to your mind.

I’ve already repented. I’ve forgiven. I’m not under that. Okay. Put your hand on your heart. Say, Father, I want to repent of any bitterness I have carried toward anyone. I thank you that who the Son sets free is free Indeed. I am free from all bitterness in Jesus’ name and I stay free because I remember, I chose to forgive to bury that unforgiveness. Amen.

Now, the last one fits everybody. Bury thoughts that tell you God does not care about your future. I think that’s one of the worst things of all. Well, look with what’s happening in the world, he doesn’t care about my future or look at where I have failed. He doesn’t have a future for me. God has good future for us and we need not to go there with that. And I think with all the news that we see, we can really think negative, can’t we? I’m not going to think negative.  And I don’t think we can ever give up on our children and on our circumstances.

We believe that God will take care of our future and that it isn’t over till we win.

2025-07-24T06:16:52-06:00September 8th, 2025|

Endure to Receive the Promise

What is the purpose of endurance? You endure to receive the promise that God has made to you.

Abraham went through many trials and tribulations. When God told him his descendants would be as the stars of the sky and the sand of the sea, there were no heirs to fulfill the promise. Abraham had no idea how the promise would be fulfilled but he was confident that somehow God would perform what He had promised.

God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child. They were perplexed and puzzled. Abraham and Sarah had long passed their prime—physically and naturally there was no way for Sarah to have a child.

But Abraham and Sarah endured until one day, Isaac, the son of promise, was born. He was their tangible proof that God could be trusted, that His Word was true.  Today Abraham’s seed is as the stars of the heavens and the sand of the sea! Abraham reigns today because he trusted that God’s promise to him was true. Hebrews 6:15 “…after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.”

2025-07-24T06:03:44-06:00September 1st, 2025|

Remember the Work of Faith, Labor of Love and Patience of Hope

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.
I Thessalonians 1:3 (NKJV)

There are three things in this verse that stand out to me, and I know that you will love them just as I do:

Faith can work, love can labor, and hope can give you patience.  If we feel we have faith, yet do nothing, we don’t really have faith.  If we say we have love, yet do nothing, we don’t really have love.  If we say we have hope, then we will be patient until we see the manifestation of what God has for us.

HOPE in the Hebrew means “rope.”  I believe God lets His rope down from heaven so we can tie a knot in it and hold onto it until we see the manifestation of our faith and our love.

Rahab had hope in God’s Word.  She even put a red rope in her window.  Her wall stood when other walls fell.  When other people’s walls fall, their lives fall down too.  If you hang onto the rope of God’s hope, your wall will stand.

Dear Heavenly Father,

We know that it is through faith and patience that we inherit Your promises.  We decide to hold to faith and to have patience until we see the fulfillment of Your promises.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen

2025-07-23T09:12:59-06:00August 25th, 2025|

Be-Attitudes

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:6-8)

As Christians, we often concentrate so heavily on what we can get and need from Jesus that we forget to focus on Jesus.  We get so wrapped up in the cares of this world that we lose sight of our goal – to be like Jesus.  Paul said that his number one goal was to know Jesus.  Paul understood that when Christians know Jesus, they become like Him; and when they learn how to be like Jesus, then they can do the things that He did.  I call this lifestyle motivation the “Be-Attitudes.”

In Matthew 5, there are nine “be-attitudes,” which break into three sets of three.  Within each set, there is a “thesis” (a major truth), an “antithesis” (an opposite truth), and a combination of the two, or a “synthesis.” For example, if hydrogen is the thesis and oxygen is the antithesis, the synthesis of the two is water.

The “be-attitude,” in verse 6 explains that to be Christlike, we need to hunger and thirst after Jesus: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” This is our “thesis.” Hunger and thirst are two basic needs of life because they are intrinsically linked to self-preservation.  But do you see what Jesus said here?  He is telling you to use these survival instincts to seek Him through righteousness.  You must become attached to the source of life – the tree of righteousness – not to the things of this world.  Then, you will be filled; you will receive His kind of right thinking, right acting, and right speaking.  However, you must be careful not to become so righteousness-conscious that you become legalistic.

That’s why Jesus added the antithesis in verse 7: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Mercy says, “If you blow it all, I’ll love you anyway.” God wants us to be righteous, but He wants us to be merciful, too.  Jesus loves you just the way you are!  That’s mercy! But to major on mercy can be dangerous because if you are only merciful, then you will be a pushover.  You must temper mercy and righteousness together.

So that leads to the “synthesis.” Verse 8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” To become so like God that you can see Him, you need to combine righteousness and mercy in your life so you can have a pure heart.  When your heart is pure, you will see God in your circumstances.

There’s something else interesting about mercy and righteousness.  Psalm 85 says: “Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed.” Mercy and truth together, and righteousness and peace go together.  I believe this refers to the mercy seat.  If you recall, there were two cherubim whose wings overshadowed the mercy seat.  This was the place where mercy and truth abounded and righteousness and peace came together, foreshadowing the coming Prince of Peace – and when these meet, they are in the presence of God.

Where do you experience the presence of God?  There do you see Him?  When righteousness and mercy “kiss each other” in your life.  That describes the Christian life.

This blog post is excerpted from Marilyn’s 101-day devotional, Beautiful Inheritance.

2025-07-23T08:28:55-06:00August 18th, 2025|

God’s Power in You

Have you tried and tried and yet failed to overcome your weaknesses? Then you are close to deliverance. If you have discovered that your own efforts will never be enough to secure a lasting victory, then you are ready to turn to God’s power to destroy the ties—your inherent weaknesses—that bind you:

But as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. John 1:12

When you were born again, God came to live in you to restore you to wholeness of “sonship.” Having lived for years as a slave to family iniquities, you defined yourself by your weaknesses. You may have heard yourself saying thing like: “I’m always sick; I go from one thing to another! I’ll always be poor too. Why, if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all! I’ve tied to give up drinking, but it’s stronger than I am. I’ll go to my grave doing it—just like my dad did.”

You can define yourself down to being a powerless creature—a victim of your own weaknesses. But you are not a victim but a victor; not a loser but a winner; not on the bottom but above every sin, situation, and sickness.

You don’t have to plead and beg for deliverance; the gift has already been given to you. You don’t have to be worthy, go to Bible school, be called to full-time ministry, or be perfect with no past mistakes. This very minute you have within you the power of God.

This power is not just for your salvation—that was only the beginning. As a child of God, you are promised an abundant life:

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10

God’s power will roll over and crash through anything—including family iniquities—that stand between you and the abundant life due to you as a child of God. It is time for you to redefine yourself by the Scriptures and assume your real identity as God’s son or daughter—a supernatural being who wields the power of break the curse in your family tree and to establish generational blessings.

2025-08-13T11:04:30-06:00August 11th, 2025|

I Am Resting in the Lord

MY HEART WILL TRUST IN HIM AND I’LL NOT FEAR.

Did you know that Solomon wrote Psalm 127 just before the death of his father, David? Solomon’s brother, Adonijah, was trying to take the throne by deceitful means, even though the kingship was promised to Solomon. Instead of fighting with Adonijah over the throne, Solomon wrote this Psalm. Basically, it says, “Why worry? If God wants me on the throne, I’ll be there.” His heart was at peace with the Lord.

Solomon had received a spiritual name from Nathan, the prophet. The name was Jedidah, which means “beloved.” When Solomon wrote Psalm 127, he said, “For so He gives His beloved sleep” (vs. 2). Solomon was really inserting his own name, Jedidah. Read this Psalm, and you can insert your name, too, for you are dear to His heart; you are His beloved.

Can you take the step of faith that Solomon took? Can you look at your own situation and say, “Why worry? God’s Word is true; He will perform that which He has promised!” Of course you can! As you go to sleep tonight, remind yourself of who He says that you are. “God calls things that are not as though they were,” and He has given this awesome power to you! Once you speak His Word over your situation, the work is already accomplished, whether or not you see the work as completed with your natural eye. Let your heart REST in the assurance of His Word. Stop worrying, you are of His beloved; He has called you “Jedidah.” You are His bride, His chosen, and you above all others should let your heart REST in Him.

2025-07-24T06:06:30-06:00August 4th, 2025|

Ask Marilyn

Over the years, I’ve had people ask me questions about discouragement in ministry, burnout, and hearing God’s voice. I have compiled a few of those questions and answered them below. I hope that you will find the answers informative and that they will encourage you in your walk with the Lord.

Q: I am struggling trying to keep the vision of my ministry. Have you ever been discouraged about serving God?

A: My heart has been deeply touched as I’ve traveled and have met many individuals in the five-fold ministry asking similar questions. I do know how it feels to be discouraged, and at times I wondered whether I was really in God’s will for my life and my ministry. I want to encourage you not to give up hope. Please continue to press on to victory—it will come eventually as you trust in God’s ability to deliver you from your circumstances. God promises us in Matthew 28:20 that “[He is] with you always, even to the end of the age.” Hebrews 10:35-36 says, “Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (NASB).

Q: I’m resting from near burnout from church duties, outside women’s organizations, my family responsibilities, etc. During that season, my quiet times were not what they should be. Now I find myself having regular, quality quiet time but feeling a lack of fulfillment. I don’t seem to have any vision, and the Lord seems to be silent. Do you have any suggestions or Scriptures?

A: The answer to your burnout problem and present lack of fulfillment is found in John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” In life, there are seasons of bearing fruit, pruning, growing, and bearing more fruit. Certainly, in the times of “fruit bearing,” where there is evidence of what our life is producing, we have a sense of fulfillment because we can “see” what we have done. However, there are necessary times when God puts us in a “dormant” state so that we can abide in Him and He in us. John 15 goes on to say, “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (v. 4). I believe you may be experiencing a time of “abiding” in your life. God is giving you a season of rest, consolidation, and a chance to re-energize. Enjoy it! Receive this time as God’s wisdom for this season in your life. If the Lord is silent, then you can be certain that you are in His will! The Holy Spirit gets “noisy” within us when we begin to walk outside of God’s will.

Q: I’m not sure if I’m hearing God’s voice or someone else’s voice. What does God’s voice sound like?

A: We all struggle with the question, “Is this the voice of God?” As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, John 10:3-5 offers us a wonderful promise: “…the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” The voice of God can come to us in different ways. In the Old Testament, the voice of God is described as a still, small voice (1Kings 19:11-2). Most often, God’s voice sounds very much like our own thoughts. But these thoughts do not originate from the mind, they come from deep within our own spirit. Believers have been promised that as we continue to walk with God, He will guide us with His eye upon us and lead us in the way we should go (Psalm 32:8). According to Galatians 5:16, we can know that we are being led by the Holy Spirit if we are walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit means to act on God’s Word no matter what our senses (or “sense-knowledge”) tells us. I believe our flesh seeks after signs—something we can see or feel. Check out the leading you have by asking yourself, “Is this my flesh wanting a sign, or is this God’s Word directing my spirit?” If you follow the Word, you will never be disappointed.

Q: Several people have told me that God has a special call on my life. How do I find out what God’s will is for my life?

A: I want to share with you three steps that have helped me discern the will of God for my life:

  1. The desire must line up with the Word;
  2. You should have an inner witness of your leading—the Holy Spirit bears witness with God’s Word in your spirit which brings you peace; and
  3. Circumstances should line up accordingly. At times there may be a waiting period.  The desire may be scriptural; you may have an inner witness; but circumstances may take some time before coming together.  When this happens, it’s important to be patient.  It is never wise to try to make things come together on your own. God will bring to completion what He’s begun (Proverbs 3:5-6).

You can trust God for your future.  As you learn to rely more on Him and less on your own “feelings,” you will find a peace that truly passes all understanding.  Be very careful about accepting any “Word from the Lord” from others.  Remember, all “words” must line up with the Word, your own inner witness, and the circumstances.  Anytime we depend on someone else’s understanding of God’s will for our lives, we are putting ourselves in a place of danger.

2025-06-18T10:50:41-06:00July 28th, 2025|

Harmony in Our Homes

HARMONY IN OUR HOMES
“Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 18:18)

Anyone who reads Hannah’s story in 1 Samuel can’t help but feel sorry for her. Hannah had no children and was the object of ridicule and scorn from her husband’s second wife, Peninnah.  Hannah took the only route out of her suffering and the only way out of her bitter relationship with Peninnah—she prayed.

Hannah prayed before the Lord, and she “wept in anguish” (1 Samuel 1:10). This was obviously an intense time of prayer for Hannah. Notice how she prayed and what happened next: “Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk” (1 Samuel 1:13). Hannah could have become offended and said, “Well, if Eli, the priest, doesn’t understand my heart, I’ll never come into the tabernacle of God again!” But if the devil could have made her offended over Eli’s words, Hannah never would have gotten what she desired most—a son.  Hannah stayed in faith, she shared her burden with Eli, and God granted her prayer.  You never read about a bad relationship between Hannah and Peninnah after the birth of Samuel.  I believe their relationship was healed because Hannah sought the Lord instead of becoming bitter and hostile toward those around her.  If you and I are going to see victories in our relationships, we are going to have to pray in earnest.

Often, binding and loosing must take place before unity develops.  Jesus taught His disciples: “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). If we are going to have harmonious relationships with our spouses, our fellow employees, and our relatives, we need to learn the value of binding and loosing, just like my mother did. After she was saved and Spirit-filled, she could hardly wait to tell her family about Jesus.  One year, all summer, our out-of-state relatives came to visit, but the next summer, nobody came! All the relatives were turned off by her witnessing.  My mother quickly learned about binding and loosing.  She bound the devil from working in her family, and she loosed God to speak to each and every one of them about His Son, Jesus.  The Lord heard those binding-and-loosing prayers, and almost every one of my mother’s siblings was saved—and their children soon followed.  Praise the Lord! Binding-and-loosing prayers will pave the way for agreement and unity with your relatives.

Sometimes we may not know what God’s will is concerning a person or a situation.  Those are the times when we need to pray in the Spirit and allow God to reveal His will to us.  Romans 8:26 says: “We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” We may not know what to pray, but the Holy Spirit knows how to pray the kinds of prayers that untangle the toughest “knots” in our relationships.

Are there some twisted areas in your life that need this kind of prayers in the Spirit? A hurt relationship with a spouse, child, relative, or someone else? Spend some time praying in the Spirit for any seemingly “hard cases.” Allow God to work through those relationships and bring harmony and unity into your home.

This blog post is excerpted from Marilyn’s 101-day devotional, Beautiful Inheritance.

2025-06-18T10:44:26-06:00July 21st, 2025|

Pray Until You Win!

Pray Until You Win!

When you pray for something for a long time and it doesn’t come to pass, it can be discouraging.  It can seem that God is hiding from you.  David felt the same way.  In Psalms 55:1, David cried out, “Give ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide Yourself from my supplication” (NKJ).  Is God hiding from your prayer?  Has He gone fishing?  Or, is something else going on?  What do we do when it seems God is “hiding”?

When God Seems to “Hide”—Persist

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.   For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” Matthew 7:7, 8 (NKJ).

The words “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” are in a Greek verb tense that indicates continuous action—prayer must be ongoing.  In this verse, Jesus is teaching us how to pray.  We must persist in asking, persevere in seeking, and continue knocking until we prevail.

Do not stop praying!  If you allow yourself to become discouraged and give up, you can miss your answer.  If you have already given up praying for something or someone—repent and start praying again.

According to James 5:16 (NKJ), “…The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”.  The word effective in the Greek means “energy.”  Your prayers have energy!  When you pray fervently, you release the energy of God into a situation.

When God Seems to “Hide”—Change!

There are times when God delays answering prayer because He is changing you.  You may not be able to handle the answer to your prayers until you are different.  When you pray for a situation, particularly something that has to do with you, God will deal with you first.  Sometimes God isn’t hiding from our prayer; He’s actually trying to get our attention about something in our lives that He wants us to change.  Often that change is a process and it may take time.  We sometimes think God is slow to answer but what if He is waiting on you?

Consider Jacob.  He had a problem with his character.  He lied, cheated, and connived to take the blessing and the birthright away from his brother.  When it came time for Jacob to return to the Promised Land and enter into his blessing, his character wasn’t ready.  After 20 years of serving his swindling father-in-law, Jacob still had to wrestle with God to be ready to receive his answer.

Joseph is another example.  As a 17-year-old, God gave Joseph dreams that one day his entire family would bow before him.  All the trials and tribulation he endured over the next 13 years prepared Joseph to step into his miracle.  At the age of 30, Joseph became prime minister of the mightiest, most advanced nation on earth, Egypt.  It was well worth the delay and changes Jacob and Joseph had to make to receive their blessings, and it will be worth it for you, too!

When God Seems to “Hide”—Expand Your Faith!

It is through “…faith and patience [we] inherit the promises” Hebrews 6:12 (NKJ).  You should repeat this verse every day to remind yourself that nothing comes from God except by faith and patience.

Abraham waited 25 years for his promised son to be born.  During those 25 years, he made some serious mistakes.  At time he lied rather than rely on God.  On another occasion, he tried to help God fulfill His promise and the results were disastrous.  Yet, despite his mistakes, Abraham received his promise and is today called the “Father of Faith.”

Abraham needed faith when God spoke to him after Isaac was born.  God told Abraham to take Isaac to a mountain and sacrifice him.  Abraham didn’t bat an eye, argue, whine, or complain.  He saddled a donkey and set out to obey.  How could Abraham be obedient to such a request from God?  While waiting for the answer to his prayer for a son, Abraham had developed great faith.  He believed that God could raise his son from the dead.  God will delay answers to prayer to build your faith, too.

Persist Until You Prevail!

These are the end times.  God needs people who are persistent, conformed to His image, and powerful in faith.  When God hides, should you—get made, become depressed, stop going to church, or throw your Bible out the window?  NO!  You need to persist until you prevail!  Become like a bulldog and say to yourself “I won’t stop praying and believing until I get my miracle.”

Elijah prayed seven times before it rained.  Moses prayed 40 days for people who were murmuring.  Daniel prayed for three weeks before he heard from God.  Jesus prayed all night before he chose His disciples.  Each of these people persisted until God answered their prayer.  When it seems as if God is hiding…you must hang on!

2025-06-18T10:39:53-06:00July 14th, 2025|

Make God’s Truth Your Family’s Foundation

But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15 NKJV) 

A life built on God’s truth becomes the foundation for generational blessing, because knowledge of the truth empowers us to make habitual choices that are in line with the Word of God and the character of Christ.

God honors righteousness.

God rewards those who diligently seek Him.

He blesses choices and decisions that honor Him.

A family can choose to follow God and be blessed by God—generation after generation.  A family can choose to obey God, receive forgiveness, and become the very embodiment of God’s blessing to the world.

A family who believes and lives the truth will be blessed.  Sadly, a family who fails to value truth or refuses to receive truth will eventually reap negative consequences.

Prize the truth…seek the truth…reap the truth’s glorious harvest.

2025-06-18T09:00:43-06:00July 7th, 2025|

Ask Marilyn

GOD AND THE BIBLE 

Q: Why should I read the whole Bible?

A : The Bible is God’s primary method of communicating with His creation, mankind. It is His revealed Word and will to man.  Through reading and studying the Bible, you can meet, get to know, and establish a one-on-one relationship with the one true God, your Creator.  As such, the Bible can be your best friend.

Its two major divisions, the Old Testament and the New Testament, both point to Jesus as the Redeemer of the human race.  The Old Testament prepared the way for Jesus, and the New Testament prepares a people to receive Him.

That’s why it’s so important for you to read every book in the Bible—you can behold Jesus in every book of the Bible! Each book reveals to you Jesus and His love for you. When you read the whole Bible, you will recognize the unity of the Bible, and can apply its truths to every area of your life.

Q: How do you know God wrote the Bible?

A: The Bible claims God as its author, and a knowledge of the Word makes this apparent. There are 66 books in the Bible—written by more than 30 different persons over a period of thousands of years, and yet there is a consistent theme running from Genesis to Revelation.  The Bible describes the fall of man, his utter sinfulness, and God’s redemptive plan through the blood sacrifice of His Son. If the scriptures were not written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the mortal men who penned them surely would not present man as totally depraved and in need of salvation.

Man’s “religion” always teaches access to God through human effort, but the Bible clearly states that mankind is dead in trespasses and sin. Dead men can’t work their way to God; they can only accept God’s provision of a new life in Christ Jesus.

Each of the prophets declared that it was the Word of the Lord that came to them; and with the exception of end-time prophecy, all prophecy has been fulfilled to the letter—even as God said it would be (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:20, 21).

Q: Is the Bible really God’s infallible Word?

A: Yes, the Bible is God’s infallible Word. Even though there are scriptures which, when read, may seem “inconsistent,” one must know the whole counsel of God’s Word to see there is no contradiction.

Q: What is the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament?

A: The purpose of the Old Testament is to show us man’s creation, his sin (fall), and to show us God’s preparation for a Redeemer to come Who would make salvation available to all men. This Redeemer (Jesus) came through the Jewish nation; thus, the Old Testament is the story of their history—good and bad.

In the New Testament we have the manifestation of the Redeemer and His manifestation through His people (those who receive Him).  We also see the culmination of God’s plan of redemption in the book of Revelation.

Q: Which version of the Bible do you believe is the most accurate?

A: From the time that God confused language at the tower of Babel until now, the human race has been trying to communicate through the imperfect vehicle of foreign languages. The Bible was written in Hebrews, Aramaic, and Greek.  Because different words can be translated in a variety of ways, we have different Bible versions, which essentially are different translations.

Modern translations are taken from the original Greek and Hebrew; but even so, there is still a problem in that one word can have various shades and meanings and thereby can be translated differently.  So, each person who translates a work must do it on the basis of the context in which the word is written in order to determine the original meaning.  Different scholars have different opinions on how these words should be translated; thus, we have a variety of translations, and all of these translations depend upon the text from which that particular language was translated.

The NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION and the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION are considered by many Bible scholars to be the most accurate English translation available today.  However, my personal preference is still the KING JAMES VERSION.

Q: What does it mean to walk with God every day? How can I walk with Him every day?

A: “To walk with God” means to live your life in harmony with Christ’s life in you. This comes about through prayer and Bible study.  Speak to God in prayer, and let Him speak to you through the Bible.

Q: How do we know Jesus is God?

A: The Bible, which is the final authority for every Christian, says in John 1:1, 14 NKJV, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…” Philippians 2:6, 7 NKJV “Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” These verses refer to Jesus Christ.  They tell us that Jesus is God Who became man and lived here on earth.

If Jesus is not God, then we, of all people—that is to say Christians—are the most to be pitied.  If Jesus is not God, then we have no hope for eternal life because a mere man could not ascend into heaven and sit at the Father’s right hand as the Scriptures record.

I would encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to open up your eyes to the fact that Jesus Christ is true God and true man.  Come before Him in prayer and ask Him to reveal Himself to you in a personal way.  If you are honestly seeking for the truth, then I know that He will do this for you.

Q: Marilyn, please explain the Trinity. If Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God and God the Father is God, how can Jesus sit at the right hand of Himself?

A: The concept of the Trinity (three-in-one and one-in-three) is ultimately a mystery to our human, finite minds! I can only tell you what I understand about it as I read through the Bible. Ultimately the truth about the Godhead must be accepted by faith so long as we are in these human bodies.

Although the word “trinity” is never mentioned in the Bible, its existence is clearly spoken of in Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14.  God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), yet made up of three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Just as a family is one unit made up of several family members, so the Godhead is one unit with three members.  Each person of the Trinity has a specific role, differing from the other two; and yet together, they make up a single unit with a single purpose, carrying out a perfect and complete plan.

The Heavenly Father is the architect or planner of the Trinity; Jesus is the contractor or the One Who carries out the plan; and the Holy Spirit is the laborer or the One Who gives life to the plan.  Let’s look at the creation record.  The Father planned it, Jesus did it, and the Holy Spirit gave it life.  These three distinct roles, or ministries, of the Trinity can be seen in the creation of man and the birth and resurrection of Jesus in the flesh. (See Genesis 1:2; 1:26; and John 1:2).

The Old Testament scriptures which refer to God as one God, literally mean that He is a unit, not that He is only one individual.  When you see this relationship, you can understand that Jesus the Son can sit at the right-hand of the Father.

Q: Please explain for me, Marilyn, what is the grace of God?

A: “Grace” comes from the Hebrew word chanan which means “to stoop in kindness to an inferior.” The grace of God conveys that same idea in that we receive unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor from God. God’s gifts are based on His undying mercies not on some kind of reward system for our works.  God’s kindness is not only present in Him in great measure but is manifest to us in abundance.

One of the best ways to remember what grace means is in an acrostic made of each letter in the word GRACE— “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.”  Without Christ’s sacrifice none of us could receive God’s grace.

Take the gift of grace today; and as you receive from Him that grace, give it away also that you may be ever abounding in His never-ending grace (Romans 5:15-21).

Q: What is the meaning of the “fear of the Lord?”

A: The word fear comes from a Hebrew root word which means “to reverence, trust, and stand in awe.” So, this word is talking about the deep reverence and awe we should have for God. It is in this same trust, awe, and reverence that we should worship, love and honor God.

2025-06-26T11:02:13-06:00June 23rd, 2025|

I Am the Way

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

This is the sixth “I Am” statement Jesus makes in the Gospel of John and it’s our theme verse for the month of August. There are a few things I want to point out:

  • Jesus is the only way to the Father.
  • Jesus is the truth which reveals the Father.
  • Jesus if the life that brings regeneration (rebirth) to man.

As the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus was the embodiment of three basic Jewish concepts:

  1. The Jews knew about the way.

In Deuteronomy 31:29, Moses warned the Israelites about straying from the way after his death:

“For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.”

David asked to learn the way in Psalm 27:11:

Teach me Your way, O Lord,

And lead me in a smooth path.

Isaiah spoke about God leading us in the way:

Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

“This is the way, walk in it,”

Whenever you turn to the right hand

Or whenever you turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

A few chapters later, Isaiah prophesied a return to the way:

A highway shall be there, and a road,

And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.

The unclean shall not pass over it,

But it shall be for others.

Whoever walks the road, although a fool,

Shall not go astray. (Isaiah 35:8)

Jesus didn’t explain the way, He said, “I am the way.” Jesus didn’t give directions, He said, “I am the direction.” Jesus didn’t point His people there, He said “I will take you there.”

  1. The Old Covenant taught the truth.

David professed to having walked in truth:

For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

And I have walked in Your truth. (Psalm 26:3)

David vowed to walk in God’s truth:

Teach me Your way, O Lord;

I will walk in Your truth. (Psalm 86:11)

The author of Psalm 119 chose truth:

I have chosen the way of truth. (v. 30)

A man can teach truth, but not walk in it. Jesus said, “I am the truth.” All moral perfection is found in Jesus, the truth.

  1. The Scriptures emphasized life.

Moses commanded Israel to choose life in Deuteronomy 30:19:

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”

David trusted God to show him the road to life:

You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

Solomon said correction and instruction give life:

For the commandment is a lamp,

And the law a light;

Reproofs of instruction are the way of life. (Proverbs 6:23)

Jesus isn’t just a path to life, He said, “I am the life.” Remember that Jesus demonstrated the sixth “I Am” statement in the healing of the nobleman’s son in John 4:46-53. The nobleman believed the truth in Christ, went on his way, and his son received life (vv. 50-51).

Jesus will do the same for us. He’ll be the truth and all we need. He’ll be the way and make a way for us. He’ll give us the life we need to please Him.

Today’s blog post is from Marilyn’s master class, John: The Gospel for Real Life. For more information, please visit https://www.mentoredbymarilyn.org/

2025-06-04T13:49:10-06:00June 16th, 2025|

The Pearl of Great Price

If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably been taught that the pearl of great price mentioned in Matthew 13:45 is Jesus Himself.  (And certainly, Jesus is more than worthy of every high and noble name that our tongues could ever utter).

The Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the fuller and deeper meaning of this great passage…

In Matthew 13:45, where it says the merchant man went forth seeking a pearl, and when he found the pearl of great price, he sold all that he had to get the pearl; Jesus is the merchant man who came from heaven.  He was a connoisseur—because merchant here has to do with connoisseur—or one who looked for the very best.

Who is the pearl of great price?  It is every believer!  You are a pearl…I am a pearl.

As John 3:16 so beautifully states it, Jesus thought we were the best; so, He came and purchased the whole world in order to get us—the best.  He considered us the pearl of great price.

The pearl is a very unique gem.  It is not like the ruby, emerald, diamond, or topaz.  These are all formations of rock, but the pearl is a living stone.  It is made out of a living organism.

Peter said that Jesus was the Living Stone that was “rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.”

He further states that every Christian is a living stone too: “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house…” I Peter 2:5 (NKJ).

That’s what we are.  We’re pearls!  We’re precious in the sight of God, and He sent Jesus to this world to purchase the pearl of great price with His own blood on Calvary’s Cross.

You see, unlike the other precious stones, pearls come forth out of suffering.  Down in the depths of the sea, there on the ocean floor, an oyster gets a grain of sand inside.  It becomes a severe irritant to the oyster, so the oyster starts covering that irritant with layer after layer of a substance called nacre.  After a long period of suffering, the finished product is the pearl.

We became pearls in like manner.

God sent Jesus Who took the irritant of our sin and covered us with layer after layer of righteousness.  And just as pearls are made in the depths of the seas, so we were in the depths of sin.  But He came to where we are, sought us out, and took us.

Now, pearls are so precious that they are used in the crowns of kings.  We are too.  God took us and put us into the highest place He could put us.  He seated us in high places with Christ Jesus.  How valuable those pearls are.  They cost Jesus everything.

2025-05-15T12:22:25-06:00June 9th, 2025|

God Has a Way Out

God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Do you need a way out of temptation? I have good news for you—God has a way out designed specifically for you! First Corinthians 10:13 says three things about the temptations that may come your way: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” First, it says that temptations are “common.” Temptations, though they may come in different forms, happen to everyone. Second, the faithfulness of God will cause you to prevail in every situation.  Third, God will provide a way out of the situation so that you will be able to successfully endure it.

Adversity and temptation come to steal the Word of God out of your heart so that it will not bear fruit in your life. The devil would love to get you on a detour so that you miss what God has for you.  He will try all kinds of things to rob you of God’s plan for your life. We all have people and circumstances that could get us off target with God and cause us to detour from His chosen path.  But God promises that when you are faced with a temptation, He will either help you through it or take you out of it. God will give you a way out! Many believers think they will escape adversity and temptation by the “skin of their teeth.” However, as Christians, you should not think of just barely getting by.  I want you to think triumph. I want you to think victory because that is what the Word of God says.

There are two ways to escape adversity—God’s way and man’s way.  The most common form of escape in today’s pleasure-oriented society is through entertainment. Christians and non-Christians alike spend countless hours of their lives watching TV, scrolling online, or some other form of entertainment.  By bombarding their minds with make-believe, they think they can escape their problems and pretend they don’t exist.  The world’s system says, “Don’t think! Let us amuse you.  Take your mind off your problems and watch TV!”

But Isaiah 1:18 says, “’Come now, and let us reason together; says the Lord.” God wants to speak to you and do something very supernatural in the time of your temptation.  You don’t have to yield to a man-made or self-made detour.

If ever a man needed a way of escape, it was Job.  Not only had he lost his wealth, health, and children, but he also had bad breath (see Job 19:17 NIV). His friends accused him of having sin in his life, and because of that sin, they said God had judged him. However, in the midst of his temptation, Job had a revelation of God like he had never had before. Out of that revelation came a double portion of blessing—God doubled everything he had lost and enriched his walk with Him.

God can bring you through your time of testing and temptation with great victory, too, if you’ll use His way out and not yours.

2025-05-14T14:31:30-06:00June 2nd, 2025|

The Conclusion of the Matter

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. Ecclesiastes 12:13

Ecclesiastes is a beautiful book. It starts with groaning, but it ends with joy. We can groan a lot, but if we can get hold of the joy of the Lord, it will be our strength for this life.

You say, “Where’s Jesus in this? Is Jesus in here, in the midst of all the vanity and groaning?” Oh yes! If you look at chapter 12, at the 11th verse, it says: “The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd.” A goad is a stick or a cattle-prod, something used to move you in the right direction. So the words of the Shepherd will give us direction, and they’ll hold us tight like a well-driven nail. We can hang our life on the Shepherd’s words. Notice the capital “S” for Shepherd. Jesus is the Good Shepherd referred to in this Scripture!

In Ecclesiastes, we see Solomon look for satisfaction in everything but God, but in the final chapter he comes back to the living God; he saw the Son, the Shepherd King, and it transformed his life. I believe when we get to Heaven, we can sit down with Solomon and he can tell you, “I tried everything and it was empty, but when I got hold of Jesus, I knew that was life and life abundant.”

Solomon’s final conclusion is that the whole of life is to fear God, to keep His commandments, and to live forever with Him. This is the chief thing in life and the only eternally rewarding thing. Don’t spend your life frivolously looking for a purpose. Find God’s purpose for your life!

2025-04-16T08:11:53-06:00May 26th, 2025|

Scriptures on Favor

The following Scriptures are intended to prove that God will produce favor in your life. Meditate upon these Scriptures and memorize them until they penetrate deep down into your spirit. If you plant them in your heart now, when you are in a time of need, they will be firmly rooted, and you will be able to stand upon them. I just love these verses, and I believe you will, too!

“You have granted me life and favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit.” (Job 10:12)

For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield. (Psalm 5:12)

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause; and let them say continually, “Let the Lord be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” (Psalm 35:27)

By this I know that You favor me, because my enemy does not triumph over me. (Psalm 41:11 MEV)

For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, because You favored them. (Psalm 44:3)

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. (Psalm 84:11 NIV)

For You are the glory of their strength, and in Your favor our horn is exalted. (Psalm 89:17)

May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. (Psalm 90:17 NIV)

Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation. That I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance. (Psalm 106:4-5)

Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)

He who earnestly seeks good find favor, but trouble will come to him who seeks evil. (Proverbs 11:27)

A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions He will condemn. (Proverbs 12:2)

Good understanding gains favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. (Proverbs 13:15)

Fools mock at sin, but among the upright there is favor. (Proverbs 14:9)

In the light of the king’s face is life, and his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain. (Proverbs 16:15)

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. (Proverbs 18:22)

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold. (Proverbs 22:1)

“These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.” (Isaiah 66:2 NIV)

So, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46-47)

For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. (Romans 14:18)

Today’s blog post was taken from Marilyn’s new book, Wide Open Doors.

2025-04-16T07:37:27-06:00May 19th, 2025|

The Most Important Gift You Can Give Your Children

I knew a woman from Chicago whose son had been classified by the police as a habitual criminal—he was hopelessly locked into a criminal mindset. She meditated and prayed over Proverbs 11:21 for her son, “…the seed of the righteous will be delivered.” She even testified her faith in church saying, “I know God is going to save my son, and he will preach the gospel in this church.” She focused all her attention on God’s transforming power.

One night. She felt an unusual burden to pray for her son. An hour later, he called her long distance, asking what she had been doing earlier. He said a man to whom he’d sold some bad drugs had come to his apartment. The man had beaten him to a pulp, then pulled out a gun, intending to shoot him. The man tried to pull the trigger, but couldn’t bend his finger! After several tries, he threw the gun down and ran out, declaring, “Your mother is doing something to stop me from pulling this trigger!”

Needless to say, the son received Jesus as his Lord and was Spirit-filled shortly thereafter. He attended Bible school and was later a guest speaker at his mother’s church.

Your children can be transformed! Whether they are grown and living a life of sin or still peacefully at home under your covering, the transforming power of God’s Word is available to help them.

A Mother’s Faith

There is something unique about a mother’s faith. Remember how the Syrophenician mother stretched out in supernatural faith on behalf of her hurting daughter:

And behold, a woman of Canaan came … and cried out to Him, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord… my daughter is severely demon-possessed.” 23 But He answered her not a word… 25 Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” 26 But He answered and said, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs. 27 And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” 28 The Jesus answered… her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour. (Matthew 15:22-28).

This woman was not about to let anything stop her from claiming God’s transforming power for her daughter. Your children need that same kind of spiritual tenacity exerted on their behalf.

Put your faith in God’s Word—Jesus. Although your children may be involved in ungodly lifestyles, don’t let go of God’s transforming power. Remember the Prodigal Son. The Bible says, “he came to himself.” In other words, suddenly his eyes were opened and he saw things from the perspective of the Word rather than the world. Your wayward children will do the same. One day, they will hear the Holy Spirit speaking to their hearts and respond. They’ll get up, repent, and serve God. Don’t give up on God’s transforming power for their lives!

You Hold the Key

Your faith in God’s transforming power will determine the course of your child’s life. Remember Moses’ mother, Jochebed, Pharaoh ordered all the newborn male Hebrews murdered, but Jochebed trusted in God. The woman conceived, and bore a son; and… she hid him three months” (Exodus 2:2).

Jochebed had a mother’s faith for her baby. She hid him, then put him in an ark and floated him down a river full of crocodiles. The baby ended up in the bathtub of Pharaoh’s daughter. She named him Moses and raised him as her own.

Because of his mother’s faith, Moses’ life was spared; he received an education and had the best of everything. After some life-changing learning experiences, he answered the call of God and was used of God in tremendous ways.

Looking back on the circumstances surrounding Moses’ birth, would you have foreseen all of this in his future? I doubt it; but God’s transforming power turned Moses’ life around.

Maybe your decisions haven’t always served God and you’ve made some mistakes in raising your children. The good news is that, regardless of their beginnings, God has plans for your children—they may be future deliverers in the Body of Christ. Stop feeling guilty about mistakes you may have made. Seek God and repent. Then ask your children to forgive you and stand on God’s Word—the transforming power for their lives.

2025-04-16T07:30:51-06:00May 12th, 2025|

Your Future Is In His Hands

Whether you are 19 or 91, God has a vision for your life that you need to fulfill.  That vision will make it possible for you to wake up every day knowing what He wants from you, instead of guessing what you should do.

You may think, “God doesn’t have anything planned for ME.  I’m not intelligent, talented, pretty, or spiritual enough to be used by God.”  Satan is the one who tells you those lies.  God’s truth is clearly spelled out in Jeremiah 29:11, where He says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

God’s “expected end,” or vision for your life, does not include pain, suffering, or poverty (those are the devil’s plans for you).  God envisions you experiencing peace and knowing your purpose.

You may think, “That may be true for other people, but I’m always messing up.  God’s mad at me because I blow it all the time.  I haven’t been tithing.  I haven’t been reading my Bible and praying like I should.  I have been cold towards Him.  So, of God has any plans for my life, I bet they are bad.  He wants to pay me back for all the bad things I’ve done.”  That is WRONG because as a child of God, He called you to achieve wonderful things even before He created you!

If you want to catch God’s vision, ask the Holy Spirit causes people to dream dreams of their future and have visions of God’s goals for their lives.  Don’t become discouraged if the vision isn’t revealed right away.  Wait on God!  “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:13.

God’s vision will give you direction.  Knowing where you’re supposed to go and what you’re supposed to do is important because “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” Proverbs 29:18.  Without God’s vision you won’t achieve the things you need in order to fulfill His purpose for you.

Even the apostle Paul lost his way when he didn’t wait for God’s leading.  Although his first missionary journey produced signs and wonders and a crop of new churches, he nearly flopped at his second journey because he didn’t wait for God to tell him where to go.  Everywhere he went the door was slammed in his face.  But then one night he dreamt of a man asking him to come to Macedonia—he finally received the direction he needed.  And when he followed that vision, God blessed him by opening Europe to the gospel.

Faith Builders

Many people ask me why it seems like some Christians have an easier time obeying God than others.  The answer is these people have a vision from God inside them, and those visions produce the faith they need to do what God wants them to do!  When you catch hold of God’s vision, the word “quit” is erased from your vocabulary and you can say, “My dreams will come true because God gave them to me.  He’s given me this vision, and I believe it will come to pass!”

It had to be hard for Noah to spend 100 years trying to explain what he was doing to a world full of people who had never even seen rain, let alone a flood.  I’m sure people took their families out by Noah’s Ark for after-dinner strolls just to laugh at him before they went to bed.  More than likely he lost friends, his family questioned his sanity, and the neighborhood complained about the monster-sized boat in his front yard.

But even with 10 decades of persecution, Noah continued to build and believe, preach and pray.  He could have become depressed and discouraged, and given up; but he kept at it because he had caught ahold of God’s vision and His vision gave him faith that survived and surpassed the trials he faced.

I’ve learned over the years that even the smallest portion of a vision will produce faith.  This is important because God sometimes doesn’t give you the entire vision at once.  Consider Abraham.  When God called him out of his father’s house and his native land, He didn’t tell him the vision He had for him.  God simply said, “Go.”  Only when Abram arrived at his destination did God show him His vision of being the father of a multitude (see Genesis 12, 13).

The vision was so important to Abram’s life that God changed his name, which means “father of altitudes,” to Abraham, the “father of multitudes.”  Imagine having God change your name to reinforce the power of His vision for your life!

However, even after Abraham’s faith was greatly energized by his encounter with God, I’m sure he started to second guess God when nothing happened for 11 years.  After a couple of years, Abraham went along with Sarah’s plan for him to make a baby with her servant, Hagar.

There may be times in your life when your vision seems to die.  I’m sure that by the time Abraham and Sarah entered their 90s and still didn’t have a baby, they thought, “God, it’s physically impossible to bear a child.  It’s too late.”

I think most people do that.  The vision is exciting and fresh when they first get it, but after a period of time they begin to wonder if the vision came from God after all.  They say, “God, forget it, it’s too late for your vision to come to pass.  It won’t do me any good now.”

Abraham and Sarah’s vision of a family still had not come to pass.  But when it was too late for them to have a baby, God took over and created life supernaturally.  He may do the same with you.  If you have a tendency to give yourself the glory when good things happen to you, God may keep your dreams out of your reach so that when you finally say, “I can’t do it, Lord,” He can hand you a miracle.

Do you feel like you could do so much for God if you could only change your personality?  Are you too shy, too fearful, too mean, or too proud?  Well, the good news is that visions can change your personality.  They can literally change your attitude!  They can change the way you talk, the way you think, and the way you act.

Moses was raised to be Pharaoh.  He was probably pretty arrogant, expecting people to serve him and do his bidding.  But one day, God spoke to him out of a burning bush and gave him a vision, and that vision changed him from a haughty prince into the “meekest man on earth” (see Number 12:3).  Moses changed so much that he was able to put up with two million murmuring people for 40 years.  That takes a big change!

Pray and Obey

When God gives you a vision, your part is to pray and obey—He will bring the results!  One time the Lord spoke to me and said, “When you pray, you always try to answer your needs by yourself.  Marilyn, you do the praying, and I’ll do the answering.”

If you obey God’s vision, God will do supernatural things to bring the vision to pass.  If you start “taking over” for God, trying to get things done in your own timing, then you will miss out on opportunities to receive His blessings and miracles.

Every year I ask God for a Scripture for the New Year.  One time God gave me Proverbs 9:21 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge and discretion.”  The vision He put in my heart was witty inventions (or creative ways) to reach the lost.

Part of my vision was to pray over the nations of the world every day.  Shortly after I began doing that, some unique things happened at this ministry with foreign countries.  The first was an extremely large order for books and tapes from Kuwait.  Now, that is a miracle because Kuwait is nearly 100 percent Muslim!

When I caught hold of God’s vision for creative ideas and obeyed His leading, He brought a supernatural situation to pass.  And as I continued to obey, He brought more and more miracles to pass for us all over the world.

When God gives you a vision for your life, follow that dream.  If you’re not doing what God want you to do, you will be unhappy and frustrated.  When you do what God wants, your dreams will come true.  Trust in the Lord and delight in His plans and goals for you so He can give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).  Then you will have godly success.

Please pray with me, “Dear heavenly Father, I ask You to clear my mind of earthly desires and free my heart of worldly weights.  Holy Spirit, please bring Your visions for my future into my heart and give me the faith to follow through with Your plans for my life.  Thank You, Lord, for my peaceful, joyful, expected end.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

2025-04-15T11:41:20-06:00May 5th, 2025|

Ask Marilyn

Friendship

Q: I have a friend who is growing farther away from the Lord; our relationship has become strained. What can I do?

A: The very best advice I can give you on how to help your friend is to be a gap stander. I encourage you to spend some time praying in the Spirit for her. Perhaps you can even fast and pray for this relationship with the Lord to be restored. Fasting and prayer have broken many yokes in other peoples’ lives. You’ll also find your own faith strengthened to believe for her return to the Lord. So the most effective action you can take is to pray, pray, pray!

Q: My husband works with an alcoholic who is living with a man who is not her husband. She has repeatedly invited us to their home for dinner. Should we accept?

A: Jesus associated with men and women with poor reputations, and He told us to go into all the world to preach the gospel: “The Son of Man cam eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” (Matthew 11:19).

I believe the Lord wants you to carry your witness into this woman’s home, even though she is an alcoholic and living with a man—certainly they both need the Lord, and you can bring Him to them! Do not be concerned by what other people may think of you—Jesus wasn’t—but rather be concerned about the salvation of these two precious souls.

On the other hand, you should be certain that those people with whom you spend most of your time are fellow Christians. The Bible is very clear about the dangers of being unequally yoked with unbelievers, and that injunction definitely applies to all levels of relationships—business, marriage, and friendship (see 1 Corinthias 6:14).

Spiritual fellowship is a gift of God for those within the Body of Christ (Psalms 55:14; Galatians 2:9). Even the backslider is one who is out of fellowship with God; and therefore, our position should be to pray and believe that such a person will turn back to God. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in how much time to spend with unbelievers and what activities to share with them.

Q: I am so grieved about some friends of mine who have become involved in a false doctrine. Now they are harassing me with “intellectual” reasons why I should not believe the Bible as God’s Word. What can I do?

A: The very first thing I want to tell you is, “Don’t give up on your friends!” If you cannot speak to them about the subject and they will not take any literature, then pray this scripture for them: These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, and those who complained will learn doctrine. (Isaiah 29:24).

Your friends have erred in their spirit, but you can pray this promise for them to return to right understanding. God says that those who have erred in spirit will learn the Word of God as a reality, and you can claim that scripture. My husband and I have stood on this scripture for friends and members of our church. It has sometimes taken months and even years, but over and over again we have seen God restore individuals to correct doctrine.

Don’t argue with your friends, and don’t listen to their false doctrines; but do keep praying the authority of God’s Word over their lives. Then watch God enlighten the eyes of their understanding.

Q: Should we have pets, or do they take the time and place of people who need our attention?

A: Pets are a source of joy and comfort to many people. So long as their care and presence in our lives do not interfere with our relationship to God or hinder us in doing His will, I see nothing wrong with enjoying and caring for pets. The guideline we should follow in this regard is to ask ourselves if God and His kingdom have first place in our lives (Matthew 6:33).

Q: Is it really Biblical to be “legally” married? I have a friend who loves the man she is living with very much, but they don’t believe a marriage certificate is necessary because they are married to one another in their hearts.

A: The Bible is very clear that we are to obey the ordinances of government: “Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake… 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men… (1 Peter 2:13,15).

A marriage certificate is required by God because it is required by most states for a marriage to be legally binding. Without a marriage certificate, the rights of the individuals involved, and any children they may have, could be unprotected. God set up governments for the sake of order and law, and we are required to submit to those laws.

In the marriage ceremony vows of commitment are made to God to the marriage partner. These vows are important, and the wedding ceremony is important. Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding. Certainly, He believed that weddings were important.

Q: I am born again, but I still have friends who are not. Some of these people are in severe sexual bondage. How should I pray for them?

A: Christians overcome the enemy in two ways: first by the blood of the Lamb and next by the word of their testimony. The blood gives us authority to speak the Word over sin in our own life and in the lives of others. Confess the Word over those who are bound by sin. Pray that your friends will hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6), and then pray that they will confess their sins and receive God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Thank God for His forgiveness and for the cleansing power of the blood.

Continue to stand in the gap for your friends, believing that nothing is too hard for God and His power can change things. Remember, Jesus came so that sin may no longer have dominion over us. God loves those who are bound by sin; and through the power of prayer, these people can know the liberty of walking in the light of the gospel.

2025-03-20T10:45:04-06:00April 28th, 2025|

The Surrendered Life

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God offers us total victory in life. Though it’s a simple step of faith to reach out and receive from Him, it requires such a total surrender of ourselves that many fail to respond.  For example, the rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what to do to gain eternal life (see Matthew 19:16-22). Jesus demanded of the young man more than he could part with.  Jesus didn’t care about the man’s wealth—He cared about the man.  Jesus asked him to give up himself so that Jesus could give him life. The same is still true today. Many of us are willing to give our time, labor, and money to the work of the Lord. But when Jesus asks for ourselves, it’s a different story.  Yet total surrender to Jesus is where the victorious life comes from.

Only Jesus has the right to ask that we totally surrender to Him because He already surrendered Himself for us. Romans 5:8 tells us that God gave everything for us at the cross: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God says, “I gave everything for you; I totally surrendered.  Now you are to be like me.  Give me your life.”

God isn’t asking you to die on a cross to be like Jesus.  Jesus already did that! Jesus taught us how to be like Him through total surrender and submission to the Father. He humbled Himself and became like man so that we could become like Him and be exalted.  The whole process is summed up in Philippians 2:5-11, which outlines Jesus’s seven steps to total surrender and victory.

Verses 6-8 focus on His surrender: Jesus (1) “Who being in the form of God, (2) did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, (3) but made Himself of no reputation, (4) taking the form of a bondservant, and (5) coming in the likeness of men. (6) And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself (7) and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

You might be asking, “What’s so victorious about dying on a cross?” Well, verses 9-11 tell us that after Jesus totally surrendered (died), then God exalted Him in another seven-step process up from the grave: “(1) Therefore God also has highly exalted Him (2) and given Him the name which is above every name, (3) that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, (4) of those in heaven, (5) and of those on earth, (6) and of those under the earth, (7) and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

 Godly surrender yields lifetime benefits because it delivers you from the herd attitude that tempts you to say, “I can’t do that! What will so-and-so say?” The herd attitude makes us embarrassed to show others that we are surrendered to God.  It’s the world’s attitude of “If it feels good, do it.” But folks, if you’re a part of the herd, you are surrendered to the herd; and if you’re part of them, who’s going to minister to the herd?

Instead of a herd attitude, develop your “Word” attitude.  The “Word” attitude is just what it says.  If the Word says, “Do it, do it!” When you surrender to the cross, then you can be a blessing to others and to yourself because you’ll reap what you sow.  If you sow forgiveness, you’ll reap forgiveness.  If you sow love, you’ll reap love.  God forgave you so you can forgive others.  He waited for you to surrender to Him, so now you can patiently minister Him to others and enjoy the fruit of your labors as the whole cycle starts over again with someone to whom you ministered.

This blog post is excerpted from Marilyn’s 101-day devotional, Beautiful Inheritance.

2025-03-20T10:37:29-06:00April 21st, 2025|

Triumph and Victory

NOW THANKS BE TO GOD WHO ALWAYS LEADS US IN TRIUMPH IN CHRIST…

-2 Corinthians 2:14

Nine years after David was anointed to be king, he was an outcast of Israel! He was living in a Philistine city, Ziklag, with several hundred of his men and their families. “Ziklag” means “overwhelming despair.” What a place for the future king of Israel to live!

One day after returning home to Ziklag, David and his men found that all their wives, children and possessions had been stolen by the Amalekites. David’s men picked up stones to stone him. Instead of saying, “Go on and get it over with,” David encouraged his men that they were capable of reclaiming their wives, children and possessions from the hands of the Amalekites.

David and his men found the Amalekites camp and not only got back all of their wives, children and possessions; they confiscated all that the Amalekites had as well. When David returned to Ziklag, it was no longer a place of overwhelming despair, it was a place of OVERWHELMING VICTORY. Shortly after returning to camp, men came to tell him that both Saul and Jonathan had been killed and that they wanted David to become king!

What would have happened if David had given up when his men wanted to kill him? He never would have received his promised reward! He would not have been made king. God has given you exceedingly great and precious promises, but if you give up before you receive them, you’ll cut yourself off from a blessing. Hang on! You can do it!

If you have been living in Ziklag, a place of overwhelming despair, purpose in your heart to live in a place of OVERWHELMING VICTORY. Go out and reclaim the promises that satan has stolen from you!

2025-03-31T12:44:28-06:00April 14th, 2025|

Walking on Water

Jesus’ disciples slowly began to realize that dealing with fear was going to be an important part of their lives as His followers. The more time they spent with Him, the more evident that He would not always be with them and that it might not be either popular or safe to identify with Him. Persecution, although not an appealing thought, was a frightening possibility. Indeed, as they soon discovered, it was a certainty. Jesus tried to help them prepare for what lay ahead and remember that they would not be alone:

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

Although few of us in this country today have experienced it, persecution remains a real possibility for every believer. In addition, there are many other factors in our world that can be sources of fear if we let them. Even when we are walking in the perfect will of God, fearful circumstances occur because this earth is still in the possession of the enemy. Natural conditions such as blizzards, tornadoes, or earthquakes can give us a feeling of total helplessness, but knowing we can call on God to save us should be a great comfort.

One day, immediately after feeding five thousand people with three loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus sent His disciples across the Sea of Galilee in a boat while He dismissed the crowds. As night fell, a storm arose and the boat was badly battered by the high waves. Simon Peter and the other disciples were battling the winds, rowing in the dark, and probably scared half to death. Nevertheless, they were right where Jesus had sent them. They may not have known it at the time, but Jesus had not left them alone:

Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” (Matthew 14:25-27).

Recognizing their fear, Jesus immediately calmed them with the words, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” No matter how alone we may feel or how frightening a situation may be that we find ourselves in, we can take courage in the fact that Jesus is always with us; we are never alone;

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18).

I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

Peace, I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

When we are willing to trust Jesus no matter what the circumstances, He can enable us to do anything. Fear. However, can cause us to fail. Peter discovered this after he saw Jesus’ walking on the water:

And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31).

Peter was doing fine walking on the water until he looked around and focused on his circumstances. As soon as he took his eyes off Jesus, doubt and then fear overcame him. His physical senses took over. He heard the howling of the wind, saw the storm clouds moving, and felt the thrust of the waves against his body. This change of focus caused Peter to lose sight of his goal. He began to sink, even though moments before he had been walking on the water.  In fear and desperation, Peter called out to Jesus, who reached out and saved him.

Jesus also rebuked him: “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” Apparently, Peter’s faith was not the problem; after all, he had walked on the water for a few seconds. It was when fear took over and his courage failed that Peter began to sink. It only takes a little faith—childlike faith—to walk on water, but it also only takes a little fear to sink us.

Courage Restored

Later on, Simon Peter had another crisis of courage that could have been disastrous for him and for the church as a whole. On the very evening that He was arrested, Jesus spoke these words to Peter:

“Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat, 32 But I have prayed for you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.” 33 But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” 34 Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.” (Luke 22:31-34).

Jesus prayed that Simon Peter’s faith would not fail—and it didn’t. Wait a minute! You may be thinking. Didn’t Peter’s faith fail when he denied Jesus? No, Peter certainly did deny Jesus three times, just as Jesus said he would, but it was not Peter’s faith that failed; it was his courage. Peter loved Jesus with all his heart and knew that He was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. After all, it was Peter who answered Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” with the words, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15-16). Jesus knew all about Peter’s faith and understood Peter’s struggle with fear, just as He understand ours.

Peter was devastated by the failure of his courage and his inability to stand by his Master’s side when the chips were down. After the crucifixion, Peter became depressed and discouraged, one day he decided to go fishing and convinced several of the other disciples to go with him. They fished all night and caught nothing. When morning came, a man on the shore called out to them and asked, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?”   then told them exactly where to cast their net. Peter and the others complied, and suddenly they found their net so full of fish that they could not haul it in. It was at this moment that John recognized the man on shore as Jesus:

Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. (John 21:7).

No effort to walk on water this time; no excuses or bravado; impulsive Peter simply jumped into the water and began to swim to shore because it was the fastest way to get to Jesus. Such was Peter’s love for the Lord, even in spite of his own failures.

Jesus had built a fire on the shore and invited the men to bring their fish and eat with Him. After breakfast, He spoke to Peter. He wanted to be sure Peter heard Him, so He called him Simon, which means, “the listening one”:

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17).

Three times Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, and three times Peter replied that he did. The first two times that Jesus asked, “Do you love Me?” He used the word agape, which means, as the Amplified Bible states it, “reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion, as one loves the Father.” Both times, when Peter answered, “You know that I love You,” he used a different word for “love” phileo. This word means “deep, instinctive, personal affection… as for a close friend” (John 21:15 AMP). Peter did not feel he could claim the higher kind of love represented by agape.

When Jesus asked, “Do you love Me?” for the third time, He used Peter’s word, phileo. Jesus came down to Peter’s level to bring Peter up to His. What was the significance of this? Three times Peter had denied Jesus and now Jesus gave Peter three changes to reaffirm his love for Him. In this way, Peter once again declared the deep love and devotion he held for his Lord.

During this same encounter, Jesus, in His loving way, let Peter know that when his time to die came, he would be able to resist fear:

Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19 This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” (John 21:18-19).

Peter’s faith was strong and in time his courage grew to match his faith. History records that Peter was crucified for his faith. According to tradition, Peter insisted on being crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.

Like, Peter we can triumph over our fear! The death and resurrection of Christ sets us free to live our new life unhindered by the fears that characterized the old life. The presence and power of God in us through the Holy Spirit can banish the fear that so often seems to control us. The more we love and trust the Lord, the less power fear will have over us.

2025-03-13T12:13:13-06:00April 7th, 2025|

Overwhelming Victory

DECLARE:  TODAY IS MY DAY OF OVERWHELMING VICTORY.
NOW THANKS BE TO GOD WHO ALWAYS LEADS US IN TRIUMPH IN CHRIST…-2 Corinthians 2:14

Nine years after David was anointed to be king, he was an outcast of Israel! He was living in a Philistine city, Ziklag, with several hundred of his men and their families. “Ziklag” means “overwhelming despair.” What a place for the future king of Israel to live!

One day after returning home to Ziklag, David and his men found that all their wives, children and possessions had been stolen by the Amalekites. David’s men picked up stones to stone him. Instead of saying, “Go on and get it over with,” David encouraged his men that they were capable of reclaiming their wives, children and possessions from the hands of the Amalekites.

David and his men found the Amalekites camp and not only got back all of their wives, children and possessions; they confiscated all that the Amalekites had as well. When David returned to Ziklag, it was no longer a place of overwhelming despair, it was a place of OVERWHELMING VICTORY. Shortly after returning to camp, men came to tell him that both Saul and Jonathan had been killed and that they wanted David to become king!

What would have happened if David had given up when his men wanted to kill him? He never would have received his promised reward! He would not have been made king. God has given you exceedingly great and precious promises, but if you give up before you receive them, you’ll cut yourself off from a blessing. Hang on! You can do it!

If you have been living in Ziklag, a place of overwhelming despair, purpose in your heart to live in a place of OVERWHELMING VICTORY. Go out and reclaim the promises that satan has stolen from you!

2025-03-12T13:25:24-06:00March 31st, 2025|

The Hall of Fame of Faith

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

Hebrews 11 is the “hall of fame” of faith. It includes people like Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, and Noah. Today, we’ll talk about a few of these heroes of faith.

Noah: Faith for Your Family

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. (Hebrews 11:7)

God told him that He was going to send a flood. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But right believing brings right living, and because Noah had faith, he was obedient to God. Put your hand on your heart and say, “I’ll never forget — faith obeys.”

So Noah built an ark, and everyone thought he was crazy. Everyone but his family, that is. His wife and sons believed that he heard from God. And by walking in faith, Noah saved his family. All the people who didn’t believe in God drowned, but Noah’s family was saved.

Noah leaves that legacy for us today—that his faith brought righteousness. When we believe God, He makes us righteous. Stop trying to do things to become righteous. Just obey His Word and have faith in His Word. God can save your household if you walk in faith. You can claim this promise.

Abraham: Faith for Provision

Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (Genesis 22:13, KJV)

In Genesis 22, God spoke to Abraham and told him to take Isaac, the promised son who was born to him when he was 100 years old, and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah.

What must Abraham have been feeling? Hebrews 11:19 tells us Abraham believed that even if his son died, God would raise him from the dead. What?! Abraham believed in a resurrection before there was one?! Absolutely! I believe he was the first to believe.

Alone on the mountain, Isaac asked his father, “The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb?” And Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb.” God will provide. Abraham never took his eyes off the Father!

Once Abraham had prepared the fire and the wood, he put Isaac on the altar. And just in time, a voice spoke to him and said, “Lift up your eyes.” I would say that to you today! Get your eyes on what God can do rather than what your problem is. Lift up your eyes. Abraham did, and saw a ram caught in the thicket. God had provided the sacrifice!

Do you realize that at the same time Abraham and Isaac were going up Mount Moriah, the ram was coming up the other side? When we’re going up the mountain, God has a provision coming up to meet us! Abraham substituted the ram for Isaac and called God a very special name: Jehovah-Jireh, which means the God who provides. But it’s more than just provides. It means the God who sees ahead and has a provision for us!

Rahab: Faith Comes by Hearing and Believing

By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. (Hebrews 11:31)

So, how does one receive faith? Let’s look at the life of Rahab (see Joshua 2 and 6)? She, along with all of Jericho’s inhabitants, had heard about the God of the Hebrews, but Rahab alone heard and believed. Not only did she believe in her heart, but she confessed it with her mouth and acted out her faith by hiding the Israelite spies.

Faith does come by hearing God’s Word (see Romans 10:17). But many people hear God’s Word and don’t believe it, so they don’t get its benefits.

Because of Rahab’s willingness to believe what she had heard, she was rewarded beyond her wildest imagination. When the rest of Jericho was destroyed, the walls of Rahab’s dwelling remained standing — as a testimony to her belief in God’s Word.

We can hear God’s Word continually, but until we believe what we hear and then act on it, it is not profitable to us. When you hear the Word of God, don’t just casually receive it in your mind. Meditate on it. Accept it and receive it as a special message from God to you. Then use it to benefit your life.

Just as Noah’s faith saved his household and Abraham’s faith saved Isaac, the first thing Rahab did when she made a covenant with the Israelites was to ask protection for her family (see Joshua 2:12-13). When you get saved, you want your whole family to be saved. When we become faithful followers of Christ, meditating on His Word day and night, God will bless us and make our homes prosperous.

2025-02-27T11:15:50-07:00March 24th, 2025|

Stand on the Word of God

Do you realize how important it is to spend time reading and meditating on the Word? When we surround ourselves with the favor of God’s Word, we can confidently step out in faith and change situations around us.  The wisdom of the Word in your spirit will give you favor, regardless of the circumstances which may confront you or the people whom you may meet.  Again, remember Psalm 5:12, “For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.” You have an invisible shield of favor surrounding you.

Whenever you are in a state of doubt, fear, or anxiety, remind God of His promises: “But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory and the One who lifts up my head” (Psalm 3:3). Likewise, Hebrews 10:35 tells us to “not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.” Always lift your head high above all circumstances. You are wearing His glorious crown of divine favor.

Many times, we experience deep levels of grief and frustration, but if we hold fast to God’s promises, any situation can be altered! Hebrews 10:23 commands us to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

David understood the awesome power of favor because in Psalm 30 he writes, “Lord, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong…” (v. 7). If God’s favor is powerful enough to hold you up, no matter how heavy the pressures may be which come against you! Always remember that He is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). If you are standing on His Word, you can count on Him to uphold all the things in your life and give you wide open doors of favor. Hallelujah!

Today’s blog post was taken from Marilyn’s book, Wide Open Doors.

2025-02-26T10:30:19-07:00March 17th, 2025|

I’m the Answer and Way

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). This verse is from a portion of Scripture where Jesus is preparing His disciples for His death. In chapter 13, He washes their feet and here He is leaving His final words with them. He tells his friends that He is going before them to prepare a place for them. The apostle Thomas asks, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Jesus responds to his worries by saying “I am the way!”

Family, how many times do we overthink the blessings of God? Jesus is telling his friends that there is a place for them, that He is preparing a blessing for them in the future! This is a good thing, a gift from Him. But Thomas is confused. He doesn’t know what Jesus means and He is uncomfortable with not knowing. He doesn’t want to miss out on any of the blessings that God has for him, so he asks Jesus for some clarification.

I imagine that Thomas wanted Jesus to tell him one of two things. Either to describe the details of the place Jesus was preparing for him, or a step-by-step list on how to get there. Instead, Jesus says “I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Thomas wanted an easy answer. He wanted Jesus to tell him what to do, when to do it, and what was on the other side. Instead, Jesus refocused him. “It’s all about me!” He said, “I am the way, you don’t need to do anything else except know Me!”

How many times have you wanted Jesus to give you answers to your questions. “Jesus, what should I do for my next job? Jesus when will I get healed of this-or-that? Jesus, will my friends ever turn back to you?” These are questions that have answers, and it would be easy for Jesus to give us a simple answer. However, more often than not, He reminds us of who He is. Jesus is the answer. He knows it all, sees it all, and can do anything. So, when He responds to our questions and says, “Just be with me,” that is the most comforting thing He could say. How relieving is it to know that Jesus is the way? I think about all the different ways that I’ve failed, and I am filled with comfort knowing that it’s not by my own strength.

The next time you feel overwhelmed with your situations and all the “Jesus, why?” questions start to crowd your mind, remember, He is the answer. Take rest in Him. Know that He is the way, and He will get you through.

2025-02-26T09:41:32-07:00March 10th, 2025|

Trust in God’s Presence

God sent His Son to earth so man could experience His presence, not as Old Testament believers did in tents, temples, and tabernacles but through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. If you are born again, the presence and power of God is in you! You’re a walking tabernacle, and God is ever present to lead, protect, and guide you regardless of where you go or what you’re doing. First Corinthians 3:16 says, Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

In John 14, Jesus told His disciples that even though He was going to return to heaven, they would not be without His presence. He would not leave them comfortless, but promised to send them the Holy Spirit, who would lead and guide them into all truth. This promise was fulfilled in Acts 2 when the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit and the presence of God filled them. It was this point that God’s presence began to tabernacle with man.

Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people. Simply put, this means God inhabits everything we do to glorify Him. Adam and Eve lived in a garden, and the presence of God was there. The Israelites lived in a tent, so God said, “Put me in a tent.” When His people built a temple, God said, “Put me in a temple.” Finally, God said, “Put me in people so that I can be with them all of the time.”

Many people can name times when they’ve experienced God’s presence. This can happen everywhere—I’ve experienced the presence of God in airports and on airplanes. For some, God may have manifested His presence at church, in their cars, while they were preparing dinner, or getting ready for work. One thing is certain, God’s presence can be felt.

2025-02-26T08:35:06-07:00March 3rd, 2025|

God Is Always Leading Us

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  (Psalms 23:1-3 NKJV)

You must realize—and if you absorb this truth, it will change your life—God never leads His people aimlessly.  He always has a direction, a plan, a purpose.  He leads us with divine precision and accuracy, and always for good.

Keep your mind and heart tuned to the Great Shepherd’s voice and He will continually lead you into places of provision, security, restoration, and righteousness.

If you continue to follow Him, you will be going somewhere, and that somewhere will be a place full of God’s promise and power.

2025-01-29T12:40:00-07:00February 24th, 2025|

The Gift of Encouragement

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

The gift of encouragement is important because all believers need encouragement: “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).  Acts 4:36 tells us of Joses, who operated in the gift of encouragement. Joses was a wealthy priest from Cyprus who got saved and gave his wealth to help persecuted believers.  He was such an encouragement that the disciples called him “Barnabas,” which means “Son of Encouragement.” By encouraging others, we not only uplift them, but we establish areas of service that minister to generations of people after us. Barnabas operated in such a ministry.

When the Holy Spirit called Paul and Barnabas to be missionaries, John Mark went along to serve and learn from them (see Acts 12:25; 13:2). Though called to the ministry, he was still young, immature, and unprepared for the hardships that a missionary had to endure.  He ended up going home mid-journey.  That’s why on their second mission trip, Paul didn’t want John Mark to come along, so they separated.  Barnabas took John Mark with him. This time, John Mark didn’t run home.  Barnabas encouraged, trained, and discipled him because he saw who John Mark could be a hardworking, seasoned minister.  John Mark became a very successful minister of the gospel—he wrote the book of Mark. Through this episode with John Mark, even Paul learned the profound results that encouragement could bring.  John Mark was with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment (Colossians 4:10; Philemon 24). At the end of his life, Paul sent for John Mark because he was so useful (2 Timothy 4:11).

Like Paul, we may forsake other people because they have disappointed us in the past, but we can also learn to minister encouragement. How? By applying three simple keys found in Hebrew 10, you can unfold your gift of encouragement.

  1. Draw near to God. Hebrews 10:22 tells us to “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.” To encourage others successfully, you must first draw near to God and fellowship with Him daily. People who are experiencing difficulties need to hear encouragement that comes straight from Jesus’s heart—not something we think He might say.
  2. Develop patience. Fellowship with the Lord gives a spiritual foundation upon which to base a ministry of encouragement. However, it’s crucial that we don’t allow impatience to erode that foundation; “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). Unfortunately, most of us begin to lose patience if we don’t see results in ten seconds or less.  We must wait patiently and steadfastly for answers.
  3. Determine needed actions. Hebrews 10:24 states, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” We can speak encouraging words all day, but if they don’t instill in others the faith to act, remember that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). The Word of God, the most powerful force in the universe, will instill faith in people’s hearts and encourage them to act. Our responsibility is simply to speak forth the Word.

Remember, everyone needs encouragement.  Begin today to share your gift encouragement, and you’ll bless the body of Christ for many generations.

This blog post is excerpted from Marilyn’s 101-day devotional, Beautiful Inheritance.

2025-01-29T12:04:50-07:00February 17th, 2025|

The Peace that Passes All Understanding

Fear is the opposite of peace. No one enjoys being frightened. In Hebrew, the word “baath” means to be “affrightened.” Job poetically used this word to describe his grief after his great trials. The word “baath” conveys the meaning of desert winds, grievous visions, discomforting pain and a panting heart.

God has freely given us a remedy for all the above calamities. Philippians 4:7 tells us,

…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

When you keep your mind on Jesus Christ, God’s Incarnate Word, you will never be “affrightened;” you will remain in “perfect peace.”

Concentrate today upon keeping your mind focused on Jesus. When you enter a difficulty, ask yourself, “How would Jesus handle this situation?” Do you remember what He said to the storm? He said, “Peace, be still.” Do the same in all your difficult circumstances! Speak PEACE to them.

2025-02-18T10:00:02-07:00February 10th, 2025|

Love With God’s Love

We will reap what we sow, and today I want you to decide to sow LOVE. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said,

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

The love we demonstrate for each other is infectious. Non-Christians will see it and want what we have—Jesus! Decide today to correct any differences that you may have with someone else. Go out of your way to walk “the extra mile” to love the person who has offended you. You will not be sorry. Why? Because you’ll be acting like Jesus.

Remember He loved us while we were in sin, and His love was so strong that He was willing to die for us. Because He first demonstrated His love towards us, we love Him. Purpose in your heart to SOW LOVE to someone who is not expecting it. Surprise someone by showing them the LOVE OF JESUS today!

2025-01-16T11:48:28-07:00February 3rd, 2025|

Ask Marilyn

Q. I’m not sure I know how to lead someone to the Lord. Are there any specific “rules” I should follow? What do I say?

A. Any Christian can lead someone to the Lord, so let me first encourage you not to succumb to fear or worry about what to say. Pray first and ask the Lord to fill your mouth with the words He would have you say. Then, follow this simple scriptural approach:

  1. Open a Bible to Romans 10. Have the individual read aloud verses 9 and 10.
  2. Explain to the individual that because these scriptures say that “… confession is made unto salvation,” you are going to lead him in a short prayer. Ask the individual to repeat after you as you pray.
  3. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer so that the individual will be sure to
  • Acknowledge that he is a sinner (repentance).
  • Ask the Father to cleanse him, by the blood of Jesus, from every sin committed.
  • Invite Jesus to come into their heart and to be Master and Lord of his life.
  • Thank God for saving his soul
  1. Ask the individual to read Romans 10:13 aloud. Now, ask him to read it again, but this time have him substitute their own name for “whoever” in this verse.

The individual will realize that he has fulfilled the simple requirements of verse 13 and that he is saved according to God’s Word, whether or not they feel any different!

You may warmly affirm this momentous decision and welcome your new brother or sister to the Body of Christ.

Q. What can I do to help a friend receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

A. The individual for the baptism in the Holy Spirit must be a born-again child of God. The work of the Holy Spirit is essential for Christian growth. Through this baptism God empowers the believer to develop and express his new life in Jesus Christ.

Many people desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but they don’t know how to do so. Frequently, I open the conversation by saying, “I would love to pray with you to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit.” Then I proceed to

  1. Open a Bible to Luke 11:10-13 and ask the individual to read this passage aloud. These verses establish the way to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit. We simply “ask” in faith because we know that our loving heavenly Father would never give us a “counterfeit.”
  2. Ask the individual to read Acts 2:4 aloud. Assure the individual that just as Jesus’ disciples spoke in tongues when the Holy Spirit came upon them, the candidate will also speak in tongues when baptized in the Holy Spirit.
  3. Ask the individual to read Romans 8:26-28 aloud. This will confirm the purpose and the benefits of praying in “tongues.”
  4. Lead the candidate in a short prayer during which he asks the Father to baptize him with the Holy Spirit. Now tell the candidate that, by faith, you are going to pray in the Spirit together. Encourage the individual to speak freely—as the Holy Spirit directs—regardless of how it may sound to the natural ear.
  5. You, the leader, should begin to pray aloud in tongues. After you have prayed together in tongues for a while, you may wish to sing in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:15).

Although the baptism in the Holy Spirit is a one-time event, the “infilling” of the Holy Spirit is a one-time event, the “infilling” of the Holy Spirit goes on and one and never stops. Encourage your friend to pray in the Spirit every day and to expect to find a new richness in his Christian experience.

2025-01-29T12:34:36-07:00January 29th, 2025|

Take Hold of God’s Promises

After three thirsty days in the wilderness, the children of Israel finally arrived at a huge pool of water.  However, when the people tried to drink the water, they could not because it was terribly bitter. Therefore, the people complained and murmured against Moses—and they named the place Marah, meaning “bitter.” Moses could have told the people to shut up. He even could have told the Lord, “I’m tired of this crowd of murmurers!” But Moses did neither of these things.

So, he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statue and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, 26 and said said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you. (Exodus 15:25-26 emphasis added)

God told Moses to throw a tree into the water, and Moses obeyed. Moses was given something to do in order for the miracle to take place. Moses believed God, but his faith had to be accompanied with action. So, it is with all of us; faith demands action. You can talk faith, but you must also walk faith. When Moses threw the tree into the waters of Marah, they were sweetened. Then Jehovah revealed Himself to His people in a new way as Jehovah-Rophe. If the people walked uprightly before the Lord, then He would not only be their healer but their health as well. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we never got sick? God desires that His people have divine health.

At Marah, God revealed Jehovah-Rophe as one of His covenant names. God was telling His people they would have none of the world’s diseases if they obeyed Him and His Word. Egypt, a type of the world, was full of disease because the Egyptians practiced idolatry. God said to Israel, “You will have none of Egypt’s diseases if you listen to my Words because I am the Lord your health. I am Jehovah-Rophe!”

2024-12-19T09:51:36-07:00January 20th, 2025|

You Must Remember This

“These stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:7)

God likes to remind His people to certain things.  Jesus has given Christians two very special things to remember, and if we keep both of these things in mind, we can have victory over past failures, victory over present circumstances, and victory every day throughout our lives.

Remember how the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the promised land?  The waters miraculously parted, and they walked across.  Then God told Joshua to set up two memorials of 12 large stones one was in the midst of the river, and one was on the riverbank (Joshua 4:20). The stones were to be memorials to the Israelites so that:

“When your children ask in time to come saying, ‘What do these stones

              mean to you?” Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan

              were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD…these stones

              shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:6-7)

The heap of stones at the site where they crossed the Jordan was to remind them of all the miracles God wanted to work on their behalf in the present and the future.  They were to keep their eyes on God’s miracles and His promises—and never look back at the past.  They were constant reminders of God’s miraculous care and provision.  Each time they saw the memorials, their faith would increase, and increased faith meant increased victory.

God’s two memorials for Christians are designed the same way.  The first memorial is baptism.  In John 1:28, we learn that John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River at Bethabara.  Bethabara means “house of the ford or passage.” I believe this is where the Israelites crossed the Jordan.  Jesus went there to be baptized by John.  The one who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6) went under the waters, which pictures His death for you and me. But that’s not all.  You were buried with Jesus—that is what your baptism symbolizes: “buried with Him in baptism” (Colossians 2:12). That’s how God transformed your past—He eliminated it!

The second memorial that Christians celebrate is communion.  First Corinthians 11:26 tells us that in communion, we remember not only the Lord’s death but also His second coming: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” In communion, we have a reminder of the daily power needed to live a victorious life (Christ’s life within) and the glorious future that awaits us (Christ second coming).

Like Israel, God has forgiven our past and provided for present and future needs in our lives. Sometimes we forget that God has done everything He can do to ensure we live triumphant Christian lives.  That’s when we need to take a long look at the two memorials God placed in our lives: baptism and communion.  When you recall that your past, present, and future are taken care of by the death, resurrection, and return of Jesus, your faith will increase, and your life will be transformed.

2024-12-19T09:52:22-07:00January 13th, 2025|

Take God’s Word Like a Medicine

Moses lived on God’s Word, and its truth became a reality in his life. The Word was Spirit and life to Moses because he believed it and acted upon it. By trusting Jehovah-Rophe, God’s life and health became a personal revelation to Moses. When he died, Moses was 120 years old; and Deuteronomy 34:7 tell us, his eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished. Jehovah-Rophe wants to be personal to you, also. He wants to heal you and make you whole!

God’s Word is like medicine; when you take His Word, you are taking health. That is why God told His people to heed His Word! God wants His children to be full of His life. You may believe God heals, and that’s great, but you must also receive His healing to be well. You will receive your healing and walk in divine health only by reading, meditating, and claiming the Word. God’s words of life, health, and healing must your continual feast.

In Isaiah 53:4, Isaiah prophesied the sufferings of Christ at Calvary when he wrote, Surely, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Notice that it was not for Himself that Jesus suffered rejection and sorrow, but it was for you and me. In order to be whole persons, we not only need to be healed physically, but we need to be healed of those things which bring sickness to the soul. God has a special medicine cabinet that contains a sure cure for all kinds of sickness. If you are hurting in your body, mind, or emotions, Jehovah-Rophe has made provision for you. Don’t try to carry your grief or sorrow; cast it on Jesus and set yourself free!

A familiar chorus, taken from Isaiah 61:3, exhorts us to put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Have you ever gone into a service feeling “heavy”—sorrowful and depressed—or just plain down? But, when you began to worship and praise the Lord, lifting your hands and singing, what happened? Your spirit was lifted, and you received healing in your soul. Those people who abide in praise, abide in the Lord and life in health!

The Sweet Smell of Victory

Song of Solomon 1:13 says, A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me. Who is this bundle of myrrh? Of course, He is Jesus. Myrrh has a delightful aroma, either crushed or left as twigs, and because of this, it has been used in many ways: on clothing, in incense and oil, and in sacrifices. Jesus is the perfume in our lives. He is not just a drop or a pinch, but He is a whole bundle for every heartache and heartbreak we experience. When you allow Jesus to heal wounds in your soul as well as your body, you will smell sweet like Jesus.

The three Hebrew children were thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to his statue, but the fire did not touch them. When these Hebrews were taken out alive, they did not even smell smoke. Why? Because Jesus was in the fire with them. They probably didn’t even want to leave the furnace because of the Lord’s presence, and I don’t blame them!

Perhaps you have come out of some negative experiences that wounded you, and you smell like smoke. You still talk and complain about them, the wounds still show. Friend, come to Jesus; cast the hurt upon Him. Let Jesus remove that smoky smell and give you the sweet smell of myrrh—the smell of victory. Jesus has healing for sin, backsliding, physical diseases, heartaches, depression, rejection—Jehovah-Rophe has a prescription for whatever ails you!

Pray this prayer:

Father, I believe that you are my healer. You are the God who is life and health to me! You proved your love for me when you gave your Son, Jesus, to die for me. His blood was shed for all my sicknesses and diseases—and all means all! That includes all my aches and pains. It includes all the mental attacks that may attempt to entrap me. It includes all my emotional ups and downs. Matthew 4:23 tells me that “Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.” Jesus, you delivered the demon-possessed: healed paralytics, made the blind see and deaf to hear, and even raised the dead. Since God never changes, the same is true now, and you are able to heal me today. I put my trust in your and believe that I am healed and delivered in Jesus’s name.

2024-12-19T05:50:49-07:00January 6th, 2025|

Share of the Fruit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22, 23 NKJV)

The fruit of the Spirit is to be very evident in our lives.  When we are born again, we receive the fruits of LOVE, JOY, and PEACE.  These are for our personal enjoyment.  We experience love, joy, and peace.

In addition to these three fruits, there are three more that relate to others:  We need LONGSUFFERING in dealing with other people.  We also need GENTLENESS and GOODNESS.  Thus, not only do we enjoy personal fruit for ourselves, but we can extend His fruit to others.

Lastly, three final fruits deal with our relationship with our heavenly Father.  We give FAITH back to Him, along with MEEKNESS and TEMPERANCE.

Here is a beautiful picture of FRUIT THAT WE OURSELVES CAN ENJOY, FRUIT THAT WE GIVE TO OTHERS, and FRUIT THAT WE MANIFEST TO THE FATHER.  How complete God has made us in Jesus!  If you have Jesus, you have the seed of all nine of these fruits.  Partake of them all.

Dear Heavenly Father,

No law can win against love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance—the supernatural traits of Jesus Christ.  Thank You, Father, that these abide in us in our new birth.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen.

2024-12-04T12:16:45-07:00December 23rd, 2024|

Integrity of the Heart

The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. (Proverbs 11:3)

God wants you to be blessed in your health, relationships, finances, and in every area in which you have need.  Sometimes we miss God’s blessing because we try to cover up our shortcomings or hidden sins.  But God will bless the person who openly confesses and forsakes the gray areas within their heart.  The Bible calls that person full of “integrity,” and that’s the kind of person God wants you to be.

God wants us to be completely transparent with Him so that He can dispel any darkness we may try to hide.  If there’s some secret sin you’re covering up, allow the Lord to cleanse your heart from any defilement so that you can begin to enjoy the benefits of integrity.

Integrity will guide you: “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them” (Proverbs 11:3). Sin in our lives will block God’s directions for making right choices.  Clear up any sin that may be hindering you from receiving God’s instructions and godly wisdom.  Integrity of the heart will make it easy for God to speak to you and make a straight path before you to follow.

Integrity will preserve and uphold you: “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:21).  David knew that the benefits of integrity were long-lasting.  In addition, your personal integrity will be evident to those around you, and it will be a protection in times of need.  Look at Job.  Even God commented on his integrity after he had lost everything he had, except a nagging wife (see Job 2:1-10).

He was so intent on maintaining his integrity that when he was defending his righteousness, he said, “Let me be weighed on honest scales, that God may know my integrity” (Job 31:6).  In the end, God upheld him in his circumstances, and he was preserved.

Integrity will bless you.  I believe that Christians don’t have to be poor because God wants to meet all our needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19).  And look at what Proverbs 19:1 says: “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one who is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.” Do you see how important integrity is to God?  God says it’s better to have integrity and be poor than to have everything and be living in darkness.

It’s okay to go to God with some dark spots in our hearts; He doesn’t expect us to wait until our hearts are perfect before we approach Him.  Let Him cleanse away the sin and darkness and set you free.  Walking in integrity will allow God to bless you!

Today’s blog post is taken from Marilyn’s new book, Beautiful Inheritance, A 101-Day Devotional.

2024-12-04T12:07:16-07:00December 16th, 2024|

How To Stand in Faith and Victory

First Position of Victory:  Stand Praying

Now is the time to STAND and see your victory.  Jesus told us, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him…” Mark 11:25 (NKJ).  So, our first position of victory is to stand praying.  And when we pray, we must forgive those who have wronged us.  You cannot stand in victory if you harbor unforgiveness in your heart.

According to Colossians 4:12, prayers should cause us to “…stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”  Prayer matures and perfects our Christian faith.  Whenever we encounter obstacles to our faith that refuse to move, we need to go to prayer and learn what it is that is hindering us from walking in complete victory.

How long do we stand in prayer?  Until we change the circumstances around us!

Second Position of Victory:  Stand Fast on the Word

Our second position of victory is to stand fast on the Word of God.  Psalms 111:8 says, “They [God’s commandments] stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.”

Paul said something similar about standing when he wrote to the Ephesians: “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness” Ephesians 6:14 (NKJ).  We must take our stand on the truth standing on the Word with the breastplate of righteousness.  And if we try to stand on the Word, but live in an ungodly way, it won’t work.  Truth and righteousness go hand in hand—you can’t be a winner while you’re living in sin.  God’s Word will always point you to holiness as the way to stand in faith.

Third Position of Victory:  Stand for Holiness

To stand for righteousness is to stand against evil.  Psalms 94:16 says, “Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?  Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”  God is calling us to take a stand for Him—to make a bold stand for holiness in our own lives and within our country.  Someone has said, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything!”

Queen Esther took a stand that could have cost her very life!  Esther’s cousin, Mordecai, told her of an evil plot to wipe out all the Jews in Persia.  Esther had to choose whether to take a stand by revealing her Jewish nationality to the king, or to remain silent and see her countrymen slain.  She chose to stand for what was right, and she came out victoriously.

People need to know where we stand.  They need to know that we are Christians—that we read our Bibles—that we pray—that we are faithful to our spouses.  Yes, we must make a stand for holiness.

Fourth Position of Victory:  Stand Fast in the Faith

Sometimes when I’ve been standing for something a long, long time, I start thinking, “It looks like this is never going to happen.”  Have you ever thought that?  Sometimes it seems that no matter how much you pray and confess the Word, discouragement hovers like a dark cloud.  That’s the time to heed Paul’s words in I Corinthians 16:13 “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.”

God hasn’t called us to be Christian “wimps”; so, when discouragement rolls in like the fog, that’s the time to stand in faith all the more.  To “be strong” means to keep exercising your faith moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour, and day-by-day.  When you feel faith ebbing away, feed your faith with more of the Word of God; the bread of life, and the water of the Spirit will strengthen you to stand fast in faith.

Fifth Position of Victory:  Stand Together

Standing in prayer, standing fast on the Word, standing for holiness, and standing fast in the faith are all things that you can do alone.  You cannot end this year in faith, however, until you’ve learned to stand together.  I need you, and you need me.

As great as Moses was, he wasn’t able to lead the Jews alone.  Over one million Israelites had left Egypt under Moses’ direction, but the responsibilities of governing that many people were too much for one man.  God’s solution is found in Numbers 11:16: “So the Lord said to Moses:  Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you.”

Like Moses, God intends for us to help one another and stand with one another.  Ask of us have financial, physical, mental, material, and spiritual needs.  We can’t meet all those needs ourselves, but we can stand for one another’s need and watch God work!

I know of a woman who had cancer, and the doctors told her she had one month to live.  A group of Christians went to her and began to pray.  Nothing happened at first, but they just kept praying and fasting.  The woman couldn’t do anything for herself by this time, but the group of Christians wouldn’t give up.  Finally, 20 days later, she was able to eat some lettuce, and then some bread, and then some…

You know how this story ends—eventually that woman overcame cancer.  She’s alive and serving God today because she didn’t stand alone.  As we stand together, God is able to get the greater victories.

IF YOU want to end this year in victory, find other Christians who will stand in prayer—stand fast on the Word—stand for holiness—and stand fast in the faith with you.  The devil doesn’t have a chance when we’re standing together to defeat him!

Sixth Position of Victory:  Stand as a Conqueror

The last stand you must take is found in Ephesians 6:13: “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.”  The “evil day” is whenever you have a crisis!  And in that day, you’re to put on God’s armor from head to foot and then STAND—as a conqueror!

We are stand as conquerors by faith and by saying—and saying—God’s Word!  Get others to say the Word for you too.  Stand together, and speak the Word for each other.

As you stand in prayer—and on the Word—and for holiness—it’s as a conqueror.  And when you stand fast in the faith and stand together, IT WILL BE AS A CONQUEROR!  Live each day from a position of victory, and you will end this year in faith.

2024-12-04T11:54:21-07:00December 9th, 2024|

Joy Makes Life Worth Living

“. . . The Joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Our God is a joyful God, and it is with His joy that we become stronger, more powerful Christians. What is joy? One of the Hebrew words for joy is chedvah, which means “rejoicing, gladness.” In Galatians 5:22, joy is the Greek word chara, which means “cheerfulness, delight.” So, joy helps you worship God, and it makes you glad, cheerful, and a delight to be around. You will even start to like yourself better when you receive God’s joy.

Receive God’s Joy!

You receive the joy of the Lord when you are anointed with the Holy Spirit. This anointing starts at the top of your head and goes all the way to your feet: God begins with your head because your thought life gives you direction—it either gets you in trouble or sets you on the right path.

If you think being righteous means being as sober as a judge, then you haven’t read Acts 2. On the day of Pentecost, the people didn’t appear sober when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit—they acted like they were drunk! People who saw them said, “. . . They are full of new wine” (Acts 2:13). When you are baptized in the Spirit and receive the anointing, you too will act joyful.

Some get nervous when they see other people respond in joy. They don’t think it’s scriptural, but being jubilant is VERY scriptural. Psalms 66:1 says, “Make a joyful shout to God . . .” In fact, there are seven references in the Psalms about making a “joyful noise” to the Lord.

Make a JOYFUL noise!

The Hebrew word for joyful in Psalms 66:1 is renanah, which means “shout for joy, singing, triumphing.” Joyful expressions are loud and noisy. Have you ever tried to laugh and keep it all inside? It’s nearly impossible. It’s the same way with the joy that the Holy Spirit places inside you; it has to come bubbling out. Romans 14:17 says the kingdom of God “. . . is not eating and drinking; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” If you are moving in the Holy Spirit, you will have the joy that comes with Him.

As a Christian, God calls you to be joyful, Isaiah 51:11 says, “So the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” The redeemed are supposed to have so much joy it comes out of their mouths. It is necessary for Christians to be joyful in order to give glory to God and to witness to the lost.

Your Daily Joy

Like your zeal for the Lord and your dedication to keep His commandments, you must commit to daily maintenance of joy. Isaiah 12:3 says, “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” When Jesus lives in your heart, then you already have joy inside. All you have to do is pull some out every day.

Fullness of joy is found in God’s presence, so start your day by entering into His presence with joy and praise. When you get up in the morning, say, “This is the day the Lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it!” (Psalms 118:24).

It is also important to watch what you think, say, and do. Proverbs 15:23 says, “A man has joy by the answer of his mouth…” so watch what you are saying. You can say words that will bring depression into your heart. If you’re not diligent, you can lose your joy! In Psalms 51:12, David said, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation . . .” He wrote this after he had an affair with Bath-Sheba and had Uriah killed. He lost his joy because of sin; and the same thing can happen to us.

Sometimes it isn’t a major crisis that steals your joy—you lost it because of your own indifference to God. If you don’t read your Bible, don’t pray, don’t set your priorities according to God’s will, or get into sin, then you will not feel the joy of the Lord because you are not dwelling in His presence.

With repentance, God’s joy returns. David knew that his salvation would restore his joy. There is no question that David’s joy returned—he remained a man after God’s own heart and God sent the Messiah through him. Proverbs 15:13 tells us that “. . . by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.”

When you focus on heartbreak, you lose your joy. Don’t let problems overcome you; instead let promises take over problems. God wants you to be joyful in times of trouble because the strength found in joy will bring you through your problems. If depression has killed your joy, ask the Holy Spirit to anoint you again. He will resurrect your joyful heart.

The anointing destroys the yoke. If you are depressed, sad, or living under a burden of oppression or circumstances, ask the Holy Spirit to anoint you with joy. God will break those bondages and set you free. According to John 10:10 in the Amplified Bible, Jesus came “. . . that [we] may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” This is the level of blessing that God wants for each of use. When we decide to be led by a joyful heart, strive to joyfully express our love for God, and commit to maintain our joy by seeking God daily, God’s true power can be released—and we can have the overflowing abundance of joy the Word promises.

2024-12-04T11:46:02-07:00December 4th, 2024|

Thanksgiving Joy

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.”  Psalm 100:4 (NKJV)

God has often dealt with me about the act of thanksgiving.  There is power in the giving of thanks.  In the Old Testament there was a special offering just for thanksgiving.  The New Testament says that when we pray, we are to do so with thanksgiving.  We are to thank God for our food.  Then our blessings will be sanctified and set apart for us.

Thanksgiving is like yeast:  Thanksgiving causes your requests to rise with faith into the presence of God, just as yeast causes bread to rise.  The Word teaches that if you are not thankful for the things that God does, He will take away what He has given you.

Of the ten lepers, nine never gave thanks to Jesus.  Only one returned to thank Him.  I believe that because that one leper gave thanks, he received SPIRITUAL wholeness, as well as PHYSICAL wholeness.  Thanksgiving also will help you to be whole—physical, emotionally, and spiritually.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Help us to live in an attitude of thanksgiving.  When we give You our praise and thanks, we know that You will bless us in body, soul and Spirit.  Thank You for all the good things that You do. 

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen.

2024-10-31T12:04:44-06:00November 25th, 2024|

GO FORWARD in the Power of God’s Encouragement

Has God shown you your “promised land” but you have yet to possess it? Or does His “promise” seem to be so far into the future that you’ve given up all hope of ever receiving and enjoying it?

As He did with Joshua, God wants to encourage you in every area of your life. He does not want you to wander in the wilderness of defeat and discouragement, He wants you to move forward in Him in the power of encouragement. Discouragement can totally immobilize you. It can depress your spirit, soul, and body. It can cause you to lose ground spiritually, mentally, and emotionally; and rob you of the blessings God has for you. Whenever I think of someone looking back or going a backward route, I think of Lot’s wife. She was not encouraged about going forward; she was discouraged, and when she looked back, she became a pillar of salt!

Sow Encouragement

When we encourage one another, we put the power of God to work. The Bible is filled with examples of people who refused to look back in the face of adversity. They chose to receive encouragement, were encouraged by God, or encouraged themselves even when those around them wanted to stone them!

God will move on the hearts of others to encourage you in tough situations, and He may even speak a personal Word of encouragement to you. In Deuteronomy 1:38, God told Moses to encourage Joshua, who took up Moses’ mantle to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land: “Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall go in there. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.”

So, Moses gave Joshua a charge and said, “…Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land of which I swore to them, and I will be with you” (Deuteronomy 31:23).

Then, when Joshua was getting ready to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, God spoke a personal Word of encouragement to him. “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their father to give them” (Joshua 1:6).

Joshua was encouraged to fulfill the call of God on his life. He remained open to encouragement, and closed to discouragement, even when the 10 spies gave the bad report (see Numbers 13 and 14).

The direction you look in the face of adversity will determine your final outcome. If you look back you will be discouraged, but if you look ahead to what God says, keep a single eye on Jesus, and look for God’s glory and His goodness, you will be encouraged and triumph in every situation.

The Apostle Paul had opportunity after opportunity to get his eyes off of God and onto his discouraging circumstances. He was shipwrecked, he was stoned, he was beaten, he was left for dead—if anyone could have given into discouragement, it was Paul. Instead of becoming discouraged, however, Paul glorified God in his tribulations and remained encouraged. As a result, he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament!

Paul’s secret to perseverance can be found in Philippians 3:10, 11: That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death. 11If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

Regardless of his circumstances, Paul was determined not to go backward but to go forward in the power of God’s encouragement! “…forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13, 14).

Encourage Yourself

There are times when it may seem like everyone in the world has deserted you, but it is during those times that you should press into God and not depend on others; learn to encourage yourself in the things of God.

David exemplified this more than anyone. Saul had chased him for nine years and tried to kill him 21 times. But while David was in the wilderness, Jonathan, Saul’s son, came to him and encouraged him in his circumstances: “Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God” (1 Samuel 23:16). He said, “David, you’re going to be the king. You’re going to win, so don’t be discouraged.”

Later David found himself faced with a desperate situation and no one was there to encourage him. “So, David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fires; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. 6 Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:3, 6)

And then the most wonderful thing happened. God spoke a personal word of encouragement to David in the midst of one of the most discouraging times in his life, God said, “…Pursue: for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all” (1 Samuel 30:8).

There is power in encouragement! And like David, you, too, can learn to sow and reap encouragement, as well as encourage yourself in the face of the darkest circumstances! Because David had learned about the power of encouragement, he was able to write Psalm 27:14: “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say on the Lord!”

After David learned to encourage himself in the things of God, he was able also to encourage his son, Solomon, in the work God had called him to do: “And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 28:20 NKJV)

Do you need the power of encouragement in your life? Pray and listen for what God says to you in the midst of your circumstances. And while you are waiting, His Word promises He will strengthen you so you can go forward and not be moved by what you see.

Perhaps, like Joshua, God has called you to fulfill what seems to be an insurmountable task, or like David, there are “King Sauls” chasing you and trying to destroy you. Whatever your situation, remember you do not have to become shipwrecked. The power of encouragement can put to flight the meanest of foes and cause you to move forward in the power of God and His resurrection! 

2024-10-31T11:57:36-06:00November 11th, 2024|

The Power of a Joyful Attitude

May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word. (Psalm 119:74 NIV)

When a man of God receives grace for himself, he becomes a blessing to others.  Hopeful people bring gladness wherever they go.

What do you bring to your friends and family?  Do you remind them of all the bad things that have happened or might happen?  Do you give them a catalog of your aches and pains?  If your conversations are full of complaints, worries, and problems, then you are not testifying for God.

Your attitude alone can be a testimony to the gifts of God.  You have been forgiven!  You are assured of eternal life!  Considering the magnitude of these gifts, what do you have to complain about?

Reflect your joy and gratitude in every situation — you will be a blessing to your friends and family and, most of all, to God.

2024-12-19T12:45:42-07:00November 4th, 2024|

Your Power Source

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses…For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV)

I’m sure you’ve experienced the frustration of human weakness.  Whether physical or otherwise, each of us experiences some inadequacy or a serious setback.  Most people desire to succeed in every circumstance.  Overall, that’s a sound, biblical approach to life.  When we face life on our best footing, we tend to face the day with confident assurance.  We expect positive outcome because we’ve done everything right.  However, when something upsets the delicate balance of “feeling in control,” our true weakness becomes evident.

The good news is that, regardless of the world’s wisdom or even your own past experiences, your success is not based upon your strength—and failure is not formed in your weakness.  We must surrender our desire to be in control to God, giving Him total access to our lives and our weaknesses.  Paul is the perfect example.  Paul was well-acquainted with weakness, yet God used him to accomplish much.  When a “thorn in his flesh” tormented him, he cried out to God for relief: “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9 NIV).

Knowing all that God still had planned for Paul, you might think He would have removed every hindrance—especially the thorn that caused him such pain.   Instead, God showed Paul a new way of looking at his weakness.  God knows that man’s strength can only go so far, for so long.  Ultimately, our strength is insufficient.  When we acknowledge that fact and turn to Him, we switch from our own “power supply” to His grace—His limitless ability exercised on our behalf.

After God’s unexpected answer, the apostle gained a new perspective on weakness: “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses…For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV).  Instead of begging God to fix the problem, Paul boasted and delighted in it.  Paul delighted in his weakened condition because he realized that with God backing him up, every obstacle became an opportunity for God’s power to be demonstrated.

Allow weakness to work for you and for the kingdom.  Ask God what you can learn through periods of seeming failure, defeat, or frailty.  Acknowledge God’s strength.  Release yourself into His hands and draw on His unending power.  Even when weakness is all your natural eye can see, you can enjoy the genuine victory that comes only from God.  Each deflated expectation can turn out to be your open door to accomplishment.  Any challenging experience can become an equipping moment of success—when you allow God to work through your weakness.

Finally, when you’ve feeling weak or inadequate, remember that Jesus Himself was ridiculed as He hung on the cross (see Mark 15:32).  Beaten and bloodied, He was not the world’s typical picture of strength.  Yet His “weakness” was used by God to bring salvation to the world!

Today’s blog is an excerpt from Marilyn’s 101-day devotional, Beautiful inheritance.

2024-09-19T07:43:52-06:00October 21st, 2024|

Endure to Reap the Blessing

James 5:11 says, …we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job…” Job endured terrible trials. Was he happy when God restored and multiplied all that he had lost? Was he happy when his life-span was increased? Was he happy when his wealth was increased and doubled? Yes! He illustrates the truth that if you endure, the happiness and peace of God will be your reward.

Do you feel a burden, a weight that doesn’t seem to leave you? Are the circumstances of life bearing down on you? Is there a someone in your life—a child, a loved one—who seems to be holding you down, so that you are unable to rise to the level where you want to be in your walk with the Lord?

Hebrews 12:2, tells us to look unto Jesus, “…who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus bore the burdens of the whole world—sickness, sin, poverty, oppression, depression—and a whole host of other things. Now, He is seated on the throne next to the Father, has many crowns, is exalted, and has a name that is above all names. One day, every knee will bow at the name of Jesus, to the glory of God the Father, because He endured the Cross.

Look to Jesus, the forerunner Who pioneered the way for us to follow. If you take up your cross and endure by the power of God, a crown awaits you.

There are 7,000 promises you can claim to help you through the hard times. Cling to them, meditate on them, memorize them, believe in them—His Word is true. The Word works!

You can endure and you will go from glory to glory because God wants you to rule and reign!

2024-09-19T06:33:18-06:00October 14th, 2024|

Mountain Moving Faith

Do your prayers move mountains, mole hills or nothing at all? Would you like to see the mountain of defeat, depression and heartache lifted? Today you will put an end to defeat; you will MOVE MOUNTAINS!

In Mark 11:23, Jesus taught,

“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

When was the last time you spoke to the mountains that have covered your heart? God didn’t say, “Pray to Me and I will remove them.” The Word commands us to speak to them and tell them what to do. What is bothering you? Right now, address the problem in the name of Jesus and tell in to be removed and cast into the sea. Whenever the problem tries to resurface, speak the Word against it and command it to be removed. Believe that what you say will come to pass; believe that your commands will move your mountains of problems and circumstances.

When you pray, don’t pray the problem; pray the answer to the problem. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Pray the things that your heart desires. MOVE YOUR MOUNTAINS today, and call rivers of joy into your heart.

2024-09-19T06:34:42-06:00October 7th, 2024|

Questions and Answers

Questions & Answers

  1. I have an overwhelming problem with jealousy. It is so ugly, and it is practically killing me. Can you help me conquer this?
  2. The Bible says that jealously is as cruel as the grave (Song of Solomon 8:6). Jealousy motivates revenge and can cause you many problems unless you repent. The only way you can overcome jealousy is to go to God and ask Him to help you with your problem. God guarantees in His Word that if we resist the devil he will have to flee (James 4:7). As you feel this spirit of jealousy trying to overtake you, speak out loud, “Jealousy, I resist you in Jesus’ name.” Remember the root of jealousy is fear, and perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
  3. I have heard you say we are not to take up another’s offense. Is there a scripture reference to support this statement?
  4. Proverbs 26:17 gives us advice about keeping out of someone else’s quarrel. In the Amplified Bible it reads, “He who, passing by, stops to meddle with strife that is not his business is like one who takes a dog by the ears.”
  5. Is it ever proper to judge someone?
  6. I encourage everyone in the Body of Christ to look at others as having the potential of Jesus inside. There is no proper or improper time to judge another. The Bible tells us that such behavior will get us into a world of trouble. The consequences of judging are found in Matthew 7:1-5; Romans 2:1; and Galatians 6:7,8.

God will help us love others in the Church, and through that love we won’t have to judge or evaluate them. After all, we are God’s servants and it is God alone who is able to make us stand (see Romans 14:4). Each of us is to evaluate and judge ourselves—then we will not need to judge one another.

  1. I have a real hard time forgiving myself when I’ve offended someone or done something stupid. What should I do?

Peter, Paul, David, Abraham, and Isaac all sinned. The key to their success and greatness was that they received forgiveness and cleansing from their sin and went on with God. Realize that you are not perfect but you do have the perfect One living inside of you. Whenever you feel you’ve blown it, repent to God and to anyone else who may be involved. Then forgive yourself and thank God that you are in Christ and no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1, 2). His Word is true and He forgives every repentant sinner according to 1 John 1:9.

  1. I have been deeply hurt by people telling lies about me. How do I handle this kind of gossip?
  2. First of all, you must guard your own heart according to Proverbs 4:23. I was once deeply offended by another Christian. I felt he was being very unjust toward me, and my first reaction was to tell him off; but the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart to do good to those who hate me (Matthew 5:44). I made a decision to act on the Word, to pray for the person who offended me, and to do good for him if the opportunity arose.

Likewise, it is important for you to forgive the people who are gossiping about you and to make sure that your relationship with the Lord continues to be good. As you walk in holiness and righteousness before Him, God will make your enemies to be at peace with you (Proverbs 16:7). If you sow bitterness, you will reap bitter results; but God will richly bless you if you flow in His forgiveness and grace toward these people.

2024-09-19T08:06:18-06:00September 28th, 2024|

Your Anchor of Integrity

The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him. (Proverbs 20:7)

When it seems like the world has gone crazy, anchor yourself to integrity, for it is a key to God’s best.  Even when you blow it, God can give you another change and bring you through.  God wants you to have integrity in every area, because integrity pays big dividends.  Don’t just go with the flow.  Choose integrity and avoid the heart-wrenching consequences.

Integrity, or the lack of it, really shows up when you are under pressure.  When the pressure is on, are you going to hold on to your anchor of integrity?  Even if you’ve blown it and have not shown integrity at times, there’s hope.  Three of the Bible’s greatest men—Abraham, Jacob, and Job—became men of integrity after acting just the opposite.

  • Abraham “the Liar”: Out of fear, Abraham lied two times, saying Sarah was his sister instead of his wife.
  • Jacob “the Cheater”: Jacob deceived his brother and his father. He manipulated his brother, Esau, into selling his birthright for a bowl of stew.  Later, Jacob impersonated his brother to get all his father’s blessings.
  • Job “the Blamer”: Job had an incredible number of trials. He became bitter with God and his friends and wished he had never been born.  He felt like God had deserted him.

Under pressure, each of these men blew it.  Yet each one made a quantum leap and developed integrity.  God saw potential in these men of failed integrity, and He sees potential in you, too!

  • God told Abraham to offer his son as a sacrifice (Genesis 22), and he obeyed. God called Abraham a “man of faith.”
  • Following his wrestling match with a man, God changed Jacob’s name to “Israel” and even named the nation of Israel after him (Genesis 32:28).
  • God Himself confronted Job and told him. “You are talking wrong, thinking wrong, and acting wrong. Look to me.” Job repented, and God restored double everything he’d lost (See Job 38-42).

How did these men make such a quantum leap of change?  They pursued God.  The pursuit of godly integrity is well worth it.

  • Integrity will preserve you: “Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:20-21).
  • Integrity will uphold you: “You uphold me in my integrity, and set me before Your face forever” (Psalm 41:12).
  • Integrity preserves your children: “The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him” (Proverbs 20:7).

If God could bring Abraham, Jacob, and Job through their messes, He will bring you through, too.  Ask Jesus to help you learn integrity.  Begin to study “integrity” in God’s Word.  Like Abraham, Jacob, and Job, integrity can be your anchor.

2024-09-05T10:59:43-06:00September 23rd, 2024|

Favor for Your Health

In 2 Kings 5, we find the story of a man, a valiant soldier, who was in a completely unfavorable health circumstance—he had leprosy.  Yet, there was a young girl who found favor with this man, and her favor not only transformed his life but many other situations as well.

The man’s name was Naaman.  He was a brave, successful commanding general in the Syrian army.  During one of Syria’s raids, they had taken a young Israelites girl captive, and she became a servant to Naaman’s wife.  The Bible never tells us her name, but we do know that someone had planted the Word of God into her heart when she was very young.  Even in captivity, she held fast to the Word and shared it with others. In spite of her circumstances, this girl found favor with God because she confidently witnessed His Word and allowed the truth to remain in her.

For her young age, she had a good understanding of Naaman’s suffering and his needs. One day, she told Naaman’s wife that he should visit the prophet Elisha in order to receive healing for his leprosy.  When Naaman heard the suggestion, he gathered much wealth and brought it with him on his journey to Israel.

When Naaman first arrived in the land, he presented a letter written by the king of Syria to the king of Israel.  This letter announced that he was sending Naaman to Israel to be healed.  The king of Syria really put the king of Israel on the spot! The Israelite king heatedly replied by saying, “Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore, please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me” (2 Kings 5:7).

Seeing that the king’s situation was far different from that of the young maid’s, I thought that it was interesting to note that she had more compassion for Naaman’s circumstances than the king did!  She realized the source for his healing was God’s power, whereas the king didn’t.  Furthermore, the king of Israel lacked understanding, mercy, and truth, so Naaman was wasting his time trying to find favor with him!

Hearing that the king responded to Naaman by tearing his clothes over the situation, Elisha sent a messenger to Naaman, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean” (2 Kings 5:10). Naaman wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of washing himself in the Jordan seven times.  When he heard Elisha’s prescription for his condition, he was disgusted.  What did Naaman expect Elisha to do? The Bible says:

Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’” (2 Kings 5:11)

It is interesting to note the important roles which the servants played in this story. First, we see that Naaman’s servant girl told him to go to Israel to seek his healing. Naaman would have left Israel enraged by his anger had not his other servants encouraged him to follow the prophet’s advice: “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” (2 Kings 5:14).

There was a reason why Naaman had favor in the sight of the Lord. God’s promise to Abraham was: “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). This promise not only applied to Abraham, but it also applied to his seed.  There young servant girl was the seed of Abraham.  We can surmise that Naaman must have been a very good master to his servants because in verse 13 they affectionately called him “Father” and they earnestly desired to see him healed. Even though she was a captive, I believe Naaman’s kindness to the Jewish girl gave him favor in the sight of the Lord, and this favor led to his physical and spiritual healing.

After Naaman’s miraculous healing, he returned to Elisha, and with much gratitude, he tried to persuade him to accept the treasure which he had brought, but Elisha refused.  According to verses 18-19, we see that Naaman repented of his idolatrous past and was forgiven of his sins.  After he was healed and forgiven, he asked Elisha for some direct because he wanted to take it back to his home in Syria, where he planned to kneel on it and worship the God of the Jews. He was really touched by his healing, wasn’t he? He abandoned the worship of Rimmon, the god of Babylon, and he learned to worship Jehovah, the true and living God!

Healing and salvation are often found together throughout the Bible. We hardly ever see them separated.  Naaman’s entire life was transformed through his encounter with God, which brought about his physical and spiritual healings. Both ancient history and the Bible agree that Syria attacked Israel many times after this incident, but there is no indication that Naaman ever led the Syrian army in battle against Israel after his miraculous healing. Isn’t it wonderful how God touches us as individuals in order to place us in the path of His divine will? Once God puts His finger on your life, you’re not only transformed, but the consequences of His divine touch are also often quite far-reaching, as they were in the case of Naaman.

Do you want favor for healing that will go beyond just your own body and circumstances and change the course of history as well? Nothing is too big for God!

Today’s blog post is taken from Marilyn’s new book, Rebuild Restoring Your God-Given Identity.

2024-09-05T08:05:14-06:00September 16th, 2024|

Declare Today-I am Resting in the Lord.

Declare Today-I am Resting int he Lord.
My Heart will Trust in Him and I’ll not Fear.

Did you know that Solomon wrote Psalm 127 just before the death of his father, David? Solomon’s brother, Adonijah, was trying to take the throne by deceitful means, even though the kingship was promised to Solomon. Instead of fighting with Adonijah over the throne, Solomon wrote this Psalm. Basically, it says, “Why worry? If God wants me on the throne, I’ll be there.” His heart was at peace with the Lord.

Solomon had received a spiritual name from Nathan, the prophet. The name was Jedidah, which means “beloved.” When Solomon wrote Psalm 127, he said, “For so He gives His beloved sleep” (vs. 2). Solomon was really inserting his own name, Jedidah. Read this Psalm, and you can insert your name, too, for you are dear to His heart; you are His beloved.

Can you take the step of faith that Solomon took? Can you look at your own situation and say, “Why worry? God’s Word is true; He will perform that which He has promised!” Of course you can! As you go to sleep tonight, remind yourself of who He says that you are. “God calls things that are not as though they were,” and He has given this awesome power to you! Once you speak His Word over your situation, the work is already accomplished, whether or not you see the work as completed with your natural eye. Let your heart REST in the assurance of His Word. Stop worrying, you are of His beloved; He has called you “Jedidah.” You are His bride, His chosen, and you above all others should let your heart REST in Him.

2024-08-22T12:59:47-06:00September 9th, 2024|

Choose to be a Winner

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says…the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:22, 25 NIV)

Approach every day as though it were the only day you have to achieve your goals and be a winner.  In reality, that is true.  Yesterday is gone forever, and tomorrow isn’t here yet.  Nevertheless, yesterday is the foundation you’re building today on, and today is the foundation for tomorrow.  Too soon, today will be gone and you will be faced with tomorrow.  What you do right now sets the stage for your future, for achievement or failure.  Choose to be a winner.

We hear a great deal today about stress and how to handle it.  Our society seems to be plagued with stress, which manifests in confusion, frustration, anxiety, fear, etc.  Let me give you valuable keys to stress management.  Put God first, plan each day wisely, schedule your time, write things down, stick to your goals, and avoid delay.  This will enable you to eliminate a great amount of stress.

God wants His people to reflect joy and walk in victory.  He doesn’t want them stressed out under their circumstances.  Remember, others are watching you.  The world needs to see a different kind of person—an optimist instead of a pessimist, a winner not a loser, an overcomer rather than an underachiever.  That kind of person just might have the opportunity to lead others to Christ.  Will you be that person?

2024-09-05T07:06:25-06:00September 5th, 2024|

Ask Marilyn – Hearing From God and Knowing His Will

Q: I’m not sure if I’m hearing God’s voice or someone else’s. What does God’s voice sound like?

A: We all struggle with the question, “Is this the voice of God?” John 10 offers us a wonderful promise: The Lord’s sheep know His voice, and the voice of a stranger they will not follow. The voice of God can come to us in different ways. In the Old Testament the voice of God is described as a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11, 12). Most often God’s voice sounds very much like our own thoughts. But these thoughts do not originate from the mind; they come from deep within our own spirit.

Believers have been promised that as we continue to walk with God, He will guide us with His eye upon us and lead us in the way that we should go (Psalms 32:8). And according to Galatians 5:16, we can know that we are being led by the Holy Spirit if we are walking in the Spirit; and walking in the Spirit means to act on God’s Word, no matter what “sense-knowledge” tells us. I believe that our flesh seeks after signs—something we can see or feel. Check out the leadings you have by asking yourself, “Is this my flesh wanting a sign, or is this God’s Word directing my spirit?” If you follow the Word, you will never be disappointed.

Q: What do people mean when they talk about revelation knowledge?

A: God is continually giving us deeper revelation knowledge (insight) into His Word. However, they key to revelation knowledge is that it must always line up with and be tested according to the known Word of God—the Bible. Revealed knowledge often opens up God’s Word to us in a fresh way—not adding to the Word nor taking away from it, but revealing it to us in a deeper way: But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God (1 Corinthians 2:10).

Jesus very clearly indicated to us that the Holy Spirit would be our teacher and teach us things by revelation (see John 14). I believe the apostle Paul was referring to revelation knowledge when he wrote about the revelation of mystery (Romans 16:25) and when he instructed the Corinthians in the use of spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 14:26). Paul also prayed that God would give the Church revelation in the knowledge of Him (Ephesians 1:17).

Nevertheless, Paul also warned that if anyone, including an angel from heaven, came with a revelation other than the gospel which was brought to the world by Jesus, then we would know that revelation was not from God. So, then any “revealed knowledge” beyond God’s Word as found in the Bible is not of God. Nearly every cult has an additional source of written authority besides the Bible. These extra-Biblical scriptures are not from God.

Q: I’m resting now from near burnout from church duties, outside women’s organizations, my family responsibilities, etc. My quiet times during this time were not what they should be, but now I find myself having regular, quality quiet time but feeling a lack of fulfillment. I don’t seem to have any vision, and the Lord seems to be silent. Do you have any suggestions or scriptures?

A: The answer to your burnout problem and present lack of fulfillment is found in John 15:1, 2: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

In every life there are seasons of bearing fruit, pruning, growing, and bearing more fruit. Certainly, in the times of “fruit bearing,” where there is evidence of what our life is producing, we have a sense of fulfillment because we can “see” what we have done.

However, there are necessary times when God puts us in a “dormant” state so that we can abide in Him and He in us: “…as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4). I believe you may be experiencing an “abiding time” in your life. God is giving you a season of rest, consolidation, and a chance to re-energize. Enjoy it! Receive this time as God’s wisdom for this season in your life.

If the Lord is silent, then you can be certain that you are in His will! The Holy Spirit gets “noisy” within us when we begin to walk outside of God’s will.

Q: I know that God has a calling on my life either to preach or to teach so I quit my job because I didn’t want anything to hold me back. Some doors have been opened, but I really need more financial support. Would it be all right for me to work part-time at a secular job?

A: Yes, you can be called to the ministry and still work at a secular job. There are many faithful men and women in the ministry today who are holding down full or part-time jobs in order to support themselves. And in the Bible, we find that it was the apostle Paul’s custom to provide for his needs by working with his own hands (see 2 Thessalonians 3:8).

Q: Marilyn, I just don’t understand how someone can be truly close to God, like David in the Bible, and still sin so terribly.

A: Being close to God does not make one exempt from sin. Saul, David, and Solomon certainly had the hand of God upon them, but as humans they were still given to temptation and sin. Like each of us, these great men had a choice—each day brought new opportunities either to be defeated or to be victorious. These Old Testament men did not have the New Testament covenant rights that we now have, which include understanding our authority and power through God’s Word.

Because all humans have a sin nature, there is no person on earth who is exempt from temptation and sin. We have seen that in the Body of Christ when great men and women of God have been tempted and, in a time of weakness, have fallen. You have experienced this type of temptations and succumbed to sin, and so have I. Being in a leadership position often makes a person even more vulnerable because Satan has assigned demons spirits to tempt leaders and try to cause them to fall. That is why it is important for all of us to stay close to God through His Word, prayer, and fellowship with one another.

And always remember the good news that “…The things which as impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). The word possible refers to “miracle-working power.” The miracle-working power of God’s grace can keep you in His righteousness.

2024-08-14T10:06:39-06:00August 26th, 2024|

Your Personal Trainer

“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” (Hebrews 12:5-6)

One day I asked the Lord, “What do Christians need to know to come out triumphantly when they go through tests and trials?” The Lord had me turn to Hebrews 12:5-6, “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.”  I began to see some truths that were comforting concerning the matter of God’s chastening.  I found out that chastening means “child training, instruction, being educated.” What a difference that makes!

Every Christian will experience trials, temptations, infirmities, and afflictions, but God has promised that His personal training can cause you to win over them all.  To triumph over tests and trials, we must understand that God uses them as training grounds to help us win “the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).  The Christians life is like a race with hurdles and obstacles to overcome.  A hill or two may test our endurance and stretch our faith.  If we are going to run and finish the race, then we will have to lay aside some weights (sin) that can slow us down and eventually lead to defeat (see Hebrews 12:1). We can’t finish the course God has set before us if we allow sin to distract us from running the course.

Often, when we are confronted with a test, trial, or temptation, we think God is mad at us, but He isn’t!  There are two wrong ways to respond to God’s training, found in Hebrews 12:5-6:  you can despise God’s training, and you can be discouraged and despair of it.  When you despise the Lord’s chastening, you treat it lightly.  If you have bitterness, covetousness, or bad habits and the Lord uses a person or a situation to deal with it, so why can’t I?” If you ignore God’s chastening, you are treating it lightly and could end up out of the race.

Another wrong way to respond is to despair of God’s training.  The Lord may put His hand on you and say, “I don’t like this thing (weight) in your life, it keeps you from being victorious,” You can accept God’s dealing and act on His words; or you can say, “Oh, God, I just can’t help it.  I’ve tried and tried to overcome it, and I just can’t.  It’s hopeless.”  But it’s not hopeless!  Remember: “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6).  Don’t faint or despair over your situation: rather, know that God’s wonderful hand of love is behind it.

Training brings profit into your life.  If you refuse to allow the Lord to train and discipline you, you won’t mature in your Christian faith.  If you despise God’s training or despair in the middle of a trial, then your spiritual growth stagnates, and you are no longer of any profit to God’s kingdom.  How tragic!  The Lord wants us to be constant producers who grow to maturity in Him because maturity leads to fruit-bearing.  The Lord’s chastening will yield “the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

Tests and trials are opportunities for spiritual exercise that strengthens our inner man and gets us ready for bigger and better things from God.  The more we exercise in the spiritual realm, the more we are equipped to enter into spiritual warfare for ourselves, our loved one, and the unsaved all around us.  So, embark on God’s personal training program today!

2024-08-14T08:17:07-06:00August 19th, 2024|

Joy Makes Life Worth Living

“… The Joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Our God is a joyful God, and it is with His joy that we become stronger, more powerful Christians. What is joy? One of the Hebrew words for joy is chedvah, which means “rejoicing, gladness.” In Galatians 5:22, joy is the Greek word chara, which means “cheerfulness, delight.” So, joy helps you worship God, and it makes you glad, cheerful, and a delight to be around. You will even start to like yourself better when you receive God’s joy.

Dear God,
I pray you give me strength through Your joy.  Help me be a blessing to those around me and spread Your joy to everyone I meet.
In Jesus’s Name,
Amen

2024-07-18T06:10:20-06:00August 12th, 2024|

The Promise of a Joyful Life

All this joy is mine as I follow your ways!  Psalm 119:56 (Passion)

The Word will sustain you under affliction, and enable you to survive ridicule.  It gives you a tender heart for the worldly and wicked.  The Word furnishes songs of hope and comfort in the still, dark night.

All this happiness and comfort can come from only one thing:  keeping the Word of God.  When you abide in the will of God, you will find peace and joy unlike anything the world can offer.

Practice is defined as “a customary or habitual performance.”  When it becomes your practice to obey God’s ways, the Word becomes an inseparable part of you.

Lord, I will make it my practice to read, meditate upon, and obey Your ways.

2024-07-18T05:52:26-06:00August 5th, 2024|

Ask Marilyn–Health and Healing

Q:  Does God still heal people today? I’ve heard that physical healing was just for the first-century Church.

A:  Yes, God still heals people today! I’ve heard that rumor about the first-century Church, too; but I can tell you that God loves us just as much as He loved those, Christians. Jesus’ final words to His disciples included this promise: “And these signs will follow those who believe; In My name they will cast out demons; …they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:17, 18).

I’ve seen many, many healings take place, and I’ve experienced healing in my own body as well. It often takes consistency in prayer, standing on the Word, and persistent patience.

Sometimes people plant the healing “seeds” of God’s Word at an advanced stage of illness, and the death process is too far advanced for the life of God’s Word to manifest. It is important to plant God’s Word in our hearts before Satan ever tries to attack us with sickness so that the roots of sickness and disease will have no place in our lives. This is one reason people are sometimes no healed. There are many other reasons, and we don’t know each individual’s discouragement or level of faith for healing. The important thing is to remember that God’s Word is ALWAYS true, and the Word is our standard of truth.

The Scriptures are loaded with dynamite promises for healing. Among these promises are Exodus 15:26; Psalm 91; 103:3; Proverbs 4:20-23; Isaiah 53:4, 5; Malachi 4:2; Matthew 8:16, 17; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24; and 3 John 2.

Q:  Marilyn, I heard you talking about daily health scriptures. What did you mean?

A:  I’m sure you know that Jesus was anointed with power to heal those oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38); you may even be sure that healing is of God. Well, now I want to help you see that walking in divine health is even better! That’s why I take my daily dose of health scriptures—I speak scriptures that affirm the divine health that God wants for my life. Some scriptures that you can use for this purpose are Psalms 91:10; Proverbs 3:8; 4:20, 22; 16:24; and Romans 6:13.

As you confess scriptures like these, they are like a prescription of healing from the Lord. I know that these scriptures will not go forth in your life and return void; I am absolutely certain that they will produce health for you.

Q:  I have prayed and prayed for healing, but I still have the symptoms of my disease. Why haven’t I been healed?

A:  Sometimes when believers lay hands on sick people, the healing manifests instantly. It is a wonderful miracle; but when someone doesn’t recover immediately, it is important to keep your faith in God’s Word and not look at the symptoms.

When healing takes a period of time, it is important to understand that God’s Word works like a seed planted in your spirit. When you plant a carrot seed, you don’t run outside the next day expecting to pull carrots! It is sometimes necessary to stand in faith for a long time; but as you continue to stand, the day will come when healing is evident because the seed will have matured.

We know that all sickness and disease originated with the devil (Acts 10:38), and sometimes demonic personalities manifest various diseases or disorders in people. Nevertheless, believers have power and authority given by Christ to rebuke any such thing (Luke 10:18, 19). When you are praying for yourself or another, “cover all the bases” by coming against Satan and any demonic activity that may be present as well as speaking the healing Word of God to the body and soul. I know an evangelist who comes against all sickness, disease, and infirmity as though it comes directly from evil spirits; and he has unusual success. You do have the victory over all these things in the name of Jesus (1 John 3:8).

Q:  Is it an indication of unbelief for me to follow the instruction of a physician and not lean solely on God?

A:  First of all, God is your healer (Psalms 103:2, 3); and you should depend upon Him, through the promises of His Word, to perform healing on your behalf.

However, that does not mean that you are wrong to take advantage of a doctor’s knowledge. Jesus said that the sick has need of a physician (Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:17; and Luke 5:31). We need to use balance and wisdom in every area of our life, and I believe it is only good wisdom to use modern medicine to aid in the healing of our bodies.

I want to reiterate that all healing comes from God. Sometimes healing comes in a supernatural manner; sometimes it comes through the natural processes of healing with the assistance of the medical profession. Either way, the healing is from Him and He is to receive the glory for it.

2024-07-03T11:15:08-06:00July 22nd, 2024|

The Grace Advantage

Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another;
even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. (Colossians 3:13)

After the fall, God could have sought revenge for Adam and Eve’s disobedience.  Instead, God promised to send His only Son to be an offering for sins.  Grace, in this instance involved the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sin to restore man’s fellowship with His Creator.

Because God extended grace, both sides benefitted:  God and man received an increase over what each possessed originally.  God not only received back his Son from the dead, but Jesus was also “The firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).  God got an increase on His sacrifice—He got the church!  You may not think you’re an advantage to God, but He thinks you are worth the price of Jesus’s death!  Throughout the centuries, every person who has been born again is God’s increase.

You benefitted too.  When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost the garden of Eden, but the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).  They lived in Eden, but you sit together in heavenly places with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).  Adam was given dominion to subdue and conquer the earth, but you are mor than a conqueror through Christ (Romans 8:37). God always wants to give you more than you had before.

So, how do you treat others when you are wronged?  Is seeking revenge the first thing that pops into your mind?  The Bible teaches the principle of extending grace in order to turn your disadvantage into an advantage.  But first, you need to cast that irritation on the Lord: “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).  Regardless of what the person did to you, the Word tells us to forgive one another, “Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Colossians 3:13). The key to doing that is to recall that Christ forgave you.

If you are born-again, then you received grace when you were saved.  You didn’t deserve it, but as we have seen, Jesus gave you more than you ever had before; consequently, you’re now enjoying a life of grace and blessings.  We have the grace to forgive others.  If you dispense that grace by forgiving others, you will end up richer.

Because God extended grace, both you and the person who offended you can benefit.  So, do as the Lord did: don’t seek revenge.  Rather, extend grace!

Today’s blog post is taken from Marilyn’s new book, Beautiful Inheritance A 101 Daily Devotional.

2024-07-03T10:49:52-06:00July 15th, 2024|

Fruit of the Spirit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22, 23 (NKJV)

The fruit of the Spirit is to be very evident in our lives.  When we are born again, we receive the fruits of LOVE, JOY, and PEACE.  These are for our personal enjoyment.  We experience love, joy, and peace.

In addition to these three fruits, there are three more that relate to others:  We need LONGSUFFERING in dealing with other people.  We also need GENTLENESS and GOODNESS.  Thus, not only do we enjoy personal fruit for ourselves, but we can extend His fruit to others.

Lastly, three final fruits deal with our relationship with our heavenly Father.  We give FAITH back to Him, along with MEEKNESS and TEMPERANCE.

Here is a beautiful picture of FRUIT THAT WE OURSELVES CAN ENJOY, FRUIT THAT WE GIVE TO OTHERS, and FRUIT THAT WE MANIFEST TO THE FATHER.  How complete God has made us in Jesus!  If you have Jesus, you have the seed of all nine of these fruits.  Partake of them all.

Dear Heavenly Father,

No law can win against love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance—the supernatural traits of Jesus Christ.  Thank You, Father, that these abide in us in our new birth.

In Jesus’s Name,

Amen

2024-06-20T11:09:04-06:00July 8th, 2024|
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