Identifying, making use and developing our God given potentials

Have you ever found yourself wondering why you are here on earth? Have you identified your God given talent?

Do you find yourself doing things you're passionate about? Anyway in this article, I suggest two interesting things that could help identify your potential and make use of it to the maximum.

I like to define potential as untapped inner resources. By untapped, I mean stored energy waiting to be used. Everything you need to succeed in life is hidden deep within you. Philippians 2:13 says “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” When God created us, he put within us a special assignment that is unique.

For Jesus Christ, it was to die in order to give us salvation, for Dr. Martin Lurther King Junior, it was to eliminate discrimination and poverty against black people, for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, it was to liberate Ghana from British Colonial rule and for Thomas Edison, it was to invent the light bulb. The list goes on with Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela, Yaa Asantewaa, Frederick Douglass and many others. These great people recognized their assignment on earth and made use of their potential.

One important thing that we need to do in order to know our potential is to spend time with God.

Ps 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant

Life begins at conception and not at birth. Furthermore, there can't be conception without intimacy. By spending quiet time with God, he will give us the right ideas and strength which will reveal our potential.

This can be done by finding a quiet place to read the BIBLE and pray. Prayer shouldn't be the old fashion way of only presenting our petitions before God; it should be a time of communication where we can also hear from him.

By hearing from him, we can know our assignment and thereby maximize our potential. Solitude with God gives us fortitude for life. It was the quiet time in the garden of Gethsemane that Jesus found strength to endure the cross. Dr. Martin Lurther King Junior spent the early hours of the day praying and reading his BIBLE.

No wonder he found great strength to endure all the persecutions. Do you have a time when you withdraw from the activities of life to communicate with God? If not, you can start now. This will help identify your potential. Isaiah 30:15 says that “…In quietness and confidence shall be your strength….”

More also, whatever you find your self passionate about could reveal your potential. Success begins with passion. I always put it this way, your passion gives you a vision, this vision bring about a mission which gives you a conviction to make a decision with a determination for an accomplishment.

Mike Jordon found his passion for basketball and rose to become one of the best in history, Mike Phelbs is passionate about swimming, no wonder he won eight gold medals in the Olympics, Zig Ziglar's passion is helping people with motivational messages and now he is one of the most respected motivational speakers in America.

Again the list goes on with Kobe Bryant, David Beckham, Larry King, the Williams sisters, Bill Gates and many others. Willie Hill once said, “Once you do something you love, you never have to work again.”

Some people are in college to study a course that is rewarding. However, the danger here is, if you are not passionate about the course, you will end up working laboriously throughout your life. I highly recommend that you find something you love and pursue it rather than getting a career that pays and later try to love it. For others what they love doing which we call hobby could be their passion. Many great companies came from what people call their hobby. If you have something that you consider as a serious hobby, take advantage of it and who knows you might come out with something very positive.

Finally, even though we might identify our potential through what I suggested. It is pertinent that we develop it. We can develop it by acquiring more knowledge in the field of our passion, praying, meditating on the word of God, finding good mentors, attending workshops, seminars, conferences, buying tapes, books and DVD's, and reading the biographies of great people who came before us. Proverbs 24:5 says “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.”

It is the readers of today who become the great leaders of tomorrow. The success and secrets of men are in their stories. By knowing the biographies of great men, we would know their secrets, principles, mistakes, philosophies of life and advice for us. This will help us avoid the mistakes they made and encourage us to become better than them.