Introduction

Good morning. Today, we will examine the fourth lecture in the Being a Person series under the topic of Principles for Seizing Opportunities. The reason for discussing this is my observation that many among us often think they can seize an opportunity with a moment's thought, only to find themselves entangled in debt instead. Recently, a sister I ministered to was doing well on her own, but after marrying, she suddenly discovered that her husband was 500,000 in debt. The couple now has to work tirelessly to repay it. Marrying into debt, similar situations abound, husbands who are unable to provide, needing to be supported. This is a failure in personal conduct, leading to entrapment. Assets are shared in marriage, so debts are shared as well. Our brothers and sisters must carefully consider this.

I must convey the fundamental principles of seizing opportunities to you. Otherwise, many will mistake pitfalls for opportunities. One brother was so busy that he had no time for gatherings, only to lose over ten million in a year. Therefore, I want to tell everyone that not everything is an opportunity, and opportunities are not so plentiful. Even if there is an opportunity, it might not be yours. Today, there are many people in debt and being deceived, all because they only thought about making money at the time and did not consider the possibility of losing it.

I. Opportunity is More Important Than Ability

Opportunity is more important than ability. That is why we always desperately try to seize opportunities. As a result, we are either overly confident in our abilities or overly reliant on speculation, which is not an opportunity. Speculation has a 90% chance of losing and a 10% chance of winning. In other words, it is like trying to steal a chicken and losing the bait, so speculation is similar to theft.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

Everything depends on timing and chance, so we must understand what opportunity is all about. Otherwise, we will be in trouble. Opportunity has harmed many people. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. This is vividly illustrated in the story of Liu Bang, the ancestor of my old Liu family. Whether in terms of martial skill or talent, he was no match for Xiang Yu. Xiang Yu came from a noble family, while Han Gaozu Liu Bang was a commoner from the marketplace, uneducated, just a petty hooligan.

Liu Bang surpassed Xiang Yu because he obtained opportunity. Being able to receive assistance from Zhang Liang and Han Xin was also an opportunity, which was absolutely beyond human power. People's blind faith in ability sometimes leads them to fall into ability-based thinking. But when you carefully consider the events you encounter, can you reverse them with your own ability? For example, you find a job, but the job doesn't like you. Even if you like it, it is useless. Don't think that you can get the job by begging the boss, even if you kneel upside down. Therefore, opportunity is very important.

Having strong ability is useless. You must come out of ability-based thinking. Those who are ability-based will find that the difficulties they encounter are often greater than their own. This is true not only for individuals but also for countries. When a country has bad luck, nothing goes right. When a country has good fortune, even if it does something wrong, it doesn't matter because it is okay. So whether we look at the present or history, we see something called opportunity. Without opportunity, a person is completely finished.

People need opportunity. Now, I will talk about what opportunity is all about. People say that heaven rewards diligence, which is true. Heaven refers to God, who controls opportunity. Rewarding diligence means rewarding those who are diligent and down-to-earth. In other words, some people only remember to work hard, but without opportunity, it is useless.

II. God Controls Opportunity

Some people ask if I am lecturing or preaching. Actually, today, to talk about opportunity, we really have to talk about God's word because God truly controls opportunity. This is all my experience. Some people say that my experiences are rare events, but since they happened, they are real. I have known that God controls opportunity for many years. That's why I always try to please God. God not only controls opportunity but also controls everything. People should carefully summarize and not be foolish. If you carefully summarize, you will find that trusting in God is truly blessed. After being blessed, you will encounter good opportunities and achieve twice the result with half the effort. Whether it is investing or finding a job, everything is fine. There is no way to explain this.

Our God is a God who controls opportunity, so I often say that you have nothing to worry or be anxious about. If you need a job, God can tailor one for you, do you believe it? Some people say they believe it, but they can't trust it. If you can't trust it, then don't believe it. I have shared one testimony after another of my own experiences, but people at that time just don't believe in God. They don't want to please God. Isn't that foolish? Instead of pleasing God, they do things that provoke God's anger. God gives you an opportunity, and you think you are lucky. But if you are unlucky next time, where will you find it?

The conclusion from incomplete induction is that God controls opportunity. I tell many people about this and that testimony, but they say it is all coincidental. Then may coincidence happen to me. I said that one of our sisters pleased God and encountered a good opportunity, and God blessed her. And these people also think it is a coincidence. Then may coincidence and chance happen to our brothers and sisters, amen! From this, it seems that today is not a lecture but a sermon. We have all experienced God; may God create good opportunities for us. And because of this, our brothers and sisters must know that God has chosen the foolish and dishonorable in the eyes of the world to shame the wise in the world because their wisdom is useless.

Human wisdom is useless. God not only does not give opportunity but also gives a snare and disaster. If you look carefully at those who are very shrewd, they later go from having billions of dollars to family decline, and their assets quickly become negative. It is very easy for God to punish someone. If you look carefully at those who are unlucky among us, which one does not rely on himself? None of them try to please God. God will dig a pit for them and let them slowly jump into it. Those who jump in, angels are clapping beside them, and demons are also clapping because you rely on yourself.

We often encounter accidental and coincidental things because God is pleased with us. If God is pleased with us, who can resist us? If God helps us, no problem is unsolvable. Now, make up your mind to please God, that is the real opportunity. But as people go along, they only see opportunity and forget God, which is fatal. Many people among us have experienced blessings, but as they go along, they think they are very capable and have good fortune. In fact, that is very dangerous. In the future, they will not be able to withstand even a small disaster from God.

III. Opportunity is in the Present Moment

God controls opportunity and also controls our lives. Opportunity is in the present moment. Joseph understood this very well. He was sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. As soon as he arrived in Egypt, he happened to meet Potiphar, the captain of the guard, who went to buy slaves. He immediately felt that Joseph was a good child, so he took him home. Did Joseph think that the opportunity had come, or was his life over? Joseph's perspective was completely different from others. I really like Joseph's story. Although everyone is familiar with this story, it doesn't matter, I still want to tell it again. Joseph had a dream before, dreaming that his whole family bowed down to him because he was eager to obtain a name greater than that of the firstborn. God made him the savior of the family. In the end, Joseph's position in the family was higher than Jacob's because God caused his parents, brothers, and sisters to bow down before him.

Joseph was very powerful. He thought that being a slave was an opportunity, that he was attending a slave university. Even as a slave, he did his best, gaining Potiphar's appreciation, who regarded him as a talent and managed Potiphar's household affairs, including hundreds of slaves. Joseph worked diligently because he knew that this was an opportunity. However, the opportunity did not come, but instead, he was sent to prison. Not only did the master like Joseph, but the mistress also liked him. She fantasized every day in her boudoir about how to seduce Joseph, but Joseph did not comply with Potiphar's wife.

Joseph did not regard that as an opportunity but knew very well that it was a disaster. Some people think that the mistress likes them, so they simply seize the opportunity. If they get praise from the mistress in front of the master, it will be easy to handle. I guess some brothers may regret that Joseph played a good hand so badly, that such a good opportunity came to him but he missed it. That was not an opportunity. Joseph feared God. God controls opportunity. His fear of God is wisdom. The mistress, unable to seduce him, became angry and sent Joseph to prison. Actually, such things are quite common. Women seduce men unsuccessfully and then turn around and blame them. So it is better to stay away from this kind of thing. Was Joseph's entry into prison an opportunity or a disaster? Generally, people would not think that it was an opportunity.

Joseph did a very serious job of being a prisoner in prison. No one could compare with him because he felt that it was an opportunity. There was hardship and struggle in his heart, but this was the opportunity for God to make him the savior of his family. Joseph did a good job as a slave and an even better job as a prisoner. As he did it, the warden simply outsourced the management of the prison to Joseph. He managed the prison in an orderly manner. In fact, to some extent, the warden was not much different from the prisoner. So the warden was also very smart and outsourced this work, letting the warden not have to worry about it and go play, as long as he was there. It would have been bad if someone had escaped while he was managing the prison or the slaves, and the opportunity would have been gone. In the end, Joseph left the prison and became the prime minister of Egypt. It turned out that this was an opportunity. This 13 years of accumulation made him a prime minister, which is really amazing.

So opportunity is in the present. Do the current slavery or being a prisoner well, and do the current job well. I am deeply influenced by Joseph. I try my best to do everything well. But everyone, don't think that because I try my best, I will save time on Sunday or serving. I know who controls opportunity and who controls my life. My life comes from God. What do I have to argue with God about? But your life is not, your life is your own. So you have to take good care of it and don't need to pay a price for God. But the price I pay for God is not small.

Thank God, I have to do everything I do well and never leave it unfinished. When I was a customer service representative, I learned other things while doing it. I did a great job in customer service. The average customer service representative couldn't do better than me. I tried my best to serve my customers with my poor English, and they all liked me. Later, when I became a manager, a customer who was a teacher didn't know and asked me by name to help him solve a problem. After it was resolved, he realized that I was already a manager and felt very embarrassed.

So doing the current thing well is an opportunity. If you feel that it is not arranged by God, you will complain. In fact, the current things are all arranged for you by God. I don't have the bad habit of looking at the mountain over there while being on this mountain. I just like to be honest and down-to-earth. Doing this is like taking an elevator, gradually rising. Rising every two or three years, after ten years, I became the head of that department. From customer service to network to servers to software development, I understand everything. It is a bit difficult for the people below to fool me.

The key is that you have to know how to be a person. If you don't know how to be a person, your life will be ruined. Being a person is about grasping the basic principles of being a person. Every industry has very deep waters. In this world, you need to have very deep skills. For example, as a customer service representative, you can handle any kind of customer. Sometimes you will definitely encounter tricky customers. I will use tricky methods to deal with them. So I treat all kinds of customers as opportunities. Sometimes, the questions that everyone asks in the Q&A are answered very well because I have come this way. The key is to know how to be a person, to fear God, and to do every job well that God has arranged for me.

With God guiding my path, all my opportunities come from Him. I rose from the lowest position to the head of this department because of God; He is truly amazing. After experiencing it, I often say that God will definitely create a job for you. The question is whether you have what it takes to please God. A person must seize opportunities. Many people feel that the present is not an opportunity and often complain. I often hear people say that they chose the wrong job back then and regret it, wishing they had stayed there. I am not like that, so I often advise these people to do their current job well and not resign. Some even say they want to resign without a backup plan, thankfully not in the nude.

Those who say such things think that there is a better job waiting for them, but if they cannot do this job well today, they will not be able to do another job well either. Some people often discern good and evil, compete, compare, be jealous, get upset, talk nonsense, and fight with others, but they don't know how to do their own job well. It is so much better to work hard. The current job is an opportunity, and that is faithfulness before God. Don't be arrogant; be down-to-earth. If you want to change jobs, do it with faith; if you don't want to change, do it with faith. If there is a good opportunity, promotion is OK, but hopefully, you won't enter the Peter Principle after being promoted, where you are promoted to the point of incompetence, which is upsetting. Others find it upsetting, and you find yourself upsetting, and you are exhausted. So be down-to-earth, create more value, and continuously accumulate and expand. When you do very well in your current job, you expand, preparing yourself to solve more problems.

Solving Problems When They Arise

What I hate the most is when problems accumulate without being solved. There are many such people. I once went to someone's house where the water pressure was low, and there was no water halfway through a shower. You had to wait a while for the water to come back, which was very upsetting in the middle of winter. They endured it day after day, year after year. It's OK to have problems, and they coexisted with the problems until they died without solving them. I cannot tolerate such people. If such people become pastors, the people they cultivate will be similar, just barely living. If the problems at home are like this, the problems at work will not be any better, and the problems of God will be thrown aside. Your problems are not even worth mentioning, definitely thrown aside. The attitude is wrong, so solving problems is an opportunity.

Solving problems requires learning. If you don't know how to learn, you must have the faith to learn. Solving any problem is a practice of faith, and faith is a down-to-earth faith. Solving problems is inseparable from learning. Solving problems requires research and pondering for a long time. Although it is tiring, it makes you a valuable person, which is what we talked about in the last lesson, being valuable. This is called proactive learning. The opportunity to solve problems came when my boss brought problems that no one else would do. Finally, the boss let me do it in desperation, and I agreed immediately.

I solve problems quickly now because I practiced it in those years. Even today, I still like to solve problems. Don't think that because I am a senior manager, I am detached from reality. If I fall, I will become a meat pie, right? Always keep my feet on the ground. Even today, I do the best in healing, deliverance, and shepherding among us; I solve the most problems. Great skills are usually practiced. God is with me when I solve problems, and God is pleased with me. My salary has increased tenfold in ten years, but don't just listen to the tenfold increase in salary without hearing about my problem-solving. If I solve ten thousand dollars worth of problems this month, the boss will give me five thousand. If I solve one hundred thousand dollars worth of problems in a month, I ask you, won't I be valuable?

If you are so valuable, surely companies will poach you, and your boss will have to raise your salary to keep you. That's why salaries increase so quickly. So if you want your salary to increase quickly, create more value, solve more problems, and accumulate more experience. Treat every problem the boss gives you as an opportunity. Although there is no raise yet, if you solve many problems, and I become the boss's headache medicine, I will definitely get a raise. And I am always the best subordinate. I have a very solid relationship with my superiors. The problems the boss gives are not hot potatoes; they are opportunities. Today, I have to explain it clearly to you to avoid confusion. Solving difficult problems is called an opportunity because it involves learning and innovation.

When we solve problems with innovative components, we will find that your value continues to rise, and your brain will become more and more useful. Then we will not be receiving hot potatoes. My colleagues like to do what they are most familiar with. There must be such people among us who don't want to do anything unfamiliar, only doing what they are most familiar with, repeating the same thing their whole lives, thinking they are great. I say they are just extras all day long, and they still feel wronged, feeling exhausted. Without learning and doing new things, the brain will easily rust. Doing repetitive things is called operation. People must come out of the toil of operation and become innovative and creative people because God is a creative God. When we become creative people, we have the image of God, and God is pleased with you and gives you good opportunities.

Just don't forget, don't go home and solve problems desperately just to solve them, ending up solving God out of the picture and solving away opportunities. If I had to choose, I would never put God aside first, even if it killed me. Everyone should know that it is very foolish to put God aside when you are busy. That will bury all your future opportunities in your choices. Some people say they are really busy. Then why are they busy? If God helps you, you won't be busy, and you don't have to be afraid of the boss firing you. Don't be confused. Sometimes when I see everyone's choices, I can only remain silent because people don't like to listen. Opposing their choices is seen as cursing them. People are not afraid of living in a curse themselves, but they are afraid when I tell them, which is strange.

Solve problems when they arise, but never forget that God controls opportunities. If your life is controlled by God, you don't need to be afraid of not having a job. No job, so what? It doesn't matter because God is everything to me. This is what I believe. Otherwise, you can slowly try it out. In the past few years, no matter how busy I have been, I have not put down my God. This is how I conduct myself. I have to make these basic principles clear before I can tell you. As it says in Ecclesiastes, in the days of your fleeting life, these words are truly well said, and everyone must remember them.

Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that He has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going. (Ecclesiastes 9:9-10)

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. (Ecclesiastes 9:11-12)

The Nets Look Like Opportunities

A bird flying sees food in a place and thinks it is an opportunity, but it is actually a net. A fish sees food, goes in to eat, and is caught in the net. The same is true for the world. When disaster suddenly strikes, people are trapped in it as well. Many of us have been caught in nets, which is very miserable. Always wanting to speculate, not only do we fail to steal a chicken but lose rice as well, even getting ourselves caught in the net. The chicken is just bait. If what is caught is not an opportunity, there will be huge losses. Many of us are in debt. If we work hard and do things down-to-earth, we will not be in debt. It's all because what we saw at the time looked like an opportunity, but we didn't know it was actually a net.

When a fish enters the net, it eats very well because the people haven't closed the net yet. When they close the net, they catch a whole net of fish and turn it into braised fish or grilled fish on a plate, with garlic flavor or spicy flavor. We must know that when disaster strikes suddenly, people are trapped in it as well. This is how the things of this world operate. The devil lets you climb the ladder. When you climb up, you feel great, gaining a lot of wealth. But when the ladder is gone, if you insist on coming down, you will become a meat pie. So what looks like an opportunity is actually a net. Too many people are trapped by Mammon.

When people choose between God and Mammon, the results are the same when they choose wrong. Some time ago, when promoting the hope of eternal life, I gave many examples. A sister didn't think eternal life was important, so she said goodbye to her pastor and left with tears in her eyes. Actually, she didn't expect to seek this eternal God, just wanting to be blessed in this world, but unfortunately, that is not possible. The anxieties of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth are like this. Today, who is deceived and in debt because they don't love money? They have all gone through a round in the net. If you observe this world carefully, such things are tragedies, no matter how big or small. Many people are caught by Mammon's net and eventually fall into Mammon's trap.

The opportunity is in the present. Work hard and do things down-to-earth, and God will surely guide you. Don't have those negative thoughts, and don't stand on this mountain looking at that mountain as higher. If a person never falls into a net in their life, just by working hard and doing things down-to-earth, nothing will happen. There will definitely be no debt. A lifetime of eating and using doesn't require much. It's just because they don't do their current job well and always want to seize opportunities, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. This is all unnecessary, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt means several years of working for nothing. If it's five hundred thousand dollars, it's five years of working for nothing, and it's possible that you won't be able to save that much money in ten years.

Conclusion

Thank God for giving me the opportunity to talk to everyone about the basic principles of seizing opportunities. My conclusion is to trust God well, live happily, and do what you should do diligently in these fleeting days, but never forget that God controls opportunities. As it says in Ecclesiastes, the race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. And the following sentence is even more important: Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come. As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.

May God have mercy on us and not let us fall into the net. This is called conducting oneself well. Isn't it good to conduct oneself peacefully in life? If you have to die, it's better to die for God. If you want to seize opportunities, walk down-to-earth, and God will surely grant you the opportunity. Never push God away, and never forget not to provoke God's anger, but to please God. Amen!