Chapter 1: You Have the Potentials to Be Great
The truth is you are created to be great. In every human being is a natural strength and incalculable ability hidden and waiting for an opportunity and slight effort to cause the desired release. There is something unique and spectacular about every individual. The way we look, think, speak and act are all distinct but apparently bear the very image of God. Oftentimes, we fail to explore these great qualities that make us who we are. Regrettably, many die not discovering them. But not you! I trust you will not only discover your potential but live it to the fulness. When the Scripture reveals in Romans 8:19 that whole creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God, I believe it is talking about you. Yes, it points to the divine endowments hidden in us and the power of the Holy Spirit which must come upon us to bring about a release. This release is the key moment in the life of every individual. It is the most contested moment as both the seen and unseen forces strive to ensure it doesn’t happen. Two enemies constantly connive to set limitations and ensure the gifts of God are not exploited to glorify Him. One is the flesh, the other is the man of lawlessness – the Satan. Both must be firmly put under control if one must fulfil destiny. Until these hidden gifts are released, the world lies in wait, groaning and mourning. Why? This is because the destinies of many people in the world are tied to your ability to fulfil yours. We really can’t afford to fail!
Romans 8:19-21:
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God (NIV).
I believe the revealing of the sons of God are in two folds: (1) the empowerment by the Holy Spirit and (2) the discovery and release of our potentials (gifts). This equips the children of light to liberate the creation from the bondage of decay to the glory of God. I would liken potential to a valuable, precious, and costly gift of God lying within every individual awaiting an opportunity to be released. When potential meets opportunity, breakthrough is inevitable.
What Is Potential Then?
Simply put, potential is who you are that have not been fully discovered. And who are you? One may wish to know. You are your body, mind, will and heart; abilities, talents, qualities, virtues, character, ambition, effort, attitudes, and approaches; what you want to make of yourself, your aims and goals. You are a combination of what you are today and what you will be tomorrow. Not many people know themselves enough. Yet we all claim to know someone else. If we claim to know someone, we apparently refer to what we know of them in the past or present. We all suffer from what I call “the future blind spot”. It is a natural deformity that prevent us from recognizing the hidden qualities in people that have the tendency to catapult them into greatness. When you ask Sister Jean, “Do you know Bro Nick?” She probably would say “Yes I know him. He is the brother who plays keyboard in the church. The brother you gave £20 for transports the other Sunday. Yea, that brother that wear one blue jacket every Sunday”. She could go on and on providing different descriptions of brother Nick. Nonetheless, all sister Jean know about brother Nick is what she has seen or could relate to; these are events of past or present activities involving Bro Nick she could recollect. The truth is greatness is probably in brother Nick’s DNA. He could be the President or Prime Minister in the making. He could be the CEO or great inventor the world is waiting for. Yet Sis Jean is “future blind” to these eventualities. This is because we are not wired to recognize someone by looking into their future. What if Sister Jean identifies the brother as the keyboardist but at the same time sees him as a CEO of a reputable company in the future? Or what if the young man asking for £20 for his transport today is the future Bill Gate of His time; giving away billions to help others fulfil their destinies? We certainly won’t know. Many great men and women today were written off by their teachers, parents, or friends yesterday. How wrong they were? We all get shocked when the people we once wrote off turn out to achieve outstanding success.
It’s embarrassing we often get it wrong. We think someone won’t amount to anything good, but the fellow turns out to be a star. We look down on people and take advantage of their weaknesses today, but they turn out to be giants tomorrow. When we only consider people based on our knowledge of their present state and ignore the God factor in their lives, we become a part of the limitation. We will always get it completely wrong.
Hear me out, everyone is endowed with the potential to achieve greatness. Generally speaking, potential could be defined as your body that has to reveal its true beauty; your mind that has not been appropriately utilised, your will that has not been met; your abilities that have not been harnessed; your opportunities that have not been exploited; your qualities, virtues and characters that have not been fulfilled; your efforts, attitudes and approaches that have not been effectively applied.
In a nutshell, your potential is the sum of who you are that have not been truly discovered and unleashed. Your potential is like latent energy within you, waiting to be converted to kinetic energy. The force of potential is experienced at the altar of self-discovery. Self-discovery reveals our true strengths and abilities and breaks the barriers placed upon us by our common sense. When Paul (the Apostle) encountered the Holy spirit, he discovered his ability to do all things.
Philippians 4:13:
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me (KJV).
When self-discovery is made, we find out that we are worth more than what we think we are - far more than what we are imagining, thinking doing at the present. But we must break the limitations, painstakingly climb the ladder, go farther, see farther and conceptualise something greater than we can see now. Otherwise, our full potentials will continue to elude us.
Yes, potential is a driving force and only those who understand its principles for exposure encounter the minimal friction in life.