Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States

The Spirit of a Conqueror


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"'Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me; for you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known you, but I have known you. You; and these have known that you sent me, and I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.'" (John 17:24-26).

God gives us freedom to choose between right and wrong and between good and evil. He told us if we choose to walk with Him He will guide us and fills us with His peace no matter what our circumstances will be.

"'For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.'" (Malachi 3:6).

God’s will never changes and He never forgets His promises to any of us even if we deny Him and let go of Him. Despite all circumstances we have to believe that God will help us and guide us until we overcome them.

Great joy to understand how the universe works and how we were made in order to worship our God and give Him the glory in everything we do.

Living in the world reminds us with that everyone of us is like a ship in the middle of the sea and in order to survive it must have a good captain. And the good captain must have a plan in order to lead the ship to the shore safely.

Now if we can imagine the ship had a bad captain or decided to lead itself with no captain and no plan, what will be her destiny? More likely it will suffer tribulations; it will be going in circles and repeating the same wrong pattern again and again and ultimately her final destiny will be destruction.

Sadly many people are still going in circles due to the lack of commitment on their part. Ultimately they feel overwhelmed by every trial and every new circumstance that comes their way as still try to lead themselves despite all that they hear and know about the ways of life.

"I am weary with my groaning; all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows old because of all my enemies" (Psalm 6:6-7).

Satan rejoices with those who are weak in the spirit. He will paralyze them and fill their hearts with fear so that their minds cannot reason and feel that it is impossible to change. He will fill them with negative emotions and thoughts to keep them occupied with it.

During our journey of life, we find that our troubles are due to such things as:

Some will worry too much about what others will think of them and these thoughts will hold them back from doing God’s will for them. Some will fear trying to be what they ought to be, and struggle continually with what we could and we should not do. We give so much emphasis on what our mind will tell us then what our hopes and dreams are. Fear is our own enemy and it does not encourage us, on the contrary, it will hinder our effort to succeed.

In order to pursue our dreams such as changing careers, getting married, having children, moving away to a better place in our spiritual walk, we need to force ourselves to step out of our comfort zone and overcome our fear.

The devil will use all kind of tricks and obstacles to prevent us from pursuing our hopes and dreams. Do not let him hinder your hope and discourage you from accomplishing what you want to accomplish.

Whatever it is that keeps you away from reaching your ultimate goal will grieve your heart and make you lose hope which will lead you to be miserable, depressed, frustration, and full of negative emotions.

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But, he who fears has not been made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18).

Determine today that you will face yourself, take responsibility, and learn to get to the root of your problem. Stop coming up with all sorts of excuses why you cannot, or you would not. Instead pray diligently for God’s help and support and seek help from a friend or a priest.

Put on the spirit of a conqueror and remember that God will not ask us to handle more than we can bear.

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it" (1Corinthians 10:13).

He who loves us and puts His life for the sake of humanity will never leave us in our time of need. He will do what it takes to pull us through our difficulties and give us the reason to rejoice in Him.

Look up to the one who can help us and guide us and lead us to success. God can do the impossible if we put our trust in Him. Fear can be defeated and no longer scares us, weakens our spirit, and controls our steps.

By facing our fear and not running away from it, we can gain our self-worth back and understand how to control fear and deal with it.

The Holy Book of Nehemiah is one of best illustrations of how the devil tries to weaken us and strips us from all our peace and pulls us away from God. How?

  • "And they said to me, 'The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.'" (Nehemiah 1:3). Satan wants our walls torn down so we become vulnerable and he can continually attack us successfully without any resistance.

  • "And I said: I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, 'You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments.'" (Nehemiah 1:5). When we come to the realization that without God’s help, we will not be able to defeat the devil’s attacks and win.

  • "But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews" (Nehemiah 4:1). Satan will not give up easily. He will not want us to progress and follow the will of God. He will do what it takes to bring us back to captivity.

  • "And all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. Nevertheless we made our prayer to our God and because of them we set a watch against them day and night" (Nehemiah 4:8-9). This is the time that we keep our eyes on God and watch Him at work. He will fill our heart with the spirit of conquering and take away our fear so we can feel His hand within us and rejoice.

  • "Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows" (Nehemiah 4:13). What a great picture of determination and trust. What are our weapons? It is the words of God that reminds us that we are not alone; that He strengthens us, when Satan tries to weaken us again. Therefore we should keep it within our hearts at all times.

  • "So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all nations around us saw these things, that they were disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God" (Nehemiah 6:15-16). Finally with thanks to God and His work in us, we are able to shield ourselves against the enemies’ attack and defeat him. Therefore praise God at all times and keeping a thankful attitude will help us to accomplish many things.

The spirit of a conqueror does not come easy but requires great determination and commitment on our part and God will do the rest. He will give us the strength and the protection. And He will guide us to the shore with His ultimate plan for each one of us.

Written by
Nagwa Abdou


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