Choosing To Walk in the Love of God

December 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,

Before I begin my letter this month, I wish you the warmest greetings this Christmas season. I’m sure your calendar is filled with parties, errands, and holiday plans right now, and it’s easy to feel like you can’t check everything off your to-do list. But you can always find comfort in this thought: You only have to live one day at a time, and what you do today will prepare you for tomorrow. Even though this time of year is notoriously busy, take it one day at a time and have a very Merry Christmas!

I also want to encourage you this Christmas season to be aware that the One you call Lord and Savior is also the Prince of Peace. As you navigate this holiday season, you may find yourself standing in line, waiting to pay for wrapping paper or a Christmas present when you notice the person in front of you can’t find their credit card and is causing a delay. Or maybe you notice someone get frustrated and speak rudely to the clerk serving them. Or perhaps the store clerk will be rude to you or doesn’t move as quickly as you’d like him to.

When those little annoyances happen, just remember who lives inside you — the Spirit of the One who is Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Emmanuel, Prince of Peace, Great I Am, First and Last, and the Greater One. He is residing within you, so you are equipped with everything you need to be kind, gentle, loving, and forgiving in any situation that may arise. 

In this month’s letter, I want to focus on the characteristics of God’s unchanging, unending, ever-present love. The Bible talks a lot about God’s love, something many have grown up hearing all about. But when life gets busy, we can sometimes forget just how great His love is for us, and what it gives us the ability to do in our daily lives!

The Lord’s unconditional love for us is so amazing. It was out of this great love that He sent His only Son Jesus to the earth and laid down His life on the Cross to pay for our sins. Not only this, but He sent the Holy Spirit to live within us. That is a powerful love! As we continue to study God’s love, the curtain will be drawn further and further apart, opening up to us this amazing revelation of His love personally.

Jesus went so far as to die for us, to take our punishments, and to take our sins! He even went a step further and gave us the Holy Spirit — our personal Counselor, Comforter, Helper, and Guide — to live inside us!

Paul details the magnitude of this love in First Corinthians 6:19, which says:

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

If you are born again — meaning you believe in your heart and have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord and Savior — you have within you the Holy Spirit, who is just like Jesus.

The Bible tells us that at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit enters your spirit, bringing with Him the very love of God.

…The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
— Romans 5:5

How amazing is that?! When you accepted Jesus into your heart and the Holy Spirit came to dwell within you, He put God’s eternal, unchanging love in your heart. And when you open your heart and acknowledge Him, you can receive even more of this great love of God.

Even if we don’t say, think, or do the right thing, instead of leaving or abandoning us, God’s unconditional love is always there! It doesn’t change. It doesn’t move. It’s constantly there for us to open our hearts and freely receive that magnificent love and forgiveness over and over again!

The Lover Inside Us

Romans 8:38 and 39 says:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When you became born again, the indwelling power and presence of the Holy Spirit came to live within you. The Bible teaches that He is greater than anything or anyone in this world. It even refers to Him as the Greater One inside us in First John 4:4, which states:

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

As born-again believers, we can look to the Holy Spirit for guidance and rest assured that He will help us live as overcomers. There is absolutely no circumstance or situation that is too big or difficult for His mighty power to change.

The power of the Holy Spirit can be expressed in many ways. One of the most valuable benefits of having the Holy Spirit living within you is the ability to love others with the precious love of Christ. By acknowledging His presence and respecting His role as the Greater One on the inside, you can tap into the power of the Holy Spirit every single day. And as you begin to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your life and operate in the love of God, you will see the fruit of it in every aspect of your life.

The love of God is on a magnitude that nothing in or of this world could come even close to recreating. The world doesn’t have this kind of love because it is a direct result of the Holy Spirit’s inward working in your heart. As 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 characteristics of God’s great love have been planted in your heart through the Lover inside you, and as you give place to it, this love can impact everyone you come into contact with.

The love of God is so powerful that once it has been imparted to us through the Holy Spirit, it has the power to change our lives including our attitudes, actions, behaviors, and our words. It even transforms the way we think about others and causes us to pursue peace in our relationships!

God’s love can also cause us to let go of selfish attitudes. John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” While we may never physically lay down our life for another, we can be selfless in our interactions with friends, family members, acquaintances, or those we come into contact with during the course of our daily lives.

When God’s love is living within you, it causes you to let go of the selfish nature of your flesh and be considerate of those around you. Whenever you become tempted to act ugly or unkind toward another person, you can remember that the Greater One living within you is there to help you overcome the weaknesses of your flesh.  If you find yourself wanting to be unkind or even react to someone being unkind to you, draw from the power deep within your spirit and release the supernatural love of God instead!

We are all tempted by our flesh to react with bitterness, selfishness, or unforgiveness. But as we truly grasp the enormity of what Jesus did when He suffered and died to pay for our sins, it motivates us to shove the desires of our flesh aside and love as He loves and forgive as He forgives.

If you have confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you are forgiven and loved, meaning you are full of the love of God and can show that very same love and forgiveness to those around you.

It isn’t always easy to walk in love toward others, but that’s why we have the Holy Spirit — the Lover — and the Word of God to guide us! Life can throw some sensitive and complicated situations our way, making expressing God’s love correctly difficult at times. But by holding onto what God says in His Word and calling upon the Holy Spirit within us, we can deal with even the hardest situations in a way that displays the same love Jesus showed us when He died on the Cross.

A High-Level Kind of Love

Even when we were far removed from God and living in sin, His great love forgave us. And now that we have been born again and have His love alive in our hearts, He calls on us to love and forgive others just as He did — even our enemies.

Without the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance, this would not be possible, but because of His unfailing living in us, we can tap into the love deep within us to love others as He loves us. The Bible tells us that:

“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, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
— Matthew 5:43-46

God wants us to love those who are good, those who are bad, those who are just, and those who are unjust (see Matthew 5:43-45). The Bible has a lot to say about why we should love others the way God loves us, and it reveals that because the Holy Spirit is living inside us, it equips us to love like He loves. This includes our enemies, those who persecute us, those who despitefully use us, and those who hurt or do wrong by us. We are called to love them. God commands us to love everyone no matter what. This is the kind of high-level love Jesus taught and continues to teach us to this very day.

What Kind of Fruit Are You Producing?

The Holy Spirit’s presence in the life of a believer is evident through the fruit of the Spirit they’re producing. You’re probably familiar with the fruit of the Spirit as detailed in Galatians 5:22 and 23. It says:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control….

This fruit is instilled in your heart atthe moment of salvation, and as you learn to release this precious fruit, you will become equipped to overcome any circumstance this life can throw at you!

The fruitfulness of the Christian life isn’t just for personal benefit, but it also shows the character of the heart of God, drawing others nearer to Christ.

The Holy Spirit — the Greater One — living inside you produces beautiful fruit, all of which are valuable in their own ways. But as you’ve been reading about, one of the most wonderful attributes of the Holy Spirit is the love of God. Again Romans 5:5 says, “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.”

As you know, when you became born again, the Holy Spirit began pouring the love of God into your heart — but not the natural, emotion-driven love — the highest quality of love to ever exist! The God kind of love is a high-level kind of love, and it will enable you to do some amazing things that your flesh could never do on its own.

The love of God inside you allows you to love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for your persecutors (see Matthew 5:32-46). These actions are things that just aren’t possible with natural, human love because God’s love far surpasses what human love can accomplish. His love  is supernatural and resides in you by the presence of the Holy Spirit!

Forgiveness is another attribute of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. Although we have all experienced hurt and pain from another in the past, we can forgive and release those who hurt us by the power of God living inside us. It is because God forgave us that we can forgive others. All we need to do is access God’s supernatural love placed in our hearts when we were born again!

Sometimes forgiving someone can seem difficult or even impossible but God’s love activated by the Holy Spirit can release forgiveness to anyone, regardless of the pain that person may have caused.

Love and forgiveness are just a few examples of the fruit of the Spirit that you can exhibit through the Greater One living inside you, but releasing them is a choice for which we are all responsible. We can decide to live lives full of bitterness or allow the fruit of love to dominate every aspect of our lives.

When you choose to release the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it frees you to run and finish the race set before you in complete victory! His fruit is already stored within your spirit — it’s up to you to acknowledge His presence and produce it every day, showing the heart of the Father to everyone you cross paths with. By giving the Holy Spirit room to express Himself in you through the fruit of the Spirit, there is absolutely nothing in this life you can’t overcome!

The Love of God Never Fails

Walking in love all day, every day isn’t something we can accomplish on our own. One of the best places to learn about love is “the love chapter,” or First Corinthians 13. First Corinthians 13:4-8 reads:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails….

If you’re unsure what God’s love would do in a given situation, just return to His Word. It will show you what love looks like and how it operates. And the great news is that God’s love is already inside you! It is immediately available to operate through you and to empower you. All you need to do is acknowledge its power and release it by faith!

According to Galatians 5:22 and 23, the Bible says there is no law against the love of God. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such there is no law.” In other words, nothing — especially that is in or of this world — can stand against this kind of love. It can never fail.

The Bible is full of examples of the great love God has for mankind. Because of the vastness of this love, we now have healing, deliverance, and forgiveness — and we can freely share these precious gifts with others through the great love that is shed abroad in our hearts (see Romans 5:5). As His beloved children, we are called to do likewise through forgiving and loving others.

We can learn so much from the display of God’s love demonstrated for all mankind. Anyone can say, “I love you,” but it is their actions that show beyond a shadow of a doubt that they love us. God displayed His perfect, unchanging, unconditional, undefinable love for us when he sent Jesus to die for us. He chose us. We can rest assured that we are so incredibly important to God because His actions revealed — and continue to reveal — the gravity of His love. The Bible says in Romans 5:8:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God came to the earth to rescue His people but they didn’t receive Him (see John 1:1). Instead, they rejected Him. He knew they would not be receptive to Jesus, yet He came and laid down His life for them anyway. That is the love of God being expressed through Jesus Christ.

John 1:4 and 5 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” Read that again — there is no darkness so dark that God’s light can’t overcome!

The love of God can be likened to a garden tiller that pulls out all the weeds and makes the ground soft and ready to receive seed. Love can go into the ground of any heart and remove hate, criticism, jealousy, bitterness, unforgiveness, offense, or fear because it’s the most powerful thing on this earth. God’s love can triumph over anything standing in its way!

Friend, you can’t escape the love of God when you’re born again. His love is in you all the time. God’s presence will never leave you, and the Lord will continue to uphold you with His righteous right hand (see Isaiah 41:10). It is truly amazing how great of a love God displayed to us. Every morning we should wake up and say, “God, help me to know how much You love me, and help me love others with the love that You’ve placed inside me.” The supernatural impartation of the love of God happened the moment you made Jesus your Lord and Savior. When you became born again, the love of God came inside you to dwell in your heart. It’s not here for just a certain moment, week, month, or year. This supernatural love always resides within you! It’s available for you to draw from at any moment for the rest of your life.

The end of the year is drawing closer every day! I encourage you to be intentional about walking in love in your thoughts, words, and actions. Endeavor to make every interaction one that reflects the very love and heart of the Father. As you tap into the love of God that was placed inside you at the moment of your salvation, you will see your circumstances, relationships, and spirit change for the better.

I also want to personally invite you to watch my weekly program, TIME With Denise Renner. Each Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. CT, join me as I bring encouragement from the Word that will strengthen and uplift your spirit! You can watch TIME on my Facebook page, YouTube channel, or visit Renner.org for more information. I look forward to sharing the truth of the Gospel and fellowshipping with you!

Before I close my letter to you this month, I want to let you know that if you are going through a difficult season in life, need healing in your body, want to lift up a loved one, or simply need someone to be in agreement with you, our prayer team is waiting for your call! Prayer is such an important aspect of our lives as believers, and we want to let you know that we take each and every one of your prayer requests seriously. To connect with our prayer team today, call 1.844.473.6637 or send an email to prayer@deniserenner.org. We are believing for you to experience the fullness of God’s blessings in your life and hope to hear from you soon!

We are moving forward together,

Denise Renner

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