Endurance. One thinks of sweat, tight muscles, gritted teeth and a few grunts. We picture athletes riding bicycles, running a marathon or climbing up a rocky cliff. There is also patient endurance, the ability to out think or outlast an opponent, holding on by simply continuing to survive. Whatever picture comes to mind, one ingredient is the same: the willpower to not quit.
We remember the scripture in Revelation which says that they overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Sometimes we forget that it also says that “they loved not their lives to the death.” The grit and determination we have described earlier is mostly demonstrated in relation to very temporal events: a race, a contest. This is eternity.
Make it your goal, your life, your determination that you will not give up or give in. Settle the question once and for all. Walk into the baptismal waters of death with Jesus and come out of them in the resurrection power and life He offers you. Never give up.