Where Are The Stephens?

July 7th, 2009

Most of you have heard this story before.  It was one of the most amazing days of my life.  I had travelled with Rich on my first and only trip to India.  But once there, I had been taken by myself to the remote poor rural town of Jowai in the north east hill country.  I was invited to pray for and bless a crowd of several thousand.  It was like the day of Pentecost.  Hundreds of people, children, young people and older ones, were falling over, some resting for hours, and then getting up changed people.  I was hearing story after story of healing and deliverance and salvation.  Incredible! It was a taste of heaven.

The journey home days later was a different story.  It was a taste of hell.  There was a four-hour drive to Guwahati airport along winding roads in a vehicle with defective steering, including a collision with another vehicle.  An aborted take-off, and attempts to repair the aircraft un-nerved everyone, and we were eventually transferred to a local hotel for the night, all in the searing heat and humidity.

I realise for many of you, this might sound pathetic, but holed up in that small hotel room far from home, I felt trapped and fearful, even panicky!  Things were very much out of my control.  I knew God wanted me to go to India, I knew I was in His will, and I knew He was with me; I had no doubt about that.  I knew Psalm 91 and the promises to those who trust in God, but I also remember recalling today’s story of Stephen.  To be honest, that made me even more scared, because things don’t always turn out the way we want them to just because we are following Jesus.  Stephen lost his life!

But Stephen’s obedience and death so affected Saul, who became Paul, whose preaching and teaching reached the world and is probably the reason why we have come to be followers of Jesus.  God brings a crown of beauty out of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair.  Those devastating events, God will weave round to bring good out of them. 

God is looking for more Stephens, Stephens who are full of the spirit and wisdom, who will give themselves to the work of the church, who will step out and speak out and be prepared to give all for the sake of Christ, whatever the cost.     

David Thatcher
 

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