As I was preparing for my Easter Sunday message, I began to think about the account of scripture in the Bible that tells the story of Lazarus and how he was miraculously raised from the dead. Before that spectacular event took place, Jesus had a conversation with Martha, Lazarus’ sister, where he identified himself as the “resurrection and the life”. Jesus then asked Martha the question, “Do you believe this?” Martha answered in the affirmative and the story continued however I stopped right there in my tracks and thought about the question and the power that it possessed, “Do you believe?”
I wonder if Martha had said no would the outcome of Lazarus being raised from the dead have been the same. Even though I understand that this was all a part of God’s plan; I also know the power of believing. When you truly believe or have faith then you can see miracles come true.
I first experienced the power of believing when I was just beginning to get clean and sober. Prior to that I used to see myself always using some type of drug, in fact I had a picture seared into my mind of me as a grandmother smoking a joint on the back porch in a rocking chair. I did not believe that I could live drug and alcohol free. It wasn’t until I got into recovery that I began to have faith and change that picture of me as grandmother smoking marijuana, to me as a grandmother sitting on the back porch sipping sweet tea.
After almost twenty-five years clean and sober I still see the power of believing in action. The most recent event was when I decided that I needed to lose weight after the scale tipped over two hundred pounds. At first I didn’t believe that I could lose the weight but after getting into an organized weight loss program I started believing. Now, twenty pounds lighter, I am still believing to continue to lose weight and keep it off.
During this Resurrection Season let us ponder the question, “Do you believe?” Let us not only believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us also believe that dead things in our lives can be raised to life. This is especially important today because many people have experienced great loss that can often lead to hopelessness after sustained periods of time. Just know that “As Long As There Is Breath In Your Body, There Is Hope” and believe in your ability to bounce back from whatever life may have thrown your way.
Three steps to Believing:
- Trust the source. In the story of Lazarus mentioned above I believe that Martha answered yes to the question, “Do you believe, this?” because she knew, loved, and trusted Jesus.
- Let go of limiting beliefs and imagine that all things are possible.
- Remember past experiences in your life where believing affected the outcome.
Rosalind Y. Tompkins is the author of “As Long As There Is Breath In Your Body, There Is Hope”, “Rare Anointing” “You Are Beautiful” and a contributing author in the newly released, “Girl Get Your Fight Back”. She is the founder of the non-profit organization, Mothers In Crisis, Inc., a life coach and the founder and senior pastor of Turning Point International Church located in Tallahassee, Florida. For more information about Rosalind Y. Tompkins please visit http://www.Rosalindytompkins.com http://Hope-Universe.com














