Winter 2016 Newsletter

You don’t have to look far to know our world is in trouble. Just read the

headlines, and you’ll see endless accounts of violence, perversion, breakdown of

families, and people mocking things of the Lord.

We can feel helpless and impotent in the face of such overwhelming issues. But

I believe there is at least one thing we as women can do that really can make a

significant difference.

More than 2,500 years ago, the prophet Jeremiah called for “the mourning

women to come” (Jer. 9:17). In that time of darkness, where God’s people had

come to justify and embrace evil, Jeremiah begged them to repent of their sin,

to mourn, and to cry out to the Lord for mercy.

I believe we’re called to do the same today. That’s why throughout the coming

year, Revive Our Hearts is calling women to cry out to the Lord in fervent prayer

for our nation and our world. It’s our desire that women, both individually and in

groups, will join together in asking God to intervene in our culture for His glory.

As part of this call, we’re asking women to gather together in September to pray

at Cry Out! True Woman 2016. It’s our hope that thousands of women will

come together in Indianapolis, with hundreds of thousands more joining in via

LIVE stream.

We’re so thankful for the many women who already have a heart for their

communities—who live out the truth of God’s Word on a daily basis and point

others to Christ through their words and example. Jen Johnson is one such

woman who is a powerful influence on the lives of the college staff and students

she works with. I hope you’ll be encouraged by her example and how God is

using her to impact others.

As believers, we’ve been chosen to be God’s instruments in this dark and perverse

culture. Would you join Revive Our Hearts this year in crying out to God for

mercy—for yourself, your families, your community, and your nation? May God

turn the hearts of His people and then turn the heart of the world to Him, for

He is our only hope.

Seeking Him with you,

B E T T E R T H A N

“Not many of you should become teachers.” how’s

that for an opening statement to a room full of teachers

and ministry leaders? for the more than 2,300 ladies in

attendance, this might not have been what they came to

hear, but they didn’t leave disappointed.

Jen Wilkin, plenary speaker at Revive ’15: Women Teach-

ing Women and author of Women of the Word, didn’t shy away

from this caution from James 3. Rather, she embraced it as an

encouraging reminder of the powerful influence teachers have

through their words.

“Our words matter,” Jen stated in Friday afternoon’s mes-

sage. “They have the power to create and the power to destroy.

“As those created in the image of God, this is something we

share with Him in a removed sort of way. The words of God are

miraculous in the way they create life; they are miraculous in the

work they do. You and I don’t have miraculous words, but we

have words of great, great power.”

On Saturday morning, Jen spoke of how the road to transfor-

mation is from the head to the heart. “The heart cannot love what

the mind does not know. . . . Know Him, and you will love Him.”

Later she shared practical tools for getting better acquainted with

God’s Word, walking us through three stages of personal study:

Comprehension—“What Does it Say?”

Interpretation—“What Does it Mean?”

Application—“How Should it Change Me?”

Then it was time to put into practice all these principles and

actually dig into Scripture. Now, five minutes of silence broken

only by the swishing of pages and the scratching of pens can feel

like an eternity. But what could have been an awkward moment

was instead a precious sight to behold: women huddled up in

groups or on their own pouring over a familiar passage, like eager

children in a candy shop.

For Jen, this was sweeter than chocolate. As she said in

her opening message, there’s little else she cares about more

than equipping women to discover God’s truth for themselves.

Women need women teachers for their example, perspective,

and empathetic authority.

If the goal was to leave the women at Revive ’15 with a deep

appreciation and hunger for God’s Word, Jen hit this one out of

the park!

As Jen states in the final chapter of her book Women of the

Word:

We become what we behold. . . . So make a faithful

study of the One you want to imitate, as a dearly loved

child. Study everything that makes God wonderful and

mimic to your heart’s delight, as the joyful expression of

your reciprocal love for him. Respond as David did: “My

heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord do I seek’” (Ps. 27:8).

To the one that seeks him, the Lord is pleased to lift up

his countenance, both now and forever. Study well the

contours of his face. Let gazing on his loveliness touch

mind and heart. And be transformed.

Chocolateby Leanna Shepard

You can hear more from Jen Wilkin February 15–17 on Revive Our Hearts as she shares “Getting Women Into the Word.”

Equipping Women to Discover Truth

2 ReviveOurHearts.com

FROM EARBUDS TO THE HEART

How I thank God for Nancy Leigh and the ministry of Revive

Our Hearts that helps provide resources I can utilize on a regular

basis to build these convictions and worldview into women!

Having worked with college women for almost two

decades with student mobilization, i am more grateful for

the ministry of Revive OuR HeaRts today than ever. over

the years i have invested in any resource from roh that i

could get my hands on and then exposed staff and students

to them.

I was especially excited when I found out about the podcast a

couple years ago. I encouraged all our staff women to get it on their

phones. I listen to it almost daily, and it’s not unusual for our staff

to text or email one another and say, “You’ve got to listen to this

new series!” We continually utilize the podcast as we invest

in the lives of college women.

Here’s how just a few of the staff members and students have

been impacted by Revive Our Hearts:

How Podcasts Are Impacting College Students

by Jen Johnson with Paula Marsteller

“I am so thankful for the ministry of Revive Our Hearts. I

have seen God use the podcasts to grow my charac-

ter, my personal walk with God, and my desire to

help other women grow. God has used the ministry of

ROH to help me better understand what biblical woman-

hood is in a time where everyone has different opinions on

what it means to be a woman.”

—Sarah Snell,

Residence Hall Director at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

“Becoming a Woman of Discretion has been one of the most impactful studies I’ve done. As I review the content daily, I’m adding a list of verses from the Bible about characteristics of a wise vs. foolish woman. I could go on and on about this series and how it has helped develop me during this second-to-last semester of college!”—Taylor Myers, Senior at Kansas State University

“I use quotes, stories, and real-life examples from Nancy and

others on Revive Our Hearts to tell college women about

other women who are walking with God. Just knowing

there are women out there who are giving their

lives away to His purposes is very inspiring to them

and encourages them to be that type of woman some

day! I’m grateful we have examples of older women who

help set the pace for us in living for God’s will rather than

our own.”

—Chyla Cooper, on staff at Kansas State

“I’ve shared Lies Women Believe with several friends on campus who struggled with love addiction, depression, anxiety, negative body image, and eating disorders. A lot of these struggles in my friends’ lives tied back to a lie they believed about God or themselves.

I encouraged these girls to memorize the verses and truths in this book. Now when these things come up, we are able to bring it back to what is true. It has allowed us to identify the root of a lot of struggles in our lives.”

—Anna Ewing, on staff at the University of Missouri

Winter 2016 3

by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

from the Prophets fora Message

Troubling TimesThese are days we desperately need to hear from

heaven, and i believe god has a word for our day.

as i read isaiah and Jeremiah, i see a four-fold message

from these prophets that is Just as relevant today as it was

when it was first given to god’s people more than 2,500

years ago.

1. WAKE UP.First, there is a cry to wake up, to move from complacency to

concern. Isaiah cries with intensity, desperation, and urgency:

Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you

complacent daughters, give ear to my speech (32:9).

Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet is saying,

“We need to wake up to our current condition, to see that we’re in

trouble.”

Are we not in trouble today, as well? Serious trouble.

In the United States:

• There’s an explosion of violence in cities, streets, schools,

and churches.

• Racism is tearing neighborhoods and communities apart.

• There’s an erosion and redefining of (or attempt to redefine)

marriage.

• 57 million babies have been murdered since 1973.

• Planned Parenthood aborts hundreds of thousands of babies

each year, and has sold their body parts for money.

• Transgenderism is celebrated.

• 37 million people signed onto the Ashley Madison adultery

website.

Abroad:

• We’re facing the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

• ISIS is claiming victory after victory in the Middle East and

gaining a foothold in Europe.

• The Kremlin is becoming more aggressive.

We are hurtling toward judgment.

Author Joel Rosenberg says it well:

Warning signs are flashing everywhere. Alarm bells are

ringing everywhere. Far too many self-professed Chris-

tians are groggy or asleep, and we need a wake-up call.

But our natural attitude isn’t to be really concerned about these

things—unless it’s our kids who are getting shot at.

We’ve been deceived. The world has always scoffed at the

threat of impending judgment. It did in Noah’s day, and it does in

our day.

The world just keeps on partying, oblivious to the danger that

is at hand. But what grieves me is not so much that the world is

partying but that the church is partying, unaware of the impending

danger and threat of God’s judgment. Somehow, we don’t see the

connection between our sinful choices and the consequences we

will surely reap.

We need to wake up.

4 ReviveOurHearts.com

2. WAIL.Jeremiah also instructs us to wail:

Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;

send for the skillful women to come; let them make haste

and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down

with tears and our eyelids flow with water (9:17–18).

This is not a time for playing games. This is a time to wail, to

mourn, to grieve over what is happening in our land, our homes,

and our churches. This is not someone else’s problem; this is our

problem.

The prophet Hosea reminds us that there are two different

kinds of weeping. God says these people “do not cry to me from the

heart.” Instead they “wail upon their beds” Hosea 7:14.

What’s the difference? Those who merely wail upon their beds

are remorseful about the consequences of their sin; but they’re un-

willing to move or to change; whereas, those who cry out to God

from their hearts are genuinely repentant over their sin.

What should we weep and wail about? Not just the conse-

quences of our sin, but our sin itself.

We need to weep over:

• our bitterness and unforgiveness

• our temporal values

• our love of sin and sinning

• our lack of love for God and others

• our broken homes and fractured relationships

• our self-absorption

• our hardness of heart

We can’t manufacture weeping and wailing. But when we get in

the presence of God and look around, the Spirit will cause a groan-

ing, a compulsion to well up in our hearts. We’ll no longer be able

to be complacent.

3. WARN OTHERS.Not only are we to wake up and wail, we are to warn others. We

are to move from isolation to influence.

Jeremiah realized what powerful influence women have. That’s

why he said, “Let [the women] make haste and raise a wailing over

us” (9:18).

Then he says, “Hear, O women, the word of the Lord, and

let your ear receive the word of his mouth” (v. 20a). We need to

become women who know God’s Word and know how to apply it to

real-life situations in our time.

Jeremiah continues, “Teach to your daughters a lament, and

each to her neighbor a dirge” (v. 20b).

As we warn others by our tears, we become a means of influ-

ence over the hearts of others. It takes courage, because ours isn’t

a popular message. We may not be believed. But we have to say it

anyway.

We’ve been chosen by God to be His instruments in this

prodigal culture, and the influence of one woman for evil or for good

is so powerful. We see that illustrated in the distinction between

two women: Eve in the Old Testament and Mary of Nazareth in

the New.

Eve said, “I want to have it my way,” but Mary said, “I want to

have it God’s way.”

The result? Eve led her husband and the human race into sin

and darkness. But Mary, through the power of her surrendered life,

became the instrument of bringing the Savior into the world.

Our lives are a powerful influence on those around us. Oh, that

we would use that influence to show others the critical condition we

are in so they will be motivated to join us in weeping, repenting, and

crying out to God for mercy.

4. WAIT ON THE LORD.Finally, we are to wait on the Lord. As we do, we will move

from fear to faith. Isaiah speaks of the power of God to transform

the most hopeless situation. He says it will all begin when “the

Spirit is poured upon us from on high” (32:15). Then:

• We will find justice and righteousness, peace, quietness, and

confidence forever (vv. 16–17).

• We will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in

undisturbed places of rest (v. 18).

He continues in the next chapter with this prayer:

O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm

every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble. . . .

The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high . . . he will be

the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wis-

dom, and knowledge (Isa. 33:2, 5–6).

Yes, there is hope, but the Lord is our only hope. We must pray

for an outpouring of the Spirit of God in our day.

Will you join me, the Revive Our Hearts team, and other

women of God around the world, as we do just that in the months

ahead?

True Woman 2016National Women’s Conference

September 22–24

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears. —Psalm 34:17

TrueWoman16.com 5

or over thirty years, i have found the Song of

Solomon (or the Song of SongS) to be one of the

sweetest, richest passages in all of god’s word. Just eight

short chapters; 117 verses. but such a huge treasure.

As theologian C. I. Scofield observed: “For those who know and

love Christ, this book is a source of great joy, great blessing, and

great delight.”

And Charles Spurgeon thought no less of it:

This sacred [song] is almost the central book of the Bible.

It seems to stand like the Tree of Life in the midst of the

Garden of Eden in the very center of the Paradise of God.

In recent years, some Christian speakers have taught that the

primary, if not the sole, interpretation of the Song of Songs has to

do with love and sex within the marriage relationship. That per-

spective is also seen in many excellent study Bibles.

It’s tough to disagree with these teachers and scholars. But

after many years of meditation and study of this book, I am more

convinced than ever that the Song of Songs is about far more than

human love and marriage.

Yes, the Song of Songs is a song of human love; it includes

many wonderful, helpful insights about marriage; and it provides a

needed correction to modern views of love, sex, and marriage. But

first and foremost this is a song of divine love—a song of Christ and

His love.

You see, Scripture teaches that human marriage is a parable of

a cosmic, eternal reality; its very reason for existing is to magnify

God and put His glory on display. Marriage is temporary. God’s

glory is eternal. For those of us who are married, our marriage is

intended to reflect to the world a reality that is far greater than our

marriage.

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

6 ReviveOurHearts.com

Historically, both Jewish and Christian believers and

commentators have understood the Song of Songs to point to a

spiritual relationship of which marriage is an earthly picture.

Old Testament Jewish believers saw in the Song of Songs a

description of God’s relationship with Israel. In the Old Testament

God was seen as a Bridegroom and Israel as His chosen bride. And

God’s covenant with Israel was pictured as a marriage:

For your maker is your husband, the LORd of Hosts is his

name (Isa. 54:5).

As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your

God rejoice over you (Isa. 62:5).

I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a

bride (Jer. 2:2).

In fact, it’s traditional for Jews to read the Song of Songs dur-

ing the Passover season as a reminder of God’s covenant relation-

ship with the Israelites.

After the New Testament was written, believers throughout the

history of the church understood the Song of Songs to be a picture

of the relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church, and

between Christ and the individual believer.

Where did they get that? Well, Christ Himself claimed to be

the subject of the Old Testament. Speaking of the Old Testament

Scriptures—including the Song of Songs—He said, “They bear

witness about me” (John 5:39). It’s about Him. All Scripture

unfolds the story of redemption and points to Christ.

The Old and New Testament is one grand story of how He came

to rescue and redeem unworthy, unlovable people and to take them

to Himself as a bride. It’s a story of how He cherishes and loves

His bride dearly and wants an intimate relationship with those who

belong to Him. The love of Christ is the pattern and source that

enables all human love, including marriage.

When we come to that amazing treatise on marriage in

Ephesians 5, it’s all tied in to Christ’s relationship with His Church.

The teaching on husbands loving their wives and wives reverencing

and submitting to their husbands is all grounded in the love of

Christ and His relationship with His Church and the goal to put

that on display.

In Ephesians 5, we read of human marriage:

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and

hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh

(v. 31).

And then the very next verse explains:

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to

Christ and the church (vv. 32–33).

That’s the point of marriage. And that’s the point of the Song

of Songs.

I hope you’ll join me on Revive Our Hearts February 22–

March 25 for “How to Fall and Stay in Love with Jesus,” an in-depth

study of the Song of Songs.

When a friend asked what I was hoping to accomplish in this

series, I responded, “I want women to really experience and believe

that God loves them—to feel secure in Christ’s love, and then having

experienced it, to have a whole new capacity to love Him, their

spouse, and others with that same love.”

I hope you’ll join me as we open this priceless gem of a book

and behold the amazing love of Jesus with fresh eyes!

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

Winter 2016 7

Editorial: Paula Marsteller, Mindy Kroesche, Stacey Battenburg

Art Direction: Benjamin Hannah

Design: Brittany Wong

Photographers: Brittany Wong, Lightstock, Kaboom Pics

Looking for bite-sized, daily encouragement right where you are? Follow us on:

facebook.com/ReviveOurHeartstwitter.com: @ReviveOurHeartspinterest.com/ReviveOurHeartsinstagram: @reviveourhearts

TM

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001, Crossway Bibles, esv.org. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Revive Our Hearts is an outreach of Life Action Ministries

PO Box 2000 • Niles, MI 49120 • ReviveOurHearts.com • 800.569.5959

Getting multiple things done at once . . . that’s what women do, right?

Well, we’d like to help!This spring, invest eternally in women’s hearts and lives as you’re whipping your attic, garage, closets, and office into shape.

How? Money isn’t the only way you can give to Revive Our Hearts. Donate your stuff to us anytime. Give anything from that used car to a baseball

collection to jewelry to electronics to . . . the sky’s the limit!

We’ll then convert your gift into cash and put that money toward getting the truth of freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ into as

many women’s lives as possible.

Ready, set . . . let’ s clean up!

Spring cleaning just got a lot more exciting!

Just visit

www.reviveourhearts.com/spring-cleaning/