Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto Him, Yea, Lord.
—Matthew 9:28
If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.
—Mark 9:23-24
Jesus said unto her…He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live…Believest thou this? She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord: I believe.
—John 11:25-27
To what we have seen and heard of Christ Jesus, our hearts are ready to say with Martha, “Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God” (John 11:27). But when it comes to believing in Christ’s promises of the power of the resurrection life and of His abiding presence with us, we do not find it so easy to say, “I believe that this omnipotent, omnipresent, unchangeable Christ, our Redeemer God, will actually walk with me all day long and will give me the unceasing awareness of His holy presence.” It almost looks too good to be true. And yet it is just this faith that Christ asks for and is waiting to work within us.
It is well that we understand clearly the conditions on which Christ offers to reveal to us in our daily lives the secret of His abiding presence. God cannot force His blessings on us against our will. He seeks in every possible way to stir our desire and to help us to realize that He is able and most willing to make His promises true. The resurrection of Christ from the dead is His great plea, His all‑prevailing argument. If He could raise that dead Christ, who had died under the burden of all our sin and curse, surely now that Christ has conquered death and is to us the Resurrection and the Life, He can fulfill in our hearts His promise that Christ can be so with us and in us that He will be our life all day long.
And now, in view of what we have said and seen about Christ as our Lord, as our Redeeming God, the great question is whether we are willing to take His word in its fullness of meaning and to rest in the promise: “Lo, I am with you alway[s]” (Matthew 28:20). Christ’s question comes to us: “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” Let us not rest until we have bowed before Him and said, “Yea, Lord: I believe.”