Maximizing Your Potential

Guidance, by definition, requires movement. Merriam Webster’s 10 th Collegiate Dictionary says that to guide is to “direct in a course or to show the way to be followed. [It] implies knowledge of the way and of all its difficulties and dangers.” As a ship that is resting in the harbor cannot be steered, so the Holy Spirit cannot guide us if we are not going anywhere. When we say, “Guide me, Lord,” the Holy Spirit replies, “Where are you going?” He needs us to move so He can turn us in the right direction. If you want God to guard your potential, you have to start using it. If you want Him to protect it, you have to start protecting it. Let’s say, for example, that you have a dream to go back to school and become a teacher, but you’re struggling with your dream because you have poor reading skills. God will help you protect your dream of becoming a teacher if you sign up for an adult reading class and work hard to learn to read. Or again, you may have the ambition to be a nurse or a cabinet maker or a store manager. Research the nursing programs in your area and get all the facts before you present the idea to your parents or your spouse. Find a skilled carpenter to serve under as an apprentice before you set up your own shop. Start going to school in the evenings to get your master’s degree in business administration before you apply for a supervisory position. That first step you take may not be the right one, but God can’t help you until you do something. He can’t close a door you haven’t opened or affirm a decision you haven’t made. If you aren’t doing anything to accomplish your goal, He isn’t doing anything either. The Holy Spirit can’t work for you unless you are working. The same principle is true for protecting your potential. Perhaps you have the ambition to graduate from school with honors, but too much of your study time is being spent working a part-time job or hanging out with friends. Quit your job or rearrange your hours to give you more study time. Limit your social activities and make your free hours productive and relaxing. When you do something to remove the attack against your vision, God will aid your efforts. Nevertheless, the initiative must come from you. Or perhaps you’d like to lose weight because your appearance is affecting both your self-esteem and the confidence others have in your ability to accomplish a given task. You know you can do the job, but you never get the chance to try because neither you nor your boss is willing to risk giving you the extra responsibility. When you make a sincere effort to watch what you eat and to get the proper exercise, God will reaffirm His estimation of your value and motivate others to see you as a capable, valuable person. His action to protect your potential depends on your actions. God won’t take a bad habit or an inappropriate lifestyle from you because He