All posts by Don Stephens

I'm a musician, teacher, and "sheepdog" with a passion for the Kingdom of God. Currently I work with Youth With a Mission, traveling, investing in young people, and teaching Worldview and the Kingdom of God.
Poetry and Prayers

Putting hope in its place

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These political campaigns are dragging me down. In my lifetime I’ve never felt so discouraged about the direction of America or its leaders on the horizon. For me it’s a clear wake up call. As long as the US is hopeful and robust it’s a huge temptation to rest in her shade and let kingdom matters trail along behind. (Some of us, during the “good” times even fall into the scarier deception of thinking America is synonymous with the kingdom of God, though we’d hardly admit it.)

Anyway… it’s a good reminder for us to put our trust in the real Kingdom, which is unshakable, and which has nothing to do with silly elections, big bucks, and empty campaign promises. That kingdom will eventually fill the earth with justice, mercy, and the beauty of God as surely as the waters cover the sea. (Hab. 2:14

The Kingdom

Fear of a kingdom lost…

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Eighteen year old Micah asked to speak with me after lunch. “OK, here’s the thing: I want the kingdom. I don’t want to miss it like most people around me. I want it. But I’m afraid I’ll miss it. I’m afraid the weeds will crowd it out, or the cares of life will smother it. What do I need to do?”

What a great question. And what hope it gives me to see young people passionately seeking the kingdom. But how do we actually do it? Since the Kingdom is at its essence the most practical and real thing in the cosmos, there must be practical and real ways of seeking it.

These suggestions have helped me:

  • Pray for the kingdom. It is, after all, the first priority of the Lord’s prayer. “May Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Faith inevitably becomes sight, and as we pray for the Kingdom we will eventually see it all around.
  • Develop an ear to hear the King’s voice. As Jesus spoke to the twelve, He is still speaking. And if our ears are tuned, we’ll hear him saying, “Look here at this pearl, at this mustard seed, this party, this movie, this football game….” Pictures of the Kingdom are everywhere, and it’s the Father’s delight to point them out to us.
  • Ask for “Kingdom Eyes.” Like fine art, good wine, and beautiful music, it’s a cultivated taste. “This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes.” We need the help of the Spirit to see the Kingdom.
  • Take your expectations out of the church building. The kingdom became flesh in Jesus, and it’s been invading the streets and the neighborhoods ever since. You’ll see it in a homeless person, in the widow next door, in the fatherless child across the street. “Sanctuary religion” tends to cloud our vision of a world full of beauty, grace, and human need.
  • Obey the small promptings of the King. Nothing opens the kingdom like walking the streets of human need with the King at our side.

“Don’t be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom.” – Luke 12:32

Poetry and Prayers

Nothing I’d rather be doing

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Just finished a week with these guys in Colorado Springs. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing, or anything more fulfilling than helping young people sort out their place in the Kingdom of God. These guys were exceptional in their hunger and passion. It hurts to say goodbye.

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Poetry and Prayers

More rAnDomNEss…

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Just a couple bits of information and an inspiring quote today:

  • This coming week I’ll be in Colorado Springs teaching in the YWAM Discipleship Training School. I’m excited also that my buddy Clay, (from Sarajevo), will be joining me there.
  • The photo below is from a little informal birthday gathering last week. I don’t own much in the way of property, (mostly books), but these friends are eternal treasures. I actually plan on spending ages in heaven with these characters.
  • Three people in the past week have asked me if I’ve thought about writing a book. One of them even told me he’d finance the project. I’ve never really thought I was clever enough for that sort of thing, unless maybe it was along the lines of The Kingdom of God for Dummies. Maybe it would sell a few copies to some humble souls who – because of their humility – would already know a lot about the kingdom. Still… it has me thinking.
  • This from E. Stanley Jones: “Seek first the kingdom of God and all things will be added to you, including yourself. You will no longer be an echo – you will be a voice. You will no longer merely copy, you will create.”
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Grace

Nick Vojicic – a giant of a man.

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Haven’t been able to pull up any original inspiration today. So let me recommend a dose from Nick Vojicic. He’s got a Croatian name, an Aussie heritage, and a kingdom story. People like this leave me shaking my head at the wisdom and grace of God.

Click this link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DxlJWJ_WfA&feature=related

Poetry and Prayers

The fear of old age

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Lionel Whiston was a dapper eighty-some year old saint when I met him thirty years ago. He was one of those uncommon individuals who had a gift for pulling people in, drawing them out, and sending them off with a gift. And he preached mighty good sermons, too. But the thing I remember most about Lionel was the gift he gave me that day: a happy revelation that old age was nothing to fear. If I could age like him, then each birthday would celebrate another year of becoming more like Jesus.

That’s my hope. Bill Gothard says that “The fear of old age is the false assumption that I still have many years of life ahead of me.” Only God knows the number of my days, but for this day I’m setting my hope on aging like Lionel, with my ear snuggled ever closer to the heartbeat of Jesus.

Poetry and Prayers, The Kingdom

Getting wrecked

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Been vaguely aware for some time that when it comes to the Kingdom, I’m a whole lot handier at talking about it than I am at actually living it.  I try to ignore that awkward truth, but it’s becoming more of a burr in my backside while I go on talking. And talking.

This week I’ve been reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, a book that my friend Bryan says is “the most dangerous book I’ve ever read.”  Shane is a young man who’s actually putting feet to his words, living with the homeless, standing up against injustice, and caring for the poor.   He says he’s not interested “in a Christianity that offers these (poor families) only mansions and streets of Gold in heaven, when all they really want is a bed for their kids now.  And many Christians have an extra one.”   That, right there, is the kingdom.   And I really am wanting to find my place in it. But see? There I go with words again.   

“The matter is quite simple.  The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers.  We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know the minute we understand, we’re obliged to act accordingly.  Take any of the words of the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly.  My God, you will say, if I do that, my whole life will be ruined.  How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship.  Christian scholarship is the church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to be sure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close … It is dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.” – Soren Kierkegaard             

Poetry and Prayers

You’ve gotta read…

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It’s been about six weeks since I read The Shack. And last count I’d given away seventeen copies of it to friends. So for me to plug this book is a no-brainer. If you’re anything like me, it’ll blow the lid off your concept of the Trinity, illuminate the profound beauty of the Godhead, and carry your love of the Father to new heights.

Eugene Peterson, (The Message), says “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyon’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!”   I can’t remember ever seeing so many people being so deeply impacted by a book other than the Bible.  So if you’re looking for something worthwhile to read…

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The Kingdom

The unshakable kingdom

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The kingdom is the only true reality. It is life as God intended it to be. The Kingdom is everything in the cosmos working as it was designed, from brain cells to business calls, from muscles to music. This is why Jesus said his yoke “is easy” and his burden “is light.” (Matt. 11:30) To live by truth is easy. Respect gravity. Expect to reap what you sow. Don’t step in front of a moving vehicle. Don’t spend what you don’t have. Treat others like you’d want to be treated. Pay your bills. But to resist reality is to ask for trouble.

Societies founded on falsehoods crumble and self-destruct. Communism, Materialism, and Postmodernism all fail because they haven’t the glue of truth to hold them together. No need for God to destroy those societies any more than for Him to have to destroy a person who’s trying to live on raw sewerage. The choice is the judgment. But the Kingdom! Ah! It is unshakable (Heb. 12:28). It is the house built upon a rock. Storms may rage against the Truth, but they cannot change it. And the Truth of the universe is the bedrock of the Kingdom.

Poetry and Prayers, The Kingdom

Disciples or converts?

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Jesus told us to go out and make disciples. Instead we’ve made converts.

Scott McKnight, in The Jesus Creed says it’s the difference between a birth certificate and a driver’s license: “If conversion is like a birth certificate, we produce babies who need to be pushed around in strollers. If it’s like a driver’s license, we produce adults who can operate on life’s pathways.” This probably explains why so many here in the Bible belt are endlessly running from church to church seeking some place “we really get fed.” People who carry driver’s licenses generally also know how to go to the fridge, drive to the supermarket, and cook up a meal.

McKnight goes on to ask, “When was Peter actually converted?” Was is:

  • When he left his boat and followed Jesus?
  • When he fell before Jesus and confessed he was a “sinful man”?
  • When he confessed “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”?
  • When he confessed Jesus as Lord?
  • When Jesus breathed on the disciples with the Holy Spirit?
  • When the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost?

It’s a tricky question for us because nowhere is it actually recorded that Peter said a “sinner’s prayer.” And that’s what seals it for most of us evangelicals. Undoubtedly this is something we need to wrestle with. What differentiates a disciple from a convert? And could it be that our “how do I get to heaven?” mentality lends itself to conversion over discipleship?

I believe this might well be one of the reasons we’ve lost sight of the Kingdom.