The challenge of overcoming sin is significant, and no amount of obedience will make it less of a challenge. I think it's easy for us in this day and age to believe that the Christian life has to be organized with certain steps in order for us to receive the benefits. I see this mixture in reformed circles who want to speak in a way that acknowledges both God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. And since we all agree more or less that God is sovereign and man is responsible then we can all kind of meet in the middle.So we all agree that it doesnt matter how we feel but we know that all of our struggles bring us to the realization that we are not God and He is doing something in our lives that we do not understand. We all agree that subjective feelings don't matter, but we know that all of our struggles lead us to a realization that we are not God and He is doing something in our lives we don't understand.It is not important how we suffer, only that we agree that if we are struggling, it is our own fault and not God's. We may not all agree on the details of how much God is sovereign, but we can agree that in the end, it is up to us to hold up our end of the bargain. Blaming ourselves creates a sense of togetherness, and certainly not blaming God for our struggles.It seems to me that this is a lot of meaningless nonsense. What if I told you that God is primarily concerned with how you feel about yourself before you decide how He is supposed to act to make you feel good? I mean, in order for you to change your feelings, do you need to act in a certain way, or for God to act toward you in a certain way? What if God was waiting to agree with you about what you thought you needed to feel better, without demanding any action on your part? What if God was waiting for you to simply ask in the right way to make you feel better?What if God was entirely different than anyone describes Him to be? What if God was waiting for you to say that you were the only one who understands Him? What if He was waiting for you to argue that you were the only one who deserved His special touch? Why is it that we think that in order for us to fear God correctly, we cannot present our own view of what we think needs to be done? We must take a vote and listen to other more mature men so that we can understand how God would act toward us in a certain situation?