Grace Notes: March 2018

Resurrection Blessings to You

As we approach Easter it is important to remember how Jesus endured the cross for us.
Jesus said before going to the cross “no man takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:18) Jesus went to the cross willingly and paid the price for our sin so that we might have forgiveness and eternal life! Hallelujah!

He rose from the grave victorious over sin and death and the same power that raised Christ from the grave, the Holy Spirit, is given to us who have believed upon Christ (Eph. 1:19-20). Praise God! His presence is with us to comfort, empower, and lead, as we go forth in our walk with the Lord.

St. Patrick

The Lord, through generations of history, has drawn individuals unto Himself to receive salvation, and then used them with that same resurrection power that raised Christ from the grave, to reach others.

The person we know as St. Patrick actually grew up in Roman Britain in a Christian home; in fact, his grandfather was a minister in the Celtic church. However, Patrick himself didn’t have a personal relationship with Christ.

Having been kidnapped by barbarians and taken to Ireland around 16 years of age, he was made a slave and forced to herd pigs. He had much time to contemplate life and began to call out to God and experienced a conversion to Christ.

He was actually able to escape to the coast and there find a ship to take him on and go back to Ireland, all through a dream God gave him.

When he came back to Roman Britain and reconnected with his family they were astonished, it was like he had risen from the dead.

Later on he was called to go back to Ireland through a dream where he heard the voice of the Irish calling him: “We beseech you to come and walk amongst us once more.” He didn’t leave right away though, but took time to prepare.

Later, as he ministered to the Irish, he saw many converted to Christ as he relied on the power of God. And in spite of opposition and resistance from pagans and druids, he saw many come to Christ. His earlier time there had also prepared him to understand the Irish and how to reach out to them.

As God’s grace and power had impacted Patrick’s life, he went on to leave a legacy of impacting others with that same truth.

More in Depth

If you would like to hear more on: “Christ’s Trial and Crucifixion” as well as “The Real St. Patrick”
We are beginning to put our audio programs on a new format for us. As well as the formats we’ve been already using, we are now putting audio programs on SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/graceworldmission) where they can be more easily heard anytime on your phone, tablet, or computer.

We have many other videos and audio programs that range from Bible teaching, to figures in Christian history, to revivals. You can visit our web page for links to them. You can also hear some of our music there and at Bryan Marleaux (https://soundcloud.com/bmarleaux) on SoundCloud too.

Brief Update

We had a powerful time ministering in San Diego and were stoked to see many people getting powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit in an awesome way. The Lord was touching so many powerfully with His Spirit it was just an absolutely renewing time. We also had many who made decisions for Christ. We also had an amazing move of the Holy Spirit as we ministered in the OC recently. We were joined in the service by a friend from France who is visiting the U.S. at the moment, who helped us in praying for others at the service. He said it was actually first time he’d prayed for other people like this. In fact, he and our son Patrick effectively prayed for many people that day who were powerfully touched by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has been moving very powerfully touching and filling many people as well as releasing healing and lifting off heaviness and darkness. The pastor in OC also got so touched that she was on the floor for some time and needed help getting up, and then the Lord touched her and others with His Joy where many were so overcome they couldn’t stand, including ourselves. It was an awesome time of visitation of the presence of the Lord.

There was also an Iranian woman who had come into the service in OC, she hadn’t been there before and didn’t know that it is a Spanish-speaking church. However, she happened to show up the one day when the message was also in English, as Mercedes was translating to Spanish what I preached in English that day. The Iranian lady heard the message of the Gospel and then came up first to just get prayer for an ailment, but when she experienced the reality of the power of the Holy Spirit she opened her heart and received Jesus as her Savior! Hallelujah! Her father also had some seeds planted as we talked and shared and prayed for him at the end of the service.

We have been having meetings in the high desert with some friends of ours over the years that we call PrayerFests. We often have people there who haven’t experienced the filling of the Holy Spirit, so we share some testimonies of how we experienced the fullness of the Spirit along with some Scriptures and then pray for those who’ve come. We’ve seen many from different denominational backgrounds, ones that are not even open to this type of activity, get touched and filled with the Holy Spirit! Praise God! We recently had one where a couple who was very new to this saw the husband get deeply touched and filled with the Holy Spirit. Another woman who was there got powerfully ministered to and greatly encouraged by the love and presence of the Lord she experienced! Hallelujah!

We have had some powerful divine appointments recently as well, where we had opportunities to share the Gospel in effective ways with others. One was with a couple in the mountains who just came up and asked me to take a picture of them, turned out they happened to know a friend of ours who we prayed for to be filled with the Holy Spirit in Hawaii some years back (link to video) This opened the door to share with them in a powerful and effective way. We also had the opportunity to share with a man from Cuba who we talked with about the love and grace of Christ!

On the home front, we’ve been having some battles with our transportation situation as our cars have been having some issues. We always appreciate your prayers and support, thanks so much!

Be blessed this Easter season!

Bryan and Mercedes Marleaux