Preservation of The Past (Part 2)

Colossians 4:6 – “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
Ephesians 4:29 – “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
     Your potential is not determined by where you went to school or by what other people say about you. Your potential was determined at the time when God made your spirit, when He originated you.
     Potential – “latent qualities or abilities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness.” Notice the word “latent”. Some interesting synonyms for the word latent are “dormant, inactive, unused, undiscovered”. Ephesians 1:3 says that God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. God “hath blessed”…past tense. He blessed you with all the spiritual blessings that you need to fulfill your assignment at the time that He originated your spirit man.
     But when He sent you into the earth, these talents, abilities, and gifts on the inside of you were dormant, inactive, unused, or undiscovered…and they had to be developed so that it could lead to future success or usefulness.
     If you look at the etymology of the word potential, it means “capable of being or becoming; power; powerful”. Your potential was determined at the time that God originated your spirit man. What you are capable of becoming is not defined by someone’s negative opinion of you or someone’s erroneous assessment of you. God decides what you become, you discover it.
     Understanding that God determined your potential in the past, it is necessary to be mindful of the “preservation of the past”. Colossians 4:6 says “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
     Many people get discouraged in life, because they listen to someone’s negative opinion about their future. Many have been discouraged because they heard someone say that they are not going to amount to anything or that they are not good enough to accomplish great things.
     But the Word says “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt…” Grace is giving you something that you didn’t earn. Someone who hasn’t yet discovered their talents, abilities, and gifts that God placed on the inside of them might deserve criticism, but is it up to you to write the person off as someone who has no potential?
     Notice that the Word in Colossians 4:6 talks about your speech being “seasoned with salt”. One of the purposes of salt is to preserve food from decaying. So one of the purposes of using salt is for “preservation”. If you are speaking to someone who has yet to discover the inactive or dormant talents, abilities, and gifts that God has given them, should you criticize them and write them off as having no potential, or should you speak words that “preserve” the idea in their mind that despite the fact that the person is making some mistakes right now, God still has a purpose for them that was determined before they were born.
     Not saying that you cannot speak a word of correction to the person so that they adhere to acceptable standards and protocols, but to say that they aren’t going to accomplish great things based off of your opinion or observation of them isn’t in line with what God spoke about them when He originated them in the past.
     So your speech has to be with grace. Even though the person might not have done everything correctly and they didn’t earn everything, you still have to speak words of encouragement and empowerment and let the person know that they are going to accomplish great things and fulfill their potential, and that God is still working with them and developing them.
     Ephesians 4:29 says “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
     Here the Word is saying “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth…” When you negatively criticize someone and write them off as incorrigible, you are not speaking to their potential which God determined in the past when He originated the person.
     Ephesians 4:29 goes on to say “…but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” The Word is saying to speak words that are “good to the use of edifying…”. To “edify” means “to build up” or “to instruct or benefit someone, especially morally or spiritually”. Not saying not to correct someone who is erroneous in their ways, but the idea is to understand that God isn’t finished with the person.
      It’s important to understand that the process is not the product, but you have to go through the process in order to become the product.
      The last part of Ephesians 4:29 says “that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Even though a person might not have done everything correctly, did your words to them minister grace? Or did you speak words to them as though they are a failure?
     Again, Romans 4:17 says “…even God, who quickened the dead, and calleth those things that be not as though they were.” You have to “call those things that be not as though they were.” In other words, you have to “call” or “speak” the things into existence in the earth that “be not” or have not manifested, as though they “were”. As though they “were” what? As though they “were” in the past when God originated you.
     God had already furnished and equipped you in the past when your spirit man was in the heavenlies. Now in the earth you have to “call” or “speak” the things that God spoke about your life in the past, into existence in the earth, just like it existed in heaven before He sent you in the earth.
     That’s why the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:15 “…and that which is to be hath already been…” The things that are to be hath “already been”, or in other words, have already been in existence in the heavenlies. Now, you have to speak those things into existence in the earth. That’s why it’s important to speak words of grace and encouragement to someone instead of writing them off as if they have no potential, because God already determined their potential in the past when He originated them in the heavenlies.
      Romans 11:29 says “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” The gifts that God gave you and His call upon your life are “without repentance”, or in other words, God is not repenting or turning away from the gifts that He gave you and from what He called you to be.
     The gifts that He gave you and His call upon your life are irrevocable. In other words, God is not calling back what He spoke about you and the gifts that He gave you in the past, before He sent you into the earth. Someone’s negative opinion of you doesn’t cancel out what God spoke about you in the past.
      So if you are concerned about your future, it is important to know what happened in the past.