Potential, the ability for something that has yet to be realized. I believe everyone has the potential that God put within us when He formed us in the womb. We are born with the tools for a certain ability, but we are not skilled enough to use them at birth. It takes training and motivation to develop those abilities. When a child is born there is a magnitude of potential bound up in that little body, but it takes time, direction, and help, to develop those abilities.
When we experience the new birth where we invite Jesus into our hearts, we are just like a new-born baby. The Holy Spirit comes to live within us and once again we are bound up with potential, but the potential must be developed. If we are to have a proper impact on those we are seeking to influence, we must pay attention to their abilities as an individual and help them to see how to use those to enhance their spiritual abilities.
Jesus, the Master of everything was the Master of this also. He sought out 12 men from different backgrounds, with different abilities, and taught them how to utilize those abilities to further the Kingdom of God.
He used ordinary men and poured His life into them with on-the-job-training. However, before He began His ministry, He spent much time in prayer and overcoming the temptations of the devil, while in the wilderness. We too must make ourselves ready to see and encourage the potential of others. When we do we will face temptations and obstacles if we are determined to make a difference for Christ by influencing others.
We first see Andrew as he is a follower of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus and the one who was considered the forerunner to Jesus’ ministry. Upon seeing Jesus, Andrew runs to tell his brother Peter about Him. When Jesus sees them fishing, because of Andrews’s enthusiasm, they both already knew who He was and they immediately followed Him. Enthusiasm is a great character trait, and when coupled with the truth, people’s lives are changed.
John 1:40-41 “One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.”
Matthew 4:18-20 “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”
Peter, Andrew’s brother, was an out-front kind of personality. He was impetuous and daring. He is the one who cut off Malchus’s ear, in John 18:10 when they came to arrest Jesus. It was Peter who vehemently said he would never deny Christ. Yet, in a few short hours, he would deny Jesus and weep bitterly. Jesus took this rough fisherman and encouraged and taught Him how to be one of the greatest spokesmen/preachers for Christ that ever lived. He allowed Peter to fail but was there to pick him up. It took Peter’s failure to help him see his need to rely on Christ and push down the pride that welled up within Him.
He encouraged the passion of James and John as He referred to them in Mark 3:17 as, “Sons of Thunder.” In the book of John, John refers to himself as the disciple who Jesus loves. He was modest and even though he had a special relationship with Jesus he doesn’t use his own name. Philip was a great evangelist whom Jesus used to teach the Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8. He used Philip’s zeal to take him to Gaza to teach this man who was seeking to understand the scriptures. I call Philip the first Superman because after he baptizes this man, the Spirit picks him up and takes him to Azote’s. Philip didn’t need others with him to be a witness. He was willing to go wherever the Spirit led him. He had a desire to know the scriptures and God used that by allowing him to be a true missionary. His independent personality allowed him to go alone to do God’s work.
Act 8:26 “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.”
On and on we could go seeing the potential of each disciple encouraged and motivated by Jesus. We now are the hands and feet of Jesus. It is our responsibility to form relationships and develop them. We are to get to know others to discover their potential and push them to use their abilities for Christ. We are to pay attention to their strengths and promote them to pursue them. Everyone has strengths that can be used to promote the kingdom and it is our job as a Christian to encourage them. If it is easy for them to talk to others encourage them to learn scriptures to witness. Teach them how to work their testimony into a conversation. If they are a compassionate person, show them how to use their compassion to win others to Christ. In Jude 1:3, we are to exhort each other to push forward and contend for the faith. It is crucial that we find younger Christians and train and encourage them if we don’t, where will the next generation be? We must impact others to realize and exercise their potential.
Jude 1:3 “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works
