Self-discipline is defined as consciously abiding by the rules.
A self-disciplined person is free.

Self-Discipline is Related to Freedom

Self-discipline is defined as consciously abiding by the rules. A self-disciplined person is free. There is a world of difference between consciously abiding by the rules and being forced to abide by them. A person forced to abide by the rules is called a slave; a person who consciously abides by the rules is called self-disciplined. In other words, a person's freedom is related to his conscious adherence to the rules.

This world cannot exist without rules. If a person lives without rules, he cannot live well. From this perspective, self-discipline is the key to freedom.

Previously, I talked about developing good habits in life. Once it becomes a habit, it becomes natural. Developing good habits of self-discipline will lead to a conscious habit of abiding by the rules. This is the most important habit in our lives. Among my former classmates, some studied well, and some did not. What was the difference? The misconception is that some people are smart, and some are not. However, many people who do not study well are very smart. The problem is that those who study well have had good habits of self-discipline since childhood.

Today, ZX, a sister in our midst, scored full marks in Chinese, Math, and English exams. Whether a person studies well or not depends on whether he can consciously manage himself and has nothing to do with IQ. When I was a child, I was a very self-disciplined person, developed good habits, and the result of this self-discipline was that I took the initiative to study hard, so my grades were good.

A person's ability to consciously abide by discipline is a kind of integrity. In other words, a person's destiny is closely related to his ability to manage himself. A person without self-discipline is one who does not do what he wants to do and does what he does not want to do. He often does what he does not want to do and does not do what he wants to do. The reason why the Chinese army was able to defeat the Kuomintang army was because of the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention of the Chinese army.

In fact, consciously abiding by discipline is very important. A self-disciplined person who develops a habit of self-discipline will not feel very tired. A free person will manage himself, and a slave can only be managed with a whip.

Self-Discipline Can Unleash the Power Within

In our current era, the emphasis is on innovation. With the development of innovation and the knowledge-based economy, old management skills can no longer adapt to the new era. If the innovation and knowledge possessed by a person are to be tapped, it cannot be solved with a capitalist approach, with a whip. The whip can only release a person's physical strength. In the era of Charlie Chaplin's film Modern Times, when mechanization developed to a certain extent -- tightening a screw every two seconds -- in that era, a whip could be used to release a person's physical strength, just like managing slaves.

It is not to say that the management level of slaves is not high. The level of managing slaves requires a system of managing slaves, which is Taylor's two laws of business management. With the continuous development of the Taylor system, production efficiency has been greatly improved. As time goes by, machines have replaced people, and it is necessary to tap into the knowledge in people's brains. The entire industrial structure is changing. In other words, by that time, management science must change. Later, Mayo innovated a new management science, which is to release a lot of free art and allow employees to manage themselves well and consciously.

I prefer this management style. I believe that you can train him to be a free man. In the beginning, you can manage him very strictly, and then gradually he becomes a free man who can manage himself and consciously exert his abilities. In other words, whether the boss is present or not, he can work well.

Today, I encourage everyone to develop a good habit of self-discipline. Whether you are assigned a task or not, you must work hard, constantly explore your potential, and then give full play to your potential. The world is very fair. Even if your boss cannot appreciate your talents, society will reward you and give back to you.

In other words, when you consciously manage yourself and consciously do things, it will bring considerable returns. Do not focus on the company's boss but on the whole society. When you have abundant experience and knowledge, strong abilities, and are a conscious and self-disciplined person, I guarantee that finding a job will not be a problem because you have accumulated a lot of experience and personal achievements. The key is whether you have the ability of self-discipline.

That is why our church today wants to train these people so that they can receive God's grace and reward. Our God does not want us to live in poverty but wants us to live in abundance and prosperity. However, many people have bad habits, so they have always lived in poverty. The problem lies with the person. So, if you are not living well today, listen to my advice and transform yourself. It has nothing to do with others.

Self-Discipline Can Be Transformed into Enthusiasm

Self-transforming one's ability to be self-disciplined, can you sit down and read? If you can read for an hour, read for an hour; if you can read for three hours, read for three hours; if you can read for a day, then read for a day. Once I start doing something, I will forget to eat and sleep. When people get used to doing things, they will become very involved, highly involved, and full of enthusiasm.

Those who study with enthusiasm will never study poorly; those who work with enthusiasm will never do their work poorly; those who do anything with enthusiasm will never do it poorly. Because he is doing it consciously. Whether a person lives well or not is directly related to his enthusiasm.

In human nature, there is a fire. Shang Yang spent eight years pushing the Qin state to become the strongest of the Seven Warring States. He wrote the Book of Lord Shang, in which he talked about human nature, saying: There is a force in human nature, and if it is not released, it will become a persecuting force. That is why people do bad things such as drug use, rape, and bank robbery, because they do not know where to use the force inside.

However, a good manager, or a good pastor of a church, will guide the force to transformation and then turn it into productivity, which can create value. Once he creates value, he becomes a valuable person, and society will reward him, and the power inside him will enter a correct cycle.

So-and-so did a very great thing. Originally, the Chinese people were full of wisdom and ability, but the common pot made people lazy. Therefore, he thought of releasing people's power and transforming it into productivity, so he pushed people into the economy, creating value and solving economic problems. However, although there was money, the power inside people was still not released, and as a result, there were resentment, complaints, and negative problems.

What should the church do? The church should enable these people to have the ability to consciously manage themselves, release their abilities, and then run towards their goals. So, what is self-discipline? Self-discipline is not doing whatever you want to do but the courage and ability to run towards your goal.

The Ability and Courage to Run Towards a Goal is Called Self-Discipline

When I was a child, my family was very poor. In our era, there was a saying: Study mathematics, physics, and chemistry well, and you can travel all over the world. Later, I really studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry well. I really studied hard at that time, and my self-discipline was very strong. I desperately wanted to study well. In my second year of junior high school, I read the textbooks for the third year of junior high school, and in my third year of junior high school, I read the textbooks for high school, but I still finished high school step by step.

What drives a person to do this? Self-discipline! You have a goal inside, a dream, and then you run towards that goal. Is it tiring? Even a fool knows it is tiring! I tell you, it is very tiring and exhausting. Studying every day is a very tiring thing, but there is a fire inside me. I let that fire release towards my goal and then become a self-disciplined ability.

What is self-discipline? Self-discipline is continuing to run even when you don't feel like it. Oh, I don't feel like studying. I'm really tired. I really want to sleep. Reading is really boring. Who isn't bored? Everyone is bored. Why don't you try reading? Doing math problems, geometry, trigonometric functions... Just that little bit of stuff, tossing and turning and struggling enough, but still continuing to do it.

Self-discipline is persisting when you don't feel like it, self-discipline is persisting when you have no interest. I tell you, I do many things that I have no interest in. I don't even know what I'm interested in, but I have a characteristic that is very interesting. I myself am surprised that I have no interest in anything. Do you find that strange? Playing mahjong - picking up a card and playing it, and then winning! I don't understand why people play all night, just those dozens of cards touching them and making them feel excited. I find that very surprising.

I'm not addicted to smoking or drinking. I gave myself a nickname: The kind of person whose life is very boring because I'm not interested in anything. Actually, I'm not very interested in studying either. It's that self-discipline inside me, that I require myself to run towards my goal.

What is self-discipline? It is persisting when you feel bad. In fact, I often feel bad. In the process of growing up since I was a child, there were really many times when I felt bad, but if a person has a dream, has a goal, you can run towards your goal, and it can bring another kind of joy. This joy is called satisfactory joy. When you have done things, wow, it is really good! But the process of doing it is not good at all.

I met a student who said, Teacher, I really want to do multimedia. I said, Okay, you like doing multimedia, why don’t you make a webpage and show it to me. Half a year later, he still hadn't made a webpage. Teacher, I'm not interested in multimedia anymore. Why are you not interested? Because you haven't made it work in six months, so you're not interested. What are you interested in then? “I’m interested in making money.” In fact, many times, a person has a feeling of interest, these things are illusions and are fake. Self-discipline is real. The one sitting next to me has an interest in reading romance novels, reading all day long, and then immersing herself in the role of the romance novel. That is also an alternative kind of self-discipline in which she consciously does it. But if she cannot reach her goal, she will be conflicted.

But I am not conflicted because I have always managed my own time and used it well on normal things. I often meet my standards, reach my goals. Take establishing a church, for example. That too is a kind of self-discipline. I really have the qualifications to boast about some things. Can you imagine what it would be like to go to work and get off work alone every day for five years? A one-person company, a one-person church. It's not easy. Without a very strong ability of self-discipline -- that is, the ability to run with a vision and goal -- you simply cannot persist, but I am the kind of person who can persist.

Who has influenced me the most in this whole process? I have been influenced a lot by a teacher of mine when I was in college, the head teacher of my class in college. Her husband returned from studying in Germany and was sent to Hanzhong to develop the atomic bomb. As a result, foreign spies were arrested at that time, and he was thrown into a small dark room. The small room had no windows, only a lamp, which was on twenty-four hours a day. A small hole was dug in the door. When it was opened, if there was a bowl of rice, he would eat it. He just ate a bowl of rice whenever there was one to eat. He didn't know how many years he lived in this room. He only knew how many bowls of rice he had eaten. He marked the wall with his fingernail. When he came out after more than three years, two-thirds of the people in the prison had gone mad -- they had lost their minds. He was still living normally, very persevering.

I was very moved after listening to his story. I said that although this person is not a believer, he is a remarkable person. He did exercises in the room and talked to himself. He did what he should do. What kind of job did he do after he came out? When Siemens of Germany established its headquarters in Beijing, he was the first CEO. He was a very powerful person.

Self-Discipline is the Ability to Manage Yourself and Overcome Yourself

So today, brothers and sisters, I want to tell you that self-discipline is an ability to manage yourself, and self-discipline is an ability to overcome yourself. I tell you that following the flesh is death, and following the Holy Spirit is life and peace. In other words, following your thing is not okay; following your thing, there is no way to go.

So I will ruthlessly attack those among us who, whenever something happens, just follow their feelings. I tell you, I will ruthlessly attack you, and even if I drive you away, I don’t care. I will repair you no matter what and turn you into a self-disciplined person. Why do I do this? If a person has no self-discipline, he is finished. So I have been racking my brains thinking about what? That is, how to design a course that can train people's self-discipline. This is a very painful thing for me. This is a new topic for me, but I feel that if I can research such a topic, I will be very satisfied.

I tell you that the foundation of the entire education system is the building of character, and then the second layer is the building of ability. It is not knowledge at all. So if a person has character, he will definitely have ability. If a person has ability, he will definitely have knowledge. So brothers and sisters, everyone must start developing a habit of self-discipline today. How to develop this self-discipline? I may not be able to answer this well, but after pondering it over and over, the most important thing is to let children learn to revere. If you don’t teach him self-discipline, teach him to revere.

So for some people with mental illness among us, or your pastors, or me, we will somehow make you learn to revere. Why does the church establish such a habit? Because only in this way can that person be built up. When ZX came, I said to him, Are you afraid of your mother? Yes. The fact that he was afraid of his mother allowed him to get two 100s. Why? Because his mother hung a big stick on the wall. So once a child learns reverence, he will no longer be afraid of difficulties, and he will move forward bravely to overcome his problems in learning and self-discipline.

In the past, ZX would stand in front of the TV for an hour. Does he dare to do that now? He doesn’t dare. Is this his own ability? No, it is the ability of the stick. So I was thinking, how can I make my brothers and sisters learn to revere? I know that many people do not know what reverence is. I once served a mental patient. The process of serving this patient was quite difficult for me. He wrote me such a letter, saying: Pastor, I am very afraid. I am afraid to listen to you. All I hear is accusations, condemnation, and pressure. Don't call me. I don't want to hear anything now. If he really had reverence, he would not write these things to me.

Later I replied to him, “If you don’t take the initiative to find me, I will not take the initiative to find you. You don’t have to worry, I won’t call you. You can either follow your feelings and continue to suffer for the rest of your life, or you can choose to come out and overcome it. It’s actually very simple, just don’t follow your feelings. You like to follow your feelings too much. This will kill you. I’m just pointing out your problems and asking you to correct them. Is that an accusation? Is that pressure? Do you really have these problems? If you do, then get rid of these bad habits. Even if no one reminds you of these problems, do you think you will live a good life? You won’t. These bad habits are what ruin you.”

I don't care. No matter what, I want to make these people learn to revere. This kind of person does not know how to revere anyone inside. If he follows his own nature, he will ruin himself. If you don’t know how to revere anyone, if no pastor is worthy of your reverence, you simply cannot grow. If you are a self-disciplined person, you can grow no matter what. You will grow without needing reverence. He will consciously revere. If a person has no self-discipline, he will definitely not know who to revere. So in our church, don’t think that I will be lenient. If I can’t shepherd them, I will directly eliminate them, give them to society, give them to the government.

So reverence is key. A person must start to train himself from self-discipline, and if you have no ability of self-discipline, start to learn to revere. When I was studying as a child, I heard six words: Hang your head from the beam, prick your thigh with an awl. Hanging your head from the beam -- because your hair is long, because you are afraid of nodding off when you sleep, tie your hair with a rope and hang it on the beam. If you nod off, you quickly read. Prick yourself on the back with a shoe awl, that is reverence. If you don't study hard, his father or mother will prick him in the back with an awl to make him study hard. Training must begin with reverence.

Start with Simple Things and Train Self-Discipline Little by Little

Self-discipline is a capacity for responsibility. If a person lacks this, it indicates a severe inability to distinguish between good and evil, which, if extreme, can lead to mental illness. To begin this training, the pastor should also be involved. Understand that if someone lacks self-discipline, start with simple tasks. If they succeed, move them up a step. Good, then another, and another. If you ask them to climb a two-meter step all at once, they won’t make it. But a 20-centimeter step they certainly can. Therefore, start with simple areas where self-discipline is easily trained. Those being pastored should learn to report truthfully—daily, weekly, monthly.

Some of us report in a formalistic way, lacking substance. Today we paste yesterday’s report, tomorrow we paste today’s—ending the year with just one report. What use is that? It's not specific! You must talk about concrete matters. Reporting is about specific events, not generalities. If someone consistently deals with generalities, I tell you what will happen: they will be constrained by the spirit of the dragon. Why? Because they are dealing with falsehoods and engaging in pretense. Today, to tackle these bad habits, you must: 1. Be very spiritual; 2. Be very practical. Reporting is linked to planning. Plan to achieve a goal, and constantly assess whether your actions are achieving that goal. If you are not meeting the goal, you must start learning self-discipline.

See Your Progress, Don’t Be Discouraged

When making plans, be realistic. Can you focus for an hour? If you can focus for an hour, you can focus for two. If you can focus for two hours, you can focus for three, then gradually increase. Self-discipline begins with a person’s mindset. You must have a correct understanding. Many people do not see their progress, and that is a bad habit. You must see your progress. Because you cannot go from a low level of self-discipline directly to a high level. You can only climb step by step. Climbing a mountain is done step by step, not by flying up. Today, we must see a little progress every day. A child eats a meal and wonders why they haven’t grown taller? This sounds like a joke. Eating for a year may not make them grow, but eating for several years will cause a big jump. Actually, today’s Kerui is the same height as yesterday’s. They haven’t eaten less, but they haven’t grown taller. Life’s growth is gradual, even invisible. The cultivation of self-discipline is also gradual, and you may not see your own growth. Sometimes you’ll see your growth, then maintain the same state for a long time, before suddenly growing again. People grow taller this way, and crabs grow this way too.

If you see a crab this big, it must have molted several times. So, today, don’t be discouraged as we train self-discipline. Start with personal habits, from your studies and work. I think everyone should ponder these two words. Ponder and you’ll find the way—this place can be improved, that place can be improved. Just ponder and you’ll work it out. Self-discipline can start with a lifestyle habit. When these people first arrived, there was a thick layer of dust in each room. Today, it feels comfortable to enter. The bathroom used to have a puddle of water, and I had to step over it to avoid stepping in it. There was also hair all over the floor. I started training them one by one.

When GY came, I introduced them, showing how to use the bathroom and how to clean it after use. Everyone cleans up after themselves; it’s not difficult. But if everyone lacks self-discipline, that’s disastrous, isn’t it? When this habit starts to form, you will find that you are not tired, nor are you delayed. But the overall environment is much better. So, we start with personal habits. Why does the military train soldiers to fold luggage and blankets neatly? It’s training your self-discipline, your ability to manage yourself. Having a self-disciplined habit is great—managing yourself so that whether the boss is present or not, you can get things done properly. When you develop this habit, you are powerful!

Frustration is the Best Time to Train Your Character

Whether in study or work, breaking through a little achieves results. In the process of self-discipline training, the most crucial thing is encountering frustration. Everyone has encountered frustration. When you encounter frustration, begin to deal with the feelings inside you. That feeling is a delusion. Start to deal with your emotions, your negative thoughts, and your bad habits. Later, I discovered that these mentally ill patients are unwilling to deal with themselves. If they are willing to deal with themselves, they will immediately come out. XF puts it well: the path I walked was dealing with myself.

Today, we must clearly know that your problem is yourself. The situation you are living out today has nothing to do with others; it is the result of your own steps. If it is all the result of your own steps, then you didn’t get each step right in the past. If you had gotten each step right, you definitely wouldn’t be in this situation today. If we don’t deal with ourselves and blame others, we end up blaming the moon, the stars—everything is a problem except ourselves. I tell you, the problem in a person's life is yourself, not the environment.

Because the Bible confirms this, even if you are a slave, that slave status cannot change God's will for your life. Being a slave cannot prevent you from becoming the Prime Minister of Egypt, but you can prevent yourself. If Joseph had been negative while enslaved, had strange feelings, manifested bad habits, and given up completely, he would have been finished. Do slavery thoroughly, do imprisonment thoroughly, and your life is over. So, when encountering frustration, don’t immediately think it’s someone else’s fault. Start training your character. Encountering frustration is the best time to train your character.

I think I am somewhat qualified to say this because I am quite a character myself. For five years, I entered and exited the office alone, working there alone. So what to do? It was done! Were there times of frustration? Yes! Intense frustration, intense feelings of failure. What to do when feeling defeated? Cry if you need to! Shed tears! Tears discharge toxins—crying is a detoxification function. Start dealing with your bad habits. Self-discipline really requires patience, a capacity that complements self-discipline. Don’t ever think that doing something for one day will make a difference. Nothing happens when you do something for just one day. Eating one meal won’t make you grow taller; it doesn’t work that way. You have to do it continuously for many, many days.

The Church is a Platform for Training Character

Jacob worked for twenty years before receiving the rewards he was due. For the first fourteen years, he was penniless. So, everyone must have this patience. When you do something, nothing happens—what can happen? What can possibly happen if you persist in self-discipline for one day? Nothing will happen. But if you continue to persist day after day, you will be powerful! That is called self-discipline. So, don't give up if you occasionally fall. That is to say, you must constantly train that character of yours, cultivating your tenacious character throughout the entire process. The church will become a platform for training character. Today, we must say that other churches cannot find this because it is my own original creation.

You say that only your church is good, and other churches are not? I don’t know whether they are or not, but training character is something that many places don’t have. But I know that, in the Bible, God trained the Israelites this way. I think what I am doing should align with the Bible. Those people just sing songs, preach a sermon, and then go home. What character training? There is nothing. So, dear brothers and sisters, start reassembling yourselves. Continuously mold yourself, and when you mold yourself, you can train others. When you climb up three steps, you can help pull up those on the first step. When you climb up five steps, you can help pull up those on the third step. If you climb to the top of the mountain, to the Garden of Heavenly Father's Love, you can pull everyone up. That is an immeasurably great ability.