What is Your Potential?

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We are all born with a potential to fulfill our mission in life. Our lives are not just accidents of nature but we all have a purpose and the potential to fulfill the purpose. Your potential or ability should never be measured by the limitations of an academic test or an IQ score nor should it be measured by the social, cultural, economic and educational norms of society. Many people short change themselves and follow society’s norms and end up taking a job as opposed to aligning their potential with God’s will for their life. They wonder why they feel unsettled and unfulfilled in their jobs.

The key to knowing your true potential is found in knowing the source of creation. When a manufacturer creates something he also gives a manual to show the purpose for the created thing and how to operate the thing. In the same way, if you want to find you true potential you must start with the source of your creation, who is God. God has given us a manual of our purpose and potential through His revealed word and through the Holy Spirit. It is submitted that you can never maximize your true and full potential without a relationship with God. You may achieve something based on society’s norms but you will always be lacking.  You are capable of much more than you think but by denying your source you have in effect limited your potential.   

There are things about you that your soul alone cannot receive because it is impossible for the soul to discern spiritual matters. Scripture provides that God is Spirit and “those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” John 4:24. The measure of your true worth is therefore your spirit. Writing to the Corinthians Paul says, “the spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of he world but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us” 1 Corinthians 2:10-12. Your spirit is able to discern God’s will for your life through fellowship and communication with the Holy Spirit.

When we are distracted by our drive for personal security and our search for identity, we rarely achieve our true potential. Life is much more than food, clothes and shelter or status. This is why Jesus asked us to first seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all those other things that distract us from our purpose will become a normal part of the provisions for our life (Mathew 6:33-34). To seek the kingdom of God first means to turn to God first for help, to fill your thoughts with His desires and to serve and obey Him in everything.  By so doing, God makes it possible for you to do and be much more than you could ever expect.  

Instead of starting with your wants, God wants you to start with who you are. You must understand that we were designed to function by faith and love “for everyone who loves is born of God and knows God —for God is love” 1John4:8. Living by faith requires looking at the unseen because everything that is was in God and everything you could be is in you now waiting for you to make demands on it by faith in God. The book of Hebrews surmises this principle in that it says “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.—But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is  rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” Hebrews 11: 1, 6.

So to release your potential you must not only wish for it but you must also believe that it is possible.  This belief is based on your relationship with God. You know He is real and He is capable of fulfilling that which you desire. The Psalmist writes “delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” Psalm37:4. If you are delighting in the Lord, you will also understand His will for your life and consequently your desires will match His. Jesus taught that our prayers will correspond to what we believe about God or to the measure of our faith.  He said that whatever you pray for and have no doubt in your heart but believe those things you have prayed for will be done, you will have whatever you prayed for (Mark 11:23-24).

A strong desire enables you to stand your ground until you see what you have believed come to fruition. Jesus taught that if you truly desire something you will persist in your calling “for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it will be opened” Mathew 7: 7-8. Knowing God takes faith, focus and follow through, which if we do not quit, will be rewarded at the appointed time. Your desire will control the direction of your life this is why it is important to start with the source. Your potential will require your desire to place demand upon it. Have you ever wondered why in emergency situation you excel beyond your imagination and wonder how you did it? Well that is evidence that your potential is way beyond your imagination but it is waiting for you to demand of it.

Through the strength of Jesus Christ you can do anything you think or imagine and even more. He said “He who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to my father. —If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” John 14:12-14. The asking must however be according to the nature of God and according to His will.  Whether you succeed or fail, win or lose does not depend on God but on you. He is ready and willing to do His part if you are willing to cooperate with the purpose for your life.  Be careful that you do not jeopardize or inhibit your potential to chart the course of your life with your preoccupation with the failures of past. Life is a journey, not a destination.