Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Living Up to Your Potential

     I found this beautiful song, and just had to share... so I decided to do a post reminding everyone of the potential that they have...



     Wasn't that beautiful? I could feel the Spirit very strongly while I listened to that song. I thought that it went along with this topic, because it reminds me that God is proud of the good choices that me make. Unlike us, He sees the whole picture. He sees us for what we can become.


     Let's recall the stories of Gideon and Samson. (You can read about them in Judges in the Bible.)


Gideon first... In Judges 6, it tells you that the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel, and had for several years. God tells Gideon that he will be the one to defeat the Midianites.

  12- And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

 14- And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

      Let me point out that Gideon was a poor man. When he was young, I'm sure that he and his family never imagined that he would be the one to defeat the Midianites. God had great things planned for him though, and was also waiting to bless him if he would be obedient. 
     So how did Gideon react?
  
15- And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.

16- And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.


    Gideon chooses to do what God has commanded him to do. It seems impossible to him at the time, but he has faith and it ends up working out... just the way he was promised it would.


Now Samson.
     This story is probably better known... It starts with an angel of the Lord appearing to Manoah's wife, who was barren, and telling her that she will have a child. 

Judges 13:5- For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

     As a Nazarite, there are certain things that you are not supposed to do. You aren't supposed to cut your hair, for one. One of the other things is that you can't marry out of the covenant.  
     Unfortunately, the first decision that we see him make is to marry out of the covenant. 


14:1- And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
  
2-And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
  
3- Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.

 
     Anyways, it would take a lot of explaining for you to know the whole story, but the main events are as follows...
- Samson starts hanging out with Delilah (bad), and she cuts his hair during the night.
- Because Samson has broken many commandments, he can no longer live up to his potential. 
- Samson does end up killing many people, including some Philistines, but he also kills himself, which kinda stinks.




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     So what is my point in telling you these stories? I want you to look at the difference between these two men. Both are born with incredible potential, and both get the chance to reach that potential. One, however, doesn't recognize the fact that he was born for great things. Thinking that he is smarter than God, he breaks the commandments. Because of this, he was not able to reach his full potential. 


     I want you to know that God sees great things in store for you. Like I said before, He sees you for what you can become. Like Gideon and Samson though, you must keep the commandments and trust in the Lord before you can reach your full potential. He will then reward you with all of the amazing blessings that you have earned. 


     Never forget that God sees you different than the world sees you. He wants so much for you to follow His commandments so that you can live with Him again. He wants to give you blessings. I know that it pleases Him so much when we are worthy enough that he can reward us with these wonderful blessings.


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