Revive Our Hearts

Guest (Female): Revive Our Hearts is brought to you in part by members of the Revive Partner Team. Women like Regina from Illinois.

Guest (Female): I would like to say in my 44 years and four months of marriage, 28 of them being a caregiver for my quadriplegic husband. This ministry, Revive Our Hearts, has been such an example of Jesus in my life. He showed me how faithful and caring and present He was and is through it all. And I just want to give Him glory and I again couldn't help but be a partner for all He's done for me through it. May the Lord continue to bless you.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Today, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth asks, what are you focusing on?

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We spend so much time looking at our problems, looking at our circumstances, looking at our challenges that they become humongous in our eyes, and then they eclipse our view of God and God seems to be very tiny if there at all.

Guest (Female): This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of A Place of Quiet Rest. For June 2nd, 2026, I'm Danna Gresh.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We started yesterday into just a short two-day series on Psalm 27 verse 4. Sometimes I like to do these just short series, just to have a chance to share with you something that I've been meditating on, something that's been ministering to me in my own time with the Lord. This is one of those passages. Actually, verse 4, I don't know if it's my life verse, but it's one I have gone back to as many times as probably any other.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: In fact, the first book I ever wrote back in 2000, was a book on the daily devotional life called A Place of Quiet Rest, and it was about cultivating intimacy with God through a daily devotional life.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I've often told women if I could only write one book or have one message, it would be that message of learning to get into the presence of God on a daily basis, to live in His presence, to look on His beauty and to learn from Him as we're going to see in this Psalm today. And when I inscribe those books for people who ask if I would autograph them, this is the first, Psalm 27:4, that I will always write in that book. It's such a precious one to me and I hope it will be more so to you after these couple of days. So let me read the first four verses of Psalm 27 and then we'll focus on verse 4.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Now, just a reminder that this Psalm is written by David. So we're going to see that he's in a very difficult place, but his starting place in this Psalm in the midst of difficulty and terror is the Lord. The Lord is my light in my darkness. He is my salvation and my rescue when enemies are after me like crazy.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold, the refuge of my life, my hiding place, my safe place, of whom shall I be afraid?

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Though an army encamps against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war arises against me, yet I will be confident.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So here's a man who is in the middle of terrifying circumstances, but he's not afraid. He's confident. And then he tells us the mindset, the paradigm, the direction of his life in verse 4 that I think explains why that could be the case. Because he says in verse 4, one thing, one thing have I asked of the Lord. That will I seek after. A lot of things he could have asked for, a lot of things he could be seeking for, a lot of needs he could have said he had. But he said one thing, if I have to boil it all down to one thing that I want to ask of the Lord, that I would seek after, it would be this, that I might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And as we said yesterday, that doesn't sound like a very practical strategy for dealing with all this opposition. But there is no better strategy. There is no more effective strategy for dealing whatever is in your life, whether it's enemies or children or workplace challenges or health issues or financial issues, dwelling in the house of the Lord, living in His presence every day of your life is the will give you the perspective and the position that you need to deal with whatever is going on all around you.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Now he goes on to say in this verse that he has two motivations, or two reasons for wanting to dwell in the house of the Lord. The first is to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. The second is to inquire or to meditate in His temple. So he says, I want to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I want to look upon the beauty of the Lord, and I want to learn from Him. I want to inquire, meditate in His temple.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So let's take those two motivations, those two reasons, and just meditate on them a little bit over these next moments. He says, I want to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. I want to look upon the beauty of the Lord. That word to gaze means to behold, to contemplate with pleasure, to have a vision of. He says, I want to be enthralled with a vision of God. Not a vision of my enemies, but a vision of God. I want to be in proximity to Him. I want to be close enough to Him that I can get up close and see the beauty and the wonder of who He is. I want to enjoy His beauty.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Now again, he said in the first three verses, all this all stuff is going on around him. Why is he concerned at this moment about looking at the beauty of the Lord? Because when you turn your eyes upon Jesus, you look full in His wonderful face, all the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Here's the problem: we spend so much time looking at our problems, looking at our circumstances, looking at our challenges that they become humongous in our eyes, and then they eclipse our view of God and God seems to be very tiny, if there at all.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And he's saying, I'm going to switch that around. Instead of gazing on my enemies, gazing on my problems, gazing on the challenges, I'm going to gaze on the Lord. Going to turn my eyes upon Jesus. Going to look full in His wonderful face. I'm going to contemplate with delight, with pleasure, His beauty. And when you get a big vision of God, then all those other things of earth, it's not that they aren't there, it's not that they're not real, but they get put in perspective.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I love that quote of, and here I'm wandering off my notes, so I hope I can remember this quote. G. Campbell Morgan was a Bible teacher of the last century. He said, the supreme need in every hour of difficulty and distress is for a fresh vision of God. Seeing Him, all else takes on proper perspective and proportion.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: That's what David's talking about here. I want to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. The supreme need in every hour of difficulty and distress is for a fresh vision of God. When you see Him, everything else will take on proper perspective and proportion.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And so he says, I want to see the beauty of the Lord. Now, we know that God is righteous, He is holy, He is just, He's powerful, He's sovereign, He's true, He's Almighty. But I want to remind you that He is also beautiful. Beautiful. He is lovely, He is desirable, He is good.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So when you gaze upon Him, this is not a stern God who is ready to pounce on you if you don't measure up. And this is a vision of God that some of you have. And I don't know where you got it, but I think you got to change it. You got to go to God's Word to get your vision of who God is instead of some other man you may have known, who maybe weren't good men, or some way you were taught. Get a vision of God that He's not only righteous and holy, all of that is beautiful. But He is beautiful. He is lovely, He is desirable.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Now, as I was meditating on the beauty of Christ, another passage came to mind from the prophet Isaiah, where he says of the Messiah in Isaiah chapter 53. This will be familiar to you. Speaking of the Messiah, he had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. As one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed Him not.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So how do those two passages align? We're supposed to gaze upon His beauty, but Isaiah says, he had no beauty? Men hid their faces from Him? Well, Isaiah is speaking of the incarnate Christ, God in the flesh, who laid aside His glory, His majesty and His beauty, and took on the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, the incarnation. As a man, Jesus took on the commonness and the limitations of our humanity. There was nothing humanly speaking extraordinary about Him. And in fact, in His crucifixion and in His death, the scripture tells us that sinful men marred His physical appearance, so he was not even recognizable. It was hard to look on Him. This is a picture of the crucifixion, the death of the Messiah. Men hid their faces from Him.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: But in His resurrected, ascended humanity, at the right hand of the Father where He sits today and makes intercession for us as our advocate, He is glorious, He is radiant, He is beautiful. Still has his human body. He hasn't discarded that, and one day we will have a glorious body like His, Philippians tells us, but He is glorious and beautiful. Psalm 96 says, splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I've experienced great joy in our part of the country of seeing the wonders of natural creation. We're blessed to live in just a beautiful part of the country, at least some of the year. I love Lake Michigan. Robert and I love sunsets. He likes sunrises more than I do. I like sunsets more than he does, but we ooh and aah over these. I pull out my camera every night around this time, and I've got like thousands of these pictures probably, and each time we ooh and we aah, we say, isn't that magnificent? It never gets old. We love the wildflowers. We love the golden hour when that late afternoon sun is glistening on the lake or the river where we live, and the breeze is blowing the trees, and all these things are beautiful. And they inspire wonder in our hearts. But they all point to the beauty of our Savior.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The truest, deepest wonder is found in Him. In that incomparable beauty that is revealed to eyes of faith in His Word and by His Spirit. Now, we can't see Him physically, but with eyes of faith we do behold the King in His beauty. And we look forward to that day when we will see Him as He is. And in fact, this vision of Christ is a transforming vision.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: They say that you become like the people that you spend time around. And you see some of these couples who've been married 40, 50, 60 years and they really do start to look alike, don't you think in many cases? Some of you are a little scared about that.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: But this is a transforming vision. It's transfiguring. In gazing upon His beauty, in spending time living in His presence and gazing upon His beauty, we are slowly but surely transformed into His likeness. We become like whatever we fix our attention upon.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: And I find that often I'm far too preoccupied with my own appearance or image or beauty or with other things that I consider attractive or desirable. And by gazing upon those things or even upon negative things, if I fix my focus on things that are negative, that are that don't meet the qualifications of Philippians 4:8, they're not pure and holy and good and true. If I fix my attention on those things, I'm going to become more like those things. But if I want to become more like Jesus, I've got to gaze upon His beauty and to be consumed with a vision of His loveliness.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: David said, I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord. Fix my attention on it. It's Colossians 3, fix your sight, your attention on things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. To gaze means to steadfastly look at it. This is not a passing glance at Jesus when I just, you know, run through the spiritual drive-through on my way out to do my day and I quickly grab a proverb or grab a Psalm. Listen, you're not going to become like Jesus doing it that way. And I've done it that way way too many days.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: But you want to become like Jesus, you gaze upon His beauty. I've been gazing upon His beauty in this Psalm. The Lord who is my light, my salvation, my stronghold, my beautiful Savior, Lord of all creation. As we gaze upon Him, as we meditate on who He is, as we fix our attention on Him, that is a transforming vision.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: What does 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18 say? We all with unveiled face, beholding, gazing upon the glory of the Lord, what happens? We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. That says it's a process. It doesn't happen overnight. I would like for this Christ-likeness thing to have happened, you know, back when age 4 when I came to know Jesus. Because I look at myself sometimes and I think, oh, Lord, how do you put up with this? This stuff in my heart, it's so ugly, it's so not like Jesus. What do you do? You keep looking at Jesus.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: You keep fixing your gaze upon Him. Not naval-gazing, not fixing your eyes on yourself. Who was the author many generations ago who said, with for every look you take at yourself and your sin, take ten looks at Christ, your Savior. You gaze upon Him. And then He'll show us what we need to see in and His light, we see light. He will show us what He needs to change. We repent, we confess, we surrender. But we are being transformed little by little into the same image from glory to glory.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: 1st John 3 verse 2 says it a little differently, but same idea. We know that when He appears, we shall be like Him. Because we shall see Him as He is.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Just think about that. I mean, we're sitting here today. We all like each other. We're all behaving in here. But all of us have really cruddy places in our hearts and cruddy ways we talk and things we say that are not appropriate and attitudes and values that stink when we get out of this room, right? We talk about being true women of God, but the fact is so much of the time we really are not acting or thinking or feeling or displaying attitudes of a true woman of God. So how do you get to be that way? You look on the true Son of God. The true man, the only true man. You gaze on His beauty. And one day when we see Him face to face, the process will be complete and we will be like Jesus.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Does that give you hope? Does that give you a vision? Does it give you a purpose for gazing upon, taking time in the presence of the Lord?

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Well, David goes on to say in Psalm 27, one thing I've asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to live there, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to look upon Him, and then one more thing, to inquire or to meditate in His temple, to learn from Him, to search, to seek diligently. David didn't just want to contemplate the beauty of the Lord, he wanted to learn more of His character and His ways. He wanted to seek wisdom and direction from the Lord.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: He prays this often in the Psalms. Just a couple of Psalms earlier, Psalm 25 verse 4, he says, Make me to know your ways, oh Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation, for You I wait all the day long. And again and again through scripture, you see David inquiring of the Lord before he moves forward, before he takes action.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So many things about which we need to be inquiring of the Lord. And he invites us to bring to Him the perplexities, the challenges, the dilemmas that are facing us, unanswered questions, our need for direction, that child for whom no textbook was ever written. Lord, how do I rear this child? I can't do this. Inquiring of the Lord. You live in His presence, you look on His beauty, and then you inquire in His temple, asking Him for wisdom, for difficult places we're going through, for difficult relationships. He is the source of all wisdom. He is the wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus is. And He's a good shepherd, and He knows how to lead His people in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: There are a lot of places where we often turn for light and direction, right? Friends, text a friend, call a friend, dial a friend, books, podcasts, pop culture, our own experience, our own opinions. But to whatever extent these sources are not rooted and grounded in Christ, they will all prove to be faulty guides sooner or later.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: So come into His presence, dwell in Him, seek His face and His will. Make this a way of life. This is what David said. And remember, David is no, you know, this is not an easy season of his life. He's not just pulling away to the cloister of the temple. He is living real life with real enemies and with real battles and real circumstances. And in the midst of that, he says, this is the life, the lifestyle I want to have.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: What are you inquiring of the Lord about? I know I'm praying and needing and seeking Him for wisdom and grace and some specific relationships, for direction, for various challenges and issues in our ministry, inquiring of the Lord. But how often do I run to somebody else first instead of inquiring of Him?

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: David kept this one thing before him at all times. He was purposed, he determined not to be too busy, too distracted, or too overwhelmed to live in God's presence, to look on His beauty, and to learn from Him.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: When he was surrounded by adversaries, opposition, obstacles, challenges, he knew that whatever he needed in that moment, and in every moment for all of eternity, would be found in the presence of God.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Now, you might wonder, how did it all turn out for David? Like, while he's out there seeking the Lord, do the enemies just come in and run him over? Because we think, look, if I don't look out for myself, if I don't fight these battles, I'm going to lose. Well, you read through this Psalm and you find in the first three verses that there's a freedom from fear that David had even in the midst of terrifying circumstances.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: In verse 5, you see that he finds protection in the day of trouble. He finds in the Lord safety and security. Wasn't promising that there would not be any trouble, but that he would have security and safety even in the midst of trouble. You find in verse 6, the beginning of verse 6, that there was victory over his enemies. In the second part of verse 6, that there was thanksgiving and joy. I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. This is the fruit, the outcome of this way of life, this one thing way of life.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Verse 13, you see that he gets faith and hope and courage. Let me read the last two verses of this Psalm. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Here's David who's besieged by his enemies, but he has hope for the future. He says, wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Now David didn't ask for any of these outcomes, freedom from fear, protection, victory, thanksgiving, joy, faith, hope, courage. He just asked for more of God. But when he got more of God, he got all of this and more. Not just in this life, but forever. For just a few Psalms earlier, he says, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Forever.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: You see, choosing that lifestyle now of dwelling in the house of the Lord is what we're going to spend an eternity doing. Gazing upon His beauty, learning the wonder, the never-ending wonder, the never-ending discoveries we will make for all of eternity of His beauty and His wisdom and His grace. And for all of eternity, this is what we will be doing in the house of the Lord. So David is saying, and my prayer for you as well is, let's do that now. Let's start that journey now, living in the house of the Lord. This one thing I will seek after.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: I came across a song that reflects on Psalm 27, on this passage we've been looking at the last couple of days. And it's a little different style of music than perhaps what you're accustomed to. But I want to encourage you as you listen to it for these next couple of minutes to just let it wash over you and let the Lord encourage you to make this one thing that David chose, the one thing that you choose as well.

Song: One thing I ask to dwell in the house of the Lord all my days. To gaze on His goodness and walk in His ways. He will shelter me. He will be my strength. In the triumph that He brings me, I can hold my head high. In His house I shall lift up my voice. I will sing. I will praise the Lord. One thing I ask to dwell in the house of the Lord all my days. To gaze on His goodness and walk in His ways. Amen.

Guest (Female): Today on Revive Our Hearts, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth has been encouraging us to seek one thing only, to seek the Lord himself. She wanted to play you that song, and to find out more about it, take a look at today's transcript at reviveourhearts.com. Revive Our Hearts is all about pointing you to that one thing, to connect you with the Lord through His word each day. And we do that through this radio program and podcast, books and blog articles, conferences and more. One outreach you may not know about is our Women's Ministry Essentials course. I'd love for our Director of Women's Ministry Initiatives, Leslie Bennett, to tell you a little about that.

Guest (Leslie Bennett): Dana, I would love to tell you more about the Women's Ministry Essentials course. It is a seven-week online course specifically designed for new ministry leaders who are starting or rebuilding a women's ministry. And we actually patterned this training after the core values of Revive Our Hearts. It has been such a privilege to take leaders through the biblical foundation and principles of a word-centered, relationally driven ministry that by God's grace will flourish for years to come. You know, you need to start this kind of training with the heart, so that's exactly what we did. The first topic we explored is just simply being the kind of woman that God can use. And from there, we learned from trusted teachers and coaches like yourself and Mary Kassian and Susan Hunt and Kelly Needham, who are all a part of it. They came and talked to us about true womanhood and Titus 2 discipleship and the role of prayer. Ministry leaders loved not just the excellent training that they received, but meeting in a small cohort where they could discuss how to apply the principles that they were learning in their individual contexts and pray together. We were so blessed to serve these women who are hungry for this type of training that equips them to serve for God's glory. And they've told us that it's making a huge impact on the way that they lead. It's exciting to be able to come alongside them on their journey and our team is eager to serve many more leaders in the future through Women's Ministry Essentials.

Guest (Female): Wow. Praise the Lord for the way He's using and growing this outreach. You know, we're able to take this opportunity to encourage and equip women's ministry leaders thanks to Revive Our Hearts listeners like you, who see the value of that kind of ministry. And I've got to say, we couldn't do it without you. When you support Revive Our Hearts with a gift of any amount, we're going to send you Nancy's recently updated book, Dwell, 30 Days with God in the Psalms. This devotional resource gives you an opportunity to slow down in the Lord's presence, to gaze upon His beauty, just like Nancy encouraged you to do today. And we can't wait for you to enjoy it. Now, maybe you're ready to step up in a big way. You don't want to just make a single donation today, but you want to be a regular partner with the Revive Our Hearts ministry. Well, I'd love to personally invite you to join the monthly partner team. These are friends who pray for us and with us on a regular basis. They commit to help us spread the word to others about the mission of Revive Our Hearts, to help women grow in freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. And they also give $30 a month or more. When you become a monthly partner today, we'll not only send you Dwell, but also a welcome collection of resources. If that's something you'd like to do, visit reviveourhearts.com/partners or call us at 1-800-569-5959. When you become a Revive Partner today, we'll not only send you Dwell, but also a welcome collection of resources.

Guest (Female): Tomorrow, I hope you'll join us again. We're continuing our series Summer in the Psalms with Missy Shreder. She's going to be sharing from the beautiful Psalm 16 and calling you to pursue unshakable joy. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

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