THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE

Genesis chapter 1






Today we are walking in: The Visible and Invisible






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?








Chapter 2
The Visible and Invisible


Transforming ideas into action.


Everything in life was created with potential and possesses the potential principle. Creation abounds with potential. All we now see was once in an invisible state. Everything that we have ever seen first existed in an invisible state. (Please note that invisible does not mean nonexistent.)


All the buildings we see and the businesses we frequent— people making money and investing money—all that stuff began as ideas. We couldn’t see them because they were in somebody’s mind. The stores where we shop, also everything on the shelves and racks in those stores, began as ideas in someone’s mind. They didn’t exist before, yet they did. Although they weren’t present in their current form, they existed as lumber and concrete and nails, cotton and wool, flax, steel, and pulleys and motors.


Someone had an idea. Through work they put their idea into things that are visible. Today they accept your money in exchange for the reality of their ideas. Everything starts in the invisible state. Everything we now see used to be unseen.


There’s a guy in China right now who is thinking about the idea you thought was yours. I believe that when the idea came from Yah, many people got it. Many received the idea from the same Source. Until that idea is transformed by action, I believe that ideas will be leaked into men and women worldwide.


We are pregnant with much. We are full of imagination, having the potential power to be more than we visibly are. There are dreams, visions, plans, and ideas in us that need to be released.


Many Look, Few See


A sculptor works in a very interesting way. I’m an artist of sorts, so I have a bit of an understanding about how artists work. One thing I have learned is that you never argue with an artist until he or she is finished. Don’t discuss anything with a painter or a sculptor until the work is completed. An artist can be very rude if disturbed before the work is accomplished—an artist sees differently from those who are not artists.


An artist can walk by the stone in your front yard and see a figure in it. An artist may stop by your house and beg you for a stone you have walked past many times without noticing. In fact, dogs may have been doing stuff on it. You may even have planned to get rid of it because it’s a nuisance. But the artist walks into your yard and sees something beautiful in that stone beyond what you can imagine.


Two months later when the artist invites you to his workshop he says, “Do you see that? Do you know where that came from?”


“England...France?” you ask.


“No,” says the artist. “It came from your yard.”


“Do you mean...?”


“ Yes . ”


“Five hundred dollars, please.”


You were sitting on $500. The dogs were doing stuff on $500. No one could see the potential in the rock.


Another Story


I was in an Asian antique store one day that had beautiful furniture and trinkets. As I walked through the store, I picked up four or five bowls of different sizes and shapes. I thought, “These are nice dishes to eat from.” So I took them to the attendant and said, “How much are these bowls?”


The attendant, who was Korean, replied adamantly, “These aren’t bowls.”


“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said. “What are they?”


“These are ceremonial dishes for a Korean wedding,” he replied.


“Excuse me,” I said and replaced the dishes. Then I picked up some sort of thing that flapped and made noise that sounded like music to me and said, “This is a good musical instrument. How much is it?”
Again the attendant replied, “That’s not a musical instrument. This is used for incense when you go to the temple.”


Again I said, “Excuse me,” and continued my search. After I had missed four or five times, I asked him to go with me as I walked through the shop. As we looked at the many interesting items on display, I constantly asked him, “What’s this? What’s that? How is this used?” The attendant, who had grown up in Korea, knew the purpose for everything that I asked about. What looked like a stool, for example, was really a chest of drawers. Indeed, it would have broken had I sat on it.


Because he was part of the culture, the clerk knew the purpose for everything in the whole store. He did not need to guess at the purpose of each item like I had done, (I was wrong 80 percent of the time), because he knew from experience how each piece was used.


Had I simply bought the objects I liked without asking what they were and how they were to be used, I would have ruined some beautiful pieces. Since I didn’t know their purpose, abuse was inevitable no matter how sincere I was. My friends and family would have misused them as well because they wouldn’t have been any more knowledgeable concerning the purpose of the item than I was. Just because we all would have used them the same way wouldn’t have made our use right. In ignorance, we all would have abused them.


You Are Not Junk


There are many people who are being passed by because others don’t see what is in them. My job is to stop you and say: “Can you see what’s in you? Do you know your potential? Do you know that you are not just someone born in a ghetto over the hill? There’s a wealth of potential in you.”


A sculptor sees so differently. They say Michelangelo used to walk around a block of marble for days—just walking around it, talking to himself. First he would see things in the rock; then he would use his inherent skills and talents and produce a masterpiece.


When the world dumps and rejects you, and you land on the garbage heap of the world, stand resolved to be hopeful and courageous. You are a person of great worth. Don’t ever let anybody throw you away. You are not junk. Don’t accept the opinions of others because they do not see what great and valuable potential is inside you.


Insight Into Potential


A long time ago, there was a group of people who wanted a king to rule over them. A representative was sent to the home of a man who had many sons—ones the father was sure would make the perfect king. Before the rep came, the father dressed up all his sons—the handsome one, the tall one, the curly- haired one, the strong one, the well-spoken one.


All the sons twirled out before the representative, from the greatest to the least. He presented his sons: “This is my intelligent son who graduated from the University of I Don’t Know What.” After the guy gave a speech, the rep said, “No.” The next son came out dressed like he stepped out of GQ magazine and the rep said, “No.” A third son gave a nice speech about philosophy and again the rep said, “No.” Finally, after the father had paraded all of his sons before him, he said, “I’m sorry. None of these is the right choice for king. Do you have any other sons?”


“Well, yes. I do have a little boy, my youngest son. He’s just a little runt who’s out taking care of the sheep. He’s not dressed up like my other sons, nor have his hands been manicured and his body scented with perfumes from the East. This guy’s really smelly because he’s been with the sheep for quite some time.”


“Bring him. Let me look at him.”


So the father sent for his youngest son. As soon as the young son walked into the house, a little boy, the representative said, “I have found the guy I’m looking for.”
The rep chose the son who was out working. He was busy —busy people are chosen people. Most of us look, but we don’t see. Were you the black sheep in your family? Has your family told you that you are a nobody? Have you been put off and put out and told so many times that you will amount to nothing that you have begun to believe it? Do you feel like the blacksheep?


You are probably the one with the most potential. There are deep things, positive things within you that others can’t see. They look at you and see a nobody; but you are a worthwhile somebody.


You may spend your whole life competing with others— trying to prove that you are somebody—and still feel like nobody. Be free from that today! You do not have to live with that wrong mindset any longer. You don’t have to try to be somebody, because you are somebody.
Intentions and Uniqueness


Many of the inventions humankind has produced would be misunderstood if only the invention were considered and not the intention of the inventor. In other words, the person who created the refrigerator had in his mind what it was supposed to be used for. He did not intend that it should be used for a trap in the backyard for a kid to be locked in and die from suffocation. Even though thousands of children have died in refrigerators, that was not the inventor’s intention.


The automobile is tearing out lampposts all over the world and destroying people’s homes and lives. But Henry Ford, who first developed the assembly line to mass produce the automobile, never thought about it that way. He was thinking about transporting people and helping the human race to become a mobile community. He started us thinking about trolleys and trains and buses. The many people who have died through accidents and derailments were not part of his intention. They were not in Mr. Ford’s mind when he designed His famous Model T automobile.


You will never discover who you were meant to be if you use another person to find yourself. You will never know what you can do by using what I’ve done to measure your ability. You will never know why you exist if you use my existence to measure it. All you will see is what I’ve done or who I am. If you want to know who you are, the key to understanding life is in the Source of life, not in the life itself.


We are always full of potential. Our potential is the dormant ability, reserved power, untapped strength, and unused success designed into each of us. What I see when I look at you is not all you are. It is only what you have become so far. Your potential is much greater than what you are right now. What you will become is much more than we could ever believe now.


How you feel or what others say about you is not important. You are who you are; and you are more than you can possibly imagine. You are the only one who can limit your potential.


Coward or Warrior?


Another story is about a frightened young man named Gideon. Gideon obviously thought the angel who called him a mighty warrior was talking to someone else. The angel who appeared to him said, “Oh mighty man of war power!” That means, “Oh great warrior!” The angel didn’t say, “Oh, coward. Do you know you have strength?” Nor did the angel say, “Oh black man, do you know that you can be like the white man?” The angel just came in and announced what he saw: “Oh mighty man of war power.”


Think about it. Warrior? At that point, Gideon was hiding from the enemy, trying to separate some wheat from the chaff so he wouldn’t starve. He was doing it underground so no one could see him. When the angel said, “You are a brave man,” Gideon started looking around to see who the angel was talking to.


Gideon thought he was a coward. But the One who sent the angel knew Gideon to be a great warrior and pronounced what He saw.


Stop Believing What Others Say


Too often we believe the lies we are told. We believe that we are “no good” and worthless.


Remember that the seed of every tree is in the fruit of the tree. That means the blessings of the Third World nations are in the Third World nations, and the prosperity of the United States is in the United States. When we become concerned about our individual lives or the corporate life of our countries, we come up with all kinds of schemes and plans to solve the problem. But the answer is not in a multitude of systems and programs. The answer is right inside of us. It’s our attitudes that make the difference.


No one can make you rowdy or careless or thoughtless. You are rowdy and careless and thoughtless because you choose to be. So stop it! Stop being rowdy, stop being careless, stop being thoughtless. Only you can control how you act. You’ve got the potential to be considerate and sensitive.


If we become so busy agreeing with what others call us, we miss seeing our true potential. When we start believing what others call us, we are in big trouble. Then we throw our hands up in despair and refuse to try. People call us lazy, so we become lazy. People call us careless or stupid or clumsy, so we become careless or stupid or clumsy. Watch it! What others look at is not important. Who we are depends on what we see within ourselves.


Do you believe you could walk into a prison and meet some of the greatest men and women in the world? Can you think that way? They made mistakes. They made misjudgments. They made poor decisions. But that doesn’t invalidate their potential. It doesn’t destroy who they can be. In that jail there may be a murderer on death row. But there are also authors, leaders, and great world changers.


Only you know your true potential. Have you failed? Pick yourself back up and start again. Success is in your hands, your attitude, and in your mindset. If you believe what other people are saying—maybe that you are no good—you’ll never be somebody.


Rather, see yourself as a valuable jewel—a diamond in the rough. Just keep on believing that. Keep on moving forward toward your goal. Remember that there is something in you more precious than what others have said about you. The sculptor never gives up until he or she gets out of the rock what the sculptor sees.
There is something in you more precious than what others have saidabout you.


I have a piece of wooden sculpture in my home that I did about fifteen years ago. The sculpture isn’t what I intended it to be because as I was chiseling out the image that I had seen in the tree, part of it was knocked off by too much pressure. Because that part dropped off, I could no longer create the image that I had intended. So I looked at the piece of wood again. I walked around it thinking, “I’ve gotta change my concept a little.” I had to rethink how to retain the beauty of the sculpture though I had lost an important part of the wood.


Something Beautiful


Eventually, I modified my design. But I am the only person who knows that piece of sculpture was made from a modified design. The modification is not evident in the finished form. If I showed you the piece, you wouldn’t even notice what I’m talking about. People have admired that piece of wood for many years. They look at it and say, “Wow! This is beautiful.” And I never tell them that what they see is not what they were originally supposed to see.


That piece of sculpture sitting in my home reminds me of your life and mine. Parts of our lives have been knocked off by our past. We’ve done some dumb things that have messed up the beauty intended. But instead of discarding ourselves and our potential because we have not turned out as first intended —including our marred, chipped, rusted, and knocked-off past —we can be transformed into something beautiful. When people see us now, they won’t believe what we used to be!


When people look at you and think you are the best thing that ever came down the pike, don’t tell them what you used to be. Just say, “Thank you very much.”


In every piece of stone a sculptor sees a figure. But we never see it until he or she takes it out. Whereas we may see only an old stump of a tree on the side of the road, a wood sculptor sees a beautiful piece that we would pay thousands of dollars to own. What looks like garbage to the nonartistic person is a treasure to the artist.


Your IQ doesn’t measure who you are. Your designer clothes don’t measure who you are. The size of your home or bank account don’t measure who you are. Your friends and family’s comments don’t measure who you are. Thinking positively and knowing you are full of positive potential is who you are and can be—the best is yet to come!


What if...


If I went to a contractor and asked him to construct a building for me, his first question would be, “What is your purpose for this building?” That would be the underlying concern for the whole project: Why do I want this building to exist and what do I want it to accomplish? What is its potential? Thus, establishing the purpose for the building is the first priority.


After that is settled, the contractor would probably say to me: “Let me see your plans. I need to see how your architect designed the building.” As he looked over the plans, the contractor would consider whether the plans revealed a design that would allow the building to function in a manner that would meet the determined purpose.


Let’s say, for example, that I wanted the contractor to erect a building that could be used for providing medical care. The building must, therefore, meet the needs of doctors, nurses, X- ray and lab technicians, patients, and so on, and the design must facilitate that performance. Thus, the purpose for the building determines its function, and the function necessitates design. If the building is to function as an accountant’s office, its design will be quite different from that of a hospital.


Let’s consider another example. If my wife has fabric (potential) and wants to sew a dress (purpose), she will design the dress to meet her needs for either summer or winter wear (function). She might make a dress for winter out of heavy fabric and style it with a snug fit, a high neck, long sleeves, and fur trim. A summer dress, on the other hand, might be cut from a lightweight material and fashioned with a loose fit, a low neckline, short sleeves, and lace or net trim. The winter dress, that functions to keep her warm, would reveal that in its design. Likewise, the summer dress would be styled to keep her cool and comfortable during hot weather.


In essence, what you are and how you are was predetermined by why you are. Your design is perfect for your purpose and fulfilling your potential.


Principles


1. All things have the same components and essence as their source.


2. Everything with life was created with potential.


3. Youwillneverknowyourselfbylisteningtowhat others say about you.


4. Your potential is much greater than what you are right now.


5. You are the only one who can limit your potential.


6. Know that the best you can be is awaiting you.