There are certain laws and principles governing the battles of life. This universal set of rules or principles is what I call laws of conquest. And if you must have conquest over adversity or challenges, and succeed in your life you must abide by these laws or principles. One of such laws is the law of opposites.
But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, (Romans 7:23)
In the mind of every man are two opposite forces, at war against each other. Basically, these opposing forces are centrifugal in nature. There is a great dichotomy in the human mind between two opposing forces. A battle for supremacy rages between these two forces. Thus, the human mind becomes a battlefield for these two opposing forces. They strive and contend with each other for control and dominance of the human mind.
These forces have manipulative tendencies as the dominance of either of them influences our attitude and the way we respond to experiences of life. These two forces are the force of fear and the force of courage. And the dominance of any of them is a determinant of defeat or victory, failure or success in adversity as the case may be.
The mind is the central processing unit of life. It churns out fear or courage based on the prevailing experience. The mind is the drawing board from where you map out strategies for actions in life. These strategies influence your attitude and determine the outcome of the time of adversity. It is either the attitude of fear or the attitude of courage.
In addition, every battle of life is half-won or half-lost in the mind. And it is the prevailing force operating in the mind, by its influence on your attitude or disposition towards challenges of life that determines the outcome. This is to say that the outcome of the time of adversity is a fifty-fifty affair.
Law of Opposites in Action
This law of opposites was in operation in the minds of the twelve spies. They were divided between fear and courage in their hearts. This explains better why God did not carry the Israelites immediately into Canaan as he promised. Remember, the number of spies that had the force of fear operating in their minds was ten. Then only two out of them had the force of courage – Joshua and Caleb. Obviously, at the ratio of five to one (5:1), or 83.3% to 16.7%, the equation of the law of opposites did not balance. With this equation, the venture was a mission impossible. This buttresses the law of opposites or law of battles of life; it must be first won in the mind before any physical victory, or worse still, lost in the mind before any physical defeat as the case may be.
Moreover, to worsen the situation the ten spies infested the camp with fear. It spread like wildfire. The whole camp caught the fear fever except for Joshua and Caleb who had another spirit. Meanwhile, they are to contend for the Promise Land in battles. So, God in his wisdom knew that with the form of their spirit they would be defeated in battle because they were already defeated in their minds. And they remained in the wilderness for forty years until the generation who were self-defeated was eliminated except Joshua and Caleb. Then God raised a hybrid of Israelites devoid of fear in them to possess the Promised Land, (Numbers 13: 31-33; 14:1-6, 31, 32, 37).
The force of Fear Vs Courage
In the law of opposites, there are always two opposing and centrifugal forces contending against each other. For example, the forces of fear and of courage are two opposing forces. They are poles apart that is they cannot meet together. One cannot operate where the other exists. They are like light and darkness. Wherever light shines darkness disappears, but whenever light ceases to shine darkness takes over. You can also liken them to water and fire. Whereas the water of fear extinguishes the fire of courage in any mind. No one achieves victory or success in the atmosphere of fear. Note that going into battle at that initial tempo would amount to defeat because they were already defeated in their minds.
Conquest in Life
Furthermore, I will define conquest as a ‘spiritual phenomenon which is determined by the strength and character of the human spirit. Note that the form of your spirit matters most when it comes to the battles of life. It is the determinant of victory or defeat in adversity. Do you want to dominate and succeed in life? Do you want to rule your world? Then you must work on the form of your spirit. Your spirit must be in form.