Steve Simms's Blog, page 232
February 2, 2020
Are your spiritual notifications turned on?
When it comes to God’s voice, it’s easy to have your notifications turned off. Try not to do that. Sin is what pushes the “power off” button in your spiritual life. Pride also breaks our connection to God’s power. “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
When Jesus is living inside of you, He’ll guide you thru what you’re going thru. The gifts of the Spirit function in an intuitive way (inwardly prompted), instead of an institutional way (externally controlled).
If we are unwilling to listen to and be guided by the risen Jesus, perhaps our allegiance to Him is only verbal. Christians are called to make the kingdom of God their first priority–to seek God’s supernatural power and authority over man’s. Christians are called to “walk in the light” — to seek truth, humility, healing, and reconciliation, more than positional power.
If you presume yourself to innocent, you’ll falsely believe you have no need to accept and receive Christ’s forgiveness. Heaven’s not for the innocent, but for the guilty who have been willing to receive Christ’s forgiveness and deliverance.
Christians are called to be examples of God’s supernatural ability to manifest the character of Jesus in and thru ordinary people. Perhaps Christians could gather for a “new wine” tasting, until everyone present is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Before you “follow your heart,” make sure God is guiding it and it’s not on a rebellious rampage. Without love, religion can be cruel. Examples of that are easy to find. However, when Christians connect around the risen Jesus, their differences fade in His glorious presence.
February 1, 2020
My Top Ten Blog Posts For Black History Month
Happy Black History Month 2020!
Free Gas For Your Think Tank (A blog to jog your mind and unclog your heart . . .)
Would you like to know more about Black History. Here are my Top Ten Blog Posts about African-American history:
10) Negro Spirituals — A Message We Desperately Need
9) America’s Forgotten Freedom Fighters
8) Some Americans Suffered An Atrosity
7) Was Jesus Whipped In America?
6) Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Septima Clarck, & Miles Horton in Monteagle, TN
5) Am I Related To Heroic Runaway Slave, William Simms?
3) Why A White Guy Digs Into Black History
1) Accepting Black History Into American History
(And one bonus blog post: 12 Years A Slave — 12 Blogs On Slavery)
Check out my book: Off the RACE Track @ https://amzn.to/2tUMAP2
January 29, 2020
Kindness kindles kindness
Kindness can nudge hatred aside and fill the world with hope! Here’s how: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HYHHK19/ref=dp-kindle-redirect…
[image error]Kindness kindles kindness!
January 28, 2020
First thought, last thought, & thoughts to avoid
If your first thought is identical to your last thought, your thought process somehow has gotten stuck. Any human thought can be improved. Perhaps rutted thinking isn’t thinking at all, but merely brain impulses following the path of least resistance.
Avoid ungodly thoughts and words. Refuse to let them stay in your mind! “Blessed are the pure in heart.”
Looking beyond institutional eyes
Institutional eyes only seem to recognize Christianity when its institutionalized, but Jesus is working 24/7/365. Although religion is highly institutionalized, the living Jesus Christ isn’t.
The OT prophets, the Apostles, the Reformers, and even Jesus, called people beyond institutional religion. A relationship with the risen Jesus can’t be institutionalized. It’s the most intimate relationship of all and happens in the heart.
Contemporary Christian culture seems to have an abundance of information that is distributed thru religious institutions. Still, there seems to be a famine of Christ’s wonder-working power.
A community is based on love, spontaneous interaction, and heart connection. An institution on hierarchy, rules, and protocol. If organization is high and participation is low, passivity sets in. If people are allowed to participate, they become passionate.
January 27, 2020
"Safe church" or an open mic?
Comedy clubs occasionally dare to have open mics. Perhaps churches should be so bold! An open mic in church trains people to speak up about their love for Jesus, more effectively than a sermon ever can. However, the Sunday morning microphone in church is one of the most rigidly controlled mics in the world.
Why should “the preacher” have all the good mic time? When a church gives a preacher their mic, they don’t get it back for years. However, when ordinary Christians are allowed to come to the mic as they are led by the Spirit, the Rock of Ages will speak thru them.
Perhaps a closed mic says that a church doesn’t really believe that God will speak thru anybody but the pastor. Maybe church has trained far too many Christians to believe that they have nothing at all to say about their faith.
“Safe church” that shields you from the awesome presence of the risen Jesus and the Holy Spirit’s conviction, isn’t “safe” for your soul! When the reality of the living Jesus is exchanged for a program and a talk, we miss out on His radical, life-transforming power.
I think Christians don’t want Spirit-led, open mic meetings, because they’re afraid their heart will be exposed. If any church wants to step out of the box and hold a Spirit-led, open mic meeting, I can help facilitate that. Some Christians think that a Spirit-led, open mic meeting would be “chaos,” but if the Spirit can’t keep order, who can?
Heaven will follow the Lamb on the Throne, the risen Jesus. So perhaps to get ready, we should follow Jesus in church meetings.
Discernment and spiritually mature oversight is important in an open mic meeting. For example, the devil speaks to you and accuses others of wrong, but God, thru your conscience, gently shows you your own wrongs. It’s vital to know the difference. Here’s another example: If you woke up angry, you disobeyed this: “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”
Sunday morning you hear a talk,
But if you won’t walk Christ’s walk
The rest of the week,
That talk is cheap!
When Isaiah encountered God, he said, “I am undone.” When Christians leave church, many want to say, “I’m glad that’s done.”
If religious rhetoric doesn’t light your spiritual candlestick, get to know the living Jesus. He’ll do the trick and fire you up!
A Christian leader is: honest, kind, respectful, trustworthy, compassionate, self-controlled, humble, and morally upstanding.
January 26, 2020
This invisible pacemaker is good for your heart
The Lord is my Pacemaker; I shall not do my own thing. He leads me from within and I follow Him. He restores my soul.
When Jesus is Lord, He will be our pacemaker. We will no longer set our own pace or choose our own direction.
Let Jesus be your pacemaker and align your thoughts and behaviors to His will. The Bible calls the heart “desperately wicked.” We all need Christ to be our pacemaker and to keep our heart in line with His will.
Without the living Jesus as its pacemaker, the human heart doesn’t work as it was designed by God. I definitely need someone to control my heart and keep it in line with God’s will. That’s why I let Jesus be my pacemaker.
Life’s greatest adventure is the passionate pursuit of the presence of the risen Jesus as your pacemaker! Your heart feels so much better when you’re saturated with the presence of the living Jesus. Soak in Jesus and see!
Invisible spirits are continually trying to deposit destructive thoughts and words into your mind and heart. Don’t let them. Demons force their way into your thinking, Jesus gently knocks and waits for your invitation. Learn to let Jesus be your Pacemaker @ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X6434JN/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1.
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January 24, 2020
Spiritual hunger — it cries out for more of God
You can’t satisfy spiritual hunger with physical stuff, constant activity, meaningless distractions, or mind altering substances.
If you aren’t spiritually hungry, you may be full of worldly distractions. Spiritual hunger isn’t satisfied to hear a talk on the gifts or the fruit of the Spirit. It yearns to daily experience them.
Spiritual hunger longs for much more than mere information about God. It yearns for an intimate relationship with God, Himself. Spiritual hunger keeps me pursuing a closer relationship with Christ. I’m always yearning for more of His presence in my life.
Jesus said we should “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” but modern Christianity offers us religious talks instead. Spiritual hunger is an inner longing that can only be satisfied by the living, resurrected Jesus Christ, Himself. Seek Him.
If you’re hungry for more of God, begin to read the New Testament with an open heart and the living Jesus will meet you there. If you want to be hungry for more of God, try this fire starter. Read the New Testament 5 minutes (or more) everyday for 21 days.
If you’re hungry for ways to daily experience the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, search: The Joy Of Early Christianity.
January 22, 2020
The risen Jesus calls us beyond crusty creeds to Spirit-led deeds
Doctrine alone will make you docile. However, an ongoing relationship with the risen Jesus will make you revolutionary.
Claiming a Christian creed without consciousness of and commitment to the risen Jesus Christ is incomplete. A profession of faith without possession of life-changing faith is but the empty acknowledgement of a creed.
In my life, I’ve experienced both a passive, systemic belief absorbed from a religious environment, and a passionate faith inspired by the risen Jesus. There is no comparison between the two.
No one has to read your creed. They can see what you really believe in how you live.
Christianity has focused too much on religions institutions and too little on the Spirit’s inspirations. Operations of the Spirit are far more important than the services of religious organizations. They should be daily sought and cultivated.
Distractions will keep you from SPactions (Spirit-Prompted actions). “Quench not the Spirit. Costless Christianity is a contradiction. After all, Jesus said, “Count the cost.”
The more that you hide behind religious creeds, the greater your fear of being discovered. Jesus says: “Walk in the light.”
Biblical Christianity is about Jesus Christ as a present, living Person at work in the now, not Jesus as doctrine, religion, or history. However, to put down the Bible is to reject the testimony of the ancient Jews and the early Christians. When I began to read the Word of God like a love letter, it came alive and danced in my heart and increased my connection to the risen Jesus.
Turn your creed into deeds! Even small acts of kindness have a lasting effect. Do a few today.
Open the inner spillway to joy from within (Insider Trading)
You can’t control the climate in your neighborhood, but you can cultivate a happy heart. Wholesome fun can make you happy. You don’t have to party wild to experience joy.
The spillway of the human heart dries up when God’s supernatural inner flow is cut off. God’s glory in nature is amazing, but He wants His glory in your heart to be even greater. It’s amazingly glorious when the risen Jesus is living in and through you. Once the risen Jesus is discovered and encountered by inner listening and full, heart surrender, life can never remain the same.
Christ, living in you, is too profound of a lifestyle to be depicted by descriptions or exhibited by explanations. Experience Him! Preaching should proclaim and connect people with the reality of “Christ in you,” not present a proxy for His presence. “Christ in you” is not silent, passive, or easily ignored. He’s a living fire that burns within.
We are small; God is infinite. There is always more to seek and to experience in a relationship with Jesus (God with us). What the living Jesus says to you is more important than what anybody else says. If Jesus is alive and present, as the Bible proclaims, we need to listen to and relate to Him directly, not just thrugh a preacher.
Christ’s voice can easily get lost in our inner whirlwind of thoughts and feelings. That’s why we need to continually seek Him. It’s easy to be “set in your ways,” but the living Jesus wants us to set our ways at His feet and follow Him instead.
Get insider information. Listen to the voice of the risen Jesus within you. Insider trading–daily you give your will and mind to the living Jesus and follow His will and think His thoughts, instead of your own. Modern Christianity makes Jesus an outsider who needs to be repeatedly explained to us, instead of the Lord alive inside of us.
When Christ lives within, you can’t enjoy sin, but instead you “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Every Sunday, Christians should go to the living Jesus — and every other day of the week!
A lecture about light won’t help someone in the dark. They need to actually see the light. Go beyond a sermon and look at Jesus’ Light. If you don’t see and follow Christ’s inner light, you won’t understand early Christianity. Three points and a poem (all about light) won’t help us see better if we’re sitting in darkness. You can hear sermons about Christ’s light and try to understand it, but to get out of darkness, you must actually see His Light.
Jesus is alive and present. If you daily listen to and obey Him, you will experience manifestations of His supernatural power. The living Jesus walked out of His tomb. Now religion tries to re-entomb Him. It’s time to surrender to His authority.
Modern Christianity tends to over instruct people, yet not trust them to do what they have been taught. Let Jesus take you beyond the tree of knowledge by connecting you with the tree of life — the inner flow of His presence and love. Religious knowledge is a poor substitute for a Spirit-led lifestyle.
To be an atheist, you must believe that there is no God. To be a Christian, that Jesus is God. See John 1:1. Search Amazon for: The Joy Of Early Christianity.
