Reading the heart of God

When we start reading Joshua 12, we are filled with confusion, and the immediate result is that God kills people! God, why are you killing people? Either we say, "Oh, this is too bloody!" Joshua and Moses kill without a second thought! The first part of the story says that no one was left behind; isn't this a slaughter?

God, isn't man's life meaningless? Why do all these things? Why kill all these people? Isn't this all meaningless? Then why do we have to inherit the land and kill those people? Oh God! Don't you love people very much? Since we are full of confusion, we need to read the mind of God.

Some people try very hard to explain that this is the God of the Old Testament, and the God of the New Testament is love. Then who is the God of the Old Testament, may I ask? Is the God of the Old Testament hateful? This is obviously not true. Let's give this chapter a theme: Live victoriously on earth!

Let's put it this way: if you have a business, and there's only this much money in the world, and there are only this many customers, if they spend money in your store, then they won't go to other stores, right? So, if you make a lot of money, then other people don't make that money, right? Do you want to be a good person and tell them to go to another store to shop? Aren't you ruining your business?

God's will is For Us to Live Prosperous Lives

Our doctrine of Ming-Ding is to live out the glorious image of God on earth, which is a spiritual thing. If a man loves God, he will live out the glorious image of God. Then the question arises: if you live out the glorious image of God, then what about others? Competitors won't make money; they will be broke, so do you want to share what you earn with them? What are you doing?

God has an attribute; whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. That is, if men have the mind of God, God will take things from those people and give them to them. When Joshua went in to obtain the land, the land was inhabited. Either those people lived, and Joshua took the Israelites to live in the wilderness, or Joshua took the Israelites to live and Joshua destroyed or drove out the king of the land, and that's what happened. God's intention was for Joshua to go in and kill them all. Is God the one who kills? Was it God's will to exterminate the people of that place?

If you are a good person, it will be hard for you to accept God's action, but if you are a man after God's heart, it will be easy. It turns out that the people in this place are full of evil. How much harm have they done to God? To a certain extent, God hates these people, and God will destroy them.

**We must understand God's heart, not to apply our logic to God's head, but to apply God's logic to ourselves. **Then I concluded: You have to live victoriously in the world if you want to inherit the Promised Land. Remember, if we live victoriously on earth, then surely there are those who are not victors, and God will take what is in the hands of those who are not victors and give it to us. In fact, living in this world is a very spiritual thing.

Women's Benevolence, That is, Not Understanding the Mind of God

Christianity speaks of man's life as meaningless, but why seize the land? Because our God is the God of the living. It is the will of our God that we should live and prosper on earth. So everything that concerns the earth is a spiritual thing, so it has to do with blessings and curses. God has purposed to destroy the kings of the land because they are under deep curses.

Our God is a jealous God and does not leave the guilty unpunished. If you say that God is Santa Claus, it means that you don't know God yet.

Do Not be Overly Righteous; Have Mercy on The Enemies of God

Our God is not Santa Claus, but many Christians are like Santa Claus and are overly righteous. Our God is taking the good things from the hands of those people and giving them to those who please God.

Remember, don't be an enemy of God, as if you are doing too much righteousness, do you understand? We live to keep the word of God and to catch the heart of God, to work with God, and not to do righteousness too much beyond God. We must live in the glorious image of God, which includes victory.

Then we must rise and become mighty warriors of God, attacking the cities for God and trampling down the devil thoroughly in the spiritual world. We need to completely abandon this "good man" mentality and do the things in God's heart.

If you try to keep what God wants to exterminate, you will be in trouble. So, remember, there are many people who are under deep curses, but they want to continue to live in the curse, and then you are full of love, painstakingly bring them into the church, and you save a soul if you can. In fact, this is a very strange idea.

Jesus never said in the Bible that we should bring people one by one into the church, but Jesus criticised the Pharisees, saying that you pull people one by one into the church, but you are the children of hell. The Bible does say that when Jesus was crucified and lifted up, He would draw all people to Him.

We must not bring garbage into the kingdom of God. If they seek, we will deliver them from the devil's curses and oppression. Isn't this the gospel that Jesus preached? The twelve disciples Jesus trained went out and preached the gospel, healed the sick, cast out demons, and freed the captives, and he trained 70 men to do the same, preach the gospel, heal the sick, and cast out demons.

Meaningless Refers to The Labor and Painful Toil of Men’s Hands

How many confusions did I solve? The first one is that, although we read Ecclesiastes, life is meaningless, so why are there sieges? Actually, meaningless refers to the labour and painful toil of men’s hands. We need to know that this gospel we are talking about is living prosperously and victoriously on earth.

Please don't say, "I don't do business, and I don't do work." Then what are you going to do? The Christian faith never says that people don't do anything anymore because it's all meaningless. There is no such thing, and this is the first instance of confusion.

The second confusion is that we need to know that God punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate God, but show love to a thousand generations of those who love God and keep His commandments. Therefore, we must not integrate those who hate God into the church. We are to work with God on earth, not according to our own moral concepts but according to the will of God, and this is the confusion I want to solve.

Aren't we drawing God's wrath if we work with God on earth and God takes things from others' hands and gives them to you, but then you give them back? God wants to take what is in others' hands and give it to the one who has God's heart. Isn't that good? Of course, we don't love money because we are in business or because we make a lot of it. We are poor because we don't love money, not like that. It's not that we love worldly things because we have the land, it's not that. Our idea is to live in the glorious image of God, which is a key part of our Mind-Ding theology.

Some question the value of believing in Jesus. Believing in Jesus for eternal life sounds a bit nebulous. In fact, believing in Jesus is a saving grace, and the saving grace is to live in the glorious image of God during our life on earth, not to die and go to heaven.

The gospel of Jesus Christ can restore the image of God that He created us to be, so we brothers and sisters must live victoriously on earth! If you are not victorious, you will suffer in your work. You will suffer to do anything if you are not victorious in spirit.

Love God and Work With Him on Earth

So we, brothers and sisters, are to fight and win on earth, to conquer the city and the land. But this city, this land, actually refers to our living victoriously on the earth. We first win within ourselves, and then we prosper in everything we do.You will find something in me that says, "I flourish in everything I do and enjoy everything I do because I love God."

There are many manifestations of love for God. Some people believe in the Lord loosely and leave God aside when they are busy with their work. We never required you to come to the gatherings, but do you know what I do?

I live absolutely victorious on earth; if there are fifty-two Sundays in a year, ten years would be five hundred and twenty Sundays, and thirty years would be fifteen hundred and sixty Sundays, equivalent to four years. In almost thirty years, I have spent almost four years attending the Sabbath. I didn't miss a single one. Do you have such a heart? Why do I have this kind of heart? because I love God and don't consider it a burden.

Then some people get tired of serving, and then they get cancer and hydrocephalus. I once ministered to a man with hydrocephalus, and I asked him why he got hydrocephalus. He said, "Look how hard it is for us to do this; I can only rest one day a week; do you think I cannot get sick?" But do you know what I said? I told him that I have been working seven days a week for nearly 30 years, and I have not had a single day off.

I don't have hydrocephalus because I enjoy it, I serve God, it's a pleasure, I want to, and I like it. Some people don't even know they are tired when they play computer games or mahjong because they love it. Therefore, brothers and sisters, if you love God, how can you treat serving God as torture? If you love God, how can you treat going to church gatherings as a chore? Isn't that right?

Some people say that businesses are not interesting, but when it comes to gatherings, they are busy with work. You were doing a good job in ministry, and then you had to take some kind of test and couldn't do it anymore. How are you going to live in the image of God? One needs to live to be victorious in spiritual things.

Living in the Glorious Image of God

I give these people this sentence: Even what you have will be taken from you and given to whoever has. What kind of people are those who have them? It is we who love God. We know that God will show mercy to those who love Him and keep His covenant for a thousand generations, so isn't it easy to live if God loves us? Isn't it simple to live to the glory of God? Isn't it easy to run a business and enjoy it? Isn't serving God also a simple thing?

So those of us who do not see clearly: do you want to be Joshua? Or do you want to be the king of Jerusalem? Or the king of Hivi? Or the king of Raj? Or Og, the king of Bashan? Or the king of Heshbon Sihon? Do you think God is Santa Claus and can tolerate you? The Israelites, the group of Israelites whom Joshua brought into the land of Canaan to obtain the promise, had experienced God's promise, had obtained God's covenant, and had built God's temple, but later they lost the battle on spiritual matters and were thrown around among the nations and became the enemies of God.

Why can we not choose to keep and obey the word of God, choose to love God, and serve Him willingly? Can't we just see everything through? If you don't see it through, I can send you a prophecy; you are definitely back to square one!

Do you want to live a prosperous and victorious life on earth? Yes, you do! So how good is the gospel that I preach—that I can live out the glorious image of God, that I can be a victorious Christian, that I can live out God's prosperity, that I can live out God's promises? Then God will surely take from those who do not have and give to those who do—to us! If you don't want to be like Joshua and you want to be a Christian who dies in the wilderness, that's good; there are plenty of them; all 600,000 of them died in the wilderness! What kind of Christian do you really want to be?

Churches Need God, Not Help

Many people say, "I want to serve God!" But what are you serving if they can't even keep the meeting time?You brought people here, but to be honest, I don't really need them because Jesus Christ Himself can attract people. Have I made many mistakes in the past? We must not think we are doing God a favour. A few weeks ago, a man said, "I'd love to help you guys, and I can give if you need my help." I said, "Get out of here; we don't need it."

And someone got upset: Eh? How can you talk like that? Then what else can I say—does God need your help? Does the church need your help? Does it not? Does the church need your help? If you have the idea of helping the church, I think you should forget it. I'm a bit harsh and impulsive, but it's true! If I don't let you go, God will have to let you go, right?

You know, when we were building the church in the early days, one day I suddenly repented completely because I was building the church and there were many people who came to help, and they all had compassion on me. I said that the church does not need help; the church only needs God's presence. If you are willing to build God's glorious church with me, you should put up with me. God doesn't need help, and I don't need help. Helping is the greatest insult to God.

If there are still such people among us, let me tell you that such thinking will cause you to live under curses, because we are too contemptuous of God. We are not grabbing people into the church; even if you are healed and released among us, you can do whatever you want. I will never morally kidnap anyone; I just need a group of people who have a destiny.

The man with a destiny says, "God, I will give myself completely, and then I will be a blessing to many people, following the example of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to be a man with a destiny, and it is my destiny to live for you." "We also herd sheep; we also do business; we also farm, but it is my destiny to serve God." If serving God is some kind of hobby for you, forget it and just do what you're meant to do. **If you are going to lead Israel to the Promised Land, you must have the same character as Joshua, which was dedicated to loving God. **

Without a heart and mind dedicated to loving God, you can't do what God has given you, because if we are dedicated to loving God and doing what God commands us to do, we will build God's glorious church. There are many people who say, "I'll do my business well, and when I make money, I can give and help you build your church." I say, "Forget it." The church is a place where blessings are distributed. The church does not want money; the church needs to bless people!

Not long ago, a man called, "Teacher! Pray for my money!" I said, "What is this prayer for your money? What happened?" He said, "Look, the preachers in our church here are so poor that I worked to help them, and the millions of dollars I put into it went down the drain. I wanted to help them, so you have to help me and pray for my money." Oh my goodness! You didn't help the preacher and ended up in the trap.

Poor preachers must be preaching the wrong word, because their word is to die and go to heaven. The message I preach is to live on earth to prosper, to triumph, and to live out God's glory.

My God is the God of the living, and their God is the God of the dead. Those people are the enemies of God; they alter the word of God and then corrupt the people of God, so they are cursed.

Rich people and sinners have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Being poor or rich does not indicate a person's spirituality or whether they love or dislike money. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all rich people, so why don't you just say, "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, weep and wail, for there will be tribulation upon you." What is that? Is there a problem with doing business? Who has been offended? How nice it is to earn money and support ourselves with our own hands! If you don't do anything but pray and preach all day long, what are you preaching? There is a lot of confusion among the people, and we need to remove the garbage that confuses people in the Christian faith.

Winning the Battle and Withdrawing the Promises of God

We need to learn to draw on God's promises, to fight and win, and then to fight the devil's enemies thoroughly and build a victorious church. These enemies of God have no place in God's church. If you have a lot of false belief systems in you and you think that serving God is doing God a favour, that is very dangerous. We are all people of grace; never offend God; God is the God of the living, so that we can all experience His victory and prosperity on earth.

A sister called because her child was in high school and played games every day, then got into a crappy university. Then he still played games every day in college. Then he graduated and didn't get any certificates, and this child went to the supermarket to move boxes. If you were a preacher, would you say to him: "Oh, people live in the emptiness; no need to toss and turn; just keep on moving boxes?"

What do you think? I wouldn't say that because the gospel I believe in says that this child will know God and that God's glorious image will be restored in him. I want him to come out of his ignorance because the worldly system from his past is still in the child, and the worldly system is not only in the child but also in the child's mother.

His mother thought that the child would be successful if he got into and graduated from university. But when he graduated, he was carrying boxes in the supermarket. No. So how did this happen? People pretend to be in the world system, and they believe in the Lord blindly, and they become religious, and then you say they are religious, but they actually love the world, and it's a mess.

But I said, "Get that child." Then I told the child to restore the glorious image of God when He created him. But I didn't say that. I meant to be like a man, to restore the image that a man should have. Did I tell him that man lives in the void?No, man lives in emptiness because we look down at these things, and we all clearly see these things. So, we can live in the image of the glory of God.

Never, under any circumstances, live in myth.This is why Joshua attacked the city and plundered the land, but he did not think it was meaningless. Because the gospel that Joshua held can live out the glorious image on earth. Did Joshua live it out? Yes! He lived in a state of triumph, trampling down the enemy, gaining the promised land, clearly seeing the presence of God, entering the heart of God, and removing many myths. That is Joshua!

May the Lord bless you! Thank you!