Outer Collapse - Inner Strength - Intro

My OUTER COLLAPSES take place because...

my INNER STRENGTH cannot sustain them.

I don't need much thought to understand what outer collapses are. The widow was experiencing one. I would have thought that spending my days in a Prayer Center would have eliminated any "outer collapses." But.... obviously not, or why am I being brought back to those words now?

I did not just accept these words gracefully back then and I'm not going to do so now. After all, they were not then, and are not now, the most flattering words ever spoken to me. But as bold and blunt as they were and are, I again feel a sense of......... gentleness. My mind, will and emotions say "they are in your face again." My spirit says, "that they are words of life and not death, that they are prophetic. They are not a rebuke, to bring on guilt and condemnation, but a calling to a still deeper, more intimate, relationship with the Father.

Upon the arrival of these words the first time I made an adjustment here and a modification there, but never really dug deep to reveal what God was really saying. I thought they were pretty clear...... and that I understood them, that I got them. Since the words did not come with chapter and verse, this time I am going to search for one. If it was and is God speaking to me, it will be confirmed in His written word. Okay! Before I could close this out for the day I got my chapter and verse. It took all of oh....... about 1 minute and somewhat to my dismay. They say that misery loves good company. For me and I'd venture to say that Paul would agree, that is not the case.

Romans 7:18-20 (Amplified Bible)
For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing. Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [fixed and operating in my soul].

And as always I must let Webster weigh in with definitions of the words outer collapse.

Outer - situated on or toward the outside; external; exterior: situated farther out or farther from the center.

Collapse - to fall or cave in; crumble suddenly: to break down; come to nothing; fail: to fall unconscious or as if unconscious or physically depleted, as from a stroke, heart attack, disease, or exhaustion. to sink into extreme weakness. To break down suddenly in strength or health and thereby cease to function.

Paul defines collapse as sin. Webster defines collapse as caving in, sinking into extreme weakness, ceasing to function. That stirs up some thoughts. Oh, and add to that the words of ownership. My outer collapses. My sin! My cravings! My sinking into extreme weakness! My ceasing to function! I'm sure glad the Holy Spirit told me this was a calling to, rather than a recalling of!