2 Corinthians chapter 6
Today we are walking in: Kingdom Principles To Develop Your Potential
Job 33:17
That he may withdraw man from his purpose H6213, and hide pride from man.
purpose
Today we look to the word-PURPOSE- H6213 ’asah--to do, work, make, produce; to act, act with effect, effect
The Torah testifies...............
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The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 14:26
This is the purpose H6213 that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
The writings bear witness...........................
Ecclesiates 3:1
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose H6213 under the heaven:
KINGDOM PRINCIPLES TO DEVELOP YOUR POTENTIAL
All potential demands conditions conducive to the maximum fulfillment of purpose. Consequently, all life forms have ideal conditions in which they grow and flourish. The apostle Paul clearly understood that the conditions in which we live affect the nature of our living. Light that is continually surrounded by darkness is in danger of losing its brilliance. Righteousness that repeatedly associates with wickedness may, in time, be tarnished. Thus, Paul writes: “I [the Lord] will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their Yah, and they will be My people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Since we have these prom- ises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that con- taminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for Yah (2 Corinthians 6:16b–7:1). Paul’s observations are as applicable today as they were when he wrote them. “For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14b) You cannot consistently spend time with unYahly people, or be surrounded by unrighteous behavior, and maintain your fellowship with Yah. That’s serious business, since fellowship with Yah and obedience to His laws and commandments are essential ingredients of your ideal environment. Life outside that envi- ronment will destroy your potential because a wrong environment always means death. I’m going to say it again, Life outside your ideal environment will destroy your potential because a wrong environment always means death.
All manufacturers establish the ideal conditions required for the maximum performance of their products. In the same manner, you were created to function under specific conditions established by your Creator. Any violation of the Manufacturer’s specific conditions minimizes His intended effect. The laws of Yah are given not to restrict us but to protect us by maintaining the ideal environment for maximum performance. Obedience protects performance. Disobedience diminishes potential. As fish cannot live in polluted waters and plants die in parched ground, so you cannot live in conditions that do not acknowledge Yah as the central, all-important factor of daily life. Creating and sustaining a Yah-centered environment is as important for your growth and satisfaction as designing houses that fit their climates and settings is for the reputation and the success of an architect. Maintaining your ideal environment is the fifth key to releasing your potential. Dreams without work accomplish nothing. The young man peering into the unexpected room could dream forever about restoring the house, but his dream would become reality only if he channeled his excitement and vision into drawing blueprints and doing the work of rebuilding. In a similar manner, the apostle Paul could not have reached the non-Jewish world with the gospel of Yahusha Hamachiach if he had only rejoiced in his new relationship with Yah, learned to live by faith, surveyed his resources, and sought a healthy environ- ment in which to live. Paul had to work to release his potential and to achieve his purpose. The New Testament is filled with stories of Paul’s efforts to share Yah’s gift of salvation with those who had not heard the gospel. When one door closed, he looked for another. When his traveling companions interfered with his plans, he parted company with them and looked for others who could share his vision. Not even riots, beatings, and imprisonments prevented him from continually seeking ways to share the good news of Yahusha. Again and again, Paul worked hard fighting discouragement, misunderstandings, and distrust to fulfill his commission from Yah. You also need to work. The love of work is the secret to personal progress, productivity, and fulfillment because work encourages the release of potential, and potential is the abundance of talents, abilities, and capabilities given to every person. When you refuse to work, you deny yourself the opportunity to fulfill your potential and your purpose, and you forfeit the productivity that could have blessed your- self and others. Therefore, you steal from the world. The greatest safeguard against this theft is both to understand the purpose and the nature of work, and to live from that knowledge. Most of us are not interested in discovering what we can accomplish when we go to our jobs. We go to work only because we want a paycheck. This view of work is contrary to Yah’s purpose for giving work. He is more concerned with our use or abuse of the skills and talents He gave us than He is with our financial wealth or poverty. He wants us to be good workers, not good job keepers. This change in attitude requires that we begin to see work as a blessing, not a punishment. Work as Yah planned it was given to man before he sinned. It is His tool to make us productive and fruitful. Because Yah’s assignments and activities always involve work, He designed men and women to share in His creativity by giving them the opportunity to work. Even as Yah worked through His spoken word to make the unobservable visible, so too we must work to reveal the invisible possibilities that exist in us. Although the conditions of work changed after sin becoming painful and requiring great effort the purpose of work did not. Work is not a result of sin. In essence, work is Yah’s gift to help people discover their poten- tial. Until you start working to discover what you yet can be, you will miss the blessings inherent in work. This is true because work profits the worker by...
• providing for physical needs,
• building self-esteem,
• teaching that the discovery and use of talents, skills, and abilities is far more important than the acquisition of money,
• developing an attitude that sees a challenge as a cause for rejoicing because it holds the possibility for success,
• offering the opportunity to transform dreams into reality,
• multiplying resources, and,
• revealing the potential that is yet to be exposed, tapped, released, and employed,
• Work also blesses others as we give generously of what we have and who we are.
Yah’s work in creation was to deliver the stuff hidden inside Him. He labored to birth the world. This concept of laboring to deliver is the central factor in Yah’s perception of work.
Work releases potential and empowers success. It uses innate abilities and natural talents to share experience and proficiency. It also energizes the world’s productive ability and activates man’s creative power. In essence, work brings forth from a man or a woman the possibilities that will die with that individual unless they are activated, performed, produced, and fulfilled. In the absence of work, strength and energy waste away, dreams and visions wither and die, Yah- given skills and talents degenerate, and productivity wanes. In essence, laziness, which is the absence of work, aborts potential and sacrifices possibilities. Therefore, Yah’s purpose for giving you work is to bless you by calling forth from you all that He sees in you. He designed you to meet your needs and the needs of others through your ability to work. When you see work from this perspective, and you accept your opportunities to work as the gifts of a loving Yah who wants to draw from you the wealth of your hidden potential, you will find that work becomes an anticipated pleasure to be embraced as an opportunity to find happiness and fulfillment. Work is the master key to releasing your potential. These six keys are essential for the release of your potential. If you disregard even one of these principles, you will limit your potential because the violation of a law always incurs a penalty, and history has proven that these laws are true. Commit yourself today to practicing these keys so your potential will not die with you. Yah wants all He put in you for the good of the world to be released and max- imized. Only then can you truly become your potential. Write this down. Principles That Govern Potential. 1. What Yah speaks to is the source for what He creates. Yah spoke to Himself when He created you, so you came from Yah. 2. All things have the same components and essence as the sources from which they came. Because you came from Yah, who is Spirit, you also are spirit. 3. All things must be maintained by the sources from which they came. You must be maintained by Yah, your Source. Apart from Him you will die. 4. The potential of all things is related to the source from which it came. Your potential is related to Yah’s potential. 5. Everything in life has the ability to fulfill its potential. Yah built into you the ability to fulfill your potential. 6. Potential is determined and revealed by the demands placed on it by its creator. Yah reveals what He created you to do by placing demands on you. You are capable of doing everything Yah asks of you. Now right these next six keys down. Keys to Releasing Your Potential. 1. You must know your source. Yah is your Source. 2. You must understand how you were designed to function. Yah designed you to operate by faith. 3. You must know your purpose. Yah created you to express His image, to enjoy fellowship with Him, to dominate the earth, to bear fruit, and to reproduce yourself. 4. You must understand your resources. Yah has given you resources of spirit, body, soul, time, and material things. 5. You must have the right environment. Yah created you to live with Him in a relationship of fel- lowship and obedience that is established and maintained by His presence, assurance, guidance, and direction. 6. You must work out your potential. Work is Yah’s blessing to challenge and expose your potential. I want to let you know what the enemy to potential is. When we come back to Yah and begin to glimpse and act on His plans and purposes for our lives, we become excited and we anticipate the joys and the surprises that lay ahead. As we meet obstacles and discover the perseverance and hard work that will be required for us to fulfill our Yah-given potential, our enthusiasm often wanes and boredom or disillusionment sets in. We must simply stay with the journey in spite of the hardships and the discouraging situations and events that plague us. Even as a pregnancy is no guarantee of the birth of a healthy child, so beginning a journey does not ensure that it will be finished. Vision can be aborted. The world is proficient at aborting potential. Not only will it do nothing to help you reveal and use the hidden you, it most likely will dis- courage you by measuring your efforts against its standards for success—standards it made because the world doesn’t know what true success is. Beware of these standards and the disparaging words of those who live by them because, if you let them, they will under- mine your journey. Then tragedy strikes as success dies in failure, hope dies in despair, and visions die in the absence of confidence. This abortion of potential breaks the heart of Yah. You are responsible to release your potential. No one else can or will do it for you. Releasing some potential, however, does not mean that you will release all your potential. Redeeming all your potential requires that you protect your potential, cultivate your potential, share your potential, and discover and obey the laws of limitation regarding your potential. These are the keys to maximizing potential. You can work hard to achieve a dream, but if you do not protect it, cultivate it, share it, and act within Yah’s standards and direc- tives, you will lose it. This loss occurs because knowing Yah’s requirements and fulfilling them are two very different experiences. One is information, the other action. Many times what should have been doesn’t happen because somewhere between the dream and its completion our great aspirations are trampled and destroyed. This is the work of the destroyer. When Yah placed man in the garden, He commanded him to work the garden and take care of it. The King James Version of the Bible says that man was to till and keep the garden, while Today’s English Version assigns to man the responsibility to cultivate and guard the garden. This requirement of Yah is given to man before he breaks fellowship with Yah through disobedience. Man is in his ideal environment, being filled with Yah’s power and anointing, living in perfect holiness and purity, and enjoying Yah’s fellowship and presence. Thus, this commandment implies that something or someone was waiting to take or attack what man had been given to keep. The Scriptures warn us of this thief. I [Yahusha] am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:9-10). Satan is our enemy. He wants to destroy the power of Yah with- in us so that Yah’s glory is not revealed in us. He who was thrown out of Heaven to the earth, where he “leads the whole world astray” (Revelation 12:9), is out to remove us from the One who is our life and our salvation. He’s out to destroy all we could be because he knows that those who become rerooted in Yah have the ability to act like Yah, showing His nature and likeness. Consequently, satan comes as a thief to steal our potential because he cannot boldly challenge Yah’s power within us. Our outward container, which is our body, reveals nothing of the treasure inside us. This all-surpassing treasure is Yah’s power and wisdom. The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure (Isaiah 33:5-6). In other words, the key to releasing Yah’s power within you is reverencing Him, which is living with Him in a relationship of obedience and submission. You are filled with heavenly wisdom, but you have to follow Yah’s program to benefit from it. Yahusha spoke of this need to live in relationship with Yah when He said: Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you (John 15:4-7). No wonder satan tries to steal our potential. He fears Yah’s power within us because it is greater than he is. Therefore, our dreams, plans, and ideas are targets of his evil forces. The minute we have a good idea, the deceiver will send someone to criticize our dream because he cannot permit us to accomplish our vision. As long as we are only dreaming, he is safe and he’ll let us alone. When we begin to act on our dream, he’ll hit us full force. You are responsible to guard your dream and bring it to reality by safeguarding and protecting it from injury and loss. To do so you must understand how satan seeks to rob you of your destiny. Satan’s methods for stealing dreams are many and varied, according to the vision and the personality of the dreamer. Let us identify some of these enemies of potential so you will recognize them for what they are, the deceiver’s activity in your life. The Bible repeatedly states that disobedience withholds Yah’s blessings and rains His curses upon us. This is true because disobe- dience brings into our lives the natural (Yah-ordained) conse- quences of our actions. Teenagers who experiment with sex destroy the beauty of the first intimacy that is to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife, open themselves to AIDS and other diseases, and risk losing the joys of youth due to the birth of a child. They also forfeit their dreams to problems in marriage in later years, to serious illnesses and possible death, and to the responsibilities of raising a child before they have matured into the task. Jonah learned the consequences of disobedience when he boarded a ship going in the opposite direction from the city to which Yah was sending him. He nearly lost his life by drowning. In a similar sit- uation, Lot’s wife, in spite of Yah’s commandment not to look back, sacrificed her life for one last look at the city she was fleeing from. Disobedience always wastes potential and retards the attainment of goals. You cannot persist in disobedience and maximize your potential. To maximize your life you must submit to Yah’s will in everything. Number 2. Sin. Although the effects of disobedience and sin are similar, sin is a more basic ill because it is total rebellion against the known will of Yah—or to say it another way, a declaration of independence from your Source. The resulting alienation from Yah destroys potential because we cannot know Yah if we do not have His Spirit, and His Spirit is the password to unlocking our potential. Sin, in essence, says, “I know better than you do, Yah, how to run my life.” King David experienced the desolation and death that result from a rebellious spirit when he violated another man’s wife and tried to cover up his action by having the woman’s husband killed in battle and taking her for his wife. The son born to David from this affair died, and David endured the agony of separation from the Yah he loved. What the child could have done in his lifetime was sacrificed, as were David’s energy and vitality during the months before he confessed his sin. It is no wonder David prayed: Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O Yah, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spir- it, to sustain me (Psalm 51:9-12). Destroying your relationship with Yah through sin is always sui- cide. You cannot become who Yah created you to be if you persist in rebelling against Him. Without Yah’s Spirit living and working in you, you will die with your potential. Sin caps the well of your potential. To maximize your life you must avoid compromise with unYahliness. Number 3. Fear. Fear is having faith in the impossible. It’s dwelling on all that could go wrong instead of what will go right. Although, for example, acci- dents do happen and cars must be carefully maintained and driven, fear that prevents us from driving or riding in a car immobilizes our potential because it severely limits where we can go. When as a lad, David met the giant Goliath with a slingshot and three stones, he most likely was afraid. Yet because he mastered his fear by trusting in Yah instead of thinking about all that could go wrong, he freed the Israelites from the oppression of their enemies and honored the name of Yah. (See First Samuel chapter 17.) His faith in Yah moved him beyond timidity to power. Fear is seeing Goliath too big to hit. Faith is seeing Goliath too big to miss. Paul wrote to Timothy about this ability to move beyond fear: ...fan into flame the gift of Yah, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For Yah did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:6-7). A spirit of self-discipline submits the information we receive through our bodies and our minds to the knowledge we receive from Yah’s Spirit. It refuses to allow our minds to run wild imag- ining everything that could happen and chooses instead to apply Yah’s promises to the situation and to depend on Yah’s love and power for the outcome. Faith, our Yah-given mode of operation, combats fear and encourages the maximizing of potential. He who fears to try will never know what he could have done. He who fears Yah has nothing else to fear. To maximize your life you must neutralize fear with faith.
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