Affair – should I tell?

Affair! Should I tell the innocent party?

I am sorry, but I tricked you! This is not about an affair, but about something that is vitally important. I am talking about your life or the live of a loved one.

affair?

affair?

 

We will let a person die sooner ….

When I see a person that is over-waist (not “overweight” in the first instance, but over-waist), I tend to look at him or her and then ignore the fact. I do not tell them, “listen, we have to talk; you may live ten or twenty years shorter than is possible because of the size of your stomach.” We do not do that, at least – I do not do that.

over waist

Over waist

In our community we are so intent and intense on the freedom of choice that we turn a blind eye. We will let a person die “sooner”, but we will not assist him or her. When they do fall ill, we will call on everybody we know to please pray for them so that they can get better. This to me seems like the utmost of hypocrisy. You do not listen to God’s commands about eating, exercising and your body. You get into trouble as a result of your own neglect or over-indulgence and then you expect him to help. Of course, I am all for prayer. We, however, need to fulfill our duties as well.

Should I warn you? Should you warn others?

That brings me back to my question – “should I stop you and talk to you?” What is my duty in the whole process? Should I just let you go and ruin your life? If you are my friend, I would want you to tell me if you see something that is creating a threat for me. If you know about a dangerous road and you know I may be traveling along that on a given day, you would warn me, I am sure. “Why then, do we not talk about health issues as well?” Do we feel embarrassed on behalf of the person who we should talk to?

This is the question then – if I profess to love my neighbour, do I talk to him or her about the health aspects of life as well or do I watch in silence while life slowly slips away day after day?

Would you like to live longer and live a healthy, active life? Invite me to talk to you!

Get trained as a salesperson!

Everybody is a salesperson! If you want to convince a friend to go with you to a place, you are in sales. If you want to persuade someone to give you something in exchange for something else, you are in sales.

Everyone in sales

Many of us will try to convince others to do something, but we have not been trained on how to do that optimally. So we could try to intimidate someone, you could try to bribe someone or you could be “sweet” and “friendly” to convince him.

There are a number of key things that any (sales)person should learn if they want to be successful in sales (and in life). One of that is to honour (keep) your word. Part of honouring my word is to apologize when I discover that I cannot keep my word.

 

Sales training should give you two things – it should give you the opportunity to learn all the theory that you need to be successful in sales and it should give you the opportunity to start generating an income as soon as possible.

Let me take a few examples: If you get trained to sell property, you will not be able to earn income from that for six months or a year or longer. The income may be big (R7 000 and more per sale), but you may have to work for a long time before you get that income. If you get trained to sell airtime, you may start to make profit immediately, but your profit may be small. You may make R70 per day after you have bought a phone and equipment at a cost of R1500. In this case you also need to increase your income. If you are trained to sell a cosmetic or a health package for R30 and you make R7.50 profit you will need to sell 10 of those per day to make R75. If you stay at that level you will earn R21 000 or so per year.

Your first training should be general training – how to greet people, how to find out if they want what you could offer them, how to say please and thank you, how to be truthful to your word, how to get rid of all excuses, how to become disciplined, how to communicate openly and honestly.

 

After this you need to be trained in some area of sales that could give you income almost immediately. You need to make sure if this is where you want to be for a short period or for the rest of your life. So it is important to see where you want to go eventually and to then make the plans to get there.

If you are interested to become trained as a salesperson, make sure that you get enter your details here (bit.ly/youngkhaya) . The course has a price tag from R600 to R15000 depending on what you are going to do.

The course carries a money back guarantee – if you are not successful, then you may ask for your fees back. For this reason it is not easy to get accepted for the course. Get your name on the waiting list.

Hansie Louw

10 April 2018

21 days to change my thinking

ne habits

new habits may take longer than you think!

Wow, changing my thinking in 21 days may not be as easy as it sounds – I know as I am busy with some new habits and that is not easy! I have a small app on my phone called habit bull that I use to chase my habits. This app is supposed to remind me that I must still do something. It was easy when I had a fairly strait forward task there like do ten push ups, but when I added a difficult task like phoning ten people it was crazy. I just could not do it. Then I did not want to look at the habit bull as it made me feel guilty about what I did not do.

Why was the push up easier than the phone call?

I had to go and find out why I did not want to phone the people. In my case it was a combination of a fear of rejection on the one side and a idea that I may be wasting their time when I make the phone call. Upon looking at it more in depth it was rather that I felt that I may waste my time with the phone call. I decided that it would not work and that it would be a waste of time. So that is where my thinking was. I needed to change my thinking to, “whose life may I enrich today with my phone call?” That is a totally different approach.

I did not take my 21 days to come to that conclusion. Often an insight like that could come in a minute or five. On the other hand, it is also possible that we may walk with a particular insight or thinking for years and that insight may rob us of our freedom.

“I cannot follow a new eating plan – three days then I stop”

Let us look at this one: “I cannot stay on a new eating plan for more than three days.” This thinking may have a profound impact on your approach to eating. If we can understand what the root of this thinking is, the Father in all his wisdom with the gentleness of the Holy Spirit may remove and replace this root in total. In certain cases the Father may remove this without us even understanding where it comes from. This thinking may come from one or more experiences that you have had that made it difficult to stay on a new eating plan. You may have eaten a mountain of vegetables of three days and in the process only received 1000 kcal of energy over three days in stead of 5400 kcal. Then you would run out of energy, you would feel lethargic and you may even get sick as a result of that.

If my thinking could be changed to “The Father and I will discover an eating plan that will give me energy and help me feel great while I am losing weight”, it will be totally different. This is one example of how my thinking will have to change to make me stick with a new eating plan if that is a challenge for you.

Deep, deep hurts

There may be deeper reasons that may have a major impact in my life as well. One of these could be,  “I was deeply hurt by someone. Now I will eat and build a layer of protection around me so that nobody will ever hurt me like that again.” Of course the Holy Spirit is my real protection and Healer. I need healing from the hurt(s) of the past and from the self-protection that I have put in place.

There are many cravings and food is only one of those. Often these cravings may have a physical reason. I did not get enough protein and I feel tired and I eat carbohydrates for the tiredness to go away. It goes away for a short while and the comes back with a vengeance. So clearly here I need to get to know my body and what is good for it and I need to train the body. I need to tell it: “You do not live on Coke and chocolate alone, but on the Words of the Father”. Then of course we need to make a plan with the Coke.

Ask God for restoration

I wish you well on your journey to become the best you that is possible. You may not run a five km in 19 minutes, but you must be able to run/walk at least 1,6 km at a fairly rapid pace. So to get there, you need to get the body in shape again. Where there are aches and pain now God could restore totally. So trust Him and ask Him.

Hansie Louw

August 2017

Some researchers reckon that it takes 66 days (some 63 days) to entrench a habit. They say you can change anything in 60 odd days!

63 days

 

 

 

 

 

Speedsters Results

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thank you, Monika! – tough plank afterwards – well done everyone!

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DANKIE, MONIKA!

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with 50 walking lunges! Excellent times.

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Well done everyone!

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Well done! Welcome to our new friends!

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Welkom, Cornell

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Welcome, Mike

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another cold day for a run with welcome rain the evening after 8 pm – well done!

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Well done, brave ones! Thx, Uys!

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Congrats on our new visitors – well done!

Mooi julle – was koud!

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Well done – a bit of walking makes you faster!

Welkom, Karl!

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average time = 14m16sec

Mooi Angela, jy bring die jong manne by!

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Baie mooi, Martie! According to age grading you are no 1 – we do not have all the d.o.b. so there may be another member actually wearing that crown!

Average time : 14 min 06 seconds

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Well done – baie mooi, Evan!

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Well done!

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Please let me know by whatsapp if you want a login code to get to add your email and dob to the database

Average time tonight – 14:55

Well done!

Hansie

Uncle Angus, you have not invited all the christians

It is a wonderful initiative to call one million people together to pray for the country. It is a serious error to exclude the majority of christians in the country to join.

So, my message to you, Uncle Angus is this, “you have left the majority of christians outside this call to prayer”. As long as we do not accommodate each other and as long as we do not talk about forgiveness and restitution, God will not heal our land.

Angus Buchan

There are many prominent christian leaders in South Africa who are black. Some of them need to be involved in a call to all christians in South Africa to stand together and in fact to not only get together for a meeting, but to stand together. A meeting as such has a little value, the real value comes when christians will put a line in the sand and say – “no more” when they are back in the communities after attending a spiritual gathering. We cannot make a call like this without involving the black christian leaders. We need to think carefully why this was not done in the first place. We may doubt their “christian” faith or their practices, we may doubt their love of the Lord, we may not respect them enough to involve them, we may still be totally racist at heart, believing that as whites we are the chosen ones in South Africa.

One could argue that they are invited to this meeting, that they are not excluded. The mere practicality of having the meeting far away from a major city like Johannesburg does make it not easily accessible. Let’s assume that our black brothers could travel there by bus or taxi. This brings an extra expense to them with many of them not able to afford the amount to come. Many white people will not think twice to say I am going to go. They have the financial means to go. They are fortunate that they are able to go.

The further major stumbling block in this process is our “un-converted” capitalistic outlook. “They did not work so hard, therefore they don’t have money”. To put it differently, “our wallets still have to go for confession and conversion”. My wallet does not belong to me, it belongs to Jesus. This is what we still need to learn in South Africa.

It would be a different thing if each white person planning to come to the meeting would say, “I am going to get four black christians and sponsor them to come. I am not only going to sponsor them to come, but I am going to do my best in the next three to five years to see that they get the best possible chance to grow as a believer, a leader and to grow economically.” Now this will put a totally different slant on the meeting and the proceedings. It will show some of the love in action that we so easily talk about.

Help one another

help one another

The challenge is that many white christians do not know their black brothers and sisters. They do not know any and they think that the majority of black people are not christian. So what does this say about separation? We will pay thousands of rands to go on a missions trip far away from South Africa, but we will not drive 40 minutes to a place where a church is suffering to exist. We have R60 000 to put a fence around one of our church buildings, but we do not have R60 000 to assist people to get land for their church building in a community not too far from us. The roos of separation or apartheid has been deeply embedded in our psyche and we need to get rid of that.

It is quite possible that our belief is expressed by Senior Pastor Andre Olivier of Rivers Church (Sandton in June of 2016) who said from the pulpit – “We [white people] took nothing from no one. Maybe the law favoured us, but we worked … And when you tell me I need to share my wealth, what are you suggesting? Are you suggesting I give away some of it? Are you giving any of yours away?”

The pastor later apologised for his words, but let us be quiet for a minute or two and reflect about this. Is this not what many white people believe? Is his words not a reflection of the thoughts of the average white christian? You could see that this pastor knows virtually nothing of the struggle of the pastor in the so-called townships. I want to see him building a big church in Soweto amidst the challenges there – poverty, unemployment, drugs, crime, lawlessness.

We cannot make one of a series of excuses, like … “it was my church leaders, it was the political party, it was the politics of the day”,  or a good one I have heard recently, “our church only started quite a few years after 1994, so we are innocent”. You may have been less guilty than some other parties, but you are nonetheless guilty if you do not make a concerted effort to assist other pastors in building their churches. I am not talking here of monetary assistance in the first instance although I will not exclude that. We have to be careful how we approach the money and the gifting aspect, though. So we have sinned as whites and we keep on sinning as whites. The church should be at the forefront of getting to forgiveness and reconciliation, but it is possible that the church is not church anymore. It is possible that the church never was church in the first instance. We do not demonstrate the love of Jesus for our enemies, not to say anything about our brothers in the faith. We think along cultural lines only and not according to Kingdom principles.

Uncle Angus

So Uncle Angus, we have excluded our friends. It is not too late to start talking to them and to hear collectively what God is saying to us, but we cannot go the road alone. That, Sir, is your responsibility. You could lead the rest of the white christians to change their thinking, to change our thinking. All our thoughts must be taken captive by the Father who we claim to serve. I know that you belief that. I trust that you will continue to share that widely and practically.

I wish you well in your great efforts while I pray for huge results in the New South Africa (that is not here yet).

Hansie Louw

Boston, Bellville

27 February 2017

 

A christian’s response to Mr Zuma, Antichrist or not

How should a christian respond to Mr Zuma? Is it his job to just quietly pray for the leaders of South Africa? Should he resist the leadership and call everyone to the battle? Is Mr Zuma the Antichrist? If he is, what should the response be? So how should the christian respond?

Mr Zuma

Let us take a minute to define “christian” as the term is used loosely to include a variety of people. A christian is a person adhering to or following the teachings of Jesus Christ, an Abrahamic Monotheistic religion. A survey in 2006 indicate five types of christians ranging from Active to Cultural. The estimate was that Active group then represented about 19% of the christians surveyd. If the figure of christianity in the world is about 33%, then the Active group would be about 6% of all people. In South Africa this figure could be as high as 15% of the population if we take a figure of christians according to

the 2001 census. That census indicated that almost 80% of South Africans thought of themselves as christian. A cultural christian by definition of the survey thinks there are many ways to God and is God aware, but has little personal involvement with God. The figures may be different now as it is almost 16 years since the 2001 census, but if I talk about christians in the context of this question, I am talking about or to the 10 – 15% of people living in South Africa who believe that salvation comes through Jesus and who are committed to sharing their faith with others.

A further definition is that of Antichrist. There is so much wild speculation about who the Antichrist is or will be ranging from Mr Obama to Pope Francis. In general the antichrist is the person who denies the Father and the Son. So this definition could apply to between 70% and 94% of all people in the world in the widest sense. The term is also used is also used to indicate one particular person that will be responsible for a fierce persecution of christians in the end times. So is Mr Zuma the antichrist? In the wider sense of the word, I would say yes. In particular as the one person, I would say no.

I do not want to go into the detail of all the statements of Mr Zuma about the ANC and christianity. What is important to note though is the comment that the “ANC would rule till Jesus comes”. So after the last round of local elections where the ANC lost control in Port Elizabeth (PE) and Pretoria the picture of Jesus in a South African taxi was circulated widely.

 

Jesus in Taxi

ANC will rule till Jesus comes again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is also important to note that Mr Zuma told church leaders to pray for the ANC and the government and to stay out of politics. Of course this advice is correct in part. The christians should pray and there should be forgiveness for wrongs committed by everybody, including Mr Zuma. As  active christian, I will pray for that and ask fellow christians to pray for forgiveness and reconciliation in the land. I will also ask the Presidency to seek justice everywhere for everyone and to focus on good governance in all aspects, to live morally (if not “christian”) clean lives. It seems to me that Mr Zuma, like many other South Africans, has divided his life in different compartments. These compartments are watertight and do not influence one another. So there is his personal life, then there is his political life, then there is his religion. He uses whatever he can get from religion to advance his political life. There is no proof in his life that he belongs to the group of christianity in the Active definition. He may be a cultural christian without Jesus in his life, but that we do not know. What we in South Africa should also keep in mind to understand better and pray more focused is that the African culture plays a huge role in certain church groupings to such an extent that people cannot find true freedom in Jesus and that their vision is distorted of what christianity is. So a person may be cultural christian and then deeply influenced by his understanding of God.

Zuma must go

Meshoe: “Zuma must go. He should resign”

So what should the christian response be? We should pray for him. He is correct there. The prayer is not a prayer of “let’s sweep everything under the carpet” and forget that it ever happened. The prayer should be that the Father who knows everything should reveal to Mr Zuma what should be done for South Africa and in South Africa. The prayer should be that there will be a new revelation of what to do to create prosperity for all in South Africa. We do not have the answers, but God does have it. We should also pray that God would protect him. Though we do not agree that other politicians (even ANC members themselves) who disagree from him is of the devil, we do agree that protection is needed in the ANC as well. Pray that God will guide the ANC active christians to speak out against abuses in any form. We also want to pray that people will understand, accept and implement the fact that christianity is not religion that can be boxed in one compartment of your life. This prayer applies to everybody.

As christians we should also work and campaign for change. It may be the last parliamentary term under an ANC president.  We should then also pray for the new leaders of the country. We should pray for a peaceful transfer of power. Above all we should pray for repentance for the whole of the country, for everybody living here. Yes, Mr Zuma need to repent of certain things that he has done and said. He and the other parliamentarians are a reflection of the South African community. When we are ashamed of proceedings at our parliament we should remember that it is a reflection of where we are, a reflection of our society.

Lastly as christians we need to be outspoken on matters that need to be addressed. The Dutch Reformed Church is still quiet about many important social issues in the country and so are quite a number of big denominations. Tony Ehrenreich of Cosatu says more about the working and travelling and living conditions of the poor than most of the christian denominations combined. Christianity seems irrelevant with the church quiet in most instances.

To summarise: we need to pray, work and address issues in word and deed whether we have a christian or muslim president.

MEC for Co-operative Governance Nomusa Dube-Ncube and KZN Premier Willies Mchunu look on as President Jacob Zuma and TACC president and Chief Apostle, Professor Caesar Nongqunga, share a joke at the Twelve Apostle Church in Christ International thanksgiving day celebration.Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/The Mercury

MEC for Co-operative Governance Nomusa Dube-Ncube and KZN Premier Willies Mchunu look on as President Jacob Zuma and TACC president and Chief Apostle, Professor Caesar Nongqunga, share a joke at the Twelve Apostle Church in Christ International thanksgiving day celebration.Picture: Motshwari Mofokeng/The Mercury

 

 

 

 

Droom ‘n bietjie oor wat moontlik is … vir 2017

Jy is fiks, kragtig, vol selfvertroue en mense respekteer jou. Jy is vry geestelik en emosioneel. Jou liggaam dien jou en jy is nie sy slaaf nie. Jy herstel die verhoudinge wat jy wil hernu. Jou finansies is daar waar jy dit wil hê.

lady on the runBy die eerste oogopslag kan jy dalk dink dat so iets nie maklik moontlik is nie. Daar is soveel redes wat ek en jy aan kan dink wat ons sal verhoed om daarby uit te kom. Een van die eerstes is waarskynlik: “my omstandighede verhoed dit”. Hierdie is een van die baie leuens wat ons terughou om uit te kom by ons drome. Daar is nog heelwat ander ook, maar die een is krities en ons glo dit so maklik.

So wat ek en jy die meeste nodig het is nie ‘n nuwe motivering of nuwe aansporingslied of nuwe vriend wat ons kan help nie. Ons het in die eerste plek iemand nodig wat ons mentor, amper iemand soos Jesus en sy volgelinge. Uit die aard van die saak het Jesus baie tyd spandeer by die kern van sy groep van dissipels en hy het gelukkig mense gehad wat gehelp het om hom van fondse te voorsien dat hy die werk kon doen wat hy wel gedoen het. Hulle het ure bymekaar spandeer en hulle kon leer uit wat hy gedoen het en hoe hulle gesels het. Jy het iemand nodig wat jou vrae kan vra soos wat Jesus gevra het, vrae sonder om jou te oordeel? Vrae om jouself te ontdek en ‘n nuwe rigting te gee.

Om ‘n geskikte mentor re kry is nie altyd maklik nie, maar dis een van die kritiese goed wat ons aandag aan moet gee. Dit help tewens nie om op 31 Desember te besluit dat jy gesond gaan eet in die nuwe jaar nie en dan om op 5 Januarie weer daardie droom prys te gee nie.

Jy het iemand nodig wat op 2 Januarie saam na jou koskas te gaan kyk. Jy moet goed in die kas weggee of weggooi. Dis nie maklik nie, want die meeste van ons het geleer dat ek nie goed (veral nie kos nie!) moet weggooi nie. As jy egter iemand het wat jou koskas saam deurgaan, maak dit die proses makliker.

Dis natuurlik ideaal as daardie selfde persoon jou sou help om na jou inkopielys te kyk vir voedsel. Wat gaan jy nou eet? Gaan jy weer dieselfde goed koop en eet wat jou ongesond laat eet het? Dikwels is dit ‘n gebrek aan kennis en ‘n vrees vir verandering. As jou mentor vir jou leiding kan gee, maak dit die proses baie makliker.

Dan moet die kos natuurlik lekker smaak wanneer jy dit eet. Dit help net mooi niks dat ek die gesondste kos op aarde het, maar dat dit so sleg smaak dat ek dit nie in my lyf kan kry nie. Dit beteken dat my resepte goed moet wees en dat ek moet eksperimenteer totdat ek die regte resep gekry het wat vir my werk nie. Ek weet, ek het onlangs drie dae lank gewoel om ‘n nuwe “smoothie”-resep so te kry dat dit vir my heerlik was. Ek gaan mos nie ‘n ding wat sleg smaak aanhou eet of drink nie.

Sommige mense wil ook graag in Januarie gewig verloor. Dis wonderlik, veral na ‘n lekker vakansie. Baie van hulle gooi egter gou tou op, hoofsaaklik oor drie redes – hulle het nie genoeg energie met hulle nuwe eetplan nie of hulle raak siek of hulle het niemand wat hul motiveer of ondersteun nie.

water

‘n_Mentor kan hier ook weer help. Energie en goeie gewoontes is van kritiese belang.

Oefening is een van die kernaspekte om ‘n mens anders te laat voel en te laat dink. As jy heelwat oorgewig (of ondergewig) is, kan ‘n skielike oefenprogram jou heelwat skade berokken. Sekere persone sal meer nut daaruit kry om meer geleidelik te begin oefen. Runners

Stap, strek en dan later vinniger stap en draf. In die geval van ander sal gewigsverlies eers moet plaasvind aangesien die huidige gewig te swaar sal wees vir stap of draf en dit sal beserings aanbring. Dan is stap in die water ‘n beter opsie om te volg aanvanklik.

Hier het jy dan ook ‘n ervare  mentor nodig wat jou die beste advies kan gee.

Dikwels het mens ‘n geestelike of emosionele blok wanneer dit by oefening kom. So was ek ‘n klompie jaar terug vies vir die liefde in my lewe en besluit toe, “ek gaan nou dik word om jou terug te kry”. Watter onsinnigheid, maar ek het ‘n hele paar kilogram opgetel voordat ek besef het dat ek besig is om myself te benadeel. Ek het gelukkig daardie gewig weer afgegooi. ‘n Goeie mentor help jou om hierdie moontlike blokke raak te sien en te verwyder.

fat-and-thin

Van gewig verloor gepraat … iemand anders wat nooit in nog met gewig gesukkel het in die verlede nie, verstaan dikwels moeilik hoe ‘n inspanning dit is om gewig te verloor, veral as jy al ‘n paar pogings agter die rug het. Ek weet aangesien ek self 26 kg oor ‘n periode van 9 maande verloor het. Daar was moeilike dae, maar dit was die moeite werd. Jy het egter ‘n mentor nodig wat jou gaan bystaan in die proses. Dis natuurlik makliker as die mentor ook deur so ‘n proses gegaan het in die verlede.

Jy kan al klaar gesonder begin lewe deur net jou ontbyt in die oggende aan te pas. Energie is natuurlik hier weer krities belangrik.

Om jou by te staan het ons drie verskillende programme waaraan jy kan deelneem en die belegging in elk van die programme hang af van die periode wat jy betrokke is van 4 weke tot 16 weke.

As jy in die program is, kry jy

  • toegang tot ‘n oefengroep – draf of stap twee keer per week of meer
  • toegang tot ‘n gym saam met mentor vir onderleg in vier kritieke oefeninge
  • eetplanne
  • voorkeur aanvullings (preferred supplements)
  • aanspreeklikheidsvennoot (accountability partner)
  • whatsapp ondersteuningsgroep of facebook ondersteunersgroep
  • Aankooplys (produkte en aanvullings)
  • Kombuis/spens inspeksie

Die verwagting aan die einde van jou program is dat jy

  • goeie spiere sal hê om die regte plekke
  • beste vorm moontlik
  • sterk kern spiere (maag en rug)
  • selfvetroue
  • sterk
  • beter fiksheid
  • groterwordende vryheid geestelike en emosioneel

Vul die onderstaande kontakvorm in of kontak Hansie Louw 082 776 5462 of whatsap.

running-to-lose-weight-300x225

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hierdie video sal jou dalk laat dink en droom oor wat moontlik is…. (of kopie hierdie vir jou webwerf  as die video nie outomaties speel nie – https://youtu.be/6Yrq1h2NYa0 )

 

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Phase 1: Critical next steps after conversion – first discipleship steps

This phase could take anything from 7 weeks to 14 months to complete. A mentor will work this through with his disciple to such an extent that the disciple would be able to disciple a new Christian through phase 1.

  1. Make sure that you are saved
    1. Ef 2:8 – it is a a gift
    2. John 10:27-29 – you have eternal life
    3. Rom 3:23 – faith justifies you (but faith is also a gift)
    4. Dealing with emotion and doubt
  2. Tell someone that you are saved
    1. John 1:41 – Andrew tells Simon and brings him to Jesus
  3. Just rest with Jesus
    1. This could be listening to worship music
    2. It could be quiet time with Him
    3. It could be experiencing some of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
  4. Learn to listen to the Holy Spirit
    1. Listen to prompting or the Holy Spirit
    2. Embrace any thought
    3. Speak to Jesus about it
    4. Take the thought to the Bible – all thoughts to be captured by the Bible
    5. Pray about that revelation/area (of weakness or strength)/person/opportunity/threat
    6. Write it down – also what you need to do
    7. Start again – wait , listen, respond (embrace, act, pray , write)
  5. Get baptized
    1. Baptism is necessary for obedience (not for salvation) – Acts 2:38
    2. Telling the world:. “I am an new person”, 2 Cor. 5:17
    3. Make sure that you are baptised with the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:4-5. This is different to water baptism – you receive the Holy Spirit in his fullness and get Power
  6. Start reading the Bible (have a quiet time)
    1. Find time after your initial period of resting with Jesus (no 3) to just read the Bible
    2. Read a few chapters every day and note a verse or two where God speaks to you
    3. If there are verses that you do not understand, write them down and ask your mentor.
    4. Have a note book or journal where you write down God’s message to you
  7. Start your prayer life (establish a war room)
    1. Prayer is talking to God.
    2. There could be fixed times like morning, noon and evening
    3. There should be conversations throughout the day
    4. Sometimes prayer and fasting go hand in hand – learn about fasting in theory and practise
  1. Evaluate friendships
    1. Ask the Father to give you some good and solid Christian friends
    2. Ask the Father which of your current friends you need to see less of or to end the friendship totally
  2. Find a small group of Christians and meet with them regularly
    1. Most small groups meet at least three times per month, sometimes more
    2. Make a commitment to attend the group
    3. Find the right group and stick with the group
    4. Find a church after you have settled in a strong group
  3. Learn to give
    1. God loves a cheerful giver
    2. Everything belongs to God
  4. Memorise God’s Word
    1. Be ready to give a word or a defence – 1 Peter 3:15
    2. Meditate on the word – Psalm 119:97
  5. Get your health in order
    1. Get prayer for this
    2. If you are overweight or underweight, take the necessary steps and get help to address this
    3. If you are unfit, start with an exercise routine
    4. If you have an addiction like substance abuse (drugs), smoking, drinking, pornography, abuse, (over)eating, lustful sex or thoughts, get prayer and help for this
    5. If you have any other challenges, address those
  6. Get your spiritual and psychological life in order
    1. Go for Inner healing session
    2. Go for prayer sessions
    3. Go for sessions with professionals to assist you
    4. Go to seminars or camps
  7. Get your relationship life in order
    1. People who wronged you
    2. Father, mother etc
    3. Brothers, sisters or other family
    4. Anyone else
    5. The Holy Spirit, The Father and the Son
  8. Find a mentor
    1. Some mature Christian that you will guide you to do the steps above (phase 1)
    2. Some mature Christian(s) that could guide you further along the road (phase 2-4)

 

This is a summary of the different steps that a mentor (disciple maker) should work through with his disciple.

Hansie Louw, November 2016

Call to prayer – Special Synod DRC Nov 2016

CALL TO PRAYER
Special Synod of the DRC: 7-10 November 2016

A special Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church will be held from 7-10 November to reconsider a decision taken by the General Synod on same-sex relationships and same-sex marriages in 2015. Since this decision, many experienced a great deal of confusion, unhappiness, disappointment and even anger. This extraordinary meeting of the General Synod will take place in Pretoria next week. It will have significant consequences for the broader Afrikaans church, but also the church in general in our country. We urge you to unite in prayer around this very important meeting.  The following are a few prayer guidelines to pray about for this highly sensitive issue.

1. Authority of the Word. Pray that the Synod will submit to the authority of the Word without compromise and that none of their decisions will contradict or exceed Scripture. 1 Peter 1:23-25 – …the word of God which lives and abides forever… and also;   “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” Thus, pray that all reasoning around this issue will flow from the Word and not from human arguments or opinions. Declare and pray from Psalm 119:160 – The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.

2. Fear of the LORD. Pray for the fear of the LORD to guide hearts, emotions and thoughts. (Proverbs 8:13).

3. The work of the Holy Spirit. Pray that the mighty power of the Holy Spirit will lead this meeting, so that this issue may be considered with godly wisdom, and God-honouring decisions will be made.

4. Manipulation.  Pray for all influence of all pressure groups (including secular), that want to force and manipulate the church into compromise, to be destroyed. Pray for every thought, feeling, emotion and sincere intention (2 Corinthians 10:4-5), to be subject to the sovereignty of God’s will and Word; which is always higher than that of man. (Isaiah 55:8-9).  Ask that there will be no indoctrination, that no lies will be proclaimed, no emotionally loaded comments will be made, neither any form of hyping will prevail. Pray for the Spirit of the Lord to prohibit people attacking each other, and that no contribution by any individual will implicate or dishonour the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. Unity. There are considerable differences in the interpretation of the church laws and the legality of the decisions taken at the Synod in 2015, as well as how the Synod should handle this. Pray particularly that the Synod will not get stuck in technical discussions about interpretation of the church laws, and that uncertainties will be resolved in unity.

6. Breaking the work of demonic powers. Pray for every form of demonic influence that wants to prevent or hinder the Synod to do its work in truth, love and unity; or that wants to sow division, will be destroyed. Also, pray for the destruction of all misleading thoughts and false arguments that are not in line with the Word, or do not accept the authority of Scripture, or are not subjected to Christ.

7. Simplicity and clarity. Pray that the Synod will formulate its decisions in a simple and clear manner. That there will not be any room left for misunderstanding about the exact meaning of the decisions taken.

8. Great commission. Pray for this special Synod again to stress the importance of the greater responsibility of proclaiming the gospel and again to call the church to intense prayer for spiritual renewal and revival.

AFRIKAANS
GEBEDSOPROEP
Spesiale Sinode van die NGK: 7-10 November 2016

Die NG Kerk het ‘n spesiale Sinode 7-10 November 2016 om weer te besin oor ‘n besluit oor selfdegeslag verhoudinge en selfdegeslag huwelike wat die Algemene Sinode in 2015 geneem het. Daar was intussen groot verwarring, ongelukkigheid, teleurstelling en selfs woede oor die besluit by baie mense. Hierdie buitengewone byeenkoms van die Algemene Sinode vind volgende week in Pretoria plaas en het groot konsekwensies vir die Afrikaanse kerk in die breë, maar ook vir die kerk in die algemeen in ons land. Ons wil jou graag uitnooi om saam te verenig in gebed vir hierdie baie belangrike waterskeidingsvergadering. Die volgende kan dien as enkele gebedsriglyne om oor hierdie uiters sensitiewe saak te bid.

1. Gesag van die Woord. Bid vir die Sinode om sonder kompromis die gesag van die Woord te aanvaar en dat hulle besluite nie enige element van die Skrif sal weerspreek nie. 1 Petrus 1:23-25: …die lewende en ewige woord van God… en ook; Die mens is soos gras, en al sy prag soos ‘n veldblom; die gras verdor en die blom val af, maar die woord van die Here, dít bly vir ewig. Bid dus dat die beredenering van die saak vanuit die Woord sal voortvloei en nie deur menslike argumente en opinies nie. Verklaar en bid vanuit Psalm 119:160 – Op u woord kan ‘n mens hom geheel en al verlaat. Al u bepalings is regverdig. Hulle staan vas.

2. Vrees van die Here. Bid dat die vrees van God alleen, harte, emosies en gedagtes sal rig. (Spreuke 8:13).

3. Werk van die Heilige Gees. Bid vir die kragtige werking van die Heilige Gees om hierdie vergadering te lei, sodat daar met goddelike wysheid oor die saak besin kan word en besluite geneem sal word wat God sal eer.

4. Manipulasie. Bid vir die verbreking van die invloed van alle drukgroepe (ook sekulêr), wat die kerk in rigtings wil indwing en manipuleer om kompromieë aan te gaan. Bid dat elke gedagte, gevoel, emosie en opregte bedoeling (2 Korintiërs 10:4-5), steeds ondergeskik sal wees aan die soewereiniteit van God se wil en die Woord wat altyd ver bokant die insig van mense is. (Jesaja 55:8-9). Bid dat daar geen indoktrinasie sal wees nie, geen onwaarhede verkondig sal word nie, geen emosioneel belaaide aantygings gemaak sal word, of enige vorm van opsweping sal plaasvind nie. Bid dat die Gees van die Here sal verhinder dat mense mekaar beskuldig, en dat geen voorleggings gemaak sal word of redenasies gebruik sal word wat Jesus Christus oneer sal aandoen nie.

5. Eenheid. Daar is intense verskille oor die interpretasie van kerkwette en die regsgeldigheid van besluite van die 2015 Sinode, asook oor hoe die Sinode hierdie sake kerkregtelik moet hanteer. Bid veral dat die Sinode nie sal vasval in tegniese gesprekke oor interpretasie van kerkwette nie, en dat onduidelikhede maklik uit die weg geruim kan word in eenheid.

6. Verbreking van werking van bose magte. Bid vir die verbreking van elke vorm van demoniese invloed wat die Sinode wil verhinder om met waarheid, liefde en eensgesindheid sy werk te doen, en wat verdeeldheid wil saai. Bid ook vir die verbreking van alle misleidende gedagtes en drogredenasies wat nie in lyn met die Woord is nie, en nie die gesag van die Skrif aanvaar en aan Christus ondergeskik is nie.

7. Eenvoud en duidelikheid. Bid dat die Sinode sy besluite op ‘n eenvoudige en duidelike wyse sal formuleer. Dat daar nie formulerings sal wees wat ruimte sal skep vir misverstande oor presies wat die besluite behels nie.

8. Groot opdrag. Bid dat hierdie spesiale Sinode die belangrikheid van die groter verantwoordelikheid van die verkondiging van die evangelie sal beklemtoon, en die kerk opnuut sal oproep tot intense gebed vir geestelike vernuwing en herlewing.