Why must the new thought pattern be couched in the present tense? Why do we say, "I AM PROSPERITY" instead of saying, "I SHALL BE PROSPEROUS"? Why must we claim something we do not have? Life always works in the present tense by direct affirmation. Jesus declared, "I AM THIS," or "I AM THAT," or "I AM THE OTHER THING," and immediately the thing decreed began to take form according to Law. To say that we shall be prosperous is well and good, but we are putting our prosperity off until some future time. To affirm our good in the present is to cause it to appear. Law, plus acceptance, plus belief is the pattern. If the idea of prosperity is to become a power in our lives, we must inwardly accept it as a present fact. Our thought, will, imagination, and feeling must agree with what we say.