Are You Displaying God's Glory?

Dannah Gresh: Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth explains why it’s so important to embrace our God-given design as women.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: It’s not about us. It’s not about women. It’s about Christ, and the goal is to exalt Him to His rightful place as Lord in our hearts, in our churches, and in this world.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, coauthor of True Woman 101, for Thursday, April 21, 2022. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Yesterday, Nancy gave us some important background on a document called the True Woman Manifesto. We learned why we need a manifesto in the first place. If you missed that program, you can hear it at ReviveOurHearts.com. That’s also where you can read the Manifesto for yourself.

Well, Nancy continues to describe this important document in the series, “Foundations of The True Woman Manifesto.”

Nancy: The True Woman Manifesto, which we’re walking through on Revive Our Hearts, was first released in October of 2008 at the True Woman Conference in Chicago. I see somebody waving her white hankie here. We had white flags in that conference just as a sign of our surrender to the Lord, and here now, months and months later, some of you are still carrying those—just a symbol of the fact that we want to be women who say, “Yes, Lord.”

Well, since that first conference and the release of the True Woman Manifesto, it’s been so encouraging to see women all across the country and in other parts of the world affirming this statement and sharing it with others in local churches, in small groups, in retreat settings.

We’re taking time to walk through the True Woman Manifesto point by point. I want to encourage you to follow along with us. You can print out a PDF of the Manifesto from ReviveOurHearts.com or you can order a pack of brochures of the True Woman Manifesto from Revive Our Hearts. I’m holding one in my hand. I want to encourage you to have that in front of you in some printed way so that you can follow along as I teach point by point.

I want to begin today with the brief opening statement that you find. If you have the PDF, it’s at the top of the Manifesto. If you have the brochure, it’s on the front of the brochure. It’s a description of what this document is and the ultimate goal of the True Woman Manifesto.

It says that the "True Woman Manifesto is a personal and corporate declaration of belief, consecration, and prayerful intent."

Now, let me just unpack that for a moment. It’s a declaration. The world says, “You can believe whatever you want to believe as a Christian as long as you don’t declare it to others.” But we’re saying these are not just privately held beliefs. These are things we believe so strongly that we are willing to make a declaration of these things. We’re not afraid to declare what we believe.

There’s a need for boldness today. We’re being so pushed into a corner as Bible-believing Christians, and some Christians are becoming very timid. This is a call to say, as women, “We want others to know where we stand.” We want to declare it graciously and winsomely. We’re not trying to spark wars, but we do want to declare what we believe.

It’s a personal declaration. Each point in the Manifesto is intended to apply to us individually. It’s a call for each of us to affirm each of these points in our own hearts and to live them out in our own lives.

But not only is it a personal declaration, it’s also a corporate declaration. This is an opportunity for us to link arms with other women who are like-minded and like-hearted, who are part of this movement of true women that God is raising up across this country and around the world. It’s not a movement where we’re going to be marching in the streets or putting forth legislation. It’s a movement of women who will be moving forth, God-willing, on our knees, and to achieve God’s kingdom purposes, not our own, in this world.

It’s a declaration, personal and corporate, of belief. That’s an important word. The True Woman Manifesto states things that we hold to be objective truth. That’s in contrast to post-modernism where everyone has his own truth, and there is no such thing as absolute truth as our world thinks today. The reason we put forth this declaration is that what we believe is vital, and we want to be clear about what we believe.

The reason what we believe is so vital is because it determines how we live. Everyone, as we said in the last session, is living their life based on some creed, and that’s why we want to make sure we have the right creed, the right beliefs, so that our lives will be based on the firm foundation of the truth of God’s Word.

In this manifesto, we’ve tried to stick with beliefs that are basic beliefs. The manifesto addresses issues where I believe the Scripture is clear and where those who are committed to the authority can agree. We’ve tried to stay away from secondary things where we could have legitimate basis for disagreement.

So this is a personal and corporate declaration of belief, but it’s also a declaration of our consecration and prayerful intent. This document is not just an academic exercise. It requires a response. It’s not enough to just affirm this or give intellectual assent to it. It’s intended to affect the way that we live. It calls for a personal commitment, personal consecration of our lives to these truths that we say we believe.

So the challenge here is not just to read it, not just to agree with it intellectually, but to prayerfully act on it, to let it impact your life, and to let it change others’ lives through you.

Also on the front of the document, we have a brief statement about the ultimate purpose or goal of this declaration. Why are we trying to get thousands of women to affirm the True Woman Manifesto? Well, the introductory statement says that this is:

A personal and corporate declaration of belief to the end [for the purpose] that Christ may be exalted and the glory and redeeming love of God may be displayed throughout the whole earth.

That Christ may be exalted, that’s the goal, that’s the purpose. Ultimately this creed, this manifesto, it’s not about us. It’s not about women. It’s about Christ, and the goal is to exalt Him to His rightful place as Lord in our hearts, in our churches, and in this world.

As Colossians 1, verse 18 says,

He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent.

God has highly exalted Him. The goal of this manifesto, the goal of this ministry, and it should be the goal of your life, is to the end that Christ may be exalted.

So the goal of this manifesto is that Christ may be exalted, and that the glory and redeeming love of God may be displayed throughout the whole earth. We want people to see the glory of God. We want them to see the redeeming love of Christ. We want them to know the gospel and to be drawn to Christ.

We have to display this gospel. We’re not supposed to be living in this little holy huddle, just keeping this to ourselves. We’ve been blessed with the gospel. We’ve been blessed with Christ and His glory and His redeeming love so that we can be a blessing to others, so that the glory and redeeming love of God can be displayed—felt, realized, experienced—throughout the whole world.

As we’ve said, this True Woman Manifesto was first released in October of 2008 in Chicago, and we had an official ceremony the closing session of that conference. Some of you were there, and if you were, you will probably never forget that moment as we read and affirmed the True Woman Manifesto. As we start into this series, walking through the Manifesto, I want to share a portion of that ceremony with you.

I was joined on the platform by nearly twenty women, some of them were women who had been speakers at the conference, others the organizers and administrative team for the conference, and one after another read aloud through the statements of belief and affirmation that are contained in the Manifesto. Then 6,000 women joined together in affirming those fifteen “we will” statements by saying in response to each one, “Yes, Lord.”

It was a holy moment, and I would like to share some excerpts from that ceremony with you now and invite you to join in, and as you listen, don’t just spectate. Don’t just listen with your ears, but listen with your heart, and join in with these women who were there that day in saying in your heart, “Yes, Lord, I want to be Your true woman.”

Kim: We believe that God is the sovereign Lord of the universe and the Creator of life, and that He created all things, and that all cre­ated things exist for His pleasure and to bring Him glory.

Judy: We believe that the creation of humanity as male and female was a purposeful and magnificent part of God’s wise plan, and that men and women were designed to reflect the image of God in complementary and distinct ways.

Kristyn: We believe that sin has separated every human being from God and made us incapable of reflecting His image as we were created to do. Our only hope of restoration and salva­tion is found in repenting of our sin and trusting in Christ who lived a sinless life, died in our place, and was raised from the dead.

Dannah: We realize that we live in a culture that does not recognize God’s right to rule, does not accept Scripture as the pattern for life, and is experiencing the consequences of abandoning God’s design for men and women.

Mary: We believe that Christ is redeeming this sinful world and making all things new, and that His followers are called to share in His redemptive purposes as they seek, by God’s empowerment, to transform every aspect of human life that has been marred and ruined by sin.

Alice: As Christian women, we desire to honor God by living counter-cultural lives that reflect the beauty of Christ and His gospel to our world.

Monica: And to that end, we affirm that Scripture is God’s authoritative means of instructing us in His ways, and it reveals His holy pattern for our womanhood, our character, our priorities, and our various roles, responsi­bilities, and relationships.

Susan: We glorify God and experience His blessing when we accept and joyfully embrace His created design, function, and order for our lives.

Fern: As redeemed sinners, we cannot live out the beauty of biblical womanhood apart from the sanctifying work of the gospel and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Jennifer: Men and women are both created in the image of God and are equal in value and dignity, but they have distinct roles and functions in the home and in the church.

Sue: We are called  as women to affirm and encourage men as they seek to express godly masculinity, and to honor and support God-ordained male leadership in the home and in the church.

Sarah: Marriage, as created by God, is a sacred, binding, lifelong covenant between one man and one woman.

Devi: When we respond humbly to the male leadership in our homes and our churches, we demonstrate a noble submission to authority just like Christ’s submission to God His Father.

Karen: Selfish insistence on personal rights is contrary to the spirit of Christ who humbled Himself, took on the form of a servant, and laid down His life for us.

Marlae: Human life is precious to God and is to be valued and pro­tected, from the point of conception until rightful death.

Holly: Children are a blessing from God. Women are uniquely designed to be bearers and nurturers of life, whether it be their own biological or adopted children, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, or any other children in their sphere of influence.

Carolyn: God’s plan for gender is wider than marriage. All women, whether married or single, are to model femininity in their various relationships, by exhibiting a distinctive modesty, responsiveness, and gentleness of spirit.

Rhona: Suffering is an inevitable reality in a fallen world; at times we will be called to suffer for doing what is good—looking to heavenly reward rather than earthly comfort—for the sake of the gospel and the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom.

Elsa: Mature Christian women have a responsibility to leave a legacy of faith, by discipling younger women in the Word and ways of God and modeling for the next generation lives of fruitful femininity.

Nancy: Now, I want to invite you to stand with me. Again, I’m not asking you to say something that is not in your heart. In fact, I don’t want you to say something that is not in your heart. Scripture has a lot to say about honoring Him with our lips, but our hearts are not there. But if it is in your heart, as I read these statements, I want you to just say after each one, “Yes, Lord.”

And, Oh, Lord, we stand as a group of woman who’ve been redeemed by the grace and love and the blood of Jesus Christ. You gave Your life for us, and now You’re calling us, perhaps in a fresh way, to be willing to lay down our lives for You.

Oh Lord, would You give grace and courage and faith, and I just want to confess, some of these women probably think I am just courageous and bold, I’m not. I’m a coward. I don’t like being in the battle many times, but, Oh Lord, we stand, and we just say, “Strengthen us,” and by Your grace, we will say, “Yes, Lord.” For Jesus’ sake, and for the sake of Your great kingdom, amen.

Believing the above, we declare our desire and intent to be “true women” of God. We consecrate ourselves to fulfill His calling and purposes for our lives. By His grace and in humble dependence on His power, we will—now, as I read each of these, if it’s in your heart to affirm this, then I just want you to say with courage and conviction, “Yes, Lord.”

• We will seek to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will gladly yield control of our lives to Christ as Lord. We will say “Yes, Lord” to the Word and the will of God. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will be women of the Word, seeking to grow in our knowledge of Scripture and to live in accord with sound doctrine in every area of our lives. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will nurture our fellowship and communion with God through prayer, in praise, thanksgiving, confession, intercession, and supplication. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will embrace and express our unique design and calling as women with humility, gratitude, faith, and joy. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will seek to glorify God by cultivating such virtues as purity, modesty, submission, meekness, and love. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will show proper respect to both men and women, created in the image of God, esteeming others as better than ourselves, seeking to build them up, and putting off bitterness, anger, and evil speaking. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will be faithfully engaged in our local church, submitting ourselves to our spiritual leaders, growing in the context of the community of faith, and using the gifts He has given us to serve others, to build up the Body of Christ, and to fulfill His redemptive purposes in our world. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will seek to establish homes that manifest the love, grace, beauty, and order of God, that provide a climate conducive to nurturing life, and that extend Christian hospitality to those outside the walls of our homes. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will honor the sacredness, purity, and permanence of the marriage covenant—whether ours or others’. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will receive children as a blessing from the Lord, seeking to train them to love and follow Christ and to consecrate their lives for the sake of His gospel and Kingdom. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will live out the mandate of Titus 2—as older women, modeling godliness and training younger women to be pleasing to God in every respect; as younger women, receiving instruction with meekness and humility and aspiring to become mature women of God who in turn will train the next generation. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will seek opportunities to share the gospel of Christ with unbelievers. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will reflect God’s heart for those who are poor, infirm, oppressed, widows, orphans, and prisoners, by reaching out to minister to their practical and spiritual needs in the name of Christ. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)
• We will pray for a movement of revival and reformation among God’s people that will result in the advancement of the Kingdom and gospel of Christ among all nations. (Ladies respond: “Yes, Lord.”)

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth speaking to the audience who gathered at the momentous True Woman ’08 conference. One of the important things to come out of that conference was the True Woman Manifesto. We’ve been hearing portions of that document today. The program is part of a series called, "Foundations of the True Woman Manifesto."

I doubt all the women gathered there at True Woman ’08 realized what a big deal this was going to be, but God used that historic gathering to revive women’s hearts, and the reverberations of that conference are still being felt today.

Nancy: That's right, Dannah. Among other things, that conference sparked the whole Spanish language ministry of Revive Our Hearts, something we had no way of knowing at the time. 

Dannah: Seven more True Woman conferences followed. Now we’re gearing up for True Woman ’22 this September in Indianapolis. Will you be joining us? We have a full list of great speakers who will all be sharing messages around the theme, Heaven Rules. 

It’s easy to let our fears and worries take over our lives, especially in this crazy world we’re living in. But we want this conference to be a reminder to you that God is in control, and you can take comfort in that. You can sign up or find out more information about the conference at ReviveOurHearts.com. Be sure to register by the end of the day on April 30 to take advantage of the early pricing deadline!

Thanks be to God for all He has done through these conferences and years of sharing the truth with women around the world. And thanks, too, to all the listeners who support Revive Our Hearts financially, which has helped make everything possible. If you’d like to support what God is doing through this ministry with a donation, we’d like to send you a copy of A 30-Day Journey through the True Woman Manifesto. 

It’s our way to say thanks when you give any amount. And this resource, along with a brochure explaining more about the Manifesto, will equip you to apply these concepts to your life in a personal and practical way. Visit ReviveOurHearts.com to give, or call 1-800-569-5959. Be sure to ask for A 30-Day Journey through the True Woman Manifesto.

What’s the most important thing about you? The answer may surprise you. Nancy will talk about it tomorrow. Please be back for Revive our Hearts. 

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth wants to help women display God’s glory in uniquely feminine ways by calling you to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

All Scripture is taken from the ESV.

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