We are walking in today: We Have To Cultivate And Feed Our Potential!
Witness grown throughout the Bible: H4131 gadal-- to grow, become great or important, promote, make powerful, magnify, do great things
Jonah 4:10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; H1431 which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
The Torah testifies...............
Exodus 2:11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, H1431 that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
The prophets proclaim..................
Ezekiel 16:7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, H1431 and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
The writings bear witness...........................
1 Kings 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up H1431 with him, and which stood before him:
Psalm 144:12 That our sons may be as plants grown up H1431 in their youth; that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace:
Cultivate and Feed Your Potential
Whatever you eat eventually eats you.
The old woman smiled as she entered the small, hot room. A blaze of color met her eyes. African violets of many shades of pink, purple, white, red, and blue, and variegated mixtures of these colors, filled the room. The room had not always looked like this. When she and her husband had first built this house many years before, this had been their children’s playroom. Then, toys had filled the shelves.
After the last of their children had left home, the woman had become very depressed, missing the children and having very little to do. That’s when a friend had given her clippings from her African violets and had persuaded her to turn the playroom into a greenhouse.
The idea had been a good one, giving her renewed interest in life. Over the years, she had spent many hours here. At first only one of the many shelves had contained plants. Now the original shelves were completely filled and others had been added. She still remembered her joy when her violets bloomed for the first time. Many hours had preceded that triumph, for she had never been known for having a green thumb. In fact, some of her friends had tried to discourage her new adventure because in the past plants had been more likely to wither than flourish while in her care. Still she had forged ahead. In time she had come to understand that her plants had failed because she had not given them sufficient care. Indeed, they had died from neglect.
When the first plants not only lived but flourished under her touch, she gained the confidence to add other colors by getting more clippings from her friend. She also began reading books and magazine articles about the care of African violets and talking with others who loved plants. One day while reading a horticulture magazine, she discovered an article on creating hybrids. That was the day she became hooked.
Since then, she had spent part of every day in this room, watering her plants, checking for insect pests, rooting new cuttings, fertilizing the plants that were about to bloom, picking off old blossoms, and rotating the plants so each one received sufficient light. Even the day her husband had died, she had wandered in here to find solace among her friends—as she had come to think of her plants.
In the evening, she often read gardening and horticulture magazines here, having moved her favorite chair from the living room when her husband was no longer there to spend the long hours with her. After nearly 40 years of hard work and extensive reading, the riotous color that surrounded her revealed the success of her efforts.
Now, her skill in cultivating and breeding African violets was known throughout the community, and over the years she had found great joy in teaching others the art of cultivating plants. Every year her conservatory was considered to be the highlight of the garden tour. Plant collections throughout the town—in gardens and rooms—were testimony to her skill.
The successful fulfillment of your potential is similar to the task of growing prizewinning flowers. Both require careful attention and diligent effort to produce winning results.
Potential Doesn’t Guarantee Performance
The Most High made everything with the ability to produce fruit or to reproduce itself. Yet, the potential to produce does not guarantee performance, nor does the quantity of fruit guarantee its quality. You may have a good idea that produces mediocrity-laden results. Or you may have big dreams that amount to very little. This is true because pregnancy is no guarantee of fruitfulness, and performance is not ensured by plans and dreams. Pregnancy and performance match when the potential to produce is properly cared for and developed. I am going to say that again. Pregnancy is no guarantee of fruitfulness, and performance is not ensured by plans and dreams.
You may have the potential to be a world-class architect, but your ability does not guarantee that you will reach this level of success. You may never progress beyond drawing doll house plans for your daughter or designing a model train layout for your son. An important key to producing what you are capable of is spending the necessary time and effort to promote the development of your talent. You must cultivate and feed your potential.
A Garden to Care for
When The Most High made man, shrubs had not yet appeared on the earth and plants had not yet sprung from the ground. Only after man’s creation did The Most High plant a garden and give it a river to water it. Why? Until then “there was no man to work the ground” (Genesis 2:5). The earth was pregnant but nothing was coming out because there was no one to care for the soil’s babies.
Thus, we see that The Most High created all life to depend on cultivation to maximize its existence because potential cannot be released without work. In essence, The Most High said, “I can’t allow these trees and plants to grow yet because they need cultivation when they start growing and there is no one to care for them.” The fruit and seeds of many plants and trees were present in the ground, but the soil did not produce them until Adam cultivated the garden.
The New International Version of the Bible says that The Most High gave Adam the responsibility of working the garden. The Revised Standard Version and the King James Version describe man’s task as that of tilling the garden, and the Good News Bible speaks of cultivating. All point to man’s assignment to help the garden produce to its fullest capacity. Thus, man was created to have a cultivating ministry by making the earth grow richer as he gives to it, feeds it, and adds to it.
Winning the Prize Requires Running the Race
Potential is like soil. It must be worked and fed to produce fruit. King Solomon referred to this process of releasing the fruitfulness of man when he said, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5).
Notice, the drawing out of man’s potential requires effort. Like the fisherman who brings forth the treasures of the sea by hard work and the farmer who harvests the fruit of the ground by the sweat of his brow, so man must labor to tap even a portion of The Most High’s potential within him. Potential is like soil. It must be worked and fed to produce fruit. The apostle Paul understood this need to put forth the effort to release his fruitfulness.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Understanding and wisdom are the keys to the success of man’s mission. His race to maximize everything The Most High has given him begins with knowing what The Most High requires of him and how He expects him to reach the finish line. The primary principle in cultivating one’s life for maximum living is to destroy ignorance by the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
Knowledge and Understanding Promote Growth
Suppose I wanted to create a beautiful vase to place in my living room, but I knew nothing about making pottery. My first step would need to be a visit to a master potter, or at least to the local library, to learn all I could about working clay into beautiful pieces. I would have to learn about the selection and preparation of the clay, the throwing and shaping of the vase on the potter’s wheel, the length of time and the conditions for seasoning the raw pot, the proper temperature and duration for firing the pot in the kiln, etc. Much work, including many hours of practice on much lesser pots than the vase I hoped to create, would precede my reaching the goal of making a vase to place in my living room.
This procedure is not unlike the process we must undertake to maximize our potential. Knowledge and effort must co-exist, but knowledge is the foundation for success. As we saw in the last chapter, The Most High’s wisdom and knowledge become available to us when we are connected to Him through the presence of His Spirit. An understanding of His ways and the discovery of His purposes are part of the treasure He has given us.
For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul (Proverbs 2:6-10).
The search for knowledge requires effort. You must seek it like a treasure that is precious to you. You cannot touch The Most High’s knowledge, however, without diligence and exertion.Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge (Proverbs 23:12).
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of The Most High (Proverbs 2:1-5).
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers (Proverbs 24:3-6).
Building a house and waging war require great effort. They do not just happen. The same is true for storing up things. If you’ve ever canned or frozen fruits and vegetables in the summer to provide for your family in the winter, you know that many long, hot hours precede the final act of putting the finished jars on the shelf.
In a similar manner, removing treasures from the earth is also arduous and time-consuming. Wells must be drilled before oil can be pumped from the depths of the earth, and great shafts or tunnels must be dug before the mining of diamonds, silver, and other precious metals can be achieved. These are the images Solomon used to illustrate the strength and the dedication you will need to exercise if you hope to gain the knowledge that will advance the unleashing of your potential.
Knowledge must always precede action or much time and effort will be wasted through misguided efforts and dead-end directions. The Most High, who planned your life and granted you the potential to fulfill His plans, works for and with you when you seek to know Him and to understand and follow His ways. I am going to say that again, knowledge must always precede action or much time and effort will be wasted through misguided efforts and dead-end directions.
The Consequences of Neglecting Knowledge
Sadly, we often forfeit our potential because we neglect the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding that come from The Most High alone. Solomon spoke of the consequences of this neglect, as did the prophet Hosea:
Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin (Proverbs 10:14).
The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. Every prudent man acts out of knowledge, but a fool exposes his folly (Proverbs 13:14-16).
My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your The Most High, I also will ignore your children” (Hosea 4:6).
A lack of knowledge is not the same as the unavailability of knowledge. Hosea says that The Most High’s people perish because they have rejected knowledge. Knowledge may surround us, but unless we apply it to our situation or use it to inform our decisions, it is useless to us.
We cannot really excuse ourselves before the Lord saying, “I didn’t know,” because opportunities to gain knowledge abound in our world. We live in an age of an information explosion with libraries, tape ministries, teaching videos, television, and radio bombarding us on every side with opportunities to stretch our horizons and increase our knowledge. What we can confess to The Most High is, “I rejected the opportunity to learn.”
The saying, “What you don’t know can’t kill you,” is simply not true. Too often we suffer loss because we did not take the opportunity to learn the facts about a particular subject. We perish because of what we don’t know. No matter how great your dream is, if you don’t have the information relative to your plan, forget it.
The Penalties of Ignorance
The devil doesn’t destroy The Most High’s people...the government doesn’t destroy The Most High’s people...the economy doesn’t destroy The Most High’s people...cocaine and marijuana don’t destroy The Most High’s people. Ignorance destroys The Most High’s people. This one thing is behind every destructive influence in our lives.
The Most High rejects those who reject His knowledge. In other words He says, “We can’t do business. You haven’t used the tools I gave you, so I can’t help you. You can’t even talk intelligently with Me.” Ignorance affects how The Most High answers our prayers because we ask for things we don’t need or shouldn’t want. To ask rightly we must understand how we operate, how the devil operates, how the world operates, and how The Most High operates. Asking The Most High to do something for us before we understand these aspects of our situation is wasting our time and The Most High’s. He must reject everything we request because our prayers and His ways found in the Torah His 613 principles, will, and desires for us do not line up. Fiveamprayer let's look at that again: Ignorance affects how The Most High answers our prayers because we ask for things we don’t need or shouldn’t want.
Research your dream before you start working to achieve it. Learn everything you can about the business you want to start or the people you want to reach. You need good information to make right decisions.
The Most High also ignores the children of those who ignore His knowledge. This is true because your children learn what you know. If you don’t know anything, they aren’t going to learn anything, and they will thus make the same mistakes and have the same values and attitudes you have.
Ignorance messes up the next generation. It destroys not only your fruitfulness but your children’s as well. Thus, you and your children reap what you sow, and your lack of information harms them. Our world is experiencing a multitude of human disasters that give evidence to this fact. Abortion, AIDS, environmental issues, drugs—all reveal the consequences of the rejection of knowledge by this generation and those that preceded us. In essence, ignorance is generational and transferable. The decision to pursue knowledge, improve understanding, and gain wisdom is a personal decision but not a private issue. Every book you read affects your grandchildren, so read and cultivate yourself for posterity.
Whatever you eat eventually eats you.
The old woman smiled as she entered the small, hot room. A blaze of color met her eyes. African violets of many shades of pink, purple, white, red, and blue, and variegated mixtures of these colors, filled the room. The room had not always looked like this. When she and her husband had first built this house many years before, this had been their children’s playroom. Then, toys had filled the shelves.
After the last of their children had left home, the woman had become very depressed, missing the children and having very little to do. That’s when a friend had given her clippings from her African violets and had persuaded her to turn the playroom into a greenhouse.
The idea had been a good one, giving her renewed interest in life. Over the years, she had spent many hours here. At first only one of the many shelves had contained plants. Now the original shelves were completely filled and others had been added. She still remembered her joy when her violets bloomed for the first time. Many hours had preceded that triumph, for she had never been known for having a green thumb. In fact, some of her friends had tried to discourage her new adventure because in the past plants had been more likely to wither than flourish while in her care. Still she had forged ahead. In time she had come to understand that her plants had failed because she had not given them sufficient care. Indeed, they had died from neglect.
When the first plants not only lived but flourished under her touch, she gained the confidence to add other colors by getting more clippings from her friend. She also began reading books and magazine articles about the care of African violets and talking with others who loved plants. One day while reading a horticulture magazine, she discovered an article on creating hybrids. That was the day she became hooked.
Since then, she had spent part of every day in this room, watering her plants, checking for insect pests, rooting new cuttings, fertilizing the plants that were about to bloom, picking off old blossoms, and rotating the plants so each one received sufficient light. Even the day her husband had died, she had wandered in here to find solace among her friends—as she had come to think of her plants.
In the evening, she often read gardening and horticulture magazines here, having moved her favorite chair from the living room when her husband was no longer there to spend the long hours with her. After nearly 40 years of hard work and extensive reading, the riotous color that surrounded her revealed the success of her efforts.
Now, her skill in cultivating and breeding African violets was known throughout the community, and over the years she had found great joy in teaching others the art of cultivating plants. Every year her conservatory was considered to be the highlight of the garden tour. Plant collections throughout the town—in gardens and rooms—were testimony to her skill.
The successful fulfillment of your potential is similar to the task of growing prizewinning flowers. Both require careful attention and diligent effort to produce winning results.
Potential Doesn’t Guarantee Performance
The Most High made everything with the ability to produce fruit or to reproduce itself. Yet, the potential to produce does not guarantee performance, nor does the quantity of fruit guarantee its quality. You may have a good idea that produces mediocrity-laden results. Or you may have big dreams that amount to very little. This is true because pregnancy is no guarantee of fruitfulness, and performance is not ensured by plans and dreams. Pregnancy and performance match when the potential to produce is properly cared for and developed. I am going to say that again. Pregnancy is no guarantee of fruitfulness, and performance is not ensured by plans and dreams.
You may have the potential to be a world-class architect, but your ability does not guarantee that you will reach this level of success. You may never progress beyond drawing doll house plans for your daughter or designing a model train layout for your son. An important key to producing what you are capable of is spending the necessary time and effort to promote the development of your talent. You must cultivate and feed your potential.
A Garden to Care for
When The Most High made man, shrubs had not yet appeared on the earth and plants had not yet sprung from the ground. Only after man’s creation did The Most High plant a garden and give it a river to water it. Why? Until then “there was no man to work the ground” (Genesis 2:5). The earth was pregnant but nothing was coming out because there was no one to care for the soil’s babies.
Thus, we see that The Most High created all life to depend on cultivation to maximize its existence because potential cannot be released without work. In essence, The Most High said, “I can’t allow these trees and plants to grow yet because they need cultivation when they start growing and there is no one to care for them.” The fruit and seeds of many plants and trees were present in the ground, but the soil did not produce them until Adam cultivated the garden.
The New International Version of the Bible says that The Most High gave Adam the responsibility of working the garden. The Revised Standard Version and the King James Version describe man’s task as that of tilling the garden, and the Good News Bible speaks of cultivating. All point to man’s assignment to help the garden produce to its fullest capacity. Thus, man was created to have a cultivating ministry by making the earth grow richer as he gives to it, feeds it, and adds to it.
Winning the Prize Requires Running the Race
Potential is like soil. It must be worked and fed to produce fruit. King Solomon referred to this process of releasing the fruitfulness of man when he said, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5).
Notice, the drawing out of man’s potential requires effort. Like the fisherman who brings forth the treasures of the sea by hard work and the farmer who harvests the fruit of the ground by the sweat of his brow, so man must labor to tap even a portion of The Most High’s potential within him. Potential is like soil. It must be worked and fed to produce fruit. The apostle Paul understood this need to put forth the effort to release his fruitfulness.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24-27).
Understanding and wisdom are the keys to the success of man’s mission. His race to maximize everything The Most High has given him begins with knowing what The Most High requires of him and how He expects him to reach the finish line. The primary principle in cultivating one’s life for maximum living is to destroy ignorance by the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
Knowledge and Understanding Promote Growth
Suppose I wanted to create a beautiful vase to place in my living room, but I knew nothing about making pottery. My first step would need to be a visit to a master potter, or at least to the local library, to learn all I could about working clay into beautiful pieces. I would have to learn about the selection and preparation of the clay, the throwing and shaping of the vase on the potter’s wheel, the length of time and the conditions for seasoning the raw pot, the proper temperature and duration for firing the pot in the kiln, etc. Much work, including many hours of practice on much lesser pots than the vase I hoped to create, would precede my reaching the goal of making a vase to place in my living room.
This procedure is not unlike the process we must undertake to maximize our potential. Knowledge and effort must co-exist, but knowledge is the foundation for success. As we saw in the last chapter, The Most High’s wisdom and knowledge become available to us when we are connected to Him through the presence of His Spirit. An understanding of His ways and the discovery of His purposes are part of the treasure He has given us.
For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, He is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for He guards the course of the just and protects the way of His faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul (Proverbs 2:6-10).
The search for knowledge requires effort. You must seek it like a treasure that is precious to you. You cannot touch The Most High’s knowledge, however, without diligence and exertion.Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge (Proverbs 23:12).
My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of The Most High (Proverbs 2:1-5).
By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers (Proverbs 24:3-6).
Building a house and waging war require great effort. They do not just happen. The same is true for storing up things. If you’ve ever canned or frozen fruits and vegetables in the summer to provide for your family in the winter, you know that many long, hot hours precede the final act of putting the finished jars on the shelf.
In a similar manner, removing treasures from the earth is also arduous and time-consuming. Wells must be drilled before oil can be pumped from the depths of the earth, and great shafts or tunnels must be dug before the mining of diamonds, silver, and other precious metals can be achieved. These are the images Solomon used to illustrate the strength and the dedication you will need to exercise if you hope to gain the knowledge that will advance the unleashing of your potential.
Knowledge must always precede action or much time and effort will be wasted through misguided efforts and dead-end directions. The Most High, who planned your life and granted you the potential to fulfill His plans, works for and with you when you seek to know Him and to understand and follow His ways. I am going to say that again, knowledge must always precede action or much time and effort will be wasted through misguided efforts and dead-end directions.
The Consequences of Neglecting Knowledge
Sadly, we often forfeit our potential because we neglect the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding that come from The Most High alone. Solomon spoke of the consequences of this neglect, as did the prophet Hosea:
Wise men store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool invites ruin (Proverbs 10:14).
The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death. Good understanding wins favor, but the way of the unfaithful is hard. Every prudent man acts out of knowledge, but a fool exposes his folly (Proverbs 13:14-16).
My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. “Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as My priests; because you have ignored the law of your The Most High, I also will ignore your children” (Hosea 4:6).
A lack of knowledge is not the same as the unavailability of knowledge. Hosea says that The Most High’s people perish because they have rejected knowledge. Knowledge may surround us, but unless we apply it to our situation or use it to inform our decisions, it is useless to us.
We cannot really excuse ourselves before the Lord saying, “I didn’t know,” because opportunities to gain knowledge abound in our world. We live in an age of an information explosion with libraries, tape ministries, teaching videos, television, and radio bombarding us on every side with opportunities to stretch our horizons and increase our knowledge. What we can confess to The Most High is, “I rejected the opportunity to learn.”
The saying, “What you don’t know can’t kill you,” is simply not true. Too often we suffer loss because we did not take the opportunity to learn the facts about a particular subject. We perish because of what we don’t know. No matter how great your dream is, if you don’t have the information relative to your plan, forget it.
The Penalties of Ignorance
The devil doesn’t destroy The Most High’s people...the government doesn’t destroy The Most High’s people...the economy doesn’t destroy The Most High’s people...cocaine and marijuana don’t destroy The Most High’s people. Ignorance destroys The Most High’s people. This one thing is behind every destructive influence in our lives.
The Most High rejects those who reject His knowledge. In other words He says, “We can’t do business. You haven’t used the tools I gave you, so I can’t help you. You can’t even talk intelligently with Me.” Ignorance affects how The Most High answers our prayers because we ask for things we don’t need or shouldn’t want. To ask rightly we must understand how we operate, how the devil operates, how the world operates, and how The Most High operates. Asking The Most High to do something for us before we understand these aspects of our situation is wasting our time and The Most High’s. He must reject everything we request because our prayers and His ways found in the Torah His 613 principles, will, and desires for us do not line up. Fiveamprayer let's look at that again: Ignorance affects how The Most High answers our prayers because we ask for things we don’t need or shouldn’t want.
Research your dream before you start working to achieve it. Learn everything you can about the business you want to start or the people you want to reach. You need good information to make right decisions.
The Most High also ignores the children of those who ignore His knowledge. This is true because your children learn what you know. If you don’t know anything, they aren’t going to learn anything, and they will thus make the same mistakes and have the same values and attitudes you have.
Ignorance messes up the next generation. It destroys not only your fruitfulness but your children’s as well. Thus, you and your children reap what you sow, and your lack of information harms them. Our world is experiencing a multitude of human disasters that give evidence to this fact. Abortion, AIDS, environmental issues, drugs—all reveal the consequences of the rejection of knowledge by this generation and those that preceded us. In essence, ignorance is generational and transferable. The decision to pursue knowledge, improve understanding, and gain wisdom is a personal decision but not a private issue. Every book you read affects your grandchildren, so read and cultivate yourself for posterity.
Shema Selah why are His people destroyed due to a lack of knowledge? What have they turned away from and that is now forgotten that in result has the Most High to say that He has forgotten your children?
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