Position

By Shelby Honeycutt

Are you doing everything you know to do, but it still seems like something is missing? Are you exhausted? Do you want to be everything God created you to be, but you seem to come up short? Does God still have a plan for you?

In Position, author Shelby Honeycutt offers a practical guide to help you get re-aligned and adjusted and get your life back into position so you can operate at your full potential. She presents lessons to position yourself in the following areas:

• the word;
• prayer;
• worship
• identity;
• your mind;
• your eyes;
• attitude; and
• relationships.

Each chapter features a weeklong study guide focusing on the topic for that week with the goal of transforming your lifestyle. When you choose to position what God has given you, understand the purpose for the position, and pick up the responsibility to put the position to action, you can truly walk out the plan God has.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664234420

Shelby Honeycutt

Shelby Honeycutt earned a degree in exercise science. She and her husband, Orrin, are small business owners in southern Colorado. Honeycutt grew up in the ministry and currently serves as the children’s ministry pastor at the Feed Store Church and is the director of the Morgan Ministries Rodeo Bible Camp. She is a powerful speaker and takes simple truths from the word of God and helps them come to life in a practical way.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Shelby Honeycutt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher

make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book

and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views

of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New

Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by

permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version® Copyright © 1982

by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964,

1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used with permission.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3441-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3443-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-3442-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021909841

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/14/2021

39003.png

I

dedicate this book, first and foremost, to my Jesus. It is through my relationship with Him that this is even possible. To my incredible husband, Orrin Honeycutt, who has encouraged and pushed me to follow through and pursue writing. You are the very best thing that has ever happened to me. I am so blessed to call you mine! To my parents, Bubby and Cindy Morgan, who raised me in a home that honored and loved Jesus, support me in every way possible, challenge me to be a better person, and always believe in me. They are truly the best parents and role models that anyone could ask for. And to all my family and friends who have prayed, supported, and encouraged me to do more and never to quit.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1     Position Your Word

Chapter 2     Position Your Prayer

Chapter 3     Position Your Worship

Chapter 4     Position Your Identity

Chapter 5     Position Your Mind

Chapter 6     Position Your Eyes

Chapter 7     Position Your Attitude

Chapter 8     Position Your Relationships

Conclusion

Do You Know Jesus?

Study Guide

INTRODUCTION

"I am doing everything I know to do, but it still seems as if something is missing. I am exhausted. I want to be everything God created me to be, but I just seem to come up short. Did I miss it? Does God still have a plan for me? Life just seems so blah and powerless."

I believe that we have all found ourselves in this position at some point in life. We are doing everything we know to do, but something still seems to be missing. We are praying but not seeing the answers. Reading but seeing no power. Naturally, we think that God just must not need us or that He has too many better options to choose from than us. Maybe He has forgotten about us or has better things to be doing than working in our lives. We probably missed it somewhere or even ran out of grace for Him to still use us. These are lies from the enemy to keep us in a place distant from our relationship with God.

Our God has so much in store for each and every one of us. Did you catch that? God has so much in store for you. Say that out loud: God has so much in store for me! We must believe that we serve a good God, a faithful God, and a God who isn’t done. He hasn’t forgotten us, He hasn’t given up on us, He is still working, and if we aren’t dead, He isn’t done. Over the next few weeks, we are going to reposition our lives. It could be that we are living life right now with all the necessary ingredients, but we just need an alignment. Think about a vehicle for a minute. It has all its necessary parts—tires, motor, fuel, wiring, etc.—but something can still be wrong that is making for a bumpy ride. It simply needs an alignment. Everything that the car needs to run is there, but adjustments and a repositioning need to take place to achieve a smooth ride.

The same is true in our lives. We have been given everything we need for life and godliness. Too often, we live life short of our potential because we feel like we are missing the necessary ingredients to be all that God has created us to be. This is just not so. We have everything we need. The ride may seem bumpy right now, but that doesn’t mean we do not have what it takes; it simply means we need to get into the right position. Life is going to happen. We are going to hit bumps, face unexpected circumstances, and probably end up where we never thought we would be. This doesn’t change God and doesn’t change the plan He has for your life. You still have everything you need to be who He has created you to be, but you must be in position to have a smooth ride amid life’s disturbances.

Position is so important in each of our lives, but it is so often overlooked. I have played sports and rodeoed for as long as I can remember. I have also had the opportunity to coach basketball and several rodeo events and have been a high school volleyball and basketball referee. The most common statement that I have heard throughout the years and have repeated to myself more times than I can count is, Get in position. How often have we watched a sports game where everything is going great and then someone gets out of position? Most fouls happen when someone is out of position. It doesn’t matter what part of life you look at; position is critical. How do most wrecks happen on the road? Someone was out of position.

Just knowing the position isn’t enough. We have to actually carry out the purpose and know the responsibility of the position. It isn’t enough to know what position you play in basketball if you never actually carry out the responsibility of that position on the different ends of the court. It isn’t enough for us to know that God has a plan, prayer works, the Word has power, we should praise and worship, and that we need to renew our minds. We must pick up the responsibility and position these areas in our lives the way they were designed. Simply knowing God has a plan for us doesn’t mean we will ever walk out that plan. When we choose to position what God has given us, understand the purpose for the position, and pick up the responsibility to put the position to action, we can truly walk out the plan God has.

In each of our lives there are areas we need to reposition, areas that need to be given a position, and areas that need to have their position removed. Position requires action, dedication, and maintenance. Throughout this book, we are going to get our lives back in position. We are going to get realigned and adjusted so we can operate at our full potential. We can be right where we are supposed to be but still be out of position and not accomplish what God has for us to accomplish. God has created us to live in freedom, wisdom, peace, strength, success, and authority. It’s time to grow, to break through, to get rid of the petty battles that hold us back, and to walk in the fullness of life God has designed for us to live.

What to Expect in This Book

We are going to dive into eight different areas of our lives that need positioning. Each chapter has a seven-day study to accompany it that will be found in the back of the book. Each chapter will also have a scripture for you to memorize. Take your time. Read each chapter, take time to do the daily study, and push yourself to memorize the scripture each week. To get the most out of this study, read each chapter and then do the corresponding daily study before moving on to the next chapter. For example, read all of chapter 1, then complete the seven-day study for chapter 1 before moving on to chapter 2. I promise, what you put into this study will be what you get out of it. It is powerful and life changing, if you are willing to prepare your heart, discipline yourself, and receive all God has for you.

40462.png

CHAPTER 1

40459.png

POSITION

YOUR WORD

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.

—ISAIAH 40:8 (NKJV)

T he Word is the most important position in our lives. It is vital to our survival. Let me say this again. It is vital to our survival. If there is only one takeaway from this chapter, let it be that the Word is vital. We cannot do life without the Word. Too often, we live as though the Word is an accessory to our lives instead of a necessity to our lives. We use it when it complements us, but we do not live by it. We were not designed ever to live without the Word. Think about that for a moment. We were designed to live in the Word of God. We were never made to function without it. Imagine a person who is living with no breath, no water, no food, no direction, and no truth. Are they really living? What is their quality of life? Not good, right? That is the picture I want us to keep in our minds. When we live life apart from the Word, this is us. Are we truly living?

Let’s take some time to find out why the Word is so important in our lives. If we don’t understand the purpose of the position, we will never be able to walk out our potential in the position.

In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. (John 1:1)

God and the Word are one and the same. There is no difference or separation between them. The Word was God. The Word is God. Second Timothy 3:16 tells us, All scripture is God breathed. The Word doesn’t exist outside of God, and God is not apart from the Word. They are one and the same. Everything that God is, the Word is also. How powerful is that? God is all-knowing, peaceful, always present, all-powerful, and the same yesterday, today, and forever; God is strength, joy, wisdom, justice, power, truth, and life. It is so important to know and understand there is not a difference between God and His Word.

In the beginning was the Word. We know that in the beginning, God created the world and everything in it. God spoke these things into existence using the Word. We know God created a man and breathed life into him. In Psalm 139 we find God formed us and knew us before the beginning of time. If the Word was in the beginning, and God and the Word are one and the same, and God created us before the foundations of the earth, then can we agree we are a result of the Word? Our existence is a result of the Word of God. If God breathed life into man, then our lives are a result of the Word. Wow! What a revelation. Every part of me was created by the Word of God. If we are created by God, we are created by the Word. God knows us better than we could ever know ourselves. He knows what we have been through. He knows our future. He knows our tomorrows. He knows our strengths, weaknesses, failures, and successes. He knows our desires. He knows it all. We need to know the Word knows us better than we know ourselves. When we are reading the Word, we are reading the will of God for us. The Word knows where we are today, where we are going, and where we have been. The Word never changes and cannot fail. The Word of God is living, and brings life. It is so much more than reading words on a page or stories from a book. We are literally reading life, peace, joy, wisdom, direction, freedom, truth, love, and hope.

Why is the Word so important? In the physical, our bodies are made of components that we cannot live without. It is not enough just to be made of these components; we need these components consistently to thrive. For example, some of the components that make up the body are water, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and calcium. It would be ridiculous to think we do not require oxygen or water to live, since it is already present inside of us. We would die. Just because we are made of these elements does not mean we can now live without them. We need them to survive. The same is true of the Word. We are made of the Word of God, but we need this daily to survive and thrive spiritually.

Naturally, we live on what is inside of us. When I breathe in oxygen, drink water, and eat nutrients, I am then living on those things. If I choose to live on, breathe, and take in substances that are opposite of what I am made of, I am trying to make my body live and thrive on something it was never meant to live and thrive on. On the spiritual side of things, if we are created by the Word, we need to fill ourselves with the Word to live and thrive. The Bible tells us that the Word is life. If I am made of life and choose to fill myself with life through the Word of God, I am truly living