Wigglesworth was quoted as saying, “If you wait to get faith when you need faith, you’re too late.” Another man said, “Late faith is unavailing. There’s little use accepting arks once the rain begins to fall. Death is such an instant storm that by the time you reach for an umbrella, you already need your water wings. ¹ These words are are certainly true. It’s best to build your faith in God when days are peaceful. It’s then, you can learn some of the nuances involved for a vibrant believing of God’ Word. One of which is this issue of getting your faith into the right tense.

The Power Triplets: Faith, Hope and Love

1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

• This passage in 1 Corinthians lays out three important elements to the Christian experience.
  • Faith, hope, and love.
• You can call faith, hope and love, the power triplets.
• Faith, hope, and love are intertwined.
• Faith works by love the Bible says.

Galatians 5:6 (KJV)
⁶ For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

• Faith also connects to hope.

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

• Love is everything in God.

[Tweet “There are three important elements to the Christian experience; faith, hope, and love.”]

Matthew 22:36–40 (KJV)
³⁶ Master, which is the great commandment in the law? ³⁷ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

• Faith and hope weave their way through the miraculous realm of God’s love.
• But time is an element to be considered, when looking at these power triplets.
• What time dimension is faith in?

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is in the Now Dimension

• Faith is ‘today’ according to this passage in Hebrews.1:1.
• When we believe God, we are to believe Him now.
• We trust in God now.
• It is very important when you are believing the Lord for something in your life, to get the time dimensions correct.
• If you are praying about a need and you are releasing your faith for that, the time dimension your faith should be in is the ‘now’ dimension.
• If you put your faith into the tomorrow time dimension, it won’t work.
• Statements like this are examples of putting faith in the wrong dimension.
  • I believe God WILL do it.
  • I believe God WILL heal me.
  • I believe God WILL deliver me.
  • I believe God WILL bless me.
• Once you believe God, once you release your faith in His Word, it is poor taste to say what you believe He will do.
• Statements set in the future need to be re-examined.
• If it’s ‘not now’, it’s not faith.
• “I believe God WILL do it”, won’t work because it is in the wrong time dimension.
• The correct dimension is, “I believe God HAS ALREADY done it. The answer is on its way.’
• “I believe God WILL heal me” confuses today and tomorrow.
• The Word of God teaches it this way, “I believe God HAS ALREADY healed me and I receive it right now.”
• “I believe God WILL deliver me” mixes up today and tomorrow.
• The scriptures teach deliverance in the past tense because of Jesus victory at Calvary.
• We should rather state, “Because He HAS ALREADY delivered me, I am free now.”
• “I believe God WILL bless me” again fails to differentiate between today and tomorrow.
• The Bible declares that you HAVE ALREADY BEEN blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3).
  • Our confession should be “I’m blessed, I’m blessed, I’m blessed, right now.”
• You may not feel blessed, you may not feel healed, you may not feel victorious, but this is a faith proposition.
• And faith is not motivated by sight.
• If it’s not now, it’s not faith.
• If you say, God is going to give this to me sometime, that’s not faith.
• Faith says I already have it. I have it now.

[Tweet “I believe God WILL do it” won’t work b/c it’s the wrong tense. Correct is, “God HAS ALREADY done it.”]

Mark 11:24 (KJV)
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

• What does Mark 11:24 say about having an answer to prayer?
• When will you get the answer?
• You get the answer, ‘after you believe you receive it’.
• You have to believe you receive first and THEN you get the answer. It’s not the other way around.
• You don’t believe it after you get the answer.
• What good is that?
• If you have the answer, you don’t have to believe anything.
• No, the ‘believing that you receive’ comes first, then comes ‘and you shall have it’.

Love is Also in the Now Dimension

• What time dimension is love in?
• What about the Bible admonition to walk in love’?
• Is love in the today or the tomorrow dimension?
• That’s an easy one to answer.
• When your spouse asks you and says ‘Honey, do you love me?’ and your response to that is, “I love you tomorrow”, how will that work for you?
• I’ll tell you how it will work, you may wake up the next morning with a frying plan imprint on your forehead 🙂
• You will then quickly understand what time dimension love should be in.
• You can’t love somebody tomorrow.
• You cannot be mean and hateful today and love tomorrow. It doesn’t work well.
• Love is today.
• The old saying fits here.

‘Don’t give me flowers tomorrow, give them to me today.’

What About Hope?

• What time dimension is hope in? Is hope in the today or tomorrow dimension?
• What is hope?
• Hope is a future expectation.
• If you are in hope, you’re in the future.
  • I hope you will all go to church next week.
  • I hope you stay after church and fellowship.
• If you hope to get it, it means you don’t have it yet.
• By its very nature, hope is in the tomorrow dimension.

1 Thessalonians 1:3 (KJV)
3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;

• Let’s break this verse down.
• ‘Work of faith’ is the today dimension.
• ‘Labor of love’ is the today dimension.
• ‘Patience of hope’ is the tomorrow dimension.
• We are supposed to operate in faith.
• We are supposed to live in love.
• We are supposed to abide in hope.
• Let’s talk a little about tomorrow.
• There are things that we are supposed to be in hope about.

The Power Triplet: Hope

A Redeemed Body

Romans 8:23–25 (KJV)
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

• We hope for the redemption of our body, a tomorrow attitude.
• But there are some ‘today parts’ here. Can anyone see the ‘today parts’ in this passage?
  • We wait eagerly for it today.
  • Perseverance for it today.
• In other words, our actions today are based on our hope for tomorrow.

The Resurrection

Acts 24:14–15 (KJV)
14 But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: 15 And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.

• You can see the same pattern here with the resurrection.
• We hope for the resurrection tomorrow.
• Where are the today parts?
  • I worship God today.
  • I believe the Word today.

Standing Unashamed before Christ

Philippians 1:20 (KJV)
20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.

• We hope to stand before God without shame, which is a tomorrow attitude.
• But, we allow Christ to be exalted in our bodies by life or death, which is a today attitude.

Hebrews 6:19–20 (KJV)
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

• So with the three power triplets, faith, hope, and love, we have both today and tomorrow dimensions.

Call to Action:

You have seen that it can be vital to know what realm you are operating in. Maybe you need to make some adjustments and pull your believing of God into the right realm, into the right dimension. After all, this is what this Christian life is all about, adjustments.