3 Things to unlock your POTENTIAL
If we create something, we know exactly why we created it and the purpose it is supposed to fulfill. This kind of thinking started with the KING of all creation, the Almighty God. He is the one who is responsible for creating all of us and only He provides us with the potential needed to accomplish our purpose in the life we were granted. Today, we need to take a hard look at the purpose God has provided through the potential created in each of us. Often we do not know what we are supposed to be doing in God, so we do what we feel like and what feels good to do. Until we seek God's divine direction and find out why He allowed us to be born into this world, we are wasting precious time and don’t realize it.
Potential – The possibility that something will happen or exist in the future. Let us take a close look at some of the scriptures we read… 1Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1. We need to be redeemed
Why do we need to be redeemed and what are we being redeemed from? When we sin, the devil becomes our slave master. He rules our thoughts, our desires and our actions. There is no way to be free from the slave master except if a transaction takes place. You, the slave, must be purchased by another master for an extraordinary price to be free from the slave master- the devil. There was/is no one in existence qualified nor possessing enough value to purchase us from our former owner-the slave master. We are not just purchased but crucial care is provided for us once the transaction is completed. Jesus Christ was/is the only one qualified to do so. He was/is the only person that never did wrong, and possesses the most valuable and most precious thing known to mankind. His sinless blood is used as the ransom or currency to purchase us from the slave master.
In ancient times, silver and gold typically was the price or the valuable consideration used in payment (redemption) of a captive or slave. It is a clear obligation of the one who is saved or redeemed to love his benefactor. This adoration is clearly in proportion to the price which is paid for him/her. The price that was paid for our redemption was/is far more valuable than any amount of silver or gold. This is why we are obligated to devote ourselves to His service.
Why blood?
From the very beginning God said, "For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life" (Lev 17:11 NIV). The blood Peter mentioned here (1 Peter 1:18-23) is the precious blood of Christ. The word "precious" means flawless and unblemished. Only the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross was effective and proper atonement for our sins.
1Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
2. We must be born again
We are purchased by His blood but we also must be born again by incorruptible seed, which is the word of God! Knowing that we have been purchased by His precious blood we are obligated to obey His instruction, He is now the new master, which means, He is to rule our thoughts, our desires and our actions, that’s what the old master did, right? Our obedience is our form of repayment for redemption from the slave-master.
There is a process to be born again spiritually as it is in the natural. Confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart does not constitute a process of being born again. In order for a seed to be planted and grow and produce fruit, it must die. Only as the seed is destroyed can the new plant emerge. John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit.
We must first die (repent – turn away from sin) in order to be born again and a seed represents that perfectly. This is the only way to produce a new plant which eventually bears fruit. Seeds are their own energy source, a plant in embryo form contains all that is needed for the new life. They store energy producing structures that only "reach potential" or produce new energy when water, soil and an ideal temperature become a part of their surroundings. Until then, they remain dormant.
However, we are not talking about a corruptible seed, like one from a plant or a human life, but an incorruptible seed. Our new birth was not of a perishable or earthly seed, meaning of human origin, so that we will one day wither and die; rather our new birth originated from imperishable seed, described as the living and enduring word of God. As written in Hebrews 4:12, For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. The powerful, "living" word of God himself, recorded in Scripture, brings new life to believers; the "enduring" word of God himself assures the permanence of that new life. The word of God is the incorruptible seed, and the bible is the container. Each word or seed is filled with the potential for life, growth, blossoming and fruitfulness. Everything it will become, the plant, the flower, the tree, it’s all there inside the shell of the dormant seed.
3. We must be in good soil to grow
What happens if the seeds (words) just stay on the bible pages because we lack the action in reading it? Your potential will be unrealized. The words on the page remain dormant until an action takes place in an environment that nurtures the seed.
Matt 13:20-23
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy received it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
If we take that seed and plant it in the prepared soil, everything changes. The seed become one with the soil, the shell of the seed peals away, opens up and the life inside the seed joins itself to the soil. It puts out roots, and draws in life from the earth. The plan is activated, the promises unlocked and the potential becomes a reality. If the word/seed stays on the bible pages and is never sown to life, then its potential life stays unlocked and unrealized. The Word must be sown in the right soil for your potential to be unlocked.
We need to sow this word into our lives and into the lives of others. When we sow it into our lives and in the lives of others it will become one with the soil. We must sow the word into every situation in our lives and let it join with our thoughts and emotions. When the word become one with our life, not only will the shell break open but life sustaining roots will form, plans will be activated, promises will unlock, life will release, and miracles will begin!