What is the Holy Spirit?
Marilyn reminds us that the Holy Spirit is a person who dwells in and communicates with us. According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit is "another Comforter," Jesus being the first. "He is called to be with you as long as you live," says Marilyn. John 14:16 promises He will abide with us forever.
The Holy Spirit can come into our lives like a sweet, gentle breeze. Then again, sometimes He comes in like a rushing mighty gale like when the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Marilyn says when she was younger, the Holy Spirit began moving on her once she became born again. "At first, I didnt sense Him," says Marilyn. "He didnt blow me down. He just blew gently, giving me a hunger to pray and read the Bible."
One night, while standing in a meeting and praising the Lord, Marilyn had an unusual encounter with the Holy Spirit. She began to rock back and forth almost involuntarily. It was gentle and sweet, but she thought, God, what is this? This is strange to me! God answered, Thats the Holy Spirit, and I want to show you that I blow you where I want you to go. Just stay sweet in me.
The Manifest Presence of God
Marilyn says that God wants to bring Holy Spirit revival to the body of Christ, but it takes preparation on our part. "God thinks the process of preparation is just as important as the finished product," she says. "If we can allow the Holy Spirit to work in us the way He wants to work, then He can produce what He wants in us."
We need the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives at home, church, school, on the job, and in our families. We need to be able to touch Him and know Him in a personal way. "Learn to live in an atmosphere of praise," says Marilyn, "because, according to Psalm 22:3, God inhabits the praise of His people."
Once when Marilyn came home from an overseas trip and was on her way to Texas, she had an unusual awareness of the Lord's presence. She was adjusting to a 16-hour time change and jet lag, but it was as though her body didn't need any sleep for four days. "I felt as if I were living in a capsule of the presence of God," she says. Wonderful things began happening in her meetings. People were being saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. By the second day, Marilyn knew something was cooking. She began teaching on the Psalms and people began crying. When the altar call was over and the service dismissed, no one left. People stayed and basked in the presence of God. Several people reported that they had visions of what God was doing in their lives.
On the second night, Marilyn continued in the Psalms. All at once, people on one side of the church began fanning themselves, and soon they started laughing. She thought, Whats so funny? Then a man fell into the aisle, and at that point, her teaching was over. People in the back started laughing in the Spirit and the entire front row fell on the floor, drunk in the Spirit. "That was the manifest presence of God," says Marilyn. "Sometimes we desperately need visitations, because our problems can be so tremendous. But when you begin to experience Gods presence, it changes you and you won't ever be the same."
Marilyn says it is important to cultivate Gods presence through the Holy Spirit: First, because in His presence there is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). Second, Gods presence identifies sin. (Genesis 3:8 says Adam and Eve heard the voice of God and hid because they sinned.) Third, the manifest presence of God turns back our enemies (Psalm 9:3). Fourth, when we have Gods presence, we have rest (Exodus 33:14). Fifth, we are saved from affliction in the presence of God (Isaiah 63:9). Sixth, His presence is what we will experience for eternity (Jude 24 and 25).
