A Breath of New Life, Ep 1 of 6

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Maybe you've never thought of it this way, but preparing food can be an act of worship. Don't minimize the ministry of providing meals or a home for others. To do that is an expression of the hospitable heart of God.
Dana Gresh: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of *Revive My Heart*. For September 21st, 2026, I'm Dana Gresh. Ever feel like your life is a roller coaster, a series of soaring highs and plummeting lows? Today, we'll look at the biblical story of a woman who could relate. She knew deep sorrow and great joy. Through the ups and downs of her story, she experienced the power and presence of God. Nancy taught a classic series called *A Breath of New Life*. Here's Nancy to kick us off.
Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Let me invite you to turn in your Bibles today to 2 Kings chapter 4. 2 Kings comes after 1 Kings in your Old Testament. As you're turning there, let me just set the stage for where we're going in this new series. This part of Israel's history is a dark time. It's in the latter part of the reign and rule of the kings of Israel, the era of the kings. The king at this point is a man named Jehoram, who is the son of wicked King Ahab. You may be more familiar with that name. This is a season of terrible apostasy in the land of Israel, backsliding, idol worship, pagan practices. The nation ultimately is going to be sent into captivity. God is going to judge them, he's going to discipline them, chasten them for their wickedness, but it's just a wild, wicked era in the life of Israel. Throughout this season, God in his mercy sends prophets to warn the people that they're falling away from him, and to plead with them to return to him, and to tell them if they don't return that there are going to be consequences for their choices. So these prophets are pleading with people to repent. Among those prophets are two men: Elijah, and then his successor, Elisha. It's easy to get those two confused, and sometimes I have to go back and say, "Was that Elijah or was that Elisha?" because actually there were many similarities between their ministries. As we come to 2 Kings chapter 4, we're in the era of Elisha, the second of those two prophets. These along with other prophets were men of God. They were holy men, they were men who knew God, who walked with God in a day when very few did. They listened to God; they were spokesmen for God. God would give them his word for the people and then they would speak the word to the people. These were not politicians. They were not running for anything and they didn't put their finger up to see how the wind was blowing that day. They didn't take polls to see where people wanted the nation to go. They were men who listened to God, and then when God spoke, they would say to the people, "Thus saith the Lord. This is the way it is. This is what God has to say." They were often not popular. They were rarely popular. In fact, they were often stoned or killed or martyred in some way because the people didn't want to hear many times what the prophets had to say. They rubbed the fur the wrong way. They confronted their rebellion. The prophets were men who were swimming upstream. Most of the time, the people just refused to listen. They didn't care what God had to say. They didn't respond. But there were always a few who did care. A few who did listen. A few who did respond. This is what we think of in the scripture as the remnant, that small minority who really had ears to hear and a heart to respond to what God was saying. It was through the remnant that God would often display his mercy, his grace, and his power in unusual ways. What I just described about Israel, you could say in many ways is true of the day in which we're living. I'm so thankful that God always has a remnant. Even in an era when very few care, very few listen, very few respond, God has a remnant who want to glorify him in the midst of the darkness. One of the reasons you're here today, mostly likely, is because you're part of that remnant. You care about hearing what God has to say today and you want God's glory to be displayed through your life in these very dark times. When we come to 2 Kings chapter 4, we see two women who welcomed the prophet of God, Elisha in this case. Women who listened to God, who responded to the word of God, women who were a rare exception in their day. Both of these women were God-fearing women. They were women who knew God, they loved God, they walked with God. But in many respects, these two women were very different. The first woman, who we're not going to focus on today, but I'll just give you a little glimpse of her in the first seven verses of 2 Kings chapter 4, was a widow. The second woman, who we read about beginning in verse 8 and following, and that's the one we're going to focus on, was a married woman, a wife. The first woman was poverty-stricken. She was on the verge of bankruptcy. She had no human means of providing for herself. The second woman, by contrast, was a wealthy woman. She and her husband had the means to provide for themselves and to help minister to others. The first woman had two children, whereas the second woman had no children. She was barren and we'll see that's a part of her story. In the case of the first woman, her children were about to be taken away from her to pay off her debts because she had no money. God supernaturally intervened to spare her life and her children's lives. In the case of the second woman, God supernaturally intervened to give her a child, a son. And then as we're going to see, that son died, but God miraculously intervened to give that child back to her. Both of these women experienced God's miraculous intervention in their lives. In the case of the first woman, God used Elisha to feed the widow by means of a miracle. God used the second woman to feed Elisha, by means not of a miracle, but simply of the ministry of hospitality. As we focus on this second woman beginning in 2 Kings chapter 4, we're going to see that she illustrates several qualities of what it means to be a true woman of God. As I've been studying this woman's life and digging a little deeper into her story—I've been familiar with this story for many, many years, but as I've spent time meditating on her account in 2 Kings chapter 4 and then in chapter 8—I've just said this is the kind of woman that I want to be. I want to have the heart qualities and characteristics of this woman. As we go through this study, I hope that you'll be drawn to those qualities and say, "Lord, that's the kind of woman I want to be as well." Lord, would you open our eyes, open our ears, give us ears to hear and hearts to receive and to respond to what you say to us today through your word. Lord, I just want to thank you that you always have a remnant and that as dark as these days are, you call out and you choose and you use women and men who will swim upstream, who want to hear your voice and who will say, "Yes, Lord." I pray that as we look at this woman, this woman whose name we don't even know, I pray that you will give us her kind of heart and that we will be in our day true women of God who reflect your glory to our world. I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's begin reading in 2 Kings chapter 4 verse 8: "One day Elisha went on to Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to eat some food. So whenever he passed that way, he would turn in there to eat food." We're going to just walk through this passage verse by verse and comment on it as we do. The town was Shunem. Shunem is a village in the tribe of Issachar, which is in the northern part of the nation of Israel. It's a few miles north of a city called Jezreel, which figures prominently in scripture. It's on a main trade route from Samaria to Carmel, which was a route that Elisha frequently traveled. This town was en route and he would stop in there and visit. This woman opened her home and her heart to him and he would pause there and visit. We don't know her name; we just call her the Shunammite woman. She's actually referred to as the Shunammite in this passage. So the Shunammite woman is the woman from Shunem. That's how she came to get that designation. We see here that she was a wealthy woman. If you're using the ESV, that's the word used there. Other translations translate this word differently. Your translation may say she was a notable woman, or a great woman, or a prominent woman. I think the NIV says she was a well-to-do woman. This is a word that can mean wealthy, as in material wealth, or it can mean influential. She was a great woman, a prominent woman, a wealthy woman, maybe both. Here's something else we see about this woman as we go through this passage, and that is that she was also rich in faith. A woman who was rich in faith. That's interesting to me because being rich in faith unfortunately does not often go hand in hand with being materially wealthy. There are some who are materially wealthy and also are wealthy toward God, are spiritually wealthy, but not many. Most if not all of us in this room today are by world standards materially wealthy. But the question we want to ask as we go through this passage is: are we spiritually wealthy? Are we rich toward God? This is a woman who was all of that. We see here that she opens her home and she extends hospitality to Elisha. There's no indication that she initially knew who he was. Maybe she did, but it doesn't indicate that she did. She just opened her home to this traveler only to discover that he was a man of God. As a result of her hospitality, a warm friendship developed between this woman and her husband and Elisha the prophet. I think at the outset she had no way of knowing that this man that she and her husband were blessing would end up being a means of great blessing and grace to her and her husband. We don't see that this woman gave to get, but as she gave, she did get. Her giving was greatly rewarded, not only in the short term but also in the long term. Here's a woman who was generous with what she had. She used her resources to support the work of God. She shared food with Elisha; she opened her home for meals. But we can just imagine as time went on and they got to know this prophet, this man of God, that she thought, "I'd like to do something more for him. What more could we do for him other than just providing an occasional meal for him as he's on his way traveling?" She and her husband decided, as we'll see in the next verse, to build a guest room. They added onto their house to be able to minister to the prophet. Verse 9: "She said to her husband, 'Behold now, I know that this is a holy man of God who is continually passing our way. Let us make a small room on the roof with walls and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that whenever he comes to us, he can go in there.'" She actually does a renovation project. They add onto their home to make a private space, a private room for the prophet. Those of you who've ever done renovations or added onto your home, you know that this required some adjustments to have this man not only stopping by for dinner but also staying in their home. To make room for him and his servant Gehazi in their home, she was willing to be flexible to make adjustments. As I think about this passage, I think about how often here in the affluent West, we add onto our homes, we buy larger homes, we buy second homes, not to minister to others but for ourselves, for our own pleasure. I wonder if we took a poll today just in this room, how many extra unused bedrooms we have in our houses between us. Some of you have a lot more people in your house than you have bedrooms. But some of us have spare rooms. Maybe your children have gotten older or moved out; you're empty-nesters now and you've got a house that you designed for lots of kids, but now there's room in that house. Or you think of how many people are just adding on so they can have more space. For self? For pleasure? For enjoyment? Here's a woman who says, "I want to add onto my house, but I don't want to do it for me. I want to do it for somebody else. I want to do it to be a blessing to minister to this prophet of God." Don't minimize the ministry of providing meals or a home for others, starting with your own family and then other guests who come into your home and servants of the Lord. I'm so thankful that as I was growing up, my parents made room for missionaries, for pastors, for Christian workers, for guests, for people to come and stay in our home. My mother is the hostess with the mostess and she was always opening our home, she and my dad together, to be a blessing to others. To do that is an expression of the hospitable heart of God. Our benevolent God, our generous God, who cares about our needs. So when we open our homes for meals, to host others in our home overnight, we become a reflection of God. A reflection of who he is and a powerful witness in a culture that has very little concept of what God is like. It's a great means of witness to extend hospitality. She says to her husband, "I know that this is a holy man of God. Let's do something to serve him." There must have been something about Elisha's life that demanded a supernatural explanation. It makes me wonder if people sense something different about my life, about yours. Do people who just have a casual acquaintance with you, do they know quickly that you are a woman who knows God, a woman who loves the Lord, a woman who fears him? Are they drawn to that in your life as this woman was in Elisha? We see in this woman a heart of kindness, a heart of compassion, a heart of generosity. We see a woman who was other-centered versus self-centered. A woman who is sensitive, alert, attentive to the needs of others. A woman who takes initiative to minister to the practical needs of the prophet. She provides food, she provides shelter, she provides for him a private place where he can retreat, rest, study, and pray, and she and her husband provide fellowship. A family relationship for this prophet who would travel by himself in this itinerant ministry along with his servant Gehazi. Notice that she and her husband were in this together. This wasn't just something she had a heart for, but she did this with her husband's engagement and knowledge and approval. She's a woman who was attentive to detail. She thinks through, "What are we going to put in this room?" Realize that this didn't have to be extravagant provision. She didn't build the Taj Mahal for the prophet, just a place that was suited for his ministry and to meet his needs. And she did it not just to minister to him once, but this became a pattern. Whenever he passed through that area, he would go and stay in the home of this woman and her husband. She provided relationship for him, a home away from home, if you will, for this itinerant servant of the Lord along with his servant Gehazi. It reminds me of some sisters in the New Testament, Mary and Martha, who opened their home to Christ and to his disciples. They fed him, they housed him, they offered relationship to Jesus as he was traveling and doing his earthly ministry. Hospitality is a great way to minister to the Lord, to minister to servants of the Lord, to minister to your family, to minister to traveling people. We have so little opening of homes today. In this era of restaurants and hotels, rarely do we open our homes to others. But there is so much blessing to be had through the ministry of hospitality which, by the way, do you hear the word that's part of that? Hospital. Hospitality is really just opening your heart and your home, being generous with what you have, looking for ways to minister grace to others, to meet their needs. Hospitality is really saying, "I've been a recipient of God's grace. He's blessed me with a place to live, with food to eat, with family, whatever God has blessed you with." And then saying, "I want to be a channel of that blessing to others." Being a recipient of grace and then a giver of grace. God doesn't just give those things to us so we can enjoy them for ourselves. He gives them to us so they can flow out through us to others and be a blessing to others. To be hospitable is to have a welcoming heart. A heart that says, "Come on in. I want you to be a part of my life." It's a willingness to share. It's a willingness to be inconvenienced at times. I have a family living in my house at the moment for several weeks. A missionary family. They serve in Asia but they're home on furlough for a bit. So they are in my home with their four children, ages eight and under, including a newborn. It's been a lot of fun. I love having the children's noises in my house. I live alone, so it's usually really quiet in my house, but now there's a lot of hubbub and activity and it's a lot of fun, but it's a lot of work. As you know, if you open your home to others, there's inconvenience. There are times when you'd rather it be quiet and there's a squalling baby, a newborn. But there's such joy to be found in extending the welcome of Christ to those who need a place to be encouraged. You see this emphasized through the scripture. Romans 12 says to us, "Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." This was a command. It's a great privilege, but it's also a responsibility. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 9: "Show hospitality to one another without grumbling." It's one thing to open your heart, but I can be under my breath going, "This is a pain in the neck." No, show hospitality to one another without grumbling. Realize what a privilege it is. In fact, in 1 Timothy 5 verse 10, we read that hospitality is a qualification for a woman of God if she is to be cared for by the church when she's a widow. That she has to have been hospitable. Listen to this verse. These are the qualifications if she's going to be cared for by the church. She has to have a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. What's the scripture saying here? If during your child-bearing and child-rearing years, those of you who are married, if you are using your home and your heart to show hospitality, to minister to the afflicted, to wash the feet of the saints, to care for others, you are laying up for yourself a treasure, you're making an investment for later in your life when you have needs. Your needs are going to be met. Give and it will be given to you. Hebrews 13 says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." That takes us back to the book of Genesis, the story of Abraham and Lot. How men came to their house, they showed hospitality to these men and it turned out they were hosting angels in their home. And that makes me wonder if there's ever been an angel who stayed overnight in my house. Not that I know of. But I do know this. Jesus said when we show hospitality, we actually welcome Christ himself. Jesus said, in Matthew chapter 25, "I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me." Then the righteous will answer him saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you?" And the king will answer them, "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." With that couple and their four little munchkins who are staying in my home right now, as I serve them, as I bless them, as I open my home to them, I'm rendering service to Jesus. It's a privilege to show hospitality. And it's a responsibility in particular to minister to the practical needs of those who are servants of the Lord. Matthew chapter 10 verse 41 says, "The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward." As we receive into our homes, into our lives, into our hearts those who are servants of the Lord, we gain a reward along with them for their service and their ministry. Fixing that meal is no small task. I can't say that I'm actually fixing meals in my home right now, but I'm managing to get food there and to make sure that they are getting fed. I don't want to make any claims to being much of a cook, but I make sure that they get fed, that they have a place to stay, that it's a welcoming environment for them. Galatians chapter 6: "One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches." Ministering to the practical needs of those who minister to us. We are to minister to the material and practical needs of those who serve the Lord, of those who minister the word to us. They are, as 1 Timothy 5 says, worthy of double honor. And the ministry of hospitality is one way that we can honor these servants of the Lord. Just a word in closing here about the Shunammite woman. It says that she was a wealthy woman. Let me just remind us that the scripture teaches that it's not wrong to have wealth. But it also teaches that believers, followers of Christ, should have a radically different perspective on wealth than the rest of the world does. Let me read just a short passage from 1 Timothy chapter 6 that points this out. It says, "As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. These who are rich, they are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." What is that passage saying about the perspective that we should have on material wealth? First of all, we should realize that it's temporal. Don't trust in it. Put your trust and your hope in God. And don't live for this present age, but instead live for eternity. Don't lay up treasures here on earth for yourself, but instead lay up treasures in heaven. We're not to be proud of what we have, but to be humblehearted. We're not to use our material wealth for selfish gain or for our personal pleasure, but for kingdom purposes. We're not to hoard, but we're to be generous, to share with others. Not to accumulate just so we can have more stuff, but to bless others. Not to store up treasures here and now on earth, but to store up eternal spiritual riches for eternity.
Dana Gresh: That's Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth showing us why hospitality matters so much. We're in 2 Kings 4 this week exploring the biblical story of the Shunammite woman. This six-day series includes discussions of contentment, widowhood, and losing a child. Keep listening for hope, and even if you're not in a season like this yourself, you probably know someone who is. We're able to bring you practical teaching from God's word thanks to listeners who give. These are listeners who've been blessed by the podcast or radio broadcast and have said, "I want to play a part in reaching more women with these messages." The Lord is stirring your heart to partner with us too, you can do that today. Just visit ReviveOurHearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959 to make a donation. And when you support the ministry with a gift of any amount, we'll thank you by sending you our new study, *Devoted*. It examines the lives of six biblical women, including the Shunammite woman we talked about today. As you enter into their stories, you'll find imperfect women who humbly said, "Yes, Lord," and because they did, they were used by God. The study invites you to do the same. Again, to donate and request your copy visit ReviveOurHearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959. You don't have to have a perfect home to serve others, and some friends of the ministry are joining us tomorrow to remind us of that. Hear a practical discussion based on today's teaching 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.