The Conquering Spirit
‘We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated.’
2 Corinthians 4:8 NCV
The Brooklyn Bridge, which links Brooklyn to Manhattan Island, is one of the most famous bridges in the world. When it was first conceived in 1867, bridge-building experts throughout the world told the designer, a creative engineer by the name of John Roebling, that his idea wouldn’t work.
Roebling convinced his son Washington, who was also an engineer, that his idea had merit. The two of them developed a concept, resolved the problems others had forecast, and enthusiastically hired a crew to build the bridge.
After only a few months of building, a tragic on-site accident took John’s life, and another event months later severely injured Washington, who became unable to talk or walk. Everyone thought the project would be abandoned, since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew the dynamics of building the bridge. Washington, however, could still think, and he had a burning desire to see the bridge finished. As he lay in his hospital bed, he had an idea. He would communicate with the engineers by using one finger to tap out in code on his wife’s arm what he wanted her to tell them. Washington tapped out his instructions for thirteen years until the bridge was built! That’s the conquering spirit.
The apostle Paul talks about it this way: ‘We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed’ (vv. 8-9 NCV). Those words constitute the conquering spirit—the spirit God can give you.
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