But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.? 1 Cor. 2:9-12

Some are fond of quoting Jesus saying in John 15:5, Apart from me you can do nothing. But how often do Christians celebrate these words in verse 15:7: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you? Or how ready are we to embrace Paul's declaration: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?

It's far easier for some Christians to embrace statements of powerlessness because it suits our perception of ourselves. To declare words of strength and victory requires that we lay hold of our place as sons or daughters, united to God and imbued with his power, as our present reality. Sure, it demands faith. It also requires the denial of a familiar self perception that we ourselves formulated; one for which we hold significant affection and no small mix of shame. Is such an 'idol' exempted from the command, 'deny yourself'? Did Jesus mean merely to deny the pleasures of sin? Refusing to forsake a belief about yourself, however familiar, however pious, that contradicts what He declares about you is not humility at all. No, and He will not force you to adopt His thoughts about you. He only speaks the truth. It becomes your truth when you trust Him.

A kid brightens and stands tall when his daddy tells him, "You're a good boy. You're growing strong and full of courage. You will do great things, just wait and see." Rarely would you see a child shuck off such words like husk from a corn cob.
A true and humble son does not defiantly fold his arms, but accepts and behaves as though his daddy's idea of him must be so. How does playing poor or weak or not good enough ever honor or feed a high calling? How do such attitudes find widespread welcome in the church?

Hearing and knowing the word and leaving it lay unentered, unapplied, uninhabited is worse than never having heard or known it. It's like sitting at a banquet table with no mouth to consume it. You are only filled by imagination. Unwilling to eat the substance and power of the word, you glory in the stimulation of facts and the cognitive ascent of ideas about them.