"For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13


"God has made provision for our holiness and he has also given us a responsibility for it.....God's provision for us consists in delivering us from the reign of sin, uniting us with Christ, and giving us the indwelling Holy Spirit to reveal sin, to create a desire for holiness, and to strengthen us in our pursuit of holiness...........{it's obvious the Holy Spirit has a crucial part in our pursuit toward holiness, but it is also clear, from the above passage, that} God puts the responsibility for living a holy life squarely on us. We are to do something. We are not to "stop trying and start trusting": we are to put to death the misdeeds of the body. Over and over again in the epistles - not only Paul's but the other apostles' as well - we are commanded to assume our responsibility for a holy walk......(Colossians 3;5, Hebrews 12:1, James 4:7, II Peter 3:14)
During a certain part of my Christian life I thought that any effort on my part to live a holy life was "of the flesh" and that "the flesh profits for nothing." I thought God would not bless any effort on my part to live the Christian life, just as He would not bless any effort on my part to become a Christian by good works........
How foolish I was. I misconstrued dependence on the Holy Spirit to mean I was to make no effort, that I had no responsibility. I mistakenly thought if I turned it all over to the Lord, He would make my choices for me and would choose obedience over disobedience. All I needed was to look to Him for holiness. But this is not God's way. He makes provision for our holiness, but He gives us the responsibility of using those provisions. The Holy Spirit has been given to all Christians. Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones says, "The Holy Spirit is in us; He is working in us, and empowering us, giving us the ability....This is the NT teaching - work our your own salvation with fear and trembling. We have to do so. But note the accompaniment - Because it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure! The Holy Spirit is working in us 'both to will and to do'. It is because I am not left to myself, it is because I am not 'absolutely hopeless' since the Spirit is in me, that I am exhorted to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling".
We must rely on the Spirit in our putting to death the deeds of the body......But our reliance on the Spirit is not intended to foster an attitude of "I cant do it," but one of "I can do it through Him who strengthens me." The Christian should never complain of want of ability and power. If we sin, it is because we choose to sin, not because we lack the ability to say no to the temptation.
It is time for us Christians to face up to our responsibility of holiness. Too often we say we are defeated by this or that sin. No, we are not defeated, we are simply disobedient! It might be well if we stop using the terms 'victory' and 'defeat' to describe our progress in holiness. Rather we should use the terms 'obedience' and 'disobedience'. When I say I am defeated by sin, I am unconsciously slipping out from under my responsibility. I am saying something outside of me has defeated me. But when I say I am disobedient, that places the responsibility for my sin squarely on me. We may, in fact, be defeated, but the reason we are defeated is because we have chosen to disobey. We have chosen to entertain lustful thoughts, or to harbor resentment, or to shade the truth a little.
We need to brace ourselves up, and to realize that we are responsible for our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. We need to reckon on the fact that we died to sin's reign, that it no longer has any dominion over us, that God has unitied us with the risen Christ in all His power, and has given us the Holy Spirit to work in us. Only as we accept our responsibility and appropriate God's provisions will we make any progress in our pursuit of holiness."

I know these aren't my thoughts, but those of Bridges, but it was a good reminder of our responsibility in seeking the life of holiness, which we are called to. Many times we (I) can convince myself that we have a harder struggle because of this or that, but really, we are all called to a life that completely and wholly honors the Lord....and we all have the same resources. That should be a daily reminder for me!!!