Steve Simms's Blog, page 112

The parable of the author’s wife (Jesus isn’t a baby anymore)

There was once a famous author whose wife mostly ignored and rarely communicated with him. She did however attend a book club where she heard a weekly lecture about him and his books, and she enjoyed looking at his baby pictures once a year.

That woman is like millions of Christians who mostly ignore and rarely communicate with the living Jesus. They do however go to church to hear a weekly lecture about Him and His book, and they enjoy hearing an annual account of His birth.

I can’t be content with a weekly lecture and an annual birthday remembrance. I want to experience the risen Jesus 24/7/365. Following the risen Jesus is vastly different than sitting thru a church service.

Jesus wasn’t born so you can attend church services. He was born to rescue you from your sin!

A service is something that’s done for you. Churches offer religious services. Jesus wants you to daily participate in His presence and power!

Jesus isn’t a baby anymore! He’s the risen, ever-present, almighty Emmanuel–God with us! Baby Jesus grew up, died for our sins, rose from the dead, and promised to be with us always! Get to know Him today, not just in history. If you’ve never gotten beyond the Christ child in a manger to “Christ in you,” living and active, you’ve missed the meaning of Christianity!

Every moment that I put my attention on Jesus is special. Every day is full of those moments. I don’t need a special day to remind me of Him.

Calling celebration that crowds out Christ Christmas seems like a misnomer. Merry Christ-experiences.

Continually experience
The God-man,
The Creator
In human flesh,
Emmanuel
Who can make you well.

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Have you been merry lately?

Don’t worry, be merry! To be merry is to be full of grateful cheerfulness and radiating with heart-felt joy. Without a merry heart merriment is just an empty show.

Being merry is the rare but glorious condition of a heart that opens up to overflow with joyfulness. To be truly merry requires an open heart. A closed heart can only mimic merriment.

More than 2,000 years later Mary’s first born keeps me merry throughout the day! A merry Christmas is nice, but a merry heart is so much better! Merry is a seasonal word confined mostly to the Christmas holidays, but seldom do we carry it into the New Year.

Jesus makes me merry all year long! The more I surrender control of my life to Jesus the merrier I am. Sometimes I’m so joyous that I’m off the merry-meter! Realizing the great mercy that God has shown me by washing my guilt away keeps me gratefully merry!

Merry heart to all and may all behold Christ’s light!

“Ho. Ho. Ho!”
Being merry’s
Not about
What you know.
It’s about
How much you grow
In a relationship
With Jesus.

When I keep Jesus
In clear sight
He makes my days
Merry and bright.

Emmanuel means
“God with us.”
I think He would like it
If we would continually
Notice His presence
And interact with Him
With a merry heart.

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Christmas events & the Jesus-thrill!

The Christmas events are about people experiencing the Jesus-thrill. That’s the thrill that can last all life long and beyond! They proclaim that the Creator of the Universe was born as a human baby to lay down His life in order to offer eternal life to humanity.

Like Mary, humans have been invited to carry the living Jesus inside them and reveal Him to the world. Christ living and growing in Mary began a process that is supposed to lead to Christ living and growing in you. If you’re unwilling to make room for Jesus to live and grow inside of you, you’re aborting God’s desire to give you eternal life.

The Christmas events are full of people being directed by God: Mary, Joseph, wisemen, shepherds, Simeon, and Anna. Are you? Those events are about various people searching for ways to encounter the living Jesus.

They’re also about people who rejected Jesus. The innkeeper had a good excuse for turning Jesus away, but he sure missed out on a blessing. Try not to be like that guy. On hearing about the birth of Christ, Herod, the self-seeker, said He wanted to worship Jesus, but His real intent was to kill Him. Don’t be like Herod either!

Church has always seemed to me to be a formalized way to avoid heart-piercing encounter with Christ. On the other hand, Christmas shows us people who were led by God. Organized Christianity seems to be either cerebral, sentimental, or hype driven. Biblical Christianity is Spirit-led. See Romans. 8:14.

Celebrating the birth of Jesus is nothing to take lightly. It’s the most amazing event in world history. The Christmas events shout out the fact that love cares sacrificially even when it disapproves. Read the ignored Christmas Bible verses that declare that Jesus is God: John 1:1-5.

Since I found Jesus, I’ve been so thrilled and captivated by Him that I’ve felt no need to find myself. Jesus asks: “Who do you say that I am?” The most important identity isn’t self-identity. It’s to identify and receive who Jesus really is.

A discouraged society needs more than a sentimental Christian holiday. It needs to see people being joyously led by God’s Spirit.

It’s easy to be led
By the opinions
In your head
Or by the desires
And feelings
That you’ve fed,
But it takes
Courage to be led
By God’s Spirit
Instead.

People like to make Christmas about gifts. People who are being led by God’s Spirit radiate both the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit. See Galatians 5:22 and 1 Corinthians 12. Here are the Ephesians 5 gifts to the body of Christ in everyday language:

Sent ones,Proclaimers for God,Salvation sharers,Shepherds,Disciple makers.

I believe that the calling on people who function in various gifts is to reproduce themselves by training ordinary Christ-followers to also function in those gifts. Merry Christmas! (The best way to a Merry Christmas is to open your life to the Jesus-thrill!)

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A closed heart creates “I-solatioion” & “lone-me-ness”

Heart walls
Prevent us
From hearing
Heart calls.

When a human heart breaks insight enters into it, but too often people cling to the pain and push out the light. Jealously indicates a closed heart. Being happy for other people’s good fortune reveals an open, caring heart.

The latch on your heart is within you. No one but you can open it. It takes effort, discipline, and courage to keep your heart open. Human nature wants to shut it down.

An open heart fills up with compassion and concern, trust and transparency. A closed heart wallows in fear and negativity. It’s like a powered down phone–shut off from communication. You can’t be truly grateful if you keep your heart closed.

An open heart feels no need to lie. Dishonesty reveals a closed heart. Sometimes it’s important to quiet our mind and open our heart. An open heart is willing to listen to other people, to conscience, and to God.

Let your heart be a bridge to connect with other people, not a barricade to keep them out. A closed heart creates “I-solatioion” and “lone-me-ness.”

To be smart
With a hard heart
Is to function
Like you’re part
Of a cold machine.

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I’m a spiritual romantic enjoying an ongoing Christ-mance

I’m a spiritual romantic. I keep falling deeper and deeper in love with Jesus. No religion can compare to a spiritual romance with the living Jesus Christ.

My life is a Christ-mance. Ever since I first encountered Jesus He has continually captured and wowed my heart. The ultimate benefit of an open heart is continual awareness of the presence of the living Jesus in the present moment.

A closed heart is like a stagnant pond. A heart that opens to God begins to experience rivers of living water.

Let God roll away the stone from your entombed heart and fill you with His life. If you keep your heart excited about Jesus, you’ll want to spend every moment interacting with Him. Jesus deserves much more than a little “quiet” or “devotional” time during your day. Think about and interact with Him all day long.

Because Christ-followers all have a direct connection with the living Jesus, we’re not dependent on an organizational hierarchy. Christianity isn’t about a particular church. It’s about a particular Savior–the living Jesus as described in the Bible!

When you can’t think of a way out of a difficult situation, turn down your mind. Then open up your heart to God’s inner guidance. The most effective way to connect with other people and with God is to open your heart.

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Open up the private prison of your closed heart

If you will start
To reveal your heart
You’ll soon discover
That people aren’t
Very far apart.

Open hearted interaction with people creates beautiful interpersonal connections. Privacy prevents them. Fear of pain or rejection prevents many people from experiencing the daily joys of an open heart.

A closed heart is emotionally blind. When you open your heart, you begin to understand much that’s hidden from your mind. If you think you don’t feel things deeply, that’s because your heart’s on lockdown. Open up and see how deep your feelings go.

To deeply care and to sincerely share requires an open heart. A closed heart can only pretend. Having a closed heart may seem like a safe way to live, but all it really does is keep you in solitary confinement with your own misery.

You can’t receive or give love when your heart is closed. Regardless of the love language people use, a shut-down heart can’t truly understand it.

When I encountered the living Jesus, I opened my heart and began to worship Him like the wise men in the Christmas story. Like the shepherds in Bethlehem, I experienced the glory of God and began to passionately spread the news about Jesus everywhere. Throughout life’s pains and gains I’ve discovered than an open-heart encounters God’s love and comfort everywhere.

The Christmas story invites us all to open our heart to Jesus and to each other, but fear and distraction tell us to keep it closed. Our society trains us to protect our heart not to open it up to others, thus creating much isolation and loneliness.

King Herod in Jerusalem said he wanted to worship Jesus but closed his heart and tried to kill Him. The innkeeper in Bethlehem was too busy and distracted to open His heart and make room for Jesus.

Senior citizens Simeon and Anna had longed to see Jesus all their life. When they met Him, they spoke tender words from their heart. Jesus our Emmanuel is now here to open our hearts and connect us with God and with each other. Surrender your resistance and rejoice. To a closed heart it feels like God is nowhere but an open-heart experiences God as now here!

We humans have the choice to open or close our heart. Openhearted people in the Christmas story got visibly excited about the living Jesus; the closed hearted ignored or resisted Him. Even today it’s easy to spot whose heart is open and whose is closed.

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Notice God now! (Embrace revelation.)

Revelation is communication from the living God. It can be in the form of thoughts, impressions, images, insights, or ideas. Since Jesus first revealed Himself to me, I’ve searched history and discovered the writings of hundreds of people who share my experience and relationship with the risen Christ.

Few Christians are trained to receive direct revelation from God throughout the day–to say “Speak, Lord,” and listen in stillness. The early Christians received revelation of things that eye can’t see and ear can’t hear. (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10) We can too! People hungry to know God seek Him with their whole heart and receive glorious insights. Pray: “Lord, make me hungry for You.”

We can personally interact with Emmanuel (God with us) every day. Here’s an example of how revelation works. Throughout last night the word revelation kept going through my mind. When I woke up this morning, I read a blog that I read daily. The author had used the word revelation (or revealed) at least 7 times.

God is as close and as real as our breathing and just as easily unobserved. It requires courage to receive revelation from God because it often conflicts with our feelings, desires, and opinions. Throughout history people who receive and talk about direct revelation from God that aligns with the Bible have often been persecuted.

Genuine revelation from God is consistent and always aligns with what God revealed in the Bible. False revelation redefines Jesus and departs from who the Bible says He is. Anyone who claims a revelation that contradicts what the Bible says about who Jesus is, has embraced a false revelation. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets.”

Here’s an example: One large, growing, and aggressive religious group claims that Jesus is the physical offspring of the physical body of the god of planet earth and Mary. Their god was once a man on planet earth and is now only the god of earth. He isn’t the Creator of all that exists. This group is very deceptive. They hide what they really believe about Jesus and pretend that they believe in the same Jesus that the Bible describes.

Let casual/carnal Christianity (including the Christmas season) remind you that God has so much more for us than formal religion has to offer. The risen Jesus is eager to reveal Himself to you. Are you ready and willing?

God wants to reveal
And to unveil
But we prefer
To analyze detail
Instead of humbly
Following His trail
Into life-altering insight.

In this world
Of devastation
We desperately
Need revelation
From God.

Decide
Not to hide.
Open wide
Your heart
And confide.

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You have thoughts directly from Jesus

Much of our confusion in life comes from the lack of attention we give to the thoughts that pass through our mind directly from Jesus. If you will train yourself to daily notice and obey direct thoughts from Jesus, your life will become an amazing adventure.

God’s Spirit is called the Comforter because He imparts direct thoughts from the living Jesus to help and lead people from within. To be Spirit-led is to be guided and steered from the inside by direct thoughts and impressions from the risen Jesus.

Too often church attendance is seen as a substitute for being Spirit-led. However, just sitting thru church doesn’t earn a “Well done,” form God.

Thoughts from Jesus are much more common than we realize because we spend much of our time being distracted and we neglect to notice them. If you will pay attention to your thinking, you will notice that Jesus inspired thoughts often pass through your mind waiting for you to welcome and receive them.

Since Jesus is risen and ever-present, He puts His thoughts directly into your mind continually nudging you to align with Him. A thought that appears in your mind bringing hope or helpful insight is often a direct thought from Jesus.

Using religious entertainment and/or obligation to gather followers has trivialized Christianity. It discourages people from daily recognizing and following their direct inner thoughts from Jesus.

Direct thoughts from Jesus lovingly warn us when we are headed in the wrong direction. They gently call us to surrender our heart and will to His presence and control. When a direct thought from Jesus is noticed and nurtured it will burn in your heart and fill you with awe! Thoughts we hear in sermons are often sweet, but to notice and embrace direct thoughts from the living Jesus is life-changing!

Direct thoughts from Jesus are frequently ignored or rejected because they conflict with and challenge what we want. It’s important for Christians to learn to recognize and receive the thoughts that the risen Jesus puts in their mind so that they can walk in the Spirit.

Regularly reading the Bible with an open-heart trains people to recognize and receive thoughts from Jesus. Mary and Joseph treasured Jesus and let Him fill their heart with awe and wonder. O that we would do the same!

When people ignore or resist direct thoughts that Jesus puts into their mind, they trivialize Christianity. A Christian with a closed heart has trivialized Christianity.

Form without freedom, programs without power, preaching without passion, sermons without God’s Spirit, ritual without reality, liturgy without life, methodical meetings without supernatural mystery, Biblical analysis without the anointing, and hype instead of humility, are all signs of trivialized Christianity.

Neither trivialized Christianity nor paganism can produce inner peace in a human heart, but the risen Jesus can. Trivialized Christianity, superficial and artificial, distracts people from focusing on the risen Jesus and the thoughts that He deposits in our mind!

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Jesus gave me a heart transplant

A fresh start
Without a new heart
Will still dart
Down old paths.

You can’t mend a
Heart
With a mental
Agenda.
Many who are smart
Are inwardly torn apart,
But Jesus replaced
My shattered stone heart
With His healing love.

Now Jesus reveals
Light that thrills
And fills
My heart
With joy.

Jesus fills my life
And my mind
With adventures
Greater than any
I could find
On my own.

Inviting Christ to live in me and take over the control of my life has impacted me vastly more than anything else. Christ’s “Advent” happened to me the moment He entered my heart to rule, reign, and remain! Jesus is my Lord and Master.

Jesus cleared my conscience and deleted the load of guilt that pressed on my heart like a weighted quilt. Now I soar with Him. Jesus continually clears out my confusion and produces peace within me.

To make room for Jesus clear out what’s crowding Him out. “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

Sin clouds what’s clear. Aligning our thoughts and behaviors with God clears what’s cloudy.

The more I unclutter
The more I hear
Jesus utter
Words that make
My heart flutter.

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Climb to the top of the cone

Unless you
Pursue
Jesus first,
Religious
Passivity
Will subdue
You.

People have a need to be heard. God is always listening but few church services allow any time for ordinary people to be heard. Christianity’s not about people lined up in seated passivity. It’s about active and open heart-to-heart connection.

Christians want to unite around a thing that they can name–a church, a religious ministry, a missional organization, a person’s teaching. But once we identify with a thing, we distinguish ourselves from the Christians who aren’t aligned with our thing and further divide the body of Christ.

Jesus doesn’t want us to simply sit thru a Sunday church show. He wants us to open up and show Him our heart so He can show us His glory.

The closer people are to the risen Jesus, the closer they are to each other. There’s no connection like the Christ connection!

Christianity unity works like a sugar cone. Imagine a sugar cone upside down, surrounded by teeny people trying to connect with one another. What a difficult task that is with the cone separating them. However, when Jesus calls from the top of the cone, “Come unto Me,” the higher the people climb toward Jesus the closer they get to each other.

If you’re heart’s not getting more closely connected to the risen Jesus, it’s slipping farther away from Him. It won’t stay put. Keeping your attention fixed on Jesus is essential. Otherwise, you’ll become spiritually passive and lethargic.

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