Introduction

Hello everyone, let us look at 2 Samuel chapter 10. Recently, I discovered that I have grown. Firstly, I can grasp the key point accurately than before on my Bible study. Secondly, I found my language style seemed to have improved a bit. 2 Samuel chapter 2, the main topic of this chapter is worth of our thinking. I have customized the topic of this chapter as “Fighting and winning the war is God’s will”. In the midst of shepherding, often I find a very interesting thing. When I drove away a smaller demon, and it will follow by a bigger demon comes. After I drive away the bigger demon, another bigger demon will follow after. After driving this bigger demon away, you might think that another bigger demon will come at this time, but no, the ghost has been driven away.

Winning the battle is God’s will, and this is amazing. I was born with a winning mentality, not nurtured when I got older. I have always liked to figure things out since I was a child. My knowledge was limited when I was young, but I have a winning character deep down! Brothers and sisters, if you have children at home, you must start to train your children to have a winning character. As for whether they can be trained well, training will definitely be better than not training! If it is about you, you need to start training to have a winning character, because this character is God’s will.

Nothing can automatically make your surroundings peaceful. Some people said, I feel very peaceful, and everything feels good to me! I said to them, “How could such a thing happen? If it is not earned through victory, it is all false peacefulness. Ming Ding destiny’s theology is a theology of spiritual victory, victory in the spiritual world. Demons are like this, and so are people; the battle between people is the battle between spirits in the spiritual world. What I want to emphasize is that winning the battle is a very important character in a person.

I encountered serving one person, who had intense pain on his arms and later on he was able to lift them up but not my arms. Many people misinterpreted, they said, once you cast out the demons from someone and the demons will come to you. I do not believe what they said. There are also some people say that you are not perfect enough to cast out demons as you many flaws in you. Have you heard it before? I deem it as nonsense. When I came to God initially, did I have many flaws? Yes, I had numerous flaws, the demons came in and out of me, but many people are set free in this way.

In the past I was in the local church, the pastor in that church warned me that I had to beware when I put my hands to pray for someone, the demon would come to me. What kind of understanding was this? I do not believe it. There are also some people stated you could not get rid of the demons as you are not perfect enough. Do I have many holes in my body? There are many holes in my body, they are like the holes of a sieve and the demons can come in and out/It sounds like an evil door. That is how many people explain it.

Victory in battle is an important truth in Ming Ding Destiny theology! God has predestined us to win! There is a sister who has a serious problem identifying good and evil. Is it because she wants to identify good and evil? That was not the case, but she could not change it! How many of us are unable to change? I have good news for you, I choose to trust you! Some people said to me, “Who does not want to win? I definitely want to win this battle!”

Once, I attended a prayer conference. There was a sister who was in a miserable situation. She was eating the fruits from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and then she felt uncomfortable. When she felt uneasy, she once again was identifying good and evil, and she could not win this battle. I asked her to reflect on what happened. As a result, she wrote “No victory!” I want to tell all of you, God’s will is for you to win! Do you believe it or not? We really need faith. On one hand, as pastors, we must give them a discipline them harshly and on the other hand, we must also give them faith so that their faith is built not on themselves, but on God. I do a good job of trusting God and building my faith. Although my service in the spiritual world is full of demons, entering the devil's camp is like entering a deserted place. That is called victory!

No one is willing to surrender

When the Ammonites realized that they had become obnoxious to David, they hired twenty thousand Aramean foot soldiers from Beth Rehob and Zobah, as well as the king of Maakah with a thousand men, and also twelve thousand men from Tob. On hearing this, David sent Joab out with the entire army of fighting men. The Ammonites came out and drew up in battle formation at the entrance of their city gate, while the Arameans of Zobah and Rehob and the men of Tob and Maakah were by themselves in the open country. 2 Samuel 10:6-8 NIV

No one is willing to surrender, and no demon is willing to surrender. Do you think there are many people who are willing to surrender? In fact, no one wants to surrender. For example, the Syrians gave tribute to David, which was real gold and silver. They paid tribute to David according to their own money every year. Otherwise, where would David get the money? Even if I do not have enough money, others would not give us subsidies. David is not the central government. If you do not pay, he will beat you! So this is how David’s money came from, he collected protection fees, and David was the law.

No one is willing to surrender willingly. If you pay this year, you will still have to pay next year, the year next year, I have still have to pay. No one likes this kind of thing, but I don’t like it anyway. I like to surrender before God. If the people of Ammon and Syria were all from the house of Old Ammon, and then the surrounding countries, they would all have to pay tribute to David. Every time he paid tribute, he must be cursing David, “You bastard, how come I cannot beat you? Why cannot I ask David to pay me tribute? Then if you could not defeat others, then you could not pay tribute to them? Are these people thinking about rebellion every day? Once they rebelled, David would put them down and sort them out.

Let’s not talk about the king of Ammon or the king of Syria. Even at the border of China, An Lushan of the Tang Dynasty guarded the border. That was to support his troops and respect himself. If he declined to listen to the emperor and he was going to rebel! The winner was a prince, the loser was a thief, that was how it goes. Do you think this is not God’s truth? This is God’s truth. God’s will is for us to win, but you have to know that if you want to win, you must have a winning character; a winning character must have the capital to win, and that is God. If you trust God, God will help you and give you victory.

How did David get around all these years? I have come all the way by relying on God. David finally got over this mess! David relied on God to subdue all the surrounding countries, and as a result, the borders were all peaceful. But even if the surrounding countries surrendered and paid tribute, David knew clearly in his heart that no one was willing to surrender. In fact, it is the same in the church. Those who have not interacted with each other among brothers and sisters are not counted. One of our brothers told me, If you want to serve this person, you must be able to hold him down. This is quite interesting! Pastoral care cannot be based on an equal relationship, it has to be a superior-subordinate relationship.

War can break out at any time

David was in a situation, would war break out at any time? Yes, it would. Some countries that surrendered to David had been waiting for the opportunity to rebel. It was not just a matter of one or two days. They had long been displeased with this. Then something happened. The king of the children of Ammon died, and his son Hanun reigned in his stead. A Chinese saying when the king changed, once a gentleman and then a courtier. After changing people, will the son continue to pay tribute? These are two different things. David sent envoys saying，

David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father. 2 Samuel 10:2 NIV

David wanted to be kind to Hanun but Hanun did not want to be kind to David. When people had surrendered to you, why should they treat you in favour? War can break out at any time and the same goes for our battles in the spiritual world. We all have to be prepared. Hanun had long been very dissatisfied: Why should I pay tribute to you? My father paid tribute to you; so, do I have to pay tribute to you too? David sent several envoys to express condolences to the Ammonites.

the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honouring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” 2 Samuel 10: 3 NIV

The latter sentence is questionable. Because if it was going to overturn, it would have overturned long ago. The king of the Ammonites was also very stupid. He cut off half of the beards of David's servants and shortened their trousers. Today's young people they like to cut off their jeans in half and turn them into shorts. In David's day, if you cut off half their garments at the buttocks, your buttocks will be exposed ? They always attracted attention, so eye-catching! Just like today's youngsters born in the 1990s and 2000s, they are wearing pants with ripped holes. It is not okay for others to expose them to us, but it is okay to expose yourself.

David's servants were humiliated. Will something happen? Absolutely. They were declaring clearly that they wanted to go war and “Let me see what you do!” It was obviously looking for trouble. Suddenly something happened and it is the same in this life, things often happen when they should not happen. After the servants returned, David was embarrassed, so he asked them to stay in the city of Jericho temporarily until their beards had grown and combed clean before coming back.

Why did Hanun do this? Everyone has some ambitions. This is called international relations and international politics. International relations are like children playing games. Children falling out among each other are not as quick as falling out between countries. When I was young, China and Vietnam were having good relationships. Was that true? It seems not! In 1975, they were still fighting against the United States and aiding Vietnam. However, in 1979, they turned into a self-defence counterattack, and they just turned against each other.

War can break out at any time. What should I do now? Ensure you are well prepared! We brothers and sisters must prepare the ability, character, and confidence to fight and win. How to prepare? Am I not teaching you? After listening, you must be well prepared to have faith in God’s words, because winning the battle is absolutely God’s will. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is clear evidence of victory. What I am most afraid of is people asking me why Isaac did not stand up for himself when the wells he dug was robbed? I cannot answer this kind of question. All I can say by this time, David had already established the nation of Israel. This nation was centred on God, so it was God who enabled David to win. Winning the battle is God’s will and God’s predestination for us, so do not be afraid!

You are fighting the devil in the spiritual world. Do you think that the old horse spirit is really my good friend? Do you think he will always be my good friend? How can it be? The devil will give money today and tomorrow. After a while, they will rebel and there will be another round of fighting. We have to fight the devils round after round! This is also why war can break out at any time, and we have to prepare ourselves. This time the preparation must have a breakthrough in understanding, and the understanding must clearly know how to fight and win.

Wars can break out at any time, and economic crises can break out at any time. We must be prepared at any time. Our brothers and sisters must start to prepare, be financially healthy, do not overdraft, and do not use excessive leverage. Otherwise, it will be a big deal when problems arise as battles can break out at any time, you need to put it in practice at any time. People like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were training your servants at anytime and anywhere.

When the war broke out, Hanun, the new king of the Ammonites, recruited those who paid tribute to David and said to them, “Why do you pay tribute to him?” The Arameans of Zobah, we formed an eight-nation coalition together, and finally we saw that only the three-nation coalition had a fight with David. From now on, we no longer have to pay tribute to him, but David will pay tribute to us. This pie was painted very well and the vision was also very good. This is called " The ideal is full of promises, but the reality is very slim". Can they beat David? Fortunately, David was prepared! Hanun began to prepare his troops to destroy David's kingdom.

Brothers and sisters, you must know the devil wants to destroy us. He wants to destroy us today and he wants to destroy us tomorrow. He has never stopped. Many years ago, once I was cast out a demon, and the demon spoke to me and said to me that he would reveal a one information that all their bosses, were in a meeting to discuss how to destroy all of you. Immediately, I gathered people, God’s army and held meetings for a 72-hour prayer. During the 72 hours prayer the demon spoke to me that your counterattack was too fast.

War can break out at any time, and we should always be prepared. Brothers and sisters, you must start to prepare our mind. If a phone call comes to us at three o'clock in the morning, asking you to get up and fight, do you want to do it? Yes, I am willing! After you won, the devils will pay tribute to you! War will break out at any time. Today’s victory is the result of yesterday’s battle. Tomorrow’s victory is the result of today’s battle. Start preparing yourself to fight the devil in the spiritual world! In this battle, David recruited two of his captains, Joab and Abishai, two of David's most powerful generals.

Be strong and take it like a man

We brothers and sisters must not develop the habit of losing battles but must be strong and take it like a man.

Joab saw that there were battle lines in front of him and behind him; so he selected some of the best troops in Israel and deployed them against the Arameans. He put the rest of the men under the command of Abishai his brother and deployed them against the Ammonites. 2 Samuel 10:9-10 NIV

Then Joab said to them,

Be strong, and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The Lord will do what is good in his sight.” 2 Samuel 10:12 NIV

Joab was able to say this sentence, he was quite an amazing person! Victory is God’s will, but we must have a strong and manly character! The operation of the spiritual world is similar to what we see in our worldly life. For example, if someone is afraid of dogs, you will find that dogs can sense the person's fear. For example, if I walk towards a vicious dog, the dog will hide away. He was watching me, but when other people walked over, the vicious dog took a look, “ Hey, this person is afraid of me, I want to rush up and kill him!” The more you are afraid of the dog, the more the dog will chase after you.

Some time ago, when we passed a place, out of nowhere a dog came charging towards us and gave me a fright. One of our sisters was running away with her high heels. Fortunately, she ran faster than me. The dog stopped when it reached in front of me. We all have to be strong. Why are we afraid of dogs? We can train dog at home. If it doesn't work, I wear protective gear on my legs and feet every day, ready to fight with it. I put on my iron-shoe shoes and watch it come over, kick it, and cover it up. This time it never dared to move forward again! The dog will be obedience after all the training.

Some brothers and sisters were very interesting. When we were looking for a hotel to stay in, I said, "Let's stay there." One sister said, “I won’t go.” I thought about it for a long time and did not know why she did not want to go. I discovered that someone had died in that hotel. According to me, I did not take it seriously when I was alive. Will I take it seriously when I die? We must develop a winning character and be strong and be a man!

There are many examples of this kind of character. One day I went to cast out demons for a cancer patient. After the demons were cast out, he asked me to take his family idols to the temple. Even if I send the idols to the temple, I was not afraid. I thought I would do this for the sake of the people I served! Originally, I thought of a way that I could throw it into the trash halfway to the temple. What if he came back and asked me, “Have you sent it?” After pondering for a while and I decided not to do this. If I had threw it away and he would still be thinking about the idols.

Brothers and sisters, we must be strong and be men. Victory is God’s will. What do you care about? For people like me, when dogs saw me and take detours, that also apply to demons, they will also take detours when they see me. As soon as they saw me, “Oh no! This guy is coming, let’s run away quickly!” Brothers and sisters should be like me, be strong and be a man, because victory is God’s will. Is the result a victory? Yes, it is Victory.

Then Joab and the troops with him advanced to fight the Arameans, and they fled before him. When the Ammonites realized that the Arameans were fleeing, they fled before Abishai and went inside the city. So Joab returned from fighting the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem. After the Arameans saw that they had been routed by Israel, they regrouped. 2 Samuel 10:13-15 NIV

The Syrians and the Ammonites sent more troops to fight David. David himself went up with his troops and defeated them.

But they fled before Israel, and David killed seven hundred of their charioteers and forty thousand of their foot soldiers. He also struck down Shobak the commander of their army, and he died there. 2 Samuel 10:18 NIV

After they were defeated, they said something very good,

When all the kings who were vassals of Hadadezer saw that they had been routed by Israel, they made peace with the Israelites and became subject to them. So the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore. 2 Samuel 10:19 NIV

Only when you win you can make people surrender, and only when you win you can make the demons surrender. If you do not hold the demons down, the demons will kick your nose into your face. Brothers and sisters, we must know that victory is God’s will, so what else do we have to fear? What we have to fear is that we are not walking in God’s will! If you do not do it according to God's will, the old horse will come and mess with you. Once during a chat with the old horse, it said to me, “I have never lost a battle in the past two thousand years, but I lost a battle to you!” After old horse was defeated, it started helping me collect garbage, so I outsourced the garbage collection work to old horse.

Brothers and sisters, after we have this kind of winning character, demons will surrender, people will surrender, and many problems will disappear! I do a lot of things from a spiritual perspective. A few days ago, when a sister was working, she bent her thumb and could not move it back. It was very painful to bend it back. In fact, This situation is related to the fear within people. Later, I prayed with her that she was fine, and I took a video and sent it, “Look, the thumb is fine, but it will come back again.”

Although the Ammonites have been defeated, they will regroup, and we must keep them suppressed; the same is true in pastoral care! If you have never held him down, it will be difficult to shepherd him. People think, “You can't beat me even with your few strategies, why should I listen to you?” You must have the capital of pastoral care. Victory is the most critical character. Only victory can you make people surrender! Overcoming is a very important thing. It would be great if you could list your problems and overcome them one by one!

May God bless everyone!