Why is it that we often feel/are so inneffective as Christians and as a church? Why is it that, while churches in undeveloped and third world countries thrive, we, with millions of dollars of resources at our disposal, are dwindling spiritually? The reason I've found for my own personal ineffectiveness and spiritual dryness is that more often than not, I am holding back from God. Like Ananias and Sapphira, I tell the Holy Spirit that I am fully devoted when I am not, wearing a spiritual mask to disguise my own apathy. I hold back mainly because of fear, afraid of what God will take away if I surrender everything to Him. Like David, I allow my own selfish desires to overrun my heart, refusing to stop and seek God's will and God's council in the decisions with which I am faced. All to often, I lean on my own wisdom; i do not trust God's council, and refuse to let Him straighten my path. In short, I do not fully trust God. I trust the strength given me by God more than I do the giver of strength Himself. I pray that we may rediscover the childlike faith in Christ that we once posessed before God strips us of everything to make us aware of Himself.