Have you conquered anything in your life? Perhaps you conquered your fear of the dark as a toddler when you finally had the courage to sleep with your night light off? Perhaps you conquered your fear of heights when you finally jumped out of an airplane in a parachute or scaled the side of a mountain? Perhaps you served in the armed forces and conquered an enemy in battle? Most of us have experienced the joy of conquering obstacles in our lives, but is it possible conquer cancer?
Before I get to this thought-provoking question about conquering cancer, Dictionary.com defines “conquer” as:
to acquire by force of arms; win in war: to conquer a foreign land.
to overcome by force; subdue: to conquer an enemy.
to gain, win, or obtain by effort, personal appeal, etc.: conquer the hearts of his audience.
to gain a victory over; surmount; master; overcome:
I googled “conquer quotes” and the following are some of the top conquer quotes according to goodreads.com:
“Life throws challenges and every challenge comes with rainbows and lights to conquer it.” (Amit Ray, “World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird”)
“No one knows what you have been through or what your pretty little eyes have seen, but I can reassure you ~ whatever you have conquered, it shines through your mind.” (Nikki Rowe)
“Man conquers the world by conquering himself.” (Zeno of Citium)
As Zeno of Citum suggests, conquer yourself and your can conquer the world. In other words, everything you accomplish and do in the world is ultimately up to YOU – you just need to conquer yourself first! I must admit this is a great quote and will appeal to many in this world, but, if you are in danger of losing your life to a terminal cancer trial, do you really think that you will believe that you can conquer cancer by conquering yourself first? I certainly do not believe this and, if you are ever forced to battle cancer, I doubt you will either.
If you google “conquer cancer quotes”, there are so many quotes which come up. For example, according to Ann from the Lymphoma club:
“It is not easy being diagnosed with cancer. It is not easy dealing with the chemo and the side effects. It is not easy losing our hair and facing uncertainty. All we can do is hold onto hope every single day and draw from our inner strength to remind us that we can overcome the tough days. In between those tough days, there will be good days. Embrace the good days and put the tough days behind you. Each day you conquer makes you another day stronger. Keep going strong everyone.”
According to Author Unknown on pancreaticcancerjourney.com (https://www.pancreaticcancerjourney.com/cancer-quotes.html)
“Cancer is so limited. It cannot cripple love, It cannot shatter hope, It cannot corrode faith, It cannot destroy peace, It cannot kill friendship, It cannot suppress memories, It cannot silence courage, It cannot invade the soul, It cannot steal eternal life, It cannot conquer the Spirit.” ~ Author Unknown
Ann from the Lymphoma Club tells us we need to draw on our inner strength to conquer cancer. What exactly does she mean by this? Not only do I not understand the inference she is making here, but how exactly do you go out and draw on your inner strength? More specifically, how do you draw on your inner strength if your cancer trial is literally sucking the life out of you? Author Unknown infers that cancer cannot conquer you because it cannot steal eternal life. Again, I am confused about what exactly this means. If you end up succumbing to your cancer trial, Author Unknown does not explain how eternal life is achieved. I have had the humbling privilege of working with hundreds of people who have or had cancer and I must admit that quotes like the preceding ones make me a little angry. Why? Because these quaint quotes are so incredibly misleading to the numerous cancer patients enduring a terminal cancer trial who might end up choosing to believe them. You would be surprised what people will try to believe if they feel said beliefs will help them can get their way or if they feel said beliefs can extend their lives a little while longer or make them feel better while they are still alive. It is very said for me to realize that many of these individuals, who choose to put their faith in these quaint quotes, may be at the end of their lives and may be facing eternal separation from God if they do not know and believe what the Bible has to say about how you can obtain eternal life. The Bible does not tell us to rely on our inner strength during a cancer trial nor does it say that cancer cannot steal eternal life if we end up succumbing to a cancer trial. In fact, The Bible tells a totally different story about conquering. Romans 8:35-39 tells us:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
As stated in the preceding verses in Romans, the Bible tells us that “we are more than conquerors through Him (Jesus) who loved us”. Yes, the Bible, in stating that “nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”, tells us that Jesus is the only one who can conquer cancer. In other words, Jesus is the only one who can provide all who believe and trust in Him with eternal life so He is the only one who can conquer cancer. Since Jesus is the only one who can prevent us from being separated from the love of God, He is the only one who can provide true hope to the cancer patient. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 tells us:
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”
Yes, as 1 Timothy 2:5 tells us, there is only one mediator between God and Man and that man is Jesus. According to dictionary.com, a mediator is a person who mediates, especially between parties at variance. Mediate is to bring about (an agreement, accord, truce, peace, etc.) as an intermediary between parties by compromise, reconciliation, removal of misunderstanding, etc. Therefore, since death is a punishment for sin, Jesus is a mediator between God and man because He is the one who brings peace between God and man because of His atoning sacrifice of dying on the cross for man’s sins. If you are facing terminal cancer, this Bible verse is telling you that Jesus is the ONLY mediation option available to you.
On Friday June 20, 2020, I learned a 14-year old girl who attends my church died after a 14-month cancer trial. She died six days before her 15th birthday. Although I never had the chance to meet her, it makes me so sad to know that she has lost her battle to cancer at such a young age. I cannot imagine the pain her parents and three siblings must be feeling right now. To make her story a little more heartbreaking, her brother is going to get married this year and, in an effort to get her to be able to attend in the time she had left, I was told they moved her brother’s wedding up to 6-21-2020, which is the day after she died. Since I have received numerous communications about her treatments and condition over the past 14 months, I was actively following her cancer trial updates while earnestly praying for her, hoping her doctors would find a way to cure her. In early 2020, I started receiving emails that she had been sent home because there was nothing else the medical professionals could do for her. I do not want to sound overly morbid here, but one of the blessings of this terminal news was the fact that she had time to start preparing for her own death. This is hard news for anyone to deal with, but I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for a 14-year-old girl to find out she had terminal cancer. When I heard about her terminal cancer news, I cried several times and I wondered if she got angry at God because she was so young and had so much life ahead of her. I have no idea if she did get angry at God or not, but I ultimately found out that she responded to her terminal cancer trial in a way which both humbles and inspires me. I will not reveal my source, but I know someone who became friendly with her during her the later stages of her cancer trial. Like so many believers enduring a terminal cancer trial, this 14-year-old girl grew in her faith during her cancer trial according to my source. I also learned that she was confident in her salvation, especially in her last days. My source was kind enough to text me a picture of a two-part hand-written journal entry the 14-year-old wrote, which is transcribed below:
"I am a warrior. I am strong and I must fight against a sickness which has come inside of me and tries to take over. But it will not for I have the strength to fight. The strength comes not from me but from Christ who is within me. He holds me up and is able to scale high mountains. I will fight for him and through Him I will conquer."
She also quoted Psalm 18-31-36 which says:
“For who is God but the Lord? And who is a rock except our God? The God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me, and your greatness made me great.”
Hopefully, you can see the correlation between her comments about fighting and conquering and the verses she quoted in Psalm 18 which talk about training my hands for war and which also reference the shield of your salvation. In other words, her above comment about being a warrior and having the strength to fight are underpinned by biblical truths in these five verses from Psalm 18.
I was extremely impressed when I read her quote about “through Him I will conquer”. I do not know about you, but this 14-year-old girl just taught me a whole lot about how to win a battle with cancer. I have written so many blog posts about cancer, but I never thought about how faith in Christ can enable the cancer patient to conquer cancer. “Through him I will conquer” is such a simple and straight-forward statement, yet I missed it until I read her post. Sure, I have talked about in numerous other Cancer Support Chronicles posts how Jesus can provide eternal life to all cancer patients who believe in Him, but I never thought about it from the perspective of conquering cancer. I guess it took the mind of a 14-year-old girl to make me realize that cancer can be conquered through faith Christ. She so succinctly and eloquently pointed out that Christ can conquer cancer for all who believe and trust in Him. Since I cannot stop thinking about her comments about being a warrior and conquering cancer, I thought the only prudent thing to do was write this blog post. I have had the privilege of working with hundreds of people who have or had cancer and these experiences have provided me a great opportunity to see how they responded to such cancer trial challenges. As a result of what I have observed over the years, I am even more amazed at how she was able to realize at such a young age that her faith in Christ was the only way she could conquer cancer. In other words, I am awed by the spiritual wisdom she demonstrated here when she realized that Christ’s strength, not hers, was the only way she could conquer cancer.
The amount of faith she has demonstrated here reminds me of a song called “Gonna Trust in God” by Steve Earl (CCLI: #2737744)
CHORUS I’m gonna trust in God I’m gonna trust in Jesus Without shame and without fear I’m gonna fix my eyes On the hope of glory For His day is drawing near
VERSE 2 How great is the love of God How steady is His hand To guide me through this world And though I am weak in Him I stand And you will hear me say today In faith I’m gonna trust in God
VERSE 3 Now when the cares of life Seem overwhelming And my heart is sinking down I’m gonna lift my hands To the One who’ll help me To the One who holds my crown
If you end up staring death in the face at some point in your life, will you be able to be like this 14-year-old girl and be able to trust in Christ and His plan for your life? Please think long and hard about this question before you answer it. You might also be thinking to yourself; “My cancer is not that bad”. Or, you might be thinking to yourself; “I don’t even have cancer or any other serious illnesses so why should I be thinking about what a 14 year old cancer patient said at the end of her terminal cancer trial”? Well, the Bible has excellent answers for this question, “why should this matter to me?” For example, Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 tells us:
“A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death better than the day of birth. It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart”.
Yes, the Bible tells us that death is the destiny of everyone, and the living should take this to heart. As we discussed earlier, the Bible tells us that Christ is the only mediator between God and man. Therefore, if you are reading this and if you think this does not apply to you, then I ask you to pray about it and ask God for his help and guidance in reconsidering your position. Please ask God to help you in your unbelief.
Why does it often take something as severe as a terminal cancer trial for people to realize that they need to figure out what will happen to their souls when they die. If their search for answers to these important questions about man’s destiny leads them to investigate the promises of the Gospel, they will need to decide if they love and trust God or not? Many will struggle with fully loving and trusting God. If you are struggling with fully loving God, Sarah Davis, daughter of Ravi Zacharias and the current CEO of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries ("RZIM"), provides the following personal answer to this excellent question in her 6-20-2020 RZIM ministry email called “The Lord Will Go with You”: A Father’s Day Reflection”.
"Then came the final question of the evening in Shanghai China. A young man stood up and said that although he was a Christian, he did not really love God. I could tell by how my dad (Ravi Zacharias) first responded that he was moved by the bravery of such an honest question, asked in front of faculty and students at this Christian school for children of expats. But the bravery and honesty of this question also resonated with me—for this was true of my heart, too. I believed, but I did not love. In response, my dad told a story—a story he had told me, and my sister and brother, when we were growing up. He had put it to paper years ago, and it became one of his published children’s books, The Broken Promise. My dad was a magical storyteller, using story to illustrate even complex truths so that they could be held. But he applied the story differently that night, suggesting that perhaps we do not feel free to love God if we are holding something back from him. And in that moment, I knew that I was. I was holding back surrender, and I was afraid if I surrendered, I would lose something that mattered to me. But that night, I surrendered completely. I flew home the next day; a friend saw me soon after I returned and immediately asked me what had happened to me. It was visible, and it was visceral. My act of surrender created space for me to accept that God loved me, and then because He first loved me, I fell deeply in love with him. That changed everything for me, and in ways I never imagined."
Yes, the world teaches us to be in control of our own lives and you can conquer the world by conquering yourself. The Bible tells us we must humble ourselves before a holy God and trust Christ and His plan for our lives. The fact that a 14-year-old girl acknowledged Christ’s absolute sovereignty over her cancer trial and openly professed and trusted in His plan for her life is just simply amazing. Can you imagine being 14 years old with your whole life ahead of you and having that kind of “conquering” perspective. I know so many people who have cancer and who are also Christians, but some of them are totally focused on finding a cure for their cancer. In other words, when it comes down to trusting God with their lives in the midst of their terminal cancer trial, so many people do not want to give up control because there are so many things they want to still do with their lives. In other words, it is so hard for many of us to trust God because we want to be in Control. When a terminal cancer trial causes cancer patients to come to grips with their own mortality and to finally realize that they are not in control, many of these patients respond to their dire circumstances with feelings of anger, frustration, and bitterness. Alistair Begg, from TruthForLife.org, said in his blog post “Insights for Dark Days: God is in Control” (https://blog.truthforlife.org/insights-control):
“We cannot discern God’s plan based on what is most comfortable, acceptable, and rationally obvious. God’s providential care expresses itself not only in ordinary, expected ways but also in surprising and unusual ways. Let us not see the dark and disappointing times as thwarting His unfolding purpose. Instead, let us learn each day to trust Him more completely.”
As Alistair has also stated many times, “Christianity is not about how to escape from the difficulties of life - it is about how to face the difficulties of life”.
If your cancer trial is causing you to experience feelings of anger, frustration, and bitterness, did you know that you can learn the most important thing you will ever need to know in this life and in your cancer trial journey from the journal entry of a 14-year-old-girl? As she taught me, did you know that you can be a warrior? You can be strong, and you can fight a sickness which has come inside of you and tries to take over you. But it will not, for you can have the strength to fight. Did you know that this strength to fight comes not from within you, but it comes from Christ if He is within you? He can hold you up, and He is able to scale high mountains. You can fight for Him and through Him you will CONQUER!
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him (Jesus) who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
Jim Risk, a two-time cancer survivor, is the volunteer Ministry Coordinator for the Cancer Support Group (CSG) at a non-denominational church in NE Ohio. Jim and his wife, Kristina, have participated and served in CSG, a Christian ministry, since 2007.