Forgiveness Is the Expeller of Rejection

July 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,

This month God put this message on my heart for you. I started thinking about the power of forgiveness and its connection to rejection — and rejection’s connection to fear. There was a woman I knew years ago whose body was filled with cancer. One day a man of God received a word of knowledge and the working of miracles — two gifts of the Holy Spirit — concerning this woman and he began praying in tongues over her.

As he was praying in tongues, she began to scream out all the times she had been rejected, starting with when she was a very, very young girl. After all this rejection and pain in her soul were confessed, they soon found there was no cancer in her body. But shortly after this miracle, this woman encountered another situation where someone she deeply loved rejected her, and the cancer came back and she died.

Another woman, a friend of mine, recently died from an illness. She was actually getting better, but her father, who had already rejected her most of her life, came to see her and threatened to take everything away from her. She died just a few days later. I know that, scientifically speaking, this woman died of a terrible disease. But it was the pain of rejection that was actually the killer and took her life in the end.

The forgiveness that Jesus gave us — because He was rejected by His Father because of our sin — freed us of rejection by the love of God. He forgave us and overcame all the horrible evils of mankind, and mankind was forgiven. But in the same way, we have to receive the forgiveness that He gave us.

Oh friend, it is more important than ever for us to become more and more acquainted with the love of God and to extend that love of God to others the best we can. It could be a spouse, a parent, a brother, a sister, or even a friend or a stranger who inflicted us with so much pain. But it is the love of God that is so powerful. If we let it, His love can extinguish all the pain in our life. The Bible says we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers that want to wound our hearts and separate us from one another (see Ephesians 6:12). We are not fighting against that person; we are warring against the enemy of this world and his evil strategies.

As I was thinking about all of this, I also reflected on the love of God that was shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. And it says in Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

The Bible says in Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn.” What is this great power that is used to destroy those weapons? It is the love of God in you and me, and it’s greater than any weapon the enemy tries to use against us.

There is no power greater on this earth than the love of God, and the love of God is the great extinguisher of rejection. And therein lies the power that has been made available to us to tap in to and forgive others. Jesus has already forgiven us, and we need to extend this same forgiveness that we receive to others. Jesus paid the complete price for every place in our heart to be filled with the love of God so rejection has no room to dwell there — even if it was a very, very small closet. The whole price was paid to free our complete heart.

But remember: Rejection, if embraced, can leave us as a victim — not a victor.

Think about the Apostle Paul and how he did not die from sickness or disease. It says in Second Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” And verse 8 says, “Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” Paul died a victor — not a victim.

The apostle Paul, with all that had happened to him, could have died a bitter man, but the love of God which he embraced healed his body and soul over and over again, and he gave this forgiveness to those who lied about him, betrayed him, and persecuted him.

I am not saying this kind of forgiveness — extended to those who have rejected us, and then allowing God to free us with His love — is easy. We find even more instruction from Jesus about this very challenge to give love and forgiveness to those who have wounded us in Matthew: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43,44). Matthew was very clear: We are to love our enemies, and we have the love of God on the inside of us which empowers us to do this.

I once had the privilege to go to Rome and see the place that historians say was the very place where the apostle Paul laid his head to be executed. Historians say they did not drag him to that stump, but that when Paul saw it, he ran and embraced it and wrapped his arms around it. His attitude was not one of a victim, but a victor. He saw decapitation as an entrance into Heaven, and he knew that day he would be swept up into the arms of Jesus.

The love of God is greater than any hate. Jesus proved this love as He hung on the cross, pushing up on His torn flesh where the nails were piercing his torn feet, enduring the excruciating pain that enabled him to breathe. He also proved this great love to us when the Roman soldiers spat on Him,  beat Him, and slapped Him, and still, He spoke the words, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (see Luke 23:34 NLT).

This is the love of God that extinguishes the sting of rejection, and this is the very love of God that dwells in your spirit. Even though the pain that comes through the actions or words of another can scream very loudly, the love of God is even louder. His words and actions are louder and more powerful — with forgiveness, compassion, and kindness that we receive from our wonderful Savior — than any rejection or onslaught that has been inflicted on us by another.

The devil wants us to believe that we are the rejected. But that’s a lie! Jesus says we are the accepted in the beloved. It was the love of God poured out by our wonderful Savior that has freed us to forgive and to be released from the pains of rejection. Forgiveness is the expeller of rejection!

Thank you for spending this time with me. I wanted to share this message with you because it is very important in these last days that we continue to extend love and forgiveness to anyone who hurts or offends us. Jesus said that offenses will come (see Luke 17:1), and I know He wants to equip us for this time to walk as victors over the painful emotions of rejection.

Are you ready to live the life of a victor? I want to recommend my book Unstoppable to you. I know that the enemy wants to stop us in our race of faith with the attacks of others and for us to be offended and remain in bitterness, but God has a limitless supply of everything we need to be unstoppable! I am hearing from many who have read Unstoppable and are experiencing freedom and victory. I am so thankful for each and every response, comment, and testimony.

I also want to invite you to watch my program TIME With Denise Renner on YouTube, Facebook, or Telegram! And if you need prayer today, please do not hesitate to call our prayer team at 1.800.742.5593 or email us at  prayer@deniserenner.org. Let’s continue to equip ourselves with the love of God so we can give this love to others.

Moving forward together,

Denise Renner

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