This highlights one of the grand mysteries of the Christian faith; sanctification is not achieved as we move from strength to strength; it is given through grace as his power is made perfect in our weakness...not in our strength.

Speaking from my own personal journey, we can spend decades doing the same things over and over again expecting different results.

If weakness is the key to Christs' power then why are we afraid of weakness?  If we truly have been executed (crucified) with Christ and are dead to sin, then way are we afraid of sin?  If we truly are dead to the law and alive to God in Christ, then why do rules so appeal to us? [Hint: it's about being in control!!!]

I'll suggest that it is because we don't really understand the difference between what we know intellectually, and what we actually believe in our heart.  Getting things into our heart is a process, a life long process.  What we believe, in our heart, is revealed to us through the circumstances and pressures of life; it is revealed to others by what we speak, write, and do. [Romans 12:1-2]

Doing things will never change a persons heart; but changing our thinking changes our heart and that will always be reflected by what we say and do.

Do we want to experience the power of Christ?  Well, then we must ask for understanding as to the reason and purpose of glorying in our weaknesses!  What is the foundation of law?  It is that the one to whom they are given must commit to keep them.  What is the foundation of grace? Is is that the one to whom it is given must rest in the commitment of the One who gave it.

If Christ really is our life then why not expect the good to come from him rather than from ourselves?

At one point in my Christian experience I thought that believing it would make it true.  That didn't work because that's really a revelation of the fact that I believed in my heart that it wasn't true and that I had to make it true or get God to make it true.

That's why you'll hear folks talking about crucifying their flesh and dieing to self; that's because they don't believe that they have died and their flesh has been crucified already.  Once we discover what the scriptures actually say we enter into the adventure of faith--seeing eternal truth rather than the things that are seen.  In my experience, I then tried to "consider" it to make it true; then I went through the "I know it's true God, but why doesn't it work for me" phase.  :-)

No, its through much tribulation that we must enter into the Kingdom of God. We do come to the place where it enters into our heart that it is true that we really have died, were crucified, and are alive to God in Christ; and that His power really is made perfect in our weakness...we no longer fear weakness because it is merely the precursor to a revelation of the manifestation of the life of Christ...and that through us!  Wow, we get to experience the life of God flowing through us!  Awesome!  And we are left without a big head because we clearly see that it isn't of ourselves!  Wonderful!

Blessings!
Craig