Fresh Start Daily

Jesus asked His disciples who He is not because He doesn’t know the answer. It is for His disciples to understand who He is.

“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man”, am?” v. 13

The disciples replied, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” v. 14

They gave Him the opinion of others about Him. However, Jesus wanted to know who they think He is so He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” v. 1

Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” v. 16

Jesus praised Peter for his proper declaration of His identity.

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven…” v. 17

It’s amazing that God revealed that truth to and through Peter without him probably realizing it.

“Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.” v. 20

“Before they could preach that Jesus was the Messiah, they had to learn what that meant.” Barclay, enduringword.com

Wow. It’s true that we cannot share God with others if we do not know who He really is. He is more than a prophet like Jeremiah. He is the CHRIST and the SON OF THE LIVING GOD. He is the Messiah. He is God Himself.

We have to know God personally before we can share Him with others. It’s important to spend time with Him privately before going public. His question to His disciples is also a question to all of professing believers.

“But who do you say that I am?” v. 15

Who is Jesus to us? Does our life as believers reflect that we know Him? That we belong to Him?

“We answer this question every day by what we believe and do. If we really believe Jesus is who He says He is, it will affect the way that we live.” enduringword.com

Lelan and I wanted to go to Cabanatuan but we decided to just stay in Manila since we just got back from our Baguio trip. We went to Binondo today instead.

Pinipilahan din itong siopao store na ito pero okay lang din naman ang lasa.

I’m grateful for an enjoyable vacation with my husband in Baguio. I’m grateful for God’s protection. Lelan likes it in Baguio because of the cool temperature. They also have good food. Lelan and I, however, missed home-cooked meals. It’s nice to eat in restaurants but not every day! 😅

In other news. We have Pepper back! We left her with the Tans and they dropped her off tonight. 🤍

Good Shepherd

Mines View Park

Dinner

Tsokolateria

The kenkoys 😆😂🤣

Burnham Park

It rained when we went to Burnham Park. Thank God it didn’t last long. We enjoyed the boat and bike rides. We went to the city market after and bought some pasalubong. Lelan got Sagada coffee for his family and friends back in the U.S.

I lost all of our pictures today… The ones left are those below. We went to Lemon and Olives (Greek Taverna) for brunch and then we headed to Tam-awan Village. We did not really explore the place much because our muscles are still sore from the hike. 😅 We also didn’t feel at ease there. It’s probably because of all the traditional wooden sculptures of nature deities present. It felt dark there. We prayed for the place before we left.

We had our faces sketched by the local artists.

We conquered Mt. Ulap! It was a 9.1 km. traverse. Mt. Ulap is located in Ampucao, Itogon, Benguet. We started hiking at 2 p.m. and reached the summit at 4:50 p.m. It was very cold and foggy up there! We could barely see through the fog. It also started raining when we reached the summit. When we got to the foot of the mountain, it was already dark. Thank God we finished it safe and in one piece!

The Gentile woman’s faith in this story is really great as Jesus said. Jesus was initially cold towards her and rejected her request but she kept asking God.

“But He answered her not a word.” v. 23

“It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” v. 26

She kept asking because she knew Him and she knew that God could help her. Because of that faith in God, Jesus helped her eventually.

“And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him…” v. 22

“Then she came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Lord, help me!'” v. 25

“And she said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master’s table.'” v. 27

She did not stop until Jesus answered her prayer. Her request was not even for herself but for her daughter. She was a Gentile. She knew that the Jews were special in God’s eyes. She did not debate about Jesus calling her one of the “little dogs”. She accepted what Jesus said but still asked for a blessing despite all of it.

“It was as if she said, ‘Jesus, I understand that the focus of Your ministry is to the Jews – that they have a special place in God’s redemptive plan. Yet I also understand that Your ministry extends beyond the Jewish people, and I want to be part of that extended blessing.'” enduringword.com

She kept insisting and because of that, God honored her faith. Her persistence showed that she believed only Jesus could help her daughter.

“‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour.” v. 28

Like the woman in this story, we can cry out to God for help. There are so many wonderful things that touched me in this story.

“Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities, located some 50 miles (80 kilometers) away.” enduringword.com

“We read of nothing else that Jesus did during this time in Tyre and Sidon. It would seem that His only divine appointment was to meet the need of this woman of faith and her afflicted daughter.” enduringword.com

God is so loving to us. Jesus had no other business in Tyre and Sidon but He went there to minister to this Gentile woman. He traveled to those Gentile cities to help the woman and her daughter.