The Untapped Potential
What does our relationship with God through Jesus do in our life? Total forgiveness for sins produces unfettered obedience and service to God. Gratitude and thankfulness alone would be enough because of the gift of salvation and what it means to us. Our salvation produces so much more than being thankful. The salvation we receive from Jesus produces good works and abundant living and God's great forgiveness sets us up for success and blessings. You may say, how can there be blessings? In Hebrews 4:16 scripture says 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
If you have given your life to God and believed in Jesus Christ and received Him by faith your life is now changed. You are still a sinner, but you have been saved and now live in the grace of God. That grace sets off a reaction in your life and that reaction is a response to the great love and grace given to you. Paul spoke about where our works come from and they most definitely come from our faith through our right relationship with God. Satan wants us to constantly think about how bad we are, but because of God's grace, we learn to receive this righteousness provided by God and live a life of Tapped Potential. Paul wrote this in Romans 4: 1 Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God?2 If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way.3 For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” We not only received Jesus by faith, but this new life becomes a life of faith that causes a "true" potential to be realized through the grace of God.
Paul goes on in Romans 4 to say the following about this desire we have to serve Him because of His grace. Romans 4:4 When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned.5 But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. Paul wasn't speaking as though he didn't know what he was talking about but knew the potential of God using his life. Philippians 4:13 says it this way 13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Did you get that one pivotal word EVERYTHING? I don't believe you can have any more potential than God almighty telling you that everything is possible because of His great grace. If you are a singer, He will use it for His glory. If you are an artist, He will explode your talent into something wonderful for His glory. If you have the "gift of gab" He will use your voice to proclaim His salvation for His glory. Jesus told us this in Matthew 5: 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.
I believe in the church of today we have much Untapped Potential in our members and it is my calling as a called minister to find and tap into that potential. In Ephesians 4:12 Paul writes this 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
The Apostle Paul is an awesome example of one who served Jesus with his whole life and in Philippians 2:17 he wrote these words 17 But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God. We have unlimited and untapped potential when we give our life to Jesus and live in the freedom and righteousness provided for us because of His victory over death, hell, and the grave. Don't let your potential life remain untapped. Tap into His great power to live a life of victory in Jesus. Some call it a resurrected life and I like that, because it means we are alive IN CHRIST! See your potential and live your life TO THE MAX!
The Pilgrimage Continues
David Warren