Maximizing Your Potential

guaranteeing what is to come (2 Corinthians 5:5). The Holy Spirit both reveals God’s wisdom and power in us and guarantees that we will receive all God has planned for those who seek His wisdom and live by His power. His presence in our lives is an important deposit because He is the key to tapping into God’s storehouse of wisdom and power. We cannot understand and apply God’s wisdom without the Holy Spirit; neither can we live by His power. He is the Counselor to teach us all things (see John 14:26), the Searcher of our hearts to reveal to us the deep things of God (see 1 Corinthians 2:9-11), and the One who testifies that we are God’s children (see Romans 8:16). Through Him we know God’s thoughts and understand what God has given to us: We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ... The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:12,14). The Treasure of Potential In essence, God’s wisdom, power, and Spirit are the treasure we must safeguard. They are a deposit of Himself in us so that we can act and function like Him, sharing in His work. Together they are our potential, the source of our dreams and visions. We must remember, however, that having this deposit of God does not mean that we will keep it. All the great things God has put inside us—our visions, dreams, plans, and talents—are satan’s targets. He is afraid of men and women who have faith in God’s wisdom and power, because they take their visions and translate them into action. They not only set goals, they make them happen. All the great things God has put inside us— our visions, dreams, plans and talents— are satan’s targets. The deceiver fears the treasure we possess. His destructive tactics and deceptive influences come into our lives to nullify and entrap all God has given to us. He isn’t going to let us fulfill our potential without encountering resistance from him. Indeed, his attack is so severe that Paul advised Timothy to seek the help of the Holy Spirit to meet and overcome it: Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us (2 Timothy 1:14). Have no fear! God has given us everything we need to safeguard our hidden wealth from the schemes and deceit of the evil one. We must be careful, however, not to rely on weapons of human strength and wisdom. We cannot whip the enemy by ourselves, “for the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s