Steve Simms's Blog, page 11

Encouragement is the Luxury I can’t Live Without

Daily writing promptWhat’s the one luxury you can’t live without?View all responses

Encouragement is luxuriously life-enhancing. I love to wrap myself up in it and soak up its presence. It’s an opulent spa for my soul. I make and spend time with encouraging friends. I devour uplifting books and web sites. I consistently choose to consume hope filled videos and other positive media. I persistently write, speak, and post optimism. I make my brain think reassuring thoughts. (Philippians 4:8) Luxurious encouragement is a wonderful thing to experience and to share with other people.

Through word and deed
All Christians need
To plant the seed
Of encouragement
In each other
And to help lead
One another
Away from sin,
Deceitfulness,
And unbelief
So we can be freed
To faithfully serve
The living God.
(Hebrews 3:12-13)

Encouraging Christians to believe in, rely on, and faithfully obey the living God isn’t just a preacher’s Sunday morning responsibility. All Christ-followers are called and commanded to consistently encourage each other. New Testament Christianity is about all believers in Jesus personally taking up the responsibility to mutually, actively, and continually encouraging one another throughout each day.

Instead of passively waiting for and depending on a preacher or someone else to encourage you, make it your lifestyle to daily take up your biblical responsibility to persistently encourage everyone you meet. If you will “in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others,” (Philippians 2:3-4) you will begin to knock sin’s deceitfulness off of its feet and force it retreat.

What do you say we all get started today? Be kind and compassionate to one another. (Ephesians 4:32) Bear one another’s burdens. (Galatians 6:3) Build one another up. (Romans 14;19) Be devoted to one another. (Romans 12:10) Serve one another. (Galatians 5:13) Be patient with one another. (Ephesians 4:2) Comfort one another. (1 Thessalonians 4:18) Show hospitality to each other. (1 Peter 4:9) Use your gifts to bless each other. (I Peter 4:10) Stir up one another to love and good works. (Hebrews 10:24) And of course, love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Every day I read the Bible with an open heart and allow God the Holy Spirit to speak His encouraging words to me as I do. That’s true luxury.

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My Tagline is God the Holy Spirit

Daily writing promptIf humans had taglines, what would yours be?View all responses

Here are some taglines about “participating in the work of the Holy Spirit” so that you can consistently live an encouraged life and daily encourage others:

I’ve never been content to hear a religious talk about Jesus. When I worship, I want to experience Christ’s presence and reality. (John 8:32)Instead of trying to explain and understand God the Holy Spirit, begin to listen to and obey Him throughout each day. (John 15:26)The most effective way to pray is to “pray in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 6:18)Learning information about God should never replace listening to and obeying the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13)God the Holy Spirit wants to pray from deep within you (Romans 8:31) and to flow out of your inner most being like rivers of living water. (John 7:38-39) Will you let Him?If you have never allowed God the Holy Spirit to directly teach you, you don’t know what amazing insight and revelation you are missing out on. (John 14:26)The more you focus on yourself and on what you want, the more you will be distracted from the presence and reality of the Holy Spirit. (Luke 9:23)Wherever a strong awareness of the ongoing presence and power of the risen Jesus is rare, the Holy Spirit is being resisted and quenched. (John 16:14)If you stay where the Holy Spirit is being quenched, you’ll soon begin to quench the Spirit in your own heart. (1 John 2:27)Christians have two choices. We can either be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) or we can quench the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)It’s vital that Christians learn to “walk by the Spirit” and not by our own desires, feelings, and plans. (Galatians 5:16-17)To be guided by the Holy Spirit you must cultivate an intense ongoing awareness of His presence and His voice and put His desires ahead of staying in your comfort zone. (John 16:13)If you refuse to resist your human resistance to God the Holy Spirit, His miracles will seem like mere myths to you. (James 4:8)Compromise, apathy, religious tradition, and spiritual paralysis are enemies of the Holy Spirit. (Mark 7:13)God the Holy Spirit is a person. He is saddened whenever we grieve Him by ignoring the direct leadership of His presence and reality. (Ephesians 4:30)When the Holy Spirit has been quenched in the church building, instead of seeking to surrender to His presence and direct leadership, we’ve taught ourselves to rely on our own religious programming. (Matthew 6:33)To quench or ignore the Holy Spirit is to depart from New Testament Christianity. (Acts 1:8)To refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to take direct leadership of a worship gathering is to trust in human control instead of God.It’s time to free the Holy Spirit from the religious cages of human agendas and programs.If you are in a Christian meeting and you sense that the Spirit is being quenched, be careful that you don’t let the fear of what other people think cause you to also quench the Spirit.It’s very difficult to find a church service where the Holy Spirit is allowed to take direct control, but that doesn’t have to stop you from letting the Spirit take direct control of your life.For too long the Holy Spirit has been the “persona non grata” in church services.Churches, let the Holy Spirit take the stage. He has been hidden too long.

Religious routine
That overlooks
The reality
And presence of God
Who is unseen
Quenches His Spirit.

To insist
On having
Your own way
Is to resist
God’s Spirit.
(Acts 7:51)

“Since the days of Pentecost, has the whole church ever put aside every other work and waited upon Him for ten days, that the Spirit’s power might be manifested? We give too much attention to method and machinery and resources, and too little to the source of power.” –Hudson Taylor

“When one tries to increase his knowledge by doing mental gymnastics over books without waiting upon God and looking to the guidance of the Holy Spirit . . . this will deplete his spiritual life. Because the fall of man was occasioned by seeking knowledge, God uses the foolishness of the cross to destroy the wisdom of the wise.” –Watchman Nee

“If Christians are forbidden to enjoy the wine of the Spirit they will turn to the wine of the flesh . . . Christ died for our hearts and the Holy Spirit wants to come and satisfy them.” –A.W. Tozer

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The Most Important Things for a Good Life

Daily writing promptWhat are the most important things needed to live a good life?View all responses

Without love life is lonely and self-focused.

Without joy life is dull drudgery.

Without peace life is full of stress and anxiety.

Without patience life is annoying.

Without kindness life is cruel.

Without goodness life is awash with evil.

Without faithfulness life is constantly confusing us.

Without gentleness life is pushy and brash.

Without self-control life is a runaway train.

To avoid being without these 9 most important things, continually surrender your life to God the Holy Spirit and allow Him to turn your heart into His orchard so that He can produce these characteristics as His fruit within you. The Bible calls them “the fruit of the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-23) God’s fruit-filled diet will work wonders in your life!

When Christians are bored
The Holy Spirit
Is being ignored
And their awareness
Of the living Lord
Needs to be restored.

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I Spend My Time with The Person Who Keeps Me from Idols

Daily writing promptWho do you spend the most time with?View all responses

Here are some idol words — some insights about idols and how to avoid them. An idol heart and mind can easily be captured by idols.

Any substitute for God is an idol. Accept no replacement for God and for His direct personal revelation to you that Jesus is truly the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16)

Any faith that isn’t built on the rock of direct personal revelation from God is an idol. (Matthew 16:18) True faith is built on the invisible reality of “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27) — on what eye hasn’t seen and ear hasn’t heard — on what God has personally and directly revealed to you by the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) Placing anything — any object, any thought, any feeling, any desire, any religion, or anyone — ahead of an ongoing, heart-to-heart, obedient relationship with the risen Jesus is idolatry. Even greed is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

To wake up to the never-ending presence and power of God, “Keep yourself from idols.” (1 John 5:21) Cast down everything within you that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Bring all your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Make them fallen idols that are powerless to block or interfere with your constant worship, adoration, and obedience to the risen Jesus Christ.

To overcome your idols, think better thoughts. The best and most powerful idol busting thoughts that humans can think are found in the Bible. Here are a few of them that have helped free me from idols. (Read it for yourself and you will find many more.)

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32) “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)“Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isiah 40:31)“I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.” (1 Corinthians 4:3)“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12)“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18)“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1-2)[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." data-large-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." src="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." alt="" class="wp-image-43603" />Photo by Johannes Havn on Pexels.com

I Want to Be Known as Genuinely Spirit-Led

Daily writing promptIf you had to change your name, what would your new name be?View all responses

The Son of God has come to give us His understanding. (1 John 5:20) Now He wants to live within in us and to daily lead us by His Spirit.

Continually surrendering your heart and your desires to the life and leadership of the Holy Spirit within you is the essence of discipleship. Without the direct, personal leading of the Holy Spirit, discipleship will always shipwreck. The Bible calls us to hear and obey Spirit-taught word instead of human wisdom. (1 Corinthians 2:6-7)

Words that come directly from the mouth of God are more important than physical food. (Matthew 4:4) People need Spirit-taught words. Human taught words are insufficient. (1 Corinthians 2:13) God the Holy Spirit is speaking. Train yourself to hear and obey what He is saying directly to you. (Revelation 2:7)

The best sermon is when God the Holy Spirit personally preaches in your heart. God the Holy Spirit wants to reveal things to you that your physical eyes and ears can’t hear and see and that your mind can’t conceive. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

If you want to know what God thinks, you have to listen to the Holy Spirit and not put your trust in human wisdom. “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:11)

Without the Holy Spirit, the things that come from God cannot be understood. They even sound foolish unless and until they are directly revealed to you by the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Until we learn to “live by the Spirit,” we will stay “mere infants in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1) God the Holy Spirit wants to give you the mind of Christ. Then you will begin to daily see and live from Jesus’ thoughts and perspective instead of from your own. (1 Corinthians 14:16)

People are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Bricks and mortar aren’t. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) Spiritual maturity isn’t determined by where you sit on Sunday mornings but by how much you surrender your heart and will to God throughout each day.

The belief that only meetings conducted or authorized by an institutional church are true meetings of the body of Christ is false. (Matthew 18:20) Let the Spirit prompt you when and where to gather with other believers.

The true Christian expert who all Christ-followers need is God the Holy Spirit. Listen to and obey Him. He speaks directly to human hearts and also through the Bible. The Bible was written to be absorbed and obeyed, not to be analyzed and dissected.

Instead of being worshipped in a specific location or in a particular type of religious meeting, God wants to be worshiped “in spirit and in truth,” (John 4:24)

Christians need to
Follow Christ’s call,
Not just Sunday
Protocol.

22 things that are more important for a Christian to do than to go to church:

1) Tell the truth, (Ephesians 4:15)
2) Be humble, (James 4:10)
3) Don’t compare yourself with others, (2 Corinthians 10:12)
4) Refuse to steal, (Exodus 20:15)
5) Let Jesus be your literal Lord and King, (Matthew 6:33)
6) Make your every thought obey Jesus, (2 Corinthians 10:5)
7) Honor your father and mother, (Ephesians 6:2)
8) Be led by the Holy Spirit, (Romans 8:14)
9) Deny yourself, (Luke 9:23)
10 Avoid drunkenness, (Ephesians 5:18)
11) Put away all sin, (Mark 1:15)
12) Be sexually pure, (Exodus 24:14)
13) Love your enemies, (Matthew 5:44)
14) Bless those who curse you, (Luke 6:28)
15) Pray for those who despitefully use you, (Luke 6:28)
16) Rejoice in the Lord always, (Philippians 4:4)
17) Read and obey the Bible, (Joshua 1:8)
18) Pray without stopping, (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
19) Love one another, (John 13:34)
20) Assemble together to obey the 50+ New Testament one another commands, (Hebrews 10:25)
21) Worship in spirit and in truth, (John 4:24)
22) Keep your heart close to God. (Matthew 15:8-9)

Let the Spirit lead you beyond church as usual. Then you’ll never be the same.

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What Can Be Better Than a Dream Chocolate Bar?

Daily writing promptDescribe your dream chocolate bar.View all responses

What can be better than intimately savoring a dream chocolate bar? Heart-proximity to God!

Without heart-proximity to God, Christianity’s just a religious fling. (Matthew 15:8) Ministry that doesn’t lead to heart-proximity to God is only empty words. (James 1:22) When your heart is truly close to God, your life will radiate His presence and demonstrate His character everywhere you go. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Heart-proximity with God is incompatible with intentional wrongdoing and unrepented sin. (Romans 6:23) Our rebellion pulls our heart away from God. God’s forgiveness draws our heart near to Him. (Mark 1:15) The first step to being truly forgiven for your sin is deep, gut-level honesty with yourself and with God that leads you to real remorse, radical repentance, and full surrender to God’s presence and mercy through Christ. (Acts 3:19)

Heart-proximity with God is the fruit produced by continually surrendering to the promptings and revelations of the Holy Spirit — those directly spoken to your heart and those revealed to you through Scripture. To overflow with the power and presence of the Spirit (John 7:37-39) and be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:15) we must follow and obey God’s desires while denying our own. (Luke 9:23)

Wrongdoing will wreck your heart-proximity with God. Even the smallest sin makes you want to hide your heart from Him. Repentance, forgiveness, and humility will cause your heart to unfold like a flower before Him.

The Bible talks about the fruit of the Spirit, not about the formalities of the Spirit. Christianity is about godly character that is produced by heart-proximity with God. It’s not about religious rituals.

Heart-to-heart communication with God isn’t tied to a cell tower. It’s tied to the Cross. Train the meditation of your heart (Psalm 19:14) to follow Christ’s train of thought and to stay always on His train tracks. If you want to see more, God has much more for you to see.

Monuments are built to honor God from a distance, but faith directly encounters and interacts with God in the presence moment. We need to know about the God of the heavens, but we need to experience, surrender to, and obey the God who reveals Himself directly to human hearts today.

An ancient steeple
And an ancient tree.
Which one was made
By the God
Who sets people free?

I Never Liked Reading Until I Fell in Love with Content

Daily writing promptDo you remember your favorite book from childhood?View all responses

As a child I found reading books to be a laborious and difficult process. I tried to avoid it as much as possible. Throughout my school years, I especially tried to dodge my homework reading assignments. In college I majored in English literature but instead of reading the assigned books, I would read Cliff Notes (pamphlets that presented a brief synapses of a literary work).

Then something happened to me that turned me into a voracious reader and life-long learner. I suddenly discovered content that I loved — subject matter that I couldn’t get enough of. A few times as a child I had tried to read a famous book, but it was always boring and difficult to me. However, one night, after I had had a strange, mystical experience, I picked that book up and I couldn’t put it down. I fell in love with its content and its words burned in my heart. I would read it for hours at a time.

Fifty-five years later, I’m still reading that book every day, and it continues to fill me with hope, encouragement, strength, insight, joy, and inspiration. I discovered that throughout history millions of people have been changed, set free, and healed by reading that book. Many of those people have written books sharing the wisdom, inspiration, and life-transforming experiences that they have received from reading that famous book. I began to search for, find, and devour hundreds of those books. (Most of them were written before I was born). That’s how I was changed from running away from reading books to running after and devouring books.

After all this time, I still love the content of that famous book. The content is a person. His name is Jesus Christ. Reading the Bible with an open hungry heart connects me directly to His presence. Reading books about how other people throughout history have personally experienced Jesus also helps train me to know, follow, and obey Him.

Try this. Turn down the volume on your analytical mind. Then pick up a Bible and begin to read the book of John with an open, hungry, and humble heart. Read it like a love letter and let it penetrate beyond your brain. Soon its words will begin to burn within you.

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Present Day Disciple Making “en” Costa Rica

Daily writing promptWhat are the most important things needed to live a good life?View all responses

I experienced a place where the uncommon concept of disciple making is being carried out in an astonishing way. It’s in the Central American country of Costa Rica. It’s called Casa Vidanet. My wife, Ernie, and I just spent a few days there.

Because it is rare disciple making is difficult to define. Jesus said to make disciples, but I don’t think we really know what He meant.

There’s a strong sense of spirituality at Casa Vidanet. From the things that they say and do it’s obvious that the people there really love Jesus, each other, and any visitors who come by. At Casa Vidanet I saw people being trained to continually listen to and obey the risen Jesus Christ.

Every September Casa Vidanet welcomes about 20 people 18 and older to a 10-month disciple building experience. Half of them are from the USA and Canada and the other half from Latin America. They live together, have their meals together, worship together, pray together, work together, play together, and listen to God together in a bilingual, multi-cultural community for 10 months.

After 3 months of training, they are sent in missions teams to 4 different Central American countries for 5 months. There they focus on showing people love, kindness, compassion, and service. When they return to the Casa Vidanet base, they serve as leaders and welcome various youth groups from North America to 10-day missions experiences during their final 2 months.

Many of the Vidanet leaders and staff are graduates of the experience. They are young people who radiate excitement about humbly loving God and joyously serving people. Their lives demonstrate that Spirit-led discipleship is a reality that can be seen, felt, experienced, and continually surrendered to throughout each day.

To learn more about this life-empowering discipleship experience, click here.

The Invisible Inner Net in Your Heart

Daily writing promptDo you remember life before the internet?View all responses

Search your heart
Until you find
The quiet place
That God designed
To give you
Peace of mind.
Let Him unbind
All your fear
And worry
So you can
Be aligned
With His presence
And great love
And not be blind
To Divine
Revelation.

Fearless love produces great peace of mind. To welcome, rely on, and align your will to God’s perfect love is to drive away fear and live free from its torment and worry. (1 John 4:18)

Set aside your resistance to God by continually surrendering to, absorbing, and savoring His inner peace that confounds your comprehension. (Philippians 4:6-7) Let Christ’s peace consistently rule you and govern you from within. (Colossians 3:15)

Keep the affection of your heart (Colossians 3:2) and the thinking of your mind always fixed on and captive to Jesus, (2 Corinthians 10:5) the Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) Say goodby to love as a mere concept or impossible ideal and welcome it as the inner reality of the kingdom (government) of God (Romans 14:7) produced by God the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) — “Christ in you the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

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I Want to Be Good At “Revelationship”

Daily writing promptWhat are you good at?View all responses

I strive to be good at what I call revelationship. It’s the ability to humbly receive the insight, ideas, and wisdom directly from God.

We know Christ lives within us “by the Spirit He gave us,” (1 John 3:24) — by supernatural revelation as “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:16)

As we allow ourselves to be led by the Spirit (Romans 8:16) we will develop an ongoing heart-to-heart “revelationship” with the risen Jesus. Pray for revelation beyond your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) Then surrender your heart to God and humbly receive supernatural insight and the ongoing glory of His presence.

Revelationship makes you perceptive to God’s eternal perspective. God’s revelation is best received with an open, honest, and humble childlike heart. Otherwise, it’s easily overlooked. Religion can easily distract people from and quench God’s supernatural revelation. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) Christians and churches should continually expect and receive supernatural revelation, not fear it or avoid it. (Matthew 16:17)

Revelationship sails beyond human understanding. It cruises with the wind of God’s Spirit. It makes the words of the Bible burn in your heart. (Luke 24:32) Do you have an ongoing revelationship with Christ?

Human understanding tries to knuckle down and figure God out. Faith opens up and welcomes God to come in and take control with Divine revelation. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) Christ builds on the Rock of supernatural revelationship, not on the sand of human understanding.

The more you try to figure God out, the less you will let Him come in and take control of your life. The more you analyze, categorize, and box God up, the less you will be open to a revelationship with Him.

Vanity is self-focused insanity that torments humanity. God’s revelation cuts through it and drives it away.

God wants you to have a direct personal revelationship with Him so that He can reveal great and mighty things to you that you don’t know. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 & Jeremiah 33:3) Will you let Him lead you beyond the fog of religious analysis into the Light of His presence?

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