Steve Simms's Blog, page 129
August 16, 2022
Is heart ablation a biblical concept?
The Bible’s “Big Story” is that all human hearts are out of synch with the living God, yet He came to humanity as a human being as Jesus Christ to restore people’s connection to Him. The “Small Story” is that Jesus has been in working in me for decades to realign my life and will to God’s.
Our human choices to think, speak, and act contrary to God’s will cause our heart (our innermost being) to be out of sync with Him. This is spiritual heart arrhythmia. It causes us to be at odds with God.
Physical heart arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat. It is treated by what’s called heart ablation. Heart ablation uses heat energy to burn tiny scars in the heart that block irregular electrical signals and restore a healthy heartbeat. My brother had the procedure and it worked wonders for him.
Paul of Tarsus said: “I bear on my body the marks (scars) of Jesus.” (See Galatians 6:17.) The prophet Jeremiah predicted that there would come a time when God would write His laws on people’s hearts. (See Jermiah 31:33.) This is the process of sanctification that is taught throughout the New Testament. Once people come to the living Jesus and surrender to Him, He begins to work inside of them to change them from glory to glory (step by step) into His image.
Even Jesus, the Son of God, “learned obedience from what He suffered.” (See Hebrews 5:8.) The way to sanctification (growth into holiness) runs through trials and scars. It’s not handed to us on a silver platter. It’s free, but it’s not an easy process. “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.)
We need to humbly surrender to God’s process of spiritual heart ablation. We need to let Him lead us into and through humbling and difficult circumstances, trusting, honoring, serving, and obeying Him as we go. We need to let His spiritual fire burn in our hearts so that His scars can realign us to His will deep within our heart.
“So set a fire down in my soul
That I can’t contain and I can’t control
I want more of You God, I want more of You God.”
–Will Reagan and United Pursuit
August 15, 2022
The talkative Jesus talking inside me
–The Talkative Jesus–
The gentle coaxing of conscience,
Telling me to do what’s right,
The inner prompting to obey God,
The still-small urging to deny my desires
And put the will of God first,
A frequent nudge to pray,
Uplifting words to tell someone and
Kind deeds to do to serve someone,
Sudden awareness of a Bible verse:
When these things
Come across my mind
I know they’re not mine,
(Because I’m not that kind),
But thoughts from Jesus
Directing me His way.
The question isn’t:
Do I hear Jesus’ voice?
Its: Will I obey?
–Who’s Talking Inside Me?–
The inner talking
Inside your brain
Isn’t always “self-talk.”
Sometimes it’s the devil
And sometimes it’s the Lord.
It’s vital to be able
To tell the difference,
To know which voices
To reject and resist
And which to follow.
August 14, 2022
Let inspirational sparks fly!
Some people use their creativity to create excuses. I prefer to find innovative ways to spark hope in people’s hearts.
Hate and love both release enflaming sparks. Be careful which set of matches you use!
When there’s a shimmering on the ground, people bend down to examine it. Do the same when there’s a shimmering in your heart.
One spark of inspiration can shine the light on the path to a whole new beginning. Always search for the spark in your darkness. Make your heart tinder, kindling before the living God and He will ignite you from within and make you tender with His spiritual fire.
Too many Christians carry Jesus in their heart like fireworks in a box. It’s time to light the fuse! If Christ in you isn’t setting off spiritual sparks in other people’s life, you’ve hidden His light! If you won’t personally fan the flame and feed the fire of Christ in you, His inner flames will die down to cold embers.
Church keeps Christians’ hearts apart so that their inner sparks can’t ignite one another. We need to release people’s inspiring testimonies! Your salvation testimony can spark the fire of God in people. Share it often in person and on social media! Here’s mine!
Any spark can start a fire. Any heart-spark can begin a Jesus movement. Never quench an inner Jesus spark. When a spark from God is fanned by faith it will flame up into the inner glowing of a growing spiritual fire.
We need internal combustion Christianity–God’s fire ever brining in our heart! Christianity loses its spark when church starts implementing programs, methods, and procedures. Church should spark a passion for spiritual growth. When it doesn’t, it’s dead religion.
Showing people how to follow Jesus and giving them hands-on spiritual training is discipleship. A Sunday lecture is too often sparkless, lackluster religion or sentimental showmanship.
Christians need something spiritually alive. We need more than repetitive religion. We need spiritual sparks from the living God to set our heart on fire with the passion and power of the risen Jesus.
God seems to prioritize spiritual life over religious laws. The Law should lead to life. When law is turned into legalism, the spark of the inner life of God is quenched and replaced with cold-hearted rules. God is sparky!
God’s spiritual sparks are everywhere, but with society’s help, we’ve trained ourselves to trample them. Too many Christians are always stomping on spiritual sparks to keep God’s fire from spreading in their heart. Quench not God’s inner sparks!
The slightest glimmer from God is a heart-spark that when nurtured with humility can grow into a lifetime of spiritual glowing. Once Jesus is allowed to sparkle and shine in your heart, the glory of God is no longer just a theological concept.
Every day the living Jesus gives me breathtaking illumination that ignites my heart with His hope! Keep your Christianity ignited 24/7/365! You may have experienced a spark from God, but if it hasn’t started a raging spiritual fire in your heart, you need to be ignited.
The living Jesus can ignite the spark that you’ve been waiting for all your life! When Jesus is allowed to take control of your heart, spiritual sparks begin to fly. The best heart burn is to be ignited within by the fire of God. The living Jesus wants to help you see more.
One spark from God can burn up every chain of thought that has you shackled. Seek God’s spark until your heart is continually set ablaze with the flame of His ongoing presence!
Christian audiences that gather for external Christianity often miss the internal spark they need to walk daily in God’s light. Rather than being a fire starter and a fire spreader, church too often is a spiritual fire quencher.
If you’re not continually, carefully, and astutely aware, people will put out your sparks and deceive and manipulate you into downgrading your soul. Life lived without inner spiritual ignition feels like daily drudgery. Help me stay inwardly ignited, Jesus!
People who are curled up in the cozy corner of their comfort zone, find the clear light of Christ to be annoying. Almost every time I read the Bible it ignites a spark in my heart and fans the fire of God in my soul. Too many Christians are experiencing living water dehydration. Let the risen Jesus keep you always spiritually hydrated.
Being distracted by expensive things often cause people to miss the delight of priceless moments. When your efforts don’t give you the results you want, it’s quite possible that it’s a blessing in disguise.
[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." data-large-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." src="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." alt="" class="wp-image-32620" />Photo by Javon Swaby on Pexels.comPoems to spark a God-spark in your heart
A soul that senses
God’s spark
Will seldom
Be in the dark.
When someone has
A twinkle in their eyes
That defies
Their troubles
It’s no disguise.
A spark from God
Makes hope arise.
A single spark
From the living God
Can illuminate
Where we deviate
From His will.
Stir up the spark
Of God’s life
In your heart
Until it enflames you
With a burning desire
To surrender your all
To Jesus.
Many people
Have had a moment
When an inner switch
Turns on God’s insight
And switches everything
From darkness to light.
When I tell about
My switch moment
Tears trickle
From my eyes.
Christians who
Have lost the spark
That God put
In their heart
Desperately need
To embark
On a spiritual
Fresh start.
When your heart
Seems dark
You need
An inner spark
From God!
Then you can beam
With the gleam
Of His glory!
The dimming of God’s light
Caused by embracing spiritual night
Darkens insight,
And destroys delight,
Get off your ashes
And anything that dashes
Your peace and joy
And lashes
You to guilt.
Find the spark
That will start
God’s fire in your heart!
Without
Living water saturation
Christians experience
Spiritual dehydration.
Heart-felt contemplation
Focused on Jesus
And pensive mediation
On the Bible
Spark Holy Spirit
Saturation.
The more you
Allow God
To refine
And align
Your desires
To His design,
The more peace
Of mind
You’ll have.
August 12, 2022
Can we hamper God?
God’s glory manifests where there’s deep spiritual hunger. Deep spiritual hunger grows where great brokenness is embraced with humility and grace.
Preachers say, “Listen to me tell you about Jesus,” but you can listen to Him.
When we try to help God, we unintentionally get in His way and hamper what He is doing. My help is a hindrance to God. He recently spoke to me, “Try less, trust more.” I truly want to let go and let Jesus, but I’ve grabbed and clung to the reigns so long that putting them out of my hands is very challenging.
Walk by God’s Spirit. Take some Spirit steps today. The happiest moments in my life are those when I’m in sync with God’s Spirit.
“Christ in you.” If you won’t allow yourself to be broken there’s little hope that His glory will shine through you. Anything or anyone who separates faith from heart-felt love interrupts the working of God’s Spirit. (See Galatians 5:6-10.)
Christ’s calling is to decrease–to willingly go deeper into dependence on God so that we become ever hungrier to surrender to and obey the presence of the risen Jesus. Then we will grow beyond knowledge about Jesus into knowing Him intimately and deeply within our innermost being and His rivers of living water will freely overflow with ever increasing glory. Listen to and obey Him when He sends you where you don’t want to go.
Our awareness of the presence and power of the living Jesus shouldn’t be just an occasional event, but an ongoing reality. On Pentecost, Peter declared, “This is that spoken by the prophet Joel.” Today we desperately need to be able to say, “This is that which happened at Pentecost.”
To believe that there’s no more effective way for Christians to meet than the traditional church format is to limit the Holy Spirit. Christians seem to love big conferences that are focused on famous preachers. I prefer having inner conferences where I open my heart to “the ministry of the Spirit.”
Christians need more than specialized buildings where they receive religious “services.” We need the fire of God ever burning in our heart.
Indulging in and justifying dominating and/or destructive desires is bondage, not freedom. Christ-followers need to be prayer warriors, not political commentators.
When ChristiansRegularly gather
To freely pray together
They can weather
Any storm
And being
Led by the Spirit
Becomes their norm.God sent
His Spirit
To enter
Your heart.
Jesus' call
To "repent"
Means to align
Your heart
So the Holy Spirit
Can freely enter
And lead it.A living sacrifice
Surrenders his own desires
To be a flame in God’s fire,
To be a plant
That God prunes,
To be an instrument
That only plays God’s tunes.
And in the loss of ego
Let’s go
And let’s Jesus
And His glory
Freely flow
From within.
Shaking hands with a Jesus statue is fine, but I much prefer hanging out with the invisible Jesus.
August 9, 2022
TWLTJ — Talk With & Listen To Jesus
Hello, Jesus,
It’s me.
I just
Want to say
Thank you
For listening
To me today
And for showing
Me Your Way.
You can talk with Jesus anytime. Have an open and honest conversation with Jesus now. TWLTJ — Talk With and Listen To Jesus. TWLTJ insights transform human lives! Let your heart be a conversation pit where you talk with & listen to Jesus (TWLTJ).
The more you talk with and listen to Jesus (TWLTJ) the more you experience undeserved access to God. Awaken the memories of your experiences with Jesus that touched you deeply. Christ-followers need to be prayer warriors, not political commentators.
Lord, let it be known today that Jesus is risen and alive, present and powerfully active in the 21st century. Answer, Lord, so people will know that You are turning their hearts to Jesus and they will stand in awe of Your majestic glory.
All around me branches are being moved by an invisible force I feel on my skin while my heart is being moved by an invisible force I feel within. Mountains echo the voice of God and fill me with awe, but when I hear the voice of God directly in my heart, the awe is off the chart! Our awareness of the presence and power of the living Jesus shouldn’t be just an occasional event, but an ongoing reality.
It’s sad to be
Unaware
Of the One
Who like the air
Is everywhere.
A living sacrifice
Surrenders his own desires
To be a flame in God’s fire,
To be a plant
That God prunes,
To be an instrument
That only plays God’s tunes.
And in the loss of ego
Let’s go
And let’s Jesus
And His glory
Freely flow
From within.
I gotta say it
Cause when I do it
My life is changed,
I’m rearranged.
It may sound strange
But I talk with Jesus.
When I start,
Words dart
Out of my heart
Like a work of art
And those words part
The wall
That keeps me apart
From God.
Then light
And insight
Radiate God’s might
And give me sight
To see
The One
Who died for me
And empowers me
To daily
Live in His victory
All because
I talk
With you know who
And try to do
What He tells me to.
August 6, 2022
Make room for Jesus to
Make room for Jesus.
Unblock His way
Then go and do
Whatever He may say.
When there’s
No room in the inn-
Er part
Of your heart
For the risen Jesus
To reign as King and Lord,
Any Christianity expressed
Is only nominal.
Sermons without discipleship produce a sentimental Christianity with no follow-through. Let go and let Jesus disciple you daily.
Make room for Jesus to:
Drive away all your darkness.Be your King and Lord.Capture your heart.Demonstrate the reality of His presence.Release rivers of living water in your heart.Lead you moment by moment with the Holy Spirit.Take control of and lead a church service.Show you your sins.Empower you to speak the truth in love.Use you to demonstrate His love to others.Give you the strength to bless those who curse you.Make the Bible come alive.Fill you with the fruit of the Spirit.Set you free from bondage.Liberate you from self-focus.Operate the gifts of the Spirit in and thru you.Cause you to rejoice when you’re persecuted.Make you honest and trustworthy.Help you love your enemies.Fill you with joy.Replace your pride with humility.Make you spiritually hungry.Lead you out of your boxes.[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." data-large-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." src="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." alt="" class="wp-image-32567" />Photo by Alex Andrews on Pexels.comAugust 5, 2022
A Jesus Freak isn’t a “freak of nature” but of the supernatural
If you continually follow and obey the living Jesus with all your heart, society will see you as a freak. A Jesus Freak isn’t a freak of nature, but someone who is being radically transformed by the risen Jesus in supernatural ways.
Here’s a freaky Bible verse. “We are fools for Christ.” It takes courage to embrace that Scripture! It’s hard to follow and obey the risen Jesus if you’re not willing to freak people out.
When people enthusiastically pursue a lifestyle of following and obeying the risen Jesus, society considers them to be freaks. So where have the Jesus Freaks gone?
In 50 years, American Christianity has gone from Jesus Freaks to Christian Nationalists. Jesus Freaks seek to connect their life to the risen Jesus. Christian Nationalists seek to connect their religion to their nation.
Diversity and inclusion seldom open their doors to Jesus Freaks. To be considered a freak by a messed-up culture is a compliment. When Christians begin to expect society’s approval, they stop being fools for Christ.
In the bubble of time, people continually captivated by the living Jesus are called freaks, but in eternity they will be the norm! People who think that being a Jesus Freak is foolish have been fooled.
If a church service would take the controls off of the risen Jesus, He would take the wheel and many people would be freaked out. Jesus will always be at large. He can never be contained in any religious organization!
Jesus Freaks beam
With the light of Christ
Disregarding their own
Self-esteem.
You don’t have to seek
Or try hard
To be a Jesus Freak.
Just seek Jesus daily
With your whole heart
And people will call you that.
When faith transcends a one-man audible
When the Bible prophet, Elijah, challenged the people of Israel to follow God, “The people said nothing.” That sounds much like how Christianity is presented today. A preacher challenges the congregation to follow God, but the people say nothing except for an occasional amen or a programmed unison response. Meanwhile the Word of God says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,” and “They overcame him (the devil) . . . by the word of their testimony . . .” and “When you come together everyone has a psalm, a hymn, a revelation . . .”
The situation that Elijah was facing required that orthodoxy (“right or straight or accurate glory or praise”) be demonstrated among the people of God, not just articulated by one man. (Articulating right doctrine without doing it is deceptive–right doctrine memorized by the mind can be quarantined from the heart.) That’s why Paul could write: “If an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and brought under judgment by all as the secrets of their hearts are laid bare. So they will fall down and worship God exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’”
For 10 years my wife and I helped oversee a Spirit-led testifying-based church that met by allowing anyone present to speak as they were prompted by the Spirit (according to 1 Corinthians 14:26). People shared testimonies, short-teachings, Scriptures, prayers, etc. Numerous times we saw first-time visitors began to weep as they witnessed the living Jesus speaking through ordinary people manifesting Spirit-inspired eloquence. We frequently felt and saw the fire of God flowing out of people’s hearts and burning up their sacrifice of praise. (To learn more about it, search: Beyond Church Ekklesia.)
Cultivating an environment of faith where God can demonstrate His power isn’t just for Bible stories. It can happen today if we gather as His body, let go of the rope, step out of the boat, and begin to walk in the Spirit!
Biblical Christianity’s not about one man being audible for an audience. It’s about hearts filling up with awe and lives being transformed by Jesus.
Preacher articulations
Of Christian beliefs
Aren’t opening hearts
To the living Jesus.
We need to cultivate
An environment
Where Jesus is allowed
To make demonstrations
Of His reality!
August 4, 2022
Megachurch pastor’s message stops an inner-city ministry
A mighty megachurch pastor
Preached a message proclaiming
That all his member’s tithes
Belonged to his church
And that God didn’t want them
To be given anywhere else.
One married couple was saddened
Because they were giving
One week of their tithe
Every month
To a small local inner-city ministry
That was changing the lives
Of dozens of broken people
And now they felt like
They had no choice
But to shift that money
Back to their megachurch.
Without that money
The inner-city ministry
Couldn’t continue.
The megachurch
Shut it down.
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