"Without Me ye can do nothing."
Do you remember the story of the shepherd boy killing the giant?
David might have had his sling and stones, but they would have been useless unless he had had God with him when he went to meet him. He told Saul that God had helped him to kill a lion and a bear, and that He would deliver him out of the hand of the giant.
"Without Me ye can do nothing."
It locks the door against all our own efforts and struggles. And the key that unlocks it is:
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
A sailor lad gave his heart to Christ one Sunday evening after a mission service had been held. The minister talked to him afterwards, and found out that he had a very bad home in the East End of London, and was going home to spend the rest of his leave there.
"I don't know how I shall do it!" the poor boy said. "My mother drinks and is hardly ever sober; my father and brother hate religion of any sort, and have half killed a mission preacher when he was down our way. How can I stand up against them?"
"But," said the minister quickly, "if the Almighty has you by the hand and goes home with you, won't you be stronger than they?"
The boy smiled.