Conquer - to overcome, to obtain by effort, to gain a victory. A conqueror is one who has courage to overcome an obstacle despite fear and limitations; one who claims many victories. The conquerable and conquered are that of which is able to be overcome, and that of which have been defeated. My one word resolution for 2014 is “conquer.”
This past year has been full of many valuable lessons that have enabled me to grow morally, emotionally, and spiritually. I have not only gained enough insight to search for and discover personal growth, but have also been strengthened significantly as a follower of Christ. In these realizations, I have come to one ultimate goal that I will devote my every patience to mastering: trust God entirely. In order to accomplish that set ambition, I will have to conquer all threats of doubt, anxiety, fear, impatience, apathy, hatefulness and replace them with the everlasting promises of love, joy, hope, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forgiveness, self-control, and grace, all which I bountifully receive just by placing all faith and trust in the hands of my Heavenly Father. All it takes is humbly coming to the Father admitting that I am weak, and on my own, I stand no chance against my accusers.
In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul explains how we can boast in our weakness, because when we are weak, it gives God a chance to be strong. God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” So I can gladly boast in all of my short comings because I know they are cases of God’s strength moving in on my weakness, and in every weakness, there is a hidden blessing because Christ is able to transform the most severe battles into the sweetest of blessings. In putting the extent of my t...
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...rld of overwhelming circumstances. He will not set me up to fail, nor will He be deaf to my cries, or hesitant to catch me when I fall. When I doubt in His plan He is quick to forgive and understand. When I place all my trust and faith in Him, I am able to move the mountains of adversity that oppose me, and walk on the waves of doubt instead of drown in them. I find peace in knowing that my God is for me, and nothing that rises against me will stand for long. When I put my trust in the Lord there is no need for my heart to be troubled because the One who holds my heart in His hands has conquered the world and deprived it of power to harm me. He is the mightiest of all conquerors, and I was made in His likeness. It is in Him where find perfect peace, an everlasting hope, and infectious joy and it is in my weakness and by His strength that I too become a conqueror.
...but he was mindful of the great strength, the large gift God had given him and relied on the Almighty for favor, comfort and help. By that he overcame the foe, subdued the hell-spirit.
St Perpetua was brave until her death. She continued loving and praying to God in the days leading to her execution, and when asked to do so to save her life, never renounced her faith. I want to be confirmed so that I can continue my faith journey in a way that pleases and serves God, and I think than St. Perpetua can help me in this. I know it won’t be easy, but I also know that it could never be as hard as what St. Perpetua withstood for her faith. I will try my hardest every day to live up to her example, and by God’s grace let my faith overrule my fear in times of
As I read this chapter, I reflected on the many changes I have made over the past year in realizing that God’s grace in my life does not require the approval of others. It does not require me to be perfect or meet external standards. Orberg talks about the “imposter phenomenon,” which is when we know the image we project is incongruent with who we really are. This causes “many people to go through life with a lurking fear that one day the truth will come out” (Ortberg, 2002, pp. 167). I have felt this way for quite sometime until a year ago when I realized that much of the anxiety I was experiencing was due to not being true to myself. I am flawed and that is ok. I appreciate the explanation Ortberg gives of doing something good and trying to make sure no one finds out about it, as that is a practice I have started to implement. In reading this chapter, I realize that I need to be more involved in praying for God to show me ways daily that I can find ways to bless someones life on a daily basis without them knowing. I also plan to implement the “secret service day” where I have “no agenda of my own but to simply be home and available” (Ortberg, 2002, 170). By finding ways to celebrate joy, slow down, and practice secret
Whenever I learned to trust and turn to God, I found His comfort to satisfy my soul. Almost two years ago, one of my best friends became extremely ill and had to leave home and go to a treatment clinic. (For her privacy, I will not say the illness). She had to immediately leave for she was due to die in two weeks if she did not find help. Whenever she told me the news, my whole world flipped upside down. My life had been pretty okay before this, just a few ups and downs. This was the first major trial in my life and I was not prepared. Of course, I prayed for her but I did not grasp the fact that God was going to save her. I was extremely emotionally unstable and I tried to fix myself on my own. This never worked, I may have had temporarily relief but the fear came back. One day I finally gave up trying to fix myself and turned to God. I asked Him to forgive me for not turning to Him first and I allowed him to fix me. I placed my trust in him and ran to him for comfort. Even when it was difficult, I knew I had to trust in Him. Once I placed my faith in Him, my comfort came. I had faith that He would heal her and she will not
that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly entreat him
... trust in God and my faith in Jesus Christ will never decline, but I hope it will continue to fortify every single day of my life. I want to answer God’s call and be spiritually alive, but I know I need help to achieve my goal of being close to God. I was intrigued of the theology and its views of the Wesleyan’s belief.
After seeing though the eyes of my pastor I’ve come to realize the importance of faith and committing to one’s beliefs. Returning to church after two massive losses has helped my mother in many ways and it has also taught me as a young man how small things that I could do would turn to have a big impact on someone’s life the same way my pastor impacted my life and the life of my siblings.
Pride puts us in opposition to God, and humility allows us to depend on God and receive His grace. The Apostle Peter teaches this when He says in 1 Peter 5:5 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” He also goes on to say in verse 6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:”
Many have the misconception that humility is the “acceptable synonym” to self-degradation. This is far from the truth, and instead of benefiting those who retain this theory, it only hurts them. The devaluing of talents or God-given not only introduces self-deception, but also diminishes the awesomeness of God. Instead, Lewis implies in The Screwtape Letters that God’s view of humility is quite different when Screwtape tells his nephew, “You must therefore conceal from the patient the true end of humility. Let him think of it not as self-forgetfulness, but as a certain kind of opinion, namely a low opinion) of his own talents and character.” (63) One quote from Rick Warren that is commonly attributed to C.S. Lewis sums true humility up quite well, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. Humility is thinking more of others.” (Day 19) Pride, on the other hand, is more universally understood as being an inflated view of oneself or one’s talents. Pride is considered to be the first of the “deadly sins,” and is commonly considered to be the root of all sin. Pride is idolizing oneself, which violates the first and foremost commandment of having no idols. Every other sin is a result of the prideful assumption that the person knows better than God does. While it is relatively easy to define these terms and to understand them, it is much
Reading about Christ's triumph through suffering should encourage believers everywhere to continue on. Christ was victorious in suffering. His death, burial, and resurrection defeated sin, death, demons, and satan. He rose from the dead - no other "god" could ever do this. Christ alone is supremely powerful.
People who are able find joy in their faith and trust in God are less likely to abandon it in the face of trouble. That is why the overarching tone of the letter is one of encouragement. Thus, in many ways Paul’s message climaxes when he proclaims, “I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me” (Phil 4:13). This verse has become one of the most commonly shared among the modern Christian community, as its message of unwavering trust and an omnipotent God comforts those in times of hardship. At the writing of this letter, Paul is conscious that he appears weak. Yet in this moment of weakness, he becomes fully aware of Christ’s power resting upon him. At Paul’s weakest, he was actually at his strongest due to Christ. Christians in similar situations can look to Paul’s steadfastness in Christ during his time of hardship as an example for their own action. The letter insinuates that God will not give his children more than they can handle. Servants were intended to go through struggles, but they will be rewarded for believing in the strength of the Lord with eternal
In these distressing times when all around is fear, unthankfulness and misery, it is easy to underestimate the splendid benefits God has blessed us with, and sumptiously enriched our
The biggest thing that I’ve been dealing with and at this time still struggle with is in finding my self-worth. Some may also call it self-confidence. I feel that I have tended to confuse God’s love for me as primarily traveling through vessels, i.e. other people in the body of Christ. I all too often can look back on my past and see the points where I felt the most apart from God and tie them in with instances where I had torn relationships with past friends in the church. Throughout this struggle though, I have continued to feel the presence of God, through the Holy Spirit, comforting me and guiding me on this spi...
I have almost gone into hiding, if you will, from God because I feel that I cannot be forgiven over and over of the same sins. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do” (New International Version, Romans 7.15). I realize, however, that in my weakness that Jesus’s power is made perfect. “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12.7-10). The absence of the fruits of the Spirit in my life inhibits the kingdom of God in my life in that His power is not fully noticed in my actions and character. Being in Christ and belonging to His kingdom sets me apart from the world and so I am to live for Him and serve him while seeking His kingdom first. When lost in my desires of the flesh, I am not seeking His kingdom. Rather, I am seeking my own desires and
Paul tells us to “fight the good fight of faith” (Tim. 6:12). We must not hold on to unbelief. When we give ourselve...