¹¹ The Pharisees came out and started an argument with Jesus. They wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven. ¹² Jesus groaned and said, “Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one!”  ¹⁶ The disciples talked this over and said to each other, “He must be saying this because we don’t have any bread.”

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you talking about not having any bread? Don’t you understand? Are your minds still closed? ¹⁸ Are your eyes blind and your ears deaf? Don’t you remember ¹⁹ how many baskets of leftovers you picked up when I fed those five thousand people with only five small loaves of bread?”

“Yes,” the disciples answered. “There were twelve baskets.”

²⁰ Jesus then asked, “And how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up when I broke seven small loaves of bread for those four thousand people?” 

“Seven,” they answered.

²¹ “Don’t you know what I am talking about by now?” Jesus asked.  – Mark 8

Faith is the evidence of things hoped for and evidence of things not see. Hebrews 11:1

There are lessons to be learned on these verses:

1. They wanted to test him by asking for a sign from heaven.  –  This is the problem of God with me – we lack faith in God and belief in His plans. We keep questioning God’s ability.
2. “Why are you always looking for a sign? I can promise you that you will not be given one!” – God was under no obligation to satisfy further demands of unbelief and willful rejection of the innumerable signs that were being manifested everyday. So Jesus left.
3. “Why are you talking about not having any bread? Don’t you understand? Are your minds still closed? – 

7 Reasons why the Word of God is not understood:

1. Reasoning – it implies doubt and unbelief;
2. Lack of perception – implying dullness;
3. Ignorance – implying lack of interest and study;
4. Hardness of heart – implying stubborness and rebellion;
5. Dull eyes – implying willful blindness of truth;
6. Dull ears – implying willful rejection of truth;
7. Dull forgetfulness – implying willful forgetfulness – talk about tithes as a ‘remembrance’ that God is good. The healing 10 lepers and only 1 came back.

Deuteronomy 8:11-16 – Make sure you don’t forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today. Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up—make sure you don’t become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God.

Note that these are ‘willful’. Yung ginusto hindi yung tipong ‘nabigla’ lang or hindi sinasadya.

People do have to reason, doubt, question, hardened the heart, be dull in seeing and hearing and be forgetful. There was no excuse for the disciples to be in this class because they have witnessed all the miracles of Jesus i.e. the feeding of the 5,000, the healings of the blinds, the transfiguration, the walking on the water, the deliverance of those people bound by devils. They should have enough faith in Christ by now to meet every problem.

Faith is not believing God can do it. It is knowing that He will. 

Without faith it is impossible to please Him… —Hebrews 11:6

We learned that faith without work is dead and useless. What about you? What have you done for your dreams to happen? Do you just believe and hope things will work out on its own. Do not forget what St James said:

faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. – James 2:17

Tama ang kasabihan: “good things happen to those who go and get it…” Pag gusto mo, sige gawin mo.

Action is an expression of faith. – Don Magsino

Marami ang nangagarap lamang ngunit hindi kumikilos. There was a saying by Mahatma Gandhi: “If you do nothing, there will be no result.” Tama ang sabi ng sikat na basketball player: “I am not the greatest player, but I have taken many shots and fail but the more shots I take, the more chances I get…”

Victory comes to those who persevere. Napoleon Bonaparte

Looking back at the Bible when Joshua and Caleb’s report saying they can do it despite knowing that they are facing giants. Those 10 other spies said was true because that’s what they saw. They looked like ants and there is no match if they proceed with the attack. But these 10 cowards died without seeing the Promise Land. Joshua and Caleb lived and saw the land promised by God – the land where milk and honey flows.

Without faith it is impossible to please Him… —Hebrews 11:6

The only way to please God is when we put our full confidence in Him. God will sometimes allow sickness, problems and lack to test how strong your faith is. Do you see God in times of troubles? Are you the Sedrach, Messach and Abednego who know that God will be there even in the hottest fire? Do you see Jesus during the storm walking in the water? Do you see Jesus multiplying the breads when we only have 2 fish and 5 loaves?

The story of a two boys who received a very expensive lego and the pooh. The one who received the lego complaints saying how difficult to put things away. The other one who received the pooh said: “thanks mom and dad, I know I have a horse outside…”

The man who received a bible on his birthday when he was asking for a brand new car. He was so angry to his dad. His father died and he only opened the bible at the funeral, and upon opening the bible, a car key fell out on the floor. His dad kept the key all these years in the bible without telling him.

Haven’t we got it yet? These things that happen to us are just a test! A test for us to pass. We don’t know that those trials and hardships there are the ‘car keys’ so to speak. If you only trust the Lord and put our full confidence in Him, nothing is impossible with God.

He can open the Red Sea for us to pass to pass through. Put your faith to the test. This God that we serve is a loving God…He will never fail us nor forsake us. He will be with us through the fire, through the heat. The God of Abraham, of Moses, of Joshua is the same God we serve. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

He is the same God who spoke to Sarah and said: “Is there anything to hard for me…”

You are what you believe yourself to be. – Paulo Coelho

Tama ang isang kasabihan, “pag gusto, may paraan, pag ayaw may dahilan.” If you believe that it will work out, you will see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles.

We have to choose faith in everything we do. When we activate our confidence in God, we tap into the most powerful force in the universe.

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” — Matthew 17:20 (NLT)

So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. — Matthew 17:20 (NKJV)

Jesus is telling his disciples that they have a belief problem which can be countered with faith, even in small amounts.

In the dictionary, it says that Belief means:

Belief – An opinion or judgement in which a person is fully persuaded.

So our beliefs are things that we are thoroughly convinced of. Usually (but not always) they are ideas, concepts that we gather through acquiring information and experience. Because of that, our beliefs can change over time as we gain more knowledge and experience more things throughout our lives.

Faith = ( Belief × Action × Confidence )

Faith includes our beliefs, but it is bigger than that. Faith requires action. If it doesn’t move us to do something or say something – actually take some kind of action – it’s not really faith at all. James said it this way.

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. — James 2:17

The Promised Land

God had promised the Israelites that they would be able to conquer the land with its indigenous Canaanite nations. Moses instructed the spies to report back on the agriculture and lay of the land. However, during their tour, the spies saw fortified cities and resident giants, which frightened them and led them to believe that the Israelites would not be able to conquer the land as God had promised. Ten of the spies decided to bring back an unbalanced report, emphasizing the difficulty of the task before them.

They gave Moses this account,

“We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are very powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.”— Numbers, 13:27-28

Never let your fear decide your future.

Two of the spies — Joshua and Caleb — did not go along with the majority and tried to convince the Israelites that they could conquer the land:

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” — Numbers, 13:30

However, the Israelite community believed the majority’s conclusions. All of the spies, except Joshua and Caleb, were struck down with a plague and died.

The Israelites’ belief of the false report  was considered a grave sin by God.

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there were of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” — Numbers, 13:31-33

Corresponding to the 40 days that the spies toured the land, God decreed that the Israelites would wander in the wilderness for 40 years as a result of their unwillingness to take the land. Moreover, the entire generation of men who left Egypt during the Exodus would die in the desert, save for Joshua and Caleb who did not slander the land.

I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. – John 10:10

John 5:40
yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

I truly believe in the saying if you don’t ask, the answer is always no. You don’t get what you don’t ask for. This is how the brother in the story of the “Prodigal Son” in Luke 15

²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

As I study this text, I was looking when the time this older brother asked his dad to have a goat or a lamb or beef to celebrate with his friends. But the Bible is silent about this. Was it because this brother did not ask.

Maliwanag ang sinasabi ng Bibliya, “ask and you shall receive”. This parable shows that the father is a wealthy man. He is not poor or middle class, but he is a rich man with a estate or big properties. In many countries in the world, a estate is means huge land – also known real estate. The cost of a goat or a lamb, is nothing or insignificant as compared to what the father has as his possession. Maliit na halaga ang presyo ng isang kambing or tupa.

In James 4:2-3

“You do not have because you do not ask God.”

Is that a reason why the brother did not get even a small portion of his father treasure? Pwede mo bang sisihin ang Diyos na hindi Niya ibinigay ang bagay na kelangan mo?

Whenever we ask, it shows dependency upon God. It shows confidence, also known as faith, in God. The only way we can ask God to move is when we show full confidence and faith upon Him. Not by crying, not be tears but only through faith. Unbelief holds people back and they fail to achieve what they want.

Ask came from the Greek word: “aiteo” which means:

• to ask;
• to crave;
• to desire; and
• to require or demand

Let’s take these words in turns for better understanding.

To ask:

John 15:7 (NIV)  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Importante na may personal relationship tayo sa Diyos, yung kilala ka ng Lord. Naaala ko sa President Duterte nagsabi: “may hinihingi kayo tapos tinitita nyo naman ako…” You remain in God and God’s word remain in you, ok kayo.

To crave

Mark 15:43 New International Version (NIV)

43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.

To beg

Matthew 27:58 New International Version (NIV)

58 Going to Pilate, he [Joseph Arithmatea] asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

• talk about the begging of Esther to King Xerxes

To require or demand

The idea here is to demand something due to one because of family and redemptive rights.

If you do not go after what you want, you will never get it.  If you do not step forward, you will always be in the same place.

SEEK

Jesus went on to say, “Seek, and you will find” (Matthew 7:7b). What is it believers ought to be seeking? It is God Himself!

Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Seeking God’s kingdom means putting God’s plan before our own; seeking God’s righteousness means setting a priority on personal holiness and desiring to be sanctified.

That word “these” refer to the worries and anxiety of people in Matthew 6:25:

“what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear…”

But God said if you seek me first, I will give you all ‘these’ things. Unahin muna natin ang kaharian ng Diyos at ang lahat ng mga bagay ay ibibigay ng Diyos sa atin.

Ito ang hindi madalas makita ng mga tao: sa Diyos lamang nagmumula ang lahat ng mabubuting bagay. Na kung uunahin natin ang Diyos, walang bagay na hinihingi tayo ang hindi Niya kayang ibigay. But people find it easy to do it their way. Like Frank Sinatra: “I did it my way.” They don’t do it God’s way.

For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities– all things have been created through Him and for Him. 1 Colossians 1:16

Lahat ng bagay ay ginawa sa pamamagitan Niya at para sa Kanya. Walang bagay sa daigdig na hindi sa Kanya. Walang nawawala sa Diyos kung magbibigay sya sa iyo. But you need to seek the face of the King.

• talk about the seeking of the baby Jesus

KNOCK

The door is never opened in the East until the one who knocks is first questioned:

Luke 11:5-8 New International Version (NIV)

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[a] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

“You will continue to suffer if you have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. True power is sitting back and observing things with logic. True power is restraint. If words can control you, that means everyone else can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass.” Warren Buffett, American Billionaire

The more I live the more I find that we all say things we don’t really mean – to offend or hurt other’s feelings. Minsan nabibigla lang tayo or minsan naman talaga ay gusto nating iparating ang ating damdamin.

But how to handle objections, rejections and even humiliations? Let’s learn from these giants of faith.

David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him talking with the soldiers. Eliab was angry with him and said, “What are you doing here, anyway? Who’s taking care of your little flock of sheep out in the desert? You spoiled brat! You came here just to watch the fighting, didn’t you?” 1 Samuel 17:28

This was the time when David was just asked by his father to bring food to his brothers. Pero galit na galit ang kuya ni David na si Eliab at minaliit pa nya si David na tagapag alaga lamang daw ng mga tupa. He was trying to say offending words but did what was David’s reaction? Did he retaliate?

No!

He did not mind Eliab at all. But rather he asked an objective question what will be winning prize. In 1 Samuel 17

David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine…? The response was: “To the man who kills Goliath, the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”

Even the King Saul told David how young he is and why it would be impossible for him to win the fight.

…But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

I remember what St Matthew said that sometimes our family members will hold us back.

A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ Matthew 10:36

Do you see how good people who may have ‘good’ intentions for you will try to stop you from becoming God wants you to be? Sad to say there are times that those people who are very close to us will be overly protective that we miss our chances to achieve great things in life.

David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. David added, “The LORD who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17

We all know that he cut-off Goliath’s head and the Philistines ran away in fear! Should David become reactive of the words he heard from Eliab and King Saul he could have missed his chance to become one of the greatest kings of Israel.

Warren Buffett is one of my favorite businessmen and he may even had many failures. It is the reason perhaps he said not to have an emotional reaction to everything that is said to you. If words can control you, that means everyone else can control you. Breathe and allow things to pass.

We must sometimes ignore or forgive negativity being said to us. Even Jesus in the midst of his dying moment but being taunted and mocked by people said: “Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.”

A success cannot be considered a success if it is not harnessed through constant criticisms and setbacks.

Fire tests the purity of silver and gold…Proverbs 27:21

One time there was a time when Barthamaeus was shut up by the Disciples. But the more he was stopped, the more he kept shouting the name of Jesus who noticed Him.

When we learn the character of being tenacious and resilient, chasing God is the only way we can move Him.

Those hurting or mean words can hurt but you must allow it to pass or ignore it completely. Pag binato ka daw ng bato, gumawa ka ng hagdan upang matungtungan sa pag-abot ng iyong mga pangarap. It’s ok you heard them talking about and spreading fake news about you. Sometimes being silent is an answer to a fool. Let them see how God will lift you higher and better – the more they put you down, the more God picks you up.

Keep walking when dogs bark. Just like David, keep your eyes on the goal: the winning prize!