In his great work on temptation John Owen begs his readers to consider that, in and of themselves, they have no strength or power to withstand temptation. He says, “Confidence of any strength in us is one great part of our weakness.”

To prove his point he offers the following analogy:

If a castle or fort be never so strong and well fortified, yet if there be a treacherous party within, that is ready to betray it on every opportunity, there is no preserving it from the enemy. There are traitors in our hearts, ready to take part, to close, and side with every temptation, and to give up all to them; yea, to solicit and bribe temptations to do the work, as traitors incite an enemy. Do not flatter yourselves that you should hold out; there are secret lusts that lie lurking in your hearts, which perhaps now stir not, which, as soon as any temptation befalls you, will rise, tumultuate, cry, disquiet, seduce, and never give over until they are either killed or satisfied. He that promises himself that the frame of his heart will be the same under a temptation as it is before will be woefully mistaken.

Trust not in your own power and your own heart. Trust in Christ’s power that is in you.