Steve Simms's Blog, page 116
November 22, 2022
My filter keeps me happy
I have a filter on my kitchen sink to help make my water pure. I need one on my stream of consciousness to help make me pure.
Be the gatekeeper of your heart and mind. Let in the good; keep out the bad. Temptation says to ignore your inner filter. That’s because it wants to deceive you and mess you up. It does little good to filter the spam out of your email if you don’t filer it out of your heart and mind.
Turn on the filter of your conscience. Cast out the junk bonds in your heart that have bound you to negativity and rebellion.
To live well, filter well. No filter; no inner peace. To know how to live with inner peace you must know how to filter out the inner disturbers of your peace
God’s grace gives you the filter known as your conscience. It’s up to you to keep it turned on and to follow its instructions. Before you act on impulse, run it through your conscience. If it disapproves don’t do it.
To turn down the filter of your conscience opens you up to all sorts of mental and emotional pollution. Keep your conscience activated 24/7/365!
If you don’t know how to actively filter your thoughts, feelings, and desires, you’ll lack inner peace. “Blessed are the peacemakers.” Begin within. Be an inner peacemaker. Filter the disturbers of your inner peace out of your mind, will, and emotions.
Filter the conflict out of your heart. Then your words and actions will help lead others to peace.
“There is none righteous, no not one.” Everybody needs to let the voice of God in their conscience filter them. If you don’t continually filter and weed your heart and mind, the fruit of the Spirit won’t grow abundantly within you.
In order to obey the Bible and “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things,” you must filter. To obey the command to think on the good things of Philippians 4:8, it’s necessary to filter out bad thoughts, feelings and desires.
Filter everything out of your life that tries to make you disobey Jesus’ command to “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” To repent is to filter the sins out of your life.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Filter the junk foods of unrighteousness out of your soul. Refuse to consume them.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Filter out false guilt. Repent of real guilt.
“Above all else, guard your heart.” –Proverbs 4:23. Filter, filter, filter! Peace comes from actively filtering out the influence of the flesh, the world, and the demons and joyfully surrendering to the loving presence and leadership of God’s Spirit.
“Humble yourself,” Filter pride out of your heart and mind.
Pray The Filter Prayer: Jesus, help me to filter my thoughts, feelings, and desires and keep out the one’s that aren’t in your will.
If you don’t
Learn to filter
Your heart and mind,
Your life will be
Out of kilter.
It’s important to filter
Your inner being
And keep every wilter,
Everything that
That dries up your peace,
Far away.
Unfiltered media
Is like buying
A trip on Expedia.
If you click on it,
It will take you
Wherever it goes.
November 21, 2022
The Ekklesia poem
Not a perfect church but a perfect Shepherd
I follow an unseen leader, the perfect Shepherd. Although He’s invisible, He guides me from within. Grazing on the unseen glory of God flowing from within me I begin to gaze on His beauty and to taste and see that He is good. My faith finds solid footing by learning to daily experience and interact with the unseen risen Jesus.
Jesus will lead a worship gathering in unseen ways if we will remove the structures of our control that hinder Him. When Christians are uncomfortable trusting worship meetings to God’s unseen leadership, they’re uncomfortable with Jesus.
A church service run by a visible leader requires nothing supernatural, but for the leader to step aside and confusion not to conquer requires that the unseen Jesus step in and take over. When Christians rely on the perfect Shepherd — the unseen Jesus — to lead a worship gathering, there’s no need for a human leader to have control. Some rely on pastors, some on church programs, but no one or nothing can lead the body of Christ like the unseen Jesus can!
Let the living Jesus be the unseen Leader behind the scenes: An orderly meeting with no visible leader is hard to explain unless you see earbuds on the participants and realize they’re all listening to an unseen leader. That’s how Christ’s ekklesia works. The invisible Jesus wants to directly communicate with and direct each individual in the assembly.
I get it. “There’s no perfect church,” but there is a perfect Shepherd. Maybe Christians should meet under the direct leadership of the risen Jesus — the “Great Shepherd of the Sheep.” A group that welcomes the unseen Jesus experience amazing power and transformation.
Not seeing is deceiving. Refusing to honestly look at truth that we don’t want to hear causes many lies to appear.
Almost all of the world is unseen by you, but it still exists and carries on. The same with God. The harder your heart the more difficult it is to embrace and bask in God’s invisible love for you. God isn’t unseen because He’s not there. He’s unseen because we close the eyes of our heart.
Experience is a cruel teacher. It’s much easier to learn from the unseen experience and wisdom of others.
What’s seen is
Fading from our sight.
But what’s unseen
Can carry us
Thru the night.
I was protected by the unseen:
Once I was running
Across a wide street
I thought was empty
When something unseen
Stopped me abruptly
Just before a car
Flew by within inches.
Compete joy?
Commandment keeping
Gradually refined
And purified
Through trials of many kinds
Isn’t intended to annoy
But to cultivate
And employ
A lifetime
Of alignment to
Christ’s glorious
Rivers of joy.
(Based on John 15:10-11 and James 1: 2-4.)
November 20, 2022
Discouraged? Enjoy some insight-delight!
Insight-delight ignites joy. When you begin to rejoice in what God shows you, you’ll be happy. One moment of insight-delight is more powerful than many years of hearing sermons.
Too many Christians lack insight-delight. They haven’t personally received thrilling revelation from the living, resurrected Jesus.
Insight-delight will change your life! Open your heart in full surrender to the risen Jesus and you will discover insight-delight.
Totally unexpectedly I was filled with insight-delight. In an instant Jesus became real to me and He has thrilled me ever since. Insight-delight is the supernatural “aha” that ignites the human heart in continual celebration of the presence of Jesus.
E. Stanley Jones, a 20th century Methodist missionary to India, referred to: “the dimness, the faintness, the dullness, the uncertainty of modern churchmen.” As Christ-followers we need more than that! We need more than promises, potential, and possibilities presented as a Sunday morning menu — an “order of service” for us to be religiously walked and sung through. We need to dine together on the living Bread of Life — to taste and see that the Lord is good — to actively interact heart-to-heart with each other and with the risen Jesus Christ.
Ancient Greek cities had a town hall meeting called “the ekklesia” where anybody present could speak. Jesus said, “I will build My ekklesia.” (Matthew 16.) Jesus also said that His meat “is to do the will of the Father.” Let’s personally partake of God’s meat by meeting together to let the Spirit prompt each of us and show us what He wants us each to say and do while we are gathered. Then we can begin to experience His reality in and through each other as we live out 1 Corinthians 14:26.
Spirit-led God-gatherings are the most amazing Christian meetings I’ve ever experienced! I wish they weren’t so rare. Jesus wants His followers to meet together interactively with Him not just to passively sit through a religious service. Unfortunately, Christians have been trained to follow religious programs more than following the presence of the risen Jesus.
The words in the Bible are full of God’s Spirit. To receive them with an open heart is to experience their life-giving power. John 6:63. Many churches present the Bible as religious data to analyze and odd stories to learn about. For me it’s insight-delight! Let the Bible’s insight-delight excite you!
Jesus is the Light of the World. If the Light hasn’t come on inside you, you won’t have spiritual sight. Seekers of the Savior aren’t satisfied with Sunday services. They search out the Son of God.
Jesus is “the Bread of Life.” Bread needs to be partaken, not just talked about. Experience the risen Jesus every day. “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says.” John 8:47. Do you hear what God says?
Love can’t be programmed or systematized. It’s a heart matter. Same with worship. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Insight-delight matters!
Insight-delight
Flows like inner rivers
When your heart sees
And perceives
The presence of
The living Jesus.
To refuse to rely
On the living Jesus
Is to trust
Your own power
And deny
His.
If you go to church
But aren’t “taught by God,”
You’ve missed the point.
John 6:45.
November 19, 2022
The more I lower myself the more God’s power flows
The more I discern
The glory of the Lord
The less my self-concern
And the more I learn
To trust Him.
The more I deny
Myself
To follow
Jesus
The more I
Learn to rely
On Him daily.
The more
I lower
Myself,
The more
God’s power
Can flow.
The more I hunger
To know God better
The more He becomes
My Pacesetter.
The more I connect
Heart-to-heart
With Jesus
The more I detect
My great need
For Him.
The more I surrender
And let God
Make my heart tender
The more His splendor
Shines in me.
The more I forgive
The more joy
I have
In the way
That I live.
The more I’m willing
To humble myself
The more thrilling
It is to follow Jesus.
The more I let Jesus
Be my peace
The more I let
My striving cease.
The more I bless
My enemy
The less bitterness
Can hinder me.
The more I decrease
The more Jesus
Can increase
In me.
The more I pray
And lay down my way
For God’s way
The brighter my day.
The more I’m kind
The more kindness
That I find
Returned to me.
The more I take
The low place
The more
I experience
God’s grace.
The more I read
The Bible
The more
I feel it bridle
My idol
Of self.
The more I
Ignore me
The clearer
I see.
The deeper I wade
Into the glory of God
The more my desires fade
In the healing shade
Of His love.
God loves you. Are you basking in His love, ignoring His love, or avoiding His love? To worship is to actively adore and surrender to the living Jesus.
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Joy in commandment keeping!
Some observations from John 15:9-17:
* Jesus loves you the same way that God the Father loves Him.
* To abide is to settle into and continually bask in Christ’s amazing love for you and not get distracted or run away from it.
* Basking in Christ’s love requires that you keep His commandments.
* Truly keeping Christ’s commandments will fill you with His joy. Living to please Jesus by keeping His Commandments is supposed to be a delight, not a burden.
* Jesus raises the standard of love that He calls us to beyond self-love to the greatest kind of love — the lay-down-your-life-love — the sacrificial love that He so clearly demonstrates for you.
* Actively surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus by obeying His commands opens the door to joyous friendship and intimacy with Him.
* Jesus isn’t keeping secrets from you but is revealing to you everything that He learned from the Father. Are you paying attention to Him?
* Jesus’ purpose in choosing you isn’t just to get you into Heaven, but that you bear lasting fruit.
* “Love each other,” isn’t a suggestion. It’s a command to you.
People have fun and enjoy obeying the rules of a video game. Why shouldn’t we do the same obeying God’s rules?
Jesus wants to plug you into His inner power outlet so God’s Spirit can freely flow thru you. Powerless religion proclaims words for the head but doesn’t set the human heart on fire. Instead of cultivating God’s garden in their own heart most Christians have been trained to sit and listen to a pastor try to do it.
Neither the religious leaders nor the political leaders wanted Jesus around. They teamed up to crucify Him. Where to now? Jesus is the Way.
I’m low maintenance on the outside, high maintenance on the inside. I continually and joyfully work on improving my thoughts, feelings. and desires.
God inspires
Beautiful creativity.
Church requires
Religious passivity.
November 17, 2022
The best open Door!
I believed in God from childhood and tried to find Him in religion but all I found there were closed doors. Finally, someone showed me the Door. If you’re a Christ-follower show somebody the Door!
Jesus is the Door who calls me to deny myself and follow Him, but my self-love tells me it’s okay to just sit at the doorstep. When you come to Jesus check your ego at the Door! Are you entering further into His presence or are you headed in the opposite direction?
Church often decorates Jesus the Door with so much religion that people can’t recognize His presence and reality. Darkness tries to hide the Door and to make people feel hopeless.
No one’s a good enough locksmith to open the Door. It took Jesus’ blood for that.
Jesus is the Door. Too many Christians are confident that all it takes to save them is to have a foot in the door. As you look for open doors remember that only one Door is essential. See John 14:6.
Sin is a wall; it will keep you from God. Jesus is the Door; He will connect you with God.
When you’re running from Jesus your back is to the Door. When I approached Jesus the Door, He welcomed me into an amazing life of walking with Him. If you’re hungry for more peace in your life, go through the Door.
Jesus is
The open Door.
You decide
To enter in
Or stay outside.
If you hesitate
To enter the Door
Remember that one day
The gate
Will be closed.
When I feel lower
Than the floor
I look up
And adore
Jesus the Door
And let Him pour
More and more
Of His peace
Over me.
God opens & closes doors
Automatic doors
Open and close
On my life’s journey:
Sudden disappointments,
And surprise opportunities.
Yet some how I know
That God runs the show
Like He did when Joseph
Was wrongfully sent to jail
So he could be chosen
To rule Egypt for Pharoah.
When God closes a door and you try to climb through a window, that means you’ve messed the message of the closed door. God sometimes shuts doors to help you find Jesus.
When I resist following Jesus through the doors that He opens, my life gets off the hinges. When you try hard but can’t get a door to open, there’s a good chance that God is keeping it shut to protect you.
God’s closed doors are His “Do Not Enter” signs. We need to use discernment to recognize the difference between God’s closed doors and the devil’s hindrance.
To be led by the Spirit we need to cultivate our awareness of the Spirit’s inner promptings and the wisdom to confirm them with Scripture. When God closes a door, and the devil tries to make you bitter it’s better not to listen to him.
When Jesus knocks on the door of your heart, it’s best not to leave Him outside knocking. Jesus has an open-door policy. He won’t reject anyone who sincerely and humbly comes to Him.
Jesus is the Vine
The sap in the Vine
Flows just fine
And the Vine
Invites us branches
To abide and align
With the Divine
So that we can dine
And consume new wine
From God’s Spirit.
Yet we the branches
Too often confine
And limit the sap flow
By quenching the Spirit.
Let’s repent and incline
Our hearts to the Lord
So that the Vine
Can cause us to shine!
November 16, 2022
The Gospel announces God’s love, not “me to me” love
The Gospel (Good News) isn’t that you can love yourself. It’s that God so loved you that He gave His only Son . . .”
Me to me love,
From me to me,
Stays stuck in me.
Lord, help me see
And love both
My neighbor and
My enemy.
Self-love doesn’t go beyond me to anyone else. To love one another we need to embrace neighbor-love.
I continually sense a tender wooing to enter deeper into spontaneous, unforced, and unprogrammed heart-to-heart interaction with the living Jesus. I think guilt, rebellion, and pride are the biggest blockers of our awareness of God’s love for us. Those are overcome by embracing humility, confession, repentance, and the direct, ongoing, and glorious revelation that we are being personally and deeply loved and transformed by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and invited to enter more fully into their intimacy.
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Is self-love a pleasurable path?
Self-love often leads people down the deceptive path of self-gratification, but self-focused desires are never fully gratified. Many of the modern movements away from Christian morality use self-love as their justification.
People who refuse to heed their need for self-control often wind up being caught up in hedonism while calling it self-love. Self-love is often used to justify divorce, drunkenness, adultery, other sexual wrongdoing, and abortion.
Self-love wants to feel good. It grapples around for pleasure, but Christ’s love gives meaning and purpose. Self-love tends to gravitate towards self-focus and pride. Christ’s love for me is based on mercy and grace.
The more I strain
To love myself
The more I’m caught
In a heavy chain.
Instead of helping me gain
Inner peace,
It increases my pain.
But when I bask
In Jesus’ love for me
I’m lifted to another plain.
Trying to love myself
Takes lots of work.
Accepting Jesus’ love
Fills me with joy!
Christ’s love for me
Is so amazing
And life changing.
Seeing what a treasure
I am in His eyes
Frees me from
The back-breaking burden
Of trying to love myself.
Christians are sometimes compared to an army — onward Christian soldiers. But no army trains its soldiers to love themselves.
The Second Greatest Commandment wasn’t given to justify self-love but to direct the care and concern you have for yourself toward your neighbor. No amount of self-love that I could ever give myself can even register in my heart compared to Jesus’ great love for me.
Should Christians be self-lovers? A loud voice from Heaven said this about Christ-followers: “They triumphed over him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Revelation 12:11.
If Jesus wants His followers to love themselves, why did He require self-denial? “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” –Matthew 16:24.
Why does the Bible put being “lovers of self” as the first in a list of sins characteristic to the last days? –2 Timothy 3:4. The Bible says: “Join with me in suffering like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” That sounds like self-sacrifice, not self-love.
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