the anointing of endurance

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed so earnestly that His sweat turned to blood.  Jesus was born to this end, He was about to endure the worst death any man has ever experienced.  He asked the Father if there was another way He could do this but His Father said “no”. 
 
Luke 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.
 
After the visitation of the angel Jesus appeared to have a certain strength, a  resolve.  I believe the angel was His personal angel and that He was sent to impart the anointing Jesus needed to endure the cross. 
   
I don’t believe the man Jesus was capable of enduring the physical and spiritual horror he was about to yield to.  He was anointed to taste death for all men, this is not to say He was spared any suffering.  The Apostle Paul had this same anointing but he called it grace.
 
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 I besought the Lord three times to remove my thorn in the flesh.  But every time I did the Lord would tell me that “My grace is sufficient for you.”
 
Paul was dealing with the same devil Jesus had to deal with.  Paul was beaten with thirty-nine stripes five different times, Jesus was beaten once.  They stoned Paul one day, they caved in his skull and killed him.  His disciples prayed for him, he arose and the very next day he traveled to Derbe to hold a crusade.  Man does not have this kind of fortitude within himself, the power to overcome such adversity must come from God Himself.
 
Psalm 28:8 The Lord is their strength, and He is the saving strength of His anointed.
 
When the Lord gives a man an assignment and the man accepts the mission, the man will be given a grace, a supernatural empowerment, to accomplish His will.  Many of the Old Testament prophets had this grace.  Several enemies of God tried to kill Elijah but they could not get past his anointing.  God’s grace does not exempt us from hardship, on the contrary, it empowers us to endure the opposition.  I can only imagine how frustrating this is for the devil, he tries so hard to scuttle God’s plans.
 
2 Corinthians 1:21 Now He which establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God. 
 
As born-again children of God we all have assignments, as we accept God’s plan for our lives He anoints us to accomplish His will.  The anointing empowers us to overcome adversity but the Lord warns us about suffering as an evildoer.  There is no grace for those who willfully sin and disregard God and His will.
 
1 Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in you . . .
 
When Paul wrote to Timothy he was having issues in the church at Ephesus, Paul reminded him about the gift God gave him.  The Holy Spirit is that gift; He is our anointing, our grace, our empowerment.  When things become too hard stir up the gift in you, He will anoint you to victory.

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