Claiming God's Promises Limitlessly
I titled the study materials for Joshua as Possessing the Promised Land, and the theme for chapter 13 is: There remains very much land yet to be possessed. Today, we must understand that Christians cannot exhaust all of God's promises in a lifetime because God's promises are too numerous. Knowing God is limitless, and claiming God's promises is also limitless.
The scripture says:
Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the Lord said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. (Joshua 13:1)
Why didn't God wait until all the land was conquered before telling Joshua that he had possessed all the promised land? In reality, God's promises are inexhaustible in our lives. This chapter is all about the places that have not been possessed. Today, as we build the church, looking around, there are still too many places that have not been possessed!
A sister's son suffered from depression. Her son accidentally discovered our website, listened to it repeatedly himself, and then introduced it to his mother. After that, they insisted on coming to see me. He didn't know that these mental illnesses and depressions can be easily healed through online prayer. They thought that the problem could only be solved by seeing the person in person, but it's not necessary. How many people among us have been healed! Every one of my co-workers has ministered deliverance to mentally ill patients.
Looking around, I realize that there are too many places where we need to lead God's people to possess the promises! I am very anxious, but what can I do with my limited ability? So I came up with a solution. I tried my best to train batches of disciples, but it's still not enough. I want to say to this child's mother: Actually, what you need most is not to chase after a pastor. What you need most is to stand up and become a leader, someone who can fight and win, who can possess the promised land, and who can lead others into the promised land.
I am very moved that many church pastors tell them that this situation can only be treated by seeing a psychiatrist and taking antidepressants. I believe they must have seen in the Bible that God is not such a God, so they listened desperately online. Some time ago, they finally found us online and insisted on coming to see me.
They don't know that I have a rule: you have to grow well! It is easy to solve your problem, but if you are really willing to grow up and become a leader, I would love for you to come here for training. I hope that our brothers and sisters will all desire to possess the promised land. Even someone like Joshua, who wholeheartedly followed God, still had much land to be possessed. Joshua fought all his life, a military career, and continued to lead troops to fight and conquer territories at a very old age, constantly claiming God's promises! We must fight all our lives!
Believing in Faith That We Have Already Possessed the Unpossessed Land
At this time, Joshua was old, and God was about to take him back. So, how should we deal with the many unpossessed lands? Distribute both the possessed and the unpossessed lands. If the unpossessed lands are also distributed, are they considered possessed or not? Christians must have a vision that you must believe you have already possessed it when you have not yet possessed it.
Why did Joshua lead the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for forty years? Actually, Joshua was wronged because the ten spies implicated him with their bad report. Although the ten spies died, Joshua and Caleb were also unable to enter the promised land, and they wandered in the wilderness. Joshua knew in faith that he would possess the promised land, and in the end, he really possessed it, but there was still much that had not been possessed. At this time, he distributed the unpossessed lands as well.
Joshua said to the Israelites: Although these lands have not yet been possessed, I am giving them to you today! So, the most important thing for Christians is to believe in faith that they have already possessed it, even if they have not yet possessed it. Even if you are as wholeheartedly following God as Joshua, you must know that there is still much land to be possessed.
Think about it, how many desperate Christians are there in the world? The mother of this child said something that surprised me very much. She said: If I can't find you again, I will go to worship idols! Although what she said was outrageous, it showed a group of people struggling in despair!
In the days of Jesus, Jesus looked around and said: Behold! The harvest is ripe, and there is much harvest to be reaped, but the laborers are few! Let us ask God to send more workers. Who should we send? Let us tell God: I am the one you want to send! Let us ask God to send ourselves to the promised land to bring God's people into God's kingdom. In this generation, we will see God's miraculous deeds.
I am very surprised that there are too many absurd things in the Christian faith today. Actually, I am not a perfect person either, I have a quick temper and many shortcomings. It doesn't matter how many shortcomings I have, but I have a determination in me, which is to hope to be used by God. There is an American prophet named Rick Joyner, he said: God will raise up God's people in this generation, and these God's people will correct many errors in the Christian faith, unprecedentedly correcting the errors in the faith.
After hearing this, I excitedly said: God, it's me! Many people say that you are too presumptuous. Because that is the unpossessed land! I can't wait to possess it! That is what God wants to do in this generation. As for whether I can handle it, I don't know, but I believe that as long as I am willing, God will surely enable me to handle it.
Seeing many Christians struggling in darkness and no one really cares, I am very moved. Even if there are a thousand or ten thousand churches like us in this world, they cannot minister to everyone. Therefore, I am determined in my heart to tell God: God, today there is still much unpossessed land, raise us up! Fortunately, we are an online church. As long as there is internet and a mobile phone, we can grow in ministry, and we will spread the gospel to the ends of the earth through the internet.
I am a very presumptuous person. Once I read in the Bible: Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, manifest God's glory on the whole earth, and govern it. I said that this refers to us, our generation is such a generation. Where there is internet, that is our base for ministry! I am very helpless, there are too many people who need ministry, even if we use all our time to minister, we cannot minister to everyone!
We minister non-stop, constantly training leaders. Sometimes I am so tired that I am very moved. Training them over and over again, they hurt my heart. I am very upset. Why? I train them with great effort, but they have crooked thoughts in their minds. I can only suppress my anger again. It's difficult, but I must be patient and train them little by little.
In my faith, although there is still much unpossessed land, in all the days of my life, I will be like Joshua, like Paul, fighting the good fight for God all my life. Many of us may not be worthy in many ways today, but thank God, God has actually chosen us. Some people say, why do you say that God has chosen you? Because I believe, I believe that God has chosen us, and I have a heart in me that is wholeheartedly following God. I really like people like Joshua and Caleb, these people are so great!
God Will Surely Let Us Possess Our Families
Recently, I have been doing training all day long. My co-worker asked me: Do you have a hobby of photography? I said no, I only have one hobby, which is serving God. I want to encourage our brothers and sisters once again to stand where you are now, look around, and carefully look at your unpossessed land. Your family is your unpossessed land. Today, we still have much unpossessed land. We must all begin to rise up. May our God do wonderful work among us.
A few days ago, one of our sisters almost broke down because her grandfather died. Her uncle was very interesting. He wasn't very filial when the old man was alive, and he didn't care about anything. After the old man died, he was very enthusiastic about handling the funeral, holding the urn, and running around. After the funeral, one day her uncle suddenly wanted to jump off the building and commit suicide. This sister of ours is very powerful. The people I train are all very powerful. She went up and pinned her uncle down, dragged him back from the window, and then started to cast out demons, pray, and fuss. The result was very effective. Although it was a bit rough, it's really not possible to be too gentle when facing this kind of situation where they want to jump off the building and die.
She shared the whole wonderful scene with me. I said thank God, that is your unpossessed land. Although it has not yet been possessed, let us begin in our faith and believe that God will surely let us possess it, and God will surely let us possess our family. Because we are the ones with the greatest faith in the family, we must become the ones with the highest seniority in our family, and we must become the salvation of our family, the blessing of our family! As a result, this sister really blessed her uncle, and went to minister to them again the next day.
Change Your Vision and See the Promised Land
I am very grateful to God that if all our brothers and sisters have already possessed the unpossessed land in faith, that is, before it has been possessed, the land has been divided, which is called demarcating land as property. The United States is so big that Americans have learned to stake out land by riding around it. After riding around in a circle, setting up a few stakes would make it their land. This was all learned from Joshua, and they eventually possessed it.
Americans also invented something: An American sold land deeds on the moon. He divided the moon into several pieces according to longitude and latitude, and he actually sold quite a few, making a lot of money. Even though he had never been to the moon, he possessed that land in faith. If one day you go to a place and find that no one wants it, quickly stake out the land. Circle it and it's yours, possessing that land in faith.
In the days of Joshua, there were still many places in Canaan that had not been possessed, but they were distributed first, and then they were fought for after the distribution, and after the fight, they belonged to them. God is revealing a truth to us, can we divide the internet in your faith and mine? We begin to build God's glorious church on the internet, so that God's people can receive great grace through us. Not only will we be a blessing to them, but they will also be a blessing to more people. We multiply and possess the whole earth in the spirit on the internet. Today, many things on the internet are great, such as Jingdong and Taobao. We must also occupy a place on the internet.
I often see strange people. Because they are not enlightened in their understanding, they receive many blessings among us, but they say no, they must go to the local physical church! What is this mentality? We need to think the problem through. For example, isn't a Taobao store a store? Do you have to go to a physical store? It is so troublesome for people to go to physical stores now. After experiencing the convenience of online shopping and WeChat payment in China, when we return to Singapore, we can't find anything online when we want to buy something, and we have to go to each industrial park, physical store by physical store. It is very troublesome.
It is so good in China, just click a few times on your phone and the goods will arrive. Some people feel that it is not good and they have to go to a physical store. This is not having a vision for the future, nor seeing the vast promised land on the internet.
Too many people have received our grace through the Internet, and what's more, you yourself can become a leader leading people into the Promised Land. Take that sister of ours, for example, who travels a long way back home to serve, and then has to return to her own place. What if there are more people at home who need to be served? Serve them through the Internet.
The Internet is the most wonderful invention of this generation. The Internet is good! For example, going to a physical church, in the heat of summer there's often a strong smell of sweaty feet. Do we need to put up with that? No need. Whether you can listen there, or do something else, what's the difference? It's all the same.
I want to take everyone to a new height. At that time, Joshua obtained the land of Canaan; today, we obtain the promises of Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ, God's promises are all yes, no matter how many. It's just a matter of whether we consider Jesus Christ to be the most precious treasure, willing to spend our entire lives pursuing Him.
I want to thoroughly correct this. Regardless of whether we are suitable material or not, we must know in faith that this is God's will. God is searching in heaven and on earth for suitable vessels, and then God will greatly use these vessels to manifest His glory. Joshua was old and advanced in years, yet there was still much land to be possessed! Today, we are not old, and we have even more land to be possessed. May God raise us up in this generation, in all parts of the world, to be a blessing to the whole earth. May God raise up more leaders to follow in our footsteps, together in these end times, to become people who possess the Promised Land!
It also mentions the two and a half tribes here. Although they had already obtained the Promised Land east of the Jordan River, they still had to go with the other tribes to the west of the Jordan, to possess those lands that had not yet been possessed. When these things are mentioned, there is a very interesting sentence that follows:
Only to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance; the sacrifices by fire to the LORD God of Israel are their inheritance, as he said to them. (Joshua 13:14)
After they had finished dividing, there was no inheritance for the tribe of Levi. If you were from the tribe of Levi, how would you feel? The LORD promised them that God is their inheritance. Since God is their inheritance, would they be utterly destitute? After reading the Book of Joshua, we will find that the tribe of Levi obtained it! But at this time, the tribe of Levi had not yet obtained it. Did they still have faith in God in their hearts?
Although it is said that God is our inheritance, this inheritance is neither visible nor tangible. We may have doubts in our hearts, wondering what will happen to our children and descendants. Every brother and sister who serves God often has a misunderstanding, thinking that those of us who serve God will be impoverished. We must know that if the LORD God is our inheritance, we will surely receive more! Whatever we have not received, we must claim it in faith. God has not forgotten them either. Each tribe gives a piece of land to the Levites, and the Levites receive 11 portions. Each tribe gives a tenth, and the Levites receive the most.
Longing to Rise Up and Shepherd God's Flock
Do we who serve God need to compare ourselves in terms of salary and property? No need! Because God will remember us, God will not forget us. If we serve God, how can God treat us unfairly? Serving God is an incomparably good thing! The grace we receive as servants of God is so abundant. We do not need to envy those who make a lot of money in real estate, sales, or IT. What we need to envy most is being priests and Levites of God.
The tribe of Levi received the most among all the tribes of Israel, and the priests received even more. If we are faithful priests of God, carefully keeping and following God's word, the God you declare with your mouth will accomplish it for you. Why do so many people receive grace here with me? Because what I declare, God accomplishes in them. Because I am faithful before God, God does not let my words fall to the ground.
I understand those brothers and sisters who encounter difficulties. They really hope to come before me, and be healed with one prayer. But there is no need to come before me, it is the same online, because God never lets what I declare with my mouth fall to the ground. When my mother got Alzheimer's, in my faith, I believed that my mother would be healed. Many people doubted that the hospital could not fix it, so would she be healed here? The hospital cannot fix it, but many people have been healed here.
Later, a tumor the size of a bowl grew on my mother's leg, and it was completely healed through prayer. If we went to the hospital, there would be all kinds of checkups and tests, and surgery would be required, which would cause a lot of suffering. Even if the tumor was cut off at the time, what if it grew back? Cut it again? It sounds terrifying. A person with faith, no matter how powerful the enemy is, whether we have obtained it or not, in our faith, we have obtained it.
If we are servants of God, shouldn't we be a role model for our brothers and sisters? Even if we have nothing in our hands, like the tribe of Levi, but we know that God is our inheritance, we will walk forward in faith and receive double. I wrote a Bible study book called You Shall Be Called Priests of the LORD, you need to know that the priests of the living God receive a double portion.
If we have such a heart, willing to be raised up to serve well, isn't this the best training? Our training is all practical, just like learning to drive, and you can drive on the road after you finish learning. The people we train are very good. Some time ago, we trained some people to do basic training. I read the sermon drafts they wrote, and they were all very well written. Many brothers and sisters abroad were very impressed: the mid-term sermon drafts were written better than many people in theological seminaries. This is just basic training, and leadership training will be even more powerful.
This is God preparing us to possess the Promised Land that has not yet been possessed. If you are a Levite, do not be afraid today. God has prepared an extremely abundant inheritance for us. God's original intention is like this. Our God does not like poverty; God is a rich God. If we are children of God, faithful priests of God, we will surely receive a double inheritance. Not only that, but we must also rise up and lead God's people into the Promised Land. This is a very wonderful thing!
We must long to rise up and be leaders. Some pastors believe that not many people can be masters, because they believe that if you want to be a master, you will receive a heavier judgment. What kind of thinking is this? Are we afraid of a heavier judgment? Even if there is a heavier judgment, so what? We only see the judgment, and see nothing else? Since there is a heavier judgment, there is also a greater reward! We are willing to take a little risk, serving with a heart of reverence for God, isn't that good enough?
We must have many people rise up, not only to rise up and be masters, but also to shepherd God's flock with the heart of a father and mother. Do not have many people be masters, lest you receive a heavier judgment. This kind of thinking is very selfish! This is not building people's faith to serve God, this is releasing fear! Words spoken with a fearful heart are ghost words, not the words of God at all!
We must start to say boldly: I long to be Caleb, long to be Joshua, long to be a Levite, long to be a priest of the living God! Do not be afraid of a heavier judgment, because there is a greater reward!
Resolving to Become a Vessel Manifesting God's Glory
There is a lot of rubbish in Christianity today! Once, I took my co-workers to a place to serve, and they happened to be observing Holy Communion, and everyone was weeping. I was puzzled: why were they so sad? Is Holy Communion to commemorate the death of Jesus? No! It is to commemorate Jesus' resurrection from the dead three days after his death! This is great news! If they are crying because they are moved by the resurrection of Jesus, but we looked at them on the spot and felt that they did not seem to be moved.
I am different from ordinary people. There is something different in my personality. For example, when I read the Bible, I see the good side. For example, Jesus prophesied that he would go to Jerusalem, suffer many things, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. His disciples only heard that he would die, and did not hear Jesus say that he would be raised three days after his death, so they dissuaded Jesus from doing so, and were rebuked by Jesus, saying, Get behind me, Satan! (See Matthew 16)
But what I saw was that Jesus would be resurrected three days after his death, which is a good thing! I said to God: God, I also want to follow the same path as Jesus, resolving to crucify all my evil desires and lusts, and I also long to be a blessing to many people. We must have this kind of determination to be resurrected from the dead, paying everything, even at the cost of our lives!
Can we change our perspective? The most important thing when observing Holy Communion is to repent of our sins. Today, the most concentrated manifestation of the sins within us is worldly concepts. Worldly concepts are seeing is believing.
Godly concepts are no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9), but in our faith, we have already obtained it, and in our faith, we have already seen it.
God wants to raise up a people after His own heart in this generation, and they will rise up in all parts of the world! We are such a group of people, we are vessels that God can use! We began to say to God: God, please send us, the harvest is ripe! I am the worker you want to send, and I will enter into this harvest field for you to possess the promise, becoming a people who possess the Promised Land!
Today, as you look around, how many people are waiting in darkness all over the earth, waiting for us to release them from the dominion of the devil! What is Christianity lacking most now? It is not just talking; we are not cheap teapots, only good at talking.
We are mighty warriors of God, and we must completely release the power of God, so that the captives may be released and the oppressed may be set free! We must have such determination in our hearts. If your own child has depression, can you say to God: God, I am the one who releases people with depression, please use me! I am willing to be like this group of people, and also to serve many people, no longer living in despair.
In faith, we say: God, I am the one you want to choose, I am the Joshua of this generation, I am the faithful priest after your own heart in this generation! What could be better than this?
In this chapter, the Levites have not yet received their inheritance, Joshua is old and dying, and there is still much land to be possessed. But what does it matter? We must fight! Some say: Fighting will kill people. Don't be afraid of death! We won't die! God will surely let us possess the Promised Land!
This is our faith! Our faith can shake the dark powers of the devil, our faith moves the mighty arm of God, and our faith leads us to continually possess the promises of God. We must see the captives released and the oppressed set free! This is God's original intention, and this is the original intention of God's gospel!
May God bless everyone!