Seeing Through the Essence of Living

In my past pastoral experiences, I've found that the most effective method is to impart vision and dreams. When God created man, He instilled something special within him. When a person lacks vision and dreams, life becomes incredibly dull. Once someone feels they have no future, a multitude of problems can arise.

Many among us hope to solve their problems through prayer: Pray for this, pray for that, just pray for me. After the prayer, once the problem is solved, they return in a couple of days, saying, Pray for me again! What's the reason for this? It's all related to vision and dreams. In this lifetime, one must figure out how to live. If one can't understand how to live, wouldn't it be a tragedy? People must know what living is all about. Let's try this: I ask, What is living all about? Everyone looks at each other, unable to articulate it clearly.

Many have studied this. Zhao Benshan, the master of sketches, said, Living is about making trouble. He didn't understand what living was about. He just had money and made trouble, buying an airplane. Later, he discovered that airplanes cost a lot of money. Just buying a parking spot at the airport requires a lot of money. Finding a place to park the plane is unimaginable. This person just likes to make trouble.

Later, some people wrote a poem called Living is About Making Trouble. Others wrote a song with the same title. Why? Because people haven't figured out what living is really about. If they don't understand what living is about, they live haphazardly. Like when I was young, I didn't understand what living was about, so I just lived. But that's not an answer. Living is living, but I want to live well! Do you want to live well? I want to live well! I dream of living well! But dreaming isn't enough; you have to know how to live well.

So, living is really interesting. Recently, some people took college entrance exams, while others invested. When the stock market crashed, many jumped off buildings. When the housing market collapsed, many also jumped. Some failed their college entrance exams and jumped as well. Not long ago, I saw a news story about a man who got his Ph.D.—don't blame me, I'm just saying he got a Ph.D.—returned from America to China, and saw that his classmates were driving big cars and living in luxury homes. He was heartbroken! They weren't as good as me in school, but now they're living better than me. As a result, he developed a mental illness, killed his parents, and tried to commit suicide, but the police caught him before he could. Upon questioning, that's what happened.

So, brothers and sisters, do you know? The experience of ministry is to bring people to the answer of what living is all about. If you can't figure out this matter of living, there will be many tragedies. One illness is enough to get you down. If a part of a car breaks, it's not that serious, but if a part inside a person breaks, it's fatal.

So, isn't organ transplantation popular these days? The organ trade is rampant! Why? Because people's parts are breaking. If the liver fails, they need to replace it. If the kidney fails, they need to replace it with one from another person. If someone could invent a way to use pig organs as replacements, they'd definitely make money because raising pigs is easier than raising people! This is a bit difficult. Why? Because if a person's parts break, it's not good. If it's a car part, it's easy; you can go to the shop and replace it with a new one.

Living Requires Vision and Dreams

What's the problem? Why does it break? I tell you, all diseases, to put it in familiar terms, start as empty illnesses and become real illnesses. What is an empty illness? It's when a person lacks dreams and vision, hope, faith, or a future. Then they feel uncomfortable, and that discomfort turns into a real illness. The real illness might be that something is broken here or there. So, brothers and sisters, in my ministry experience, I will always share the most precious thing with you, and that precious thing is called vision and dreams.

Vision and dreams bring hope! What people need most is vision and dreams. When I was a child, I played with mud with a group of kids, making mud figures, seeing who could make the best one. The one who made the best one would earn more mud. It was just about earning mud, nothing much, but it was fun. If you look back at your childhood, you'll remember that children can have a great time playing. But children these days... sigh! I feel a bit sad. Why? Because our generation was filled with communist dreams. Whether the dreams were real or not, people in that era, though their clothes were worn and shabby, lived with hope! After the reform and opening up, people became obsessed with money.

I once rode in a green train and met an old woman. She sighed, Alas! I asked her what she was sighing about. She said, We didn't have enough to eat or drink before, but we had hope. But now, we eat well and drink well, but we always feel listless. What she said revealed a truth: if a person doesn't have the correct values, they will definitely feel uncomfortable. If you want to live well, I must tell you what living is all about.

What is living all about? Living is vanity of vanities! What does that mean? I once wrote a book, a commentary on Ecclesiastes, titled Seeing Through the Vanity of Life. Coming out of a vain life is very interesting. If you want to buy it, buy the new edition. I wrote this book twice, and I find the latest version very interesting.

Don't think that just because some people are old, even in their seventies or eighties, they understand what living is all about. They understand less than I do, so they haven't come out of the vain life. If you can come out of the vain life, then I tell you, you are amazing! If you can recognize that these things are vain in life, wouldn't that be easy? So, living is really crucial. For example, someone wants to take the college entrance exam, but they don't do well. What's their reaction? They feel their life is ruined. If I don't get into college, how can I have a future? Actually, a person's future has little to do with whether they get into college or not.

Recently, we ministered to a young brother. I taught him some English words. He remembered them all five minutes ago, but forgot them all five minutes later. Oh my goodness, it was really frustrating! I advised his mother not to force him to learn these things anymore, to learn something useful. But she insisted on sending him to school. So, let him go. Why do they do this? Because they think that if the child doesn't study hard, he won't have a future.

In Singapore, many children are also very interested in office jobs. Actually, office jobs have low salaries and little future. In many developed countries, highly skilled white-collar workers earn money, while low-level white-collar workers earn little, not as much as highly skilled blue-collar workers. For example, cleaning a toilet—everyone finds it dirty and doesn't want to do it, but cleaning a toilet is two hundred Singapore dollars! If you clean one a day, you can relax the rest of the time, can't you? If you ask me what I do in my spare time, I would do that. Actually, I'm telling a joke. I have many things that are more important than that, but if I were reduced to that situation, I would still have things to do.

In many Western countries, like Canada, lawn mowing is a big deal! Going to see an ornamental lawn costs a lot of money, but that's not what we're talking about now. We're talking about how much people understand about living. Actually, many people don't understand. Like my brother's child, after graduating from college, went to work in Shanghai, but still needed his father to send him money for living expenses. It's understandable for his father to send him money when he was in college, but how can he still need his father to send money after he's working?

I was puzzled. Wouldn't he earn more than ten thousand yuan a month working as an electrician with his father, even without a college degree? What can he do after graduating from college? People just don't understand. This is just one thing they don't understand. The matter of living is much bigger than that. Isn't it sad if they don't understand it? So, we must understand it. In ministry, I often do such teaching. Someone asked me, If I didn't do well on the college entrance exam, can I still live well? Actually, living is a simple thing. Many people who didn't go to college live well, and many who didn't go to prestigious universities also live well. Now some schools are slowly becoming prestigious universities, like the one Jack Ma attended.

Many powerful people are all people with vision and dreams. That's very powerful. Wang Jianlin once joked, Set a small goal, earn a hundred million. That also requires vision and dreams. So, don't think that just because they're not spiritual people, what they say isn't so bad. Dream of a thousand roads at night, walk the same road in the morning. This describes young people today who don't do practical things. Many of today's problems are related to what? They're related to our lack of vision and dreams. People today don't lack dreams, but their dreams often shatter. Their dream is to go to college, but they don't get in, and the dream shatters. The dream is to earn a hundred million, but they don't earn it, and the dream shatters. To put it bluntly, they haven't figured out what living is all about.

Establishing Heavenly Vision and Dreams

Let me tell you what's best: heavenly vision and dreams are the best. Why are heavenly vision and dreams the best? People, from childhood to old age, these past seventy or eighty years, finally look at their aged selves, and then senile dementia comes, and they become confused. What is this all about? So, brothers and sisters, we must come out of this vain world and establish a God-ordained dream. What is this called? It's called destiny - Mingding Destiny. I came into this world, and I must live out the meaning of my life. Everyone must gradually adjust what's inside us. This is called worldview.

Recently, we were ministering to a child who calculated 5 + 4 as 8. Now he can calculate 5 + 4 as 9, and he thinks he's amazing. He can deliver food on his own, and after doing a few orders, he gets proud. That's troublesome. Later, I discussed with his mother about breaking his worldly system. If we don't break his worldly system, it's really impossible! We trained him, and later he found a job at McDonald's. Later, his mother asked him to help sweep the floor, and he said, Don't you know what I do? I work at McDonald's! Can I do such a thing as sweeping the floor?

The way he said it, as if working at McDonald's was a great thing. He doesn't know! I often encounter these big and small things, and I've met all kinds of people. This child calculates 5 + 4 as 8, but some of us who are a bit better than him are also ignorant and arrogant. If people don't know how high the sky is or how thick the earth is, that can be fatal.

It's not strange that people don't know what living is all about. We can't see the true face of Mount Lu because we are in the mountain. If God doesn't tell us, we can't possibly know. Using our own ideas to find it is impossible. Like a computer, it's hard for it to understand itself, but if it asks its creator, it will easily understand.

It's important to understand that humans were created by God. After we were created, we must ask God what He created us for. You can have vision and dreams, but if your vision and dreams go against God's plan, what will you do when your dreams shatter? I know what God created me for. God's plan for me on earth is called destiny - Mingding Destiny.

Once I know God's plan for me, it's not I who achieve it, but God who achieves it! How can it shatter? This kind of heavenly vision and dream can never shatter, especially when you understand God's word and then act according to it. I tell you, it's great! Then you live in prosperity.

Some people say to me, That's not necessarily true. Look at the Christian next door to us, he's not doing well. I tell you, that doesn't stump me. The Christian next door to you is not the standard. I really don't know if the Christian next door to you has acted according to God's word. If a person acts according to God's word, I tell you, he will definitely live out the glorious and noble image of God. I tell you, what's most fatal for a person? What's most fatal is to live neither as a human nor as a ghost.

Our preachers often say, How animals live, so do humans live; how animals are born, so are humans born; how animals die, so do humans die. If people live like animals, isn't that sad? People go on blind dates all the time, and animals do the same. In Animal World, two male animals fight for it. People are similar.

If animals die as humans die, and animals live as humans live, then people live like beasts. But if God lives as humans live, and God works as humans work, then man will live like God. Of course, living like God is good! I give everyone a piece of advice: you must have heavenly vision and dreams! But this is a bit difficult because when I talk to others about it, they think I'm brainwashing them again.

But believe me, your brain is too dirty, full of lice. How can that be good? I used to say, Your head is full of runny shit. Although it sounds bad, I think it really needs to be said like that! That's powerful, like drinking sixty-proof baijiu. If your head is full of runny shit, is that okay? You have to fill it with the word of God! How good it is to live with the word of God! This is called destiny - Mingding Destiny!

Some people ask, Is that really the case? You have to look at the results! What does it mean to look at the results? It means that those who really put this word into practice all prosper because this is God's word and God's good will. We don't achieve it by human power but by God's power. Once you establish heavenly vision and dreams, you will see that everything in the world becomes very small, all the difficulties in the world become small, and all the problems in the world are immediately under your feet. Isn't that good? It sounds very satisfying.

However, where should this start? It should start with breaking worldly dreams. Breaking worldly dreams is very important! A few days ago, I just sent a brother to the airport. Many years ago, he didn't know God, but he was very interested in finding a girlfriend! But as soon as he saw a girl, his confidence dropped, and he was very miserable! As a result, he developed depression less than a year after coming to Singapore.

The severe depression prevented him from continuing his studies and from doing those things that were so-called romantic. In his words, he was almost forced to jump onto the subway tracks, but finally, he found me online. At that time, my time was plentiful. I was doing everything in the church, and I was doing all the ministry alone, but now I can't do that. If everyone came to me, I couldn't do it! At that time, I received him, prayed for him, and drove out the demons, restoring him to a normal life.

But one thing still needs to be broken: worldly dreams. This child, since childhood, because of his humble background, wanted to stand out, but did he stand out? No, he almost ended up in a mental hospital. I tell everyone, our God is faithful, and He never lies. If a person wants to live well, he must have heavenly dreams and vision. I often advise everyone, but not many people listen to me.

Breaking All Worldly Dreams

Let's talk about how to solve the problem of pastoring. So, no matter what, I must tell you that if you still want to hold on to your worldly dreams and vision, or worldly pursuits, then forget it! Because it's like climbing a mountain, and when you get to the top, you can't turn back, you have to jump down. In other words, don't create tragedies for yourself in life. How real the spiritual world is! Once, I saw my mother's eyes were very strange, her eyeballs were spinning. I grabbed her neck and asked her, Say it! Who are you? Later, my mother's spirit returned, and what she said to me made my back chill: Son, if you hadn't prayed like that, I wouldn't have come back! I asked her where she had gone. She said that she was forced by evil spirits to climb a winding mountain and was already two-thirds of the way up! If she had reached the top of the mountain, she would not have been able to come back!

Our brothers and sisters all know that living is just a blink of an eye. Those who have seen dead people have this experience. Like my father's death, nine years have passed in the blink of an eye. People live and die. How can you not know? Even if people live to be 100 years old, it's only 36,900 days, really not long. It's over in a blink of an eye. So, what do we pursue in life? If people die when they die, then living is vanity of vanities. If living is vanity of vanities, it's better to die sooner, because dying sooner means suffering less, and dying later means suffering more.

The spiritual realm is so real! Because I cast out demons every day and deal with demons every day. One day, I met a demon and asked it, When did you come? I came at noon. What did you come to do? To see if your mother was dead. These demons do such terrible things! So, if we don't understand the spiritual realm, it's a tragedy. Breaking worldly dreams, coming out of a vain life, you must come out!

If you don't believe in the spiritual realm, then look at the problems you're facing now. It hurts here, and it hurts there, sick here, sick there, this problem, that problem... Then why did you come to me to pray? Because you can't solve it. If the hospital can solve it, would you still come to me? What can I do for you when you come to me? It's just to drive the demons behind the diseases out of you, but in the end, you may ask, Are there demons?

I often encounter this kind of thing. After driving out the demon behind him, he says, Are there demons? Where are the demons? I really want to beat him. What kind of person is this? They think demons have disheveled hair and wear white robes, but they don't. Behind diseases are all spiritual dark forces. After experiencing so much, we discovered that many problems are related to our worldly dreams. Why don't we break them? If we suffer so much in this world today, why don't we establish a heavenly dream? If you establish a heavenly vision and dream, all your problems will disappear immediately.

These days I often hear some strange stories, so I'll share them with you. One of my co-workers has a classmate who has even come to my place. He has a Ph.D. and even did a post-doctorate degree. He stole someone else's girlfriend and brought her home. Suddenly, the whole family was dizzy, and the whole family gave gifts left and right. The girl received almost more than 300,000, and after leaving, she went abroad to study and got back together with her previous boyfriend. The 300,000 was taken away for nothing.

This brother's life is chaotic. Why? Because it's messy inside. He had a worldly dream. He wanted to find a girlfriend and marry a good wife, but he was deceived. Whether he cheated others or others cheated him, he suffered great losses. I think this is very interesting.

Another classmate of my co-worker also came to find him. His wife had depression. He spent a lot of money to treat his wife's depression. He went to Shanghai and Beijing, and he went everywhere he could go, but he couldn't cure his wife's depression. Later, he suddenly remembered that this classmate of his was doing this! What does this classmate do with me? He specializes in these difficult and complicated diseases. We deal with a lot of them. We have ministered to depression and mental illness. As a result, after he came to find him, his wife got better in a short time. After a year and a half of tossing around, his wife finally knew God, but there is still a long way to go from establishing a heavenly dream.

It's a bit difficult to willingly demolish worldly dreams. Demolishing worldly dreams is still a bit dirty and messy. It's like demolishing a dilapidated house. Some people are unwilling to demolish their dilapidated house, but how can you build a new house without demolishing the old one? Everyone should know that demolishing a house is very important. If you want to repair the old house, it's difficult to do; it's better to replace it all. In other words, don't repair the old; rebuild a new one, but that is very difficult. Like that young man I ministered to before, he is recovering well, but has he demolished his worldly dreams? Has he established heavenly vision and dreams? I think it's far from it.

Why do I mention this? Because shepherding makes people grow and live prosperously. It's like a tree, planted by the stream, bearing fruit in season, and its leaves do not wither, right? This is meditating on God’s word day and night. If you meditate on God's word day and night throughout your life, carefully observe and follow his statutes and ordinances, then throughout your life, no one will be able to stand before you.

So, this is crucial. It's not what I want, it's not that I need you to have heavenly vision and dreams, but if you let me solve your problems, if I don't impart this heavenly vision and dream, you will ask me, Can this disease be eradicated? I think we should forget about it. The root cannot be removed! Where is the root? It’s in your head, in the worldly vision and dreams. If a person loves the world, the love of God cannot be in him. If a person does not love God, he is accursed, isn't that fatal?

Where does the curse come from? The curse comes from God. Why would God curse you? Because you violated God's word. You violated God's word, invited a curse, and came to me later. I will lead you to pray and ask God to heal you, but God said to me: This person should be like this. But I begged God for mercy, and God showed mercy.

Taking on the Destiny God Has Given Us

The Bible tells of an old man named Abraham, who, in his seventies, felt life was meaningless, despite his wealth. You know what people do when they have money? They find life quite pointless because they lack purpose. I once had an SUV that I drove to the beach for picnics, grilling food. That car sat downstairs, unused, because it held no further interest for me.

I also once dreamed of owning a plane, flying about wherever I pleased! But after frequent flights, seeing the plane parked at the airfield, it lost its appeal. Reflecting on these things, I realized that feeling life is pointless is akin to where Abraham was. Many like Abraham are old and wealthy when these thoughts arise. I pondered this in my youth, before wealth, and I am truly thankful to God.

Abraham saw people die and be buried, a grim cycle. Those who put the dead in coffins would eventually be placed in one themselves, and so on. I thought, one day it will be my turn to lie in that coffin, so life didn’t seem to have much meaning. Abraham thought the same: life is meaningless because we all die eventually.

Abraham found something: he found God! This is recorded in Genesis, chapter 12. I wrote a book titled Abraham: Pioneering the Path of Faith, covering Genesis 12 to 26. I find Genesis wonderful! I could speak on it for days. This old man sought and sought, and one day God spoke to him:

I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

This was remarkable! He found meaning in life. I hope we all become Abrahams in this generation, seeking the meaning of life. If we pursue only eating, drinking, and pleasure, we are no different from beasts, which live only for their physical selves. Humans must aspire to be like God, desiring to bless others. If you dedicate yourself to God, you will not live poorly.

The most self-damaging thing in life is selfishness. If one is selfish, self-righteous, and feels the world is against them, they are heading for a mental institution. If you are like that, heed my advice: embrace a vision and a dream to bless others, not live for yourself. People ask why I am so healthy at my age? Because I do not live for myself.

How have you lived these past 20 years? Do you get at least 7 hours of sleep? No? Then what do you do? Rely on sleeping pills, even four times the normal dose! What kind of mentality is that? We, on the other hand, do not pamper ourselves, nor do we keep track of when we sleep. Sometimes it's 2 AM, sometimes 3 AM, sometimes yes, sometimes no, this way and that, skipping meals... yet we remain healthy.

Because we simply don't dwell on it. Is caring about this good, or not? It’s strange. Some insist on 7 hours of sleep because they believe it's essential for life. Man is iron, food is steel; skip one meal, and you'll be hungry. Yet, they still experience health problems.

I, however, eat only one meal a day and am fine. I learned this from someone who ate only one meal during both poverty and wealth. I thought, I'll try it, because I like trying new things. I'm as strong as an ox, rarely sick. If I'm busy, I skip a meal; busier, I skip two; even busier, three…

What's the point? Food is not what gives us life! People ask me: How do you look so young? Because I eat little and sleep little. Some buy loads of cosmetics—I threw many away. In the end, their face still looks inferior to my old one! If we lack a heavenly vision and dream, if we don't see through life like old Abraham, we live in delusion. And how can one thrive in delusion?

Abraham found something incredible! So, I encourage you to seek, to seek the purpose of life. You might ask, Who asks that? But you must ask! Otherwise, you eat and sleep like a pig, or enjoy playing like a monkey. That is why I tell you of heavenly visions and dreams, because no one can shatter them.

But if your worldly dreams are shattered, you will either deteriorate, jump off a building, or turn to drugs... there are too many possibilities. Therefore, consider your core interests. If your core interest is yourself, you are extremely selfish and cannot avoid suffering. Because you suffer, you come to me for prayer, and I promise to be a good shepherd. The best shepherd breaks your bad habits. If I cannot, I will tell you I cannot shepherd you because you are disobedient!

I tell you doing this will make you thrive, but you insist on doing that, clinging to your own ways. Fine, cling to them. But you still follow me, claiming only I can solve your problems. Alright, if you follow me, these problems must be broken. But you refuse. What to do with such obstinacy? To solve your problems, heed my advice: embrace a heavenly vision and dream.

Is it too esoteric? Not at all! Almost everyone experiences spiritual matters, like dreams. How do you explain dreams? You think of it during the day, you dream of it at night? But I dream of things I never think about during the day. So, it’s different from the lies we usually accept. We all experience spiritual things.

Spiritual matters are so real, yet why not know God? Why not enter God's will? God created us on earth with a purpose of prosperity. Wouldn't it be wonderful to enter God's will? The ancients said, A candle burns itself to ash, its tears dry up last. I hope to be like a candle. The ancient Chinese were amazing! That’s the meaning of a candle’s life! To completely burn oneself, to light up this generation. If everyone could be like that, like a candle, not living for their own benefit, but burning and shining for God's kingdom, then many would be blessed through us... this is wonderful; I am moved just talking about it.

You ask, What's the point of living like that? I often see people posting on social media. The flowers in the picture are beautiful, but when she jumped, she destroyed the flowers. The scenery was so beautiful, yet she destroyed the flowers. I wanted to comment, Why did you destroy the flowers? But I decided against it. She doesn’t even realize it; she thought it was a good thing. We must know why we live. If we value wealth, we will die for wealth. Man dies for wealth, birds die for food.

If you die for God, wow! We establish a parent-child relationship with this God! In this age of comparing fathers, who can outdo us? So, contemplate carefully, step out of an empty life, and live a meaningful life, freeing the captives, releasing the oppressed, so that these people see God's glory through us.

Because of us, they are glorified and blessed, and together we run this glorious path. Then they bless others, and I tell you, God's glory will fill the earth in this world. I truly dream that one day our brothers and sisters can take on this mission, like Abraham, becoming a blessing to others. Such people are incredible!

Some Christians come to me saying, That person cursed me! Many Christians know and believe in curses. I tell them, That's sad! Have you read God's Word? The Bible says, Those who curse Abraham will be cursed. Ponder that. I consider myself Abraham. Why? Because my thoughts are like Abraham’s! The blood of Abraham’s faith and character flows through me! So, God saves Abraham's descendants, referring to this. If I am Abraham in this generation, those who curse me will be cursed. Can they curse me? No.

We Christians must know that curses come from God. If we establish a good relationship with God, we will not be cursed, because curses come from God, curses are because we violate God's word. If we live according to God's word, how can curses come upon us? Even if someone curses you, God will curse them! The key is, are you Abraham? If you and I are both Abraham, then we live well. Those who bless us will be blessed, and those who curse us, God will curse! How wonderful!

Conclusion

So, the key to solving problems is to embrace a heavenly vision and dream, and from then on, be a blessing to others, live for God, and enter into God's destiny for us. In the next few talks, I will speak on attaining destiny and becoming a blessing. What is destiny? Destiny is God's will for us. I believe the problems of those listening to me are disappearing. Not only are your problems disappearing, but you are also entering into God's will, becoming a prosperous person.

But do we really care whether we prosper? No, we care whether we can become a blessing to others. But God will make us a great nation; God will make our name great; God will make us a blessing to all nations on earth. In this generation, we are constantly being raised up by God. In the future, we will be in Africa, America, Australia... wherever there is internet, we will be a blessing to that place!

May God bless you all.