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Taking Authority
Over the Wind and Waves in Your Life
Rick Renner
JESUS IS LORD OVER ALL!
I want to start this month’s teaching by encouraging you not to
ever let the devil, or your imagination, tell you anything different!
It doesn’t matter what kind of storm you are facing — Jesus is
Lord over the wind and the waves!
And that is what I am going to talk to you about in my letter to
you today.
But first, very briefly, I want to say THANK YOU for what you’re doing to help us with
the office-building and land purchase in Moscow.
We are still believing for the full amount needed, and we are in faith
that it will come on time.
If God moves on your heart to help us financially with this
project, we thank you in advance for doing whatever He leads you to do.
I simply cannot overstate the importance of your prayers and your
gifts of support as we expand our capacity to serve the people who call into
our ministry daily.
Denise and I are so thankful that you have joined hands to help us
fulfill this part of our assignment.
You are making a difference in so many lives in the former Soviet
Union and beyond!
I want to talk to you about spiritual storms and raging waves that
try to derail us when we’re obeying God and stepping out to do something
significant for the Kingdom of God.
When you step out to do something in faith, that is usually the
moment when the enemy attacks and tries to thwart what you are doing.
In our own ministry over the years, the enemy has struck to destroy from time to time.
These attacks have usually come at points when we were about to do
something especially important in the Kingdom of God.
Each time, those attacks were attempts to thwart the plan of God.
But the devil’s attacks always failed, and the power of the Holy Spirit always
prevailed. And that is what is going to happen with you
too!
Let me direct you today to Mark 4:35-41, where the Bible tells us
that even Jesus came under such an attack when He was preparing to cast a
legion of demons out of the demoniac of Gadara.
Jesus was headed to “the other side” — where a great
miracle was going to take place — when, suddenly, winds seemed to come out of
nowhere to try to capsize Jesus’ boat and drown Him and His disciples in the
middle of the lake!
Mark 4:37 says, “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the
waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.”
The words “there arose” were taken from the Greek
word ginomai, which describes something that happens
unexpectedly or something that catches one off guard.
This word is used in Mark 4:37 to tell us these winds overtook
them unexpectedly. Suddenly and unexpectedly, there arose “a great storm of
wind.”
The word “great” is from the word mega, which denotes something of magnificent
proportions. It is where we get the idea of “mega-bills,” “mega-work,”
“mega-tired,” etc. — and the word “megaphone.”
By using this word, the Holy Spirit was telling us that this
was a mega-storm! And notice what particular kind of storm
it was.
Mark didn’t say it was a thunderstorm or a rainstorm; he said it
was “a great storm of wind.”
The word “wind” is the Greek word lailaps, which describes turbulence or a terribly violent wind.
This “great storm of wind” was an attempt of the enemy to
stop Jesus and His crew from reaching the other side of the sea where a great
breakthrough would occur.
So when Jesus was on the edge of a breakthrough, violent and
destructive turbulence showed up. This was a preemptive strike of the devil to
stop the plan of God.
But it didn’t work, and it won’t work on you and your breakthrough
either!
But since an attack like this came against Jesus, you need to know
that the enemy will attempt to do this to you as well.
That’s why you must “put on the whole armor of God” (see Ephesians 6:11) and learn how to take authority over
the wind and the waves that come against your life — against your family, your
finances, or your body — just as Jesus took authority over the wind and the waves
that came against Him.
So what do you do if you come under a demonic attack?
BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE… first check to make sure you have left no
doors open for an attack.
Then just like Jesus did in the middle of that storm, you must
take authority over the wind and the waves in your life and command them to
stop in Jesus’ name!
When Jesus was done taking authority over the wind and waves that
night on the sea, the winds ceased, and there was a great peace.
And “a great peace” is exactly what Jesus wants to bring
into your life right now.
• If the enemy has created a great financial problem in your
life, Jesus Christ wants to match it with a great financial blessing.
• If the adversary has created a great sickness in your
body, Jesus wants to match it with a great healing.
• If the devil has created a horrible marital mess in your
life, the Lord Jesus Christ wants to match that marital crisis with a great
marital blessing.
• Whatever the devil does, Jesus Christ wants to match that
attack with an even greater blessing in your life!
I want to tell you that your best days are ahead of you.
If you are experiencing a raging spiritual storm, it may be a
signal that you are on the verge of something magnificent, and that may be the
very reason why a storm has suddenly shown up to try to stop you.
But that storm is your opportunity to see a demonstration of God’s
power in your life!
Rise up in faith and rebuke those spiritual winds, and they will
cease, and a great calm will come, and you will make it to the other side!
If you need help to do this, let us help you. We are very serious
when it comes to praying for our partners.
But to know how to specifically pray for you and the storm you’re
facing, we need to hear from you.
So call or write and let us know how to pray. We’ll rise up in
faith with you to take authority over the wind and waves in any area of your
life!
It has been so good to share this word with you today. Please continue to pray for us as we do what God has called us to
do in Russia and around the world.
God’s Word has the power to change lives, but people have to
really hear it, embrace it, and believe it in order to experience that
transformation.
So together with our partners, we’re doing our part to get the
life-changing Word to them through every vehicle and avenue God opens up to us.
Thank you for helping so profoundly like you do! We are deeply grateful — and 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
along with Paul, Philip, and Joel and their families
OUR
VISION… Is to take the Gospel both to our nearby world and to the ends of
the earth, proclaiming Christ, and warning and teaching every man with all
wisdom, in order that we may present every person fully mature in Christ
Jesus. – Colossians 1:28
Rick
and Denise Renner
Rick and
Denise met while they were each on an individual quest to wholeheartedly follow
God’s plan for their lives. Rick was a college student, growing in his teaching
ministry. Denise was a talented vocalist. She chose not to pursue a course that
held the prospect of performing with the Metropolitan Opera so that she could
instead pursue a relationship with Rick and fulfill her heart’s desire to enter
full-time ministry.
Rick and
Denise’s friendship has led to a lifelong love and a powerful partnership in
building the Kingdom of God. After a decade of ministry, first as pastors and
then as itinerant ministers, Rick and Denise Renner embarked on an adventure of
a lifetime. In January 1991, the Renners and their sons — Paul (then 8), Philip
(then 6), and Joel (then 2) — left behind all they knew to relocate their
family to serve the region that only weeks earlier had become the former Soviet
Union.
Rick and
Denise remember kneeling together as a family and kissing the ground when they
arrived at the airport in Latvia on that cold January day. In that moment, they
all committed their lives to the will of God and to the people of their new
homeland. The following year, Rick moved forward to launch and establish the
first of its kind — and eventually the largest — Christian television network
in that region of the world.
Over the
years, Rick and Denise pioneered three churches, a Bible school, and a
ministerial association that serves thousands of Russian-speaking pastors
throughout the former USSR as well as parts of the Middle East. As Rick began
training and mentoring leaders in the early days, Denise also developed a
women’s ministry that is actively involved in changing the lives of women and
their families today. Specifically, they minister to the needs of orphans,
women prisoners, the homeless, and drug-and-alcohol addicts.
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