When Jesus Asks Us a Question


Don't we sometimes have questions in our minds? Or more aptly at times, don't we "hear" questions in our minds? Unknowingly (and if we're really born again), we hear God ask us questions in our minds and often we think it's our subconscious speaking to us.


Well, sometimes it's our subconscious, sometimes it's God himself. But even if it's the subconscious, it's still the Holy Spirit talking to us through our subconscious. It's the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits.

God does talk a lot. It's among unnoticed truths in the unseen gospel.

Why does God ask us questions? Isn't he all-knowing? Doesn't he know everything? One time, 5,000 men (not counting the women and kids) followed Jesus to a remote place after they saw how he miraculously healed the sick. It was getting late and the crowd was hungry. Jesus wanted to feed them and he already knew how. Yet, he asked Philip, his disciple: "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?"

He did this to test Philip. Or more precisely, he gave him opportunity to practice his faith or activate miraculous powers. Would he rely on God's supernatural powers or on man's effort? Sadly, Philip used his human wisdom and relied on human effort---what man could do.

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
There's the problem with human effort---it always comes short of solving impossible problems designed for supernatural solutions. Human effort always relies on what's available and visible at hand---the resources, abilities and skills of man. These things can do some remedy but never completely. That's why churches today are half-baked, lukewarm (neither hot or cold), because what they accomplish, (though grand) is always incomplete.

Only God's power makes everything complete.

Andrew almost got it right, pointing to the small boy with some loaves of bread and fish. The boy and bread and fish were God's intended instruments to perform an awesome miracle that late afternoon, but later Andrew missed it. He changed his mind and doubted whether the boy, bread and fish were solutions. Again, it was a case of reliance on what available material was at hand instead of God's power.
"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
Hadn't they seen Jesus perform powerful miracles out of nothing? Didn't they understand? Well, most times we also don't. Jesus would whisper a question in our minds and we disappoint him by relying on what the material world can provide, or what man can do, instead of what God can give. Sometimes, we have a headache and we hear a question in our minds saying, "What shall you do?" And the first thing we do is reach out for an analgesic or paracetamol.

Umm, how about oil? Why not anoint yourself with oil and pray and see how God would miraculously get rid of the headache? Nope, we see paracetamol and analgesic more powerful than oil and prayer, which seem weak. We forget that God's power is made perfect in weakness. God provided the disciples with a small boy, few small loaves of bread and fish, but they looked weak and useless to them. They'd rather send the people to the villages to buy something to eat [Matt.14.15]. That's typical of human solutions. 

But Jesus proved them wrong. With only a few, he fed about 10,000 people if we include the women and children. 

Often, Jesus would ask us questions to test us. I often hear him ask me in my mind, and I'd recognize it's his voice because the questions sound familiar---I've read them somewhere in the bible. The questions give us opportunity to put our faith to practice. As we practice our faith and strengthen it, we soon learn Kingdom principles on how to activate miracles in various situations. Faith is strengthened by obeying the Word, especially when using it for supernatural remedies.

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The next time you hear a question in your mind, make sure your reply is spiritual. Put bible truths to work and activate God's supernatural powers.




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