Guest Speaker Stephen Crews Opens a Door of Understanding: We Become Like What We Behold—and God's Grace Empowers the Becoming

Attention builds identity. That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with Stephen Crews as we explore what it really means to “behold and become.” We start with Psalm 27:4—one thing, one focus, one desire—and trace how a lifestyle of beholding Jesus forms habits of mind and heart that outlast hype and hurry. Stephen shares concrete rhythms for silence, Scripture, and prayer, including a simple image for quieting mental noise: let the day’s thoughts pass like groceries on a belt until the line clears and you can listen. The goal isn’t chasing experiences; it’s cultivating relationship—steady, honest, and deeply transformative.

From there, we dig into grace as power, not permission. Drawing on 2 Corinthians 12 and Titus 2, we unpack how grace meets us in weakness, trains our desires, and enables real change. Sanctification becomes a partnership: God works in us as we align daily choices to His presence. We talk fruit of the Spirit as the public evidence of private abiding—love, patience, and self-control that others can “pick” in real life, especially under pressure. Along the way, we get practical about boundaries, fasting, and the slow work of renewing the mind so Scripture moves from page to personal encounter.

We end with a call to apprenticeship: become like the Teacher by living with Him, adopting His practices, and staying resilient when you stumble. If attention is destiny, this is how to aim yours: guard your quiet, keep your focus, and let grace do what effort alone never could. If this resonates, share it with someone who’s hungry for a steady way forward, subscribe for more conversations like this, and leave a review to help others find the podcast.

Chapters

• 1:14 Welcome & Theme: Behold and Become
• 2:45 Psalm 27:4 and Singular Focus
• 5:00 Beholding as Lifestyle and Disciplines
• 7:11 Listening Prayer and Quieting the Mind
• 9:50 Presence Over Experiences; Daily Relationship
• 12:14 Renewing the Mind and Personalizing Scripture
• 15:56 Grace as Empowerment, Not Passivity
• 18:42 Weakness, Humility, and Divine Strength
• 20:41 Sanctification and Partnership with God
• 22:37 Fruit of the Spirit and Character Formation
• 25:48 Grace Trains Us: Titus 2 and Set-Apart Living
• 27:57 Returning to One-Thing Focus and Practicals

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:38

Howdy folks, I want to welcome you to another episode of Life Run the Fire. And today in our studio we have a real treat. There's a colleague of mine by the name of Stephen Cruz. And I've known him for really just actually a short while now, but it seems like I've known him a lot longer. There's a real koinonia that's gone on in our relationship. And uh Stephen is a he's a he's a gifted teacher, but also a deep thinker. And so you're really in store for something today that's gonna be a time where it will enlighten you in an area that we've talked about before. And it's on this whole notion of beholding and becoming that we actually become like the thing that we focus on. And if it's on money, we become like what's wrapped up in money. That type of person. Or whatever it might be. In our case, we want to focus our attention on Jesus to become more and more like him, to behold him and become like him. And so, Steven, I want to welcome you and just thank you for coming on in, man.

SPEAKER_01: 1:55

Thank you, David. Thank you for having me here. Life around the fire. What a what an opportunity to speak and share my experience and my my life in the Lord. So one when David shared with me the opportunity to be the title of this podcast to Behold and Become. Two things came to mind. Beholding by King David in Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. And when I think about becoming, I think about the empowerment of God's grace. And so that's what I'm going to be breaking down a little bit today, giving you food for thought. King David had one thing in mind. He wanted to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. It was his heart's desire. He had a singular focus and a heart posture that was desiring intimacy with God Himself. And so this isn't about religion, it's about a relationship, and that's what Christianity is a relationship with the Lord of Lord of hosts. Yahweh Sabaoth. A lifelong relationship. David was uh described as a man after God's own heart. You know, he was anointed king when he was 13. He didn't become king until he was 30. He had many ups and downs, many battles, and many mistakes and failures, but his heart posture was to seek the Lord always. And so I think in my look at my life, you know, it's it's his desire. We if we draw close to him, the scripture says he will draw close to us. So it's available to everyone, and it's an opportunity. Well, God's hand is his outstretched arm is to each of us, and it's our job to draw close to him and take hold of it. And so beholding is a lifestyle. It's not a one-off thing, it's not a seasonal thing, it's a uh commitment. And I think and wrapped up in that, you got to have spiritual disciplines. You need to have healthy boundaries for your own life, what you will and will not do. I mean, that includes, you know, every facet of your life, having a spiritual discipline. Are you reading the word? Are you fasting? Are you praying? Do you have set times for these different spiritual activities that create a healthy lifestyle of seeking the Lord and allowing him to transf us into the into his image, the image of Jesus, Yeshua. And so when we think about beholding, we we think about like worshiping and learning God's ways as we gaze upon him, as we sit before him, you know, it's not a one-way conversation, it's a two-way conversation and relationship. If if I do all the talking at home, you know, my you know, there's going to be a problem with my wife. I have to be able to sit and listen to understand what she has to say as well. And it's the same thing with the Lord. We have to be able to sit quiet enough to hear what he's saying. And I've always equated listening before the Lord, kind of like at the grocery store where you have you put the groceries on the conveyor belt and they go down to the cashier and she picks them off the belt and scans them and puts them on the on the next section of the checkout line. Because when you sit before the Lord, you'll have many thoughts. And I I equate those thoughts to the groceries on that conveyor belt at the checkout line. I just let them pass on by. You may or may not, they may or may not be from the Lord. They may just be your natural thoughts of you know what happened earlier in the day, what you have coming up, you know, in the afternoon. So it may take a little time for your mind to settle down and let those thoughts pass on by. And then they'll come a place, though, where there's a quiet stillness where your mind will run out of thoughts. And then you can just be still before the Lord. And that takes time, that takes a set apart time to be disciplined to sit before him. And so that takes sacrifice, whether it's sleep, usually you're gonna stay up later or you're gonna wake up earlier to make time to sit before the Lord, just as David did in Psalm 27. You know, there's one thing. It's when you get into this relationship and you begin to start growing and start seeing some victories, it's it's gonna be addicting in the sense that you're you're gonna want more of him. And he will give you more of himself. It's uh that is the word. He's a man of his word. He his word does not return void to him, so he will do his part if we do do ours, and that is drawing close to him.

SPEAKER_00: 7:43

That's that's that's really a good point, Stephen. Coming from a former addict, me, I've found that to be absolutely true. That the Lord's presence, him as a person, it is addicting, but it's a good one. It's not like the other things that take away more than they give. The Lord gives so much more. So it's that point of being him being and being with him is a very addictive thing. I I I kinda like that.

SPEAKER_01: 8:19

Yeah. It's uh it's a heavenly addiction. It's good. You know, there's nothing like being in the presence of the Lord. It once you experience it. Now we're not talking about chasing encounters with the Lord. We're talking about a lifestyle with them, a relationship that is not new age, not hungry for you know, what's the word here I'm thinking of anyway. I digress. It's a healthy, just like David said, it's a healthy relational connectivity with the presence of God because the Holy Spirit is sealed in us, so he's within us and he's around us. And so it's just tapping into what we already have, yeah and drawing that out. And the word says, Apostle Paul says, be transformed by the renewing of your minds. I think we have to become students of the word. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through God's written word, and so in that quiet time of sitting and beholding him, he's going to begin to speak to us by his word. He's going to be making them relational. I remember one time the Lord made the word personal to me. And to Naiah, he says, you know, the things of this world are withering away. And uh the Lord turned that personal to me and he said, Stephen, the things of this world are withering away, but my marriage to you will last forever. And I remember just breaking down and weeping because I remember reading that word, and then he made alive to me, made it personal to me. And that came from just meditating on him and thinking about him. And so I think that's the lifestyle that I'm describing here is taking him with you wherever you go and at work, at the workplace, posting the presence of God, continually thinking about him and meditating upon him and creating an environment where his presence transforms lives through us as vessels of honor. And so that is kind of like the byproduct of when we behold him. It's an actual act of sitting. It's also uh in the doing of everyday life that we can we can sit before the Lord and gaze upon his beauty as we do our job, as our you know, we do our chores around the house, our yard work. We can we can do both simultaneously. And so when I think about you know, how do we become one way really stands out to me, and that's we have to understand the empowerment of God's grace. God's grace uh you know is freely given, but it's not a passive gift, it's an empowering one. God's grace enables us to live by his spirit. So it is you know unmerited favor that we don't deserve, but it's it's also a an empowering one that teaches us and transforms us as we seek revelation on the grace of God. Um the one scripture that came to mind regarding this was Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. That is the enablement of power. His grace is equated to divine strength. It says, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And so when I think about the frailties of the human life, we are weak. And when we boast in our weakness, we become strong, just as the scripture tells us. And so it's being mindful and self-aware of our weakness. The Bible says not to be presumed to be wise in our own eyes. When we start thinking we're doing things in our own strength and we've done something, there's great caution in that because it does say that pride, a fall becomes you know, after a prideful man becomes fallen after that. And so the grace of God really empowers us to live a set apart life. And I think about uh, I'm a big kind of a number guy here, David. I've got seven, seven things here again. Seven uh the numbers perfection. But the first one is sanctification, the process of becoming holy and set apart for God. You know, Zachariah says it's not by our might or our power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts that we that we can do things. So it's him in us working through us. And so it's a partnership. This is all about a relationship and a partnership. God wants to see that willingness to to abide in him and allow his power to flow through us to see the victory, to see what his plans are be accomplished in us and through us, and to be a faithful witness in the earth. And so covenantal transformation is restoring the image of God in the believer. We have to understand that we cannot change ourselves. And so, you know, the sanctification is an ongoing process until we go home with the Lord. And it's a continual, continual empowerment.

SPEAKER_00: 14:48

That that that statement that you just made, I'm just gonna highlight it. The fact that we cannot change ourselves alone. That it really requires we are able to receive an empowerment to make change. So it's not trying to double down and do better, but it's cooperating with that empowerment.

SPEAKER_01: 15:10

Yeah, amen. So I think the big thing with the Spirit of God and the grace of God is it enables us to produce fruit that glorifies Him. You know, you think about the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. We can't produce those in our own strength. That comes from having spiritual disciplines, from doing the one thing that David was seeking after was beholding, beholding the Lord, allowing and being a student of the word, getting in the word, reading it, meditating on it, chewing on it, coming back to it, understanding the whole narrative of scripture from Genesis to Revelation. And in the doing those things and building momentum. See, a lot of times we want we want things fast. We live in a microwave society. We want to read a scripture and then produce fruit right away. Well, sometimes the Lord does that, sometimes more than likely he doesn't, because he's worried about our character. He's concerned about our character, about hosting his presence and imaging him well on the earth. And so this is a marathon, this isn't a sprint. So we have to keep that in mind of bearing fruit. So one thing to examine is our is our lives bearing the fruit of the spirit? Do we have love? If love isn't, you know, manifesting in our lives, then maybe that's an area that we should should uh seek help on or guidance or continue surrendering until the fruit of love is bearing fruit on our tr on our tree. And so with the fruit of the spirit, the fruit is not for us. The fruit is for others to pick and eat. We benefit from walking in love, but the fruit of the spirit is for us to produce for other people to pick. And so if I'm bearing the fruit of patience, then the people around me at my job are gonna eat that fruit of patience and loving kindness and the love of God. They're gonna see it. And so we we have to be separate from the world. You know, how can we live differently and show Christ if we're not bearing fruit? If we're doing the same things that the world does, we uh we look just like them. Why would anybody want to become a Christian? Why would they need Jesus? What's the point of our God? How is he different from all the other gods on on this earth? It's it's a relationship. It all goes back to that of him working in us, producing his kingdom fruits so that we manifest for his glory, not for our own. And so this topic of beholding and becoming is a ever evolving one. David and I were praying earlier for a new revelation, and I believe that it's coming forth today in greater measure of things that people just aren't talking about or teaching on. And so another aspect of the grace of God and then the enablement of the grace is it teaches and transforms us. Think about in Titus chapter 2, verses 11 and 12, it says, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. And so the grace of God is active in our lives if we just have eyes to see. And from that place of seeing, we can minister the gospel and live a set apart life. Because that's what this is all about. Sanctification is the process of becoming holy, set apart unto the Lord. And so He saved us for a purpose that we would go and bear fruit, that we would be one with Him and with His people, that the earth may know. And so we receive God's grace by faith. Everything in the kingdom of God is by faith. And when we begin to just receive it as a free gift that's freely given, we'll begin to walk in the grace of God daily. So grace is not just a theological idea. Grace is God giving himself to us freely, fully, and faithfully. In John chapter 1, verse 14, it says, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. The grace of God saves us, empowers us, transforms us, and brings us into union with God. And so as we begin to just wrap up here and meditate upon, you know, what it is, what does it mean to behold and become? This is a I think this is a charge, this is uh an encouraging word here to to dive into that and what does that look like for us as as the body of Christ. You know, Psalm 27, 4 is about a relationship, and it's a singular focus. This one thing I've asked of the Lord, that will I seek after. King David is determined, he's made up his mind of what he's going to do. He's going in a singular, one-directional way with his life's mission. This one thing I will do. It wasn't about being king or conquering his enemies. It was it was singular. He wanted to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. He wanted to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. He had a deep yearning to dwell, to abide continually in the intimate, manifest presence of Yahweh. And so I think as we set apart time and our schedules, I know it will be hard at first, just like with anything. Anything worth doing is not easy, but as we grow, the Lord establishes, establishes us, and it becomes second nature, it becomes who we who we are. I know at the beginning for me, years ago, understanding this, finding this scripture and just sitting before the Lord, you know, it took took a long time for me to just get to 15 minutes. And then it next thing you know, I'm sitting there for an hour. Now, next thing you know, I gotta wake up earlier because an hour isn't long enough anymore. And you know, so you're you're it's funny how things, if you want to say, become easier, but in reality, we're replacing what we want to do with what God wants from us, and that's a relationship, and that takes us sacrificing what our you know desires are, and placing them before the Lord and allowing him to replace them because in that there's he replaces it with the fruit of the spirit, and when we're manifesting the fruit of the spirit and the gifts of the spirit from beholding him and becoming like him, just as David said at the beginning, who we behold we become like. And so do you do you want to become like Jesus? You know, the the uh the translation of the word disciple is Talmudim. And that means apprentice, and apprentice is is like becoming like the teacher to replace them. And so doing the things that Jesus did, saying the things that Jesus did. And again, this takes this takes time, and it's there's nothing like it. I wouldn't change anything for the world. To uh to to know God and be known by Him is such an honor and a privilege to just be to be called a son of God, to be a you know the redeemed of the Lord. And so I hope this encourages you today to take ownership, to take responsibility, to be willing to make mistakes and get back up again and continue to walk. You know, when we fall, we can either stay down in that that puddle of mud and roll around in it and stay and have pity on ourselves and live in condemnation and believe the life of the accuser, or we can choose to get up and walk. And as we walk, we'll be made clean and become like him. And so, David, we thank you for the for life around the fire, and we thank you for uh this time together.

SPEAKER_00: 25:24

Stephen, thank you for being obedient and for opening up not just your thoughts concerning this, but your heart, uh, your life, being a little bit vulnerable as well. And letting each of us know that, you know, it's not something that was just a one and done thing for you, and now here you are. But it's been a process and a continual turning to. And some of you are listening to this and you're maybe you're you're you're you're you're driving a truck across country and you're catching bits and pieces of what uh is being said. Cool thing about that is you can't unhear something. And so it's like seed that's being planted or sometimes being watered in your own life. And there might be some of you in Africa that you're taking notes and you say, Man, well, how can I how can I get more of this? Well, there you get the transcript from this podcast if you want to. So all I'm saying with all of that is that there is a lot of meat that's on the bone here. And thank you, Stephen, for breaking this open for us. But you take a moment and will you just have a word of prayer with us, please?

SPEAKER_01: 26:47

Sure. Father God, we just come to you in the name of Jesus. We thank you. Just for who you are, Lord. We thank you, Lord, that you so loved the world that you sent your only one begotten Son, the Monoganesh Yeshua. Hawashia, we thank you for redeeming us, Lord, with your outstretched arm, Lord. Lord, I just lift up our walk with you, Lord. May you continue to empower us, Holy Spirit, to let go of what was behind and lay hold of what is to come, to press on to the upper call in Christ Jesus. Lord, we can only do this by the empowerment and the enablement of your grace. Yes. And so we ask that you would pour out your grace in a in a greater measure in the lives of your people. Yes. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

SPEAKER_00: 27:47

All right, folks, we we love you. And if you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at life are on the fire at gmail.com. That's our email address. So you can type in Life Are on the Fire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you. In the meantime, God bless you. Adios, amigos.