Developing Thankfulness

November Teaching Letter from Rick 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 Friends,

GREETINGS in the precious name of Jesus!

Right now, people are getting ready to celebrate THANKSGIVING — so this month, I want to encourage you from God’s Word about how to develop thankfulness every day of your life.

But before I dive into this powerful theme, I want to express my own thankfulness to God for you and all you do as a partner with this ministry. When I call people partners, I mean this very sincerely — what we do is completely connected to what you do. Together, as we obey the Great Commission, we are working to take the liberating truths of God’s Word to people all over the planet.

I often remind you, along with all our partners, that there are scores of people who do not have available to them what you have available to you. They live where there are no good churches to attend, and they are famished for the sound teaching of God’s Word. When we send them the Word through this ministry, it is an answer to the cry of their hearts!

Proverbs 10:21 says, “The lips of the righteous feed many….” This verse tells me we have a God-given responsibility to feed others God’s Word. That is what we have dedicated our lives and our ministry to fulfill. And we are thankful that God sent you to help us! We are doing it with you! Denise and I want you to know how thankful and grateful we are to God, and to you as well, that you are a part of our partner family!

Years ago, I made a personal decision to develop thankfulness in my life and to practice being grateful to God in everything (see 1 Thessalonians 5:18). When people ask me, “Rick, how are you?” I nearly always answer by saying, “I am grateful!”

You see, there is always something we can be grateful and thankful about, but we must choose to develop a grateful and thankful attitude.

In Second Timothy 3:2, Paul said that in the last days, “…Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful….”  Since we know that being unthankful will be a temptation people will be prone to fall into in the last days, we must determine in our hearts to instead run in the other direction and be known for being thankful and grateful!

Let’s look at what the word “thankful” means in the original Greek language of the New Testament. The Greek word translated “thankful” that is most often used in the New Testament is charistos. The word charistos is a derivative of the word charis, which is the word for “grace.” However, when the word charis is transformed into charistos, it more fully expresses the idea of one whose heart is thankful, grateful, or appreciative for various reasons.

The Greek word charistos depicts an inward awareness of having been fortunate or well-treated. Thus, the word “thankful” — translated from charistos — projects the deep inward feeling of one who is thankful, grateful, or appreciative for what he has received or how he has been treated.

But let’s look at those three words “thankful,” “grateful,” and “appreciative” for a moment. The word “thankful” is concerned with a person’s attitude toward his good fortune rather than his feelings toward anyone responsible for it. It suggests that someone is relieved or pleased about a situation or turn of events.

But someone who is grateful realizes that someone else has helped him or treated him kindly, and he has warm feelings toward that person. Thus, the word “grateful” suggests more of an impulse to thank someone than the word “thankful” does.

Last, the word “appreciative” shows that a person recognizes the merits or appeal of something and expresses his or her recognition of it.

All these words — “thankful,” “grateful,” and “appreciative” — are included in the word “thankful, translated from the Greek word charistos, and are the expressions of a person who is thankful that he has experienced blessings in some form; is grateful toward the person or people who treated him kindly; and wants to express how appreciative he is for the kindness that was shown.

Now let’s look at what the Holy Spirit is referring to in Second Timothy 3:2 when He says society at large will become unthankful in the last days. The word “unthankful” is the Greek word acharistos, which is charistos with an a affixed to the front of it. In Greek, that little prefix a has a canceling effect. Thus, acharistos describes a person who was once thankful, but something occurred, and his thankfulness has been canceled. That person who was thankful has become unthankful.

The meaning of charistos — the Greek word translated “thankful” — is radically altered when that little a is attached to the front of it. It literally changes the meaning from thankful to unthankful.

Again, the word acharistos signals that although a person’s thankful attitude previously prevailed in his life, somehow the same person has lost his thankful, grateful, and appreciative attitude and is now unthankful. Thoughts of unthankfulness, ingratitude, and unappreciativeness now fill his heart and mind. This person is not thankful for the good he has experienced or for the blessings he has received. He is not grateful toward the person or people who have treated him kindly. He has become unthankful, filled with ingratitude, and unappreciative of what others have done for him.

Put simply, the Greek word acharistos pictures an ingrate.

Although we’re talking about developing an attitude of thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation in our lives, the word “unthankful” is profoundly important. It is imperative that we understand what Paul was prophesying concerning a last-days age in which people will become so unthankful, ungrateful, and unappreciative that they feel entitled to everything.

When a person feels entitled to everything, he loses his thankfulness for nearly everything. Why would a person be thankful when he feels he’s entitled to everything he has? This sense of entitlement is destructive to individuals, and it leads society as a whole into a state of unthankfulness — exactly what the Holy Spirit prophesied would emerge at the end of the age.

Many people today are seeking their own rights and ways, and it is leaving them dissatisfied, empty, and disillusioned. Although those who fit this description are on an endless quest to please self, they have found true, lasting pleasure to be ever just beyond their grasp. As many things as these people own — and as many benefits as are heaped on them that they didn’t have to labor for — they don’t feel thankful, because they feel entitled to it all. They have never learned the spiritual law that happiness is only obtainable where there is a thankful heart.

Unthankfulness is so wicked that in Luke 6:35, Jesus connected it with evil. He said, “…Love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” Jesus’ words position the characteristic of being “unthankful” in the same category as being “evil,” which tells us that an unthankful attitude is evil in God’s sight. The way God sees it, it is, in truth, spiritually criminal not to be thankful for what we have in life, even if it seems like we have little compared to someone else’s blessings.

Even if we believe we’ve worked hard and earned what we have, we still should be profoundly thankful that all we have was given to us by God. Our jobs and opportunities could have been given to someone else, but they were graciously given to us.

Others who need a job and a salary would be thankful to have your position and your income. There are people all over the world who do not have shelter, warmth, or clean water, but you likely have access to these blessings every day. When you remember that, it will help you to be thankful for what you have and for every blessing that comes your way.

The Bible commands us to “be ye thankful” and to “in every thing, give thanks” (see Colossians 3:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). Even if things seem to be going wrong all around us, we can stop to count our blessings! We may feel besieged by need at the present moment, but the fact is, we each have many reasons to be thankful. This is why I have chosen to be grateful and thankful every day of my life!

Perhaps you have already adopted this mindset in your own life. But to help you in your desire to be even more thankful and grateful, I want to give you several Bible verses concerning “thankfulness” that you can meditate on.

Colossians 3:17
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

This verse encourages you to give thanks to God in whatever you do or are asked to do for Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus concerning you.

This verse says you are to give thanks to God in everything — not for everything.

Psalm 26:7
That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all thy wondrous works.

This verse says that we are to “publish” with the voice of thanksgiving. Maybe you don’t publish books, articles, or blogs — but when you make your posts on social media, make sure you publish posts that show you have a thankful heart to God and to others!

Psalm 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise
shall continually be in my mouth. 

Would others say your mouth is continually filled with praise and thankfulness? Make it your aim to be known as a thankful and grateful person!

Psalm 89:1
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth
will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

Do you express a thankful attitude to God before your children and grandchildren as this verse instructs you to do? What do your children and grandchildren predominantly hear you say about your blessings and your attitude toward God who gives those blessings?

Psalm 92:1,2
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises
unto thy name, O Most High: To shew forth thy lovingkindness
in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night.

Do you start your day by expressing your thankfulness to God for His lovingkindness? Do you end your day by expressing your thankfulness for His faithfulness?

Psalm 100:4
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

This verse indicates we’re to maintain a lifestyle of thanksgiving. Does God see you as a person who is continually thankful and grateful — or as someone who is always griping and complaining about something?

Psalm 103:1
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits….

Do you take time to remember all the good things God has done for you and to let Him know how thankful you are for all of it?

Psalm 105:1
O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known
his deeds among the people.

Do you give thanks to the Lord by telling others about all the wonderful deeds He has done in your life? According to this verse, God longs for you to make known His deeds to others!

I understand this letter is a little longer than usual, but since people are going to be gathering soon for Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to encourage you this month to make a decision to be more thankful — and to give you some Bible verses to help you cultivate these characteristics of thankfulness and gratefulness in your life!

As our own family gathers around the table for Thanksgiving this year, we will each take a moment to express what we are thankful and grateful for — and it will include thanking God for connecting us with you! WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TO GOD FOR YOU!

Before I sign my name to this letter, let me say that if there is anything we can be praying with you about, please let us know. Just call us at 1.800.742.5593 or email us at prayer@renner.org. The moment we hear from you, we’ll release our faith for God to move mightily on your behalf!

We love you and thank God for you!

Rick and Denise Renner
Along with Paul, Philip, and Joel Renner and our ministry team

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