SEPTEMBER 2021 NEWSLETTER
SEPTEMBER 2021 NEWSLETTER
Robert
Lindenberger
3325 3rd
Avenue
Mims, FL 32754
321-368-7184
I’m so
glad I’m a part of the Family of God,
I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by
His Blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I’m part of the family,
The Family of God
You will notice we say “brother and sister”
’round here,
It’s because we’re a family and these are so
near;
When one has a heartache, we all share the
tears,
And rejoice in each victory in this family so
dear.
Pray with me: God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, You are the internal I AM. The
One who is age to age the same. There is
no shadow of turning with You. You are
fully present in every generation – past, present, and future. You are the Almighty. Your power has not been depleted over the
millennia of human history. We know that
You so loved the world that You gave us heavenly treasures when You sent Your
only Son over 2000 Years Ago to be born as a Baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes,
and laid in a Manger. Thank You for the gospel,
which tells us that everyone who places faith in the Baby – who Grew, Lived,
and Then Died As Our Savior . . . Who now sits on Heaven’s throne . . . Who is
soon to return and rule the world – Will not perish but have everlasting
life. Heaven’s miracle available to
little dust people!
Yet I see around me a world that is increasingly desperate! Evil seems to be unrestrained. Babies are aborted, and pieces of their bodies
are sold. Sex trafficking is
thriving. Nations are unraveling. Wars are raging, and it seems like
daily. I hear rumors of more wars
breaking out. I cannot help but feel a
sense of turmoil and agitation that surely is a reflection of the war being
waged in the invisible realm.
I
humbly turn to You now. You alone are
the One who makes us dwell in safety.
You alone are the One who makes us secure. You alone are God. I turn to You, deeply aware that, in myself,
I am unworthy to address You yet confident of access into Your most holy Presence
through the blood of Your and My Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I
ask the fear of the one true, living God would fall on me, my house, my church,
my community, my country.
I
asked for supernatural wisdom that I and those I love, especially those I serve
alongside, would make decisions in line with Your perfect will.
I
asked especially that you draw the leaders in my church, community, and country
to Yourself. Cause them to be part of
their trust in You, so they experience peace, both without and within.
I
asked that You bless our beloved nation.
Protect us. Defend us. Heal us.
Unite us. Please continue to use
us as a force for good in the world.
Keep us steadfast in our commitment to be a friend of Your people.
You are a great prayer-hearing, prayer-answering, convenient–keeping,
miracle-working God. Hear my prayer and
bless this nation with the peace that only the power of the gospel can bring to
our hearts and lives.
For the glory of Your great name – Jesus, Amen. 1.
I AM
THE BABY of a large family of eight children, mother and dad. Sadly, the family is down to four, three
sisters, and me. Two of the sisters and
I have lost our spouses, and the oldest sister lost two wonderful children in
death. Some people describe death as a
tearing, a physical tearing. Some say
they can’t breathe, and some say it feels like bleeding. You know what they
mean because your loved one is gone too.
The bed that sometimes seems too small for both of you on a bad day but
never snug enough on a good one now feels as vast as the sea and bottomless as
its deepest chasm.
Your spouse is not here, and your heart is in an arid wasteland. You never understood before, when others
tried to explain it, but now . . . now you do.
There is a “darkness” over the land for you too.
The last breath Jesus took was His purposeful; willing surrendered to
the mutinous experience of death.
But–though you feel it mocking, your best attempt is to breathe at this
moment – Death Did Not Win. The love
spells out that dark day, as the same love that sealed the new covenant of
salvation, for you have for me, even though the covenant blood between you and
your spouse has been torn in two. Their
death numbs your senses and inflames them all at the same time.
But the covenant love that cost everything truly regained what now seems
forever lost, and grief’s barren fields will be our sacred food, the wall. So
you may see it is a selfless horizon.
Here’s why: marriage is temporal; the reality symbolizes eternal.
When you look into the mirror of your memory, what gazes back is the
weight of glory of that which your marriage reflected. Your pain is now temporal to the portion of
“until death do us part,” but the internal reality is one of the pre-over
death. The truth of it begins to shed
light on the death of your pain: death violates God’s unalterable
covenant. BUT GOD VIOLATED DEATHS
IGNORANCE IN RETURN: “unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies,
it remains alone. But his death will
produce many new kernels – a plentiful harvest of new lives.” (John 12:24 NIT).
Look back into the reflexive mirror of your marriage. There, springing forth from what you thought
was led lifeless horizon, is a plentiful harvest of new life, violating this
ignorance as well.
Marriage is mutual submission to the invasive love of another. Invasive because it is bound by covenant,
meaning, and its “exchange” must take place.
And though it is a mystery, a sacrifice must be made too, and blood is
involved. No wonder it is called the
marriage “ALTER.”
The covenant of marriage is the sealing of a relationship–a co-mingling
of blood and hearts producing a supernatural oneness between the covenant
partners. The two united into One
depicts the very essence of this covenant (Genesis 2:24). This is so because God is the One who seals
the covenant, meaning it cannot be breached without the most devastating
ramification and pain. You see, God is
the glue that joins the two separate beings and mysteriously merges the sinews
of their love into one. Earthly marriage
is the image-bearer of the covenant between Christ and Is Bride, and deaths
narcissistic disregard has plundered that reflection.
The death of this covenant bond is one of the reasons your loss hurts so
much now; what was unnecessarily and immutably one has now been born into two.
Your grief
represents and ineffable pain and requires an extreme and sacred response,
though the word grief cannot fully describe or contain it. In the same manner, Jesus is the sacrifice
for us represents an ineffable pain, require an extreme and sacred response as
well, the words cannot describe or contain that either.
But death doesn’t make the rules
– God does.
The torn Temple veil that evoked terror and was thought to be a sign of
destruction, now speaks comfort to the grieving believer because just like the
torn veil of the temple, grief’s gaping hole of poverty will be filled by His
plenty.
His heart was torn so that your torn heart could be healed, and the same
power that tore the veil opened the tomb and raised Jesus will also open the
tomb that is your heart right now and resurrect what seems so final.
Our King faced off with death, and there was no competition. The lamb's slain body was resurrected in
death face and shut its mouth ever.
Jesus knows what it is to have love torn away. So he shared a community
cup with its own blood and made an exchange so that whatever you and I suffer,
He has suffered two – and come out victorious.
He asked His Father to make us one with Him (John 17:21), and just like
that day at your marriage alter, the bond was forged. But Jesus also rose from death’s shadow so
you could rise too.
Even now, there is a song somewhere in the distance. It’s your song. You can’t hear that Melody yet, but you know
the words: “death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING. 2.
1. Anne Graham Lotz in THE LIGHT of HIS PRESENCE. Pp.19-21
2.
Susan VandePol, Catching Your
Breath – Grieving the Loss of a Spouse, O.D.B.
Discovery Series, chapter 1
Comments
Post a Comment