One of our most human tendencies is wanting to do everything in our own strength. We rely on our own resources to get things done and to achieve success. The trouble with this is that the Bible calls this sin. This is not the path to breakthrough. Sin says “I will make it on my own,” and in saying that immediately undermines the possibility of receiving an invasion of God’s grace. God’s grace, His energizing and empowering strength, comes to those who do not rely on themselves and who have renounced the idol of self-sufficiency. There is a difference in depending on others, versus choosing to depend on God and submitting to God's grace. Grace breaks through, into the lives of those who come to the end of themselves, who feel so weak they know that any breakthrough that might come from here on would have to be from God. This is the place the Apostle Paul inhabited, a place of utter dependency on God’s power. When we are weakest, God is strongest. Let us ask for the strength of God’s grace to do what He has called us to do. — 2 Corinthians 12:9