Throughout the Bible, names are incredibly significant. In the Garden of Eden, Adam named all the living creatures God had made: “So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.” (Gen 2:20) Many languages now have animals named with every letter of the alphabet – from aardvark to zebra! Name changes often represented something significant that God had done: Abram (exalted father) being renamed Abraham (father of many) in Genesis 17:5, for example, or Jacob (the deceiver) being renamed Israel (he struggles with God) in Genesis 32:28 after probably the most significant wrestling match ever! Even the names of God are incredibly significant, telling us something of His character and purposes – He is our provider (Jehovah Jireh, Genesis 22:24), our banner (Jehovah Nissei, Exodus 17:15); our peace (Jehovah Shalom, Judges 6:24); the One who is there for us (Jehovah Shamma, Ezekiel 48:35).
Every village, town and city is divided up into streets. These provide an easy way to locate particular places or houses. These days, our streets are numbered and also have postcodes to distinguish them from streets in other areas with the same names. As we walk around, we have been taking photographs of the street names to help us to pray for these when we are not out and about as well. Here are some of the street names we saw yesterday:
Foxmires Grove
Pearwood Close
Kents Grove
St Mary’s Road
Pickhills Avenue
Main Street:
Elizabeth Street:
King Street:
Lockwood Road:
Market Street:
Co-operative Street:
Victoria Street:
Beever Street:
Garden Street:
Hamilton Road:
Nora Street:
Each of these streets – and all the others walked yesterday – represent a vast number of people and households loved by God. Let’s pray for each household to come to know the Lord and to be strengthened and helped by Him, for any evil powers to be broken and for God’s glory to shine in these streets and in the lives of the people who live there.