Newsletter | September 2022

The phrase “Heaven rules” originates in the book of Daniel chapter 4, and it was spoken by Daniel himself as he tried to explain to a pagan king named Nebuchadnezzar what God was up to when He forced this king to roam the fields and eat grass like a beast for seven years . . .

Years ago I wrote a commentary on the book of Daniel called The Handwriting on the Wall. When I signed that book for friends, I always inscribed the following verse next to my name: Daniel 1:21 (“Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus” [NKJV]).

Sometimes a reader would return and ask me why I selected such a strange verse. And this was my answer. Daniel never stopped . . . never looked back . . . he just continued! He lived to see Cyrus, the Persian leader, conquer Babylon (October of 539 BC), some sixty-six years after Daniel had been taken captive. By this point, Daniel was over eighty years old and had lived a godly life in the public eye for almost seventy of those years. He’d outlasted some of the most powerful kings the world had ever seen. Daniel was able to continue because he knew the God of heaven and he knew his God was in control.

For all of the miraculous works God performed through and for Daniel, it’s important to note that God never delivered Daniel from Babylon. Daniel lived his entire life as an exile in a foreign land—as a hostage in a culture that was hostile to his faith. The message of Daniel, then, is not that God will remove all forms of oppression in our lives. Instead, this account serves as a reminder that when you know Heaven rules, you can find success and remain faithful to Him despite the most trying of circumstances.

And even in the midst of great wickedness, you can be known as a person of great godliness. Daniel lived in a society that was utterly pagan and yet there is not a negative word about him in the entire Bible. When the leaders of Babylon tried to uncover some fault in his life, they found nothing worthy of mention except his faith in God (6:4–5). Daniel was living on earth, but he had set his affections on things above. God in heaven was ruling his life.

Through all the plots and intrigues that regularly lurked in royal courts, through all the jealousy that could only be expected toward a foreigner in high office, through all the envy, conspiracies, and persecutions, Daniel continued to serve his God without wavering. God in heaven was ruling his life on earth!

As Nancy Wolgemuth tells this story she goes out of her way to bring it home to us with illustrations from modern-day people who today are living through their own challenging experiences and affirming that “Heaven rules.”

“Heaven rules” means He is sovereign over everything that touches us. . . . He is ruler over every diagnosis and prognosis, over all incomes and outcomes, over the most daunting challenges as well as the most seemingly trivial details of our lives.

I hope you will do as I have done and read every word and then remind the people you know and love that “Heaven rules.”

Dr. David Jeremiah Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church Founder and host, Turning Point Radio and Television Ministries. 

If you could go back to 2020 to create a time capsule with objects that defined the year, what would you include? My contribution to the collection of hand sanitizer, face masks, and sourdough starters would be a banana-yellow sticky note.

In March 2020, as the world held its breath over news about COVID-19, I grabbed a stack of yellow sticky notes and walked onto my balcony. That week, my mom had been diagnosed with COVID-19, one of the first cases in the county—and we were scared. The more information we had, the more we feared.

I sat down on the balcony, hoping the fresh air would absorb some of my anxiety, and reached for a sticky note. I wrote down a short phrase I’d heard Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth say over and over again, snapped a picture, and posted it on Instagram:

For every fever-fueled, fear-driven, lonely thought that comes to mind, I’m asking the Lord to reorient my world with these two words: Heaven rules.

“The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” —Psalm 103:19 ESV

The thousands of thoughts racing through my head went still with those two words. My mom still had COVID-19, the pandemic would continue—but God was in control. He could be trusted with her health.

Once the Lord calmed my heart about the circumstances my family was facing in Houston, He reminded me that we weren’t the only ones struggling. My thoughts shifted to Michigan, where Nancy and Robert were not only facing the pandemic but a cancer diagnosis. As I began to pray for them, I texted the picture of the sticky note to Nancy. She saved it as the lock screen wallpaper on her phone. I found a spot for it on my refrigerator door. 

A Constant Reminder: Heaven Rules

A few months later, Nancy mentioned the sticky note in one of the final radio programs of 2020. Recording from her makeshift studio—the guest bedroom in her basement, she shared a message which became one of Revive Our Hearts' most-listened-to programs of the year:

I have that reminder in front of me all the time. Robert and I say it to each other after we watch the evening news . . . After we watch it, we look at each other, and we say, “Honey, Heaven rules.”

As we got Robert’s cancer diagnosis, we looked at each other, and we said, “Heaven rules.” Now that’s not all we said. We talked about the realities, about the unknowns, about the what-ifs, about our natural human fears and what might happen . . . But at the end of the day, we keep coming back to “Heaven rules.” This is a biblical phrase. You find it in Daniel chapter four. You find the concept all the way through Scripture. Knowing and believing and reminding yourself of this reality, “Heaven rules,” I’m telling you, is what will keep you from going crazy in a broken, fallen, messed-up world—coronavirus, cancer, anything else—this constant reminder that Heaven rules.

A Message for this Moment

Over two years have passed since I wrote Nancy’s reminder on that sticky note. In the time since then, Nancy finished her book on the topic and is now finalizing conference messages focused on the truth that has anchored her heart to hope over many difficult seasons. It’s truth we need as much now as we did then.

When Nancy finished recording the radio program in May 2020, she said,

I’ll tell you what: we’re never going to move on from the reminder—the assurance—that Heaven rules . . . His presence with us has been so real and so encouraging and exactly what we’ve needed.

Nancy still has the picture of the sticky note as the screensaver on her phone. I still have the original paper version. As fitting as it would be to include in a time capsule for 2020, I’d add copies to 2021 and 2022 as well. “Heaven rules” is a message we need now and to prepare for the days to come.

The Birth of Seek Week 

For decades, every entity of Life Action Ministries— Life Action, Revive Our Hearts, and OneCry—has agreed to set aside a week each year to gather together to seek God in unison. The staff comes from all over the country, and often world, for a time of personal and corporate revival. We call it Seek Week. As a ministry dedicated to revival, we are passionate about modeling the message we’re sharing with the world.

From its start, Life Action Ministries had a vision to see local churches take extended time to seek the Lord, to pause their activities and turn their hearts to God for a time of restoration, renewal, and revival. Our founder, Del Fehsenfeld Jr., stopped to wonder how we could be asking churches to do that if the ministry itself wasn’t taking time to do the same. As a result, Seek Week was implemented.

Every year, for the past fifty years, we have set aside extended time to seek the Lord, scaling back our activities significantly. We unite in asking God to meet with us first before we go forth to minister to others. We realize there’s power in modeling what we are asking of others. —Byron Paulus, CEO-Emeritus of Life Action Ministries

Behind the Scenes 

Revive Our Hearts believes in calling women to revival, and it’s a message that has been strongly impressed on Nancy’s heart.

My prayer has been that God will send a widespread revival among His people in our day. —Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

We place great emphasis on a personal devotional life, of seeking God on a daily basis and turning our focus to Him in every area of life. Before we can help women experience this life of thriving in Christ, we know revival has to begin in the hearts of our own staff.

“You who seek God, let your hearts revive.” —Psalm 69:32 ESV

At Seek Week every year, our team comes together alongside the rest of Life Action Ministries to worship, humble our hearts, confess any areas we need to repent of sin, and ask the Lord to work in our personal lives and ministry. We desire to be an example of what we’re praying for in the lives of women around the world. This time of worship and discernment sets the course of our ministry for the next year and unites each facet of Life Action Ministries in a deeper way. As Byron notes, when God “restores our vertical relationship with Him, out of that flows all the horizontal outcomes.”

As our ministry has grown and become dispersed domestically and globally, Seek Week remains a cherished oasis of relational collectivity and connection: a time when we look forward to seeing everyone face to face while celebrating and enjoying the unity, vibrancy, and diversity of our staff and their families.

—Del Fehsenfeld III, Pastoral Services Director of Life Action Ministries

Revive Our Hearts is supported through the gifts of generous friends like you. Because we are confident you share our desire to see women set free in Christ, we want you to know that when you give to the ministry, your donation doesn’t just stay here. We look for like-minded ministries to give it to.

A Life Built on Christ, the Chief Cornerstone 

As a little girl, Jennifer Smith’s family teased her: “You were a mistake.” The sentence stuck in her heart. She began to not only believe that God makes mistakes; she thought she was one of them. When she was ten, Jennifer was abused by a Sunday school teacher. At eleven, she heard that drug use would make her feel better. At fifteen, she left home. By eighteen, she was a felon, trapped in a cycle few escape.

But Heaven rules.

At twenty-two years old, Jennifer became an inmate at a maximum security unit for women. She didn’t know Christ, but He knew her. He had placed her in McPherson Prison on purpose, knowing that one day she would refer to it as the best thing that could have happened to her.

On December 21, 2000, Jennifer walked into her cell and fell on her face before the living God. She said that if He could use her life and salvage what was left, it was His.

On May 31, 2011, when Jennifer was released from prison, she was a woman transformed by the gospel. God began providing opportunities for her to serve others, and the revival that started in her heart in cell 210B couldn’t be contained.

As Jennifer began casting a vision for what would become Cornerstone Transition Home, Revive Our Hearts came alongside her, providing prayer and financial support. Without a $25,000 gift from ROH, Cornerstone would not have been able to open their doors on December 12, 2016. Since then, Cornerstone has helped women transition out of prison and back into society. While residents at Cornerstone, women receive help with employment, family unification, and practical support in living a life surrendered to Christ.

In the past year, Cornerstone has expanded! In a recent episode of Grounded, Jennifer shared some of the new ways God is growing their ministry and transforming the entire community: one woman at a time. Scan the QR code to watch Jennifer’s interview with Erin Davis on Grounded, and stay tuned for a special new video about Cornerstone that will air at True Woman ’22. 

Each Bag Tells a Story 

It started with one woman.

The Revive Our Hearts team first met Suria in 2019 on a trip to South Africa. Her passion to see women thrive in Christ was obvious—and infectious. Though she was already busy serving others, Suria took on the role of Revive Our Hearts Ambassador and started calling women in South Africa to experience freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

Her desire to see women set free from spiritual bondage fueled Suria’s passion to see those experiencing literal slavery emancipated. She introduced the Revive Our Hearts team to the work of Azaria Sewing, a ministry that employs women who are vulnerable to prostitution and human trafficking, providing sustainable income for them and their families.

Every woman attending True Woman ’22 in Indianapolis will be gifted a bag sewn by a woman employed by Azaria Sewing. Each woman is precious in the sight of God and worthy to experience the freedom that comes through knowing and embracing His Word. Upon completion, each bag was transported more than eight thousand miles, tucked into the suitcases of a variety of individuals and ministries. Stitched into the fabric of each one are the hopes, fears, triumphs, and tragedies of a sister in Christ whose life showcases the beautiful truth that Heaven rules. 

Changing Lives in a "Closed" Country 

Vietnam, one of the few remaining communist countries in the world, is a place of recent focus for our ministry. In this “closed” country of 97 million people, Protestants make up less than 1 percent of the population. Despite this environment hostile to the gospel, women there are hungry to know Christ and the Word of God. With the blessing of radio and digital technologies, the gospel is making its way into Vietnam with over three hundred thousand listening and viewing content on mobile devices.

Earlier this year, Revive Our Hearts initiated a partnership that is translating 260 of Nancy’s teaching programs—on revival, biblical womanhood, and women of the Bible—into Vietnamese. A majority of these programs have already been translated and require little adaptation. In addition, seventeen videos have also been subtitled and will be distributed as all of this content is delivered to listeners in the coming months.

What makes this outreach unique is that while sound Bible teaching for Vietnamese listeners exists, biblical teaching content for women by a woman teacher has been nonexistent. Most of those listening via digital devices are women, so Revive Our Hearts is meeting that need by providing content for them.

As this partnership continues to develop, pray that God will exponentially expand the impact of this teaching and do what only He can—change many lives for His glory. When you support Revive Our Hearts through prayer and giving, you’re helping the women of Vietnam and beyond experience freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

The humble will see it and rejoice. You who seek God, take heart! —Psalm 69:32

The Revive Our Hearts South Africa team receives many requests from women asking how they can get involved in what God is doing through the ministry. My first response is usually to say:

• Listen to the podcasts.
• Sign up for the WhatsApp groups and monthly newsletter.
• Read our books.

While I was having that conversation with a woman recently, I felt a new answer rise to the surface of my heart. “The first step to becoming involved is to say, ‘Revive my heart,’” I answered.

We can easily miss the meaning of the name Revive Our Hearts and just see it as the name of the ministry. We can easily share and like all the resources and not have it change our own lives. However, when you and I pray, “Lord, revive my heart,” we become part of a group of tens of thousands of women all over the world that call themselves Revive Our Hearts. Why not pray that simple prayer right now?

Lord, revive my heart. Amen.