A Picture of Patience

June Teaching Letter from Denise Renner

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas and greetings in Jesus’ precious name! Christ came into this world “in the fullness of time” to redeem mankind from sin and to reconcile us to the Heavenly Father (Galatians 4:4,5). And what a great salvation it was and is that God wrought for us in Christ (see Hebrews 2:3-18)! Denise and I and our family wish you a warm and wonderful Christmas season and the best new year of your life in 2022.

Today I want to talk to you about opportunities and adversaries, but first I want to say thank you for being such a faithful partner with our ministry. As I told you in my letter last month, our ministry is bursting at the seams, and I am so humbled that God would use Denise and me, our family, and our team to minister to the many people who are reaching out to us every day.

Every soul is precious, and it is our heartfelt desire to convey that truth to every person God brings to us — that they are precious to Him and to us. And your gifts are so vital to our ability to touch every one of these treasured souls! So today I want to say a special thank you for all you do with us to take the trusted teaching of the Word of God to people in Russia and all over the world. From the depths of our hearts, Denise and I THANK YOU!

This month is the last month of the year — and I know you are probably preparing for Christmas and many different kinds of gatherings. But in addition to Christmas, it’s also almost 2022. As we come to the end of this year and to the beginning of a brand-new year, the Holy Spirit keeps telling me to “stay on track” with the assignments He has given us. I hear Him saying that even if we hit bumps along the way, everything will be all right if we’ll just stay on track and maintain our God-assigned territory — the many opportunities and assignments He has given us to inspire, strengthen, and equip believers with the sound teaching of the Bible.

But I’ve learned over the years that opportunities and adversaries usually go together — and today I want to encourage you to undergird yourself so that you can stay on track with what God has asked you to do this month and in the coming year.

Over the course of our ministry, we’ve had many great, effectual doors open to us to do the work of the Gospel. I’ll never forget when I received an opportunity to minister on television in the former Soviet Union. It was as if a great door had suddenly swung open to an entire vast territory — a door that had never before been opened for anyone else — and I knew I was experiencing something miraculous. By faith, Denise and I stepped through that door and began to preach the Word of God on television in this spiritually starved corner of the world.

Given the former socialist-communist campaigns against the Gospel in this particular region, this opportunity was as miraculous as the Jordan River dividing for Joshua and the children of Israel. But with this great open door also came a slew of adversaries, specifically dispatched by Satan to instill fear and doubt into my heart. The devil desperately wanted to prevent me from touching the lives of spiritually oppressed people, so he positioned evil people with insidious plans to try to block my view of what God had in store for our ministry.

I’m telling you that it was like the children of Israel looking at the Promised Land from the far side of the Jordan River. From that perspective, they saw only the fruitful land of blessing that lay before them. But once they entered the Promised Land, they had to fight giants of every kind before they could possess that land and enjoy the blessing. In much the same way, if Denise and I had taken our eyes off the Lord during that tumultuous period — or if we had focused only on the problems and forgotten about the fruit we were pursuing for God’s Kingdom — I’m sure we would have backpedaled to get out of the situation!

But we knew this was a God-given opportunity and worth the fight, so we fixed our gaze squarely on the Lord. Girded with the armor of God and the power of the Spirit, we pushed through every obstacle and possessed the ground that God called us to take. As a result, millions of souls began to hear the Gospel for the first time. We knew that only God could have opened this door!

In First Corinthians 16:9, the apostle Paul wrote about the strategic doors of opportunity that open for the Gospel and the adversaries that usually accompany them. He said, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.” Notice that Paul used the words “great,” “door,” “effectual,” and “is opened” to describe the opportunity that had been set before him.

The word “great” in this verse is translated from the Greek word megale, which means gigantic. The word “door” is the Greek word thura, which typically refers to a door, but in this context, denotes a rare opportunity. The word “effectual” is the Greek word energes, and it depicts something that is powerful and ready to be set into motion. Finally, the phrase “is opened” is the Greek word anoigo, which describes something standing wide open. In other words, the door in question couldn’t be any more open! Thus, an alternate translation of Paul’s words in First Corinthians 16:9 could be rendered, “A gigantic, powerful opportunity is already set in motion and standing wide open….”

Paul continued by saying, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me….” You see, Paul knew that the particular door he was referring to had never been opened to anyone else, and he stood in awe of the unprecedented opportunity. Walking through these kinds of doors is impossible without divine assistance, and Paul was fully aware of God’s role in the matter. That is why he specified that this door had been opened “unto me.”

Paul’s prayer request in First Corinthians 16:9 was not for a door to open because it had already opened. His prayer request was to receive God’s wisdom to deal with the numerous adversaries who were trying to come against him. Paul used the Greek word antikeimenoi to describe the vast number of “adversaries” that were sent to attack him. This Greek word describes something that was piled high and lying all around him. In other words, he was dealing with more than a few minor opponents. On the contrary, it felt like opposition was stacked high on every side!

I’ve learned that the enemy will try his best to keep you from stepping through the gigantic doors of opportunity God desires to open for you. Satan is afraid of what will happen when “his” territory is invaded by someone fully equipped with a full arsenal of spiritual weapons. So know this: God will open doors for you — but He needs you to make a determined decision that you will walk through them, no matter the opposition, with the help of His Spirit.

By opening the door, God has already done His part, which would have been impossible without His assistance. Now He beckons you to come, dressed in the whole armor of God and in the power of His Word — and proceed through that effectual door into new territory. It may look like enemies are everywhere, but it is simply a fact that the devil and his forces flee and collapse when they are subjected to a show of strong faith!

As I mentioned earlier, many great and effectual doors have been opened to us over the years to do the work of the Gospel. In each case, we knew these doors were unique to us and had never before been opened for anyone else. And just as Paul experienced opposition, there were plenty of enemies that came against us with each opportunity. But because we obeyed God, the devil was forced to move out of the way, and we walked right into the virgin territory that God had opened for our ministry.

Even if you think your situation looks threatening right now, I want to tell you that God is with you. He wants to supernaturally open new doors for you — doors that have never before been opened for you. He is not beckoning you to walk through these doors so you can fail. He is with you every step of the way, and He will empower you to defeat every foe and bring Him glory in that new territory that is yours to possess in Jesus’ name!

Your open door may be an opportunity to shine the light of God’s Word and God’s love to your family or friends during this holiday season. It may be a door that will open to you in the new year. Regardless of when it is or what it is, the same God who opens doors will empower you to walk through them — and then He’ll be right with you to give you the wisdom and strength needed to overcome any giant that tries to meet you on the other side.

I know this is not a typical December, “Christmas-style” letter, but this is what was on my heart to share with you today. I want you to always know that if we can join you in prayer, we would be delighted to do so. To be honest, we are praying for you anyway, but when we are alerted to know exactly “how” to pray, it increases our effectiveness as we pray for you. So if you have a special need, please either call or write to let us know how we can get in agreement with you for God to show Himself mighty to you according to Jeremiah 33:3, which says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

And please pray for us as we continue marching forward by faith to push back darkness, to shine the light of God’s Word, and to take territory for the Kingdom of God. Together — as partners — we can make a difference in the lives of throngs of people who are crying out to God for help. They are waiting for God to respond to their prayers, and God wants to use us — you and us together — to bring them the answers they desperately need.

But before I close, I want to say we are specifically asking God to do something special for you this month and before the end of the year. I don’t know what it is, but that is what we are praying. We are asking God to do something special that will bless your life! And please, please pray for us as we continue pushing ahead to build our studio in Moscow, to finalize the purchase of our new headquarters in Tulsa, and to continue to minister effectually to every precious soul Jesus brings to us!

Merry Christmas!

We love you and thank God for you!

We are your brother and sister, friends, and partners in Jesus Christ,

Rick and Denise Renner
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel and their families|Dear friend,

I pray you are having a wonderful summer! Whether this is a time of rest and vacation or a time of extra busyness for you, I hope you are finding peace and refreshment in the Lord. 

I am grateful to have this opportunity to write to you, because I have something on my heart that I believe will be so helpful to all of us as we try to live out our relationships in a way that is pleasing to God.

Living in relationship with other people is a natural part of our lives, but sometimes those relationships come with some challenges. Every one of us will have someone at some point who seems to always be testing our patience. You might have someone right now who comes to mind as you are reading this, and that’s why I wanted to share with you today about patience.

[If you started reading in your email, begin here]

Friend, if we are going to love others well, we need to have patience. That’s not just practical advice — that’s a command from God. If you are ever wondering how important patience is to God, I want you to remember what the Bible says in Proverbs 16:32: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”

Friend, we can look at generals and people who have conquered cities and think that they are so powerful and ingenious — and it is true that they are due our respect — but it is God’s opinion that when you’re patient, you are even better than they are. That is how important it is to Him that we learn to use self-control and give patience to one another.

Now, friend, you might be reading this and saying, “That sounds great and everything, but how can I do that?” We actually get to see the answer when we look at James 1:19-20: “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Those are some very clear instructions: We are to be swift to some things, and slow to others. What are we supposed to be swift to? Hearing, listening, and just being quiet and paying attention. Then we’re supposed to be slow to two things: speaking and wrath.

This is so simple, friend. When a situation comes up and you need to give somebody patience, you just have to slow down. How many relationships have been destroyed by people who moved too quickly and said or did things that they never would have otherwise? Maybe you’ve done that, and maybe somebody did that to you as well, and even to this day, it has damaged that relationship.

Instead of doing damage like that, we have the choice to slow down. Maybe you have to excuse yourself. You can say, “Can you give me just a minute?” Maybe you have to go and count to 10 or 100. Whatever strategy you have to use, just remember that you don’t have to let the wrath and the rash words control you — you have the choice to slow down!

This is so simple, but it is also so difficult for us to do sometimes. The good news is that we are not expected to do it on our own. When you got born again, the Spirit of God came into you, and He brought self-control and patience with Him. Through His power, not our own, we really are able to give patience to someone else. Even when the thoughtless words are rising up inside of us and we’re about to burst, He gives us the power to recognize what’s about to happen and to instead give patience.

I want to show you how powerful this patience is when we choose to recognize it in ourselves, and of course the best example we have of this is Jesus. Just think about the night when He was about to be crucified. Think about the moment when Judas left to betray Him. Jesus knew what was going to happen. He knew why Judas was leaving, but instead of telling everyone in the room or yelling at Judas, He kept that secret to Himself. He just said, “What you do, do quickly” (John 13:27).

Later that night, Jesus asked His disciples to pray with Him. This is the only time that we know about where He asked them to just stay up and pray with Him, because He needed their support in this time. He was suffering under so much mental and emotional pressure that His sweat even turned to blood that night, but when He went to see His friends who were supposed to be supporting Him and praying with Him through it, they had fallen asleep!

What about everything that happened when the soldiers finally came to arrest Him? It must have taken so much patience not to say anything bitter or wrathful as Judas came up and kissed Him to identify Him, but then Peter dove in and cut off the high priest’s servant’s ear. In that moment, most of us probably would have said, “Peter, can’t you just hold it for a second? I am already having such a hard night, and I don’t need to deal with you acting like this!”

Jesus could have said all kinds of things to Peter or to Judas or to any of the disciples, but He had patience instead. He even took the time to fix the problem that Peter had caused. Now that’s patience!

I’m telling you this because I want you to see what is inside you right now. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” Friend, no matter how hard it feels for you to be patient with those difficult people in your life, you have Christ in you, and that means you have access to that amazing patience and self-control that He showed to His friends and His enemies on the night He was arrested.

That patience is not ineffective or broken — it is powerful, and it is operating just fine, but you have to recognize it, agree with it, and practice it. When a challenging situation arises and you feel tempted to give into wrath or rash words, you have to say, “You know what? I can act higher than this. I do not have to lose my temper or say the harsh words that are rising up in me. I am not a slave to those things. I have a choice to slow down.”

We really do have that authority inside of us, friend, so don’t sit there and act like you are powerless — claim that authority right now so that you can start giving patience to those around you.

I am so glad that I had the chance to write to you on this important subject, because God really does want us to be equipped to love the people around us as well as possible. In fact, for the next couple months, I am doing a teaching series that is all about the subject of loving others better, and I would love it if you would join me for it. You can watch my program, TIME With Denise Renner, live every Monday at 7 AM CT on both Facebook and YouTube or on just Facebook Wednesdays at 12 PM CT. If you’ve missed a program or just want to find a teaching on another topic, then you can find my past messages any time by looking on YouTube or renner.org. I can’t wait to share this time with you!

I also want to take a moment to offer you prayer if you are needing it right now. Whether it’s for relationships, health, finances, or anything else in your life, we would love to hear from you and have a chance to pray with you. We even love to hear about the wonderful things God is doing in your life! You can reach our prayer team by calling 1.844.473.6637 or emailing denisesocial@renner.org. We can’t wait to hear from you! 

Have a wonderful summer, friend.

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner

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