Do You Have Enough Endurance For God?

Endure- to suffer something difficult or painful patiently or to remain existent; to last for a while

This past summer I decided to press forward in my weight loss journey by participating in 5k’s or 3.1 mile races. I have completed a total of 6 races however I want to tell you all about my second and most difficult race; THE SPARTAN! Everything that I experienced during that race in hindsight reminds me of Matthew 24:13 “he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.” I am sure many of you have seen ads, know friends who have participated or maybe you have participated in the Spartan in the past. However if you haven’t it is one if not the most popular obstacle course races (OCR) out there that features mud and of course obstacles. When I decided to sign up for this 5k I had just finished another OCR race and the first was a struggle but I finished it and I felt good so I was excited to try this one because I would have a month to train for it. So, I trained for a whole month to get my body in a place where I could finish the race feeling stronger than the last one. However, I didn’t anticipate how incredibly hard this race would be and how physically unprepared I was. I remember praying to God to give me the ability to endure this to the end so that I could finish the race. Long story short it took me 5 hours to finish the race it was hot, muddy, the incline was steep, I was in physical pain and I had to stop many times along the way to rest. Regardless of how long it took me I remember crying at the end from feelings of extreme gratitude of not only finishing but having accomplished something that I wanted to quit so many times along the way.

This leads me to the point of this blog post and that is to remind you that when Yeshua walked the earth he mentioned that we that believe in him would suffer much persecution and even death because of our belief in him. However, he mentioned that if we endured to the end even if we lose our life in the process that we would inherit eternal life. I want to caution you all because a lot of us have that “hospital mentality” which I define as the pain management system. As soon as you feel any type of pain you are either popping some type of pain medication or running to see the doctor. This is a huge problem for those of you who think that you are prepared to endure to the end because you will have choices to make that will seem easy but have great consequence or will be hard and have great reward. Let me keep it real and just tell you that to endure what has been biblically prophesied is not for the weak. Are you willing to turn your back on your family and friends to follow God? Are you willing to be beaten, starve etc. for the confession of your faith? Matthew 16: 25 says "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it." There is a coming threat to everything you know and believe. It is up to you and everyone you know to choose which side you will be on and to prepare yourself now to endure whatever the consequences may by even if that means severe persecution and death.

I encourage you all to read the book of Revelations to learn more about the end times and to grow in your faith. As always please feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts.