God told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness." So Paul declared, "When I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12:9-10)

It's when we realize how truly powerless we are that God can use us in the most amazing ways. It's when I realize that I, by myself, can do nothing, that I turn to God and ask Him to do it for me. As Christians, we so often think, "Well, now I'm forgiven, and I've got the Holy Spirit living in me, now I've got the power to fight evil! The reality is, No, you don't. The Spirit has the power to fight it through you. I've gotten so discouraged sometimes because I was trying to fix myself by myself, and I kept failing. But C. S. Lewis wrote:

We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity--like perfect charity--will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God's help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It curses our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves, even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection. (Ch 5, "Sexual Morality", Christian Behavior, from Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis.)

When we recognize our own powerlessness and give ourselves up to God: that's when He starts achieving miracles through us. And then and only then can we declare with Paul, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." (Phil 4:13)

Don't believe in miracles—depend on them.—Laurence J. Peter

I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own powers. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful. -John Ruskin

I'm reeling from these voices that keep screaming in my ears, all these words of shame and doubt, blame and regret. I can't see how you're leading me, unless you've led me here, to where I'm lost enough to let myself be led.--"Hard to Get", Rich Mullins