Marilyn Hickey

Hitting the Mark

By Patricia J. Baldwin

Traveling extensively throughout the United States and Europe, Hickey also taught the Bible and led crusades in Africa, China, the former Soviet Union, and most recently, Pakistan.

"Marilyn Hickey is one of the most profound and pronounced Bible expositors of our day. Her unique style not only opens doors into the hearts of men and women, but also opens the doors of previously closed countries where the Gospel has never before been shared," said Bishop Carlton Pearson of Higher Dimensions Ministries, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Hickey believes that people need to go where the anointing takes them for their life and for their particular calling. She teaches about reaching for the mark and fulfilling your destiny in God. She should know. Marilyn Hickey almost missed the mark of her calling.

Born again and engaged to marry Wallace Hickey, young Marilyn found herself at a crossroads.

"One sleepless night God clearly showed me what my life would be like if I kept resisting His will," Hickey said. "He showed me that I would not marry Wally and I would live in California and be a school teacher and miss out on all the plans He had for my life."

That same week, Marilyn answered an altar call and received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Wallace and Marilyn married and three years later were called into the ministry. They started serving as assistant pastors in Amarillo, Texas.

"I knew then I needed a good prayer life," Hickey said. "Bible reading was never a problem for me but my prayer life was weak, so I hung around a wonderful woman in that church who was an intercessor." "I needed a good prayer life and I felt like it was contagious, which is true, so while in Texas, I prayed every day with her."

When the Hickeys settled in Denver to start the church they call home today, Marilyn realized that her prayer life still had room for improvement.

"Then in 1976, while at a retreat, God called me to cover the earth with His Word," Hickey said.

Hickey remembers at that time women were not accepted in the pulpit. She remembers also, having a dialogue with God about women ministers and how He told her ‘That is not your problem, that is my problem, so never let it be your problem.’

"Let His call be your number one priority and you will find that is where you shine." If you don’t shine where you are, something is wrong." Hickey said. "The Lord told me He had not called me to go and speak only to women, but that He had called me to the Body."

It was about this time that Larry Lea came to Denver and taught on prayer. Lea’s teaching, "Could You Not Tarry with Me One Hour?" propelled Hickey to a new level of commitment to pray. Realizing the need to strengthen her prayer life, she began to utilize Lea’s outline in her daily devotions.

"It was hard for me for about a year, but I was faithful to pray an hour a day and go through that prayer plan," Hickey said. "By the end of that year I was hooked."

And as the only woman invited to join the Board of Directors for Dr. David Yonggi Cho’s Church Growth International, she found herself, once again, challenged and inspired by Dr. Cho’s prayer life. "He prays for four hours every day," Hickey said. "Now, it is easy, easy, to do two or three hours a day in prayer." "But I did not start there, and that is what I want people to understand – don’t be discouraged if you only do twenty minutes a day, just be faithful to do that twenty minutes."

If you were thinking that being at the helm of an international ministry is all glamour, think again. There is a heavy price to pay.

"You are going to die a thousand times every month," Hickey said. People see the pulpit and that is such a little part of the ministry. There is so much crucifixion to the flesh."

Hickey takes her calling seriously. She believes if God is truly calling you to ministry you cannot do anything else. She emphasizes the difference between being called by God and calling yourself.

"Unless you are truly called (by God), you should stay out of the ministry," Hickey said. "You are going to die and you will not experience resurrection if you call yourself."

Using the illustration of the hireling and the shepherd found in John 10, Hickey describes being called to the ministry this way:

"When the hireling sees the wolf coming, he flees and leaves the sheep and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. And the reason he flees and leaves the sheep is that he is (just) a hireling and he does not care for the sheep as does the shepherd. The shepherd stays and fights the wolf and the criticisms that come your way and (hangs in) for both the unpopular as well as popular days. That is the shepherd – the good shepherd."

Hickey believes that Christians who fulfill their calling always follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

"Watch and ask the Holy Spirit. You do not have to be looking for someone to hear – He says, ‘My sheep hear my voice." – You need to hear His voice and then follow His voice and remember – it is very expensive to be in the ministry."

Hickey offers a series of Bible teaching video and audiocassette tapes to her listening audience through her television and radio broadcasts. One of them is titled, "Hit the Mark! – Finding and Fulfilling Your Divine Destiny." On this tape, she states the following:

"To miss the mark is sin, so it is very important to know what God has for me and to start toward that mark. My goal is to hit the mark, and to be where God wants me to be, doing what He wants me to do and saying what He wants me to say. God has a destiny for each of us."

Marilyn Hickey’s Bible-teaching program, ‘Today with Marilyn’ is broadcast on television and radio each weekday. Check your local listings for the time. The ministry’s web address is: www.mhmin.org. You may call for more information and/or prayer at (303)796-1333.