Foreword

Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV).

We know that in this context the word fear does not mean “to be afraid of” but rather “to have reverence for” or “to revere.” This is man’s duty: to have reverence for God and to keep (do) His commandments. But the word duty has been grossly neglected.

When we hear the word commandment, we ultimately think of morality: Thou shalt not kill; neither shalt thou commit adultery; neither shalt thou steal; neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor, etc. We seldom think about God’s commandment (not a suggestion) found in the first chapter of Genesis where the Creator said to man, His greatest achievement:

Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Genesis 1:28 KJV).

God’s purpose for giving man life is contained in these verses. Over the years that purpose has been neglected. Therefore, I call this the “forgotten” commandment.

Myles Munroe addresses this forgotten commandment in this insightful study on purpose and potential. Like a skilled surgeon, with knife in hand, he dissects and delineates man’s need to discover his potential and his purpose for being here. By the anointing of the Holy

Spirit, Myles also challenges us to discover and activate our purpose and potential.

There is a saying that goes something like this: “The mind is a terrible thing to waste.” That, without question, is true, but I think wasted purpose and potential are even more tragic than that. If you have ever questioned: “Why am I here? Why was I born? What is life all about, anyway?” then this book is must reading for you.

Or perhaps you have been groping in the darkness of life, trying to discover your purpose for being. If this is true, I highly recommend this book. Read it, meditate on it, dissect it and digest it. Your effort to understand and act on the teaching in this book will make a dramatic difference in your life. Then the world will be a better place because you lived to find your purpose and potential.

Dr. Frederick K.C. Price Crenshaw Christian Center Los Angeles, California

Preface

The poorest person in the world is the person without a dream. The most frustrated person in the world is the person with a dream that never becomes reality. I am certain that every individual on this plan-et—no matter which race, culture, nationality or socio-economic sta- tus—has had a dream of some sort. The ability of children to dream is a natural instinct instilled by the Creator. No matter how poor or rich we are, whether we were born in the bush village of an underdeveloped nation or amid the marble floors of the aristocracy of society, we all have childhood dreams. These dreams are visual manifestations of our purpose, seeds of destiny planted in the soil of our imagination. I am convinced that God created and gave us the gift of imagination to provide us with a glimpse of our purpose in life and to activate the hidden ability within each of us. Purpose is the reason why something was made. It is the end for which the means exists. It is the source of the dream and the vision you carried in your heart from childhood. It is the key to your fulfillment.

It is a fact that every manufacturer makes a product to fulfill a specific purpose, and every product is designed with the ability to fulfill this purpose. In essence, the potential of a product is determined by its purpose. This is true of everything God created, including you. The purpose of a seed is to reproduce trees. Therefore, by God’s design, they possess the ability or potential to fulfill this purpose. But just because a seed has the potential to produce a forest, does not mean it will. One of the greatest tragedies in nature is the destruction of a seed or the isolation of a seed from the soil. Consequently, the death of a seed is the burial of a forest. Having ability is good, but keeping ability is bad.

Your life has the potential to fulfill your purpose. If, however, you imprison that potential, you rob your life of its purpose and fulfillment. You and every other individual on this planet possess an awesome treasure. Too much of this treasure is buried every day, untapped and untouched, in the cemeteries of our world. Much talent, skill and creativity have been lost to the world for want of a little courage. Many obscure men and women enter eternity pregnant with potential, with a still-born purpose. Living with ability brings responsibility. Dying with ability reveals irresponsibility.

Everything in creation was designed to function on the simple principle of receiving and releasing. Life depends on this principle. What if the plants refused to release the oxygen they possess or if we human beings refused to release the carbon dioxide we produce? The result would be chaos and death for the entire planet. Unreleased potential is not only useless, it is dangerous—both for the person or thing who failed to release it and for everything that lives with them. Dormant potential is not healthy, advantageous, safe or effective. You must understand that your valuable deposit of potential was given to enrich the lives of others. When potential is kept, it self-destructs.

The tremendous potential you and I have been given is locked inside us, waiting for demands to be made on it. We have a responsibility to use what God stored in us for the good of the world. We dare not leave this planet with it. Many of us are aware of the ability we have inside, but we have been frustrated by our failure to release that ability. Some of us blame our historical

circumstances. Others blame social status. Still others transfer the responsibility for their failure and frustration to their lack of formal education or their less than ideal opportunities.

Over the years, I have come to realize that no excuse can be given to justify the destruction of the seed of potential that God placed within you. You can become the man or woman you were born to be. You can accomplish the vision you saw. You can build that business you planned. You can develop that school you imagine. You are the only one who can stop you. No matter what your environment, you have the ability to change your attitude and your internal environment until they are conducive to the germination of your potential seed. The purpose of this material is to help you understand and appropriate the principles necessary for Releasing Your Potential. You must not add to the wealth of the graveyard. You owe it to the next generation to live courageously so the treasure of your potential is unleashed. The world needs what God deposited in you for the benefit of your contemporaries and all the generations to follow.

Tap the untapped. Release the reservoir.

Introduction

It was a cool, wet, rainy September Sunday afternoon in the historic city of London. We had just finished a delightful meal when our host suggested that we take a quiet stroll through the neighborhood park. I had been traveling for eight days, keeping a schedule that had to that point taxed me both mentally and physically, so it was a rare pleasure and a welcomed joy to embrace the opportunity to spend those quiet moments alone.

We entered the well-manicured grounds and observed with a degree of surprise the number of people who had the same idea. My host took delight in pointing out to me the various plants, birds, flowers and lush vegetation. After we had walked a short distance, we were interrupted by an elderly gentleman who greeted my host with great joy. My host introduced me, then continued his conversation with the gentleman. I took the opportunity to steal away for that private, relaxing walk I had desired. After I had walked for a few minutes, the pathway meandered to the entrance of an old cemetery. My tenacious interest in history drew me to explore the historical nature of the tombstones and the grave markers just to satisfy my curiosity. What an awesome experience it was to read and study the many names, dates, and quotes as these silent stones spoke. Names like John Hill 1800-1864, Elizabeth Robinson 1790-1830, and so on gave evidence of the years of British history buried there.

Then I came upon a small grave, perhaps three feet in length, that read, “Markus Rogers, 1906-1910.” Written below the name was the quote, “Gone but not forgotten.” A brief calculation revealed that this was the resting place of a 4-year-old child. After scanning the hundreds of markers and stones, my eyes rested, once again, upon the grave of this child. Deep contemplation settled upon me. I noticed that almost all the tombstones, including the child’s, had the words “Rest in Peace” inscribed on them. Many questions and thoughts raced through my mind: Who were the child’s parents? What was the cause of death? What was his purpose in being born? What special natural talents and gifts did he possess that were never displayed and never benefited anyone? What inventions or discoveries could he have shared with the human race? How many great works of art, books, or songs died in this precious infant?

As silence answered, I suddenly applied the questions to the many tombstones that surrounded this child’s resting place. Some of the others had recorded life spans of 30, 40, 60, and even 75 years. Yet the only testimony to their time on this planet was “Rest In Peace.” Then I wondered: How can you rest in peace if you died with all your potential inside? As the wet, misty rain formed dew drops on my cheeks, I walked away thinking: What a tragedy it is for a child to die at such a tender age, before he has the opportunity to realize his full potential.

Immediately a quiet voice screamed in my head: Is it not a greater tragedy if those who lived to old age also carried their books, art, music, inventions, dreams, and potential to the grave? Suddenly the rain seemed to turn to sweat as I pondered the awesome implications of this question. One of my greatest fears is that many who still walk the streets of our world, perhaps some who are reading this book, will also deposit in the cemeteries of their communities the wealth of potential locked inside them. I trust that you will not allow the grave to rob this world of your latent, awesome potential.

There are five billion people on this planet. Each one is very special, unique, original, and significant. All possess a genetic combination that codes them as distinct individuals whose fingerprints cannot be duplicated. There is no one like you now, nor will there ever be another. Each of us—whether black, brown, yellow, red, or white—was conceived by destiny, produced by purpose and packaged with potential to live a meaningful, fulfilling life. Deep within you lies a seed of greatness waiting to be germinated. You have been endued with natural talents, gifts, desires, and dreams. All humanity, in all cultures, races, and socio-economic situations, lives with the natural instinct to manifest this potential.

The entire creation possesses this principle of potential. Everything has the natural instinct to release its ability. The plant and animal kingdoms abound with evidences of this fact. The Creator designed everything with this principle of potential, which can be simplified to the concept of a seed. The biblical document states that God created everything with “seed in it according to their kinds” (Genesis 1:12). In essence, hidden within everything is the potential to fulfill itself and produce much more than we see.

Please note that when God created the earth and placed man in the garden, He did not give man a finished product. Although God knew that man would need food, clothes, shelter, transportation, and other elements of comfort, He did not make all these things instantly available. God commanded the man: “Be fruitful, and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). Each of these commands is based on the assumption that the ability to be fruitful and the potential to multiply and replenish and subdue were present in the man, waiting to be activated, tapped, and released. This command also implies that fruitfulness (release of hidden life) and multiplication (reproduction of hidden life) are not dependent on God, but on the individual who possesses the seed.

You have the ability to accomplish everything your God-given purpose demands. Your Creator has given you the responsibility of releasing this precious seed in obedience to His commands. The releasing of your potential is not up to God but you.

Henry Ford once said, “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” It is my hope that this book becomes one of your best friends as it inspires you to strive to release your hidden abilities for the benefit of the world around you and for your personal fulfillment.

For the last two decades, I have devoted myself to understanding, activating, tapping, and releasing my potential and the potential of others. An integral part of this devotion was the study and observation of the lives of some of this world’s leading men and women—people who have affected their societies positively because they released and maximized their potential. As a result, I am convinced that every individual comes into this world with a deposit of potential that far exceeds any attempt to measure its potency. I also believe that this potential is viable in spite of the external environment in which it exists. My studies and experience have also revealed that this potential must be released by applying specific principles that are evident in every case in the lives of those people who tapped the deposit God placed within them. The presence and application of these principles was visible no matter what ethnic, social, academic, or economic situation prevailed.

Although I have said that everyone possesses great potential and the capacity to release this awesome ability, I also believe, with great sadness, that not everyone will become all the Creator intended them to be. Too many people are mere products of their environments, allowing themselves to be victimized by the opinions of others and the assessments of human analysis.

They lack the will to change or challenge the limitations placed upon them by themselves and others, and thus fail to take the necessary steps to develop their potential.

I also believe, however, that anyone, of any age, and in any circumstances, can transform himself if he wants to. You can become all God designed you to be if you are willing to defy the norm and dare to believe God’s assessment of your ability. It’s not what you don’t know that hurts you. It’s what you know that just ain’t so.

The purpose of this book is to make you examine and challenge the many opinions you have lived under for years. My deepest desire is to release in you the courage to pursue the depth of ability that lies deep within you, to tap the reserve of life yet unseen by your peers, and to provoke you to unbridle the silent wealth of power that is screaming for exposure. After you’ve finished reading this book, read it again until the principles and the truths it contains become a natural part of your thinking and you come to the awareness that understanding and releasing your potential is simply becoming yourself as God our Creator originally intended. Nothing is impossible to him who believes.

A seed, until it is released, is only a promise of a tree.