INTRODUCTION: RELEASING YOUR POTENTIAL T

Genesis chapter 1










Today we are walking in: Introduction: Releasing Your Potential







Job 34:16




If now thou hast understanding, hear H8085 this: hearken to the voice of my words.











UNDERSTAND





Today we look to the word-UNDERSTAND- H8085 shama`--to hear with attention or interest, listen to understand (language)










The Torah testifies...............




Genesis 11:7




Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand H8085 one another's speech.










The prophets proclaim..................




Nehemiah 8:2




And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear H8085 with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.











The writings bear witness...........................




1 Kings 3:9




Give therefore thy servant an understanding H8085 heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?










Introduction




It was a cool, wet, rainy September Sunday afternoon. We had just finished a delightful meal when our host suggested that we take a quiet stroll through the neighborhood park. I had been traveling for eight days, keeping a schedule that had to that point taxed me both mentally and physically, so it was a rare pleasure and a welcomed joy to embrace the opportunity to spend those quiet moments alone.




We entered the well-manicured grounds and observed with a degree of surprise the number of people who had the same idea. My host took delight in pointing out to me the various plants, birds, flowers and lush vegetation. After we had walked a short distance, we were interrupted by an elderly gentleman who greeted my host with great joy. My host introduced me, then continued his conversation with the gentleman. I took the opportunity to steal away for that private, relaxing walk I had desired. After I had walked for a few minutes, the pathway meandered to the entrance of an old cemetery. My tenacious interest in history drew me to explore the historical nature of the tombstones and the grave markers just to satisfy my curiosity. What an awesome experience it was to read and study the many names, dates, and quotes as these silent stones spoke. Names like John Hill 1800-1864, Elizabeth Robinson 1790-1830, and so on gave evidence of the years of British history buried there.




Then I came upon a small grave, perhaps three feet in length, that read, “Markus Rogers, 1906-1910.” Written below the name was the quote, “Gone but not forgotten.” A brief calculation revealed that this was the resting place of a 4- year-old child. After scanning the hundreds of markers and stones, my eyes rested, once again, upon the grave of this child. Deep contemplation settled upon me. I noticed that almost all the tombstones, including the child’s, had the words “Rest in Peace” inscribed on them. Many questions and thoughts raced through my mind: Who were the child’s parents? What was the cause of death? What was his purpose in being born? What special natural talents and gifts did he possess that were never displayed and never benefited anyone? What inventions or discoveries could he have shared with the human race? How many great works of art, books, or songs died in this precious infant?




As silence answered, I suddenly applied the questions to the many tombstones that surrounded this child’s resting place. Some of the others had recorded life spans of 30, 40, 60, and even 75 years. Yet the only testimony to their time on this planet was “Rest In Peace.” Then I wondered: How can you rest in peace if you died with all your potential inside? As the wet, misty rain formed dew drops on my cheeks, I walked away thinking: What a tragedy it is for a child to die at such a tender age, before he has the opportunity to realize his full potential.




Immediately a quiet voice screamed in my head: Is it not a greater tragedy if those who lived to old age also carried their books, art, music, inventions, dreams, and potential to the grave? Suddenly the rain seemed to turn to sweat as I pondered the awesome implications of this question. One of my greatest fears is that many who still walk the streets of our world, perhaps some who are reading this series, will also deposit in the cemeteries of their communities the wealth of potential locked inside them. I trust that you will not allow the grave to rob this world of your latent, awesome potential.




There are five billion people on this planet. Each one is very special, unique, original, and significant. All possess a genetic combination that codes them as distinct individuals whose fingerprints cannot be duplicated. There is no one like you now, nor will there ever be another. Each of us—whether black, brown, yellow, red, or white—was conceived by destiny, produced by purpose and packaged with potential to live a meaningful, fulfilling life. Deep within you lies a seed of greatness waiting to be germinated. You have been endued with natural talents, gifts, desires, and dreams. All humanity, in all cultures, races, and socio- economic situations, lives with the natural instinct to manifest this potential.




The entire creation possesses this principle of potential. Everything has the natural instinct to release its ability. The plant and animal kingdoms abound with evidences of this fact. The Creator designed everything with this principle of potential, which can be simplified to the concept of a seed. The biblical document states that Yah created everything with “seed in it according to their kinds” (Genesis 1:12). In essence, hidden within everything is the potential to fulfill itself and produce much more than we see.




Please note that when Yah created the earth and placed man in the garden, He did not give man a finished product. Although Yah knew that man would need food, clothes, shelter, transportation, and other elements of comfort, He did not make all these things instantly available. Yah commanded the man: “Be fruitful, and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Each of these commands is based on the assumption that the ability to be fruitful and the potential to multiply and replenish and subdue were present in the man, waiting to be activated, tapped, and released. This command also implies that fruitfulness (release of hidden life) and multiplication (reproduction of hidden life) are not dependent on Yah, but on the individual who possesses the seed.




You have the ability to accomplish everything your Yah-given purpose demands. Your Creator has given you the responsibility of releasing this precious seed in obedience to His commands. The releasing of your potential is not up to Yah but you.




Henry Ford once said, “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” It is my hope that this series becomes one of your best friends as it inspires you to strive to release your hidden abilities for the benefit of the world around you and for your personal fulfillment.




For the last two decades, I have devoted myself to understanding, activating, tapping, and releasing my potential and the potential of others. An integral part of this devotion was the study and observation of the lives of some of this world’s leading men and women—people who have affected their societies positively because they released and maximized their potential. As a result, I am convinced that every individual comes into this world with a deposit of potential that far exceeds any attempt to measure its potency. I also believe that this potential is viable in spite of the external environment in which it exists. My studies and experience have also revealed that this potential must be released by applying specific principles that are evident in every case in the lives of those people who tapped the deposit Yah placed within them. The presence and application of these principles was visible no matter what ethnic, social, academic, or economic situation prevailed.




Although I have said that everyone possesses great potential and the capacity to release this awesome ability, I also believe, with great sadness, that not everyone will become all the Creator intended them to be. Too many people are mere products of their environments, allowing themselves to be victimized by the opinions of others and the assessments of human analysis. They lack the will to change or challenge the limitations placed upon them by themselves and others, and thus fail to take the necessary steps to develop their potential.




I also believe, however, that anyone, of any age, and in any circumstances, can transform himself if he wants to. You can become all Yah designed you to be if you are willing to defy the norm and dare to believe Yah’s assessment of your ability. It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you. It’s what you know that just ain’t so.




The purpose of this series is to make you examine and challenge the many opinions you have lived under for years. My deepest desire is to release in you the courage to pursue the depth of ability that lies deep within you, to tap the reserve of life yet unseen by your peers, and to provoke you to unbridle the silent wealth of power that is screaming for exposure. After you’ve finished reading this series, read it again until the principles and the truths it contains become a natural part of your thinking and you come to the awareness that understanding and releasing your potential is simply becoming yourself as Yah our Creator originally intended. Nothing is impossible to him who believes.




A seed, until it is released, is only a promise of a tree.