The Battle Within: How to Defeat Duality, Hypocrisy, and Fear to Become One with God: A Powerful Christian Sermon on Inner Struggle and Wholeness

Have you ever felt like you're not one person… but two?

Like something inside you is pulling you toward God, but something else is pulling you toward sin?

This inner conflict isn’t strange — it’s real. It’s spiritual. And it’s universal.

In this deeply personal and powerful sermon, Pope Shenouda III speaks directly to the divided heart — the inner war every soul fights:

⚔️ Between desire and conscience

⚔️ Between the flesh and the spirit

⚔️ Between fear and love

⚔️ Between the world and God

As St. Paul writes:

“The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other.” (Galatians 5:17) “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1) And as one author once said:

“I struggled with myself so fiercely, I felt as if I were two people inside one body — one pulling me forward, one holding me back.” This battle leaves many feeling lost, guilty, and confused. But if the good inside you wins… you’ll finally find peace.

Pope Shenouda explains that fear isn’t from God.

Fear comes when we leave a door open for sin.

If you’re afraid… check your heart. Are you living too much for the world and too little for eternity? “Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18) “Walk carefully, not as unwise but as wise.” (Ephesians 5:15) 🕊️ Fear binds you… but the Holy Spirit sets you free.

As St. Augustine once said:

“I sat above the world when I found that I no longer desired anything, and I feared nothing.”

© 2025 Beshoy Shenouda Mahrous (Hljóðbók): 9798318407376

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Hljóðbók: 16 juni 2025