March 4th, 2025
If you think back to middle school science class, you may remember learning about energy. It’s an interesting concept, because energy, like matter, cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transferred. There are two basic kinds of energy – potential and kinetic. Kinetic energy is, put simply, energy in motion. It’s the energy we would typically think of – a strong wind blowing, a car speeding down the interstate, a river roaring, or a person sprinting. Potential energy, in contrast, is the stored energy in an object at a given moment. The classic example of potential energy is a boulder at the top of a hill, waiting to roll down. It’s the energy in an arrow pulled back in a bow waiting to be shot. It’s the power of water built up behind a dam. It’s the power something would possess if – if the arrow is released or the dam is broken. This week, I’ve been thinking about the power of potential. Have you ever stopped to thinkabout your spiritual potential energy in God? It’s the power of if!
When Jesus walked the earth, He was the picture of God's kinetic energy. He was (and is) the power of God in motion. Everywhere He went, power was released. He walked on water and multiplied food for thousands. He healed the sick and raised the dead. Demons fled when He came near. He is the living and active Word of God and life flowed everywhere He went. However, for 30 years, He was mostly potential. We don’t know exactly what He did during that time. He was a son and a brother and a friend. He slept and ate and learned and lived. He was already perfect, but His life was one of learning and growth.
Luke 2:52 says,
“Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Hebrews 5:8, says,
“Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.”
Jesus, the Son of God, learned. His potential built over decades of faithfulness before God released Him into His ministry. At 30 years of age, Jesus was baptized and then went into the wilderness to fast and pray. After that fast, everything changed.
Luke 4:14 says,
“Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about Him went out through all the surrounding country. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”
The potential power in Jesus was released and everyone had the opportunity to encounter it. If Jesus could grow, how much more must we learn to live and abide in communion with the Father? We all have potential energy in God and His intention is to release it. What’s the potential power locked up inside of you? What’s the power of if in your life?
According to the Word of God, it’s the same power that was in Jesus. Jesus Himself said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).
He said of the power of your faith:
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:21-22).
He said of the power of your ministry:
“These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well” (Mark 16:17-18).
That’s the potential of your life.
Those statements aren’t from a faith preacher or a book. They are the words of Jesus Himself, about you. It doesn’t say they’re in regard to those individuals in the fivefold ministry (apostles, pastors, teachers, prophets, and evangelists).
In all 3 verses, there is an if, but it’s not about who you are. God doesn’t discriminate. These promises are for you, if you only believe.
The power of the potential inside of you is unlimited, if you believe, because the Holy Spirit Himself dwells on the inside of you. He is the wind and power of God. He is the One who came in the upper room to ignite the newly born church of Jesus Christ from potential to power (Acts 2). There were 120 believers praying in the upper room during the feast of Pentecost before the Holy Spirit came. The potential in that room could not have even been measured, but it was waiting to be ignited. They were like an arrow pulled back in a bow waiting to be released. However, once the Holy Spirit ignited the early church, they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Peter, who had denied Jesus just weeks before, was so full of the power of God that his very shadow healed the sick. It’s important to understand that His identity didn’t change. Peter was still Peter. Jesus was no less the son of God prior to the start of His ministry. Just as energy cannot be created or destroyed, the power of God is not something we create in ourselves. By faith, we simply become a conduit, a vessel to carry the power of God to the world around us.
Today, we want to encourage you. As a believer in line with the Word of God, the potential of heaven is on the inside of you. It doesn’t matter how you feel. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. If 120 people could turn the world upside down, how much more could the church of Jesus Christ in our nation and the nations of the world, turn our families, cities, states, and regions upside down? We have to understand and believe the power of if in the Word of God. We have only to believe Him and He will do what He’s promised. We have no idea the potential of the power locked up inside of us. It’s the limitless power of the Holy Spirit Himself and if we let Him have free reign, we will live in the kingdom of heaven, here and now!
When Jesus walked the earth, He was the picture of God's kinetic energy. He was (and is) the power of God in motion. Everywhere He went, power was released. He walked on water and multiplied food for thousands. He healed the sick and raised the dead. Demons fled when He came near. He is the living and active Word of God and life flowed everywhere He went. However, for 30 years, He was mostly potential. We don’t know exactly what He did during that time. He was a son and a brother and a friend. He slept and ate and learned and lived. He was already perfect, but His life was one of learning and growth.
Luke 2:52 says,
“Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Hebrews 5:8, says,
“Although He was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.”
Jesus, the Son of God, learned. His potential built over decades of faithfulness before God released Him into His ministry. At 30 years of age, Jesus was baptized and then went into the wilderness to fast and pray. After that fast, everything changed.
Luke 4:14 says,
“Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about Him went out through all the surrounding country. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”
The potential power in Jesus was released and everyone had the opportunity to encounter it. If Jesus could grow, how much more must we learn to live and abide in communion with the Father? We all have potential energy in God and His intention is to release it. What’s the potential power locked up inside of you? What’s the power of if in your life?
According to the Word of God, it’s the same power that was in Jesus. Jesus Himself said,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).
He said of the power of your faith:
“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:21-22).
He said of the power of your ministry:
“These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well” (Mark 16:17-18).
That’s the potential of your life.
Those statements aren’t from a faith preacher or a book. They are the words of Jesus Himself, about you. It doesn’t say they’re in regard to those individuals in the fivefold ministry (apostles, pastors, teachers, prophets, and evangelists).
In all 3 verses, there is an if, but it’s not about who you are. God doesn’t discriminate. These promises are for you, if you only believe.
The power of the potential inside of you is unlimited, if you believe, because the Holy Spirit Himself dwells on the inside of you. He is the wind and power of God. He is the One who came in the upper room to ignite the newly born church of Jesus Christ from potential to power (Acts 2). There were 120 believers praying in the upper room during the feast of Pentecost before the Holy Spirit came. The potential in that room could not have even been measured, but it was waiting to be ignited. They were like an arrow pulled back in a bow waiting to be released. However, once the Holy Spirit ignited the early church, they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). Peter, who had denied Jesus just weeks before, was so full of the power of God that his very shadow healed the sick. It’s important to understand that His identity didn’t change. Peter was still Peter. Jesus was no less the son of God prior to the start of His ministry. Just as energy cannot be created or destroyed, the power of God is not something we create in ourselves. By faith, we simply become a conduit, a vessel to carry the power of God to the world around us.
Today, we want to encourage you. As a believer in line with the Word of God, the potential of heaven is on the inside of you. It doesn’t matter how you feel. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. If 120 people could turn the world upside down, how much more could the church of Jesus Christ in our nation and the nations of the world, turn our families, cities, states, and regions upside down? We have to understand and believe the power of if in the Word of God. We have only to believe Him and He will do what He’s promised. We have no idea the potential of the power locked up inside of us. It’s the limitless power of the Holy Spirit Himself and if we let Him have free reign, we will live in the kingdom of heaven, here and now!
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