Day Twenty-threeCapitalizingThe rubber meets the road when a potential yes means saying a thousand no’s to a legion of legitimate choices. We are meant to say our core “yes” to our most central, well-contoured passion that draws forth and reveals God’s beauty. —Dan Allendar1Knowledge about why you do what you do—as well as what you are capable of—will give you the ability to minimize your weaknesses while capitalizing on your strengths. This is vital to the health of your soul and essential to your empowerment. There are a myriad of personality assessments and “spiritual gifts” testing tools that can give you insight into your hidden potential, directing you toward your unique purpose. Gallup produced one such tool, the Clifton StrengthsFinder, after 30 years of research on human potential. In over two million interviews, they found the evidence overwhelming: “You will be most successful in whatever you do by building your life around your greatest natural abilities rather than your weaknesses.”2 They go on to explain to the person taking the test:Like everyone, you’ve been blessed by God with a deep reservoir of untapped potential. That potential is your talent, waiting to be discovered and put to use in your life. It’s time for you to unleash the power of that potential and begin to discover your unique talents.3Do all you can to understand how God has made you. Ephesians 2:10 states you are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that [you] should walk in them” (NKJV). However, your heart, mind, soul, and body were never intended to operate outside a relationship with God and His power. That means that it is never only about your strengths and talents, but it is those attributes in conjunction with the Spirit of God.Most people have at least a cursory knowledge of the story of David and Goliath found in First Samuel 17. They read it as a story about a young boy who takes his well-honed shepherding skills and stands up to a belligerent giant threatening to destroy God’s people. You probably know that David won the battle with a slingshot and a single stone, striking Goliath in the forehead. David said, as he went out with great, heroic courage:I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies… The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—He’s handing you to us on a platter (1 Samuel 17:45-47).It’s what comes after this passage that is especially worthy of remembering. When King Saul saw David the shepherd boy going out to fight with an enemy much more powerful than he was, Saul asked the commander of his army, “Who is this kid?” Abner’s reply was priceless: “For the life of me, O King, I don’t know” (1 Sam. 17:55). David understood that it wasn’t about his great talents, but about God joining with him to accomplish God’s purposes in a way that God would get the glory.To be a weapon in the hand of God can be a frightening thing. Rather than embrace your destiny you may deny your potential. What a loss to the world! Be strong and courageous! The battle belongs to God! It is your destiny!Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. —Marianne WilliamsonToday I want to talk about destiny as it relates to living authentically. Your divine self has a divine destiny! Over and over in the Bible we read how God orchestrates our destinies—how He has called and anointed all who would “just believe” (Mark 5:36 NIV) to step forward and “be strong and courageous” (Josh. 1:6 NIV) in taking possession of all He has prepared for them. CHARACTERISTIC 23: DESTINYAnthony Robbins is quoted as saying, “More than anything else, I believe it’s our decisions, not the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny. It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”The earth is the domain of decisions. It is where human beings have the right to choose good or evil, blessing or cursing, success or failure, life or death. Every morning you awaken to unlimited possibilities. The moment you make a decision, a myriad of possibilities collapse and life brings to you your reality in the form of an experience. You must then decide how you will respond to your reality. Failure to make a decision is a decision to fail.Your destiny is decision-oriented. If you do not like where you are, make a decision to be somewhere else. If you do not like what you have, make a decision to have something else. If you do not like the way your life is, make a decision to live the life you’ve always dreamed of. You are always only one decision away from living the life of your dreams.When you make haphazard decisions, you play Russian roulette with your future at point blank range. Never make a permanent decision based on temporary conditions. Be intentional as you deliberate. Consult God about every decision you make. Do not lean on your own understanding. God has already chosen a path that leads you to abundance and eternal life. According to John 10:10, Christ came so that you would have an abundant life. The first decision you should make, therefore, is to invite Him into your heart to be your Savior. The next is to allow Him to be Lord over your life. He will remove the curse, lift the burdens, and usher you into a world filled with blessings. Choose life and not death. Choose to be blessed and not cursed. The choice is yours.All of the great patriarchs of the Old Testament, though called and anointed, also had to make a choice—they had to choose to believe. We have already talked about how Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, and David were all “destiny-minded”—how they saw past their situations and limitations and were able to see instead all that was possible with God. They set their course by choosing to believe what they heard God say about their potential.To live true to your authentic self, you must continually choose to focus on your prospective future as opposed to your current position. Your present self is but the bud of the full flower you are destined to become—but it’s up to you to decide whether or not you will bloom.Take time to reflect on who it is you are becoming and where you are longing to go. Look up from your daily grindstone on occasion. As you tread along day by day, glance up from your stony path once in a while to see the greater landscape—look into the distance upon the hills “from where your help comes from” (see Ps. 121:1 NIV). What do you hear God saying about who He has called you to be?Paint a picture in your mind of your greatest possible future—write down what you see.Time in the Word and in prayer will take you up higher, where you can get a wider, more scenic view. Press into God. Put on the mind of Christ. Become “possibility-minded.”Do not be like the woman who “did not consider her destiny [and] therefore her collapse was awesome” (Lam. 1:9 NKJV). Instead, pursue God’s leading through prayer as David did: “You guide me with Your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny” (Ps. 73:24 NLT).Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. —William Jennings BryanOur destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire. —Orison Swett MardenI’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for (Jeremiah 29:11).