Steve Simms's Blog, page 245

Heart walls are walls, too.

Heart walls don’t just wall people out of your life. They wall you in, all by yourself. Heart bridges bring light as you see your concerns and struggles reflected in others and realize that we’re all basically the same.

A wall may be good for protection, but when it comes to connection, the idea of a wall is “off the wall.” Hard hearts are surrounded by the smoldering ruins of burned bridges. Focus on self produces “I”-solation (the feeling of being alone), but focus on others releases the consolation of community.

Some people build verbal walls with threats, labels, and insults. Others build word bridges with compliments, blessings, and thanksgiving. If you give people easy access to your heart (by taking down walls and building bridges), you might get hurt, but the joys of connection will far surpass any pain.

Those who fear to leave the walls that surround their comfort zone, miss the joy of following Jesus through His open fields. Worship should spontaneously connect us with God and with one another. It shouldn’t wall us into isolation thru programs, ritual and formality. The body of Christ is connected by spiritual bridges going from heart to heart. Religion, like fog, often obscures those bridges.

Superstar Christians & hype in church

Christianity is about hope in Christ, not about hype in church. There are plenty of superstar Christians. (Many churches have one.) But where are the supernatural Christians? It appears that few people believe that Jesus can lead a meeting without somebody else organizing and running it. Most church services are so tightly programmed that they can be run without the presence and power of the risen Jesus.

Contemporary Christianity seems to be more about the presence of a preacher than about the presence of Christ. Jesus said, “Follow Me.” Paul said to be “led by the Spirit.” To focus on human leadership misses the point.

Can Christianity be fun, exciting, joyous, and enthralling? Yes! It was for the early Christ-followers and it can be for you.

Biblical Christianity is about supernatural relationship with God, not a sermon series — first hand experience not a second hand talk. The essence of Christianity is to be continually aware of and led by Christ’s presence. Too many Christians focus on a human leader and forget to follow Jesus.

Instead of being offended by and reacting to what people around you say and do, focus on and follow Jesus.

There’s no kingdom without a king. To experience the kingdom of God in the present (not just the future), make the living Jesus the King of your life.

Even if you die rich, you’ll be dead broke. But if you die following the risen Jesus Christ, you’ll live in His glory.

Animate me, Jesus!

Jesus is my inner animation, not will power, desire, or self. His inner flow wakes me up everyday and keeps me going with His power and joy. He is my animator. He draws me out of myself and moves me into surrender to His presence.

Be Spirit-led (Romans 8:14). Let the risen Jesus animate you by living in and through you.

Let Jesus animate so that your conscience topples and begins to tell you that the wrong thing is the right thing. Otherwise, life will soon be topsy turvy.

Let Jesus animate you by releasing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control, in and thru you. As a human being, you can either choose to be controlled by your own cravings, or you can let Christ rule and animate you.

If you’re feeling discouraged, let the living Jesus animate you with fresh currents of living water flowing from deep inside you.

Hour of power, our power, or God’s power?

Christianity isn’t about an “hour of power” or about “our power.” It’s about radical surrender to God’s power!

To confess, renounce, and turn away from your sins brings healing, deliverance, and joy–yet many people are afraid to do it.

When Jesus begins to flow as a fountain from within you, you can’t ignore Him in your daily life.

Trying to defend the Bible is wearisome. Reading it with an open, humble heart is life-transforming.

The best “covering” for any Christian is the living, risen Jesus Christ. Why settle for less?

The Bible says “pray without ceasing,” not “play without ceasing.”

“Christ in you” awakens your conscience and gives you supernatural power to obey it (not an excuse to ignore it).

Churches act like Jesus can’t lead us without a man up front controlling the meeting. Surprise! He can!

Church divides people into religious tribes, but God wants diverse people to humbly connect heart to heart as the body of Christ.

It must have been God

God weaves divine interventions into your daily life. Watch for them.

Defining miracles as “impossible” doesn’t stop miracles from happening, but it does train you not to notice them. To miss life’s daily miracles is to miss the messengers of God’s presence and love. Notice them today.

When your conscience warned you to go in a different direction, it must have been God. When you escaped a close call without a scratch, it must have been God.

When you received an undeserved kindness, it must have been God. When the person you wronged forgave you, it must have been God.

When money came from an unexpected source to meet a need you hadn’t told people about, it must have been God. When encouraging words came to your mind out of nowhere, it must have been God.

Right or wrong is more important than right or left

Too many people today have a wimpy conscience that won’t stand up to them and make them behave. The thought and desire to randomly shoot innocent people comes from Hell’s most evil, cruel, and grotesque demons.

Americans need ethics, the ability to choose right over wrong. Instead we’re stuck trying to get people to choose left or right. Horrible demons are manifesting through mass shooters in the USA to release their evil, destruction, and hate against humanity.

It’s good to pray for shooting victims. However, prayer needs to be joined with repentance for our culture’s lack of full respect for human life from the womb to the tomb.

A weak conscience makes a weak person, controlled by whims, cravings, and compulsions. To make your feelings your master is to enslave yourself to whims. To follow your conscience is to blaze a trail to freedom. Guilt-producing behaviors will faithfully create guilt (even if you try to deny it, bury it, and/or medicate it).

To pursue happiness by doing things that make you feel guilty is like trying to go up by pushing the down button in an elevator.

Jesus didn’t insult the woman at the well because she saw things differently than He did. Instead He spoke truth with love. The political eclipse of kindness makes true greatness harder to find. To hate or mistreat one form of humanity, is to hate all humanity.

When distractions take higher priority than purpose, people grovel in meaninglessness. To be light-hearted is to see more than can be seen with physical eyes.

Some people work really hard trying to have fun, but it’s so much easier when you can let rivers of joy flow from within. It’s hard to be happy when you’re hiding and afraid of being discovered. Joy comes from openness, humility, and living in the light.

People who learn to be inspired and entertained from within their own heart and mind aren’t dependent on outward influences.

Let God be the organizer!

God is the best organizer ever, so we don’t need to organize worship. We just need to worship “in spirit and in truth.” When organization took over Christianity, there was no longer any need for the risen Jesus to be actively involved in church.

When Christians are trained to “let the preacher do it,” they won’t sense a need to learn to connect with God on their own. When persecution tears church structure asunder, revival comes because Christians have to trust in the risen Jesus. If Christ-followers will meet to “let go & let God,” they will recover and rediscover the joy and power of the early Christians.

Christianity has trained people to rely on the outward support systems of religion rather than on the Spirit’s inner support. Christianity is supposed to be the spontaneous movement of the Holy Spirit, not a religious production. Instead of doing what you want to do for God, let Him do what He wants to do in and thru you.

When people are aware of the actual presence of the risen Jesus, they can’t focus on a program because they’re in awe of Him. Christians proclaim a risen Jesus, but do we listen to and obey Him before tradition, doctrine, preachers, programs, and churches? Instead of arguing with each other, why don’t we listen to Jesus?

A sunrise without a Sonrise in your heart, means a day trusting in “soular” power rather in Christ’s power. Christianity is a lifetime of ongoing transformation, not just a one-time conversion experience. If you’re not growing in relationship with Christ, you’re just going thru the motions of Christianity.

False prophets are usually much more popular than true prophets. I believe the Holy Spirit is asking: “Who will listen to My still small voice and let Me lead them from within?” Live in tow to Jesus, daily going with the flow of His inward tugging. When one door closes, open your heart to the risen Jesus. He’s the Door and is always open.

When pastors connect it’s called unity, but true unity is when members of various churches connect heart-to-heart in the Spirit. Go beyond sweet religious hugs & learn to courageously obey Jesus’ inner tugs! If you won’t let Jesus float your boat, your religion will just be going thru the motions of rote ritual. Instead of kicking against Jesus, let Him kick in and run your life.

Here is a much ignored Bible verse: “So then, no more boasting about human leaders.” The Bible says that Christians who identify themselves by a human leader are “worldly.” See 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

Denying Hell’s existence seems to be a hot topic, but Jesus died not so we can deny it, but so we can avoid it. Don’t hide behind the shadows in your heart. Instead, let the shadows lead you to God’s Light.

Christianity is pursuit of God, not arrival. If you think you’ve arrived, perhaps you haven’t gotten started. (Matthew 6:33.)

Jesus
wants in
your life.
He doesn’t
want sin
to rule within you.

If Jesus isn’t on your mind through out the week, perhaps you’ve buried Him way back in your heart. Let Him rise again! Some people resist Jesus by boxing against Him. Some just put Him in a box — “religious figure,” “myth,” “ticket to Heaven,” etc.

A word people don’t like to hear

If racism had been truly overcome, the mere mention of the word wouldn’t aggravate people.

The Bible sets an example of living in the light. It openly calls out and exposes the sins of Israel’s past. Ancient Israel and Judah could never accomplish the love, justice, and holiness that the prophets called for. That takes surrender to the risen Jesus.

When history is a smorgasbord, we choose the parts we like and ignore the parts we don’t, but that always distorts the past. Reading history that fosters appreciation is good, but the whole story requires that we also face the history that hurts.

When you cherry pick history and leave out the pits, you have a pollyanna perspective on the past.

If a nation can boast of its historic accomplishments (done before anybody living was born) it can repent of its historic abuses. If you find the whole truth to be insulting to your heroes, then your heroes stand on shaky ground.

History shows that the defense of abortion is much like the defense of slavery.

To defend your views is fine, but to insult someone for disagreeing with you is to attack their freedom of speech.

Be God’s preacher, no matter what you do for a living.

Be God’s preacher, no matter what you do for a living. Limiting the voice of Christianity to ordained preachers and what they say in a church has crippled the spontaneity of the faith.

Worship is simple. Anytime, any place, you can express love and adoration to Jesus. What people plan, people control. Why not let the Holy Spirit plan and control worship services?

When church becomes an audience of none, with everybody actively hearing and obeying the risen One, miracles manifest. Friends meet together spontaneously (unprogrammed). Perhaps that’s how we can meet together with Jesus.

Church tends to make God an audience member, instead of the Leader, the Director, the Conductor, and the Lord. However, when God’s light shines in your heart, you can learn more in a moment than thru years of study.

What you’re really like on the inside is much more important than what you look like on the outside. Let Jesus change you, inside out!

For more on this subject, search for my book: Beyond Church–An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible–Ekklesia.

Stop color profiling

Instead of saying, “I’m not a racist,” perhaps we should be saying, “I’m against profiling people by their skin color.”

The “supremacy” or dominance of one race over another can only be maintained by brutality and cruelty. Most people want to remember the parts of their nation’s past that produce pride but forget the parts that cry out for repentance.

Behavior tells who a person is. Skin color doesn’t. Beware of people’s actions, not their complexion.

How can we have true racial equality in the present if past racial cruelty and injustice isn’t exposed and acknowledged as evil? Some people want to forget America’s past racial injustice, but want to keep statues celebrating men who defended that injustice.

That people subscribed significance and hierarchy to skin color, using it to justify cruelty and abuse, is a great tragedy of history. When Africans were labeled inferior and enslaved in the American colonies, it launched centuries of white supremacy.

The false belief that one skin color is somehow better or preferable to another, has produced much pain on our planet! It’s hard to live in a culture that strongly supported white supremacy for centuries and be completely uninfluenced by it.

When words are wielded as weapons they wreak much pain, but truth spoken in humility and love brings healing.

When hearts are full of love and kindness, people are warmly embraced, regardless of their race, ethnicity, politics, or income. When love saturates your heart, differences between people diminish in importance.

To step out from behind the wall of unkindness that protects you from those who look or see differently than you do, takes courage.

Search Amazon for my new book: Off the RACE Track–From Color Blind to Color Kind.

Kindly be kind
And you will find
Others will kindly
Be kind to you!