How Do You Spell Success?

[S] Henemiah 1:10-11 --

 ¹⁰"They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.
 ¹¹"O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man " Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

[O] By this moment, Nehemiah was quite distressed (verse 4: When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.) and yet his prayer to God starts with praise and recognition of workers He had placed her to carry out His will.  He did not start directly to ask for a "solution" to fix the problem his facing.  There was a clear Adoration and Thanksgiving to God.  Then he requests earnestly such that they will be able to delightfully revere God's name by making him successful.  I am really encouraged by Nehemiah's prayer because he didn't just go down the list of his requests but his ultimate desire to successfully revere His name.  So is my success related to revering God's name?  I would say so based on Nehemiah's prayer. Without trying to generalize too much, isn't it true that our world defines success as my making it big and my name getting the major press?  It's about putting myself on top so others will revere my name.  But I believe the true success God honors is the one that God's name is revered and raised up high through my own "success."

[A] Be careful not to fall into the trap of gaining my "own" success where it's all about ME getting to the top.  Instead, aim for a successful life/work such that God's name will shine through in the end.

[P] Dear God, make me successful in all that I do, at work, at church, at home, at neighborhood, such that it is SO CLEAR You are the one others will see at work in my life.  May my heart stay humble and seek You at all times.  I desire that very much.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.