Past Tense Promises

April 21, 2014

Are you facing overwhelming odds? A near impossible scenario? Something that seems to you like an unwinnable battle? Then, learn from an 80-year old warrior today.

Joshua had just crossed the Jordan, after 40 grueling years in the wilderness. His first encounter was a city with walls so thick that four chariots could run abreast across the top and gates shut so tight that no one came out nor in. But the Lord made a curious statement to Joshua:

""See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors."" (Joshua 6:2)

There is an advantage that the observant believer has that no one else possess. He is armed with the One Who Sees. Because he is united with the Father, the believer—regardless of education, status, gifting or situation—has the perspective of the One with perfect vision. Who sees time and eternity at once. To whom there is no past, present, nor future, for every moment is at His disposal.

That is why God speaks in advance of the battle to Joshua, but speaks in past tense. ""I have given Jericho into your hand,"" He said, yet nothing had happened that Joshua could physically see. Not a finger had been lifted to even approach the city, yet God proclaimed the battle completed and Joshua victorious.

The Common Unbelief

Most men scoff at this because of their unbelief in God or their thought that the believer who trusts such a God is foolish. But it is they who are foolish not to place their dependence upon the One Who Sees.

The wise man is he who listens carefully and proceeds wholeheartedly after ""every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."" This man, when arriving at his destination, finds the outcomes of his battles already determined.

In days preceding revival and the overcoming of the enemies of God, the Lord looks for men who will live in great faith and move forward with trumpets in hand.

Are you in a position to hear His voice? What does He see and what is He saying about the environment around you? Trust Him and move forward in faith.

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