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      Position Yourself for Success: God’s Waiting To Do Wonders Through You

      Copyright © 2011, 2014 by Ruthven J. Roy

      ISBN:13: 978-1-4566-2298-5

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

      Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

      Other versions used are KJV - The Authorized King James Version, © 1975 by Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers. NRSV - New Revised Standard Version, © 1989, by Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.

      AMP - The Amplified Bible, © 1987, by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

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      Rehoboth Publishing

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      Berrien Springs, MI 49103

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      www.networkdiscipling.org

      To:

      Lyris,

      my precious wife, and our daughters,

      Charisa

      Lyrisa

      Mirisa

      Acknowledgment

      Saying thanks can sometimes seem so trite because of its natural common usage in everyday life; but I cannot think of a more appropriate word to convey my sincere gratitude to God and my Family—my wife, Lyris, and daughters, Charisa, Lyrisa and Mirisa—who are always there to support and encourage me. Also special thanks to Emmerson Cyrille, Patricia Elder and Dr. Ermine Leader, for their valuable contributions that added the finishing touches to this manuscript, making it reader-friendly and ready for production.

      Introduction

      What is true success? How should one really measure it, and against what standard? What may be considered successful by one person or by one criterion, may be regarded as a total failure by another. In our world, success is generally measured by wealth and fame, materialism, glitz and glamour. However, we are so often shocked by the behind-the-scene reports of the pain and misery associated with the lives of so many people whom the achievement gurus have labeled “successful.”

      Somehow, it seems that these tangible elements of achievement alone are sadly insufficient instruments to measure what characterizes a truly successful and satisfying life. The wise preacher aptly describes this heartbreaking dilemma in Ecclesiastes 2:1-11. According the Bible, there is good success and there is also bad success—that is, success that is really failure from God’s perspective. Listen to what the wise preacher says of Him:

      For to a person who is good in His sight He has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God’s sight.

      Ecclesiastes 2:26

      Here we see that it is God’s perspective of one’s life that really determines if that person is a success or failure. Let me illustrate this through two powerful, divergent examples:

      Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. ²The LORD was with Joseph, so he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian.

      Genesis 39:1, 2

      The Bible called Joseph a successful and prosperous man even though he was a slave in Potiphar’s house, and later, in Potiphar’s jail. Materially, all Joseph had was the clothes upon his back and the visible signs of his bondage. Moreover, the text says that Joseph was successful because God was with him. In my estimation (and I know that I am supported by the Word of God), this solitary statement—God was with him—is the immovable center-piece of what determines whether or not a person’s life would be one of good success, or absolute failure.

      Additionally, this empowering declaration of God’s presence with Joseph, the slave boy, is repeated three times in the very first chapter of this captivating narrative. See Genesis 39:21, 23. It also forms the backbone for every experience Joseph encountered along the path to his very successful life in a foreign land.

      One may be quick to ask: “But isn’t the presence of God with everyone?” In a general sense, yes, otherwise all humanity would have been dead a long time ago. However, God’s presence is His constant, graceful act of mercy, until individuals are brought into His full favor by the experience of salvation through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

      It is God’s presence in your life that really brings

      about “good” success.

      Whenever this experience occurs for you, the presence of God, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, is not only with you, but also within you (John 14:16, 17). It is this indwelling presence of God that makes all the difference in the world, in the immediate, and residual outcome of a person’s life. It is God’s presence in your life that really brings about good success. The Word of God declares:

      that “. . . the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His”

      (2 Chronicles 16:9)

      When God is supporting you, failure is never an option. Often what appears as failures are God’s steppingstones, paving the way for you to achieve greater and better things. Now, let us take a quick look at the flip-side of the Joseph narrative—that is “success” that is not good. Jesus gives us an example of this type of success in the gospel of Luke. He said:

      “The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸Then he said, ‘this is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹‘And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ ²¹So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

      Luke 12:16-21

      The downfall of the rich man was the result of the confidence he placed in himself, his shrewd business expertise, and his “ability to predict” his own future. Pay very close attention to how many times he used the personal pronouns “I” and “my”—“I” x 6 and “my” x 5. He was at the center of his “success.” This very intelligent and competent businessman is a working definition of “bad” success. Essentially, this understanding of “success” is based predominantly on what “I” have planned, what “I” have decided, what “I” have done or achieved and what “I” have amassed for myself. There is absolutely very little or no room for

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