Faith Treats the Future as Present!

6.8.2025

 

Introduction

John 16:33

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

One of the greatest things I learned about the Lord when I was young was this principle of faith He lives by!

Mark 11:24

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

I will come back to this.

Dr. J. Oswald Sanders Quote:

Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

Believing right now that you receive answers to your prayers is the key to overcoming the pressure and needs that life brings your way!

God does not respond to need. He responds to faith!

Smith Wigglesworth:

There is something about believing God that will cause God to pass over a million people just to get to you!

Satan wants you to doubt, to look at your thoughts and feelings, and to be afraid that nothing will ever change for the better!

Kenneth Hagin:

If Satan can keep you in the arena of thought, he will whip you, but if you can keep him in the arena of faith, you will defeat him in every challenge.

Your enemy can outthink you, but if you keep him in the faith, arena he has nothing that can defeat you if you will stand.

I learned this first in my late teens when I came to Jesus. I had been in church for almost 18 years! Did not know this!

You may be facing a huge crisis right now.

Faith, believing that you receive, is the ingredient that will get you through it.

Many speak of faith as an abstract – it’s somewhat nebulous and innocuous. As if faith is just something you have to help you grunt through life, but it doesn’t change anything.

But faith is a force that comes from your spiritual life that will bring you through the toughest things that life brings your way!

Jesus said:

 

Mark 9:23 (NKJV)

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

 

Matthew 8:13 (NKJV)

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.”

 

Matthew 9:22 (NKJV)

But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

Matthew 9:27-29 (NKJV)

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”

28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

 

Faith always receives right now what God promises!

When praying for certain things personally, it’s important to remember that faith is never future tense.

Faith is always past or present tense.

Hope is the future tense.

To cooperate with the Lord and receive from Him, keep your tenses right!

If you’re just hoping that one day in the future things will be different, you’ll not receive from the Lord.

It’s not hoping one day in the future that things will be different, but it’s believing that God has already answered, or is answering your prayer that brings results!

Notice what Jesus said about praying in faith in Mark 11:22-24.

Mark 11:22-23 (NKJV)

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.

This next verse has simply revolutionized how I have lived my life.

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, whatever things (John 15:7) you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Question some have – I would be lying if I said I have something and I don’t have it.

You’re not saying you have it, you are saying you believe you receive it. There’s a big difference.

 

Mark 11:24 (AMPC)

For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].

 

Mark 11:24 (New Century Version)

So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you.

 

Mark 11:24 (God’s Word)

That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours.

 

Mark 11:24 (English Standard Version)

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

 

Mark 11:24 (Complete Jewish Bible)

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.

 

Mark 11:24 (Bible in Basic English)

For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it.

 

Hebrews 11:1 (New Century Version)

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.

Dr. J. Oswald Sanders Quote:

Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

Example: The Certificate of Occupancy and sign off for the building project we finished 2 years ago kept being put off.

Thoughts bombarded my mind telling me it would not happen for a long, long time, and expenses would keep going up!

I acted on Mark 11:24!

Two years ago, our retention pond was simply not ready and I found out that it would cost over 60,000.00 to bring it into compliance. That money was NOT in our budget.

To deal with it, I acted on Mark 11:24.

Here we are, two years later, with the pond, the Occupancy Certificate, and the childcare open!

Declare the end from the beginning!

Isaiah 46:9-10 (AMPC)

[Earnestly] remember the former things, [which I did] of old; for I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose,

Jonah did this!

Jonah 2:3-4 (NKJV)

For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

Are you willing to declare the end from the beginning?

Call those things that do not exist as though they did!

Romans 4:17 (NKJV) (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

Romans 4:18-21 (NKJV)

Who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

Speak and act as though you believe you have what you have asked God for.

If you are depressed, weighed down, feeling low, ask God to set you free from it, and then believe you receive and say you believe you receive while the feelings are still there.

If you are believing for healing – pray – then start acting and praising and thanking God as though you were healed already, even before the symptoms stop.

Don’t ignore the problem. Speak God’s Word in the face of the problem!

If you are believing for finances, then pray, believe you receive, and act like, talk like, and praise and thank God like you already have what you asked for!

If you are believing for a job, act like, talk like, and praise and thank God like you already had what you asked for.

Examples of faith receiving right now:

 

Joshua

Joshua 6:1-2

Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. 2 And the Lord said to Joshua: See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.

 

God spoke to them in the past tense about Jericho. The walls were still up. Yet God had promised that the city was already theirs!

 

Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3 (NKJV)

Now the LORD had said to Abram: get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Genesis 17:5

No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.

God changed Abram’s name to Abraham! Exalted father became “father of a multitude.” He and Sarah had zero children when God changed his name!

 

Romans 4:17

(as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed — God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

 

Jesus spoke in the past tense when praying for Lazarus to be raised!

John 11:39-44 (NKJV)

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” 41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42 And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” 44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

Faith is a fight!

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

 

Fight – Greek – agœnízomai:

to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary)

The fight is to defy negative thoughts and feelings when it looks like it isn’t working.

Make it your habit every day after you pray and ask and to say out loud what you believe!

Action Points:

1. Am I willing to pray and to believe that I receive what I pray for right now?

2. Am I willing to talk and act like I believe I receive the answer before any changes come?

3. Am I willing to fight negative thoughts and feelings even when it looks like nothing has changed?