God counsels and aids; man is not coerced.
See how this topic lines up over time
Offer him your heart soft and workable, and keep the form in which the Craftsman shaped you, keeping moisture in yourself so that you do not harden and lose the marks of his fingers. Keeping the jointing, you will rise to the perfect. Soft clay is hidden in you by God’s craft.
For the teaching of godliness is a gift, and faith itself is grace. By doing the will of God we come to know the will.
δωρεὰ γὰρ ἡ διδασκαλία τῆς θεοσεβείας, χάρις δὲ ἡ πίστις. ποιοῦντες γὰρ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ θέλημα γινώσκομεν.
Among us it is not to desire at all — not that someone who desires should merely tough it out, but that he should be continent even of desiring. And this self-control cannot be received in any other way than by the grace of God. That is why he said, “Ask, and it will be given you.”
Ἡ μὲν οὖν ἀνθρωπίνη ἐγκράτεια, ἡ κατὰ τοὺς φιλοσόφους λέγω τοὺς Ἑλλήνων, τὸ διαμάχεσθαι τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ καὶ μὴ ἐξυπηρετεῖν αὐτῇ εἰς τὰ ἔργα ἐπαγγέλλεται· ἡ καθ’ ἡμᾶς δὲ τὸ μὴ ἐπιθυμεῖν, οὐχ ἵνα τις ἐπιθυμῶν καρτερῇ, ἀλλ’ ὅπως καὶ τοῦ ἐπιθυμεῖν ἐγκρατεύηται.
Toward the saying “it is not of the one who wills or runs, but of God who shows mercy,” Solomon’s ascent-psalm helps: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” This does not stop us from building or watching.