Category: Faith

Wealth/riches, influence and serving God – Joseph and Nicodemus

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Sometime this week, I was reading about Ken Costa, an accomplished and successful South African banker and philantropist who had just become chairman of a private equity fund. He had written a book about Joseph of Arimathea and this piqued my interest to study further about this Joseph. Below are my findings about this rich and godly man who you find mentioned in the four gospels but only in so few a verse that it's easy to miss all the detail packed into them. I also include notes on Nicodemus, who shared a number of similarities with Joseph, including being his contemporary at work, and his partner on that glorious night.

Testimonies – Corona or not, GOD is still moving!

~ Mr. Streetz ~ 1 Comment

Tonight I just want to share two stories that encouraged me this week. 2020 has taken turns absolutely noone expected and it's easy for one to question everything and wonder if anything in this life is worth holding on to. For me, I continue to find that God is the one factor that remains unchanged. But why? How?

Comparing God’s salvation of Noah and Lot – Both righteous but different

~ Mr. Streetz ~ 3 Comments

Noah and Lot were both saved by God before destruction was visited on the whole earth and on Sodom. But what are the similarities and differences we can find from the Bible about these two stories to help us get a clearer picture of the state of humanity and even righteous people in the end times? This study is critical because the Bible points back to Noah and Lot so many times that we Christians must study these stories in-depth and have them at the forefront of our minds as we navigate these end times.

My testimony (part 1) – why this site exists

Featured ~ Mr. Streetz ~ 1 Comment

Life. The journey we are all on. Different paths leading each of us on varied experiences. We rise, we fall and hope to share our story to the benefit of someone else. Mine is a story of persistence. Persistence in hoping and trusting in God, believing I could achieve what others thought impossible. The first was believing I could get into a top global business school without the ideal GMAT score. I sat that 2011 Saturday in Church with the MBA dream still in its infancy and I heard a voice - 'you will go for your MBA, free of charge'. Yes I did hear a voice. And so the journey began - a 5-year waiting season.

Why God allows “the wilderness” and the importance of responding correctly while in it

~ Mr. Streetz ~ 1 Comment

God didn’t intend for the Israelites to spend 40 years wandering in the Wilderness. In fact, God thought them ready to possess the promised land within 2 years of leaving Egypt. But right at the border of receiving the promise, the people succumbed to fear, rebelling against God, disobeying Him and lacking faith to step forward. Oh what a shame - right at the border! In God’s eyes, this was an exceedingly great sin and not only were the people who doubted destroyed, but the people were made to wander in the desert for another 38 years. 😞 In this note, I explore why it's important to understand the reason for our life's wilderness seasons and the importance of responding correctly while in them, so that we don't unduly extend the time that God may have allotted for that season.

God wants to give you “a future and a hope”

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

Jeremiah 29:11 says God wants to “give us a future and a hope (i.e. an expected end - KJV)”. 🤔💭 Trying to make sense of this I noticed that NKJV/NLT equate KJV’s “expected end” with “a future and a hope”. But why, what could these mean? There is surely an end i.e. a future that God has planned for us, but God gives it to us through hope. The future and hope come hand in hand, like the fist to a glove. It is an end that we actively expect, a future that we hope towards. God gives this hope to us. He puts visions of the future He desires for us into our heart and wants us to hope, long and work towards it. This is corroborated in Phillipians 2:13, which tells us that when we walk with God, the desires of our heart and our resulting actions are of Him. Faith’s definition in itself is substantiated in hope (Heb 11:1).

The mirage of answered prayers and why God tests our faith

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Have you ever been in a situation where you’ve been praying to God for something, it looks as if it’s all coming together but then you end up with nothing? Sometimes it takes the form of there being a lot of activity which looks as if God is finally moving but in the end you still end up disappointed?

God moves, as we move!

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

One of the questions we often ask as we go through life is what should I be doing right now? For example, we could be believing God for something and we have such tremendous faith that we see the vision so clearly. The question then becomes what should we be doing in the interim? Pray, fast and just watch? Looking at a series of examples in the Bible, what is clear is that God often comes to people when they’re in an active state. In other words, they’re not simply lying idle and sucking their thumbs.

How is the word of God a ‘lamp to our feet’? Why lamp?!

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

Perhaps the first thing to think about is: what is a lamp and when do we need one? A lamp in Biblical days is probably synonymous to what we call a lantern or torchlight 🔦 today. They’re used amidst darkness, to give a little light. Better said, the light from a lamp is sufficient enough to help us take the next step but never enough to completely clear out the darkness. In the dark, you must rely on the lamp to know the right step to take i.e. any step you take without it would likely be the wrong one. This also means that if you've been walking without a lamp, just start using it and you'll find your way back to the right track no matter how far off you had gone, but you need to use it consistently. Another analogy to use in thinking about this is the lights of a car.

What could God mean by “Be”? Be of good courage? Be strong and of good courage? Be strong and very courageous?

~ Mr. Streetz ~ 1 Comment

The first time God used the word Be was in the creation story. “Let there BE light and there was light”. Be is an instructive word that calls into immediate or instant existence something that wasn’t. Be is a current state of existence. Be is real and solid. Be is now, not in future. All that God called to Be forever exists. The world may rotate and darkness may exist in places but the sun is forever shining. God calls us to BE. In Psalms 31:24, we are again told to Be...”Be of good courage”. Does this mean there is bad courage?