Maximizing Your Potential

declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is My word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:8-11). This wisdom of God is a treasure to be cherished and defended. His thoughts toward us are good and His knowledge of us is perfect. He sees beyond our vessels of clay to His wisdom within us and calls forth from us what He sees. As we learn to see as God sees and to live from His perspective, we begin to understand this treasure of His wisdom and the importance of safeguarding it from the snares of the evil one. Paul wrote of this to Timothy: Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to your care. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and in so doing have wandered from the faith. (1 Timothy 6:20-21). God sees beyond our vessels of clay to His wisdom within us and calls forth what He sees. God’s wisdom will never match the ways of the world: For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Corinthians 1:19-20) We must be careful to safeguard His knowledge within us so we can see the perfection and beauty of His plans and purposes for our lives. Sadly, satan influences many people to close their eyes and walk away from their visions because they don’t believe what they see. He knows the potential they contain—what they can become, the many goals they can meet, and the ideas they can accomplish—but they don’t. This is why the apostle Paul instructs us to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). When we bring our thoughts to Jesus and make them subject to Him, we combat satan’s strategy and unmask his deception. Jesus, who knows both satan’s works and the potential God builds into every human being, cleanses our sight and enables us to see rightly through the eyes of faith and hope. This is the beginning of wisdom. The Treasure of God’s Power God has also deposited His power within us. The apostle Paul spoke of this