A Summer of Intentionality

Check out Revive Our Hearts podcasts:

Expect Something Beautiful

Grounded

The Deep Well

Seeking Him

True Girl

 

Dannah Gresh: Hey there, my friend Erin Davis wants to know: do you talk to the Lord about everything? 

Erin Davis: Is your prayer life honest? Do you tell God what you really fear, what you really long for, what your heart most craves? You can, you know.

Dannah: Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m Dannah Gresh, and I’m so glad you’re here. 

Do you have any road trips planned for the rest of the summer? My guess is you’ve probably started to think about what kinds of things you’ll need to pack. Maybe you’ve even made a list so you don’t forget anything.

Now, most of the time, I’m a last minute packer. But later this month, I’m heading out for an adventure Bob we have been planning for months. I’m going on an Alaskan cruise, friend! And it’s been a packing learning curve, so I’ve been at it for weeks. Apparently, it’s gonna rain a lot—bummer—so I needed to buy and anorak. No, that’s not a biblical word. It’s a light, rain coat made for layering, and it slips over your head. Anyway, I’ve got my dramamine for the whale watching day, borrowed my moms binoculars to see some Bald Eagles, and I even have some compression bags to be able to pack in more stuff! 

I just have one thing to figure out. You know what it is? What to listen to on my airpods on the long plane ride to the West Coast. You see, I always like to use travel time—whether it’s a road trip or a plane flight—to fill my heart with good truth.

So, here’s a question for you: once you’re packed up and ready for your summer travels, what are you gonna to listen to? I want to make that decision a little easier for you.

Whether you’re driving, hopping on a plane, going for a morning run, or watching your kids by the pool, the Revive Our Hearts podcast family has something for everyone this summer. Today is going to be like a tasting party. I want to offer you a bite-sized morsel of some of our different podcasts. Sort of like road trip snacks!

If you’re like me, it can be easy for our minds to go on autopilot on vacation or anytime really when my schedule gets changed. My habits suffer. Sometimes it’s just making the most of the longer days and sunny weather that distracts me from good spiritual discipline. Let’s not let that happen. You and I, we’re gonna be intentional with our faith and pursue Jesus this summer. 

Here's our first spiritual snack of the day: Expect Something Beautiful, with Laura Booz. On this podcast Laura tells intriguing stories to apply God’s Word to our everyday lives. And I might say, she is one of the world’s best story tellers! Today we’re going to hear a clip from an episode where she talks about two words to give us a godly perspective. Here’s Laura.

Laura Booz: When I was on the cross country team in high school, we trained hard. We ran hills, meaning: we ran up a hill, turned around, ran down that hill, turned around and ran back up that hill for an hour. We lifted weights, trained cardio, ran sprints, ran distances three times the distance of the race, stretched, did push-ups, did burpees, did all kinds of drills that would help us have just the right technique when we were running. 

But the advice we heard from our coach most often had nothing to do with our feet, our legs, our hearts, or our arms. Surprisingly, it had to do with our eyes. It consisted of two words that he would yell when we needed to hear them most. 

Sure enough, we’d be in the middle of a three-mile race, about to face the steepest hill on the course, or maybe it would be in the middle of a long stretch of running in the blazing sun, or on a particularly rocky trail in the middle of the woods, or sprinting to the finish line. Our coach would somehow be on the sideline shouting those two words. I can hear him to this day. He’d yell, “Look up!” 

Every time those words took me by surprise, because without realizing it, I had already tucked my chin and was looking down at the ground under my feet. But my coach would yell, “Look up!” And when I took his advice, I could anticipate what was coming, so I wouldn’t trip or fall down. 

I could see past my current obstacle to maybe a downhill or a stretch of running that would refresh my body. I could see the runner in front of me and try to catch up with her, keep pace with her. And there were always those wonderful moments when I looked up and saw the finish line. So, I would run as hard as I could until I crossed it. 

A runner’s eyes are just as important as her arms, her legs, her heart. That’s important for us to know because you and I are on a cross country team of sorts. We are running in the race of a lifetime, a race that is set before us by God Himself. 

When you open your Bible to Hebrews 12, you’ll read about this race and the intense training it requires. It’s like this: God is our coach, and He wants us to run our best. This means He’s going to be training us, disciplining us. 

When you’re reading through this chapter, don’t miss the fact that first and foremost we need to attend to our eyes. You can see if for yourself in the first two verses of Hebrews 12. The coach opens up with these words, 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do you hear it? Do you hear the cheer? Look up! And when you do, you’ll notice that Jesus finished His race by looking up. He looked up at the joy set before Him, and we finish our race by looking up at the joy set before us, by looking to Jesus. 

In your race of faith, are you looking at the ground beneath your feet? As you pursue good over evil, are you just trudging along without any real hope? As you live for God’s glory over living for man’s glory, are you starting to feel weighed down? Are you weary? You’re not alone. We all feel discouraged from time to time. 

Perhaps Hebrews 12 is in our Bibles for this very reason: that we would cheer one another on in our race of faith; to give one another a dose of truth that would fill our lungs with a fresh breath of air and energize us to keep going.

Today, I’m here joining with the great cloud of witnesses along the sidelines of your life, shouting, “Look up!” Look up at your Savior who loves, at your Savior who has marked your race out for you and will take such good care of you along the way. There is no twist or turn, no hill or valley, that He has not ordained for you. Nor is there a hill or a valley that He’s not already run for you. He started your race, and He will see to it that you will finish, because He’ll be with you before and behind and all around you, every step of the way. 

You just lift your eyes, and keep running toward Him. We have a race set before us, Jesus leads the way. Look up; let’s go!

Dannah: We’re getting a taste of all the different options in the Revive Our Hearts podcast family today. That was Laura Booz giving some great encouragement from on Expect Something Beautiful. When you check out our other podcasts, I think you’ll find several more “coaches” encouraging you to look up and keep your focus on Christ. 

In fact, have you heard or seen our videocast and podcast Grounded? I co-host that along with my dear friends Portia Collins and Erin Davis. Every episode is full of godly wisdom from a variety of guests as we aim to bring you hope and perspective on different topics. 

One guest we loved hearing from was Donald Whitney. He offered some great thoughts about spiritual disciplines. Let’s listen to part of that conversation he had with Erin Davis on growing in godliness. 

Erin: Okay, spiritual disciplines, I want to jump just right into it. That phrase is not something we see in Scripture. So, can you give us a good definition of that idea, that term, spiritual disciplines?

Don Whitney: Well, in 1 Timothy 4:7, in translation, I prefer the the New American Standard, it says, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” So, if your purpose is godliness, or Christ-likeness, and it is, and if you're indwelled by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit makes holiness your purpose, then the God-given path to that is, it says, “Discipline yourself, for the purpose of godliness.” 

So historically, the practical ways we do that and obey that verse have been called the spiritual disciplines, the practices that promote godliness. So, in summary, it's those habits and practices found in the Bible by command, example, or principle that the people of God have practiced since Bible times. These are the ways by which we experience God and we grow in godliness. Some of those disciplines are personal, for example, private Bible intake, private prayer. Some of those in the Bible are interpersonal, praying with the church, worshiping with the church, hearing the Word of God with the church.

And so, when we submit the Scripture in God's ways, then those practices found in the Bible are the ones that we want to pursue in terms of growth and grace and intimacy with God. So the intake of the Word of God in all forms—hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, meditating on applying—those are the primary disciplines of hearing from God. 

Second, we would be responding to that through prayer. So personal prayer, interpersonal prayer, those are the two foundational ones, and all the others grow out of those two. Those two are the quality control on all the other spiritual disciplines. But the others would include things like worship, both private and public worship, serving, fasting, journaling, silence and solitude, for example. Some would say that's an occasion to practice other spiritual disciplines, godly learning. Koinonia on the public side, participating in the Lord's Table, we're commanded to do that. But we don't do that alone. We do that with other Christians. 

And so, these are the kinds of things. Evangelism is one. These are the kinds of practices found in the Bible that Christians historically have practiced to experience God and to grow in grace.

Erin: In your book, you describe a woman who was very busy with Christian activity, but she didn't know how to read her Bible and pray. I think she confessed that to your wife. And you described her as a mile wide and an inch deep. I've been praying for the women who watched Grounded or listened to the podcast. And when I'm praying, I'm praying for more of us. But more than that, I'm praying for us to have depth. Not more Christian activity, necessarily, but a real depth of faith in the year to come. Spiritual disciplines I really think are the secret to depth. How do spiritual disciplines allow us to grow deeper roots in Jesus?

Donald: Well, these are the God-given means by which we experience Him and grow in grace. So, this is a crazy illustration, but I think it sticks. I wouldn't know what it was like to get hit by a semi. Where would I go to find out? I could say, okay, I'm going to go to my church building and take hold of the pulpit because I believe when I get hit by that truck, it's going to be a spiritual experience. Well, our churches are devoted to spiritual experiences. So I'm going to take hold of the pulpit and say, “Okay, God, hit me with that truck. I'm ready.” What's gonna happen? Nothing. Trucks don't run in your church building. If I want to get hit by a semi, where do I go to find out? You know, I-65. That's where the trucks run. Right? All right, you want to get hit by the truck of God's Spirit. Don't expect Him to take a dirt road to you.

Praise God. Sometimes he does meet us in unexpected ways in unexpected places, but the most predictable ways we can expect to encounter Him are on the highways He has built to Himself. And what are those, we call them the spiritual disciplines, those things we do alone, that are found in Scripture: private prayer, private intake of the Word, those that are found that we do together, corporate worship, the Lord's Table, hearing the word preached, fellowship with His people, real koinonia—talking about God and things of God. These are the means God uses to grow us which is back to where your questions started. This is how we experience God, this is how He grows us is in the context of these God-given practices found in the Bible. 

Dannah: How are you encountering—or how might you encounter—the Lord this summer? That’s some good insight from Dr. Donald Whitney. You know, he mentioned prayer as one of the spiritual disciplines. And I wonder, Are you transparent in your prayer life? Are you willing to surrender our deepest longings to Jesus?

My friend Erin talks about this in the podcast, The Deep Well with Erin Davis. She taught a season called “Whispers: The Power of a Word Softly Spoken.” In one episode, she takes us to the story of Leah in the pages of Scripture. 

We’re about to hear a clip of that, but to get the full context of Leah’s story, you might want to open your Bible to Genesis chapter 29 and read verses 16–35. Maybe even pause right now and do that, or come back to it. 

Erin’s going to remind us where we find our ultimate comfort when we long for security. She’ll start off by reading from a passage in the New Testament.

Erin: Let me read you John 10:27–30. 

My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.

He’s telling us, “You’re double-protected, guys. You’re in my hands, and nobody can take you out of there, not even yourself. And you’re in the Father’s hands, and nobody can rip you from His hands, either.”

These are the things that Leah whispered as she rocked those baby boys. “Now my husband will love me. God has seen that I am hated. Now Jacob will be attached to me.” I can picture her whispering that into little ears that might have looked a lot like the ears of the husband who didn’t choose her. Leah whispered the things her heart most craved, her deepest longings.

I guess my question is, do you? Is your prayer life honest? Do you tell God what you really fear, what you really long for, what your heart most craves? You can, you know.

Listen to Psalm 38:9. 

O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from You. 

I find the King James Version of that verse so comforting: “Lord, all my desire is before Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee.”

I read Leah’s story and think, That’s the heart of it. We had to have the backdrop to see it. We needed to know that she wasn’t as pretty as her sister, or as loved, in order to be amazed that the Lord heard her deepest longings, and He cared about them when nobody else did.

Knowing that—knowing that God was listening and watching and attentive to those deep aches in her heart—slowly but surely, that transformed who Leah was.

In verse 35 we get one final peek into the whispers of Leah. 

And she conceived again and bore a son and said, ‘This time I will praise the Lord.’ Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she ceased bearing.

As she rocked the baby of the family, her desires had clearly shifted. The attention of her husband was no longer her biggest concern. I’m sure she still longed for him to look at her in the way that men who are madly in love with their wives look. But that wasn’t what she was whispering about. Nor was it the understanding of her sister, although I’m sure she wanted to be connected to her sister. But her longings had changed. She just wanted to use her life to praise God. That’s what she said! She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.”

Over time, our longings change. Now, some of that just happens with age. Our biggest, shiniest dreams tend to lose their luster. But I think it can be a lot deeper than that. When we surrender our longings to the Lord, He changes the longings, because He changes us.

Listen to Psalm 37:3-4. 

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. 

That’s verse 3. I feel like that’s what Leah did. Though wracked with deep longings and very real disappointments, she stayed put, faithful to Jacob, faithful to her children, faithful to Yahweh. Then verse 4 of Psalm 37 says, 

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

When I was a brand-new Christian as a fifteen-year-old girl, I loved this verse. I put it on my binders for school, I hung it up on the mirror in my bathroom. It was “my” verse. But I thought it meant one thing, that if I loved Jesus, if I really loved Jesus, that He was going to grant me my deepest longings.

But either this passage isn’t true, or that isn’t what it means, because there will always be things that we desire this side of heaven. A lot of them are really good things—things like a husband or a certain opportunity or a healed body or world peace or peace in a certain relationship or . . . we could go on forever. But, as Leah discovered, and as I know now after twenty-five years of walking with the Lord, God is not a genie. Even if we really, really love Him, and even if He is our delight, and even if we serve Him with our days, every day of our lives, He’s not in the business of granting our every wish.

So what does that psalm mean? I think it means that when God is our delight, our deepest desires shift.

Lately, I’ve been saying a lot and been really drawn to the idea that whatever we delight in we are devoted to. When we delight in Jesus, we are devoted to Him; and when we are devoted to Him, our wants align with His wants.

I’m grateful Leah’s story is preserved in Scripture for us, because through her story, we get to see that this progression is true. As Leah kept whispering her longings to the Lord, as she kept surrendering them, He changed her. She wanted the things of this world—even really good things, like a loving husband and a sister who’s a friend—she wanted those things less and less, and she wanted her life to give God glory more and more.

God knows what you want. God knows what you need. Whatever you are longing for, I want you to take it to Jesus, even if you can only whisper it.

Dannah: Amen. Good words from my friend Erin Davis. You can hear the rest of that episode of The Deep Well podcast on ReviveOurHearts.com or on the Revive Our Hearts app. 

In case you missed it, today we’re listening to clips from different Revive Our Hearts podcasts. Maybe you’re familiar with this one, Revive Our Hearts Weekend, or the Revive Our Hearts weekday podcast, but did you know we have several others? They make up what we call the Revive Our Hearts podcast family. And I think you’ll find one of them (or maybe even all!) to be just what you need to hear this summer. 

Next up today is the Seeking Him with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth podcast. Is your summer marked by gratitude? As we go about our daily lives, Nancy says we have two ways we can respond to the circumstances around us. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Gratitude matters. Few things are more becoming in a child of God than a grateful spirit. And conversely, probably nothing makes a person more unattractive than the absence of gratefulness.

I’ve found that in every difficult circumstance, I can respond in one of two ways: I can whine, or I can worship.

Whining is a lot easier—it's natural—but God uses worship as a way for us to bless Him and for Him to bless us. And we can’t worship without giving thanks. 

When we choose the pathway of worship and thanksgiving, especially in the midst of painful circumstances, a sweet radiance issues from our lives.

But when we give in to whining, murmuring, and complaining, we end up on a destructive slide that ultimately leads to bitterness and broken relationships.

Will you choose to be a whiner or a worshiper today?

Dannah: That’s a good question for us to consider from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. She offers more tidbits of wisdom and thoughtful questions on her daily, one-minute podcast, Seeking Him. 

Alright, so far we’ve talked about keeping our eyes on Christ, practicing spiritual disciplines, praying honestly, and choosing to worship. To wrap us up today, we’re going to hear a bit about growing closer to Jesus and . . . trees. 

This tidbit comes from another podcast I co-host—this one with my friend Staci Rudolph. It's called True Girl. We exploring God’s truth one fifteen-minute drive at a time. True Girl is a podcast created to be enjoyed by seven – twelve year-old girls, their moms, and the young-at-heart. 

Here’s Staci, reading for us truth from God’s Word in Psalm chapter 1, verses 1–3.

Staci Rudolph: 

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

This verse tells us that we can be like trees planted by streams of water.

Dannah: That is so good, Staci. But what exactly does it mean to plant yourself by the water?

Staci: Well, a tree needs good soil and life-giving water, right? And when it has those things, it produces delicious things to eat. It’s fruitful. One of the best ways I’ve planted myself by the stream is by spending time reading the Bible in devotion to God. In fact, those verses in Psalms say we should delight in and meditate on God’s Word. That’s when we become fruitful, like a tree by a stream of water. 

Dannah: Which means?

Staci: Fruitful can mean that you’re not afraid to share your faith in Jesus with others or that others respond when you do share it. Or it could mean that you have the fruit of God’s Spirit in your life, like: gentleness, kindness, love, patience, those types of things. 

Dannah: Yeah, those things come more natural to me when I am spending time reading my Bible and asking God for help.

Staci: I think most people find that the Lord uses the Word the most to train us and to change us. So, opening the Bible and just simply reading gives God a great opportunity to grow good fruit in us. 

Dannah: And we’ll keep growing. We’ve just got to be in God’s Word and it’s a little more than that, I have to say, because usually when the Bible mentions Living Water, it’s referring to Jesus Himself, or the Holy Spirit of God. In John 4, Jesus said that “those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (v. 14). 

Staci: So, if you want to be a well-watered tree that bears a lot of fruit, you have to have an active relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Dannah: Yes. It’s all about Jesus. We can read the Bible all we want, but unless we talk to Jesus about it and ask Him to help us understand it and help us grow from it, it won’t be that fresh bubbling spring of life-giving energy within us. 

Staci: Exactly, when I start reading my Bible I always pray. That’s the first thing I do. I want God’s Spirit to get me ready to read it, to reveal things to me, and help me understand what I am reading. 

I like the fact that when we’re in the Word, we’re getting to know about God. That’s like hanging out with Him and knowing Him deeper and becoming His friend. 

Dannah: I love that picture of being a well-watered tree. That conversation I had with Staci Rudolph in the True Girl podcast is convicting for me to hear all over again. 

As we’ve been digesting these little spiritual snacks from the Revive Our Hearts family of podcasts, I hope you’re feeling equipped for the rest of the summer—for your podcast listening and your walk with Jesus. 

What you listen to matters, as does how you spend your time. I know I’m feeling motivated after this episode to keep seeking Christ with intentionality with what time we have left this summer. Especially in those moments that often get frittered away . . . like road trips or gardening. Oh, that’s a good time to download some truth, isn’t it? Makes the weeding go faster, too!

Hey, every podcast we produce is made possible through the gracious support of listeners like you. If you’d like to join us in helping women thrive in Christ through resources like our podcasts, you can give a gift by calling 1-800-569-5959, or go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and click on today’s episode. 

Thanks for listening today. 

Next week we’re going to take a closer look at the beauty of the gospel. You know, some of us as women are into beauty. Nothing wrong with that! But when Jesus transforms us, there’s a beauty that goes deeper than anything external or physical. We’ll talk about that next week.

I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

Revive Our Hearts Weekend is calling you to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.

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