Steve Simms's Blog, page 101

It’s easy to jump into deceptive desires.

Think before you jump! Satanic suggestions often call and coerce us to jump into our desires, feelings, and thoughts — to throw off the God-given safety net of our conscience and satisfy self instead. As people caught in the fall of humanity, we’re all tempted to define ourselves by our desires instead of by God’s Spirit and we all throw ourselves into that trap to varying degrees. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Like Jesus, we need to put the Father and His will first. That’s what the kingdom of God is about — learning to throw off self-satisfaction and to surrender to moment-by-moment Christ-control. True glory doesn’t come from the public display of deceptive desire-focused self-identification. It comes from constant surrender to “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Follow the Lordship of the risen Jesus, not the Satanic suggestions that stir up your self-driven desires. Continually draw near to God and let Him train you to cast out and throw down the demonic suggestions that torment and manipulate you. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

The way to get free from guilt isn’t denial. It’s to admit where you’ve done wrong and to ask for and receive God’s forgiveness and deliverance.

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There’s no reason to be spiritually deaf!

To make disciples is to train people to daily hear and obey the living Jesus. We desperately need disciple-making today. There’s no need for Christians to be spiritually deaf!

Hearing and obeying God requires: 1) Willingness to hear (receptivity),2) Verification of what’s heard (discernment),3) Application of what’s heard (discipleship).

1) Receptivity? The most common reason people don’t hear God’s voice is because they don’t want to.

2) Verification? Every thought or impression that comes to your mind isn’t from God. God’s voice won’t contradict Scripture or God’s spiritual gift of discernment.

3) Application? To be led by the Spirit we have to do what God tells us to. That’s true discipleship.

If we made church a gathering for hands on coaching and training in hearing and obeying the risen Jesus, revival would roar through our land! Unfortunately, very few pastors have had hands-on training in how to hear and obey the living Jesus, so they don’t know how to train other people to.

In three years of seminary, and many years in church, I was never taught anything about how to hear and obey the risen Jesus. I had to learn by myself.

Heart-to-heart Spirit-led gatherings are essential! Without them we dry up like spiritual raisins. They also give us access to the discernment of other Christ-followers. Let the living Jesus transform church services into 1 Corinthians 14:26 meetings.

Instead of an institutional dispenser of religious information church could be a Spirit-prompted gathering of believers connecting heart-to-heart around the living Jesus. The cork of control causes church to stay bottled up in programmed religiosity. Pop the cork so God’s Spirit can freely flow!

If you would like to experience hands-on training in hearing and obeying the living Jesus, click on my invitation.

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Don’t just sit in church. Get up and obey God’s Spirit!

Jesus out of the church box so He can rule and reign in your heart. Take the risk to hear and do what His Spirit is saying. Begin to notice and obey His inner promptings throughout the day.

I propose a new motto for church services: DON’T JUST SIT THERE! GET UP AND OBEY GOD’S SPIRIT!

It takes courage to step out and obey a prompting from God’s Spirit. Be courageous! Church should be a gathering that encourages and welcomes Spirt-led risk taking instead of squelching it. I’ve always found spectator Christianity boring, but Spirit-led Christianity thrilling!

Human wisdom and religious lectures aren’t filling church attendees with glorious passion for Jesus. Perhaps it’s time to toss the program and let Jesus take the wheel!

God wants to ignite a widespread Spirit-led movement where people listen to Jesus and do what He says. Listen now right where you are. The Holy Spirit is beyond human control. His voice can be drowned out (quenched) but He can’t be programmed!

If you will gather with other believers and have a Spirit-led (unprogrammed) time of interacting with the living Jesus and with one another, you’ll experience His awe-filled presence and glory. A group of Christians can’t be led by the Spirit together unless they risk letting go of their agendas and programs.

Church programs are a fragile foundation for spiritual life, but the risen Jesus is the unshakable Rock! Sermons can never teach Christians to be Spirit-led because they teach people to be dependent on hearing a lecture instead of on hearing God’s “still small voice.”

You can’t be led by the Spirit in church unless you are willing to lose sight of the program. If you won’t risk being led by God’s Spirit, you’ll miss out on spiritual excitement, adventure, and miracles!

If going to church is the end of the road of your spiritual journey, you’re stuck in a religious rut. Follow Jesus beyond church! Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

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When human efforts aren’t working

When human opinions and efforts aren’t working to solve society’s problems, it’s an indication that we need God’s supernatural help!

Human performance often attracts human applause and praise, but it lacks the power of God. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they that build it labor in vain.” By learning to cultivate ongoing heart-to-heart surrender to and reliance on the risen Jesus you can begin to daily experience His power and presence working in and through you.

When Christians begin to rely on God to work instead of on programs and human performance, Jesus shows up and we call it revival!

Following Jesus is an amazing lifestyle of joy and adventure that goes way beyond merely attending church! Try it.

There's within my heartAn ongoing releaseOf Christ's inner peaceCalming all my stormsAnd causing worryAnd fear to cease.

Hierarchy’s high places

What’s proclaimed from the high places of human popularity and honor is often distorted by the effort to maintain the supposed dignity and distinction of those spaces. Truth is often twisted and distorted to support whatever will bring respect and praise to the people occupying those positions.

That’s the problem with top-down human leadership. People will say what the leader wants to hear instead of what they really think, to the point that life becomes a charade created to fit the comfort zones that maintain the status quo. This tendency can even be seen in the church position of clergy where people often feel a need to say and do what will keep the pastor happy and the pastor feels a need to keep the people happy as well, to the point that truth can easily be ignored or even denied.

The solution to the temptation to twist the truth in order to keep a human hierarchy high and lifted up is to embrace and surrender to the literal Headship of the living Jesus. Jesus is the truth. When we let Him live in and through us and be our living Head, we’re no longer caught in awe of and/or fear of human hierarchy. Thus, we are free to take the lowliest position and “consider others better than yourself” freely “speaking the truth in love.” Then as Romans 8:14 says, we are led by the Spirit and are the children of God.

The challenge of Christianity is to respect the risen Jesus enough to listen to and obey Him throughout the day. When pastors and Christian leaders try to control what happens in church, they act like they think the Holy Spirit is incompetent. He’s not. Let Him be your constant leader!

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Can society respect human life?

A society that produces people who are so evil that they will murder groups of strangers including children is sick! Lord, have mercy on us!

Human life is amazing. From the newest embryo to the oldest centenarian human life is a marvelous mystery that should be handled with care and respect.

Unwanted compelling desires are bondage.

When you are being compelled by thoughts, feelings, desires, or habits that you don’t want, you are in bondage to something other than yourself that the Bible calls sin. If you are a slave to big sin or tiny sin, there is good news. Jesus offers freedom and deliverance.

In the Bible Jesus drove out sin-filled spirits of compulsion called demons. Then He offered His followers the authority to do the same. Demons don’t like Jesus. If you want freedom, prepare the way of the Lord. Cast out demons and make room for Jesus to take control of your daily life. The truth will set you free. Courageously open your heart to walk openly in the light with Jesus and His people. No longer hide in and embrace the deeds and desires of darkness. Agree with your conscience and admit all your sin. Continually fight the good fight of faith.

Embrace the 2 Chronicles 7:14 lifestyle. Humble yourself. Pray. Seek God’s presence. Turn from your wicked ways. Drive the influence of demons out of your heart and mind. Give no place in your life to the devil. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Connect heart-to-heart with people of God who are continually pursuing His presence and submit to one another in love and accountability. Compassionately cast demons out of each other so that freedom in Christ can continually grow and spread and the glorious liberty of the children of God break forth.

Offer Christ’s freedom to all — to whosoever will receive it. Offer to pray over people letting “Christ in you” give you the words to say. In Jesus’ name and as His Spirit directs you, command demons to leave people and set them free.

The way to grow is to go in God — to shift from demonic self-focus to Spirit-led obedience to the risen Jesus. It’s vital that contemporary Christ-followers rise up and begin to do the stuff that Jesus and His first followers did as they drove out demons and set the captives free!

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Who’s really in charge in church?

When Jesus is really the Head of His body:

He is the One who gets all the praise and adoration; none of the praise is given to others.Christ is really and truly the One allowed to take control of the mic in church!The Leader is invisible to the eyes but obeyed from the heart.He personally leads and directs the members of His body when they gather in His name. A meeting follows Him instead of a program or agenda.Things are outside of human control, but secure in His hands.People are aware of and moved by His presence.He alone is in charge of the meeting.It’s obvious that something supernatural is going on.He’s free to prompt anyone present to speak.A meeting can get uncomfortable because He doesn’t follow our program but His own.

When Jesus
Is the Head,
Christians let
“Christ in you”
Tell them what
To say and do.

When Jesus
Is the Head,
Meetings are
Spirit-led
And what is
Done and said
Is prompted
By His presence.

The Bible is like a Jack-in-the-box. When I open it with a humble hungry heart, the risen Jesus pops out and fills me with His presence. Now let’s let Jesus jump out and fill gatherings of His people with His presence and control that overrides human leadership!

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Hearing Jesus here, there, and everywhere

Most Christians spend far more time hearing what the world is saying than they do hearing what the Spirit is saying. God makes sense when you’re really listening to Him, but not when you’re running from Him.

Hearing God’s voice is learnable. You learn to hear Him by listening to Him. God is speaking in ways that ordinary people can hear but many people don’t believe that they hear Him when they do because they don’t like what He says.

The voice of Jesus in a human heart isn’t sound based. His voice is multifaceted. He speaks through inner impressions, insights, inspiration, ideas, images, thoughts, promptings, sensations, awareness, and more. If you are one of His sheep, you have the capacity to hear His inner voice. To ignore what the Spirit is saying to you is to miss out on the glory of divine connection!

Conversational prayer, hearing God and not just talking to Him, is amazing! You can hear Jesus here, there, and everywhere! Hearing Jesus is about getting to know Him better. If you want to honor Jesus, listen to and obey what He is saying to you.

Be courageous to hear what God is actually saying to you and not just what you wish He would say. (Few people are willing to hear the risen Jesus say anything that they don’t want Him to say.)

The Bible is God’s gift of a spiritual hearing aid. If you’ll humbly read what God said through prophets, apostles, and others, you’ll begin to hear Him speaking. If you will read the Bible with the desire and intent to listen and obey, you’ll be amazed at what happens in your heart!

When I open the Bible and open my heart while I read it, my inner ears open up and begin to hear what the Spirit is saying to me today. Ancient words from God span the millennia and tune my spirit to God’s contemporary voice speaking within me, releasing rivers of living water and restoring my soul. To me, the Bible is exhilarating! I love reading it and can’t ever get enough of it.

Endlessly listening to lectures isn’t a great to learn to swim or to follow Jesus. Be courageous and listen directly to His voice! Hearing sermons without hearing God’s Spirit is a waste of time. Listen to the risen Jesus talking in your heart.

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If your life feels off track . . .

When you feel like your life is off track, it is. No matter how hard we try no person is ever perfectly aligned with truth and reality.

We can never exert enough self-effort to do everything right. No matter how hard we try, we always fall short of perfection, righteousness, and a pure heart.

To deny or justify your wrongdoing is to embrace deception, alienation, and bondage. Instead of accepting our wrongdoing, corrupt desires, and distorted thinking, we need to admit we’re off track and to seek mercy, forgiveness, and a new heart.

When you can’t forgive and remove all guilt from yourself, there is someone who can. Ask Jesus to forgive you, cleanse you, and empower you to follow Him! Inner peace comes when we humbly receive Christ’s mercy, forgiveness, and love, not when we exert our proud self-righteous effort. The more you let Christ live and work in you, the more freedom you have from guilt and sin.

Our conscience tries to warn us that we are engulfed in guilt and need God’s forgiveness so that we can be free from inner voices of hopeless accusation and condemnation. When we refuse to acknowledge our guilt, we alienate ourselves from God’s mercy, forgiveness, and deliverance. Christianity isn’t about being found not guilty. It’s about sincerely and openly pleading guilty and receiving the mercy that Jesus purchased for you by His blood.

Christianity gives the answer as:

God’s mercy, not our merit,
Grace, not achieving first place,
Repentance, not a life-sentence,
Pleading guilty, not self-justification,
God’s forgiveness, not self-righteousness,
Love, not to push and shove,
Brokenness, not will power,
Kindness, not competition,
Self-denial, not self-focus,
Serving, not deserving,
Truth, not deception,
Humility, not pride,
Peace, not anxiety,
Joy, not despair,
Jesus, not religion,
“Christ in you,” not you in charge,
Being Spirit-led, not getting ahead.

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