Cry Out!: A Report from True Woman '16, Day 2

Leslie Basham: One week ago today, about 7,000 women came to Indianapolis to cry out to the Lord for the urgent needs of our day. And those 7,000 were joined by women in groups across the country and around the world, as women joined to cry out to the Lord together.

Janet Parshall: When I heard the theme Cry Out!, I knew this was a different kind of prayer.

Stephen Kendrick: As the simulcast began, there was a lot of anticipation in the room.

Woman: The Lord is inviting us to come to Him in prayer and to cry out to Him.

Woman: What I got out of it is that the Lord could meet with us in a way that we could not have imagined.

Janet: It wasn't just a gathering. It was a time when women were going to go deep, much deeper in their prayer life.

Woman: And I don't mean just pray, I mean CRY . . . OUT!

Blair Linne: Call for the wailing women . . .

Marlae Gritter: Lord Jesus, we pray tonight for our children in schools.

Jani Ortlund: Lord, renew our marriages.

Penny Nance: Father, we pray for our President and our Vice-President.

Trillia Newbell: Lord, would You help us know this gospel.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: To see God bring this whole thing together, like a great symphony or orchestra, and God is the Director, and we're each just playing our little instrument, our little piece, our little part, but doing it under the directing, under the conducting of the Lord. It was a beautiful thing.

Mary Kassian: Help us, oh Lord, to have a deep desire to be presented to You spotless.

Kristyn Getty: Move our hearts with Your mercy. Draw the nations to Yourself.

Janet: I hope that tonight is a beginning, not an end.

Nancy: That it would spark something of a movement of prayer.

Mary: I think that we are on the cusp of seeing just a great awakening.

Leslie: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth for Friday, September 30, 2016.

Nancy: This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Leslie: Today on Revive Our Hearts, we’ll get just a taste of what God did last Friday night at the Cry Out prayer event. This is the host of Revive Our Hearts, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy: Save us, we pray, oh Lord. Oh Lord, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and He has made His light to shine upon us. That's our prayer tonight.

Welcome to Cry Out! '16. We're so thankful that you are part of this tonight. We've been gathered as 7,000 women here in the Indian Convention Center since yesterday afternoon. We've been excited to have you join us at 2,500 plus locations around the world. Thank you for being a part of what God is doing tonight.

We have all fifty states represented—sites in all fifty states. I understand that there are locations in eight Canadian provinces and in twenty-nine other countries of the world.

In fact, I asked our team to give me a list of some of the interesting sites that popped up on the list. Let me share a few of those with you. There is a group meeting in Arkansas at a construction company. There's a group meeting called Women Warriors in Houston, Texas. There's a group at Regent University; another at Liberty University. There's a group meeting in Alabama at a ballet company. There's another a Fusion Fitness in Panama City, Florida. Then there's the Vietnamese Alliance Church in Orlando, Florida. I love this one: the Sterling Tatoo Design and More is having a remote site for Cry Out! tonight. Then there is the North Pole Worship Center in North Pole, Alaska.

Others: New Zealand, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Chile, United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, South Africa, Bahamas, Australia, Japan, Cameroon, France, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Jamaica . . . to name a few.

Leslie: The Cry Out! prayer event was the culmination of a vision Vonette Bright articulated before she died last year. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I just want to share with you the vision for what became this gathering. It really began in the heart of a long-time friend of mine who is now with the Lord. I'd like to think that maybe she's watching from heaven tonight and thrilled to see this answer to her prodding and prompting and prayers. My lifelong friend, Vonette Bright, started bugging me about two years ago saying, "We've got to get 100,000 women together to cry out to the Lord." She said, "I don't think women understand the influence, the power that they have if they would cry out to the Lord."

Shortly before she went home to be with the Lord, I was visiting with her in a rehab center. I stuck an iPhone in front of her face and said, "Vonette, just talk to me about your burden for women and prayer." Here's a little bit of what she said. Would you watch the video?

Vonette Bright: Women largely hold the key to the moral factors of the nation. We're at a time of moral crisis in the country. It has been building for a number of years. I believe it is time for we, as women, to begin to be very serious about praying for our individual homes, our churches, about the situations taking place in our cities and country. I believe that women can make a change, and our greatest source for change is prayer.

I've had a burden for a long time to see 100,000 women to come together and call out to God in unity for a spiritual awakening in this land. When women pray, God works.

Leslie: Bob Bakke is a pastor with a passion for prayer, and he helped lead the Cry Out! event.

Bob Bakke: Psalm 51:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities (vv. 1–4, 9).

Blair Linne: 

Where are the wailing women?

Leslie: This is spoken word artist Blair Linne. 

Blair:

Call for the wailing women to come and cry out, 
Since our nation lay in a casket.
America is a mother without a pulse.
She lay in a casket built with her bare hands.
Stars and stripes drape over her shoulders, cosmetics she applies.
We thought that would mean the last nail in the coffin,
But she had to stop and take a selfie.

They say, Don't call her woman.
They say, Bind her breasts.
They say, Give her an identity based upon her feelings.
They say, he say, she say, but what does God say?

Where are the women who refuse to base their life upon their feelings?
Women rooted in blood,
Standing on a rock more firm than the planet they think holds them suspended in space.

Where are the women?
Women who will cry out for our nation's leadership.
Rather than take these candidates to Twitter,
We need to take these candidates to prayer.
Can we look more to the church house than the White House?

Who will cry out for our witness?
Pray that true doctrine will fill our pulpits.
Who will be burdened for God being rightly proclaimed and the gospel preserved?
We must stand on the inerrancy of the holy Book.
When people laugh and call it fiction,
Women who weep over the irony of sinners who laugh at crucifixion.

Women who cry out because our Savior did,
Who pray and steal away because our Savior did,
Praying for a heaven the sin of our earth has hid.

Where are the women?
Call for the wailing women to come and cry out!
Women, where are you?
Stop whatever you are doing,
For it is time to pray.
It is time to weep.

Joni Eareckson Tada: What comes to mind when I say fear, or worry?

Leslie: Here’s Joni Eareckson Tada.

Joni: How about anger? Or a quickness to judge others? What comes to mind when I say secret lusts? Or silly fantasies?

I don't know about you, but I want to be the wailing woman. I'm already overwhelmed. And I have to sing,

Search me O God, and know my heart today.
Try me O Savior, know my thoughts I pray.
See if there be, some wicked way in me.
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.

I hope you can join me in praying. Rather, I hope you can be a wailing woman with me and cry out, "O God, have mercy on us. What a wretched people we are. Who is going to save us from this body of sin and death? O Jesus, blessed Jesus, You are our only hope! We are so sorry that we have broken Your heart with our willful, wicked ways. So Holy Spirit, come. Hear our cry. In the precious name of Jesus, amen."

Jani Ortlund: Will you pray with me? Thank you for the wonder, the privilege of marriage.

Leslie: Here’s Jani Ortlund.

Jani: It's not our idea. Lord, it came from You. We also want to confess to You tonight how we've failed as wives. We're so sorry we've broken our promises that we've made on our wedding day—promises to love and honor and cherish our men. Lord, we like the better part of that promise, but we don't the worse. And, we're so sorry. O Lord, some of us feel hopeless tonight. We're crying out to You. Some of us feel helpless, and we're crying out. You promise, Lord, that when the righteous cry out, You will hear and You will deliver us. Come, deliver us for our marriages.

I pray for every marriage represented here tonight in this large convention center and throughout the whole simulcast. Lord, every marriage here, deliver, help, protect. Defend us against evil. Lord, renew our marriages. Refresh our romances with gospel beauty and Spirit-blessed passion. Lord, we are not asking that You give us mediocre marriages, middle-of-the-road. No, we want magnificant, gospel-blessed, filled with faithfulness and fun and passion and gospel power. Marriages that make the world wonder and ask. Then You will get the glory, and we will get joy, and the world will strengthened with strong marriages. O Lord, help us. For this we pray, for this we cry out in the name of Your Son, Jesus, our Husband, amen.

Leslie: Here’s Dr. Tony Evans.

Dr. Tony Evans: There's a famous nursery rhyme that simply goes:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men,
Could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Mr. Dumpty's world had become shattered, and he needed it fixed. But he didn't go to his friends or his family or even his church. He went to the White House. We know he went to the White House because the king got involved. The king was sympathetic to Mr. Dumpty's dilemma, so he called a meeting of Congress. We know that Congress got involved because all the king's men got involved.

The tragedy of the nursery rhyme is when it was all said and done, all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

It is unfortunate today that far too many believers are expecting solutions to our problems to land on Air Force One.

I'm taken to Joshua chapter 5. Joshua is doing reconnaissance around the walls of Jericho. He looks over and sees the captain of another large army, dressed in battle array. Now, Joshua's mommy didn't raise a dummy. He wanted to know, "Whose side are you on? 'Cuz if you are on our side, we have help against Jericho. But if you are on their side, we've got double trouble. Before I go out and make a fool of myself, whose side are you on?"

That's when the captain says to him, "I think you are confused. I'm neither on your side, nor am I on their side. I'm captain of the Lord's army. I didn't come to take sides. I've come to take over."

You and I have to understand, God does not ride the backs of donkeys or elephants. If you're a Democrat, the best you can do is vote Democrate-lite, or Republican-lite. Because your job is to bring either one to the L-I-G-H-T. Your job is to represent another King and another kingdom. We belong to another kingdom. Let's represent the King.

Leslie: This is Mary Kassian.

Mary Kassian: Sweet Jesus, our Bridegroom, in this world of darkness, we call out to You. Would You lean over? We need to feel the brush of Your kiss to wake up Your sleeping beauty, to quicken our hearts, to help us remember our first love. Oh Jesus, give us hearts that beat with passion for You and for Your glory.

Help us, Oh Lord, to have a deep desire to be presented to You spotless, without wrinkle, without blemish, clothed in fine linen and righteousness—holy. Oh Jesus, we want to be with You. We want to feel Your presence in our every day. We want You. We cry out to You now to strengthen Your Church here on earth, to be a pillar of truth to the nations, Heavenly Father, that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the Church to the powers and authorities. In the mighty name of Jesus, that the gates of hell may not prevail, may Your Church stand strong.

Leslie: This is Kim Wagner.

Kim Wagner: Oh God, Your Bride is here. We are crying out to You. Your Bride needs You. We need You. We need You to wake us up. We are corrupt. We are indifferent. We confess we have not walked worthy of the gospel. We talk a lot about the gospel, but we have become friends with the world. We have forgotten that You are a holy and awesome God.

Wake us up. We need revival, oh God. We have become like those who are not called by Your name, like those over whom You have never ruled. That's what the Church looks like today. We need You, oh God. We are asking You to wake us up. Bring revival—not for us but for Your great name. Lord Jesus, we don't want the nations to mock You any longer. You are God alone, and You deserve all praise. They need to know who You are, so change Your Church. Transform us, that we will look like Christ and glorify You. Transform us oh God, in Jesus' name.

Leslie: Here’s Janet Parshall.

Janet Parshall: Forgive us King of kings. Like Babylon of old, we have moved from being one nation under God, to a nation of many gods—or no god at all. Forgive us, oh great I AM. We don't want "in God we trust" on our coins, and we don't want "in God we trust" in our lives. Forgive us, precious Father. We have rejected absolute truth and have replaced it with the belief that each of us constructs our own truth. In so doing, we have turned our backs on the very One whose name is truth. Forgive us, oh one true God.

Our national sins are ever before us, but more importantly, they are laid out before a holy God. How long will He withold His judgment against our land? Would seeking the welfare of the city stay God's justifiable judgment? Does our hope lie in balancing the budget? defeating terrorism? or finding the perfect political candidate? No. The answer to seeking the welfare of the city is found in prayer—deep, sorrowful, constant, transparent, lamenting prayer for our nation.

Now, bring us back to loving You, oh Lord, so that Your anger will never rise against us again. Oh, revive us. Then Your people can rejoice in You again. Pour out Your love and kindness on us, Lord, and grant us Your salvation, in Jesus' name, amen.

Leslie: This is the producer of the film War Room, Stephen Kendrick.

Stephen Kendrick: I want you to know that the Lord has placed you in this generation for such a time as this. His Word says in Acts 17 that He predetermines where we will live and when we will live there so we will seek Him and find Him, because He is not far from any one of us. So He has you exactly where you are. He has created you with a purpose. Remember, this isn't just an event, this is a catalyst for you to go home and be praying for your family at home, and be praying with other women, and be praying for your pastor in your church, to be praying for other believers in your community, to be praying for the election, for your govenmental leaders, for the nations. You have a God who loves you, and His Holy Spirit inside of you is prompting you to cry out Abba Father. He is hearing, through Jesus, those prayers.

Leslie: We’ve been hearing highlights from the national prayer gathering, Cry Out!, which took place last Friday. After the prayer gathering was over, it was very clear—this wasn’t the end of crying out to the Lord, it was just a beginning. Every woman involved last Friday was encouraged to sign up for a series of emails called "40 Days of Praying for the Nation." When you sign up for these free emails at ReviveOurHearts.com you’ll get a daily reminder to cry out to the Lord for our nation. These emails will keep coming up to the Presidential election in November.

To sign up, visit ReviveOurHearts.com. Dave Butts has been a guest on Revive Our Hearts this year talking about prayer, and he helped develop these emails. He’s here to tell you why praying during this time is so important.

Dave Butts: As I travel around the nation, I've never seen more Christians more concerned about the direction that our nation is going. The good thing is, they are praying about it. That's so good to pray about our nation. The trouble is, I find a lot of Christian are uncertain about how to pray. That's why I am so glad you'll have the opportunity to use a devotional that I wrote to pray for these forty days before the election. It gives us some biblical ways to invite God into this process.

Leslie: Again, to sign up for "40 Days of Praying for Our Nation," visit ReviveOurHearts.com.

On Monday, Susan Hunt will help you understand and participate in spiritual mothering. Please be back, for Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.