Encouragement to Stay in the Battle

Dannah Gresh: As you seek to follow God’s will for your life, you’ll go through some times of discouragement. Here’s what it’s looked like in the past for Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I have found myself battling fear, extreme weariness, plaguing doubts. I cannot tell you how many time I have wanted to go AWOL.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Lies Women Believe, for Wednesday, May 14, 2025. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Over the next few minutes we’ll hear about a woman whose days were filled with normal, everyday tasks. Does that sound like your life? One day God called this woman to do something quite unusual, and she was ready to obey.

This week we've been in the book of Judges with Nancy. She's been describing the courage of Deborah in a message called "A True Woman Joins the Battle." It's been a rich portrait of a woman who inspired those around her to trust God and take action. If you missed the first two programs of this story, you can find them at ReviveOurHearts.com, or on the Revive Our Hearts app. Nancy first delivered this message at one of the True Woman conferences some years ago. You'll hear her mention Chuck Colson, who has passed away since this was recorded.

Let’s listen to part three, "A True Woman Joins the Battle." We'll see that Deborah isn’t the only woman God used in this story.

Nancy: Back in chapter 4, as we come to the end of the account, we one other woman who got involved—although, admittedly in an unusual way. I won't read the text, but starting in verse 17, there's this dramatic account of the destruction of Sisera, the Canaanite commander, at the had of a woman named Jael. 

Jael was not an Israelite, but in this case she sided with the God of Israel against His enemies. Sisera flees through the torrential downpour to Jael's tent, assuming that he will be safe there since her family has a treaty with the Canaanites.

Sisera’s cold; he’s wet; he’s exhausted; he's drenched—he's been running through this downpour. Jael welcomes him. She invites him in. She gives him some milk to drink. He’s exhausted from the battle. He falls asleep. And then Jael takes a hammer and drives a tent peg into his head and kills him.

Now, Matthew Henry, one of my favorite commentators suggests that it is possible that Jael initially intended nothing more than true kindness and hospitality until God "by an immediate impulse upon her mind directed her to do otherwise." He goes on to say, "We are not to rely on such impulses today."

Now, this is rather gruesome, and if you haven't heard the story before you'd think, Wow! What kind of rolel model is this?!

Now, keep in mind that Sisera was a ruthless, violent man who was attempting to destroy God’s chosen people. In fact, in chapter 5, verse 30, his own mother talks about how he and his men would have thought nothing of raping and killing any woman they considered an enemy. 

In Deborah’s victory hymn in chapter 5, Jael’s act of courage is celebrated, and she is blessed by God.

I love what Charles Spurgeon, that prince of preachers, had to say about how God used Jael: 

The LORD can still use feeble instrumentalities. Why not me? He may use persons who are not commonly called to great public engagements. Why not you? The woman who slew the enemy of Israel was no Amazon but a woman who tarried in her tent. She was no orator but a woman who milked the cows and made butter. May not the LORD use any one of us to accomplish His purposes? 

Chapter 4, verse 23, tells us that “On that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel.” Chapter 5, verse 31, tells us, “And the land had rest for forty years.”

Notice the sequence: first the battle, and then the rest. 

The impact of Deborah’s life, her courage, her faith, her godly influence was felt not only in her generation but also in the next. It makes me ask, "What mark will your life leave on your generation and the one coming behind us?"

 

The spiritual battle in our day is no less intense than it was in Deborah’s day. The enemy is no less powerful. God is chastising His people for our sins and our idolatry. There are so many believers in our churches seem oblivious to what is going on. Then there are a lot of others who realize what is going on, but we feel helpless, powerless to do anything about it.

I received an email from Chuck Colson not too long ago. He said,

I really believe that in this moment of history that the one great hope is the sleeping giant in our midst, the believers, will be awakened. It has happened before, and it can happen again, if God so chooses. It's the first item I pray for every morning.

I started out by reading that quote from John Angell James:

A community is not likely to be overthrown where woman fulfills her mission, for by the power of her noble heart over the hearts of others, she will raise it from its ruins and restore it again to prosperity and joy.

Oh how I pray that God will raise up in our day, not just one woman, but thousands of women across this country and around the world, women who will arise as Deborah did, women of the Word, women biblical wisdom and courage and vision, women of faith, women of humility, women who are willing to say, “Yes, Lord,” women whose lives will inspire the men around them to believe God for what only God can do.

I believe that the influence of that army of godly women will be incalculable in our homes, our churches, communities, and in our culture, and around the world.

Now, as we close, I need to say, "We need to hear this." We are all really inspired right now, but to say "yes" to be involved in this calling is not for the faint of heart. We have a tireless enemy. He hates God. He's not pleased with the thought of thousands of women saying yes to Christ. I just want to tell you that I know a little bit more about the battle, and a whole lot more than when we started. 

Since the launch of the True Woman Movement at True Woman ’08 (many of you were there), in my own life that battle has intensified. It's gotten much, much hotter. I have battled with fear, extreme weariness, plaguing doubts, discouragement nipping at my heels day and night. I battle my own flesh. I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to go AWOL. I have become tired of swimming upstream, tired of getting shot at—not only by the world, it's really not mostly come from there, but more from within. It's come from the Church, from well-meaning people, perhaps. I have wanted to go back to where it’s safe, where I could have a more normal life.

But God has His hand and His calling on my life, there's a call on my life, not because I am anything special or extraordinary, but just because I'm a redeemed child of God. My life is not my own. I've been purchased, bought with a price. It’s tethered to Christ, who is the Author and the Finisher of my faith. I'm coming to realize that there is no safer place to be than in the midst of the battle with Him.

Martin Luther said it this way:

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient for, doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing.
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own chosing;
Doth ask who that may be, Christ Jesus, it is He.
Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

Though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us;
We will not fear for God has willed His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim; we tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure, for low, his doom is sure.
One little word shall fell him.

That word, above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth.
The Spirit and the gifts are ours, through Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also.
The body they may kill, but God's truth abideth still.
His kingdom is forever.

(“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” by Martin Luther)

Many of you have read or heard the story in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. There’s a point in that story where Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian are on a voyage from Narnia, headed east, toward Aslan’s country at the end of the world.

At one point, their ship, the Dawn Treader, anchors near land, and they all go ashore. Some of the sailors are tired from the long journey. They want to stop and spend the winter there where they are and then head back west and return home to Narnia in the spring. They’re told that if they stay where they are, every evening they will be given a feast fit for a king every night. That makes them even more reluctant to press on eastward toward Aslan’s country.

Then Reepicheep speaks up. Remember Reepicheep, the valiant talking mouse? Sometimes I feel as small as Reepicheep. He expresses his determination to keep pressing on no matter what. Here’s what he says:

My plans are made. While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle [small boat]. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I’ve not reached Aslan’s country, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise.

God hasn’t promised us that the journey will be easy, but He’s promised to go with us. He’s promised that one day prayer will be praise, faith will be sight, every tear will be dried, and our journey will be rewarded.

Some are tired. Some want their reward here and now. And they may choose to turn back. Perhaps some who’ve come with you may make that choice. But by God’s grace, and for His glory, my course is set. My plans are made, and I plan to press on until we reach Aslan’s country—the New Jerusalem, the city of the Great King. Will you go with me? (applause)

Dannah: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth knows what it’s like to grow tired and discouraged when you’re following God’s calling on your life. She also knows the value of staying in the battle. I hope Nancy’s honest account of the struggles and the joys of staying in the battle has encouraged you. She gave that message years ago at a True Woman conference.

We’re going to hear in a minute from a woman who had to make that difficult decision about whether to get involved in a particular situation. But first, I want to remind you that the way you stay motivated in that battle for the Lord is by living in His Word.

You know, you can listen to all the great teaching and sermons you want, or read books by the most famous authors, but if you aren’t grounded in the Word of God yourself, they won’t help you much.

Our goal here at Revive Our Hearts, since its beginning in 2001, has been to point women to that Word. And we’ve been telling you about some of the ways that we’re hoping to continue that work in the coming years. We’re calling the initiative Wonder of the Word. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s involved in that.

• True Woman '25 will be all about beholding the Wonder of the Word
• A new Notetaking Bible will include study tips and suggestions from Nancy. It’s coming out this summer.
• In 2027, we’ll have audio and video teaching focused on the entire Bible.
• Our new app for teen girls will get them engaged with the Bible every day.
• And we’ll have special podcasts and activities for moms to use with their kids!

Does that sound like a lot? It is! And while we’re preparing for those, we still have our usual programming and other resources to execute well. That’s why we need your help here in May. Anything you’re able to give to support the work of Revive Our Hearts will go first toward our usual outreaches. Once that budget goal has been met, anything extra that comes in will go toward that Wonder of the Word six-year initiative.

So, would you ask God how you can be involved? We understand if you’re not able to help financially right now, but you can always pray!

To find out more or make a donation, go to ReviveOurHearts.com, or reach out via a good, old-fashioned phone call at 1-800-569-5959. And thank you so much for anything that you’re able to give.

Dannah: Nancy talked today about how saying yes takes courage and is not easy. We saw that in Deborah's life. Let's hear now from one woman, we'll call her Susan how had the courage to obey God's prompting to do something uncomfortable. Susan had traveled to Indianopolis to attend our True Woman '12 conference.

Bob Lepine: Welcome to Indianapolis to True Woman '12! Are you excited to be here? (cheering)

Dannah: Susan volunteered in the resource center and attended as many sessions as she could, but in the evening she headed to the nearby mall for dinner. She didn’t intend to spend much time in the food court, but God had other plans.

Susan: The girl at the table behind me was on the phone with her boyfriend. She was pretty animated and loud, and she was saying, "You know you got me into this mess; you’re going to have to get me out! You’d better come down here on Thursday to pick me up and bring me to my abortion . . ." and they were fighting.

I heard it, and it was really strong on my heart my heart to talk to her. I didn’t want to interrupt her phone call . . . she’s a stranger . . . all these things are going through my head. I thought if I interrupted her, she was going to think, Christians are nuts.

So I turned around after she was quieting down, and she actually waved at me with a sheepish, “sorry,” look, like, “Sorry I was being loud and yelling.”

Dannah: Everyone in the food court was able to pick up details of this very loud conversation.

Susan: Her boyfriend didn’t really want to come pick her up because he thought it would make him flunk out of school. She had said, “Two days ain’t gonna make you flunk out of school.” She said, “I don’t want to raise another baby on my own. I can’t take care of two kids.”

She was just really, really upset, and she said, “It wasn’t my choice to kill our baby.” So she already had in her head, “This is a baby.” She wasn’t one of those people who would say, “It’s a fetus; it’s not even alive.” She knew this was a baby. The woman was already a mother—she already had a baby—she knows what it is to hold a baby and to love a baby. So it was just tearing me apart.

Dannah: Susan wanted to stay and talk with this woman, but while waiting for her to hang up, she didn’t want to just sit there eavesdropping.

Susan: I actually got up and threw my things away because I didn’t want to just sit there by myself with a tray full of empty wrappers. There were two ladies at a table next to me that were from the conference, because I saw their bags . . .

Dannah: Every attendee received a True Woman tote bag. Susan started to get the advice of these other women. She told them the burden she was feeling for this woman on the phone.

Susan: [To the ladies] “I feel like I need to talk to her, but she’s still on the phone.”

And one of the women said, “You know what I do in this situation? I just pray that God will send somebody to talk to her. That’s what we need to do. We just need to pray that somebody will be there for her.”

Dannah: Susan thought, What if I’m that person? But she had some reservations.

Susan: I didn’t want to make her think, Wow, these Christians are crazy . . . psycho ladies coming up to me at the table . . . I didn’t want that to happen. That was my biggest fear, actually. I didn’t want to embarrass the Lord.

Dannah: But she couldn’t shake the sense that the Lord wanted her to get involved.

Susan: In my heart I was just struggling because I am not the person to walk up to a stranger and say, “I’m going to talk to you about abortion." I don’t even do that with people I do know. So, it was a huge struggle inside. I just really felt led to talk to her. 

I thought, This is going to happen on Thursday. If I don’t talk to her, who will? It’s less than a week away. I don’t know what the other voices in her life are. It was really deep. I was almost sick to my stomach from not having done it yet, and I was starting to shake. It was just overwhelming.

The ladies looked over and said, "I think she is off the phone now." And, I took the chance to go and talk to her.

I didn't have time to think or feel. I'm on a mission; I have to do this. If I don't do it now I'm going to miss my opportunity.

I said, "Hi, you have no idea who I am, but I would really like to talk to you."

I told her, "I overheard your phone conversation."

She said, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be so loud." She apologized to me.

And was like, "No. I'm so happy that I heard it because now I can actually talk to you."

I said, "I know you are going through something really tough right now. I just want to encourage you to know there are other things out there, things other than abortion." When I told her adoption is available, she was like shocked. She didn't even realize it was an option.

She said, "Oh my goodness, I never even thought of that!"

I said, "Yes, that's another option. You don't have to raise this baby by yourself. You don't have to have an abortion either."

She honestly told me, "I really don't want to have an abortion, but my boyfriend told me I had to, and don't really want to raise another baby."

I think so many people don't have idea the risks that come along with it—not just the aftermath. I mean, you're undergoing a medical procedure that's risky. It's not even advertised because it is bad for abortion business.

She was in shock. I told her, “You will regret this every day of your life. I know, because I had an abortion seven years ago.”

Dannah: With those words, Susan opened up a painful story that she had hardly shared with anyone. The story began on what was one of the best days of Susan’s life, and it was also one of the worst. On that day, Susan came to faith in Christ, and later that night, she was raped.

Susan: For the last seven years, my heart-cry to God has been, “God, why did You let this happen to me? That was the day that I gave my life to You, and it happened that night. Why didn’t you rescue me? I thought You loved Your daughters. Why didn’t You do something?”

Dannah:  Some weeks after the assault, Susan knew something was wrong. She hadn’t thought about the possibility that she could be pregnant, but she visited a doctor. She didn’t know until several weeks later that the doctor had given her an abortion pill without telling her what it was.

I still lived with the regret of, Why didn’t I think? Why did I let them give me medicine without asking more questions?

For years, Susan never told her husband what had happened, but he knew there was something that needed to be resolved, and eventually she told him. He was very supportive, and after a Christian counselor helped Susan walk through the process of healing from that, Susan was able to forgive those who had wronged her, just like she had been forgiven. She knew what it was to be free from bitterness and resentment.

And let me pause here and say, this point is crucial. If you can relate to the intense hurt of something like this, visit ReviveOurHearts.com and take a look at today’s transcript. We’ll post some links and resources to help you find freedom through forgiveness, and also some resources on healing from abuse and dealing with the aftermath of abortion.

Susan’s story seemed to make a big impression on the woman in the food court who was considering abortion.

Susan: She said, “I don’t even know where I could go. I have no idea who I could talk to or anything.”

And I said, “There are places like crisis pregnancy centers, things like that. You’re in Indianapolis—it’s a big city. I know you can find something like that here.”

She said, “You said, ‘crisis pregnancy center?’ There’s one right down the road from me. I didn’t even know what that was."

I said, “Would you please just think about going?”

She said, “I am going on Monday!” So she’s going to go and talk to somebody.

The thing she said about adoption was, “I don’t think I could do it once I hold that baby. I don’t know if I could actually give it up.”

I said, “Honey, you’re already holding the baby.”

And she almost broke down in tears when she said, “I know.”

So it was really heartbreaking. I gave her my home phone number and said, “I want you to call me whenever you make a decision,” because she still has that decision to make. She hasn’t made it one way or another yet. But she wants to go and talk to somebody about how to get help through this.

It was really encouraging. I know she still has to go and talk to that boyfriend and she has to deal with him and his decisions, him telling her “You have to do this,” or “You can do whatever you want.” I don’t know what her situation is, but I know that she’s going to have a lot of voices coming into her life within the next week. Hopefully the right answer can come through to her and she’ll make a wise choice, a wise decision.

Dannah: Until that point, Susan had hardly told anyone her story. But on this day, sitting in the food court in the mall, she realized that maybe her vulnerability could be used by God in the life of a single mom making a big decision.

Susan: So this was the first time, ever, in my life that I have been able to see God take my absolute worst circumstance and use it for good. I got to see God use my absolute worst for His glory.

Dannah: Wow. What a story! That was a woman we’re calling Susan, telling about how God used her to be a voice of hope and light in a young woman’s life. Susan will probably never know what the outcome of that conversation was, but we pray that that baby is a healthy pre-teen today. 

And good job, Susan! Getting involved like that takes courage. I think Susan—like Deborah in the Old Testament—is an ordinary woman who responded in faith to God’s leading. May you and I live that way, too! We have to leave the results up to God.

Well, I hope you’ll come back tomorrow to hear from Mary Kassian. She’ll talk about the history of feminism and what the Bible has to say about God’s design for women. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

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

All Scripture has been taken from the English Standard Version unless otherwise noted.

RESOURCES:

Abuse:

"The Church, the Gospel, and Violence against Women" Justin Taylor

Rid of My Disgrace: Hope and Healing for Victims of Sexual Assault, Justin & Lindsey Holcomb

Abortion:

Confidential Help Line

Post-Abortion Syndrome

Forgiven and Set Free: A Post-Abortion Bible Study for Women

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.