When we feel like giving up it is because we feel as though what we are going through is just too hard, and too painful, and we don't want to have to go through that pain, and we believe the lies which say if we give up that life will somehow be easier. It is never easier. Or, it could be that we are struggling with a sin, and we find the fight too hard, or else deep down we really don't want to change, or should I say we don't want to do what it takes to change. We wish it would just go away on its own. It rarely does. That is why it is called spiritual warfare. That is why God gave us spiritual armor to use with which to fight off Satan's evil attacks against us.
Yet, many fail to use that armor because it is just too hard to fight, and they want things easy. Yet, God did not put us on this earth to make things easy for us. His yoke is easy and his burden is light, though, because we learn to trust him with our problems, and we yield to his control over our situations, and we submit, surrender and obey what he tells us to do. It is hard when we don't obey, and when we play on the teeter-totter, i.e. when we entertain sin in our minds or via TV, movies, the internet, music, games, et al. It is hard when we are not willing to throw off the sin that tangles and the weight that hinders us from running the race, and we hold on to those things which continue to lead us into sin over and over and over again. We have to be willing to cut off the arm, or gouge out the eye (figuratively speaking) which lead us into sin. We have to be drastic. We have to set our faces like flint with regard to sin and to what leads us into sin if we are ever to get victory. And, we have to be dead serious about obeying our Lord in all ways, and in submitting to his will and purposes for our lives.
When life is hard, in other words, we must rely on our Lord and on his strength, power and counsel to get us through. When we lean on his everlasting arms, instead of relying on our own human resources, all of a sudden it isn't so hard anymore, because we are learning to rest in him, believe in his sovereignty, trust in his grace and mercy, and obey his commands. So, if you feel like giving up, surrender, submit, obey, rest, and follow your Lord in obedience, and throw off those sins which entangle and those weights which hinder your walk with Christ. Get radical about God and about sin, and you won't feel like giving up, but you will be determined to fight to the finish.
