"If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small." Scripture is so encouraging that way. My translation? "Hey there loser. When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher!" Or going, or whatever. If Scripture does anything it exposes how very weak we are and how strong Christ is. I'll be the first to say, "Small strength folks will gather over here and bring your prozac to share." The funny thing about the Word of God (in the division of soul and spirit) is it starves your soul to the point of death and when it does decide to get the paddles out and shock you to life it does so in your spirit. This is why you can read the word and be starving in soul but spiritually energized. The strange thing about the nature of man is that God can pour his strength into our weakness and use us without our conscious involvement. It's a beautiful thing. The active part is the flesh, which is not often willing to submit to the spirit but would much rather pander to the soulish. So herein lies the discipline of our rotten stinking bodies. I believe that this would be a far better world if one would simply spend their life in the confines of a five foot box and keep your eyes, ears, and hands to yourself. Sounds like prison though. And truly it is. Grant prisoners freedom and first thing many would do is abuse it for personal gain, revenge, control, pleasure, or whatever carnal evil is ruling them. Yet this is what God does to us and for us and challenges us to live in freedom. The submission is in the realization that without the fullness of His spirit invading our soulishness, we are as out of control as those prisoners. Legalism would slam the cell door shut once and for all. God desires neither. He surely gives us freedom as a gift and not as a snare. If then we are free then the challenge is to learn how to be free in a manner that brings glory to Jesus. I wonder if eternity is long enough to get that done?