By our own strength

"The flesh will sing in the choir, teach Sunday school, preside at a deacons' meeting, preach from the pulpit, organize an evangelistic crusade, go to Bible college, volunteer for the mission field, and a thousand other things, all of which may in themselves be otherwise legitimate, if only it can keep its neck out of the noose. The flesh will threaten, shout, strut, domineer, sulk, plot, creep, beg, plead, or sob, whatever the situation may demand in the interests of its own survival. By any and all means it will seek to cause every Christian to live by his own strength instead of by the power and grace of the Lord Jesus, and to conclude that doing so is actually a good thing!"— The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me, page 42

<idle musing>
As usual, we take the teachings of Jesus and turn them on their head...pick up your cross—Nope! That's for somebody else. I'll serve God by doing all these things, and to prove how spiritual I am, I'll do them in my own strength!
</idle musing>