Repositioned for Greatness: Finishing Stronger Than You Started

By Eddie Tim Roberts

Eddie Roberts knows firsthand how it feels to get back up from a life-altering blunder. His fall from grace and repositioning journey will inspire, reveal, and empower readers. No matter how far you have fallen, Repositioned for Greatness can give you courage to get back up!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 25, 2011
• ISBN: 9781449719876

Eddie Tim Roberts

Eddie Roberts is a Louisiana native who knows how to get back up after a life-altering knockdown. His inspiring story is one that gives hope to anyone who has experienced a moral failure and needs to get back into life’s game. He is the pastor of GraceWay Ministries in Blacksburg, Virginia, and the executive director of Recover the Fallen, a reconciliation ministry that lifts, encourages, and restores the brokenhearted.

Book preview

Repositioned

for

Greatness

Finishing Stronger than You Started

Eddie Tim Roberts

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Copyright © 2011 Eddie Tim Roberts

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

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only. Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1988-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1989-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-1987-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011932615

Printed in the United States of America

KJV scriptures taken from the Thompson Chain- Reference Bible Fourth Improved Edition Copyright © 1964 by the B.B. Kurkbride Bible Company, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana.

NKJV scriptures taken from The Maxwell Leadership Bible Copyright © 2002 by Maxwell Motivation, Inc. The Holy Bible New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

AMP scriptures taken from the Amplified Bible Copyright © 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation and the Lockman Foundation.

NIV scriptures taken from the NIV Thinline Bible Copyright © 2005 by Zondervan, Grand Rapids Michigan

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/21/2011

This book is dedicated to lifting those who have fallen.

To my Lord Jesus Christ, who repositioned me to complete the destiny he had for my life, and to my wife Donna, who believes in that destiny enough to help polish this rock.

Repositioned for Greatness is ready to revolutionize the world.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

One Everyone Falls

Two Buying into the Big Lie

Three Detecting the Enemy’s Influences

Four The Truth about Failure

Five The Root of a Fall

Six Getting Up from a Fall

Seven My Fall

Eight How I Got Up Again

Nine Repositioning & Moving Forward

Ten Forgiving the Fallen

Eleven Repositioned for Life

Twelve It’s a New Season

Preface

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3–5, NIV

Life has its challenges. It’s full of surprises and heartaches, pain and joy, tragedy and love, injury and recovery. Anytime someone experiences a failure, I am saddened and excited at the same time. I am sorry for the pain you are experiencing; however, I am excited about the hope that is ahead for your life during your repositioning process. Failure repositions life, and the process isn’t easy. But it is rewarding if it is completed.

Whether your pain is the result of your own actions or remnants of someone else’s shortcomings, I know that you will find comfort from Jehovah Shalom, the God of peace. He said in his Word that we should comfort those in trouble with the same comfort we ourselves have received. So I pray you will find solace and peace as you recover from your failure and are assured that the God of heaven loves you.

God gives comfort and forgives sins, mistakes, and blunders; there is nothing impossible with him. Regardless of the depth of your failure, there is hope for you. He forgives all manner of sins, and, despite how far you may have fallen, his love and mercy can reach you. If you are failing, he will restore and reposition you. These facts are illustrated perfectly in 1 Peter 5:10, where the Word says, And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. There is hope for you!

One of the most powerful aspects of any fall is reflection. Learning from a mistake and turning the misery into ministry is the ultimate achievement in being repositioned. My prayer for you is that you will be infused with a renewed hope, take the steps to get up from self-pity and discouragement, and take that bold step to move forward.

Getting up from a failure takes effort and energy. The first step in repositioning oneself is asking the Lord for his forgiveness. Have you done that? Have you received his unconditional love and acceptance? If not, now is the time. The second step is beginning to forgive yourself—and that may be the hardest thing you do. Have you let the past go? Do you find that you are still holding on to the memory? The final step is taking action … and you have done that by reading this book.

You have the power to take these steps to move your life into a new dimension and be restored for greatness by the power of Jesus Christ.

From one who has fallen and has been repositioned,

—Eddie Roberts

Introduction

God designed us to be winners—excelling, advancing, and moving from glory to glory. Most of us enjoy the feeling of victory when we win in life, and we certainly need a conquering spirit to keep up in today’s culture. Why is it then that so many people allow themselves to live in defeat? No one likes to feel defeated or worthless, but that’s how it feels when we make mistakes. I know, because that’s exactly how I felt the day after my big failure.

Jesus Christ came to reposition and reconcile us back with the Father through his sacrifice on the cross. Through him, we are designed for and have easy access to victory! God’s power gives us the ability to live a victorious life, yet so many Christians live in defeat because of personal failure and inadequate preparation for their Christian journey.

So let’s look at what causes Christians to fall …

Here are a few examples:

• Failure to access the power of prayer.

• Not walking out this life with faith.

• Not taking the Christian walk seriously.

• Underestimating the power of God.

• Ignoring your adversary, the Devil.

• Not internalizing the Word of God.

• Neglecting your personal relationship with Jesus.

• Placing yourself in tempting situations.

• Lacking wisdom in making decisions.

Though the reasons are innumerable, they are evidence as to why tapping into the power of prayer is so essential. Prayer equips us to live the winning life that empowers us to overcome the enemy of our souls. He not only wants us defeated, but he also uses every evil strategy to cause our downfall.

Revelation 12:11 gives us a deeper insight into living as a winner. It says that we overcome [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. Jesus’s blood and our insufficient words, ultimately, activate our victory. That unity with Christ empowers victorious living, but it isn’t instantaneous. We must utilize that source through fervent, consistent prayer as we line up our word with Jesus’s words. When we come into agreement, the power is activated to help us overcome the obstacles that are set in our paths.

Traps are laid—that’s the reality of the Christian situation. If you fall into a trap, it may feel as if your life is over. But it’s not. Failure is not fatal. Failure is an opportunity to be fine-tuned. A guitar is a beautiful instrument that makes the most melodic music. But if it’s not tuned correctly, the sounds hurt the ear of the listener.

Likewise, our lives mirror this example. We need fine-tuning. By facing the truth about failure, surrendering to the Master’s hand, and becoming what he wants us to be, we can achieve victory in our lives. God intended for our lives to be successful, and, as such, he gives us armor for protection. Why? Because he knows we are targets for destruction. The Word advises us to put on God’s whole armor that so [we] may be able successfully to stand up against all the strategies and the deceits of the Devil (Ephesians 6:11).

Obviously, winning is a serious deal. The Lord wants to ensure that the contender is provided the right equipment to gain that victory. He also cautions us to be prepared for these battles by putting on all of the equipment he provides—so we can successfully hold our ground and not fail.

The armor of the Lord allows us to tighten the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, prepare your feet with the gospel of peace, lift up the shield of faith, take the helmet of salvation, and arm yourself with the sword of the spirit. We are given this armor for our battles and we must be proactive! The sole purpose of the Devil’s strategies is to get Christians to fail—to forfeit the abundant life Jesus died to give us. The Devil wants you to feel and behave like a failure.

I wrote this book for Christians who have fallen; I am a Christian who failed and has been repositioned. I am a man who, by the grace of God, got up after his failure and is now living a life filled with thankfulness, knowing that everyone who falls can be repositioned by the Lord Jesus Christ. And he isn’t prejudiced—he doesn’t discriminate in giving mercy. Your fall is not so terrible that he will not restore you if you ask him for forgiveness. As you read this book, I challenge you to adjust your concept of God’s mercy—and to ultimately accept his forgiveness. Take these necessary first steps to finish stronger than you started. God wants you to rise from your failure, forgive yourself, and bring healing to the people you have hurt. You can be lifted, no matter how far you have fallen.

I believe the ultimate goal for each of us is to live a victorious life in Christ Jesus and not fail at all, but the reality is that we do fail and we all need help getting up. Living a Christian life requires dedication, commitment, and loyalty to enjoy the blessings of the Lord. Jesus came that we might have a victorious life in him. That was his ultimate objective.

Our struggle begins when we mess up; our flesh gets in the way, we give in to temptation, and sin occurs. The Lord is never pleased with sin, which separates his children from him. But he never rejects his children when they fall into failure. His love for us is unconditional. And yet, just as he told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more (John 8:11), his standards are the same for you and me. He tells us to change our behaviors and get on with living our lives for his glory. The fall you have experienced does not define who you are in Christ; he is waiting for you to come back to him. He tells us to change our behaviors and get on with living our lives for his glory.

People are not failures, but they do fail every day—that’s reality. The truth is you can recover and be repositioned to fulfill your destiny if you are prepared to take action.

Repositioned for Greatness was birthed from my desire to proclaim the grace of God and his restorative power and to give the fallen a solid plan of recovery. Many times people who experienced failure feel trapped by negative emotions and self-destructive thoughts that stop the recovery process. That is what happened to me and others you’ll read about in this book. However, it doesn’t have to happen to you. The rest of your life doesn’t have to be defined by an event! Your recovery process can and will be shortened, and your rebound time will be more expedient than my own.

Failure is an event; it’s not an attribute. And it’s only permanent if you believe it is. So get ready to change your mindset about failure because once you do it, failure will no longer be able to control your life. The truth about failure will! So get ready to experience a life-altering shift. Rising after a fall is the objective—and with the Lord’s help,