Here as in Heaven

Dannah Gresh: Welcome to the Revive Our Hearts podcast for November 4, 2024. I’m Dannah Gresh, and our host is Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. 

Nancy, we’re doing something different today and tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We are, Dannah. In fact, we’re going to spend our entire program praying. In light of the election taking place tomorrow here in the United States, we want to pour out our hearts to the Lord, praying for this nation that needs it so desperately. We’ve asked a number of people to lead us in praying. We’ll briefly introduce one in turn. So I hope you’ll not only listen, but that you'll pray along with us. 

Here’s how King David prayed in one of his many moments of desperation and need, in the opening verses of Psalm 141. He said:

Lord, I call on you; hurry to help me.
Listen to my voice when I call on you.
May my prayer be set before you as incense,
the raising of my hands as the evening offering. (vv. 1–2 CSB)

Lord, it's us—here in the United States and others joining us from around the world—calling on You, asking You to help us, asking You to hear our voices. Lord, we're bring our prayers to You, prayer from many people—men, women, pastors, leaders, people whose names we don't know but that You know. We are joining our hearts in one accord and asking that You would hear us; that You would have mercy on us; that You would direct our praying; that we would joing our hearts calling out to You to do in this day in our nation and around the world what only You can do. We pray all of this for Jesus' sake, for the sake of His name, for sake of Your great kingdom, amen.

Dannah: Here’s Pastor Jim Cymbala, reading from 1 Timothy chapter 2, then responding in prayer.

Pastor Jim Cymbala:

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (vv. 1–2 CSB)

Father, we come to You today, asking You to bless and help all those who are in leadership now in our country, and will be in leadership. God, You said also, “In the day of trouble, call upon me” (see Psalm 50:15; 86:7). And if there was a day of trouble in this country surrounding us on every side, it’s today!

So we ask, God, that You would come and lift the burden and let there be a breakthrough of Your Holy Spirit. Let the gospel run and be glorified . . . but God, do something in our country! The downward trajectory is horrible, we know that, and it’s affecting not only adults, but God, we plead for the children of this country who are being abused, distorted in their minds by the things that are being taught to them. We pray, God, that You will somehow come in a way we can’t imagine. We have no idea how You will do this, but we cry to You, God.

Do something, God, in this country so that the gospel of Jesus Christ might prevail, that believers might be drawn closer to you, Lord, and that we will be the salt and light that You asked us to be. But God, we cry to You. We have no one else to go to. There’s no one on the left or the right who can help us, so our eyes are wholly on You. 

Could you please help us at this moment in time and do something that will make the ears of everyone tingle, so that they will know there is a living God that we serve who is able to interfere into the affairs of men. We pray this all in the precious name of Jesus, amen.

Karen Ellis:

Hold to His hand . . .

Nancy: This is Dr. Karen Ellis.

Karen:

God’s unchanging hand,
Hold to His hand,
God’s unchanging hand,
Build your hope on things eternal, 
Hold to God’s unchanging hand. 

("Hold to God's Unchanging Hand" by Jennie B. Wilson)

Thank You, thank You, thank You merciful and loving Father! Thank You that though the nations clamor (see Psalm 2:1) troubles don’t last always!

Lift our eyes, O God, to Your world made new, for strength to stand in this world passing away. Help us trust that You redeem the misdeeds of men and women, of the nations, for Your glory and our good.

Oh, merciful Father, we are human and we are frail; storm clouds gather in our hearts and our minds and even in the places in the nations where Your people gather across the globe. Yet, we thank You for the storms, God. We thank You for the anchor that is Christ our Refuge and our Strength. We are united in Christ! We are strong in Christ!

Please, help us by Your Holy Spirit to weather all coming storms, trusting that You’re in the storms, that You’re in their aftermath, and that You are in the new day coming! What You have for us is for us!

Fix our eyes on You, O Sovereign God, as You hold onto us with Your strong, firm, and unchanging hand. Be gracious to us and bless us, make Your face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations! Let the people of God praise You, O God, let all the peoples praise You! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity, and You guide the nations upon earth.

Let the nations be glad today, and we will shout “Hallelujah!” when we safely reach eternity’s shores in Your strong, firm, unchangeable and everlasting grip! Amen and amen! (excerpts from Psalm 67)

Dannah: Let’s pray with Mary Kassian.

Mary Kassian: Oh righteous, holy Father, the political, judicial, and spiritual crisis in this nation is not unlike what Isaiah witnessed in his time. So I echo his prayers of confession and lament and longing.

Our transgressions are multiplied before You, O Lord. Our sins testify against us for our transgressions are with us. We know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words. For justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away . . . truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. (from Isa. 59:12–15)

[Many are those] who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! (from Isa. 5:20)

Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows! Like the blind we grope along the wall feeling our way like people without eyes . . . at midday we stumble as if it were twilight. We look for justice, but there is none, for deliverance, but it is far away. And yet, Your hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor is Your ear dull, that it cannot hear. (from Isa. 59:1, 9–10)

Since ancient times, no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any god besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him! You come to the help of those who gladly do right; who remember Your ways. Have mercy on us! Forgive our transgressions! Strengthen us to turn from evil, love Your truth and walk in Your ways! Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before You! Come, make Your Name known to Your adversaries. Come! Cause the nations to tremble in Your presence. Come, ignite our hearts to fear Your Name—ignite my heart to fear Your Name! (from Isa. 64:1–5)

Our transgressions are multiplied before You, O Lord. Our sins testify against us. Justice is turned back; righteousness stands far away, and truth stumbles in the public squares. (from Isa. 59:12–14)

So we cry out, O God. We, Your people, intercede on behalf of this nation! Hear our confession, hear our lament, hear our longing!

Pastor Chris Brooks: Hey there, friend, Pastor Chris Brooks here. You know, recently I was reminded in my time of study of the words of Hebrews chapter 12, verses 28 and 29, which simply reads:

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. (NASB)

You know, Hebrews is an ancient sermon that was preached to a group of people who lived and felt like they were in exile. Maybe you’re feeling like that politically, maybe you’re feeling a little bit anxious about the state of our country. 

But what the Hebrews preacher and writer reminded the people of his day is that God’s kingdom is unshaken, that God is holy, that He is a consuming fire. And the response to that was gratitude and service to the Lord with a heart of reverence and awe.

I pray that today, no matter what is happening in our world and in our country, it does not eclipse in our heart our faith and our confidence in the unshakable kingdom of God! As Nancy [Wolgemuth] often says, “Heaven rules!”

God is a consuming fire! He’s unelectable, unimpeachable, the King who reigns forever and ever! And we ought to respond to that with gratitude and service and reverence and awe and to roll up our sleeves, to get about the business of knowing Him and making Him known. That’s what we’re called to do, and that’s the way that our nation is going to be transformed for His glory! Let’s pray together.

Father, thank You for the time and opportunity we have, this window of opportunity to share the gospel with our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, our family members.

I pray, Lord, that we would not be distracted, that we would not be discouraged but that we would have such a high view of You, that our confidence would be high, that our faith will be bold, that we would remember that the kingdoms of this world will pass away but Your kingdom is forever unshakable!

Remind us of how great and glorious You are—that You are an all-consuming fire, and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father! (see Phil. 2:10–11)

But Lord, we don’t wait! We confess You now as Lord of all; we confess You now as our Savior and our King! And I pray that we would find peace and confidence in knowing that You reign and that Heaven rules!

Bless, we pray, our nation and help Your Church—Your people—to live for You. Let revival come and may it start in our own hearts! We ask this in Jesus' name, praying that the gospel would spread until all have heard, until Christ returns. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Nancy: Amen, thank you, Chris Brooks. Now, here’s Jani Ortlund.

Jani Ortlund: The Word of the Lord from Isaiah 55:6–7:

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
   call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
   and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (ESV)

Oh, dear heavenly Father, thank You for Your kind invitation to seek You. We eagerly come to You with our country’s great needs. We ask for Your help to heal our anger and our division—not just in our government but in our neighborhoods, our church sanctuaries, and even, sometimes, around our dinner tables. Help us to repent and forsake our evil ways. Make us eager to follow Your wisdom and Your ways. Convict us where we are confused. 

Holy Spirit, give us scriptural clarity regarding the value of life, the meaning of marriage, and the sanctity of our God-given sexuality. We need Your power to stop worshiping our own evil desires. We are so self-consumed, Father. Forgive us. Empower us to follow our Savior’s path of selfless sacrifice. 

We’re calling on You, Lord, to draw near to us in our need. Please, purify Your Church. Renew a right spirit within us so that we can offer to our needy culture a gospel-centered alternative to what surrounds us today. 

Pour out Your Spirit on those who don’t trust You as the Savior of the world. Save our families and our friends and our neighbors. Revive our nation with Holy Spirit power from on high, and use us in any way You want to that end.

Have compassion on our nation, Father. Cleanse us through Your Son’s atoning death even as You abundantly pardon us. We want You. We need You. We love You. In the holy name of Christ, amen.

Dannah: And here’s Laura Gonzalez. 

Laura Gonzalez: Heavenly Father, we come before You in the name of Jesus, lifting up our nation to You. Your Word tells us that, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34 ESV). Oh, Lord, we acknowledge our need for Your righteousness, for we have strayed from Your ways and fallen short of Your glory.

We ask for Your mercy and forgiveness. Father, we pray for a spirit of repentance to sweep across our land. Your Word says,

If my people who are called by my name [will] humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and [I] will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14 ESV)

Oh, Lord, we humble ourselves before You. We confess our sins and the sins of our nation. We turn away from our iniquities and seek Your face. We ask that You would forgive us and heal our land.

“Will you not revive us again, [Lord], that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6). Oh, Lord, revive us—individually and corporately. Revive Your Church!

Lord, we pray for the salvation of those who do not know You. Your Word says that You are “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 KJV). We ask that you would open the eyes of the blind, soften hardened hearts and draw people to yourself through the power of Your Holy Spirit.

May the gospel of Jesus Christ be preached with boldness and shine in these times. And may many, many come to the saving knowledge of Your truth. Father, we also pray together for Your blessing upon our nation.

You have said in Your Word that, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psalm 33:12). We ask that You would guide our leaders with wisdom, protect our citizens and bring unity and peace to our land. May we be a nation that honors You, upholds Your truth, upholds justice and extends compassion to the needy and the vulnerable. Lord, we place our trust and our hope only in You, for You are our refuge and strength. You are a very present help in trouble (see Psalm 46:1).

We ask that You would be our shield and our defender in these times of uncertainty (see Psalm 18:30). May Your will be done in our nation, as it is in heaven. And it is in Your mighty name, Jesus, that we pray, amen! 

Nancy: You’re listening to Revive Our Hearts. We’re spending time today and tomorrow lifting our nation, our churches, and ourselves in prayer to the Lord. Let’s pray with Cathe Laurie.

Cathe Laurie: 

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done [on] earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our [trespasses], as we forgive [those who trespass against us]. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matt. 6:10–13 KJV)

Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we glorify You and praise Your holy name, because You are sovereign about the universe and above all the affairs of men. Our desire is that Your kingdom would come to earth, as You have taught us to pray . . . Your reign, Your rule, beginning first in the hearts of individuals and spilling out across families and communities and nations.

We thank You that You have provided forgiveness for our sins, for we are so deserving of Your judgment, but we are grateful that You have promised us forgiveness! And, Lord, as a result of that forgiveness we pray that we would have forgiving hearts and hearts that would have compassion on those who are blind and held captive by Satan at his will.

We ask for revival, that You would open the eyes of the blind to hear You and to see You as only Your Holy Spirit can reveal to us. Thank You that we have assurance and peace in a troubled time, knowing that Your will and Your ways will triumph in the end!

In the meantime, Lord, may we all glorify You with each day and each breath. Help us to see the world in which we’re living through Your eyes. We ask that we would be Your agents for good and for Your glory, to draw others to You and to share the gospel.

Thank You for hearing our prayers! Thank You for being our great and wonderful and loving heavenly Father! We ask this in Your Son’s name, amen.

Dr. Christopher Yuan: Hi, this is Dr. Christopher Yuan. I speak and write on holy sexuality and have produced the Holy Sexuality Video series for parents and their teens.

I was reading through Matthew chapter 7, and I just want to read this; it’s verses 21–23:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (ESV)

Whenever we read Scripture, we need to make sure that we do it in context, and oftentimes we forget about the passages preceding. Right before this passage, just a few verses prior to this, we have Jesus saying in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14:

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (ESV)

My pastor was preaching about this just a few weeks ago and challenging us to think about this passage. Actually, it has often been taken that this is about believers and unbelievers. But when read in light of this passage, “Lord, Lord,” are these people who were doing things and prophesying and casting out demons and doing mighty works in the Name of Jesus! But Jesus says, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.”

And reading this in light of “the narrow gate and the wide gate,” we’re challenged that, actually, this is a challenge for believers. I believe that believers in America need to hear that many are going through the wide gate.

And as we enter into this election, I pray that as we can be so consumed about what is happening in the “now”, we forget about the kingdom of God. And so, I just want to pray that here in America, as we are voting for “whoever” to enter office in local and state and federal, that we will be focused on our daily renewal, that we individually will be going through the narrow gate. So let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for Jesus, we thank You that it is only through Him that we can be reconciled to You. We thank You that He is the living Word and He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Father, we want to repent and admit that many are going through the wide gate.

There are many in America, many people who profess to be Christian—whether individually, whether even people in office, whether people in the business world professing to be Christian—but who are actually going through the wide gate.

O God, by Your grace, in Your compassion and love, convict us, O God! Help us to turn from our ways and go through the narrow gate, so that we will be able to face You on that day and hear You say, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21 ESV).

God, I pray for everyone running for office, I pray for everyone in office, that they would all submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, so that we would see a radical renewal and revival in our land! And I pray for individual Christians, Lord, that as we go into the ballot box, Lord, that they would go in and leave renewed by the Holy Spirit, and be changed!

I pray that we would have a huge transformation in the land of America, Lord God, where Christians are standing up that are pursuing the narrow way, and that they would be salt and light, showing people to the Way, the Truth and the Life! For it’s in the matchless, precious, powerful name of Jesus that we pray, amen!

Dannah: And here’s our dear friend Kay Arthur.

Kay Arthur: O Father, as we bow before You to acknowledge that You are God, we think, “Who is like unto Thee in heaven or earth or under the earth?” Oh, what a people we are to have the one true God as our true God!

And Father, we come to You now and we ask, Father, that You would fill us with Your Spirit, that You would lead us in paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake, and may we cry that we might know You. For the people that know their God will be able to stand firm and take action. Father, You know the times that we are living in and You know how opposite and how far away they are from Your precepts and Your statutes.

And Father I just pray now that, through these prayer times and seeking You and desiring to honor You and glorify You, we would be used of You to draw people to the throne of grace, to put ourselves prostate before that throne, and to ask You, Father, to glorify You, Your work, Your character, Your Being on earth as it is in heaven so that men and women—young and old, male and female—can catch a glimpse of really who You are and what You’re like.

And Father, may we long for the wonder of loving You. May we live in awe at the fact. Father, as I sit here, ninety years old, and I think, Where did it go!? How did it happen that it’s so long now? But Father, as we just look back at Your goodness, at Your ways, as Your ones being led, so that “you will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it.’” And we’ll know the Word of God well enough to listen to that voice and to see if it really is the voice of God.

And if it is the voice of God, and if it is according to Scripture, that we humbly bow before You, to lay down our lives for the sake of the gospel, whatever that is needed and wanted and meant to be. We thank You. Oh, we thank You!

What manner of love You have bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God. Now, may we live in the light of that. In Your name we pray, amen.

Nancy: Amen! What an encouragement it is to pray along with others for God’s will to be done in our nation, in the Church, and in us! Dannah, I’m going to ask you to close our time in prayer in just a moment. 

Dannah: Okay, I'd love to.

Nancy: We’re going to do more praying tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts. But here’s your assignment for between now and then. I hope you’ll continue in prayer right now and through the rest of the day. And would you do this? Pull someone else aside today and pray together. Find a prayer partner. Maybe pray over the phone, over FaceTime, maybe texting each other, but pray for our nation and tomorrow’s election. The Lord loves to smell that fragrance of the sweet prayers coming to Him, and I think you’ll find it a blessing as well.

Let us know how it goes. You can contact us at ReviveOurHearts.com. And then, join us for more prayer tomorrow on Revive Our Hearts. 

Now. Let’s pray one more time. Dannah, would you lead us?

Dannah: Before I pray, Nancy, I want to read Galatians 5:1. It says:

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free; stand firm then, and do not let yourselves again be burdened by the yoke of slavery. (NIV)

I've been praying this verse the last few weeks because I've been asking the Lord to thwart the efforts of anyone who would choose to remove religious freedom from our nation. So let me pray that.

Lord Jesus, I know that You have called us to submit. The kingdom of God is a kingdom. It is not a democracy. There is a heirarchy. You are our great King and leader. You have positioned us to respect and submit to authorities in our lives—including governmental authorities.

At the same time, Lord, any time those governmental authorities call us to disobey You or to take away the freedom that we have in Christ, we are told to stand firm. 

So, Lord Jesus, I pray that we would stand firm as we are responsible with our part of this nation's democracy, to vote. I pray that we would not let ourselves be burdened unduly with the yoke of slavery. I pray that no one listening today would be so fearful of the election results that they would be burdened by the yoke of fear. I pray that You would lift that off of each person feeling that. But we do pray for the protection of religious freedom in our nation, and for us to be responsible for our part in that.

Lord, bring Your peace that passes all understanding, regardless of the election results this week. In the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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