May isang lalaki sa Bible na paralisado at bed-ridden. Narinig niya na paparating si Hesus sa lugar nila to preach in private home. Kaya tinawag niya ang kanyang mga kaibigan na buhatin siya papunta doon sa bahay na iyon kung saan andoon si Hesus. Noong dumating sila at punong puno ang bahay at hindi sila makapasok. They could not find any other way to get closer to Jesus. Maaring pagod na pagod na yong mga nagbuhat sa kanya.

Pero hindi sumuko ang lalaking paralisado at nagsabi na dalhin nyo ako sa bubong ng bahay. Bakbakin ninyo ang bubong para mailapit ninyo ako kay Hesus. Kapag may butas na, kumuha kayo ng lubid para maibaba ninyo ako. Maaaring nasa gitna ng pagtuturo si Hesus nong marinig Niya ang pukpukan ng martilyo at alikabok at habang bumababa ang lalaking paralisado, the Bible in the book of Mark 2:5 “When Jesus saw their faith…”

What about you? Can God see your faith? May mga ginagawa ka ba magpapatunay na nananalig ka, naniniwala ka sa Lord? Just like that paralysed man, you have to take action to show your faith. Habang nakatingin si Hesus sa lalaking iyon, He said: “rise up, take up your bed, and walk...”

Ang kagalingan niya ay nagsimula when he took action to demonstrate that He believed in Jesus. Hindi siya kagaya ng isang lalaki doon sa pool of Bethesda in John 5:7 “…When Jesus saw him lying there and realized that he had spent a long time in this condition, He asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the sick man replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool…” You have to be responsible for yourself. It is you who will get you to the place you wanted to go. Hindi palaging obligasyon ng iba na tulungan ka. Nobody, nobody but you. It is your job to make yourself happy. Stop blaming others.

Alam mo ba na maraming gustong gumaling din sa mga sakit nila pero hindi sila gumaling. Only that man who had faith but took action to prove he has it. Other people have had the opportunity because they were with Jesus but this man is different, he put faith into action. Naghahanap ang Lord ng mga taong may pananampalataya makikita Niya. Not just faith that He can hear but a faith that can be seen, faith that is visible.

One day I met a Maranatha pastor who told me, “I was called by an office who told me that my husband is dying in Hawaii. The person told me that I need to travel to Hawaii within 5 days if I want to see my husband alive. He is severely sick and has refused medication. The problem is I am still in a small village in Cebu (Philippines), I do not have the USA visa yet and I didn’t have my passport yet. I don’t have the money to fly to USA. I told the Lord, “Panginoon matagal na po akong lingkod mo. Help me to be there in Hawaii from today Monday up to Friday. I will dress up and I will go out and find a way. I called Bishop Magsino and said he knew someone from the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) who is an executive officer of the Philippine passport office. On the current trend, it normally takes 3 -4 months to get a new passport. Bishop told me to speak to his friend. On the same day, I got hold of my passport at 5:00 PM in Manila. On Tuesday, I booked an appointment to the USA embassy while holding the medical record of my husband. On Wednesday I got hold of my USA visa. I asked someone to lend me money so I can buy ticket to the USA and someone deposited money into my account. By Saturday I am on Philippine Airlines via Honolulu Hawaii.

Then I said: “Lord, I am going to see my husband but I will not be bringing a man’s dead body. I will come there and pick him up and we will walk together back into the main church. Lord hindi po mamatay ang asawa ko.” Pastora Norma stayed in Hawaii for 6 months and on the 7th month, her husband lived for at least 15 years. Everything started when Pastora Norma put her faith into action. She could easily accepted defeat but when she made that declaration of her faith, walked by faith and not what she sees, the creator of the universe made her faith into a reality.

Jesus is not always expecting a big faith because even a small step to show God your faith is enough to move Him. After coming back to the Philippines alive, Bro Vio became one of our churches elders and kept on inspiring other brethren in our church in Bogo Cebu. His life became a living testimony of the goodness of God. Whenever he goes to Batangas Main Church, he always sing that song: “you’ll never walk alone…” I always made sure I play my piano when he sings that with feelings. His life was filled with the power of God because his wife took action to show God she believed.

May ginagawa ka ba para makita ng Lord ang iyong faith na mangyayari ang iyong mga pangarap? What are those? Of course, mahal tayo ni God but He is not moved by what is wrong with us, He is not moved by what we need. He is moved by our faith. Kapag nakikita ng Lord na may ginagawa ka dahil naniniwala ka, He will do it for you. Gusto mo ma-promote sa trabaho, by faith gigising ka ng maaga, para makapasok on time or earlier and finish the job well-done. Or, yong kahit nakikita mo ang leche plan, hindi mo kakainin yon dahil nasa intermittent fasting ka and you want to lose weight: something amazing will happen.

Kagaya ni Pastora Norma who took a step of faith to get her passport in 1 day, a USA visa in 1 day and fly to Hawaii within 5 days, you will see the hands of God and you can do things beyond your expectation.

May pamangkin akong si Chloe. Nagpromise ang aking mga anak na si Jewel at Chelsey to spend a night over to be with her before they fly back to Abu Dhabi the next day. That plan is to happen on Friday evening. On Friday afternoon, my wife said that the whether is not good so it may be better if Jewel and Chelsey stay in our house and maybe next time Chloe will have a sleep over, maybe in Abu Dhabi and not in London.

Chloe’s mom, Clyde, said to Chloe. But in the evening, she said to her mom to clean the house because Jewel and Chelsey are coming. Clyde said: “Chloe, didn’t I tell you they’re not coming because the weather is not good today...” Chloe did not mind that words from her mom and instead where was her pyjamas. She was talking to herself: “Mommy, this is where I will sleep, on here is Chelsey, and there is Jewel...” Clyde said: “Chloe, didn’t I tell you they’re not coming because the weather is not good today...” Chloe even said to her dad to prepare chicken nuggets because Jewel and Chelsey love them. At 9:00 PM, I saw that they were all wearing pyjamas and giggling together and laughing with each other eating chicken nuggets. Anong nangyari? Jewel and Chelsey’s mom saw Chloe’s faith. She saw how passionate Chloe was and she was touched by how Chloe made a preparation. Chloe’s action spoke louder than words.

Ganyan din ang Lord, He can see your faith. If you want His attention, take action to show your faith. It’s easy to say you believe, but can be it seen?

May isang lalaki na ipinanganak na Buddhist. But at the age of 17, he converted into Christianity. He preached the gospel in a tent with a group of 5 people. Nobody believed him at first. One day, he asked his 5 members to prepare many chairs. He started to pray for the chairs to be sat on by lost souls who will believe in Jesus. He kept inviting people as if he will be preaching in a big crowd. Some people may be asking him, why did you order many chairs when you only have 5 members? Then suddenly, one person came up. Even technical teams said: “I want to accept Jesus not because of your message but because I saw how you preached like you are in a big stadium when nobody was there.” This man is David Yonggi Cho (Korean: 조용기; 14 February 1936 – 14 September 2021 as Paul Yungi Cho) was a South Korean Christian minister. He was the founder of the Yoido Full Gospel Church (Assemblies of God), which he started in a tent with 5 people (including his future mother-in-law Choi Ja-shil and her children as its first members), which eventually became the world’s largest congregation, with a membership of 830,000 (as of 2007). Kapag nakita ng Panginoon ang iyong pananampalataya, great things happen.

In the Bible, there were group of lepers who saw Jesus and asked: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When Jesus saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were on their way, they were cleansed. When one of them saw that he was healed, he came back, praising God in a loud voice.… You will read that: “as they were on their way, they were cleansed…” Habang naglalakad sila, wala silang reklamo, walang bulong bulong: “akala gagaling na tayo pero bakit kelangan pang pumunta sa pari…” Their obedience to the voice of God is the proof of their faith. They got what they believed because they took action to show their faith.

By law, hindi dapat sila lumapit sa mga normal na tao dahil may sakit silang nakakadiri. Ang ketong noon ay isang sakit na nilalayuan ng mga tao. They had infectious disease and it is considered as unclean according to the law of Moses. They could have accepted their fate, “ganito na tayo habang buhay…” but they shouted: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When Jesus saw them…” God needs to see you really believe. They did something to show they believe in the Master by walking towards the priest and while they walked, they were cleansed. Kung nawalan sila ng pananalig na gawin ang ipinagagawa sa kanila ng Diyos, they would have missed that opportunity to see the healing power of God. Maybe they’re talking. “how far are we? Let’s keep going, because every step, parang gumaganda ang balat ko, gumagaling na ako…”

Madalas we are like Thomas: “to see is to believe” mentality. Lord, pag may mga tao na, saka na ako mag preach. Lord, pag ok na ang boss ko, saka na ako magiging mabait at saka na ako papasok ng maaga. But remember that we need to show God of our faith, so He can show us what we desire.

The Bible said that “faith without action is dead.” Maraming tao ang may faith because they said they have it. Pero walang tagumpay sa buhay nila, walang kasaganaan sa buhay nila because faith is not activated by their actions. Kahit ang pinaka maliit na act of faith can activate the biggest miracle of God. Can God see your faith? Don’t be like others whose faith is dead because they do not associate their faith with actions and therefore it does activate the grace of God. Even by attending the church is an act of faith and that faith activates the power of God. He wants you to be a participant of His miracle. Yes he can do the pancake for you because He does need anybody, but He enjoys working with you.

Nasa Diyos ang awa pero kelangan mo pa rin gumawa. Kahit nga yong mga may sakit kelangan nilang sumigaw upang tawagin ang pansin ni Hesus: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When Jesus saw them…”

In Acts of the Apostles chapter 12, it talks about how King Herod chose to hurt, punish, and torture church members. His plan was to kill James, John’s brother, who was also an apostle of Christ. King Herod put Peter in jail and planned to kill him when he saw that this made the Jews happy.

The church got together right away to pray for Peter. They remembered what happened to James and knew what was going to happen to Peter. Therefor, they prayed. Now, we know from the Bible that the Passover holiday lasts for seven days. We also know that King Herod arrested Peter during the Passover week because he wanted to wait until the holiday was over before bringing Peter before the people. This could mean that for three to six days, the church was fervently praying for Peter’s safe release. Though it might have been less, they were hoping for more than a day or two.

We don’t see anything amazing happen in the real world until the night before, when King Herod was about to bring Peter before the people. Heavily guarded by soldiers as they were keeping a close eye on Peter, who was sleeping between two troops when the angel of the Lord miraculously broke him out of jail. It’s funny that the Bible says the angel had to lightly hit Peter on the side. I don’t know how soundly Peter was sleeping. There is no prisoner I know who would sleep so well the night before they were put to death. Peter himself didn’t believe what was going on; he thought it was all a dream. Peter didn’t know that God had sent an angel to save him until they were out of jail and walking down the street. He quickly went to the house where a lot of Christians were gathered. Rhoda, the maid who opened the gate, was so shocked that she left Peter at the gate and ran into the house to tell everyone about the good news.

Imagine what would have happened if the church had decided that what happened to James was God’s will and that Peter’s arrest was meant to happen. What could happened if they prayed for James too? This time for Peter, the church knew they had to do something about what had happened, and they were sure it wasn’t too late. They knew they had a part to play, and it wasn’t just to hope; it took prayer. Besides that, the church didn’t stop praying; it was called “fervent,” so it wasn’t just a few short prayers while they sat in their chairs. There was still prayer going on when they saw Peter at the gate, as you can see from the text. After all that he had done, James’ death was too soon. He could have done so much more. It shouldn’t have happened. Thank God that the church rose up in prayer and the power of the Name of Jesus when Peter was taken. Being able to change things in the spirit world with their prayers and words and making miracles happen. The miracle of Peter’s freedom could be seen when the Lord’s angel came to save him, but it had been building up in the spirit world for a long time. For us to see, the church had already won in the spirit before anything changed in the body.

We need to know that God wants us to be involved in everything, and even more than that, he expects it. Because we are his children, and as we learn more about who he is and what he wants, he wants us to have a say and be in charge of our world. You can’t just hope for things to change; you have to grow up and make changes that are in line with God’s will. It’s not enough to say “God is in charge.”

I believe that if we can show God the reality of our faith on what we do, He can do amazing things and turn things around for our favor.