SHARE YOUR POTENTIAL

Acts chapter 20






Today we are walking in: Share Your Potential








Job 21:14


Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge H1847 of thy ways.




KNOWLEDGE



Today we look to the word-KNOWLEDGE- H847 da'ath--knowledge, perception, skill, discernment





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


Genesis 2:9


And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.


Exodus 31:3


And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom,and in understanding, and in knowledge, H1847 andin all manner of workmanship,


Leviticus 4:8


Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.




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


Nehemiah 10:28

And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding;





Isaiah 33:6


And wisdom and knowledge H1847 shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.





Jeremiah 3:15


And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.






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



Job 34:2


Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.



Psalm 119:66


Teach me good judgment and knowledge: H1847 for I have believed thy commandments.


Proverbs 1:7


The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.








Share Your Potential


Giving is the greatest evidence of true freedom. It is more productive to give than receive (see Acts 20:35).


Silently the orchestra waited. What would this new masterpiece of their beloved conductor be like? He had promised that it would be different from anything he had ever written. As each player received his part, he looked at it in surprise. Although each score contained some notes, there were many more rests than notes. All assumed the other instruments must have the lead part for the piece.


When they started to play, however, it soon became evident that no one had the lead. The trumpets would play for a few measures, then the trombones, after which the clarinets or the flutes picked up the tune. Although it was true that the parts had some resemblance to each other, no clear melody was evident. The longer the musicians played, the stranger the music became, but they kept playing because it seemed to be what the conductor expected.
After five minutes of each instrument playing a few notes here and there, the conductor laid down his baton and looked at the musicians. “What is wrong?” he asked. “Don’t you like the music?”
Quickly the members of the orchestra looked at each other. What should they say? No, they did not like the piece, for it had none of the beauty and grandeur they had come to expect in the maestro’s music. Rather than hurt their leader’s feelings, they said nothing. Then the maestro started to laugh. “Wait,” he said, “I will be right back.” When he returned, his arms were again filled with music.
Once more he moved through the orchestra, giving each player a score. This time when he lifted his baton, anticipation filled each face. Although the scores still contained rests, they were considerably fewer and they seemed to be at fitting places.
After the orchestra had played for a few minutes, the conductor stopped them and asked, “Do you understand what I have done? If you look at the notes on the two scores, you will notice that they are the same. It is the rests that are different. The first time, one of you played a little, then another, then a third player. You never played together. I did this to show you that each part is important, but it is meaningless without the others. When we all play the right notes at the right time, blending the music and sharing the unique sounds of each instrument, a beautiful melody emerges. Unlike the strange awkwardness of the first score, the second score highlights each
instrument at the appropriate time, with the other instruments playing the supporting chords and the countermelodies. This is the way music is supposed to sound.”
Sharing Maximizes and Fulfills Potential
This blending and support is also the way potential is meant to be used. Even as the beauty of a symphony is minimized when each instrument’s part is played in isolation, so the wealth of our potential is minimized when we do not share it with others Potential is maximized and fulfilled only when it is shared. This sharing of potential is The Most High’s way of bringing to pass His plans and purposes for men and women. Fiveamprayer, we have to remember that the wealth of our potential is minimized when we do not share it with others.
***The Most High Shares His Potential
The Most High’s nature is built around sharing and giving. Before the world was created, everything existed in Him. All that we have seen, now see, and yet will see comes from Him. The Most High could have kept all this stuff inside Him, but it wouldn’t have benefited Him there. He had to release it through creativity before the beauty and power of His potential could be revealed.
Everything The Most High called into being He gave a purpose that meshes with the larger purpose of the world. Every animal, bird, fish, insect, reptile, plant, and tree is connected to the whole of creation. If one species becomes extinct, its death disrupts and impacts the entire ecosystem. In essence, each part of The Most High’s world in some way balances and enriches the rest.
You Share The Most High’s Potential
Human beings are The Most High’s crowning creative act. The treasure He put in us He took from Himself. He chose to give us part of His potential so we could use it for Him. The Most High could have run the world by Himself, but He brought us into His plan so we could bring glory to Him by revealing all He is. He doesn’t need our involvement to accomplish all He is capable of doing and being, but He wants us to enjoy the blessing of participating in His purpose. Your gifts, talents, and abilities are your share of the endowment The Most High gives to mankind to bless all creation.
As a parent enjoys watching a child learn new things, The Most High finds satisfaction in watching you discover and use your potential. In essence, you show forth The Most High’s nature and reveal His potency when you fulfill your potential Your purpose is equal to your potential, and your potential is equal to your purpose. The more you understand your purpose, the more you will discover what you can do.
The Most High finds satisfaction in watching you discover and use your potential.
Thus, The Most High gets excited when you take authority over your bad habits. He enjoys watching you discover and use the deposit of His power and wisdom within you. Sometimes it would be easier for The Most High to just snap His fingers and take over, but then He’d lose the joy of watching you order your life and the pleasure of seeing you expose His potential.
The other day, my wife and I were sitting at the table where our little girl was doing her homework. She had to spell some words and find the words that rhymed. I was so tempted to give her all the answers because I knew them right away. I held back because I knew I would rob her of the pleasure of producing her own potential.
The Most High works with you in the same way. There are some things He’d like to do for you, but He’s holding back so you can enjoy your success when you do them yourself. You say, “The Most High, change this situation,” and The Most High responds, “Well, I could, but there’s something you could learn about what you are capable of doing and being, so no, I won’t take over and do it for you.”
Just as I tell my daughter, “You figure it out,” when she asks me, “Daddy, what’s this?” so The Most High allows you to work things out for yourself. He’s proud of you when you succeed, just like I’m proud of my daughter when she successfully completes her homework. I produced her as part of my responsibility, now I find pleasure in seeing her use what I shared with her. The Most High finds the same pleasure in you. He has shared His potential with you, now He wants to enjoy the benefits of that gift. His joy overflows when you release all He has given you.
Potential Is Never Given for Itself
When I was in college, I went on a tour of Europe. After several days, I lost interest in all I was seeing because my fiancée, who is now my wife, was not there to share it with me. On that trip I learned the truth of this principle: Potential is never given for itself. Whatever The Most High gives to you, He gives for others. Even as a solitary instrument cannot produce the majestic music of a symphonic orchestra, so human beings cannot glorify their Creator in isolation. I need your potential to maximize mine, and you need my potential to maximize yours. All we have been given is meant to be shared.
Isolation Is Not Good
After man had finished naming all the animals and no suitable helper for him was found among them, The Most High performed another significant act of creation. Why? “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).
The Most High did not make woman because man asked for a wife, nor because a helper for man was a good idea. Man needed a companion because he could not realize his potential without sharing it with someone. His solitary existence was not good. To be solitary or alone is not the same as being single. To be alone is to be isolated and cut off from others. Communication is impossible because you have no one like yourself to share with. This is what The Most High says is not good.
To be single is to be unmarried. Marriage is not a requirement or a prerequisite for the fulfillment of your potential. You do not necessarily need a husband or a wife. What you do need, however, is someone with whom you can share your potential. This is true because your personal satisfaction is connected to your fulfilling The Most High’s purpose for your life, and your purpose cannot be achieved in isolation.
You need those people who will call forth your potential and into whom you can pour your life. You may be wired to be single, but you are not designed to live isolated and alone.
You need someone with whom you can share your potential.
A Word of Caution
You must be careful, however, when, how, and with whom you share your potential. Even as isolation is not good for personal fulfillment and the maximizing of potential, so sharing your hidden wealth in a manner that transgresses The Most High’s laws of limitation is not good. All your natural abilities, all the gifts you have cultivated, and all the knowledge you have accumulated are yours to share within the context of The Most High’s principles, plans, and purposes. The Most High created everything to fulfill its potential within the limitations of certain laws.
In other words, He specified the boundaries within which all things can perform to their maximum capabilities. For example, The Most High created you to serve only Him. The context of living in an obedient relationship with Him is the only means of ensuring your happiness and fulfillment. Therefore, The Most High commands you:
You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol.... You shall not bow down to them or worship them (Exodus 20:3-5).
His command seeks to safeguard your ideal environment because He knows that you cannot satisfy your spiritual potential if you worship or bow down to something or someone else.
In a similar manner, The Most High set a physical context within which your potential may be shared. This physical context is the relationship originally enjoyed by Adam and Eve when Eve was given to Adam to be his helpmeet. This The Most High-given requirement for sharing physical potential is made visible in His command: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28).
Neither two males nor two females can produce a baby because man’s potential is fulfilled by sharing it with a woman, and woman’s is fulfilled by sharing it with a man. For their potential to be fruitful, men and women must share their physical potential within the context of a male-female relationship that is within the bonds of marriage.
What is known today as an alternative lifestyle is truly the abuse of natural destiny and the violation of human nature because it prevents this fulfillment of purpose. Woman was created to receive, and man was created to give. Thus, their shared potentials complement each other. A man cannot be fruitful without a woman, nor can a woman be fruitful without a man. Two givers or two receivers cannot work together to produce fruit. Be careful that you share your physical potential with the right person.
Your soulical potential is fulfilled by sharing it within the context of the family. Here a child learns to give and receive love and affection. Very often psychological and emotional problems arise when love is not felt and expressed in the formative years. If a boy never feels loved by his mother, he may become confused later in life if a male starts meeting some of those needs. Then his ability to give and receive affection, affirmation, and attention seeks to be fulfilled in the wrong context.
Men can enjoy deep and lasting friendships with men, but they must be careful what they share within that relationship. Certain things are good to share; others are not. The same is true of friendships between women. The Most High intends that you will fulfill your basic soulical potential within the context of the family.
Potential Is Fulfilled When It Is Released
Potential is fulfilled only when it is given to others. You cannot enjoy or fulfill your potential if you keep it to yourself. Everything The Most High gave you, He gave for me and everyone else. He blesses you with additional gifts when you use the blessings you have already received to bless others. In other words, fruitfulness is always given to make you a blessing to others. You are blessed when you take what you have and give it away. This is true because sharing your potential both reveals hidden possibilities and releases additional gifts.
Everything The Most High gave you, He gave for me and everyone else.
A seed produces nothing if it does not surrender its potential to the soil. If it says, “I’m going to keep what I have,” its potential to produce a tree is lost. Only as the seed relinquishes its outer shell and puts down roots that permit it to receive nourishment from the soil can it release its potential to be a tree. Through self-giving, the seed is transformed and gives birth to new possibilities. Then the tree, having been blessed by the gift of the seed, begins to push out blossoms, showing forth some of its fruit. In time, it yields fruit with more seed that can continue the cycle of giving. If anything along the way chooses to withhold its potential—be it the seed, the tree, or the fruit—the cycle is broken and much potential is lost.
This same truth is evident in the music of an orchestra. The instruments’ potential to produce music cannot be fulfilled until the individual notes are released by the players. If even one player refuses to release what he possesses, the loss extends far beyond the one who withholds his contribution because the withheld potential of one affects the potential of all. Indeed, the music either remains hidden and dormant or it emerges misshapen and incomplete. All suffer loss—musicians and music—if even one person or one instrument refuses to cooperate. Only as all give of what they possess can the potential of the music be released.
Giving Exposes Potential
Treasures that are hidden and locked up benefit no one. Say, for example, that your grandmother gave you a beautiful necklace that she wore as a bride. If you keep it locked in a safe and never wear it, its beauty is wasted.
Or perhaps you have wedding gifts of beautiful china, sterling silver, and fine crystal that you have never used to serve a meal. You’re wasting the potential of those dishes. They cannot do what they are supposed to do sitting on a shelf. People bought them for you to use. Treasure is useless unless you expose it. Potential can never be attained if it has no opportunity to give. I am gonna say that one again, potential can never be attained if it has no opportunity to give.
This was the power of John F. Kennedy’s words, spoken at his inauguration to be the president of the United States: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Kennedy’s words prompt us to focus on what we can give instead of what we can get. It is through our giving that we discover what we can do and be.
This was also the wisdom shared by the apostle Paul, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). Releasing what you have received benefits you and others. Holding on to a treasure forfeits the blessing inherit in the treasure, and no one profits from it. Like
the seed, you must release what The Most High has stored in you for the world. You do this by releasing seeds into the soil of the lives of others.
*****The Most High Is a Giver
The Most High is constantly releasing seeds into the soil of your life. He is a giver and He created you to be like Him. The foundation of The Most High’s giving nature is revealed in His purpose for creating men and women.
The Most High made Adam and Eve so He would have someone to love and bless—more children like HaMaschich, His Incarnate Son. Although The Most High possessed all He had created, those things were useless to Him until He created man to release their potential by using His creations and, thereby, showing off His fullness.
In essence, The Most High, who is love, created man to fulfill His potential to love. Love is worthless until it is given away. It must have an object to be fulfilled. Therefore, The Most High needed something on which He could lavish His love, something that could understand and appreciate what He had to give. Of all The Most High’s creatures, only men and women share The Most High’s Spirit and, thus, can appreciate His love. You are the object of The Most High’s love. Because love can be fulfilled only when the receiver of love is like the giver, He created you like Himself, to be loved by Him and to love as He loves.
The Mutuality of Giving
Think about the last time you bought a card or a gift for a spouse or a close friend. Much of the pleasure in giving the gift is found in choosing something that will delight the one to whom you are giving it. The gift’s meaning is found in the shared love of the giver and the recipient.
This is the meaning of Yahusha’ words:
Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces (Matthew 7:6).
A pet cannot appreciate a diamond ring, but your sweetheart will. Why? She understands the thoughts and the feelings that both prompted the gift and are revealed in it. The one who receives a gift must understand and appreciate the giver before the gift can have meaning. Through giving love is released.
You have been physically birthed by the giving of your parents and spiritually birthed by the giving of HaMaschich. Even as your parents gave the seed of their bodies to release their potential to produce another human being, so Yahusha HaMaschich gave the seed that brings new life by releasing His potential to be a Savior. Their giving brings you life and the opportunity to continue the cycle of giving. Joy is found in participating in the pattern of giving, receiving, and giving again.
This pattern of releasing potential by giving and receiving is particularly visible in the biblical concept of a blessing.
Blessed to Be a Blessing
The giving of a blessing is an important image in Scripture. Whether it is The Most High, a father, or some other person giving the blessing, it is a gift that exposes possibilities and releases power. The Most High
blessed Adam and Eve (see Genesis 1:28), and Noah and his sons (see Genesis 9:1), by calling forth from them the potential to be fruitful, to increase in number, and to fill the earth. Likewise, He blessed Sarah, the wife of Abraham, when He released the possibility that she would be a mother (see Genesis 17:15-16). Isaac passed the power to be the Most High of the family on to Jacob when he blessed him (see Genesis 27:27-29). Jacob in turn blessed each of his sons, unveiling the future of each one (see Genesis 49). In each case, the blessing confirmed what The Most High had already purposed for the one who received the blessing.
Blessings are never given solely for the benefit of the one who receives them. That means all The Most High has given you—your clothes, food, house, car, bike, education, intelligence, personality, etc.—are given to you so you can maximize them by sharing them. You cannot release the full potential of anything if you do not share it.
Blessings are never given solely for the benefit of the one who receives them. Abraham not only received a blessing from The Most High; he was also made a blessing to others: I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:2-3).
The same was true for Abraham’s wife, Sarah (see Genesis 17:16), his son Isaac (see Genesis 26:4), and his grandson Jacob (see Genesis 28:14). The Most High’s blessing also worked through Jacob’s son Joseph, who preserved The Most High’s people through a severe famine. Each passed on The Most High’s blessings so others could be blessed. The Most High operates from this perspective: “I’m going to share with you so you will be blessed by My sharing and you, in turn, will bless oth-
ers by your sharing.” He gives to you so you can share His potential by being motivated to pass on all He gives you. Therefore, the task of humanity is to emulate the attitude of The Most High by drawing from each person all he or she possesses. You exist to pull things from me, and I exist to pull things from you.
The Most High finds joy in giving to you so you can give to others. He blesses you to bless another. No matter what your circumstances are, there is some way you can share your potential with others. If you are homebound, give yourself through prayer or the ministry of encouragement through cards, letters, and phone calls. Or perhaps you are retired with few financial resources but much time. Pour yourself into a child.
Whatever your blessings, find some way to share them. This is The Most High’s intention for giving them to you. Your gifts may be different from mine, but their value is equal if we serve the same Most High with the same Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12:1-7). Your gifts are for me and my gifts are for you. Together we can bless the world. This is how potential is released.
Receiving Without Giving Results in Destruction
True joy is found not in what you accomplish but in who benefits from your success. Dying to yourself and giving for me and others will reap for you the joy of seeing your efforts reproduced many times over in us. Your sharing will give life to many.
If, however, you refuse to share, you will destroy both The Most High’s joy in giving to you and your joy in passing on what He gives. You will also forfeit His blessings because those who wish to receive from the abundance of The Most High must use wisely all He gives. This is true because selfishness concerns itself only with its own prosperity and well-being. It lacks interest in the concerns and needs of others.
You cannot emulate the giving nature of The Most High if you retain all you have for your own wants and needs; neither can your bucket draw from the deep waters in me. Such selfishness kills potential and lessens the likelihood that you will be blessed by my potential.
True wisdom is understanding this interdependence: “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5). This cannot occur, however, if we are consumed by thoughts of ourselves.
Selfishness Destroys Personal Happiness and Satisfaction
You were created to give. When you lavish your potential on yourself, your potential and all you accomplish by using it lose their meaning. King Solomon learned this when he went through life doing one thing after another for himself.
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?
I undertook great projects.... I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs.... I bought male and female slaves.... I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself....I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless....So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it was meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to one who comes after me. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear The Most High and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For The Most High will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3; 2:4-8, 10-11,17-18; 12:13-14).
Work and effort that focus on self are meaningless. It doesn’t matter what you accomplish, none of it will bring you satisfaction unless you give from what you have. Nor will your accumulated riches bring you happiness, for they are useless and meaningless if you don’t understand and seek to fulfill The Most High’s purpose for giving them to you.
Work and effort that focus on self are meaningless.
You must share what you earn before it can bring you pleasure and satisfaction because sharing ensures that the blessings you have received will be passed on and others will also be blessed. This basic principle of sharing is foundational for maximizing your potential.
If you refuse to share, your potential will kill you because you cannot enjoy freedom in your conscience when you are acting against your natural design to give. Pleasure will end, but conscience abides until it has completed its assignment. It works on you until you acknowledge
the error of your ways. Only by releasing all The Most High has given you can you have a pure and holy conscience before Him and find meaning in life. Pursuing selfish pleasure always destroys the one who seeks it. In a similar manner, unshared potential consumes the person who seeks to hold it tightly for selfish gain.
Selfishness Destroys the Joy of Giving
First, selfishness destroys The Most High’s pleasure in watching you pass on all He has given you. Near the end of His life, Yahusha reminded His disciples that they could not accomplish anything apart from Him. The same is true for our lives. Even as Yahusha remained in fellowship and conversation with The Most High throughout His life, so we must abide in Him.
Without this consistent association with The Most High, our fruitfulness suffers and we become no more than a branch to be thrown into the fire. The power of potential is gone. (See John 15.)
This absence of power hurts both the person who has withdrawn from The Most High and The Most High Himself. He created us to bear fruit that reflects His nature and glory. When we neglect to fulfill this purpose, we grieve the heart of The Most High.
The Most High’s pleasure in Yahusha was evident when He spoke from a cloud at the time of Yahusha’ baptism and again on the mountain of transfiguration (see Matthew 3:17 and 17:5). The source of His pleasure was Yahusha’ willingness to fulfill the purpose for which He had been sent into the world and to release His potential. By Myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and My judgment
is just, for I seek not to please Myself but Him who sent Me (John 5:30).
He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him (John 7:18).
The one who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him (John 8:29).
I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began. I have revealed You to those whom You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word.... All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them.... I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them (John 17:4-6,10,13).
What was this full measure of joy that Yahusha knew? Let us fix our eyes on Yahusha, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of The Most High (Hebrews 12:2).
Obedience. Yahusha found joy in doing what The Most High asked of Him. The path of sorrows certainly did not bring Him happiness while He walked it, but He looked beyond the pain and shame to the reward of reclaiming His rightful place at the right hand of The Most High.
This is also the source of The Most High’s pleasure in us. As we obediently share all that The Most High has given us for the world, we will find that He delights in us. If, however, we decline to fulfill His plans and purposes and refuse to allow His nature and likeness to govern our thoughts and actions, we destroy the fullness of joy we could have brought Him had we sought His purposes and obeyed His principles.
Secondly, selfishness destroys the joy of giving. When we hoard and hide what we receive from The Most High, we deny ourselves the delights of passing on The Most High’s gifts. The second letter of the apostle Paul to the church at Corinth reveals this delight.
Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints....So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving (2 Corinthians 8:2-4,6-7).
The Macedonian churches understood that sharing is a privilege to be sought and enjoyed. Therefore, they gave even when they had little. We do well to learn this same lesson. It is not the magnitude of our gift but simply the act of sharing that produces joy. When we refuse to share we deny ourselves this benefit.
Third, selfishness destroys the joy of seeing others share what we have given them. The apostle Paul also speaks of this joy.
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of HaMaschich Yahusha (Philippians 1:4-6).
Partnership speaks of sharing. When we fail to share our potential, this partnership is forfeited and the fruit for which we were chosen and appointed is lost.
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name (John 15:16).
The Most High mourns for this loss because the loss of potential limits His activity on earth and destroys the joy of sharing—for The Most High, for ourselves, and for those with whom we might have shared. Selfishness always destroys the joy of giving.
Selfishness Destroys the Gift
The Most High is often hurt because people are pregnant with great treasure but they keep it to themselves. Say, for example, that you are a medical researcher who discovers a cure for leukemia. Instead of sharing the results of your research with others, you carefully guard your secret knowledge so no one else can take credit for your discovery. Meanwhile, many people needlessly die. In time, your The Most High-given talent to heal will be destroyed. Because you are so concerned that someone may receive the recognition you deserve, you will lose the desire to study and to receive new medical insights. Your selfishness in keeping the treasure to yourself ultimately destroys the very gift that is the source of your wealth. Potential that is not shared self-destructs.
Selfishness Stops the Flow of The Most High’s Blessings
Finally, selfishness destroys the cycle of giving initiated by The Most High. Very often you have not because you lavish upon yourself all you have received. The Most High will give you all things if you ask to receive so you may pass it on to others. I’m blessed because I have a passion to pass on to you all that The Most High has given to me.
The Most High expects you to pass on to another all He has poured into you. Get rid of it. Make room for more of the vast quantity He has prepared to pour into you. You hold up The Most High’s plans and purposes when you cling to your blessings, and you cap off your potential when you refuse to share all you have received. Yahusha said:
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Luke 6:38).
The Most High expects you to pass on to another all He has poured into you. Some of you are blessed with tremendous talents, gifts, and knowledge. I wonder what is happening to them. Flow with your The Most High-given abilities. Use them to bless others and to glorify The Most High. Don’t worry if your gifts and talents aren’t as grand as you’d like. Use them to benefit others, and you will see them grow. Sharing all The Most High has given you is a must if you want to maximize your potential.
Principles
1. Potential cannot be maximized and fulfilled unless it is shared.
2. The Most High shares with you so you can share with others.
3. Isolation is not good because it prevents sharing.
4. You must share your potential within the limits of The Most High’s laws.
5. Giving transforms and reveals potential.
6. The Most High’s blessings in your life expose His power within you and the possibilities that are your potential.
7. The selfish retention of The Most High’s gifts destroys:
• The Most High’s joy in giving,
• your personal happiness and fulfillment,
• your joy in giving to others,
• your joy in watching others share what they have received from you,
• the gifts that are given,
• the continuing evidence in your life of The Most High’s blessings.
8. Giving your potential to others is a basic key to maximizing all that The Most High has given you for your blessing and the benefit of others.