Steve Simms's Blog, page 185
May 15, 2021
Our thoughts & feelings produce many mirages
Life is full of mirages. The way things seem to your senses isn’t always the way they really are. Our consciousness contains both illusion and truth. It’s important to separate the two.
Be attentive to your inner self. You can greatly improve your life by observing your thoughts and feelings and working to improve them
The most ignored human right is the right to restrain and control your own impulses, desires, thoughts, and feelings. You have the ability to choose to either accept or resist any thought or feeling that comes to your awareness.
What you know about Jesus thru direct personal experience is infinitely more powerful than what you’ve learned by hearsay or sermons. Jesus gives us His path to follow everyday, not a classroom style lecture to attend once a week.
Inner Christianity isn’t based on outward form, but on obeying the living Jesus within. Going to church, without the inner life and inward illumination of Christ living in you, misses the point. You get to know the living Jesus by inviting & observing His activity within you.
Jesus wants to awaken and restore God’s image inside of you, thru new birth and the lifelong process of becoming Christ-like. To know the Bible by living it is far more important than to merely read or study it.
To repent is to align your heart and life with your conscience and the inner government of God. Thinking we’re Christian because it’s our intention to be, is deception if we choose to leave our behavior unaligned with Jesus.
Grace changes a person from the inside out and begins to transform his thoughts, feelings, and actions to conform to those of Jesus. Theology, if not confirmed by personal experience, has little impact on how people live.
Sincerely ask God to bring alive the reality of Jesus in your personal experience. Then fasten your spiritual seat belt. You can daily live in the kingdom of God, because King Jesus is present among us and wants to live inside of and direct you 24/7/365.
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May 14, 2021
Unmasking history — 6 poems for the brave at heart
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May 13, 2021
Be a patriot of the kingdom of God. Jesus first!
Invisible kingdoms compete for your allegiance: A) The kingdom of self; 
B) The kingdom of darkness; and C) The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God manifests when people obey the living Jesus instead of their own feelings, dearies, or opinions.
The kingdom of God is what God wants — not what we want. Too many Christians want to create their own kingdom. They want to be independent of the kingdom of God.
Tune in to
Christ in you.
Jesus will tell you
What to do.
When and where do you manifest the kingdom of God? How much territory does God control inside your heart? To that degree, you’re in the kingdom of God.
“Seek first the kingdom of God.” Jesus taught the primacy of God’s invisible government over all other governments and authorities.
“The kingdom of God is at hand.” You can become a patriot of God’s government now, by continually listening to and obeying the living Jesus. The kingdom of God (bringing your heart into full surrender and obedience to the living Jesus) is a lifetime pursuit.
The kingdom of God is wherever God’s will is done while human will and temptations of evil are laid down. God’s kingdom isn’t established by human organizations, but by human surrender — individuals patriotically laying down their will for His.
Wrongful thoughts, words, and actions are treasonous. They involve active rebellion against the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is a condition of the heart–vulnerability, humility, surrender, brokenness, and passion to obey the risen Jesus.
The kingdom of God isn’t an organization. It’s organic and grows like a seed in humble, surrendered, obedient human hearts. The kingdom of God isn’t found by earthly power or human systems, but by radical surrender to the risen Jesus.
The kingdom of God is the manifestation of God’s inner transformation. It liberates us from bondage to self. It’s the freedom to follow Jesus.
Christianity isn’t about the grace to understand God. It’s about the grace to obey God! Grace freely opens the door to the kingdom of God. Obedience enters it.
America teaches “the pursuit of happiness,.” Jesus taught “the pursuit of the kingdom of God and His right living.” -Matthew 6:33. Jesus proclaimed “the kingdom of God,” but today’s Christianity focuses on church. The government of God isn’t about sermons, churches, or religious events. It’s about daily listening to and obeying the risen Jesus
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May 12, 2021
A head full of theology can be spiritually dead
Christian spiritual formation
Requires inner transformation,
Not just biblical information.
Learning doctrine in our head, we can still be spiritually dead. We need to let God’s fire continually burn in our heart!
Christians can be taught by Jesus — instructed directly by the Good Shepherd whose sheep hear His voice. When you allow Jesus to lead you from the inside out, it’s glorious. (“Christ in you, the hope of glory.)
Too often Christians only learn info about God rather than being directly led by His Spirit. To be “led by the Spirit,” you have to learn to listen to the Spirit, not just to preachers.
A self-justified heart frequently pats itself on the back. Then it allows pride to keep it away from intimacy with God.
Preachers disagree.
I need Jesus,
The living Word,
To teach me.
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I’m not my feelings or desires
Our thoughts, feelings, and desires are skewed to varying degrees. We need to adjust them to our conscience, not vise versa.
What feels good is often harmful. Desiring something doesn’t make it right. In the battle between conscience and desire, we too often let desire win.
My feelings and desires don’t define me. I prefer to define my feelings and desires and sort out the good ones from the bad ones.
I’m not my feelings,
Or my desires.
I’m who chooses
To accept
Or reject
Them.
Our desires
Need to
Follow behind
Our mind.
Logic is more accurate
Than feelings.
Peace of thought doesn’t just happen. It involves silencing the anxious and tormenting ones.
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May 11, 2021
Christ-centered exuberance is the biblical norm
Exuberance isn’t an extraordinary expression of Christianity. It’s the biblical norm for following Jesus.
Tidy Christianity tends to quench the Holy Spirit. Christianity in the Bible isn’t organized, formalized, or intellectualized.
You don’t work up genuine love for Jesus. When you’re aware of His presence, it spontaneously flows from within. Unfortunately, many people have allowed their inner acoustics to deteriorate until they have difficulty hearing the voice of God.
Don’t settle for less. When the living Jesus causes inner exuberance to erupt like a geyser from within you, you’ll know it! It will also be obvious to those who know you.
Happiness isn’t obsession with self. It’s freedom from self-focus. Like a rope, your emotions can either tie you up, or lift you up. It all depends on how you respond to them. People who aren’t ruled by their desires are inner heroes of freedom and self-control.
Joyless Christianity isn’t biblical. The living Jesus and my ego seldom go in the same direction. When I focus on the living Jesus, I overflow with enjoyment. The Bible calls that: “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” The risen Jesus continually fills me with spontaneous liveliness and joyful enthusiasm.
If you don’t have inner peace, you’re allowing something tormenting to trespass inside you where it doesn’t belong. When God’s light enters a human heart, the hardness of the heart begins to soften, unless the person turns away to darkness.
Without discernment, the willingness to recognize the difference between divine and demonic thoughts, life is a mess.
Photo by Monstera on Pexels.com — Jesus makes you want to dance for joy!
When to hear a talk / when to take action
People stuck outside on a freezing night don’t listen to a talk about fire. They gather around and receive it’s warmth.
Thirsty people don’t listen to a talk about water. They drink it.
People whose gas gage is on empty don’t listen to a talk about fuel grades. They fill their tank.
When people are sweaty and dirty, they don’t listen to a talk about hygiene. They take a bath or a shower.
When people are sleepy, they don’t listen to a talk about sleeping techniques. They get some shut eye.
When people’s clothes are piled up and dirty, they don’t listen to a talk about washing machines. They do the laundry.
When people feel a great need for Jesus to help them, they don’t go hear a sermon. They cry out to Him with all their heart.
For many people, Christianity consists of 52 (or fewer) premixed religious talks per year. Too often those premixed talks (sermons) are substituted for Spirit-led action. For practical ways to draw near to the living Jesus, google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.
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May 10, 2021
Beyond life’s buzz
Too much buzz and life becomes a fuzz . . .
Like trying to see through a jar of honey.
Now is busy
With the buzz
Of activities and desires,
Thoughts and feelings.
Peace is beyond
The buzz.
Between the lines,
Beyond the words,
So much insight
Waits for us
To perceive it.
An open heart
Can perceive
Beyond the boundaries
Of mind
And senses.
I like the word beyond.
It means there’s more
Than I perceive or feel.
It gives hope.
Freedom is beyond
The bonds that bind you.
It’s not a compromise
With them.
If your mind
Isn’t blown by God,
You’re probably
Avoiding Him.
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May 9, 2021
Imaginary friend or the living Jesus?
Their personal interactions
With an imaginary friend
Wouldn't be on the same page.
People talking about
Their personal interactions
With the living Jesus
Almost always are.Some people follow
Their own feelings or desires,
But that's not what Jesus requires.
"Follow Me."
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May 7, 2021
The body of Christ needs no church name
The body of Christ
Isn’t recognized
By the name of a church
But by supernatural love.
Anybody can
Talk to Jesus,
Anywhere and anytime.
You don’t need
A preacher
Or a church
To pray.
There’s only one
Group of Christians,
The body of Christ,
Scattered thru the world.
Grace:
The body of Christ
Isn’t contained
In a place
A church,
A nation,
Or a race.
Churches too often
Fence Christians
Into groups
And keep them
Divided.
Christ-followers
Belong to Jesus.
They’re members
Of His body.
Members of the body of Christ
Are everywhere,
But too often
We don’t “discern” them.
There’s no division
In the body of Christ,
But there is within
And between churches.
Separating parts
Of the body of Christ
Into organizations
Quenches the Spirit.
The body of Christ
Is divided by
Religious organizations
But assembled
By Jesus.
The more Christians
Focus on and follow Jesus
The more they come together
In unity.
When true Christ-followers
Meet each other,
They sense
An immediate
Connection.
Jesus calls people
To follow Him,
Not to follow organizations,
Or churches,
Or leaders.
The body of Christ
Has been dissected
By many thousands
Of religious organizations.
Christ’s body
Isn’t divided by religious walls.
All who belong to Jesus
Belong to one another.
Jesus is the shepherd.
All who hear His voice
And follow Him
Are the sheep.
Jesus said, “Repent,”
Not, “Keep doing things
The way you’ve
Always done them.”
Jesus said,
“I am the way.”
He never said,
“Church is the way.”
Jesus said,”
“I am the good shepherd.”
He never said,
“A pastor is your shepherd.”
Jesus said,
“Come unto Me.”
He never said,
“Go to church.”
When churches
Support injustice,
They don’t represent
The body of Christ.
The body of Christ
Are called to be
Led by the Spirit,
Not by their own desires.
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