Angela Grunewald

Know that I am the Lord

God wants to be known as Lord. Do you know Him as Lord?

As you are getting dressed for your Super Bowl party tonight or anytime you might be attending a sporting event, you most likely dawn a team jersey or dress in team colors. We do that so everyone knows what team we are cheering for. When Scott and I head to an OSU game, we are dressed from head to toe in orange so there is no doubt that we are OSU fans.

In Exodus, from the time Moses went back to Egypt until the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, God said at least ten times that He would be known as the Lord. Some examples: “say to the Israelites: I am the Lord” 6:6, “By this you will know that I am the Lord” 7:17, or “the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord” 14:4. God wanted everyone to know who He was and who He still is today.

Now in Exodus, God was turning water to blood and other various plagues to make Himself known. Today, God is known by the peace He provides during troubling times. He is known when He puts events in place that no one else could have orchestrated. He is known when we read His word.

God can be known as Lord if we look for Him. Know the Lord and know that He can be present in your life. Romans 8:28, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him.” That is, He works that we will know Him.

Finally, ask that your actions will make you known to others as a follower of Christ. “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father” Colossians 3:17.

God is our protector

Like our phones, we have a protector. God is always there to keep us safe.

Recently I had to buy a new phone. I’m not the techie type of phone person who buys a phone every time a new version comes out. I hold on to mine as long as I can before investing in a new one. While I don’t often buy a new phone, I do like a cute case and change them often. So, as they were transferring everything over to my new phone, I was shopping for a cute case. There were no cases in the AT&T store that I was even willing to carry until I could get some ordered, so I headed to Target with my new phone. I was a nervous wreck; my phone felt very vulnerable as I walked through Target without it in a case. It’s funny how much security a phone case offers. I drop my phone all of the time without worry, but I knew I could not drop it now because it was unprotected.

I can think of so many times in my life I felt vulnerable, unprotected, all alone, or even abandoned. You may feel this way right now. You have a bill you cannot pay, or a problem bigger than you can fix. Your latest doctor visit didn’t go as planned. It feels someone at work is out to get you. I don’t know what problem you might be facing, but you are not facing it without the protection that God offers us.

In Exodus 14:14 the Israelites see the Egyptian army closing in on them. They had to feel unprotected, vulnerable. However, Moses told them to stand still. God was their protector and would fight for them. All they had to do was stand and watch. We are also told in Psalms 91:14, “The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”

Think about how safe and comfortable you are throwing your phone around when it has a cover on it. We should feel the same sense of safety knowing we are covered by the Blood of Jesus. We are safe. We are protected.

Prepared for Tomorrow

I try to prepare for tomorrow, but I have to put tomorrow in God’s hands.

The last thing I do every evening before I leave the office is check my calendar for the next day. I just want to make sure I know what the next day holds. I check to make sure that if I have a meeting, I am prepared for that meeting. I check to see if I need to send out any reminders. Most importantly, I check to see what dress attire will be needed according to what is on my calendar and whether I need to pack a lunch or if I will be out of the office at lunch time. When I leave the office each evening, I want to be fully prepared for the next day so I don’t have to think about it once I have left.

The bible speaks to the importance of being prepared and working hard. Bluntly saying in Proverbs 10:4 that “lazy men are soon poor,” and even making references to how the ants work in the summer to prepare for the winter (Proverbs 6:6-8). It is important that I am prepared for the day in front of me, but what is equally important that once I am prepared, I put that behind me and go home. I don’t spend my evening worrying about what tomorrow may hold. I cannot be 100% prepared for tomorrow because I can’t know everything that will happen tomorrow.

Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” This verse is found at the end of the chapter where Jesus is telling the multitudes not to worry about where their next meal or clothing will come from because God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies of the field. While it is important to prepare, you cannot get caught up with worry and anxiety about tomorrow. Continually worrying about “what if” will rob you of the peace God has intended for you. Learning to do your part to be prepared and then turning everything else over to God is not easy. However, I can tell you without any hesitation that God is trustworthy, and he will take care of your tomorrows.

What is Missing?

Do you feel you need more to be happy, or are you content with the blessings you already have?

The picture attached to this post is a picture of my dashboard. Let me start by saying, when I bought my car several years ago, I did some serious car shopping. I wanted a car with every possible option because I was planning on driving this car for many years. I thought my car had everything on it that was possible until I saw this place where obviously another option was available. Once I noticed this, I became obsessed about what might have been there, but wasn’t.

Instead of looking at all the features my car had, I was consumed thinking about what was missing. I had been cheated; I was missing out. After looking in the manual and realizing the missing switch was for the heated steering wheel, I really felt deprived.

So often, we feel this way in life when we begin to compare ourselves to others. We become consumed with what others have and what we don’t have. Maybe it’s a bigger house, the latest fashion trend, or some FB post that creates a desire for something you don’t have. Even though we are surrounded by blessings, we are focused on what is missing.

Hebrews 13:5 NIV tells us to “Keep your lives free from the love of money and to be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

I wish I could say that I have never been guilty of seeing someone in a pair of shoes, then grabbing my phone to search the internet to find those shoes because I just have to add them to my collection. This mindset isn’t what God desires for us. He desires for us to be content with what we have and to find our joy and pleasure in Him. Our worth and value is set by God; not by what we have.

I’m not going to lie, there is joy in getting a new pair of shoes. However, that joy is short term. It is only a couple of weeks or the next season until another pair of shoes are needed. Compare this to the promise “I will never leave you or forsake you.” Joy and peace truly can be found when we change our focus from what we might be missing to what we have and what God has provided.

I pray for you and for me that we can find our value and be content in the way God has created us and what he has provided for us instead of always looking for what is missing or what we don’t have.

Gifts

You have been given spiritual gifts. Are you using them, or saving them up like gift cards?

Are you a gift card spender or keeper? Scott and I view gift cards very differently. I can promise you, if you gave me a gift card for Christmas, I used it by the end of January. It was given to me as a gift and given to me to be used. Scott on the other hand, saves every gift card for that magic moment when he may really need something. He saves them up like they are earning interest. I use them like they might expire in a week.

I think of this compared to the gifts God has given us. 1 Peter 4:10 tells us, “God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” Think of this like God has given each of us a “gift card.” The question is, “What are you doing with it?” Are you using it as we are directed to do or are you saving it up? Peter goes on in verses 11 telling us, “Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.” Spiritual gifts are given to us to be used.

It is so easy to get distracted and find other tasks to do rather than using the gifts we have been given. I know every time I sit down to write, I see something that needs to be done. Just tonight, I swept the porch, filled bird feeders, watered flowers and completed an order on Amazon all while intending to sit down to work on a post. It is easy to put our gifts aside and save them for later because of distractors.

Another reason it is easy to hold onto that gift God has given you instead of using it is because we don’t feel adequate enough or deserving of the gift that is given to us. I struggle with this as well. I see so many who are beautifully gifted, that I struggle to put myself out there because I don’t feel my gift compares to theirs. A gift from God is great and not to be compared to others. It is to be used.

You have a gift. I Corinthians 7:7, “Yet each person has a special gift from God.” Spiritual gifts include wisdom, healing, prophecy, teachers, leaders, helpers, givers, and many more. Take a look at the scriptures below, pray about your gift, and then get busy using it.

1 Corinthians 12:8-10

1 Corinthians 12:27 & 28

Romans 12: 6-8

Entangling Vines

Scott and I went on a hike over spring break and about half-way through our hike, we came upon a tree with a large vine growing around it. The vine had been wrapped around the tree for so long that the tree was growing around and over the top of the vine. I couldn’t get its deformed image out of my mind the rest of the hike.

Now, I understand that the tree itself doesn’t have the ability to get rid of the vine, but what bothered me the most was the way the tree appeared to have become very comfortable even adapted to the entanglement of the vine around it. The tree just kept going on with its life which for a tree means it just kept growing up and out. However, because of the vine, it grew in a different shape than designed.

I believe as Christians, we often do the same thing. There are sins or hindrances in our lives that instead of removing them, we just become very comfortable with them. We adapt and move on with the choking vine preventing us from normal growth or the growth God has planned for us. I know one of mine is the entangling vine of busyness. One night last week I had a cancelation, so after dinner was fixed and put away, I found myself with an unscheduled hour and half. I embarrassingly really didn’t know what to do with this free time. In Ecclesiastes 4:4-8 we are told that it is a fool who toils to please others. Now, in this story, Solomon warns that we shouldn’t just fold our hands and do nothing, but one handful of quietness is better than two handfuls of working all the time just to gain what others have.

Right after the evening with some unexpected free time, I was reading the book Emotionally Healthy Spiritually. The last few chapters of this book focuses on spending quiet time in God’s presence and keeping the Sabbath. When you are as entwined with busyness, as I have allowed myself to be, you cannot keep the commandments of the Sabbath, and your life begins to look like the tree we spotted on our hike. God has so much more for us when we live without vines in our life.

Reflecting on this, I realize I also struggle with always wanting more. Not always new things, but also more work. As soon as I get one job around the house finished, I find another one. If I can get this done, the yard will look better. If I paint that wall, that room will be complete. “If only” is a vine that chokes and twists around us like none other. Hebrews 13:5 speaks to this. “Let your conduct be without covetousness be content with such things as you have.” Always wanting more can be another choking vine.

Enough about all the vines I have in my life. What vines are twisted around you in your life? Vines we just live with every day. Vines we just work around because we have become very comfortable with them. Vines we don’t even recognize as holding us back from what God has intended for us. I pray that you find your vines and prune them from your life, so you do not become misshapen as the tree in this picture, but can grow into the beautiful tree you were created to be.

Open Doors

God opens doors. Are you prepared to walk through them?

I don’t like to make rush decisions nor am I very spontaneous. At work when someone proposes a new idea, my first reaction is to buy time – time to check with others that might be affected, time to read up on the idea, time to think. I’m the same way at home. Scott will throw out an idea, “Let’s go eat at this BBQ place I just saw on FB.” I have to process this suggestion. I start thinking through everything. “Well, I have pork chops thawed out,” or “what time will we get home?” It is hard for me to just say “Sure, let’s go!” I like to have time to mentally prepare.

There are times when God asks me to do something where I have plenty of time to prepare. When asked to teach a class or speak to a group, I have time to prepare the lesson. I have time to pray and think through everything. However, there are times when God opens a door that requires spontaneity. The other day while standing in line to checkout with my groceries, a lady asked me about the shirt I was wearing. It was a shirt from church that said North Women Discipleship. I didn’t have time to stop and pray about my answer. I didn’t have time to practice what I was going to say. I had to give her an answer right then. God opened a door while standing in line at Crest, and I had to be ready.

Preparation for these times or opportunities has to take place in advance. This is why it is important to stay in the word and to regularly spend time in prayer. We need to be prepared for these opportunities. David gives us an excellent example of this. He spent years out in the fields watching over the sheep. He spent time in prayer and praise. He was anointed as king, and he was called into Saul’s court as an armorbearer. He was prepared for whatever door was opened for him. Little did he know when he was sent on an errand to deliver some dried grain, cheese and loaves of bread to his brothers that a door would open for him to jump through. Once David hears of the situation with Goliath, he doesn’t ask for time to go pray, he doesn’t need time to go practice. He simply walks through the open door and says, “Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:32) David did not have to go and pray or go prepare. He was ready.

While I don’t think my nature will ever love surprises or completely unplanned events. However, I do want to always be prepared to walk through the doors that the Lord opens for me.

Correctly Applied Trust

Maybe the cabinet door can’t hold me up, but the Lord can.

I take a lot of pride in the fact that I can play on the floor with my grandbabies and then stand up fairly gracefully with a baby in each arm. Just standing up without using your arms can be a trick, but doing it with an extra 40 pounds makes it interesting. Evidently though, I am unable to bend over and get a dishwasher pod without leaning heavily on the cabinet door. Last night while bent over and leaning on the cabinet, it gave away. Evidently, from the numerous times I have leaned on the door in the past, it couldn’t hold me up last night. I did not face plant, but I do have a bruised knee from the unexpected loss of support.

This made me think about where we look for support in life. Who do you view as your provider? Who do you turn to for answers? All too often we think our job will take care of our financial needs, or that credit card is there as our back up if we need it. I’ve relied on my spouse as my main problem fixer. While he has earned credit towards this title for tasks such as fixing the cabinet door I just broke, he can’t fix everything. Not even our government, our church, our savings account or our image can guide us through life. The Lord is our only provider. He is our sole source.

“Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:3 & 4

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.” Proverbs 3:5 & 6

There have been times in my life where God was all I had. He provided peace; He provided comfort; He provided wisdom. No person, no item, could provide what God provided.

Finding the Perfect Gift

Spending time with friends and family gives you insight to what they want just as spending time with God allows you to know what He wants in your life.

I have this theory about gift buying. If you spend time with someone, watch and pay attention, you will have an idea what to get them for Christmas. You won’t have to ask them what they want. You will hear them talk about what they like, what they need, or you will get to know how they like to spend their time and what their favorite things are. You will also learn what they don’t like. You shouldn’t have to ask what they want. This theory works out better some years than others. Of course for the family that lives out of state, we don’t see them often. I don’t know what they need or want. I have to call and ask.

Theories are just that, an idea that tries to explain something. However, without a doubt I can tell you this theory does apply to our relationship with our Heavenly Father. The more time we spend with Him, time in prayer, time in the word, the more we will know what He wants. In Jeremiah 9:24, we are told, “Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me.” We are expected to know the Lord and keep a relationship with Him. It is because we know Him and spend time with Him that we know what He wants in our life. He wants us to honor Him and be full of the Fruit of the Spirit, but we only know how that is lived out in our life if we are spending time with Him. We are told again in 1 John 2:3 & 4, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments is a liar.”

As we are rushing around trying to find the perfect gift for our family and spending time with our loved ones, don’t forget to spend time with the One who loves us the most. This is the only way you will know what He desires from you.

Keep It Simple

Sometimes we try to make God’s word deep, mysterious and complicated. His truths are real and simple.

Last week I was listening to a bible study podcast. The speaker had me flying through various scriptures to the point I felt like I was back in Children’s Church participating in Bible races. After racing to the seventh scripture in a chain of scriptures, the speaker, with all the enthusiasm you could ever express, questioned, “Do you see it? Isn’t that just beautiful?” I have to confess, I didn’t see it. I hit pause and went back through the chain of scriptures looking for it. I felt so inadequate because I couldn’t see it. I pressed play and listened to her explanation. After she explained the original Greek meaning of several words and explained all of the connections, I finally got it. It was beautiful and helped me realize just how beautiful God’s word is.

Being real here, after I listen to or read a book that takes such a deep dive into scripture, I do feel enlightened and closer to God, but sometimes I always feel so inadequate. I start reading the Bible looking for deep meaningful connections only to become frustrated because I don’t find them.

Changing subjects, Scott loves to grill steaks. It is one of our favorite meals. I do the marinating and Scott grills. I have a two-day process to get steaks ready to grill. It involves sitting in a marinade for 24 hours and then requires a top secret rub before the steaks sit out for several hours to get to room temperature. We always thought it was worth the effort until our last anniversary. We went to eat at a prime steak house. For some reason on this visit, Scott struck up a conversation with the waiter and asked what rub or marinade they put on the steak. Expecting a complex answer, we got, “salt and pepper.” We had to come home and try it. It proved to be just simply wonderful.

Simply wonderful – that is what God’s word is. Recently, I have been digging into God’s word looking for some personal direction. I found the answer teaching a PK Sunday School class last Sunday. The theme was “God has a Plan for You.” I told a favorite bible story of the coat of many colors and we practiced the memory verse, “I know the plans I have for you says the Lord.” It is right there plain and simple. I didn’t have to dig and search.

Here are some of the simple truths that I have taught to 4 year olds recently. While deep studies bring a deep understanding, the truth is simple.

God made me just the way he wanted – “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalms 139:14

God Loves me – “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1

Jesus died on the cross for our sins – “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

God has a plan for you – For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 29:11

God looks at the inside – “The Lord sees not as man sees: Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

We can trust God – “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good.” Romans 8:28

God provides for your needs – “God will supply every need according to His riches in glory.” Phil. 4:19

We are to love others – “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you,” John 13:34

Prayer works – “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:14

God’s word is true – “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching,” 2Timothy 3:16

There is something to be said for the simple truth. We don’t have to make it harder than it should be.

Comment or share if you find this true.