The Present Tense of Faith

The following is from A. B. Simpson's commentary on Joshua:

"We have the present tense of faith: 'The land which I do give to them, even the children of Israel.' (Josh. 1:2.) God here speaks in the immediate present. It is not something He is going to do, but something He does do, this moment. So faith ever speaks. So God ever gives. So He is meeting you today, in the present moment.

"This is the test of faith. So long as you are waiting for a thing, hoping for it, looking for it, you are not believing. It may be hope, it may be earnest desire, but it is not faith; for 'faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.'

"God meets us first in the future tense, as He did Abraham: 'I will make My covenant between Me and you.' (Gen. 17:2.) But He brings us immediately, if we are willing, into the present tense; so we read, 'My covenant is with you.' (Gen. 17: 4.)

"There must come a moment in your life when you really receive Christ as your Saviour, and in that moment you are saved. There must come a crisis-hour when you yield yourself to Him, and take Him as your Sanctifier, and from that moment you are sanctified.

"The command in regard to believing prayer is in the present tense. 'When you pray, believe that you receive the things that you desire, and you shall have them.' Have we come to that moment? Have we met God in His everlasting Now?"