"Tapping Into Your Potential "
Mark 4:30-32
"Again he said, "What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade."(Mk. 4:30-32)
We will look at 6 keys that will HELP achieve all we can be in Jesus Christ.
- The first key begins with a Willing Heart. (Jer.29:13, Det.5:6) Seek after what God wants for you and open up your heart to receive the things of God as well as obey Him (Mt.6:33) Ask yourself is your heart in the right place to receive him and as we open our hearts to hearing his voice and being obedient to what we hear we take our first steps towards realizing the potential of what the Lord has for us!
- An Abiding Relationship with Him. (Jn.15:7) If we would tap into the power we need to unleash our potential, we must have power in prayer! In order to have power in prayer we must have an abiding relationship with Jesus. (Abiding means to remain in.) He said"we could ask what we will if we are abiding in Him and allowing His word to abide in us." And when you have that love relationship with the Lord, all the work you do for Him takes on an entirely different perspective. Meaning the things that you do for the Lord will be out of an act of love, not duty!
- Understanding the promises which are ours through Jesus Christ. If we are to know Christ and the promises He has made to us. We have to read the Word of God. We must take and expend the energy to find out who we are in Christ. And God's promises tell us who we are. II Peter 1:4 says "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature."However we must go back and read verses 2-3 in order to understand what these mean in vers 4. ( 2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.) IICor1:20 says, "For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes; wherefore also by Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us."
- Vision. "Without a vision, the people perish." Well, without a vision of what we can become in Christ, we will never begin to try to reach our potential. We will never even think along the lines of being anything other than what we have always been, or doing anything other than what we have always done. We will end up trapped in the same patterns of failure and defeat that have been our experience in the past. And the devil would like for us to believe that we can never be any different. We need to allow God to put a dream in our hearts, in our spirits; a dream of greatness for His glory. We need a vision to reach for. We need a dream to excite us about the future.
5. Concrete goals born in prayer. We not only need a general vision of what God desires for us to do or be involved in, but we must have a way to get from where we are to where we are going. Psalm 37:23 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." Psalm 119:133 says, "Order my steps in Thy Word." And Proverbs 16:9 says, "A man's heart deviseth his way; but the Lord directeth his steps." If we want to accomplish God's goals, we need to find out His plan for doing so and get in on it. We must seek God in prayer, for not only the large goals, but the steps along the way.
6. Lastly hard work, remember what James says. He says that faith without works is dead. Hebrews 6:12 says, "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience, inherit the promises." The promises are not inherited by a slack hand, but through faith and patient working. We must put our hand to the plow, to break the fallow ground. We must put our hand to the work of the Kingdom to inherit the promises.
What is it the Lord has for you? Have you ever considered that He may have something greater than you could ever imagine? What great work can you do in the Kingdom? Don't settle for second-best. You don't have to. God called you knowing all about your limitations and failures. It's not dependent on your ability, but your availability!!!!. For it is His power in us which enables us to fulfill His will for our lives.
Be Blessed!!