It is always fun to remember your “firsts.” We all cherish the remembrance of our first boyfriend (or girlfriend), our first date, our first kiss (mine was on Waikiki beach. I lived in Hawaii and took cotillion as a young girl. Our final dance was at a hotel down there). I remember clearly the school years when I made honor roll all four quarters. My first job was interesting, selling cheese in a British shop. My first paycheck paid for Wimpy burgers for me and my friends.

I also clearly recall the first time I tried to memorize scripture. I was only 3 or 4 months “old in the Lord” and a freshman in Bible College. Our Bible teacher assigned our first memory project. It was the ENTIRE 8th chapter in Romans. I can remember standing in front of my cash register at the hardware store where I worked. My memory cards were sitting on top of the keys and as I checked out a customer, they could hear me mutter, “There is therefore no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus…” It took a few weeks, but I finally memorized it all!

If you happen to be a quart low in encouragement this week, take a long look at that chapter. It starts with an incredible statement about the believer’s standing in Christ and ends with a marvelous paragraph of affirmation.

In English, verse 37 begins “But in all these things (the trials and difficulties of life enumerated in the previous verses), we are more that conquerors through Him who loved us.” But as my pastor recently remarked, in Greek it is only one word. It is a compound word uniting “huper” and “nikao”. “Huper” is the Greek way of saying “more,” and “nikao” (transliterated NIKE by the shoe company) is translated “to conquer or overcome.” It means to utterly defeat.

When you put them together, you get the idea of a super conqueror. Or to put it in colloquial terms, we are all HYPER NIKES!

Paul is just trying to emphasize that NOTHING can separate the believer from the love of Christ. We are indeed more than regular-run-of-the-mill conquerors; we are hyper conquerors, conquering death, life, angels, principalities, powers, things to come and any person!

So this week, if Satan and his crowd try to fill your mind with messages of defeat, ignore them. Read and reread those wonderful 39 verses and declare for all to hear, “I am a HYPER CONQUEROR! Nothing can separate me from the love of the Lord.”