Align Your Mind and Mouth for Healing

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,

I greet you today in the all-powerful name of Jesus!

Before I get into my subject today, I want to say THANK YOU for all your prayers and for the gifts you give to our ministry to help us fulfill our God-given assignment. With the Thanksgiving season drawing near, we are especially full of thankfulness for everything you so faithfully do to help us get the trusted teaching of God’s Word to people around the world.

I’m also excited to tell you that the Renner Interpretive Version (RIV) of First and Second Peter is being released on November 4! Many decades ago, the Holy Spirit instructed me to write and said He would bless what I wrote. Ever since then, I’ve been writing, and He has faithfully blessed my books and materials to get into the hands of many thousands of people in various languages. Right now, you can call 1-800-742-5593 or go online at renner.org to place your order for the RIV of First and Second Peter. I believe you will be amazed at the wealth of insight and revelation on every page. I pray it will cause these two epistles to come more alive to you than ever before.

I also want to tell you that from November 1 to December 31, we are offering a 25-percent discount on every Renner product in our website store! We simply want to make everything available for you at this season of the year when you are thinking of what to give others at Christmastime.

In my letter today, I want to speak to you about how to appropriate the healing that Jesus purchased for you in His redemptive work on the Cross. Regardless of why a person is struggling with physical or mental illness, disease, or sickness, the fact is that Christ paid the price for him or her to be healed and to live in health. However, even though healing and health were secured by Christ’s sacrifice, there are many people who still grapple with physical and mental issues for a multitude of reasons. But regardless of why people get sick, God, in His great mercy has provided everything necessary to be healed. In today’s letter, I want to talk to you about two main points: 1) renewing your mind to the truth and 2) aligning your heart and mouth (what you believe and speak) so that you can receive the healing Jesus paid the price for you to possess.

As I just noted, many believers find themselves grappling with illness, despite Christ’s having already purchased their healing and health at the Cross. It is often the case that seeds of doubt and bad teaching have taken root in their hearts, causing them to doubt and even dismiss the idea that it is God’s will for them to be healed. The devil knows that if those seeds begin to sprout, he can wreak havoc in your life. He well understands that whoever or whatever controls your mind also controls your overall life, and that includes your physical and mental health. Consequently, the devil is relentless in his pursuit to infiltrate your mind with skepticism, doubt, and unbelief. If he succeeds, it will open the door for him to wage war on every facet of your being.

To protect yourself from wrong thinking and seeds of doubt, it is imperative that you understand everything that belongs to you because of Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross, so:

• Spend time studying what the Bible has to say about healing. Read and reread the truths in Scripture that declare it is God’s will to heal, and then keep reading and meditating on these truths until they are deeply rooted in your mind and heart.
• Spend time contemplating what “redemption” means and grasp its beneficial consequences in your life.

You must take an active role to make sure your comprehension of salvation and all that it encompasses is ingrained in your thinking — to the extent that it is a part of you and you are convinced beyond any doubt about what Jesus’ death and resurrection purchased for you. When you do, it will disarm the enemy from attacking your mind with doubt as he has done in the past. If he has no say-so in your mind, it will make it harder for him to have a say-so in your body — in your physical and mental health.

However, if you have any dangling or loose ends of doubt that the devil can latch onto or take hold of, he’ll use them to entangle you and hinder you from claiming the healing God intends for you to enjoy. But once those loose ends are removed and what God’s Word says about what Christ purchased for you has been embedded in your heart, you can take the next important step — and that is to bring your heart and your mouth into alignment. This is what I call the heart-mouth connection.

In Mark 11:23, Jesus said, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” In this verse, Jesus taught that the heart-mouth connection is so powerful that it can bring to pass whatsoever you believe in your heart and declare with your mouth.

Notice Jesus said if a person will “say” something and “not doubt in his heart” — in other words, if he really believes what he is saying with his mouth and has no doubt about it in his heart — he will possess exactly what he says. In the context of Mark 11:23, Jesus meant that when an individual’s heart harmonizes with his or her spoken words, it invariably sets things in motion!

The word “doubt” is translated from a form of the Greek word diakrinomai, which means to differ, doubt, or waver. The Greek word diakrinomai, which is translated “doubt” in Mark 11:23, creates a picture of a person who does not differ in what he inwardly believes and verbally confesses. His heart and his mouth beat in unison and harmonize together. The verse could be rendered, “…Whoever shall say…and not differ in his heart….” If you say one thing with your mouth, but your heart doesn’t believe it or says something else, your heart and mouth are differing from each other, and you are making an empty confession that will not produce what you are saying. Your heart and mouth must be in alignment.

This principle of “believing in the heart and confessing with the mouth” applies to every sphere of life. In the context of healing for your body and mind, if you really believe in your heart that Christ purchased your healing on the Cross, and if you put your heartfelt faith together with the confession of your mouth, that combination will detonate divine power that brings healing and health into manifestation in your body and mind. Creative power is released when the heart and mouth get into agreement! This is why you must be careful about what you believe in your heart and say with your mouth. When your heart and mouth get “in sync” with each other, it can make things come to pass!

It is simply a fact that this connection between your heart and your speech can produce both constructive and destructive power. For example, the devil is well aware that if he can seed your heart and mind with doubt and unbelief and then coax you into speaking those lies with your mouth, your confession of them can eventually cause those evil things to come to pass in your life. That is why the enemy wants to fill your mind with doubt and unbelief. He knows that by enticing you to accept and internalize these doubts — and then vocalize them — it’s only a matter of time before they manifest as your lived experience.

In Matthew 12:34, Jesus said, “…Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” According to Jesus, whatever is in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth. Imagine your heart as a fountain, where whatever it holds will inevitably bubble up through your words. No force, not even gravity, is strong enough to keep what is in your heart from eventually coming out of your mouth.

Mark 11:23 says that when beliefs deeply rooted within your heart and mind are transformed into spoken words, they unleash extraordinary power that is capable of shaping reality. Because Mark 11:23 says great power is released when your heart and mouth start working together, it becomes paramount to nurture faith within your heart and to speak words of faith with your mouth. This heart-mouth combination will ultimately sculpt your world around you.

An example of a good, or positive, heart-mouth combination would be a person who is struggling with some form of sickness, and to overcome it, he decides to ingrain into his heart and mind the truth that healing belongs to him by virtue of Christ’s redemptive work on the Cross. He habitually meditates on those truths until they come alive inside his heart — and once he is filled with them, as Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, those truths begin to show up in his mouth. And when his heart and mouth get into alignment, according to Mark 11:23, it creates a conduit through which the healing of Christ will flow into his life and become a reality. This means that a person whose heart is filled with faith in God’s Word concerning healing — and whose mouth speaks in agreement— will experience improvement in his health.

But on the flipside, as a negative example, let’s say another person is also struggling with some form of sickness. But rather than fill himself with the truth of God’s Word about healing, he tunes in to voices that say it isn’t always God’s will to heal. This results in his being filled with doubt and unbelief, and he finds himself being inundated with grim forecasts about his condition that he eventually begins to speak about. According to Matthew 12:34, we know that what fills one’s heart is soon reflected in his words. Therefore, when one’s heart and mouth are filled with negativity, that individual can summon the very health issues he fears.

I’m not suggesting you ignore a medical report, but I am suggesting you fill yourself with God’s promises of health and healing so that you can face even the toughest medical diagnosis with confidence. When you fill your heart with biblical promises about healing — and align your words with them — fear loses its grip. Your heart-mouth combination will result in your condition being improved or removed. Seek wisdom and adhere to your doctor’s guidance. However, it’s equally important to saturate your heart with God’s Word regarding healing and health and let your words echo His promises. As highlighted in Mark 11:23, when your heart and words are in harmony, they have the power to manifest the healing you are seeking.

Thank you for letting me minister to you today through this letter. I have so much more to say on this subject of healing, so we’ll pick up next month right where we left off. Please never forget that we are here to pray for you! Just call 1-800-742-5593 on any weekday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CT or write to us anytime at prayer@renner.org, and we will pray according to Jeremiah 33:3 to ask God to move on your behalf mightily and do exactly what needs to be done.

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 Renner and our entire ministry team

P.S. Click here to view the new interactive Ministry Update page or click here to download the printable pdf flyer.

|