Revive Our Hearts

Dana Gresh: Even before Thanksgiving, doesn't it feel like the rush toward Christmas is upon us? I mean, how do you focus on what really matters this season? Well, here's what one Revive Our Hearts listener discovered.

Guest (Female): Some of the things that I've found that have quieted my Christmas is Christmas presents are bought um throughout the year. When I see something that reminds me of my mom or I think, oh, that'd be good for my mom, it might be February, but I am buying it and I'm putting it in a little bin in my basement. So, by the time pretty much by the time Thanksgiving comes around, I'm done. I want to be done by Thanksgiving. So, I do give gifts, but they're bought throughout the year. And the other thing is like on my calendar for tomorrow, it says no plans.

There are no plans, and that is the plan. Just to be intentional about when we do quote nothing, but really what that time is, it's a time of for you to be together with your family. It's a time for you to have that quietness with the Lord in the season. And so, sprinkled throughout December purposefully is when are the days of no plans? And those are sacred.

Dana Gresh: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of the Wonder of His Name for November 11th, 2026. I'm Dana Gresh. How do you prepare for the holidays? Is your heart quiet and calm? Or do you find yourself in a frantic panic? We're about to hear some advice on savoring the holidays and keeping Christ at the center of them. Nancy speaks with Barbara Rainey in just a moment, but first, here's a quick reminder from Noel Piper on the importance of treasuring Christ in our traditions. I've got to tell you this precious woman has inspired me in a very special way to keep Jesus as the centerpiece of this busy season.

Noel is the wife of longtime pastor and author John Piper. She's the mom of their five children. She's written a number of books, and she has a passion for making holidays special as a family. Here's a portion of a message she delivered some years ago at the Gospel Coalition's National Women's Conference. Let's listen.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I want you to think about what you're doing in your traditions. Uh you might be doing really excellent things. You could have two people who are doing exactly the same thing in traditions in for Christmas, for Easter, for birthdays, whatever. They could be doing exactly the same thing. And for one, it's pointing them towards Jesus and helping others to understand. And for the other, it's just what we always do every year. So, you could be doing something really excellent, but if you're not thinking about where that activity is coming from, why you're doing that, how it expresses your love and appreciation for God, then there's it's empty in a way.

No No tradition is totally empty. I don't want to say that because there are a lot of family strengthening things that happen in traditions. But as far as helping a family see Jesus better, helping you see Jesus better, I don't want our traditions to be empty. I want us to think about what we're doing. And realistically, in most homes, it is you, the homemaker, who is determining what traditions are followed in a home. Our oldest son, I can still hear in my heart, in my head his sing-song six-year-old voice reciting James 1:17. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows.

Every good gift, including traditions, comes down from our Father in heaven. He's the inventor of traditions and the giver of traditions just like he's the inventor and giver of every good thing. Traditions help us remember what God has done for us. To honor the Lord. Traditions are an occasion to acknowledge and give glory to God. And then we're going to follow on now to Leviticus chapter 23 starting at verse 42 to get a couple more things. This is about the Festival of Booths. Live in booths for seven days. All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.

I am the Lord your God. Okay, so your descendants will know traditions are for the sake of the next generations. And I am the Lord your God. He's saying that to the people that he's talking to here. He He shows himself to us while we are carrying out the traditions that are for the next generations. So, that means traditions are not just for the next tradition generations, they're for us too.

Dana Gresh: A great reminder from Noel Piper speaking some years ago at the Gospel Coalition's National Women's Conference. You can hear her entire message when you click on the link in the transcript of today's program. Her message is titled Treasuring Christ in Our Traditions. Another friend of Revive Our Hearts who loves inspiring families to develop God-honoring traditions is Barbara Rainey. Here's Nancy continuing in conversation with Barbara talking about how we can keep Christ at the center of our holidays.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Well, Thanksgiving is right upon us. And in the midst of whatever preparations you may be making for family events, for cooking, for traveling, for being with extended family, I hope that you are in the midst of all that just focusing on how much you have to be grateful for and And of course, this needs to be a year-round exercise. There's no greater grace probably and evidence of Christ in us than to have thankful hearts. But what a great time of year to stop and celebrate that we have so much for which to be thankful. And our guest this week on Revive Our Hearts is my longtime and sweet friend Barbara Rainey.

She's been a guest on this program before. And Barbara, thank you so much for coming and talking with us about the whole area of holidays, how to make them meaningful, how to use them as a teaching opportunity for our children. You've done some great work on this, and it is great to be talking with you about it.

Barbara Rainey: Well, thanks. I'm glad to be here. It's really fun.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: You have six children. They're now grown. And so, I suppose it's hard to get them all together, but

Barbara Rainey: They're all grown. It's very hard to get them all together, yeah.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: But when you do I've seen some of those Rainey family pictures over the years, and it's been fun. I don't know how you fit them all in one picture now. It's a lot of photoshopping. Get everybody in, but I've watched that family grow. I I knew you first when most of your children were single, maybe all of them. And to see them marry and establish their own homes, and that's got to be a great joy for you and Dennis. Although as with all families, um there are times of ups and downs and heartaches and uh you know, we're all broken dysfunctional people, right?

Barbara Rainey: That's right. We are and we are no less broken and dysfunctional than anybody else. We've got all kinds of challenges, and we have issues just like everybody else.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And all very much in need of God's grace.

Barbara Rainey: Absolutely.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And you are You just consider holidays a very special thing, and I I love that because holidays in scripture were originally intended to be holy days.

Barbara Rainey: That's right.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And so, even though the Old Testament people didn't celebrate Thanksgiving, God made a big deal about us being thankful people and being grateful for what he has done. It's

Barbara Rainey: And he put certain dates on the calendar, the Jewish calendar for people to express their thankfulness to God.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And he did. That's right. Yeah, and I think that that whole pattern that God initiated with his people of coming to Jerusalem three times a year, of having those feast days, feast uh seasons in their lives, he knows how easy it is for us to forget him. He knows how prone we are to wander. And so, he says gather together, come together, and remember me.

Barbara Rainey: And they did it annually. Every year they had these festivals. They would make the trek. In fact, some of our Psalms in the Old Testament were sung as the people would be

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: That's right. Mhm.

Barbara Rainey: walking back walking to Jerusalem to celebrate these festivals. So, it was a pause from your normal work routine. Stop and think about your redemptive history, about who God is, about what he has done in your life. And they did it as families. They did it as community. And you've said this is something that shouldn't just be for the Old Testament.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: That's right. Uh huh. Mhm. No.

Barbara Rainey: This is for New Testament believers too. Right. And I think many of our holidays mirror that because especially Easter um because Easter is the New Testament holiday that sprung from Passover. And Easter occurred simultaneously with Passover the year that Jesus was crucified. And even Christmas somewhat parallels the Festival of Lights, which wasn't one of the original festivals that God initiated in the Old Testament, but it is one that is and was celebrated for many, many centuries by the Jewish people. So, our holidays have a reflection back to what God initiated in the Old Testament. So, when we take time to celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas, when we take time to celebrate his resurrection at Easter, we are mimicking, we're continuing the traditions that God established in the Old Testament.

And those holidays help us remember who God is and what he has done and the privilege of belonging to him, the absolute amazing truth that Jesus came to Earth at Christmas. He didn't have to do that, but he did. And that he came to Earth in order to die. And so, when we get our families together around those two holidays in particular and we talk about what Jesus did, it's a great opportunity to teach them. It's a great opportunity to remind them and ourselves of how great our redemption is, how great our salvation is. And that adds so much meaning, it adds so much depth to your family when you can center your holiday around the true meaning behind it.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And it's a really important rhythm. Uh we have weekly rhythms. We have the Lord's Day. At the Old Testament they had the Sabbath. They would celebrate weekly to remember God, to rest in him, to worship him, to recreate. But then there were monthly holidays, there were holy days, there were annual ones. And we need those rhythms where we stop, we reflect, and we tether our hearts to our past heritage in Christ and even the roots that go back before Christ appeared on the Earth. And then to our future ultimate celebration in Christ's presence forever. So, there's this whole continuum.

We join with saints and citizens here on Earth through all history and then in heaven above as they worship the King. So, it really ties us to the people of God, to our past, our present, and our future, which is we're not of this Earth.

Barbara Rainey: That's right.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We're not of this kingdom. We celebrate the kingdom of Christ and and the redemptive story. So, these annual holidays that can make so many of us beleaguered and exhausted from doing it the world's way.

Barbara Rainey: Correct.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: You've really challenged us to redeem those and make them spiritually significant. But it seems like with a lot of our holidays, many of which many of the holidays in our calendar have their foundations in the Christian uh faith. But it seems like they've become pretty secular and just time for shopping and day off of school and just not so meaningful anymore.

Barbara Rainey: That's right. Yeah, they've become very secular. And I love that God did that for us, that he instituted for his people, for the nation of Israel before Christ came. All of these feasts and all of these celebrations. And it just reminds me that God knows how prone we are to wander and that we need those moments in the calendar year, year after year after year where we can pull away from our daily activity and we can stop and we can rest and we can focus on him and we can be reminded of who he is and what he has done for us.

And so now we don't celebrate most of us don't celebrate the Jewish feasts and the Jewish calendar. But in our lives, we celebrate Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving and we those come around every year, year after year. They always show up. And I think it's a prime opportunity for moms and dads to impart spiritual truth to their kids because as you said, these holidays are all rooted in biblical truth and um biblical history. The reason we celebrate Christmas is because of the incarnation of Christ. It's not because of Santa Claus. It's not because of all of these other things.

And it still surprises me that we can hear Christian hymns that talk about Jesus in stores at Christmas time. I 'm amazed that

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: At least for a while longer.

Barbara Rainey: And now I 'm amazed every year that it hasn't been stopped. But what it tells me is that people are receptive to hearing about Jesus at Christmas. We know that that 's what this is all about. Everybody knows what it's all about. And yet we don't know how to get in touch with that truth. We don't know how to take that generic, general knowledge that Christmas is about Jesus and really make it about Jesus in our homes. My dream is is that in Christian homes all over the country and I pray all around the world people who put up Christmas trees, their trees will proclaim who Christ is and why we celebrate Christmas.

They won't be covered with footballs and ballerinas and cupcakes and a gazillion trivial things that have absolutely nothing to do with the reason why we celebrate Christmas.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And by the way, even if you don't put up a Christmas tree, I know you think everybody does, but some years I actually don't. Well, I don't do much of one anymore. In fact, last year Excuse me for interrupting, but last year I put up this really cool urn and it's full of branches that I painted white. And that's where I hung all my ornaments. So, it's not really a tree in the true sense of a green evergreen.

Barbara Rainey: That's right. That's right. But I really kind of like it better because it shows off the ornaments. And of course, I had mine covered with the names of Christ. And I just loved it.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And I love having in my home year-round things on the walls and in terms of decor that point my own heart. And guess who come into my home that point them to Christ, to scripture. I just think there's something very encouraging. There's exhortation. There's a focus on Christ. We're supposed to consider Christ. We're supposed to fix our eyes on Christ

Barbara Rainey: I do too, Nancy. Uh huh. Uh huh. I agree.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: and to be able to walk into a home and see on the walls and on the shelves and on the countertops to see reminders of of scripture and who Christ is is a It's a way of keeping Christ central and God's word central.

Barbara Rainey: Well, when we think about Christmas, one of the phrases on one of the carols that we all sing every year that's one of our favorites, it says, Oh come, let us adore him. And the purpose of Christmas and celebrating it is that we would adore him, that we would adore Christ, the newborn King. And yet the way we celebrate Christmas practically it there is very little that helps us focus on adoring him. I'm thinking about Luke chapter two early in the Christmas story when Jesus had just been born and the shepherds had come to see him.

They had come to worship him. And then it says And you're familiar with this verse, but Luke two verse 19, Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And I think one of the things we don't do a lot of in the holiday season is to treasure the things that we've seen and heard, the things we know about Christ, and to ponder them in our heart. And to do that as a family. If there's a busy time of the year I mean, for a lot of families every time of the year is busy.

But if there's a busiest or busiest time of the year, I think it's around the holidays. There are so many things that seem to get added into the schedule. And I hear families and and people without families, people singles, empty nesters, but kind of you know, pulling their hair out. How can we um not have so much chaos and craziness? You can get your tree up, you can get it decorated, but you can end up so frazzled and frenzied that you know, everybody's kind of dreading and thank the Lord next Christmas is 11 months away, you know.

And we don't want people to end up that way. Now, I know it's still November

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Right. Exactly. Exactly. No. and people are saying, But you're talking about Christmas now. We haven't even had Thanksgiving yet. Well, the world has been talking about Christmas for a long time. And it's such an interesting story, and we all know it so well. But when we pull back and we look at the wonder of how the name Jesus was given um it was the angel Gabriel who announced what his name would be. And I just think it's it's stunning. It's just amazing to pull back and think what must that have been like for Mary and for Joseph to have had a visit from the angel.

And then he tells them what the name of this child would be. And so in the booklet I've written about what the name Jesus means and why that has significance.

Barbara Rainey: And how it ties back to the Old Testament name Joshua.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: That's right. Joshua, that's right.

Barbara Rainey: And who was an Old Testament deliverer and uh military leader and how Jesus would come and would deliver his people, save them from the enemy of sin and Satan. Uh it ties together the scripture in a beautiful way to step back and look at the meaning of that name.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Uh huh. That's right. Exactly. Mhm. Mhm. And I think I think what's important is that we communicate this truth to our children. It's It's the one of the first names that children learn is Jesus. They know how to say it from the time they're toddlers. But as they get older, they don't know what it means. And so, the story

Barbara Rainey: Sometimes adults We don't know what it means. Oh, I know. Adults don't know what it means either, exactly. In fact, I learned a lot obviously by by working on this series and doing research on what each of the names means. But as a family, as you hang the name Jesus on the tree, if you'll read the story about that name, it leads us to worship not because what is written in the booklet is so good, but because it reminds us of the truth of who he is and why God sent him and why we need him.

And that's what Christmas should be about. It should be about adoring him and worshiping him because he was willing to come and be born as a baby. And it it's such a stunning, overwhelming, amazing, incomprehensible thing that he did for us, that he would come. And so, by focusing on his names, each of the names, it leads us to worship, which will make the Christmas season much more meaningful. And I've watched some of my friends who have small children, how those children's hearts If the parents have been praying and teaching their children the ways of God, some of those children's hearts are so tender, so sensitive, so receptive.

I have a little six-year-old friend who stopped me in the driveway the other day and said, Miss Nancy, would you pray for me about And she And then she starts telling what it She's afraid of something that's coming up. And we stopped right there in the driveway and prayed. And um she came up to me again just a few days ago, same child, and said, Oh Miss Nancy, I prayed the other night and I asked Jesus to forgive me for my sins and to help me love my little sister. And I'm looking at this child and saying the the spirit of God is working in her heart.

And what a tender, sensitive time before the kids are um you know, disinterested and wanting to get out of church, but to just capitalize on the wonder those little ones have. And by the way, maybe you're a grandma um and maybe your children are not raising their children in the faith, but you have opportunities during the holiday season to be with those little ones and or you're a single mom or you're a a you know, big sister friend to somebody else's children. Uh lots of ways that we can be speaking into the lives of these little ones and then reminding our own hearts about who Jesus is and why he came and the the wonder of it all and looking at these names with fresh eyes, I just think we rekindles that wonder.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Yeah. It does.

Barbara Rainey: We want to be putting things around us and in our homes just visual reminders of who Jesus is, why he came, his redeeming work, his love for us. And so, the different names he shall be called Savior, Christ the Lord, Emmanuel, wonderful counselor, mighty God, and Prince of Peace.

Dana Gresh: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Barbara Rainey have been talking about how to intentionally focus on Jesus this Christmas. They shared about the importance of speaking into the lives of others, particularly our families, our children. How you communicate the truth of God to your children is so important. We recently heard from a 27-year-old listener named Rebecca. She grew up in a Christian home, and her mom listened to Revive Our Hearts for as long as Rebecca could remember. And that had a profound impact on her.

Rebecca: I have this picture in my mind of sitting in the living room um while my mom was in the kitchen making bread, listening to Revive Our Hearts. And then there were times where the days were crazy and my mom would say, I am going to listen to my radio series. You are going to leave me alone. And she would go into her room and lock her door and she would take that time to listen to Revive Our Hearts because it was just life for her soul.

Dana Gresh: Rebecca saw her mom prioritizing, listening to God's word, being taught through Revive Our Hearts. And she began listening as well.

Rebecca: I grew up learning how to play the piano, but I think one of the first songs I ever learned to play was Come Thou Fount. And it was just like with one finger, but I learned the tone because I always heard my mom listening to Revive Our Hearts every day. She would listen to it while she worked in the kitchen making food for our family of 11. So, I just thought that was cool that it left such an impression on me even as a child that it'd be one of the first songs that I ever learned to play on the piano.

And I have found now that I'm a mom of two young little girls that I also find Revive Our Hearts to be refreshing, rejuvenating, and my first go-to when I have a quiet moment where I'm folding the laundry or doing the dishes, it's so nice to have a place that is truth and encouraging. And yeah, just really life for my soul. So, I really love the ministry of Revive Our Hearts and the testimony of Nancy DeMoss. I feel like we're friends even though she's never met me. And uh you've touched my mom's life, my sister's lives, my lives, and hopefully soon my daughter's life through your ministry and what you've done over the years.

And I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Dana Gresh: What a picture of what we read in Psalm 78 about older generations passing on God's truth to their children and grandchildren. You know, we're only able to minister to people like Rebecca and her mother through the support of generous listeners like you. When you support the ministry of Revive Our Hearts, you're making it possible for women around the globe to experience the freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness of Christ. And by the way, when you donate any amount this month, you'll receive the 2027 Revive Our Hearts wall calendar. Each month of this beautiful calendar contains encouragement from Nancy.

And it's designed to help you wonder at God's word every single day. Like Nancy talked about, we need reminders all around us of what's true and worth setting our minds on. This calendar is something you can put up in your home as a visual reminder to keep running back to scripture. Request your calendar today when you give at reviveourhearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959. As we prepare to start walking through the whole Bible with Nancy in January, we just want to remind you of something amazing. That teaching will be available in 16 languages. We've got Arabic, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Swahili, Farsi, and so many others.

If you have friends who would benefit from our translated podcast episodes, send them to reviveourhearts.com/wow. That's w-o-w standing for Wonder of the Word. Barbara Rainey will be back with us again tomorrow here on Revive Our Hearts. We're going to talk about the significance of the name The Prince of Peace and why we need him and how he brings us peace that we can't get from any other source. Thank you for being with us today, and I hope you'll join us tomorrow on 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.