Have you ever wondered why some believers are able to persevere and even thrive through and in times of great suffering? The short answer is that these souls have discovered the "secret sauce" of Christian living. That sauce is God's grace.
You are no doubt familiar with the idea of grace as unearned favor from God (Ephesians 2:8), but do you also understand that grace has another dimension? Depending on the context, grace can also refer to an impartation of God's strength that enables, empowers and animates us to receive and live in the fullness of all that He intends.
To the Corinthians Paul testifies of his intense labor on behalf of the gospel and then adds that this hard work is evidence of God's grace at work in him (1 Corinthians 15:10). Later he says that God's grace infused him with the ability to experience divine strength and overcome in the face of extremely painful circumstances (2 Corinthians 12:9,10). He also told Titus that it influences us to live godly lives (2:11,12).
Have you ever considered that what you think you lack in motivation, ability or tenacity can be made up by grace? That is, God will infuse you with these things, if you learn to how to experience this powerful secret sauce!
How? A major key is to stop relying on your strength, your will power, intelligence and determination. That stuff only gets in your way. You need to renounce these. Your trust must never even be in your devotional practices- your reading, praying or even your obeying. Nothing that God intends to do in or through you can happen by the arm of flesh.
The secret sauce is experienced when you and I realize we are entirely helpless unless God, by His grace undertakes on our behalf. We are lost and undone without grace.
Don't try to muster motivation. Ask for grace. Don't try to defeat temptation by grit. Ask for grace. Don't try to love the unlovable on your own. Ask for grace!