An Ongoing Call to Seek Him Together

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Wow! Wow! Wow! Amen. Thank you. And please be seated. I’m having a hard time breathing here. Let me say just a couple other words of thanks here to all the women in the blue aprons who have volunteered. Can we just have you stand? (applause) Thank you, thank you, thank you. Four hundred and fifty of them. Thank you for serving. Thank you to the Revive Our Hearts and Life Action Ministries staff.

They have worked so, so hard behind the scenes. Would you thank them, too? (applause)

There are a lot of things on my heart, and I’m just going to share a very few of them, and then we want to close as we started, by praying. But we want to pray for you before you leave here. I know that when you leave a conference like this, your heart is so full. And then there's this really great “battle after the battle,” I call it. And you can be in a deep pit by this time tomorrow. So I want to give you a little word of encouragement about that.

Do you remember the Mount of Transfiguration, when the three close disciples, the most intimate disciples of Jesus, were up on that mountain and they saw the glory of God and the glory of Christ, and it was so magnificent? And Peter says, “Lord, this is so amazing. Let’s just stay here.”

Unfortunately, they won’t let us stay here. And Jesus knew that they weren’t supposed to stay there. But some of us would like to do that. You know, when you got here Thursday night, some of you were really worried about your kids and was your house still going to be standing when you got home. And by now, you’ve forgotten you have kids. (laughter)

It’s real easy to seek the Lord together here with all these great sisters and everything. Right? And so Lord, let’s just build some tabernacles here and just stay here.

But that’s not God’s way. Glory—the ultimate glory—isn’t yet. It's not here. It's not now. It’s then and there. And we’ve got a long road between here and there. You are going back to some hard places. That’s why we are going to pray for different categories of women here in just a few moments.

But I just want to encourage you to breathe grace in and breathe grace out. As you go back home to people who weren’t here this weekend—they didn’t experience what you experienced. And some of you are going to walk into your churches Sunday and go, “What is wrong with this place? It’s so dead here. Our worship leader doesn’t sound anything like Keith and Kristyn.” (laughter) Breathe grace in and breathe grace out.

And remember this. You are tired. Somebody has shared this little acronym: “When you’re hungry, angry, lonely, or tired—and in the next twenty-four hours you could be all of those things—what do you need to do? HALT! Breathe grace in and breathe grace out.

Remember what the disciples learned? When Jesus sends you back down into the valley from the mountaintop, He doesn’t send you down there alone. He goes with you. The God of glory that you see on the mountaintop is also the God of grace who will go with you down into that valley.

Remember what they faced in the valley, there in Matthew chapter 17? There’s a man with a demon-possessed son, and everything was in chaos. Nobody knew what to do. It was crazy. Some of you are going back to crazy worlds. And there is still a prince of the power of the air, and he’s at work, and he’s going to try in the next twenty-four hours likely to get you to just forget or violate everything you heard this weekend. Let me say this: You are going to fail. It may not be in the next twenty-four hours, it may only take two hours. I don’t know. (laughter) You cannot go in your own strength.

Some of you are first-born perfectionists. You are going to be a good true woman if it kills you. It may. (laughter) Because you can’t be a true woman. Only Jesus in you can be like Jesus. So you need Him desperately.

When you blow it, when you fail, as I have even through the course of this weekend, humble yourself, cry out to God for grace, and say, “Lord, thank You, Lord Jesus, that You lived this righteous perfect life that You’re calling me to and that You live in me. I’ve sinned. I’ve failed. I need Your grace. I need Your forgiveness. Thank You that You’ve paid it all for my sin. Now I confess it. I repent of it. I let it go. Cleanse me. Give me grace to live with this person. Give me grace to love this person. Give me grace to keep persevering in this lonely place where it doesn’t seem like there's anybody else who has a heart and a hunger for revival.”

Some of you are going to places where you don’t know anybody else who has a heart to seek Him for awakening. Then you seek Him.

Let me show you a picture, by the way, of two elderly women back in the early fifties who sought the Lord. Do we have that picture of Peggy and Christine Smith? These women lived in a little village on the Isle of Lewis just off the outer coast of Scotland. Peggy was eighty-two, and her sister, Christine, was eighty-four. They look about twice that. (laughter). Peggy was blind. Her sister, Christine, was crippled with arthritis—like bent almost over double. They couldn’t even leave their little cottage to go attend church in the village.

But they knew how to pray. And they began to cry out to the Lord and to plead with Him to come and visit their village that they knew so desperately needed a touch of the Holy Spirit. And they received that promise from Isaiah 44:3: “I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.” They began to cry out to the Lord, to seek Him together—two old ladies that God let live long enough to see that for which they prayed. It didn’t come quickly. It’s a long story. You can go to Revive Our Hearts and find the story of Peggy and Christine Smith.

Within a couple of years, God had moved. He brought a man to the island named Duncan Campbell. You may have heard of him. He was a great preacher of the mid-1900s. In the history books that we read about revival, you see the name of Duncan Campbell a lot. But I think in the history books of heaven is Peggy and Christine Smith—two elderly women that I’m looking forward to meeting in heaven that God used because they sought Him together for revival and spiritual awakening. (applause) Amen.

God can use your influence. As I think of us sending thousands of women back into forty-eight states and seven countries and seven provinces of Canada and to homes and churches to reflect the beauty and the wonder of who Jesus is, I’m so excited about what God is going to do. But be patient. Wait for God’s time—for God’s harvest. Don’t grow weary in well-doing. Don’t let the enemy cause you to just throw in the towel because it doesn’t happen right away and all the women in your church aren’t excited about coming to True Woman the next time.

Just wait on the Lord. Don’t be obnoxious. Don’t go stick all your notes in front of your husband tonight and tell him, “Turn off the television and listen to this.” (laughter) Be sensitive. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to those around you.

Now I want us to pray for you. And I’m going to invite a number of the speakers who are here—Dannah and Mary and Priscilla and Rebecca Lutzer, come join us if you would, and Joy McClain if you’re here. I want to invite you to come. You saw her video last night about her restored marriage.

We want to pray just in the next few minutes here for those in different categories who are leaving from this place with particular burdens on your heart. Come on up, gals.

I want this to be a giant birthing room for the next few minutes. You mothers know what I’m talking about. I want us to cry out to the Lord. These women are going to lead us, but I want you to join in groaning in your heart and praying for these women in these categories.

First of all, I want us to pray for moms or grandmoms who have prodigal sons or daughters or grandchildren. If you are in that category and you want to be prayed for, you have a prodigal son or daughter or grandchild, would you just stand right where you are? You decide whether they are prodigal. God knows. And if you’re not standing, would you just—if one of those women is close to you, just reach out and touch her? I’m going to ask Priscilla if you would lead us in praying for these women with prodigal children that God would intervene in those children's lives and give these mothers grace and wisdom to know how to love well, to know when to speak, when to be quiet—hundreds and hundreds of women in this situation. Let’s all join our hearts together and just pray, if you would, and lead us as we cry out for these women.

Priscilla Shirer: I just wonder if you might reach out and touch a mom that’s near you if you’ve not already. Let’s just be the Body of Christ and surround them as we pray for them.

Lord Jesus, I thank You right now that You have made these women with tender hearts for those children that You have given them. So Lord, I pray right now in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, that You would arrest the heart of every son and of every daughter, of every daughter-in-law, of every grandchild, oh Lord, of every son-in-law that is represented by the mothers and the grandmothers in this room.

I pray that right now in the name of Jesus, wherever that child is, whatever they’re doing, Lord, that they wouldn’t even recognize that You are weaving a web of events right where they are to turn their attention back to You and bring their hearts back home to their moms and their dads.

Lord, I’m just praying that You would weave together a web of events that begins to turn them inside out so that they cannot escape, they cannot run from the destiny You have planned for their life. Lord, would You be the “Hound of Heaven”? Would You hunt them down, Lord Jesus? Would You not let them get away and escape Your plan that You have for them, Lord Jesus? I pray that if the enemy has any assignment against these young folks and their families, that right now that assignment would be cancelled in Jesus name and by His blood shed on Calvary.

In the meanwhile, Lord, I’m praying that You would give an extra measure of Your patience and Your peace and Your joy to these moms and grandmothers that are represented here. That You would give them longsuffering in their prayer, Lord, that You would keep them on their knees with their faces turned toward You in full expectation and anticipation. That the work You have started not only in the lives of the kids but in their lives as well, that the work You have started, You are faithful and You will bring it to completion. In Jesus' name, we commit these families to You expecting to see a great harvest. In Jesus' name, all God’s women shouted and said, “Amen!”

Nancy: Thank you so much. I want to ask pastors’ wives, and we are just going to move through several categories here. If you are a pastor’s wife, your husband serves in vocational ministry of some sort, would you just stand? We want to thank the Lord for you. We want to pray for you. And Rebecca, come join me if you would. I want Rebecca Lutzer, who is the wife of Dr. Erwin Lutzer, the pastor of the Moody Church, to pray and cry out on behalf of these women. Again, if one is near you, come around her, put your hand on her, encircle her, pray for her. We want her to know she is loved and carried to the throne of grace. Rebecca, lead us if you would.

Rebecca Lutzer: Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we are a broken people. We are broken from sin and from trials and poverty in spirit and perhaps poverty in finances and so many things are overwhelming us in our world today. We come to You and ask You that You break us in spirit, as we have heard so much truth, that we would not let this go.

And Father, I do pray for these precious women who stand beside the men of God that You’ve called to open the Word of God and to teach us and break the bread week after week. Oh Lord, would You strengthen them emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, and physically? There are so many demands and so many expectations, and they don’t always match up. And Lord, for these women, may they trust You to give them everything they need, to honor You in their marriage, to encourage their husband, to build him up, to stand beside him.

And then Lord, for their families and all that You’ve called them to do, may they be careful to choose the right and the best things. And as they are examples and as they are walking and standing in front of so many other women, may their lives be pure and holy and that You will just help them in every way to honor You. Thank You for the privilege that we have to be pastors’ wives and may we have a gentle, quiet spirit as we walk in Your Word and Your will. Thank You for this weekend. Thank You for what You’re doing. Do Your “God-work” in each one of us. We pray in the precious name of Jesus, amen.

Nancy: Amen. Amen. Thank you. Kim Wagner, are you here? If you are, come and join us on the platform. I want to ask all our teenage girls and mothers of teenagers to stand whether your teen is here or not. But if you’re a teen, we thank the Lord for these teen young women, if you’re a mother of a teen, please stand. I want to ask Dannah Gresh to pray for these young women and these mothers of teens that God will be passing the baton of faith onto this next generation, that they would be true young women of God. Pray for the moms and the daughters.

Dannah Gresh: Would you please just wrap your arms around your daughter? Give them a big old bear hug? Somebody hug my Lexi Lou over there extra tight since I’m not there to do it. And Lexi, come on up. I’m going to hug you. Nancy’s going to hug you. We are just going to be the arms of Jesus around them right now.

Father God, we just thank You that they are here to fill their hearts with truth, to plant themselves in the presence of the living, loving God of the universe. And I pray, Father, the things that they learned yesterday would be so deeply staked in their hearts. Father, may they live above the lies of this culture, the lies of the enemy, and the lies that they themselves have been empowering by dwelling on them. And may they instead take those Scripture verses that they received yesterday and may they live in permanent truth—that it may be staked in their heart and they might live it out.

Oh Father God, I pray that you would move them out of their prayer boxes where they use crutches, Father, good things like prayer meetings and prayer time in the morning and journals, but God move them out of those places into a prayer life where they have a living, loving conversation with You every moment of every day, where their heart is obedient to You and listening.

And Father, my heart is especially bent toward those young women who confessed to areas of impurity and the one who said she's going to go home and break up with her boyfriend. God, give her courage right now. May she be hugged ever tighter right now, Lord Jesus, and may she have the courage to do that. And I just pray as Your Word says, that Your grace would cover all of them in that purity. Because it is Your grace, God, the things we don’t deserve, that teach us to live lives of purity and train us to live godly self-controlled lives in this corrupt generation. And Lord, may they do that as they wait for the glorious hope of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Because if they are married one day, that marriage will be a picture of the gospel—a picture of Christ and the church. And Father, we just say that the enemy cannot have that picture. In the name of Jesus, this generation will carry it well. In Your Holy name we pray this, amen.

Nancy: Okay. I want to ask if you are married and in a difficult marriage or your marriage is struggling in some way and you want prayer for you marriage—now if you’re standing it doesn’t mean your marriage is hanging by a thread necessarily. We’re not going to judge, God knows the hearts. But if you want prayer for your marriage, I want to ask you to stand.

I’m going to ask Kim Wagner, whose testimony you heard at True Woman ’10 and who, by the way, has just released a book called, Fierce Women: The Power of a Soft Warrior. I recommend every woman read this book, particularly every married woman. Whether you think you are a fierce woman or not, the fact is, you are. We all are. We want to be fierce in the right ways. But I want to ask Kim to intercede. And again, come around these women who say they need prayer for their marriage. Put your arms around them. Intercede for them in your heart as Kim leads us in prayer.

Kim Wagner: Oh, God, we do cry out to You. You are the faithful Father. You are our redeeming God. I ask for Your transforming power. I ask that Your transforming power would fall on the lives of these women—that they would leave this place changed—seeking You, seeking to walk in humility before You, seeking to live lives of worship. And that as they return home, they would return home with a desire to glorify You in their marriages; that revival would begin in their hearts, that it would overflow into their marriages and into their homes.

I ask that You would do the same work—I thank You that You are not a God who withholds when we cry out to You—but would You do the same work of uniting, of oneness, of love, the same work that You did in my life with my husband in our marriage? Would You do that work? I’m asking for an Ephesians 3:20 work that is beyond what these women can think or imagine in their marriages, in their homes. And that it would affect their children and it would affect the other marriages around them. It would affect their churches and their communities.

Oh God, would You bring revival through marriages being a demonstration of the gospel. As other people see these lives changed, they would say, “There is a God. There is a God who can bring transformation.”

Would You do that work, oh God? And not just for the joy that it will bring to the husbands and wives and for the security that it will bring to their children, but oh, God, would You do this transforming work in marriages for Your great name’s sake—that people will know that You are the life-changing God? Would You bring transformation for Your glory, oh God, that Your glory would fill this earth? We ask this in Jesus name, amen.

Nancy: And then just two more categories here. I want to invite all my single sisters to stand—never married, single again, widowed, whatever season of life you are in, if you are a single woman—and I would like to pray for you. And again, those of you who are not single but are standing next to those who are, would you just reach out and extend the hand of Christ and His love to these women?

Oh Lord, I pray for my sisters who are in many different seasons of life. We have different issues and struggles and battles and needs. But I pray, Lord, that You would extend Your grace and the helping, healing, hopeful hand of Jesus into each of these women’s lives. I pray for those who are longing for something that You have not yet granted, a godly husband. And I pray, Lord, that You would grant the desire of their hearts, if that is in accordance with Your will. But I pray that whether You do or don’t, that those desires would not become demands. And I pray that You would satisfy their souls in a deep way—in a way that only Christ can—whether a woman is married or single.

I pray that You would meet financial needs, that You would meet physical needs, that You would meet needs of protection and for provision. I pray for women who are lonely. I think of widows and my friend Jean Warren, here, married for fifty-some years and others who knew what it was to have companionship for many years but who are now walking a path alone. Lord, would You let them know that You are with them and You are a husband to the widow? You set the solitary in the lonely and families and only the rebellious dwell in the parched land.

So Lord, may we, as single women, be Your true women. I just pray some of these women that You would call them into vocational Christian service to use these years of their lives. They may be different ages—middle-aged women, older women, younger women—that maybe You are wanting to serve You in some more intentional capacity than what they have done to date. And I pray that You’d raise up some spiritual warriors, in the best sense of that word, out of these women and that they would be 1 Corinthians 7 women who would serve You with wholehearted, undivided distraction. Encourage them, Lord; strengthen them and meet their needs. I pray in Jesus name, amen.

And then, one other group, and I’d like to ask my sister Mary to pray. If your heart is saying throughout this weekend and as we leave this place, “I’m standing inside a circle and saying, Lord, send revival and start it in me. Let it begin in me.” And I believe that’s the heart of most of us in this room. And you would like to be prayed for as you leave this place for revival and ongoing revival in your own heart, then would you just stand to your feet? And Mary, I’m going to ask that you pray for those in the auditorium and those of us on the platform who are standing together to say, “Lord, we need You. We long for You. Keep coming and visiting with us.” And join hands, touch each other if you would, link arms, and we pray together.

Mary Kassian: Oh Lord Jesus, come. Come Lord Jesus. The Spirit and the Bride cry, “Come.” We need You. We need You. Jesus, I need You in my life. And Lord, we cry out for revival. I cry out for revival, God. You know that it has been my heart cry, that You’ve placed that on my heart. I have fasted for it. I have cried for it. I have prayed for it. I have grown weary waiting for it. Bring it Lord, that we may see it in our time. Lord, that we may see it in our lives and in the lives of our children, in our marriages, in our homes, in our schools, in our communities, in our churches.

But Lord, first of all, may You bring it here to me in this circle. Lord, I put myself in this circle. It’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. It’s not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, oh Lord. I need You, and I need You so desperately. I need You to awaken my heart. I need You to stir that hunger. I need You to give me the tenacity of a pit bull in seeking You, in kicking holes in the darkness until it bleeds light, in fighting against the enemy and standing in the gap, in praying and hitting my knees, in being the woman who is disciplined enough to get up and fight for it, a woman of backbone with steel in her spine who stands and says, “I will not give up until You answer me, God. Rend the heavens and come forth. Come down and show Your power. Show Your power to this generation. Awaken our hearts."

This is our heart cry. Heavenly Father, this is the cry of our hearts even in true womanhood. This is not about true womanhood. This is about You. This is about Your glory. This is about us displaying Your glory in the way that You created us to. Heavenly Father, come. Come. We need You. Your church needs You.

Forgive us. Forgive us for our complacency. Forgive us for growing weary. Forgive us for forgetfulness. Forgive us for lack of faith. Forgive us for doubting Your power. Forgive us for doubting Your love and Your desire to give what we so desperately long for. Heavenly Father, may we keep short accounts.

Father, I pray, and I pray this for my family often, and I pray it for myself, and I pray it for these women. Father, would You reveal sin? Even if it hurts. Even if it's tough to deal with. Father, please reveal sin. Reveal sin in my life because You love me. You’re a good and loving God and You want to remove all obstacles that keep me from experiencing Your fullness and Your grace and Your freedom and Your power. Oh, Lord Jesus, I pray that You will pour out Your Spirit, a spirit of repentance, a spirit of humility, a spirit of brokenness, and a spirit, Lord, that cries out and seeks You until You come. In the name of Jesus, amen.

Nancy: And oh Lord, give us grace and faithfulness in the waiting. And I’m mindful, as I conclude this time of prayer, that there are many hurting women in this place because sin’s curse still is felt in all its awful, ugly effects throughout this planet. So Lord, we pray, that as trials do come, and they will, that You will give us grace to keep our eyes fixed on You. You are our soul’s great reward. And we just say that You are worth it. And by Your grace, we will triumph. In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, amen.