Author: Tian de Beer

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Quick Update : 18 May 2021

Thank you so much to everyone who was praying for Goodman, his family, and the weather. The rain cleared up in the early hours of the morning, and we had a beautiful sunny day. Goodman was here at 16:30 as planned, but unfortunately, his wife and kids could not join us for this glorious celebration of new life. All the glory to God for His goodness, setting Goodman free from his sinful nature and giving him everything he needs to live a Godly life.

We will meet with Goodman as often as we can over the last couple of days of our stay here in an attempt to impart some gifts, edify him and encourage him to walk in the Spirit, Following Jesus and obeying His great commission.

P.S. I forgot to mention yesterday that you can follow Elmi’s blog as well. She’s been at this for a while now and has been a huge inspiration to me, sitting down and putting into words what’s on her heart.

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Update : 17 May 2021

Dear Brothers and Sister in the Spirit

I’ve been trying to write for a couple of days now, but I couldn’t find inspiration to put down an excellent write-up for you, so I’ve decided to, rather than let everything go to waste, write it as it is, call it an update letter, which I’ve now discided to record at least once a month. I will once again, as the Holy Spirit inspires me, continue with my testimony where we left of, but for now, here is the news.

Evangelism News

However badly I want this to be the main feature of this update letter, we regretfully have to report that there has not been much progress on this front. Besides handing out a couple of tracts, one or two Bibles, and sharing the Gospel at least twice, we’ve had to turn our focus towards settling into our new mobile home and sorting out some logistics. 

As I wrote the above paragraph, Elmi started speaking to someone outside the caravan when she called me, “Goodman is here. He says he wants to get baptized.” Praise God! He’s working even when we’re not. One of the guys Elmi shared the Gospel with a couple of days prior mentioned to Goodman that we would baptize him. And here he is. So tomorrow, Goodman and his family are coming over for dinner, and then we’ll baptize him. Thank you, Jesus. You are perfect in our weakness.

Please pray for good weather and that his wife will also accept the good news of Jesus and hopefully get baptized as well.

Finding our feet

I can at least report that we’re starting to get used to the compact space and have managed to make one or two changes to our environment to accommodate our needs better. We’ve also acquired an additional groundsheet to get rid of the majority of the dust, a Reflecto Sheet to cover any potential leaks, should we get some rain, and a foldable trolley to assist in transporting everything to the ablution block when bathing the kids.

Oh yes, and we got a compact little washing machine. The nearest laundromat charges R27/kg for washing alone, and with six people’s clothes and two babies in nappies, the return on investment is almost instantaneous.

Making Friends

I want to dedicate this space to the new friends we make along the road. Either to remember them in our prayers or to thank them for their kindness or both. Whatever reason we may have, this is where we will mention the people God has set on our path.

Anton and Juané

You have beautiful spirits. It was great to meet you, and we look forward to seeing you when we’re around the Winterton area. 

(Please pray for Anton and Juané’s fellowship, they’ve only recently started coming together, pray that that will multiply and bear good fruit.)

Mike and Pauline

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement and the testimony. We endeavor to follow in your footsteps as you follow Jesus.

(Please pray that God will continue to use Mike and Pauline wherever He pleases to use them next. Please pray that they will receive the financial support to continue what they are doing, and please pray for Mike’s shoulder as he was in a great deal of pain when they left Hazyview.)

Jaco and Nelda

Sorry, we never sat down for that coffee, but it was very nice to meet you regardless. Please tell Edmond that our kids miss him a whole lot. However short they knew each other, they’ve grown fond of him very quickly.

(We pray for a small town called Ogies to be restored, not only physically, but even more so spiritually. We pray that Ogies become a beacon in your Kingdom and Glorify Your Holy Name)

We hope to see all of you again. If not in this lifetime, then on the other side with our Blessed and Mighty King Jesus Christ.

(Not asking for money)

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to our missionary fund. Our promise to you is that this money is dedicated to spreading the Gospel and providing for the needy as the Holy Spirit leads us.

So far, we’ve bought some Bibles in the various languages we’ve come across here in Hazyview, including isiZulu, Siswati, and Sepedi.

God has been gracious in mobilizing my work and thus provides for us in the form of a Salary.

Thanks to everyone who’s been praying for us. We can feel God carrying us as His presence is almost tangible here. He’s been ministering to us daily, slowly breaking away everything that is not His image. Sometimes overwhelmed with emotion as we stand in awe of all He is doing.

All the glory to God.

Until next time.

Tian, Elmi, and the Kids

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Here we go!

It is with mixed emotions that we announce that today we are hitting the road with Jesus. It’s with tears we say goodbye to friends and family, but with joy and great excitement that we look ahead to what God has planned for us.

We already stand in awe of everything He has done in the 2 months since we’ve sold our house. God has provided so many opportunities to share the Gospel of Jesus with so many people and He had so much grace on us allowing us to see the fruit of our labor. We’ve baptised many people and seen them filled with the Holy spirit and even saw some of them already bearing fruit sharing the Gospel and baptising other people. All we can do is worship God for how great He is.

Thank you Lord. You are our provider. You are the author and perfecter of our faith. You are the healer and the restorer. You have given us everything we need to live a godly life. You are the beginning and the end. You are Holy, Righteous and Just. It’s Your goodness that leads us to repentance. You are the sovereign God. Who knows your thoughts Lord? Your ways are perfect and Your will is good. We love you Lord and cannot wait to be with You for eternity, starting with this journey.

We would like to thank everyone for your prayers and support, everyone who bought some of our belongings, those who fed us in the midst of the chaos and everyone who lended a hand sorting and transporting things to their new owners. Thanks to everyone who in some way assisted us in preparation for this day. We pray that God will repay all you with grace, mercy and favor.

Please do not stop praying. We are Going to need it now more than ever. Pray first of all that we never loose sight of Jesus, the reason for our hope and also for this journey. Pray that God provides many opportunities to share the Gospel and that He soften the people’s hearts for the good news. Pray that we would find a routine with the children that allows us first of all to reach the people on our path and also to manage my work well (I’m still working a day job for those who did not know).

As Paul writes, we may not be with you in the flesh, but we’re with you in the Spirit. Longing to see all of you in the flesh. Come if at all possible and join us on this journey, even if only for a weekend.

Love all of you.

Till the next update.

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Radical new perspective

So there I was, so in love with Jesus, reading the Bible every chance I got. At some point, it was so bad(or good, you decide) I got unusually annoyed with colleagues who interrupted me to get some work done. The thing is, I have never understood the Bible like that. I asked God to let me forget everything I thought I knew from church and teach me everything first hand. I wanted to know Jesus, not someone’s opinions or perceptions of Him. And so God showed me everything from a radically new perspective as opposed to my Dutch Reformed upbringing.

I saw that Jesus gave up everything He had to become a servant, even to death, so that we might live:

‘ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” ‘Matthew 13:44

I saw that Jesus did not come to bring peace:

‘ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. ‘Matthew 10:34

Jesus has called us to live a set-apart life.

I saw that Jesus gave us a lengthy set of orders that we need to carry out. In short:

‘ He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” ‘Mark 16:15-18

And I saw that it is not enough only to believe these words. James writes:

‘What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’ James 2:14-17

I saw many other things that do not fit the common perception of the “Lovey Dovey Jesus” the world depicts Jesus to be, but rather than delving further into this, I’d like to encourage you to read the Bible for yourself. I pray that my testimony and the radical impact this has had on my life are evident enough to inspire you to search for yourself.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll try to highlight some of the small things the Holy Spirit convicted me of that had the most significant impact on my life.

Seek first His kingdom and His Righteousness.

Until next time
Tian

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Where it all began.

On 27 September 2018, on my way to a men’s camp, God spoke to me, not in an audible voice, but an undeniable knowing that I need to repent, repent of all the things I thought: “It’s ok, I’ll just ask for forgiveness tomorrow.” It suddenly became unmistakably clear that I would someday (if not today) have to face God and give an account of my life. This genuinely overwhelming yet highly motivating thought pressed hard on me for the remainder of the weekend, during which I sat through a couple of teachings, getting so annoyed with the preacher because their doctrine didn’t agree with mine.


You see, I used to go to church, and I was sure I had a relationship with Jesus; I mean, I prayed every once in a while, and once when I asked my pastor about my sin in a moment of weakness, he answered: “You invited Jesus into your heart some time ago. Why are you worried? Just ask for forgiveness.”


Fuming with frustration as the preacher continued with his teaching, I wondered how I could dispute him. Still, I could not think of anything I could back up with scripture since the only scripture I knew was Romans 8:1 

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

The urge to say something wore me down to extreme helplessness. I wanted never to feel this helpless again and vowed to read the Bible, so I would have some knowledge to back me up in the future.


Finally, the weekend came to an end, or at least I thought it was a good thing until God spoke again, elaborating on what He said previously. Not only did I need to repent, but I had to tell my wife about my pornographic habits as well. Dreadful of the potential consequences, I made my way home, thinking that this was the end of my marriage, but I knew what I had to do. So after getting home and settling the kids, I bit the bullet, and to my surprise, my wife said that she already knew. Not because of any evidence or a sneaky suspicion, but God had prepared her for this day with dreams. God had called her to fast, and as I confessed everything, it became clear that this is what God had called her to fast for. We agreed to abstain from any intimacy for a month as I worked through repentance.


Lying awake that night in complete and utter awe at how faithful God had proved himself to be, I remembered that feeling of helplessness and my vow to start reading the Bible. Where to start? Suddenly a faint memory of a friend saying, “If you ever start reading the Bible, start at 1 John,” popped into my mind. I knew the common perception is to start with John 1 (the gospel), but this intrigued me, which was unquestionably God-ordained. As I started reading, it became apparent that my fundamental belief was utterly flawed, ripping through my doctrine one verse at a time.

'If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. ' 1 John 1:6
'Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ' 1 John 2:15

And the final blow:

'No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. ' 1 John 3:6

I knew then that I had never known Jesus and that He had used the buildup of the last three days to introduce Himself to me. Blown away by His goodness, I repented of all my sin. I have fallen head over heels in love with Jesus, and I simply couldn’t get enough of Him, reading the Bible every chance I got, spending hours on my knees getting to know Him.

Thank you, Jesus, for revealing yourself to me and leading me to repentance. I love you and want to serve you every day of my life.

'Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? ' Romans 2:4

God really is faithful: My relationship with my wife has been completely restored, even better than before. I’ve been freed from all pornography, lust, alcohol, lying, foul language, and a whole host of other sins, and now God is continually doing amazing things in my life. But more about that in my next post,

May God’s goodness and grace inspire and carry you.

Until next time.
Tian