Steve Simms's Blog, page 200

Thoughts about disagreement & cheating

When you’re secure in your beliefs, you won’t feel threatened by people’s opinions. If you connect with people heart-to-heart, disagreement is of little importance.

Dishonest people think cheating is rampant because they do it themselves. Fake accusations of cheating aren’t good for democracy. Cheaters like to accuse others of cheating.

If we’d all fight the corruption in our own heart, instead of blaming the other guys, the world would be a much better place. It’s easy to call others evil when you’ve hidden your own evil from yourself.

When people disagree, one is rarely completely right and the other totally wrong. It’s irrational to disagree with people before you hear what they have to say. Insecure people believe that people who disagree with them are against them.

Disagreement doesn’t cause problems. Insulting people you disagree with does.

True tolerance isn’t agreement. It’s kindness for the people who disagree with you.

If you base friendship on agreement, you won’t have many friends. You can apply the “Golden Rule” even when there’s strong disagreement. Try it.

When you want to put people in their place, respect them as made in God’s image. When people disagree with me, it doesn’t mean they’re wrong. I could be. People who disagree with me are amazing people who I can learn from.

False prophets & self-deception

False prophets come in all shapes and sizes, wearing political and religious disguises. They stir up anger and hatred toward people, ignoring that, “God is love.” Perhaps the worst false prophet is self-deception.

When circumstances prove false prophets wrong, they don’t apologize. False prophets point to their “authority,” true prophets point people to Jesus. The more I know myself, the more I want to abandon the ship of self-focus (and other false prophets) and follow the living Jesus instead.

To “Know yourself,” can be unpleasant and humbling advice, especially when you don’t like what you see. That’s the time to humbly embrace God’s grace and shove self-focused thoughts out of your mind, like a bouncer throwing rowdy men out of a bar.

Grace let’s you know the Holy Spirit as a “Christ in you,” not as theory or a force. By gazing at God’s greatness, I become aware of my lowliness and of His amazing mercy for me.

Let the Holy Spirit wake up your conscience and begin to align your thought and lifestyle with righteousness. By gazing at God’s greatness, I become aware of my lowliness and of His amazing mercy for mGrace let’s you know the Holy Spirit as a “Christ in you,” not as a theory or a force.

Sermon Christianity
Without the Spirit,
Leaves you with nothing
To do but hear it.

Experience
Emmanuel,
God with us,
Christ in you,
The Holy Spirit.

Entertainment is a poor substitute for awe

The less we welcome awe, the more we feel the need for entertainment. However, entertainment is a poor substitute for awe. The person who is not amazed by anything at all, is bored. Amusement gets old, but amazement is always fresh and exciting!

A numb heart is closed to inspiration, yet adapt at drudgery. When awe opens your heart, avoid quickly shutting it. Linger in the wonder!

The human heart is designed to live with awe, not to be bored and shut down. To be unconscious of awe is to miss the wonder of it all! We’re made for heart-felt joy and awe, not for a meaningless rotisserie of activities.

Awe is amazement and wonder that can’t be expressed by mere words. Awe brings the heart to life, but too often the mind sets awe aside in order to focus on information.

Wondering about
With awe in your heart
Is often more powerful
Than trying to figure things out.

Living on this amazing planet, awe should be a frequent occurrence, not a rare one. However, if you don’t cultivate awe in your heart, life quickly becomes a bore. Without inspiration, life is poorly lit.

A quiet walk can take you further than down the street. It can carry you into awe. You can learn to experience your life with joy, delight, and awe.

Pride’s an awe remover. The more you think you know, the less room you have for awe.

The continually changing sky is an awesome thing. Life’s full of inspiration, if you’ll just keep looking up. Discover awe! When you feel like you’re stuck in darkness, look up. The night sky is awe inspiring.

The night sky,
Though dimmed
By city lights,
Still cries,
“Take time
For awe.”

The human heart will be inspired by nature’s beauty, unless it’s shut down Notice nature’s beauty. Let your heart continually absorb its delight. Let heart-dazzling wonder and soul-captivating awe make your life marvelous.

The voice of God is awe-dible. Once you hear it, you’ll never be the same.

It’s a marvel that knowing that all matter is temporary, we humans still have the concept of forever. True wealth is Christ’s inspiration, awe, and wonder, not just for a moment, but for a lifetime (and beyond)! Christianity, without the gasp of awe, is more intellectual than spiritual.

When you daily follow and obey the living Jesus, it’s always awe-time! If people pursued Jesus, the way we pursue entertainment, we’d all be saints! When your conscience tries to redirect you, try not to be asleep at the switch.

To see the light
And embrace
Its awe,
Is pure delight.

Jesus came to reign
In your heart,
Not to explain
To your mind.

Inexplicable inspiration (beyond all words) surges thru my heart when I ponder Jesus. The first Christians lived with awe. Search: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.

Hopethoughts.com — 21 hopeful quotes for 2021

“Never lose your zeal for building a better world.” –Mary McLeod Bethune“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody else has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” –Albert Szent-Gyorgyi“A clown is a warrior who fights gloom.” –Red Skelton “He is happiest who has the power to gather wisdom from a flower.” –Macy Howitt “You are a bigger and better person than you are presently thinking and acting. Think bigger; act bigger.” –Brian Cavanaugh “We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?” Nelson Mandela “Great necessities call out great virtues.” –Abigail Adams “Endeavor to collect inner riches.” –John Comenius “I never dwell on anything wrong which a person has done.” –Teresa of Avila“If you want to move people, it has to be toward a vision that’s positive for them.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.“We have been called to heal wounds, to unite what has fallen apart, and to bring home those who have lost their way.” –Francis of Assisi “Every person is born into the world to do something unique and something distinctive, and if he or she doesn’t do it, it will never be done.” –Benjamin E. Mays“Our walls of division do not rise all the way to Heaven.” –Philaret of Moscow “Give the world the best that you have and the best will come back to you.” –Madeline Bridges“Noble actions are the chief mark of greatness.” –Carlo Goldoni “I need, we all need, the occasional reminder that the world is an extraordinary place.” –Charles Handy“A burning purpose attracts others who are drawn along with it and help fulfil it.” –Margaret Bourke-White “Spend more time preparing and less time regretting.” –Virginia Wade“It does not require many words to speak the truth.” –Chief Joseph“When the soul of a person is on fire with imagination, impossibilities vanish.” –La Fontaine“It is almost impossible to overestimate the unimportance of most things.” –John Logue

Dialogue with Jesus leads to freedom

Some of the thoughts that pass through your mind are from God. Find them. Many of those God-thoughts, originate in your conscience.

To have a personal relationship with Jesus, you have to communicate with Him. When prayer moves beyond a monologue to a dialogue, it will set your heart on fire!

Take your mind
And clear it,
So you can hear
God’s Spirit.

Ongoing,
Heart-to-heart
Dialogue with Jesus
Will gloriously free us!

The living Jesus is the best interior decorator. He can realign your heart! However, uncontrolled thoughts and emotions cause interior chaos and make joy seem like a myth. Let the living Jesus continually be the interior designer of your heart and mind.

True Christianity isn’t based on coercion or religious obligation, but on awesome heart-connection with the living Jesus. It’s not about emptying yourself. It’s about being filled up with the living Jesus.

Heart-connection with the living Jesus happens within you. It’s not dependent on external circumstances. (Until you begin to notice the light of God shinning in your own heart, you’ll have trouble recognizing it in your outward environment.)

To “seek the kingdom of God,” we must continually align our heart and actions with Him. (Matthew 6:33.) Exterior Christianity, without an interior relationship with Jesus, is substandard. If your interior life doesn’t match your outward appearances, you’ll be unhappy.

When you surrender to Christ in you, He sets your heart ablaze with His presence! There’s a drastic difference between hearing a short monologue about Jesus and having an ongoing dialogue with Jesus!

The living Jesus is more than just historical, theological, and coming back again. He’s present and active now! The glory and greatness of the living Jesus, infinitely outshines any human greatness.

Kind and caring dialogue between people creates genuine heart-connection. Try it today.

Christianity without love (heart-connection) is counterfeit.

Christianity’s about
Heart connection
With God
And with people.

Without love, there’s no heart-connection with God. God is love! A heart, disconnected from God, hardens.

When people establish and maintain heart-connection with God, love continually flows thru them. Every time we speak or act without love, it reveals a break in our heart-connection with God.

The closer I get to the living Jesus, the more I love everybody. After all, everybody we encounter is somebody Jesus loves. People who haven’t offended you don’t need your forgiveness. Give it to those who need it. The harder people are to get along with, the greater their need for kindness.

Hurtful words don’t help anybody. Speak the truth with humility, caring, and compassion. Christianity without love is counterfeit.

“Abide in the vine,” means: Stay continually heart-connected with the living Jesus. Life’s tough, but following the living Jesus can prevent the hardening of your heart. When “Christ in you” continually distracts you from your circumstances, you’re not far from glory of God.

Revelation Inspiration

The slayed Lamb
Standing in the center
Of the throne of God,
Has opened the scroll,
No one could open,
And restored the way
To heart-connection
Between people and God,
Releasing inner rivers
Of living water.
Come and drink.
Taste and see
That God is good.

33 thoughts inspired by 2 hours in 1 John

After spending two hours in the biblical book of 1 John, I was inspired to write these thoughts. Can you tell which verse each one came from?

Biblical Christianity is about experiencing heart-connection with God and with people.Happiness is incomplete without heart-to-heart connection with other people. When we humbly walk in the light with other people, heart-connection happens. Heart-connection with Jesus will teach you infinitely more than a sermon ever can. Religious information without heart-connection with the living Jesus is powerless. Love establishes and maintains heart-connection with God and with people. True fellowship is heart-to-heart connection, not casual socializing. People’s hearts connect when they tell each other about their experiences with Jesus. Hostility disconnects hearts. Hatred is heart-disconnection. Caring requires a humble, open heart. Your heart can connect, even with your enemies, if you will see them thru God’s love. To choose darkness over light is to break connection with the living Jesus.Heart-connection with the living Jesus causes us to want to keep His commandments. When your heart is disconnected from the living God, it’s subject to much malware. Heart-connection isn’t just sentiment. It produces caring actions and encouraging words.Heart-connection with Jesus, leads us to obey Him & frees us from self-condemnation. All the religion in the world, does us little good, if we’re disconnected from God. When your heart is connected with the living Jesus, you overcome the world’s malware. People who are connected to Jesus’ network, experience connection to each other. Heart-connection with Jesus dissolves human hierarchy into mutual humility. When we connect heart-to-heart, the living God is present and active among us. God showed His heart-connection to us by sending His Son, so that we can connect with Him. Superficial interaction is incomplete. We’re designed for heart-to-heart connection. To hide your heart is to rob yourself of the delight of living in God’s light. To hide and protect your heart is to choose to disobey: “Quench not the Spirit.” When your heart is actively connected with Jesus, you can’t ignore His presence. Heart-connection with Jesus creates many amazing interactions and experiences. The more our heart is connected to Jesus, the more He will live His life in and through us. If you will let your heart connect with Jesus, you’ll wonder why you were ever afraid. If your heart is truly open to Jesus, it won’t be closed to people. This is how we know our heart is connected to the living Jesus: We obey Him. All wrongdoing is malware that disrupts our connection with the living Jesus. We need Christ’s inner volcanic eruption to overcome our tendency toward corruption.

2020 original Christmas thoughts (& 2 quotes)

The Christmas holiday is sentimental. The living Jesus is supernatural.

Christmas can give glimpses of hope but Christ living in you, is “the hope of glory!” The Christmas Baby, “God with us,” is present everyday, as the living Jesus. Millions have had their heart and lifestyle transformed by the One born in Bethlehem.

If you don’t see the events of Jesus’ birth as fiction, they’ll radicalize your life. Christian mystery means that much will not be unwrapped or understood until later. It’s more convenient to acknowledge Christ’s birth than it is to be His disciple. Christ the Lord is risen today (and everyday for almost 2,000 years)!

If you feel no need of a Savior
To rescue you from bondage,
The events of Christ’s birth
Give little hope to your heart.

Christ came to conquer
Through love, not force;
Humility, not pride;
Joy, not anger;
Forgiveness, not hate.
Go and do likewise.

Once you see
Majesty in the manger,
You can't be passive
About Jesus!

King Herod with his political power,
Said he wanted to worship
The new born Christ,
But tried to destroy Him.

The most ignored
Christmas gift:
Emmanuel,
"God with us."

Nothing is stranger
Than God in a manger,
The living Word
As a wordless baby.

"Shepherds quake at the sight"--
A baby called "Savior"
And "God with us."

God is near to lowliness and far from pride. When humility knocks at your door, it’s the living Jesus trying to connect with you.

Have an awesome celebration of the birth of the living Jesus and enjoy His presence! Here are two quotes for you.

“The Gospel represents Jesus as a real, living, mighty Savior, able to save me now” –Catherine Booth

“Who among us will celebrate Christmas correctly? Whoever finally lays down all power, all honor, all reputation, all vanity, all arrogance, all individualism beside the manger; whoever remains lowly and lets God alone be high; whoever looks at the child in the manger and sees the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Christmas is “merry” no matter how you feel

Regardless of what you’re feeling, Christmas celebrates the most joyous event in history. Look beyond your feelings. Christmas is merry, no matter how you feel!

Christmas customs that distract us from the reality of Jesus are just sentimentality. Sentimentality about Jesus’ birth, can’t compare to the actual perception of His presence.

Christmas declares that our hope depends on no political leader, but on Christ alone! Enhance your Christmas joy. Search: The Joy of Early Christianity book.