There was a moment in time when God was at the work of forming you. You are not the result of some mass production assembly line. You are the result of a creator who wanted you and his desire for you lead him to handcrafting you with great detail. And while the color of your eyes and the rhythm of your heart were of concern to him, of greater concern was your potential. Your potential is what dwells within you as the seal of your creator. The mark of a human being not meant for sheer survival, but created for a purpose with a destiny in mind.

God could have easily made robots. He could have cranked out cookie cutter human beings who never strayed and never wandered. But instead he choose to make you and me. You, the one who sometimes forgets her value and worth, and me the one who sometimes struggles with the same. Me the one who stresses over minor things and complicates what should be simple, and you who probably has the same problem. Yes, us. The ones perfectly placed to live their days in this exact time and place in history. There’s no mistake in this. It’s all by great design, not coincidence. And what is missing in your world today just happens to be a hole the exact size and shape of the potential you have within you. You are the missing piece. You, the best of you, and all of you is what your world has been desperate for.

But here’s the problem … we’ve been playing little. We’ve been sitting it out. We’ve been going through the motions. And that God inspired, God shaped, God given potential placed within us during our creation has gone untapped. Within you is something special. What is it?

I’m currently reading a book called “Outrageous”. The tagline is “Awake to the unexpected adventures of everyday faith.” It’s the story of a man named Aaron whom God has called to radical adventures for his glory. And through these adventures he is impacting the lives of people around the world. Sounds amazing right? But we quickly dismiss ourselves from being able to do the same outrageous living for Christ, don’t we? We settle right in to assuming that’s a life for some, but not for us. We’re just ordinary people. We have a past, and we have a dysfunctional family, and we have these same faults we’ve been struggling with for 10 years. Right?

But you see, my thoughts on this have been challenged. Here’s Aaron, the author of “Outrageous” and he’s living this insane adventure literally changing the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. All he’s doing is showing up and doing his best with that special something God has given him. Guess what that special something is …

Soccer.

Yes, that’s it. This man’s gift is soccer. He knows how to kick a ball really well. As a result Aaron travels around the world, shares Christ with thousands of people and lives an outrageous life.

Just soccer.

This was his gift, and because he’s fully surrender that gift back to the giver, it has been used in tremendous ways.

What have you been given? You have been given potential. Potential comes in many different forms, and the funny thing about potential is it’s easy to see it in others, but self-identified potential is difficult. We’re not trying to live puffed up, self-centered lives, so how do you remain humble while still recognizing within you is something outrageously awesome that this world desperately needs?

If you only knew how totally ordinary I am, you likely wouldn’t even tune in. I have zero professional training. I have no special degrees or certifications hanging on the wall indicating I’m the right person for this job. You know what I have … I have the spirit of a morning person. I wake up in a good mood. I wake up with a clear mind. And I can type really fast as God speaks to me.

Yip, that pretty much sums up my list of talents. That is my potential. This is my gift from my creator. My whole life I’ve been this way and it just seems quite ordinary to me … and it was … until it was fully surrendered to God.

God, you have given me this gift … use it.

If Aaron’s gift of kicking a ball, and my gift of just being naturally in a good mood every morning at 5 am, if these two gifts can be used to make an impact, girl … what makes you think #1) you don’t have a gift … or #2) it couldn’t be used in radical ways.

It’s a work of the enemy to undermine what you have been given. I Peter 5:8 says “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” He doesn’t go about tearing people’s heads off … no he devours us by attacking our worth. He devours by undermining your value and covering your truth with his lies. He keeps you playing little and second guessing yourself. How much longer are you going to allow that to continue? How many more days of your life will he keep you quiet? How much of your gift will you allow him to steal?

Within you is all the potential you’ll ever need to live an outrageous adventure. Within you is all the potential you could ever possibly use up in one lifetime. Within you is exactly what it takes to fulfill your purpose. But it’s up to you whether or not you will use it.

What is it within you that has been chained up by doubt, fear, questioning, comparison, and delays? What potential has gone unused because of these chains? At the name of Jesus chains fall. Remember the story in Acts chapter 12 of Peter being chained between 2 guards in prison? An angel appeared to him and said, “quick, get up” and the chains fell off his hands. You’ve been chained up and your true potential has been sitting, unused. Now, the chains must fall. In the name of Jesus, chains fall.

You are being set free. Set free to step out of the doubt, the fear, the questioning, the comparison and the delays which have held you back all these years. Set free to step into the life available to you where God simply wants to use what he has given you in ways that will blow your mind.

You say “ahhhh, I’m just a good nurse, that’s all I know to do.” Watch God use that in ways you never imagined. You’re just a teacher … oh come on girl, do you have any idea how God has handcrafted you to do exactly what you do to impact lives in the way only you can. That’s massive potential within you – unleash it!

If a guy who can just kick a ball really good can travel the world impacting lives, write books and speak to thousands … and if this girl who can just wake up happy really early every morning and be disciplined enough to type the very words God is giving her, can then be used to speak to people around the world in a podcast … well, I’m pretty sure God has some radical plans for the potential inside of you.

In the moment when God was forming you – fully focused on the creation of you – he placed that special potential inside of you. Don’t die with it unused. Don’t miss what you have the gift to do. If you don’t know what your gift is, start by praying about it. Then surrender every single gift within you back to the giver and tell him to use it. And maybe every day you need to pray about those chains and call on the name of Jesus to make those chains fall again and again and again, so your potential is unleashed.