Steve Simms's Blog, page 237

Good times produce good consequences

Good times are not times lived in a euphoric buzz. Good times are times that produce good after-effects in people’s lives.

Life is a sequence of consequences. The way you live today is setting up your tomorrows. Choosing guilty pleasures is choosing guilt. Your choices create your circumstances. Choose constructively, not destructively. Much misfortune is made by misbehavior.

Wrongful thoughts, words, and actions produce undesirable consequences. If you don’t want the consequences, avoid the causes. Many of your rewards and punishments are the results of your own thoughts, words, and behaviors. Before you commit to cause and effect, pause and reflect.

People who lack the strength to constructively manage their emotions often resort to anger and aggression. The rough wake that flows from your destructive choices is a wake up call! Trying to deny the evidence and/or destroy the consequences of your wrongdoing, offers no solace for your soul.

A hearing heart produces caring and compassion. Don’t just listen with your ears and your mind, but also with your heart.

Fake statements (less than honest words) are harmful and deceptive, even if they never rise to the level of fake news. Speak truth.

“What’s done is done,”
Or is it?
Often what’s been done
Causes the present
And the future
To unravel
Because consequences
Aren’t done yet.

God’s view of me is more important than my view of me

How I identify myself matters very little. What’s important is what God thinks about me. Self-focus is a trap, a cage, a prison cell that keeps us from enjoying the glory and beauty that surrounds us.

Our human emotions and desires are often deceptive and frequently disavow reality. It’s dangerous to follow feelings that deny facts. To be dominated by your feelings and desires is to be caught in a kaleidoscope of cravings and continual confusion. Much of our misery is self-imposed.

We humans are frequently besieged by troubling feelings and distorted desires. Jesus offers us supernatural strength to overcome them. Our desires frequently aren’t good for us! Uncontrolled appetites will slowly tighten around your soul and trample it into surrender to sin and self-destruction.

Self-focus entangles us in tormenting desires and emotions, but Christ-focus enraptures us in awe and amazement. Our human cravings and compulsions are usually in conflict with Christ. That’s why Jesus taught, “Deny yourself.”

As important as it is to tell people about Jesus, it’s also important to show and train them how to daily connect with Him. If you don’t daily connect with Jesus heart-to-heart, you’re missing out on one of life’s most amazing aspects!

Grace is God’s gift of the supernatural ability to live right, not an excuse to live wrong. Growing in grace empowers us to follow God’s will instead of our own — to make the risen Jesus our Lord (our Absolute Master)! God’s plan for you: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Is God making church ekklesia again?

Perhaps, today, God is slowly
Moving the body of Christ
Away from institutionalized Christianity,
Commonly known as church,
Back into Spirit-led Christianity,
The original ekklesia.
(Search: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.)

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If President George Washington had been black . . .

If President George Washington had been black,
Would America have made skin color a big deal?
Would we have held people in lifelong bondage
Based on nothing more than the shade of their skin?
Or would the words, “All men are created equal,”
Have been equally applied to all people?

Things could have been different,
But we can’t undo history.
However, there’s no need to deny it.
Perhaps we can be honest about history,
Learn from it, and overcome its injustice.
Maybe America can get off the race track.

I wrote a book to try to help acknowledge truth, face injustice, and move beyond it to heart-felt equality: Off the RACE Track–From Color-Blind to Color-Kind. Click on the title to learn more.

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Second-hand Christianity often misses Christ-supremacy

Second-hand Christianity lacks the vitality of first-hand connection and direct interaction with the living Jesus. Second-hand thoughts about Jesus can’t compare to a first-hand relationship with Him!

Christ can do anything better than you (or me). Why not let Him? Biblical Christianity is about Christ’s supremacy. The living Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! The only supremacy in the body of Christ should be the supremacy of the living Jesus. We can’t follow Jesus if we don’t believe He is with us and can lead us.

Make more room for Jesus in your life. Remove anything that’s blocking Him. Christ calls His followers to more — more sensitivity to His voice, more passion for His presence, more obedience to His leading.

There’s more to Christianity than meets the natural eye — much that must be seen with the heart. Biblical Christianity is based on listening to the living Jesus & then following His inner instructions–“being led by the Spirit.”

When praying seizes your heart, you will begin to pray without ceasing. Here are 3 steps to biblical Christianity:
1) Meet up with Jesus.
2) Hang out with Jesus.
3) Follow and obey Jesus.

To some life’s
A meaningless story,
But Christ in you
Turns it into glory!

Learn the art
Of running God’s apps
In your heart.
It’s supernatural.

Alive!
Present!
Speaking!
Working!
Jesus!
Connect with Him!

Early Christianity never substituted attending church, for following and obeying the risen Jesus. I find God’s inner media that I receive on the device of my heart to be far more exciting and powerful than any other media! When the Bible is analyzed but not applied as inner media that motivates action, it’s real purpose is denied! “Be doers of the word. If you don’t read the Bible for yourself, you can’t be certain that you are experiencing biblical Christianity.

Joy is wholesome fun that doesn’t end when the party’s done. Search for: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.

Seeing God activate regular people

Seeing God speak and work in and through ordinary people is one of my greatest joys. If given encouragement, freedom, and a platform, everyday people can share amazing words from God.

Biblical Christianity is activating. It takes ordinary people and stirs them into daily action as mighty men and women of God! The Holy Spirit wants to motivate and fully activate every member of the body of Christ.

When ordinary believers are activated to hear and obey Jesus, revival will sweep across the world. Today is a wonderful time to begin daily doing the word you’ve heard over and over again. Activate!

As members of God’s army, Christ’s body, God’s kingdom, and God’s family, ordinary believers have too much power to be spectators. Let the risen Jesus activate you to be a daily doer of the word and not just a hearer of the word. “Quench not the Spirit.”

If we won’t begin to live up to what we’ve already heard about Christ, hearing more may not matter much. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” When your heart is captivated by the living Jesus, you don’t have to be pushed into action. His presence activates you.

Sitting generates passivity. Action overcomes it! Christ needs to be realized in daily life, not analyzed over and over. To help you get activated, search Amazon for my book: The Joy Of Early Christianity.

Guilt — the gateway to grace!

Admitting your guilt is the gateway to grace. (Without guilt you have no need for grace.)

No guilt, no grace.
Know your guilt.
Then you can
Know God’s grace.

Your thoughts, words, and actions created your present mental state. If you’re unhappy with it, that is grace calling you to change what you think, say, and do. Although many people want God to “fix” their circumstances, God’s wants to fix you, from the inside out with His grace. Will you let Him?

All day and all night I breathe in gift after gift, air for my lungs, joy for my soul. Although I usually forget to appreciate it, that is grace!

Everything that happens doesn’t have a scientific formula. Some things are unexplainable. Thank God for mystery, wonder, awe and grace!

Outdoor nativity sets are nice, but in-heart nativity sets are infinitely better! “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Politics, women in ministry, & being led by the Spirit

The Bible never says that a particular political system is “the hope of glory.” It says that “Christ in you,” is. Christians aren’t called to point people to a particular political party, position, or personality, but to Christ. The goal of early Christianity wasn’t to influence political power, but to demonstrate the power of Christ in their daily lives.

The early Christians could have been angry, bitter, and insulting to those who were against them. Instead they choose to love.

The book of Acts shows that early Christianity was organic, not organized, Spirit-led, not systematic. The “the priesthood of the believer” answers “the women in ministry question.” All Christ-followers are called be in the ministry.

Following Jesus isn’t a one-time “decision.” It is passionate pursuit — pressing toward the prize of “the pearl of great price.” The Bible says that we are to seek the kingdom of God, not religious celebrities (local or national).

To follow Jesus is to pursue Him, to listen to Him, to continually obey Him instead of self. Be a Christ-follower! People say, “Go this way,” or “Go that way.” Jesus said, “I am the Way!”

After 2,000 years, perhaps the inherited church has drifted away from the biblical concept of the body of Christ (ekklesia). Perhaps we now need cage-free Christianity that trains us to go beyond the bars of religion into the Light of “Christ in you.”

You can’t follow Jesus and self at the same time. Jesus said: “Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.” The kingdom of God (being governed by God) is contrary to our natural desires and requires that we follow Jesus instead of self.

If you sincerely ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you, He will surprise you with His presence, and you will be forever changed. Christ often speaks thru intuition, inspiration, and conscience — the easily ignored, “still, small voice” that the Bible mentions.

The Bible says, “O taste and see the Lord is good.” It doesn’t say that you need someone to feed you!

I continually experience consciousness (although I can’t prove it to anyone but me). Same with the risen Jesus! I’ve found the risen Jesus to be an inner oasis, quenching my thirst for forgiveness, peace of mind, joy, and contentment.

To be “led by the Spirit” is to be under the direct influence and personal leadership of the Holy Spirit. Advocates for the one-man sermon form of church are everywhere (and God can use that), but rare are the advocates for letting the Spirit, personally lead a worship meeting. Suggesting the body of Christ meet with an open mic, isn’t saying God can’t use sermons. It’s recommending 1 Corinthians 14:26.

The invisible Head of Christianity

So much is out of sight to those who have sight but lack insight. Many things that are invisible to the naked eye are visible to an open heart. Look!

Programmed Christianity is like spiritual life-support. The goal is to get off of it and breathe the air of the Spirit on your own. A world wary and weary of religion, needs to witness the genuine working of the risen Jesus, not more religious programs!

The invisible body of Christ becomes visible when members meet to let Christ lead. Christ present, invisibly leading and directing a group of people (like an orchestra conductor) is a wonderous thing to see!

The invisible Christ is the Head of His body. A visible head should never take His place.

Christians need to be led by an invisible Head — not by their mind or by a hierarchy — but by the risen Jesus. Biblical Christianity occurs when the members of Christ’s body begin to be responsive and obedient to their invisible Head.

To say that Jesus can only lead His body through a human leader (and not directly) is to deny the reality of His Headship. The desire for a visible, human leader can easily usurp Christ and put someone in His place as Head of His body. It is easier to put a human head over the body of Christ than to let to let Jesus, the invisible Head, lead and direct us.

Any body part unresponsive to the head is paralyzed. Any member of the body of Christ unresponsive to Christ the Head is . . .

When Christ’s body tries to have two heads (Christ, the invisible Head & a human, visible head) one usually gets pushed aside. Perhaps the body of Christ would be more effective being led by the risen Jesus, its invisible Head, than by a visible head.

Uncharted worship is free to flow wherever the invisible Head leads. Being led by the Jesus isn’t the same thing as being led by a program. Unscripted interaction with the living Jesus is amazing! Jesus calls His disciples “friends.” We don’t use a script or a program to interact with a friend. For more: Search Amazon for: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.

I'm part of a body
With an invisible Head.
Jesus tells us directly
What we are to do --
The body of Christ,
His ekklesia



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When Jesus is in the present tense, there’s no need to be tense

When you begin to experience Jesus in the present tense, you won’t be so tense! To learn about Jesus is good, but it can’t compare to experiencing Him. Jesus is talking. His sheep hear His voice.

I believe in Jesus like I believe in gravity. Although I can’t see Him with my physical eyes, I continually feel His pull!

When worshipping Jesus captivates you, worship becomes 24/7/365! The kingdom of God comes when people gather to hear and do what Jesus says.

Anyone or anything that is between you and the risen Jesus, is out of place. When someone experiences the actual presence of Jesus, they are in awe, deeply moved, even stunned! We need Jesus, not religion.

The Pharisees focused on religious behaviors, but let their heart get hard. Jesus called them, “the blind leading the blind.” The witness of the Spirit — how we need to hear it! (See Romans 8:16.) Hearing a sermon is far different than hearing the living Jesus speak directly to your heart. Man-led religion can’t compare to a Spirit-led relationship with Jesus! A lifetime, Jesus trip is so much better than a religious script! (Search: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.)

I believe in
The water parter,
The Red Sea,
The Jordan River.
When there's no way,
He's the way maker.