Steve Simms's Blog, page 105

Asbury & Lee and experiencing a glorious Spirit-led challenge

On Monday, 2/21/23, my wife, brother, sister-in-law, and I felt prompted to go to the Jesus outpouring that was happening at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. We drove the 2 1/2 hours from Nashville, but the chapel was closed. That was our Spirit-led challenge. We were immediately tempted to get frustrated and disappointed, but God gave us inner peace.

As we were walking to the chapel, we met a family of four (a college-age man and woman and their parents) with beautiful accents. They had driven from Atlanta and were also tempted to be disappointed. However, instead we two sets of strangers prayed together and felt an immediate connection as the Holy Spirit moved in our hearts. About that time a young Lee employee drove up in a golf cart and asked if He could pray for us. He jumped out, prayed from his heart, then drove on.

After our prayer time together, we started to walk away in different directions. Suddenly I was prompted to ask them a question. I turned and said: “We were at the Asbury revival for two days a week ago, do you mind if we pray over you and impart the blessing that we received there to you?”

The father’s eyes grew wide, and he said: “I’ve been praying that we would meet someone here at Lee who had been to Asbury and would pray over us and impart what they received there.”

We said, “May we lay hands on each of you one at a time and pray over you.” They all eagerly said yes. We started with David, the son. He was very shy but hugged me after we prayed. Then we prayed for Tiffany, the daughter. As we prayed my wife began to get prophetic words for her and tears came to her eyes. Afterwards, she and Tiffany embraced. The mother began to rejoice and clap and said that those words were exactly what Tiffany needed to hear.

As we started to lay hands on the mother and father, they both knelt in the damp grass. After we prayed over them, they both jumped up and began to hug all four of us. They thanked us profusely and after a few minutes of awe and celebration at what God had done, we began to walk away again.

Once again God’s Spirit prompted me to turn around and speak to them. I asked, “Where are you originally from.” They said, “Nigeria.” I felt led to say: “Welcome to the United States of America. You may have felt unwelcome at times, but God wants us to welcome you.” They all smiled, began to hug us again, and told us that David was about to become an American citizen. This time instead of heading in different directions, someone said let’s all go to the chapel and see if anyone is there.

We got to the chapel and there were four people standing outside talking (who didn’t know each other). A women came over and began to talk to us. She was overflowing with the presence of Jesus. She was a student at Lee when the 1970 spiritual awakening happened there. With tears she began to tell us how as a young college student, the living Jesus had transformed her life and how she has felt and been led by His presence all these years. Then she began to pray for us.

The other three people came over and joined in a time of powerful, Holy Spirit inspired prayers. Afterwards a man began to prophesy over Tiffany and confirm what my wife had gotten for her. She was deeply moved.

Suddenly two women walked up. At first, they seemed disappointed, but then they pulled out flags that looked like flames of fire. They put praise music on a phone and began to dance and wave the flags in the Spirit for a long time. A few of us danced with them.

Then a middle-aged man and two college-age guys walked up. They had driven from Tampa to Asbury and stopped at Lee on their way home. They were aglow with God’s Spirit and began to tell us how God had blessed them at Asbury.

After our “revival” at the Lee chapel, we decided to walk across the campus toward a steeple we saw on the other side. It was a beautiful Church of God worship center. We walked in and asked if there was any place we could pray there. They sent us up to a “prayer tower” on the fourth floor with a beautiful 360-degree view of the campus and the surrounding area and asked if we would like someone to pray with us. We said yes.

In a few minutes a woman came in and introduced herself as “Pastor Ruth.” She was overflowing with Jesus and welcomed us with His love as she took the time to get to know us as individuals. Then she began to pray a tender, Spirit-led prayer, full of Scriptures and words of knowledge. We were all in awe at how God was speaking through her.

When we left the church, we decided to go into the Student Center. We got coffee from a Starbucks there and sat and talked about what we were seeing God do. When we left the building, my brother had disappeared. We waited for him a while. I finally went back in, and he was talking to a young man named Obidiah. I tried to hurry them up and Obidiah asked my brother to pray for him.

After the prayer my brother and I walked outside to our wives. Suddenly Obidiah walked up and begins to talk to the four of us. He is 29 and from Murphy, North Carolina. He had driven to Lee five days earlier to experience the spiritual awakening happening there. He shared amazing testimonies about what he had seen and heard the past five days. Then we all prayed together.

After an amazing day of Spirit-tailored revival we went to our Air B & B and basked in the glory that we had experienced on the Lee University campus. What a beautiful day!

We also celebrated what God had done on our way to the campus. We stopped once for gas and a man who looked oppressed and discouraged was slumped over by the door on a stack of firewood. After the rest of us had gone into the building, my brother asked him if he could pray for him. The man said yes and then had tears in his eyes as my brother prayed.

When we all got back in the car, my brother told us what happened and said he wanted to give the man some money but didn’t have any cash. His wife looked but only had a twenty. My brother (who can be very tight with money) said that’s okay. He took the twenty and gave it to the man. The man smiled a beautiful, bright smile that touched all of our hearts.

Before we went to the Lee campus we stopped at a meat and 3 restaurant and had lunch. An 80 year-old man named Larry walked by and my brother started a conversation with him. We told him we were going to the Lee University awakening. He got excited and began to talk about how wonderful it is that God is pouring out His Spirit.

We talked while we ate and eventually prayed for Larry. He left the restaurant but quickly returned while talking with His wife on the phone. He wanted us to tell her our names and encourage her. She soon was sounding joyful as we all enjoyed each other’s company in Christ. Larry asked us if we could take a picture of the four of us and send it to him so that he and his wife can pray for us by name. After that we had high expectations for our Lee University visit.

On our return trip to Nashville, we were driving through Tracy City and my sister-in-law yelled, “Stop! Go back! We have to go back.” She had spotted Dutch Maid Bakery and Cafe and said she had heard great things about it and wanted to go in. So, we did.

As they looked around, I began a conversation with the owner. I told her we had just been to the Lee College looking for the spiritual wakening, and she suddenly got excited. She said, “That’s what we all need!” She began to excitedly talk about Jesus. Soon the four of us were gathered around and she began to tell us about a terrible tragedy she had experienced and how God had brought her through it. She was full of joy. Eventually we all joined hands and prayed for her. Then she prayed for us as we all were thrilled and empowered by the presence of the risen Jesus.

I love seeing God in strangers! As a Jesus-freak college student I sold Black History books door to door. Numerous times a day as I was showing my books, the conversation would somehow shift to Jesus. I would close the books and interact with my brand-new brothers and/or sisters in Christ as we would pray and rejoice together. Check out my blog post: Experiencing God in Strangers.

Are you sent?

I don’t want
My faith to be mild,
Dressed up
And styled
Into a sweet
Sunday sermon.

If Jesus lives within your heart, He’s giving you specific inner promptings to lead and guide you throughout the day. Learn to recognize and follow His loving voice.

Jesus is the Sender. Let Him bend your will so that every moment He can send you where He wants you to be.

I’ve been watching a squirrel out on a high limb, calmly resting and waiting for his next assignment. I’m impatient and want him to move on, but he still sits. I want to learn to wait on Jesus like that.

Every morning present yourself to Jesus to be sent to do His will throughout the day. It’s spiritually dangerous to turn your faith over to a church or to a pastor. Revival happens when people let Jesus free them from the control of religious tradition.

Revival is often
Tiny crowds,
Very small groups
Of two or three
Who gather
To experience
Beautiful liberty
In Christ.If you're a Christian
Then you've been sent
To be Spirit-led;
To demonstrate
And to spread
The reality of
Christ in you.I'm not a fan of Lent.
Every day of the year
We need to repent,
To reorient
Our mind and heart
To the living Jesus
And be led and sent
By Him.

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Revival is a Jesus revolution

The Jesus revolution of “Christ in you” happens in the unseen realm of a human heart and overflows as light to our dark world. Oops! Modern Christianity has exchanged “Christ in you” for “you in church,” and wants you to jump through religious hoops.

Revival is a Jesus revolution that wakes people up. It disrupts religious routine with God’s glory and supernatural love. It releases jubilant joy and radical humility in the people that it touches.

The Asbury Revival 1970 and The Jesus Movement happened together. Now the Asbury Revival 2023 and the Jesus Revolution movie are happening together. Are they proclaiming another Jesus Movement? I’m convinced they are!

The most important revival you can ever experience is a Jesus revolution in your own heart. Let ongoing adoration of the risen Jesus begin deep within you. The difficulties of life can burry your heart and leave you in darkness. Look up. Jesus is searching your rubble to rescue and revive you!

Jesus didn’t say “Go to church.” He said, “Come unto Me.” Christianity is about freedom in Christ, not about bondage to a religious institution. If you feel guilty for not regularly attending an official church service, you may be in religious bondage.

Church for me has been like a “Where’s Waldo” book. Personally, it’s hard to find the risen Jesus there so I’ve had to look elsewhere.

The risen Jesus leads by inwardly prompting individual members of His body into action. Men lead by setting everybody down to hear a lecture. He teaches by supernatural demonstration, revelation, and heart transformation. Men prefer to teach classroom style.

Preaching is for proclaiming the Gospel. Once you’ve heard and responded you don’t need to be preached to. You need to listen to and obey the living Jesus.

Pastors have been trained to tightly program and control. Jesus is calling them to cultivate an environment where He can take control.

Okay, pastors. Asbury has shown what God is ready to do. Now surrender control where you are and let the living Jesus have His way there!

If your pastor won’t let the church have Jesus-led meetings, don’t die on the vine! Meet with one, two, or a few believers to spontaneously pray, sing, and let Jesus lead.

If your heart
Is to cold
To behold
Jesus,
You won’t
See Him unfold
Within you.

A hope destroying mindset or mental health?

A hope destroying mindset isn’t good for your mental health. When guilt is denied or hidden, it leads to inner torment; when sorrowfully and openly admitted, to inner peace and mental health.

Step out of the entangling net of regret. Openly acknowledge, continually resist, and turn away from your sin.

Guilty pleasure
Is a fake treasure
That sends stormy weather
To steal your inner wealth
And destroy your mental health.

Life lived without repentance
And heart-felt contrition
Produces a fake rendition
Of your inner condition
And the demolition
Of your mental health.

True contrition
Isn’t once and done.
It’s an ongoing condition
Of the heart.

The inner condition
Of deep contrition
Is the ignition
That releases
The fire of God
In a human heart.

There’s a big difference
Between God and me
That for some strange reason
Is hard for me to see.
He’s perfect and I’m a mess.

When I know that I’m still far from 100% right, it makes me contrite and hungry for God. People who have the courage to face their guilt, openly admit and continually resist their sin, and seek Christ’s ongoing help are supernaturally transformed from within.

Contrition is the humble realization that we often stray from God and His will, and the burning desire to be continually healed and restored so we can daily live in His glorious presence. Without contrition and repentance, the kingdom of God will seem like a distant myth instead of a glorious reality.

The church you attend says it belongs to Christ. Therefore, Jesus is the highest authority in the meeting. Listen to and obey Him as the only Head! If churches were continually focused on Jesus, cultivating His presence, and surrendered to His authority, people wouldn’t feel the need to drive miles to a revival!

Your home can have the presence you felt at Asbury. Ask Alexa to play your favorite anointed worship songs. Then sing along pouring out your heart to Jesus (Try this one: “Sweet Holy Spirit” by New World Song.)

Your inside edition
Matters the most.
Always make your heart
A humble host
For Jesus!

Asbury revival 2023 — a prototype of Christ-control

It’s time to put church on Christ-control and let the congregation cruise beyond their comfort zone, being led by the risen Jesus. Leadership at the Asbury revival put the meeting on Christ-control and let the living Jesus take charge. Churches can do the same. A simple shift from pastor-control to Christ-control would revive churches around the world.

Christians have been preached and taught to death! Pastors, open up Sunday mornings and let Jesus’ people testify! Churches should be popping with love for Jesus with people jumping up to show and tell what He has done! (Rev. 12:11.)

If Christ can control the Universe, He can control a church service. All I’m saying is give Jesus a chance to lead one Sunday! Some drivers don’t trust cruise control. It’s sad that many churches don’t trust Christ-control. If you won’t trust Christ to lead a church service, how can you trust Him to save your soul?

Christ-control works inside individuals. As people are allowed, trained, and encouraged to obey His inner promptings, a congregation begins to demonstrate His presence. When a church is full of human programming and control, people don’t learn to notice, obey, and rely on Christ’s inner promptings.

What the Bible calls “the flesh” is human effort. Church too often chooses to operate by the flesh instead of by Christ-control. To repent is to shift from human effort to Christ-control–to try less and trust more. If Christians aren’t allowed to obey Christ’s inner promptings during church, it’s hard for them to ever get the courage to do so elsewhere.

When a Christian gets spiritually revied and excited about Jesus, that’s revival. It won’t end unless the revived person drifts back into complacency. When Christians get revived and unbelievers begin to encounter Jesus, that’s a move of God. Unfortunately, I think many Christians go to church to hibernate–to passively sit back, endure a sermon, and earn points with God.

A meeting isn’t a revival unless the people in the meeting are being revived. I saw revived people all around me when I was at Asbury. If you’ve been revived at Asbury keep the fire in your heart burning. Raise your hand the next time you’re in church, then stand up and tell what God has done in you!

The world needs to see Christians overflowing with love for Jesus. I saw multitudes doing so at Asbury. Pastors, let people be free to overflow in church! Asbury University is allowing an ongoing demonstration of the presence of the living God. What happens in most church services can happen without God’s involvement, but there’s no explanation but God for what’s happening at Asbury! Pastors, let go and let God.

What is revival? Christ-control! If you really want a move of God in our time, surrender your will and your desires to Jesus.

A “prototype” of Christ-control?

I’ve read that pastors are frustrated, stressed, and quitting. I was a pastor in a traditional church format and it’s a crazy job to run a church and be an every-Sunday-morning celebrity. It feeds your ego on Sunday and saps your strength during the week.

I tried to find the one-man pastor job in the New Testament, but never could. The more I read it the more I discovered that gatherings of the body of Christ work best when the living Jesus, Himself, is allowed to personally lead them by prompting individuals in the congregation to say and do what He puts on their heart.

Then one day, The Salvation Army in Nashville approached my wife and me and asked us to start a “non-traditional” church for them. They gave us amazing freedom to let Jesus lead. For 10 years we met with no sermons. Instead, after pouring our hearts out in adoration of the risen Jesus, people were free to listen to Jesus and then say and/or do whatever He told them to. People were free to come and go as they please. The living Jesus took over and time didn’t matter. As people opened their hearts to God and to each other, HIs glory filled the room and shined on the faces among us.

After 10 years, a new leader was sent to town and demanded that we return to the traditional church format. My wife and I felt we had to “obey God rather than man” so we left with grateful hearts that we had been allowed to do that for 10 years!

In our early days, a woman declared that what was going on there was a “prototype” of what God wants to do in many churches and other Christian gatherings (but she didn’t even know what the word meant.) To read an account about what God did there, search: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

Christianity’s not about
Human ability
Or a church facility.
It’s about following Jesus
With radical humility.

Know Jesus now
Get to know
Jesus now
As your friend.
It’s not enough
Just to know
About Him.
Yes you can
Open your heart
And begin to
Know Jesus now.

It’s time to pop the church cork
That’s holding back
Christ’s new wine
So congregations can
Bask in His presence
And people can speak up
And freely testify
About His glorious works.

Is the Asbury “revival” a modern John the Baptist?

Like John the Baptist, Asbury University is pointing people to the risen Jesus and allowing Him to be the living Leader and people are coming from around the world to experience Him! They’re letting Jesus work outside the traditional church format and look what’s happening!

In his time John the Baptist broke free from religious formalism and prepared the way for Jesus. Today multitudes at Asbury are breaking free from human controlled religion and here comes Jesus!

John the Baptist said, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” not “Don’t bother Jesus, just let a preacher or elder board run things.” John said, “He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease,” not, “Jesus will give me whatever I want.” Asbury is showing us how to prepare the way of the Lord and how Jesus will increase if Christian leaders will decrease.

John the Baptist said, “He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire,” not “Attend a weekly scripted meeting about Jesus.” Asbury University is showing us how to open our heart and our churches to the risen Jesus and His holy fire!

John the Baptist said: “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand,” not, “Go to church and live however you want.” He said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” not “Give to and support my ministry.” Asbury is showing us how to behold Jesus and how to repent and let Him take control.

John the Baptist was a humble forerunner introducing people to Jesus, not a grandstander on a formalized religious stage. It’s time for churches to be like John the Baptist and to point people to Jesus, not to buildings, programs, or preachers!

Christians are getting excited about Jesus! Pastors and church leaders, please don’t dampen their enthusiasm! Jesus wants to personally connect with people and people today are wanting to experience and obey Him. I encourage churches not to hold this back.

Search for: The Joy Of Early Christianity.

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Asbury shows that many people want Jesus instead of religious talks and programs!

What’s up at Asbury? Jesus is being continually lifted up and allowed to lead. The awe of His presence has filled the room and is overflowing around the world. Look how thousands of people are showing up as Asbury University allows the risen Jesus to be the living Leader.

Jesus wants to personally connect with people and people today are wanting to experience and obey Him. I encourage churches not to hold this back.

Christians who have experienced the living Jesus at Asbury will no longer be content with religious formalism and control. Asbury is showing the world that Christians have the ability to assemble themselves together and worship Jesus without being controlled by a church structure.

Many Christians are longing for an environment that welcomes them to freely and openly express their love for Jesus. If churches don’t offer it they’ll look elsewhere. This is the time Christians are going to choose the risen Jesus instead of religious services. If churches won’t open up to Jesus, they’ll be left empty.

Jesus said that rivers of living water will flow out of individual Christ-followers, not out of religious institutions. Open your heart and let His rivers flow!

If a sermon doesn’t improve your connection with the risen Jesus, it hasn’t done its job. Sermon addiction has substituted hearing a weekly talk for daily interacting with and obeying the risen Jesus.

Churches have tried to make Christians content with a few songs and a sermon when they’re starving for Jesus the living Bread of Life. Churches that don’t learn to let the living Jesus manifest His presence and directly lead the congregation will fade into irrelevance.

The Asbury revival is showing that Christians are hungry for Spirit-led gatherings where they can experience Jesus off the religious clock. People need Jesus, not religious talks and programs! A church that allows no room for spontaneous heart-expression is shutting itself off from God’s Spirit.

Don’t ask people “Where do you go to church.” Ask them, “How do you hang out with the risen Jesus?

You haven’t come close to understanding the Bible until you begin to daily do what it says. Start doing it today!

Be aware
Of Jesus
Right there
Now where
You are.
Then connect
With Him
Thru prayer
And share
His presence
With others.

Worship music
Is everywhere
But passionately flowing
Heart-felt worship is rare.

Let heart-felt worship
Overflow everywhere
With joyous song
And Spirit-led prayer.

Insight from the Asbury awakening 2023

God wants to free up
Sit down and listen
Church attendees
To stand up
And freely express
Their love for Jesus!

You don’t need
To go anywhere
Or attend anything
To experience
Christ in you.

Whether you were at Asbury
Or not,
Jesus still
Wants you
To surrender
To His will
So He can fill
And thrill
You with His
Glorious presence.

God is calling Christians
Beyond church as usual,
Just passively sitting thru
Sermons and programs,
To where everyone
Is interacting with
And being led by
The living Jesus.

It’s time to shed
Our religious skin
That holds us in
Rigid church programs
And endless one-man teaching
So we can begin
To obey the promptings
Of Christ within
And be His
Spirit-led body.

If we aren’t free to obey God’s promptings in church services around people who love us, we’ll not have the courage to obey them in our daily life when we’re around people who don’t love us. It’s time for churches and individual Christians to let the risen Jesus, Himself, lead us!

You don’t need to be at Asbury to bask in Jesus’ presence. He’s where you are now! Open wide your heart to Him.

It’s important that church and religious leaders don’t quench the revival that God is pouring out by trying to make it fit into frozen forms of church! Make church spontaneous, untimed, and Spirit-led. Search: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

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“He gets us,” Asbury, & radical humility in 2023!

The living Jesus is on the move in 2023! In 2023 radical humility will become a common sight among Christ-followers. The risen Jesus invites us to go lower in radical humility so He can demonstrate His presence and power in and through us.

Lord, take this revival You are pouring out from short term meetings into a long-term movement of powerful and ongoing spiritual awakening! It’s important that church and religious leaders don’t quench it and try to make it fit into frozen forms of church.

In 2023 Jesus is showing people that there’s so much more to Him than a Sunday morning one-man show. He’s calling people out of religious formalism and into Spirit-led relationship with Him.

The body of Christ is about radical humility. Church is too often about ego and pride. Following Jesus in radical humility is to obey the Bible command to “consider others better than yourself.”

In 2023 some churches will realize that they need to humbly let people freely express what Jesus is doing in their heart. Many churches will dispense with programming Sunday services and instead let people obey the inner promptings of God’s Spirit. In 2023 many pastors will give up their pulpit time so God can prompt ordinary people to share what the Spirit tells them. They’ll be referees instead of lecturers.

In 2023 some churches will even take the pastor’s name off the church sign and literature so no one but Jesus gets the glory. Jesus loves radical humility. Show some today.

In 2023 Christ-followers will begin to gather in Spirit-led groups to listen to the risen Jesus and do what He says. I saw one of the leaders at the Asbury revival who has the authority to take the mic and put himself in the spotlight, instead practice radical humility by walking down the aisles giving out bottles of water. Other than that, he was mostly unseen in the crowd.

He gets us. Jesus is calling us to stop fighting each other and to begin fighting the inner enemies that are at work in our own heart.

“This #asburyrevival2023 is that #Ekklesia.” Make church ekklesia again.

If you embrace
Radical humility
Jesus will shine
Through your face.

There’s tranquility
In radical humility
And the ability
To love your enemies.

The waves of God’s Spirit will wash through 2023. Let them wash through you!

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Revival revs up the body of Christ

In revival we begin to see beyond our eyes, hear beyond our ears, and understand beyond our comprehension. People 1) Behold the Lamb of God, 2) Surrender to His authority, and 3) Begin to be led by His Spirit.

Revival happens when Jesus becomes the most powerful current event in your life and sweeps you away in the current of His Spirit! Revival is Heaven flowing from your heart and mingling with the Heaven that is flowing from other hearts.

Revival is God having His way, not me having my way! It is revolution, a radical heart-change from self to God. Meetings are a tiny part of revival. Hearts overflowing with love for God and people are its essence.

Praying without obeying the inner promptings of the living Jesus is not enough to release, reveal, and sustain revival. Revival overflows with actual demonstrations of the presence of the living Jesus!

Revival is Christ in charge — the people of God being ruled by King Jesus and set free from human ego and control. It opens heart doors that the risen Jesus has been knocking on for years! Revival revs up the body of Christ!

The content of your heart matters far more than religious programs and sermons. “Christ in you the hope of glory.” When revival starts in your heart, never ever let fade away! Revival happens when Christians “quench not the Spirit.”

Jesus called His disciples “evil” (Matthew 7:11). Revival happens if His people “turn from their wicked ways” (2 Chronicles 7:14).When people experience revival, they stop hiding and begin to confess and turn away from their sins. When revival happens, Christians begin to turn away from their sins and to seek God with their whole heart.

Revival won’t fit into fancy church forms of religious control. If we want revival, we need to loosen up the rituals and dump the hype. Christianity without showmanship and grandstanding and focusing on one person’s oratory comes alive with God’s holy fire!

If we want to live without revival, God will let us. Organized revival is an oxymoron. Human organization only hinders and quenches it. There’s no room for apathy in revival. People either passionately embrace it or criticize and complain about it. People who are weary of the emptiness, hype, and hostility of our culture will welcome revival.

For some practical ways to create a climate that is open to experiencing and sustaining revival, search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

Christians,
Show the world
How “Jesus gets us”
By letting Him
Take personal control
When we gather
In His name!

Jesus gets
How to lead
A gathering
Of His followers.
We need to set aside
Our religious programs
And let the living Jesus
Step in and lead us.