Restoring Your Vertical Relationship

Dannah Gresh: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth reminds you: Working for the Lord isn’t a substitute for spending time alone with Him in prayer and God’s Word.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Our churches and our ministries, so many of them, are filled with stressed-out servants, busy, people who need to get to the feet of Jesus and sit and listen to His Word.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of A Place of Quiet Rest, for Tuesday, September 1, 2026. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Well, Nancy, this week Revive Our Hearts celebrates twenty-five years of broadcast ministry.

Nancy: Whoa! How is that possible? What an incredible joy it is to look back over these years and see all the sweet fruit that the Lord has brought forth—the changes in my life and the lives of our listeners. There are so many good things to celebrate!

Dannah: There are! Over the course of the next couple of weeks, we want to do that. We're going to spend some time both looking back at the faithfulness of God since our beginning in 2001, and then looking ahead at what He may have for us in the next twenty or twenty-five years, should He tarry.

Nancy: Well, twenty years from now I will be in my eighties. But Lord willing, this ministry will still be continuing to call women to freedom and fullness and fruitfulness in Christ. The Lord encourages us to do both: to look back and to look forward.

So Dannah, God is a God of history, a God of the past. God has been faithful and keeps His covenant. He's done great things for us and through us in this ministry. But He is also a God of new beginnings and fresh starts. He's a God who has prepared for this ministry and for our friends and listeners, things in the future that we can't even begin to imagine at this point.

Dannah: So true. Thanks, Nancy. Let's look back by returning to some of those core messages and themes that you've taught right here on the Revive Our Hearts program for twenty-five years.

Yesterday, we reviewed some highlights from your teaching related to who God is. Another theme you love to talk about is our vertical relationship with God. Why is that such an important topic for you?

Nancy: Everything in our lives goes back to our relationship with the Lord. That's the start and the end and everything in-between. I’ve often said that if I only shared one message with women, I would want it to be about the importance of cultivating an intimate relationship with God through various means of grace: through a devotional life, through prayer, praise, the Word, worship, fellowship with other believers. There is nothing, nothing, nothing in our lives more important for you, for me, for everyone of our listeners, than that vertical relationship with God.

Dannah: Nancy, let me verbalize what I'm feeling and what I'm sure our listeners are feeling right now. I’m so grateful to the Lord for the way He has used you to help me develop a closer relationship with Him. In fact, one of the messages that has affected me and so many others is a message called “Brokenness.”

God used that message profoundly in my life years before I ever even met you. Let’s listen to a few moments of this classic message, recorded at the Cru annual staff meeting in 1995.

Nancy from "Brokenness: The Heart God Revives": You see, we will never meet God in revival until we have first met Him in brokenness.

The epistle of James reminds us and calls us to,

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. [But there is a process, first] Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. [First] humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and then he will lift you up. (James 4:8–10)

There may be many tears without brokenness as there may be in some cases genuine brokenness apart from the shedding of tears. You see, brokenness is not a feeling. It is not an emotion. It is a choice that I make. It is an act of my will. And brokenness is not primarily a one-time experience or a crisis experience in my life, though there may be those.

Brokenness is rather a continuous, ongoing lifestyle. It's a lifestyle of agreeing with God about the true condition of my heart and my life as He alone can see it. It's a lifestyle of unconditional, absolute surrender of my will to God.

 

Even as the horse that has been broken is surrendered and sensitive to the direction and the wishes of its rider. It's a lifestyle of saying, "Yes, Lord. Not my will but Yours be done."

Brokenness is the shattering of my self-will so that the life, the Spirit, the fragrance, the life of Jesus may be released through me. Brokenness is a lifestyle of responding in humility and obedience to the conviction of God's Spirit and the conviction of His Word. As His conviction is continuous, so my brokenness must be continual.

Brokenness is a lifestyle that takes me in two directions. It's a lifestyle vertically of living, so to speak, with the roof off in my relationship toward God as I walk in the light in transparent honesty and humility before Him. But it's a lifestyle that requires also that I live with the walls down in my relationships toward others.

Dannah: That’s a classic message from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth recorded in 1995. That message on brokenness took on a life of its own as staff members of Cru—or Campus Crusade for Christ—heard the original message and then started sharing it by sending cassettes to those they knew (remember cassettes?). Eventually that message led Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine from FamilyLife to ask Nancy, “Have you ever considered hosting a radio program?”

We’re marking some milestones like that because this week marks twenty-five years of being on the air. Today we’re looking at the way she’s taught on our vertical relationship with the Lord.

Nancy encourages all of us to look to Christ alone to satisfy the needs of our hearts. She talked about this in a classic Revive Our Hearts series called "Satisfying Our Thirst." It’s about a woman who met Jesus at a well.

Nancy from "Satisfying Our Thirst": She had a physical thirst, she had an emotional thirst, and she had a spiritual thirst. And we said that we have thirsts at the same three levels. Let us look briefly at how the woman at Samaria, the woman at the well, tried to meet her thirsts in each of these three levels. How did she seek fulfillment in each of these levels of thirsts? We want to also look today at how we seek to find fulfillment in each of these levels.

Now, first the physical thirst is obvious. The woman came to the well looking for water because there was a physical need, a physical thirst. And you and I have physical needs and longings, and we try to get those needs met through physical things.

Now we saw that the woman had secondly an emotional thirst. How had this woman tried to satisfy her emotional thirst? What did she do? What did she look to, to satisfy her emotional thirst? She looked to men and marriage and relationships, one after the other. When one didn't satisfy, can't you imagine that she was just hoping and longing that maybe the next one would be the right one?

What do we do as women? We are particularly prone to try and satisfy our emotional thirst through relationships. How many of you before you were married thought that when you were married your emotional longings would be satisfied? Can I see some hands? Many hands in here.

Now how long were you married before you discovered that that man as wonderful as he was could not satisfy your deep emotional longings? I mean, we women can't understand ourselves. I don't know how we can think men can understand us. So the day came when you were feeling a little disappointed with how marriage had not completely satisfied you and you thought, I know what we'll do, let's have a baby. That baby will satisfy my emotional longings and thirsts.

And you held that precious little baby in your arms and you said, "Now I will get my thirst satisfied"—till that baby began to wail, and you realized that that baby had no intent of satisfying your thirst. That baby was thirsty. That baby came into the world thinking that you were there to satisfy its thirst.

So that baby didn't satisfy. And you said, "I know what we'll do, we'll have another baby. This one will be different." Well, you discovered sooner or later that children as precious as they are, as much as they are a gift from God, are selfish and that they cannot satisfy the deepest longings of your heart.

So you said, "Lets have grandchildren." They, I am told, are really wonderful. Some of you would be happy to show us some pictures of those precious grandchildren. But there comes that time that you would like to send them back to where they came from. You realize that even those precious grandchildren cannot satisfy the deepest emotional needs and longings of your heart.

But isn't it like us to keep trying to find satisfaction in relationships. When I begin to look to a man, a woman, an adult, a parent, a child, a friend to meet the deepest needs of my heart, to meet my emotional thirst, I become an idolater. I have forsaken God, the Fountain of Living Waters, who wants to be to me my great need meeter. I've instead made for myself this cracked pot, to try and hold water, to try and satisfy my thirst. But it doesn't satisfy. Everything in this world leaks. It's all broken and none of it can deeply satisfy.

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth with a message we all need to be reminded of every day. When we look to anything to satisfy our needs apart from Jesus, we’ll be disappointed. But He will truly satisfy.

We are looking today at our vertical relationship with the Lord on Revive Our Hearts. Nancy has talked about our need to earnestly search out a close relationship with God. And no series expresses that better than one called “Seeking Him.”

Nancy from "Seeking Him": Seek Him earnestly, not just with delight and desperation, but with diligence. Hebrews 11 tells us that God rewards those who diligently seek Him (see v. 6). The word for "diligent" is a word that means “a concentrated effort.”

It’s an intense effort. This is not a casual glance in God’s direction. “Oh, Lord, you know, if You’d revive us, that would be nice.” No, this is a diligent search for God.

It brings to mind that passage in Luke chapter 15 where Jesus talked about things and people that were lost, and how their owners went searching for them. He says in verse 8, “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?”

Searching with determination. Jesus said in that passage, “This woman searches diligently.” How long? Until she finds it.

If we’re going to search with determination, that means we don’t stop seeking until we have found what we’re looking for. We press on. We press in. We press into the Lord, and we say, “Lord, I’m not going to let go until You come and meet with us in revival.”

Scripture says, “Seek the Lord . . . Seek His presence continually” (Psalm 105:4). Seeking Him is not a one-time experience. Revival is not a one-time experience. It’s a way of life. Seek the Lord continually.

So seeking, but not only seeking, but seeking Him. Seeking Him. One of the conditions the Lord lays out for revival in that very familiar verse, 2 Chronicles 7:14, is that we must seek His face.

“Seek My face,” God says. That means we seek Him more than we seek His gifts, more than we seek anything He can do for us, more than we seek His blessings, more than we want the people around us to change.

 

Do you want Him, or do you want a good husband and a happy marriage? You say, “Well, I’d sure like to have both.” I want to tell you, once you find Him, the Lord, then you will have everything else that you need for your well-being and happiness.

Seek the Lord. Seek His face. 

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth from a series called “Seeking Him.” She went on in that series to explain how we seek the Lord, and you can hear it by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com. Click on magnifying glass search for “Seeking Him,” or go to the transcript of today's program and click on the link provided.

Today we’re exploring different messages Nancy’s given about our vertical relationship with the Lord. One of those classic series is called “The Splendor of Holiness.”

Nancy from "The Splendor of Holiness": Several years ago when I first started doing serious study on the subject of holiness, I took time to read through the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; and then the New Testament Epistles, the letters to the churches, and to write out, by hand, every verse that I could find that had anything to do with holiness.

I think I actually started in the book of Exodus because that's where you have a lot of emphasis that comes in about holiness. And I filled page after page of a legal pad with verses in just those books of the Bible about holiness.

For example, in the book of Leviticus alone, 386 times you find words that are related to holiness: clean, unclean, holy, sanctified, purity, wash, defiled—words that are in that family of words, just in the book of Leviticus.

Remember if you have waded through the book of Leviticus, that in that book God gave His people minute detailed instructions about cleansing, about ceremonial purity. And you have to ask yourself as you are trudging through the book of Leviticus, why? I mean, why did God take all the time and effort to spell out these detailed instructions about every aspect of daily life and worship and ceremonial cleansing?

Well, those regulations were intended to be an object lesson to the people of Israel. What did God want them to see in those object lessons? Well, He wanted them to see first that He is holy, that God is Holy. They were a picture of the holiness of God.

Then God wanted His people to realize that God is concerned about holiness in every detail and aspect of our lives, that it matters to God that we be clean, that we be pure, that we be holy, and that that holiness affects every area of our lives.

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth from a series called “The Splendor of Holiness.” We’re re-visiting several classic series from Nancy this week to mark the beginning of the twenty-sixth year of ministry for this program.

Today we’re focused on one of the prominent themes in Nancy’s teaching—our vertical relationship with the Lord. And one thing she has stressed over the years is the importance of connecting with Him daily.

In a series called “Discovering the Joy of Daily Devotions” she took us to Luke 10 and the story of Mary, who sat at the feet of Jesus, and her sister Martha, who was more worried about keeping the house running than listening to Jesus.

Nancy from "Discovering the Joy of Daily Devotions": Now, I just have to tell you, I far more often find myself in Martha’s shoes than in Mary’s—distracted with much serving. Busyness. Doing good things. Serving the Lord. Spending so much time in the work of the ministry that we don’t have time for the Lord of the ministry.

Ministry itself, tasks in the ministry can actually keep us from seeking God’s heart. Now, they don’t have to, but they can. So Jesus says to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful” (Luke 10:41).

David said, “One thing have I asked of the Lord.”

Jesus says to Martha, “One thing is absolutely necessary. If you don’t get anything else done on your to-do list today, will it be this one thing? One thing is needful.”

What is that thing? It’s what Mary has chosen—to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to Him, to commune with Him. He says, “Mary has chosen that good portion, [that one needful thing] which will not be taken away from her” (vv. 41–42). This requires a conscious, deliberate choice.

I’ve found, and I’m sure you have, too, that if I just try and fit God into my day, He’s going to get crowded out. What I need to do is plant Him in the middle of my day, first in my day, core central in my day, and then let everything else fill its way in. “Mary has chosen that good part.”

Our churches and our ministries, so many of them, are filled with stressed-out servants, busy, people who need to get to the feet of Jesus and sit and listen to His Word.

I’m so thankful for the example of this principle that I had in my life of a dad, Art DeMoss, whose first priority at the beginning of each day was to seek the Lord in that quiet time—call it devotions, quiet time, holy hour. I don’t really care what you call it. I do care that you get it.

My dad became a Christian in his mid-twenties. He was not from a godly background. He had been a wild profligate rebel, and in his mid-twenties the gospel of Christ was presented to him, and God rescued him from himself, brought him to Christ. It was a dramatic conversion, and his life was totally transformed . . . which is the way I think it’s supposed to be with all of us.

Then somebody challenged my dad in his first year as a Christian to begin giving to God the first hour of every day in the Word and in prayer. My dad took that challenge, and he kept that commitment every single day for the rest of his life until twenty-eight years later when he went home to be with the Lord.

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, from the series “Discovering the Joy of Daily Devotions.” Today we’ve heard highlights from Nancy’s teaching over the years—with a focus on our personal relationship with the Lord. Would you say your devotional life has been strengthened, at least in part, by a challenge from Nancy? I know mine has . . . starting with that first message we heard today on "Brokenness"! We’re celebrating twenty-five years of learning from this dear friend of mine, and Nancy, we wouldn’t be able to do this if it weren’t for the generous support of our listeners.

Nancy: Absolutely! And I’d specifically like to thank our Revive Partner Team members. These are people, some of them over the course of all these years and some who have joined in recent years, but each have committed to donate a certain amount to Revive Our Hearts on a monthly basis. And where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

These are people who pray for this ministry. They help spread the word and share the mission and messages with others.

I want to say if you are a part of the monthly partner team, your support means so much to us! Thank you for being a part of the Revive Our Hearts family

Dannah: I echo that gratitude to those of you who are on that team. And if you’re not already on our monthly Revive Partner Team, you can join! Members receive our monthly Daily Reflections devotional, a complimentary copy of new books by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, and free registration to select Revive Our Hearts events. AND when you first sign up, you’ll receive a super-fun welcome bundle, including several books and other resources to help you grow in your faith! Visit ReviveOurHearts.com/partner to learn more.

Nancy: Thank you, Dannah. And if Revive Our Hearts has been a blessing to you and to those you love over these years, I hope you will consider becoming part of our Revive Partner Team.

Dannah: Absolutely. And if you’d like to make one-time gift, you can do that, too! When you do, we’ll send you our new book, Devoted: Six Women of the Bible Who Said “Yes, Lord!” When you open this book, you’ll dive into the lives of Sarah, Hannah, the Shunammite woman, Anna, Mary, and the woman at the well. You’ll find that God delights to use ordinary, devoted women to display His extraordinary grace. And you’ll be invited to say “Yes, Lord!” in your own life. To give and request your copy, visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959. If you’re outside the U.S. or Canada, you can request a digital copy of that same resource.

Today we focused on the vertical—our relationship with God. Tomorrow we’ll see how that spreads to the horizontal—our relationships with each other.

Nancy: The people who live inside the four walls of your own home, the people we work with day after day, tat’s where we tend to take such liberties and to say things that we would never say to a visitor or a guest or someone we were trying to impress. I’m not suggesting that we should be trying to impress one another. I’m just saying that we need to be sensitive to the power of our words—the power of our words to bring healing and strength and life and encouragement.

Dannah: 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.  

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