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).

Echoes from the wilderness: The cloud and pillar of fire. ☁️🔥

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

Why did the cloud and pillar of fire keep moving all over the place during the Israelites’ journey in the wilderness? Studying it, I found that in our wilderness seasons, God tells us when to move and when to stop. Whether it was two days, a month or a year that the cloud/fire remained static, the Israelites also remained in place and did not journey. Each movement or stopping was done at the command of the Lord. (Num 9:23). Better said, the wilderness period is intentional of God and His children must root themselves in Him so they know the reason for the season and what to do therein. 

The mirage of answered prayers and why God tests our faith. 💔😢

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

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?

Being “unequally yoked” – what does the Bible mean?

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

Is it referring to the mixing of the yoke (yolk) of an egg like I’ve always thought? 😂 Discussing it over the weekend, I learnt something new. 🤓 Clearly the verse most often comes up when talking about marital partners and not marrying an unbeliever. But what is the foundation of the verse and is there an overarching matter it refers to?

Why couldn’t satan bring fire down from heaven when Elijah/baal prophets were on the mountain?

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

If satan could bring fire down from heaven to destroy Job’s sheep and servants, why couldn’t he bring it down during the time of Elijah when he faced the 400 prophets of Baal? 🤔 Besides, the Bible tells us in Revelation 13:13 that the second beast will make fire come down from heaven on earth in the sight of men, deceiving them. 🔥 There can be only one reason: nothing can happen on earth without God’s permission.

Israel’s three great enemies: The Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites. Where did they come from?

~ Mr. Streetz ~ Leave a comment

The Moabites and Ammonites were children born out of deceit to Lot, cousin of Abraham. The Edomites were descendants of Esau. These three tribes - Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites - are mentioned repeatedly in the Bible, often as a duo or triumvate, in different attacks on the Israelites. What’s also interesting is that these enemies descended from marriage relations that were against God’s instructions!