Prayer

As this new healthcare bill is put into practice there is one thing that I want to touch on. I don't care whether it's the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do. I do know that abortion is wrong though. Killing innocent children is against God's will for us and for this country. This new bill will be supporting abortion and even make doctors practice it. In light of this, I would ask everyone to pray for our country. Pray for our leaders and their discernment. Whether you like or dislike our President and his decisions, he is our leader, and we need to pray for him and support him. Our country needs our prayers more than ever. So don't just sit around complaining about what's wrong with him or his practices, pray for guidance.

Prayer is a powerful thing. It can do miracles! I have seen it happen. So earnestly pray for God's hand in this time of need and this fragile time. Let us not be thrown into war about this where each side won't support the other. I may not agree with everything that is happening, but there is no reason to go start a war over it. The best thing to do is pray that God will be merciful and that He will lead us back to our roots.

So pray and pray hard.

In Christ,
Brian Haefliger

How he loves us

God doesn't just like us. He doesn't throw us aside when we disobey him. He is a father. He loves us unconditionally. The song "How He loves us" I think captures God's love as well as we can.

He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane,
I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of
His wind and mercy
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and I realize just how beautiful You are and how great your affections are for me.

Oh, how He loves us so
Oh, how He loves us
How He loves us so.
(x2)

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves.
(x2)

We are His portion and
He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption
by the grace in His eyes
If grace is an ocean, we're all sinking
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss and my heart turns
violently inside of my chest
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way


He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
OH, how He loves
(x2)

Yeah, He loves us
Oh, how He loves us
Whoa, how He loves us
Whoa, how He loves.

Yeah, He loves us
He loves us
He loves us
He loves.

He is jealous for us. He is jealous for you. He desires you to be with Him forever in eternity! How great is that?! We may bend and break in this world, but no matter what He loves us, and nothing else matters.
Psalm 56 says, "Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack. My slanderers pursue me all day long; many are attacking me in their pride. When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life. On no account let them escape; in your anger, O God, bring down the nations. Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll - are they not in your record? Then my enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I will know that God is for me. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise - in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can men do to me? I am under vows to you, O God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life."

This world may tell you that it loves you, but it's only a snake, treacherous in all it does. Instead of trusting in the world to take care of you, trust in the One who loves you unconditionally. Trust in your everlasting Father because He will never let them harm you. He will let you walk in the light of life. He will lead you to safety and to Him. He is awesome!

John 5

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie-- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" "Sir" the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Sometimes in my life I am just loafing around in my sorrow. I think that nobody is there for me and that there is nothing that I can do. But this isn't the case. Jesus is always there for me. We just have to have enough faith to stand up and walk. Jesus calls each of us to do things that we don't know how to do. But He knows that if we just trust him and have faith, all things are possible. It's an awesome feeling. When we are doing what God wants us to do, everything just seems to go much better. We don't sweat the small stuff, but instead we look ahead to what is better. It's awesome. So the next time you are stuck somewhere, pick up your mat and walk. Trust that God will lead you where you need to be.

Brian
(poop is respectable)

John 1

I have been reading in John the past few days, and have been completely enthralled by the first few chapters. John talks a lot about John the Baptist and what his job is, but he also uses this to show us who God is, and what He is like. 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it... He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. WE have seen his glory, the glory of the One and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." This is up through verse 14. He later goes on to tell about Jesus' first disciples, starting in verse 35. "The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "look the Lamb of God!" When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" They said, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" "Come," he replied, "and you will see." So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour... The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me." Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida... When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Now I don't presume to know what all of this means, but there are a few parts that stick out to me. He says that those who received Jesus and believed His name, he gave the right to become children of God, not born of natural descent but born of God. Born of God!! How amazing is that?!?! We can be born of God. That in itself is amazing. He says that there was nothing before God and that from Him all has been created. He then goes on to talk about what it means to have faith, and what this faith will do. These three disciples gave up everything to go with Jesus. All they had was their fishing and their families, yet they were willing to drop it all for Jesus. Are we willing to do that? I know I'm not most of the time. I don't give Him everything. They are a great example of having the faith of a child. Children have no care in the world, but they have faith that their parents will take care of them. We need to believe in what our God can do and is doing. We need to understand that through God we can do anything. We don't need anything else! 

Just think about this passage, and reflect about what God is doing in your life. It's amazing!

Titus 3

"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." Titus 3:1-11 

This is what we should be doing. We are justified by grace alone, by Jesus Christ's sacrifice only! We used to be involved in pleasures of the flesh, but now that we are in Christ, we are to be lights to the rest of the world. 

What are you doing to be a light to the dark world? Just think about that for a while.  God loves us even though we are sinners. Why can't we do the same for others?

Our God is greater

Last night, at our house devos, the worship band played Chris Tomlin's song "Our God is Greater". Those of us who were there were in awe of the lyrics and what he was saying about our God.

Water you turned into wine;
Opened the eyes of the blind
There's no one like you
None like you

Into the darkness you shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There is no one like you
None like you

Our God is greater
Our God is stronger
God you are higher than any other
Our God is Healer
Awesome in power
Our God, Our God

Into the darkness you shine
Out of the ashes we rise
There is no one like you
None like you

Our God is greater
Our God is stronger
God you are higher than any other
Our God is Healer
Awesome in power
Our God, Our God

And if our God is for us
Then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us
Then what could stand against

The first part of this song shows the miracles of God, and what He can do. It goes on to talk about how we are saved. He shined into the darkness, and he brought us up out of the ashes. There is no one like our God. The chorus echoes that and it shows just how great He is. He is amazing; no one can compare! And then the bridge says if our God is for us who could stop us and if He is with us who can stand against us. How amazing is our God? Nobody can stand against Him.
Recently I have been overlooking the fact that I'm a sinner. Yeah, I say that I am, but do I really know that? I haven't really realized it until I failed big time. I failed in an important relationship and friendship. Up until now, I didn't understand just how big of a sinner I am and how much I need God. He really hasn't been the center of my life. I've been pushing Him away, and thinking that I'm good enough that I don't need Him. This isn't the man I was born to be. I wasn't born to be someone who pushes God out of my life. I was born to worship Him. I was born to praise my God, the one who gave me life, the one who created the heavens and the earth, the one who is more powerful than anybody on this earth, the one who no man can rightly deny, the one from whom demons run. That is the God who I serve. He doesn't deserve to be shoved off to the side. He deserves to be put on a pedestal and worshipped because He is the King of Kings.
I have been looking at my life, and I have realized that I can't do this on my own. I need my God. This doesn't mean that I will not sin anymore, but it wipes the slate clean. I am forgiven for my flaws. But the bad habits are still here. Just because I have the Lord in my heart doesn't mean those old worldly habits are gone; in fact after a spiritual high, they tend to come back. I think the definition of Godly manhood is being able to fight those habits and being able to give them to God and let Him heal them.

If you haven't realized how sinful you are, take a look in the mirror and ask yourself if God would accept you into His kingdom just based on your actions. Nobody can say that God would. But we have Jesus, who makes it so that we don't have to. He paid the price on the cross, and we are free. Use that freedom to praise God! Use your gifts to glorify the greatest God we could ever ask for!

In Christ,
Brian

I am a failure. I have failed many times this year already, and I continue to daily. Today I slept through my two hour class even though it was at 11:30. And I slept in much later than I should have. I have a test tonight that I need to study for, but I lost an opportunity for that. I also lost an opportunity to witness to my engineering group. They are non-Christians, and today could have been the best opportunity to witness to them. But I missed it. I let life slip by me, and that is a failure. I realize it now, and it doesn't feel good. I think the reason I continue to fail and not manage my time well is because I keep trying to do it myself instead of giving control to God. He is the only one who can help me because He is the only one who has ever been perfect. A great example is King David. He sinned against the Lord when he slept with Bathsheba and killed her husband. Because of this the God killed David and Bathseba's baby. Yet through all of this David praises the Lord. When he realizes he has sinned, he worships God. And David is still considered having a heart for God.

There are repercussions for the sins we commit, but the Lord loves us no matter what. We need to praise Him because He deserves it. Our mindset needs to be like David's after he sinned when he praised the Lord and fasted. He knew it was useless, but he wanted to give God credit. And even though this son died, he had another one with Bathsheba, one named Solomon. And we know about Solomon. He was loved by the Lord and he was given supernatural wisdom. 

So, good can come from our mistakes. Without this mistake, Solomon might not have been born. We don't know God's plan; we can only try to understand it when it happens. 

When I am in a time of trouble and failure, I will seek to praise the One who gives me life. Like Psalms 62 says, "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." Trust in the Lord because he will lead you out of this failure. Persevere because He makes it worth it in the end.

Love,

Brian