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William Barclay said, “Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.”

The glory is what we keep our eyes on, but it’s the endurance that carries us there. However, endurance isn’t an easy thing, especially when we’re facing constant challenges.

The Bible uses the idea of a race and the prize at the end of it on several occasions:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” Then there’s also: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” And finally: “I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.”

One definition of endurance is “the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.” You probably know all about hardship, adversity, and stress. Perhaps you also grapple with those questions about how much longer you can endure. Writer Jon Bloom makes the point that “God does not want us to be strong. God wants to be our strength.”

This is where our endurance comes from. It comes from a realisation that in the moment of struggle, we can’t do it in our own strength. Jesus says that we should cast our burdens onto him, so we should take him at his word and do so. It’s by acknowledging that we can’t cope on our own and need to rely on God to be our strength, that we most honour him. As all self-reliance is surrendered to him, we allow him to be God and to be our sufficiency.

Endurance then becomes God’s job. Yes, our human stubbornness will still try to get in the way, and it may be necessary for us to remind ourselves that we’re no longer coping in our strength but are relying completely on him. But the more we do this, the more we’ll find that his strength actually is enough. Just like an athlete who becomes more finely tuned the more he trains, so it’ll be for us. Our faith will grow as we sense God’s faithfulness and his power in our lives. We’ll start to realise that we can make it through each day, with his help. And, in the best irony, he’ll be the one to present us with the prize, even though it’s he who has given us the strength to win it!

The second attribute which any athlete needs in order to reach a goal is patience. No success is ever achieved overnight. Instead, it’s the culmination of many months and years of planning, training, and learning to deal with the stresses of competition. It’s that way in the spiritual journey, too, as seen in this encouragement: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

“Joy” is hardly a word we’d normally associate with trials, and yet these verses explain why it’s so. “The testing of our faith” will be continuous and sometimes relentless. There will be days when we feel that we can’t endure any more. That’s when to fall into God’s arms. To trust all to him. The more we do so, the more we learn to be patient and to believe that his timing is perfect. These words reveal the reward of being patient: “let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

Life can be tough, and it seems that the closer to God we get, the harder it becomes. Satan is quite happy with apathetic Christians who pose no threat to him. But press into God’s strength, rely on him, glorify him during your troubles, and you become a shining light for God’s kingdom on earth. It isn’t always easy, but the reward is great: “you will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” In that complete oneness with God, as we surrender all to him, we allow him to receive all the glory.

• Is there one idea which resonated most powerfully for you in today's devotions?
• How can you put this into practical action in the days ahead?