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Archive for the ‘God’s promises’ Category

End of year message and free workshop

Posted in Called to write, Colorado Christian Writers Conference, God's promises, Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, Our Christian witness, Praying for our nation on December 30, 2011| 1 Comment »

If your inbox is like mine, it was stuffed with pre-Christmas enticements to buy stuff we really don’t need. And now, pre-New Year, you’re also probably overwhelmed with requests for year-end donations from numerous ministries and organizations. The needs are legitimate and dear to my heart. No child should go to bed hungry, much less starve to death. No child or adult should be sexually abused or homeless. Human trafficking and the persecution of my brothers and sisters in Christ – the persecution of any person for we are all created in God’s image – is deplorable. How the Father heart of God must break.

Then there’s the burden I carry for the slippery slope our nation is on spiritually, morally, financially . . . Christians I highly respect are warning of the collapse of America. I can’t help but wonder if God will  lift His mantle of blessing on our nation because of how we have turned away from Him.

And then I wonder how this will impact my family and especially my precious grandchildren – seven-year-old Laura, six-year-old Ryan, and three-year-old Erin.

You’re not alone if you feel overwhelmed and helpless. The evil one delights in feeding our worries and fears. When that doesn’t work, he lulls us into complacency and apathy.

But my “hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers” (1 Tim. 4:10 NLT). Rather than despairing, I am choosing to view problems as challenges and opportunities to make a difference.

I am more convinced than ever that “for such a time as this” God is raising up an army to “write His answer.” It’s what compels me to keep on keeping on directing the Colorado and Greater Philly Christian Writers Conferences even though I’m old enough to retire. (I can’t imagine ever retiring from the work I know Father has called me to do.) It’s why, despite the glum economic projections, I’m going to again go out on a limb with God to plan the strongest  conferences possible and trust Him to cover the costs.

Over half the faculty is in place for both conferences. I’m excited! I’ll begin posting info to the conference websites (www.writehisanswer.com/Colorado and www.writehisanswer.com/Philadelphia) by the end of the year. Yes, I know that’s tomorrow!

Meanwhile, because I believe Father is calling you to “write His answer,” I want to offer you free of charge the keynote message I gave this fall at the Vine and Vessels Christian Writers Conference in Delaware. The ten biblical principles in this message will encourage and equip you to “Get the Word Out.” It can be downloaded at www.writehisanswer.com. See “My Gift to You” near the top of the home page.

Father, as we move into a new year help us to keep our eyes on Jesus and not to miss the opportunities You will give us to write and to live Your answer.  

Because He came and is coming again – Marlene

P.S. The MP3 file will take approximately five minutes to download. If you prefer to listen to a CD, please send a check for $3 payable to Write His Answer Ministries to cover the cost of the CD and shipping. You can mail your check to me at 951 Anders Road, Lansdale, PA 19446.

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Please pray for North Korea

Posted in Called to write, God's promises, Our Christian witness, Persecution of Christians on December 20, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I know you are busy with Christmas just a few days away, but the news from North Korea compels me to write you.

As you may know, my heart is burdened for our brothers and sisters around the world who are persecuted for their faith and especially for the children who see things children should never see.

Please take a momen  to visit my website (www.writehisanswer.com) and read faculty member C. Hope Flinchbaugh’s article, “Why Are the North Koreans Crying?” I also urge you to read the press release from International Christian Concern, “South Korean Church Leader: ‘Pray that the Sacrifices of Christians over the Past 65 Years Will Finally Bear Fruit.'”

Most of all I urge you to pray – and not just for North Korea but for Christians everywhere who are threatened, harassed, persecuted, beaten, and even killed for their faith in Jesus whose birth we are about to celebrate.

And let’s not forget to pray for our nation. Every year the effort to dim the Light of Christmas grows stronger. I cling to the promise:

His life is the light that shines through the darkness –
and the darkness can never extinguish it.  1 John 1:5 TLB

I also am reminded that you and I are called to be His lightbearers – to speak and write His answer and most of all to live it.

Because He came and is coming again – Marlene

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Thankful for His Blessings

Posted in God's promises, Our Christian witness, Praying for our nation on November 23, 2011| 3 Comments »

We Thank You, O Lord
To the tune “We Gather Together”

 We thank You, O Lord, for Your mercy and blessings,
Your love that we never can merit or earn.
Our praises we’re bringing to You on this Thanksgiving.
We worship You, O Lord -, our hearts for You yearn.

We need You, O Lord, in our lives, in our nation.
Forgive us for failing to follow Your way.
Thru darkness please guide us, please build us up and help us
To hold fast to our faith in these difficult days.

We cling to Your promise, we know You are faithful.
Our land You will heal if Your people will pray.
If humbly we’ll seek You and turn away from evil,
There’s hope that our- nation will see brighter days.

And so, Lord, we give You our praise and thanksgiving,
Our worries and fears we surrender to You.
We choose to rejoice in Your promise, Your provision.
We will trust You, O Lord -, for Your Word is true.

 Marlene Bagnull
Thanksgiving 2011

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Blessed Is He!

Posted in God's promises, Our Christian witness on April 22, 2011| 1 Comment »

Blessed Is He!

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
The crowd cheered and sang praises.
They waved palm branches
and threw their cloaks before Him.
But Jesus was solemn as He traveled that road –
that road to the cross.
As God incarnate He knew all that was to come.
He saw not just His own death on the cross,
but the persecution of His followers
and the destruction of Jerusalem.
He saw nation rising against nation –
the madness of yet-to-be-born rulers.
And Jesus wept.
He would be wounded and bruised for our sins,
chastised that we might have peace,
lashed that we might be healed;
yet few would accept His gift of life.
The darkness of evil would continue to reign,
but the light of His love
would not be extinguished.
Entrusted to us,
His light will grow brighter.
A cloud of witnesses are cheering us on,
to daily take up our own cross
and follow Him closely.
Blessed is He who is coming – again!

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A picture . . .

Posted in Called to write, Colorado Christian Writers Conference, God's promises on February 16, 2011| 1 Comment »

“A picture,” someone has said, “is worth a thousand words.” No wonder writers are encouraged to “show don’t tell.”

I hope you’ll visit www.writehisanswer.com/Colorado and click on the video welcome to the Colorado Christian Writers Conference. In addition to the pictures are words from former conferees and faculty. No matter how many times I’ve watched the video (and I have watched it many times), I continue to be stirred by the words of Michael Gantt, a pastor from Vermont, in Chapter 4 of the video. “It’s very critical,” he said, “that you believe that what God has to say is relevant to this situation. It’s very critical that you – that you believe God will use you to write His message to the world.”

In the midst of the rejection slips that are part of a writer’s life, it can be difficult to believe that God will use us. That’s not surprising. Discouragement is one of the evil one’s most effective weapons. But I challenge you, as my dear friend and mentor, Lee Roddy, challenged me years ago, “Whose voice are you going to listen to?”

“Now glory be to God who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes” (Eph. 3:20 TLB).

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Spring Is Coming!

Posted in Called to write, Colorado Christian Writers Conference, God's promises, Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference, Overcoming self-doubts, Publishing journey on February 7, 2011| 3 Comments »

Spring is coming, or so the groundhog says.  Whether he’s right that we’ll have an early spring remains to be seen, but one thing is certain – spring will come!

Even more certain is God’s promise in Hosea 6:3: “Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him, and he will respond to us as surely as the coming of dawn or the rain of early spring” (TLB). But did you read the condition? Are you pressing in to know Him and, as one who has been given the gift of words, are you pressing on to make Him known?

If you’re feeling stuck in a long, cold winter of your soul when God seems distant and a season when your writing appears to be going nowhere, take heart. “Even when we are too weak to have any faith left, he remains faithful to us and will help us, for he cannot disown us who are part of himself, and he will always carry out his promises to us” (2 Tim. 2:13 TLB). And what does He promise? Romans 11:29 says “God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn” (TLB). He also promises that “Now you have every grace and blessing; every spiritual gift and power for doing his will are yours during this time of waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:7 TLB).

A promise that kept me writing and submitting when my first book kept getting rejected is Galatians 6:9. “Let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up” (TLB). That book was finally accepted after being returned 42 times over a five year period. (I learned not to use the word “rejected.”) Had I given up, I would have missed the joy of encouraging others through my book, Write His Answer – A Bible Study for Christian Writer; the joy of the six other books that followed; and the joy of directing the Greater Philly and Colorado Christian Writers Conference.

We’re picking up 8,000 brochures today for the May 11-14 Colorado Christian Writers Conference. If you’re not on our mailing list, please email me to receive the 16-page brochure. The August 10-13 Greater Philly conference is well along in the planning stages. And I’ve expanded my online bookstore for writers – finally. Through February 28 I’m offering an additional 10% off the already discounted prices including Sally Stuart’s 2011 Christian Writers Market Guide making the price for the new edition only $18. I hope you’ll visit www.writehisanswer.com/bookstore.htm.

But Father, most of all I pray that Your people will be encouraged to “write Your answer” during these critical days. Help us all to be faithful to our calling.

Because of Christ – Marlene

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The New Year

Posted in Goal-setting, God's promises on January 1, 2011| 3 Comments »

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I used to, but I found that I broke them as quickly as I made them. The result? It was all to easy to become discouraged and give up. So . . . I changed my approach and set goals instead of made resolutions. That’s not a bad thing to do. As someone has said, “Aim at nothing and that’s exactly what you will achieve.” Still goal-setting can also bring me to a place of frustration. I find the balance between God-sized goals and realistic goals difficult to determine.

Yes, I know that “his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes” (Eph. 3:20 TLB). But the key, I believe, is in praying for His will and surrendering our desires, thoughts, and hopes to Him. It is asking, “Father, what do You want me to do in this new year? What do You want me to do today?”

What might the Lord do in my life and yours if daily we chose to make our first priority that of “obeying God with deep reverence, shrinking back from all that might displease him” (Phil. 2:12)? What if we allowed Him to be Lord of our to-do lists and did what He wants us to do rather than asking Him to “bless” what we want to do? What if we made a habit of asking, “What would Jesus do?” and then did it? Is this really possible for people who are goal-oriented and strong-willed? (Okay, stubborn is probably a more accurate word.)

“For God is at work within you, helpng you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants” He promises in Philippians 2:13 (TLB). Wow! That’s a promise I long to grab hold of today and each day of this new year!

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A New Christmas Carol

Posted in God's promises on December 17, 2010| 5 Comments »

Lift Up Your Eyes and See
To the tune:  O Little Town of Bethlehem

All those beneath life’s crushing load
Lift up your eyes and see
The Son of God has come to earth
His words will set you free
From doubt and fear and worry
Of what the future holds
Look up and put your trust in Him
His peace will fill your soul.

The baby born to Mary
The Word made flesh He came
That all who will believe in Him
Will never be the same
O’er evil He did triumph
When on the cross He hung
Our sin He took upon Himself
Salvation for us won.

So we can live in victory
And know His joy and peace
No matter what the headlines say
We only need to reach
To Him who holds the future
Our lives are in His hands
Rejoice, give thanks and praise His name
In near and distant lands.

Marlene Bagnull

 

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Our God Is With Us!

Posted in God's promises on December 17, 2010| 1 Comment »

The stark contrasts at Christmas
always cause me to ponder and pray.

Plenty and poverty,
    peace and conflict,
        believers and unbelievers,
            joy and sorrow,
                light and dark . . .

How I rejoice in the knowledge that “Christ became a human being
and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth”
(John 1:14 tlb).

Have a blessed Christmas because 

Our God Is With Us

IMMANUEL, God with us
wrapped in
swaddling clothes.
Helpless and
dependent.

IMMANUEL God with us
clothed in
a Rabbi’s garb.
Truth and love
revealing.

IMMANUEL God with us
stripped and
mocked and beaten.
Choosing death
that we might live.

IMMANUEL God with us
robed in
glorious white.
Our Savior
and coming King.

Marlene Bagnull

 

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