Steve Simms's Blog, page 269
July 2, 2018
Make political discussions kind again!
The measure of people’s intelligence isn’t how much they agree with you. Politeness is not being a doormat. It’s being powerful enough to be kind even when you don’t feel like it.
Compete at something that really matters. Win first place in kindness! Don’t be a dud at showing kindness. Learn to excel at it.
Kindness in an angry situation is like defusing a bomb. An explosion is possible, but you have a chance to prevent it. Be a courageous, first responder in the bomb squad of kindness and help defuse the anger, rudeness, and hostility in our culture.
Fewer people would feel bruised and abused if kindness and politeness weren’t underused! Only the strong can be consistently kind. It’s a sign of great strength to be kind in a hostile environment!
Don’t give up the element of surprise. In our society where people expect rudeness, surprise them with politeness.
If you win an argument through unkindness, you’ve lost more than you have won! A day without spreading some kindness falls far short of true success.
Make political discussions kind again! There’s no need for them to be rude. How can we stop school bullying, when bullying has becoming an accepted political tactic?
When people refuse to work together, things gradually fall apart. We all have the right to disagree with others but we don’t have a right to belittle them.
If you like to be unkind to people who disagree with you, remember that everybody disagrees with you about something. Anybody can stir up division and anamosity, but it takes real talent to end a dispute and bring people together in peace.
It’s hard not to feel guilty when you leave guilty footprints in your soul. It’s easy when you follow the right path.
June 30, 2018
From mankind to kind humanity
People can disagree with me and disapprove of my choices and still be wonderful people. You are welcome to disagree with me. Sometimes it is even good to disagree with yourself. After all, if you never examine and question your thoughts, you’ll just go on believing them and supposing them to be true.
Freedom of speech is the right to disagree, not the right to bully or insult. It’s much harder to be nice than it is to be as hard as ice. Be brave enough to be nice anyway!
Some people believe kindness is weakness, but it takes far more strength to be kind than to be mean and disrespectful. People who resort to meanness and name calling have no confidence in the ability of their beliefs to stand on their own merit.
Everybody is struggling to cope in life. Try to disagree with people respectfully without intentionally insulting them. Insulting those you disagree with causes hurt and anger. Being kind and compassionate to them eventually opens their heart.
If we get the government policies we want, but our land is full of division, anger, hatred, and violence, what have we accomplished? Let’s add some spices to politics — a dash of understanding and of patience, compassion, mercy, empathy, kindness, and cooperation.
Insisting that you get your own way is frustrating, however, focusing on making someone’s day is rewarding. Kindness can save you a lot of frustration.
What we have here is a failure to appreciate!
Sadness, discouragement, disappointment? What we have here is a failure to appreciate!
Without an inner foundation to stand on and a seat belt to secure you in crashes; life can be overwhelming. It’s much easier to be driven by feelings and desires than it is to be led by wisdom. What you focus on inside your mind and heart is as important as what you focus on in your physical environment. Choose well.
It’s better to have less stuff and appreciate it more, than to have more stuff and appreciate it less. Sincere appreciation of your non-financial assets is a great antidote for the alleviation of stressful anxiety.
I find that I enjoy life much more when I think outside myself. When the sense of appreciation fades in your heart, it’s easy to be disturbed by desires and disappointments. If you learn from people who passionately appreciate life, your heart will eventually be ignited with their spark of appreciation!
Doctrine pushes for agreement, the Holy Spirit prompts us to love. Disagreement should never shut down heart-felt love!
Jesus didn’t die just to be a spice that makes your life nice. He died to make you His. There are so many bandwagons Christians can jump on. We need to be careful not to let them distract us from the living Jesus!
Mental, emotional, verbal and spiritual malware is real! Don’t leave your mind and heart unprotected! A wonderful way to alleviate emotional pain is to rev up your ability to truly appreciate. Sort your thoughts in two categories: helpful or harmful. Embrace the helpful. Replace the harmful. An uncontrolled mind careens carelessly, continually banging into barriers, causing its owner much needles pain.
Nobody is without many appreciable things in life. We just often fail to notice and appreciate them.
Our culture focuses on self-fulfillment, self-forgiveness, self-expression, etc., however, Jesus said: “Deny yourself.” Our culture has a lot of faith-based organizations; but we desperately need more people with a Christ-based lifestyle.
Christians are called to be led by the Spirit and to not allow our hearts to become hard as lead. Have the mettle to be Spirit-led.
To ignore the warnings that flow from inside your conscience is like ignoring a red light and crashing into the crossing traffic.
It’s much easier to hear God’s voice than it is to obey what He tells you! Perhaps the best way to spiritually “feed” Christians is to train them to “feed” themselves & to “feed” others. Humble leaders train others to no longer need them and let others outshine them. They lead from the side, not from the top!. Humble leadership doesn’t try to impress people with a leader’s abilities; but trains people to utilize their own abilities. Christian leadership is plural, not singular. The only singular leader in Christianity needs to be the risen Jesus!
When you’re being tossed in life’s turbulence, don’t panic or despair, but trust the Pilot to carry you through. A sequence of consequences runs through your life, caused by your choices of behaviors, words, & thoughts.
I’ve always found it to be very difficult to follow a religious program and the Holy Spirit at the same time. Community is not coerced consensus but common caring and compassion.
If life’s only matter assembled with no Creator, many things we hold dear are illusions–fairness, justice, rights, beauty, love. To deny intelligent design is to close your eyes to the intrinsic nature of everything around us.
A background TV in a restaurant?
Listen. The most important things ever said to you are said by your conscience and by the Holy Spirit.
Too often we treat the Holy Spirit like a background TV in a restaurant. We ignore Him and order what we want. The worst condition a person can be in is to think that He has Christ in his life if he doesn’t. The more you get to know the risen Jesus, the more joy will dance in your heart!
Amazing joy is released through an inner connection with Christ, yet most people seek joy in external pursuits. Christianity began as a spiritual movement of people moving as prompted by the Spirit! Somehow it set aside the fun of following Jesus and became more like a funeral wake than a spiritual awakening.
When church began to organize and structure the experience of Christ, it began to limit and stop the spontaneity of the Spirit. When early Christianity shifted from being Spirit-prompted to man-controlled, it lost much of its power. Jesus called the Spirit, “rivers of living water.” There’s no need to settle for stale, dry, monotonous Christianity.
Can we follow a plan and the Man from Galilee at the same time? Can we follow a program and the Spirit at the same time?
Here are two contradictory concepts: “Let go and let God” vs. “Program and control.”
June 23, 2018
Appreciation, kindness, politics, & love
People who are unkind have run out of kindness and need to be filled up. Take a moment to share some kindness with them.
When you’re appreciative of the positive things in your life, you won’t be overcome by the negative. Before you evaluate or berate your life, take some time to appreciate it.
The more we let the living Jesus govern human hearts and minds, the more we will see God’s government working on earth. Human governments are all flawed, but the inward government of God is flawless, if only we would recognize the difference.
Politics has governmental and military power. It also has the power to control and divide people. There is a greater power source and that’s God’s love. Jesus stayed nonpolitical, not siding with any political viewpoint; not the Romans, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, or the Zealots
My preferences and desires are distorted by my rebellion against God; but as I surrender to Christ; He realigns me to His will. Can we be “sports fans” if we seldom think about our favorite team or “Christians” if we seldom think about Jesus?
Jesus warned of “false prophets” and Paul of “another Jesus.” If someone calls himself a “heretic,” you might want to take him seriously and check what he believes with the Bible.
If you want to know the will of God, read Scripture with an open heart and listen to God’s voice in your conscience. Neither human consciousness nor the risen Jesus can be proven in a science lab, but you can experience them both every day!
Salvation through Christ isn’t an item to check off your bucket list, but a life-transforming intimacy with the risen Jesus. Christianity isn’t a one-time meeting with Christ or weekly talk about Him, but a submissive and continual relationship with Him.
June 16, 2018
Search engine of the heart
Many moderns build their life on the myth of selective reality. Life goes better when you play your cards from the fact deck.
There are many ways to see the same situation and a lot of them are wrong. Seek truth and reality!
Guilt and shame aren’t just psychological concepts. They’re the reality of knowing what is right, but doing what is wrong.
Be careful what you type in the search engine of your heart. You’ll probably find it!
When wrong looks fun; it’s a fishing lure or a baited mouse trap. Try not to be tricked by it! You can try to fake it, but you can’t make doing wrong feel right.
Uncertainty looks for more evidence. Denial ignores the self-evident evidence. Even if you’re in denial and want to freestyle, the facts are on file somewhere in the back of your brain.
To live in denial is to die to truth. When truth and denial are entwined, they’re very hard to unwind! Denial says, “I’m an innocent victim.” Truth says, “I brought some of this on myself with unwise choices.”
Don’t just deny destructive feelings. Defeat them, overcome them, and drive them away; through Christ. You can’t learn from (or overcome) the mistakes and sins that you’re denying. When your mind inclines toward evil and your heart starts to follow; stop them in their tracks!
The mind runs much better on wisdom than it does on dumb stuff! What are you feeding yours?
An anesthetized mind has trouble dealing with reality. Refuse to hang a negative frame of mind in your soul. When you let your mind run off the road, your life rides it into the rough.
Manipulate your thoughts and feelings. Mold them into hope, beauty, and inspiration! People with an uncontrolled mind are unkind to themselves and to others.
Quiet the mind and hear God speak. Crowd the mind and you’re on your own. Mindfulness is neutral. Choose wisely what you let your mind be full of!
Looking at the world through a foggy soul, blurs your vision. It’s okay to make a mind map of your own thought processes, but it’s much better to make your mind follow God’s map!
Hopelessness is the denial of reality! Possibilities persist as long as life is present! Let Jesus mend your mixed up mind and hurting heart and restore them to peace and joy!
Denial is a popular form of hypocrisy, pretending things are fine when they aren’t. If you lie awake (if you’re dishonest when you’re not sleeping) you’ll struggle to sleep in peace. The best way to avoid denial is to stop stalling about coming clean.
Let Jesus put together the scrambled pieces of your heart with His peace.
I go through the day streaming Jesus. No headphones needed cause He flows from the inside! Jesus wants to be a fountain of love flowing from your heart. Let Him.
If your Christian life is dependent on anything other than the risen Jesus and His word, you’re on life support.
People who deny that Jesus took our place on the Cross, tend to play down the seriousness of sin. Unforgiven sin is a heavy load. Confess it to God and get set free.
June 15, 2018
Top Ten Ways I Have Grown In Christ
Top 10 ways I have grown as a Christian:
1) Salvation experience;
2) Baptism in the Holy Spirit;
3) Continually, listening to and obeying Jesus’ voice;
4) Daily Bible reading (and doing) with an open heart;
5) Regularly speaking in tongues;
6) Worshipping the risen Jesus with heart-felt passion;
7) Praying with people from the heart / prayer walking;
8) Flowing in the gifts of the Spirit with others (one anothering)
9) Sharing my salvation testimony & hearing other’s share theirs.
10) Reading anointed Christian books by powerful believers from the past 2,000 years and collecting quotes from them;
Bonus) Fasting
June 14, 2018
Go off the map — Jesus is the way!
Go off the map. Break out of your programming. Be led by the risen Jesus. He is the way. Follow Him!
Church sits in idle. But ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to start your engines!
True Christianity isn’t a cold case to be lectured about and studied; but a living fire, a burning love for Jesus and compassion for all people!
The most wasted of days is the one without heart-to-heart interaction with the risen Jesus!
How many sermons must a person hear to be a passionate, faithful, obedient Christ-follower? None! Listening to Christian lectures without living a Christian lifestyle is dead.
(James 2:17)
Listening to Christian lectures is not as effective as an interactive laboratory for New Testament one anothering. Live a Christ-like lifestyle; don’t merely listen to Christian lectures. (See James 1:22.) The indication that someone has received the grace of God is a godly life.
Most churches affirm “the priesthood of the believer” but don’t allow ordinary believers to do any ministry. However, there’s nothing like an interactive, Spirit-led, worshiping community joined together, heart-to-heart, with Christ & one another.
You want your leaders to feed you, but you need to feed yourself.” –Samuel Logan Bringle
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June 10, 2018
A few things not said (like this) before . . .
The world has enough crude, mean, vulgar, profane, and disrespectful words and images. Why not say, write, or post something uplifting instead?
My two favorite electronic devices are my mind and my heart. I’m addicted to scrolling through them both for God’s inspiration! I strive to keep all negativity and malware out of both my mind and my heart.
When you’re lying, you’re living in a fairy tale world — your own mythical make-believe land. To get out of your fantasy land, tell the truth.
Every person is a teacher. Some people teach you effective ways to live and some teach self-destructive ways to live. Which do you want to learn?
The way out of intense emotional pain is not suicide; it’s the love, healing, and forgiveness offered by the living Jesus!
It may not be good to fall asleep in a sermon, but it’s far worse to nod off when God is talking to you. God speaks through your conscience. Ignoring His voice is like trying to drive while blindfolded.
No church program or pulpit presentation can compare to the actual presence of Christ. Why settle for less?
When church is led by the Spirit instead of by a human program, it becomes unpredictable. Inherited church that centers around a one-man sermon, may not be the most effective way for Christians to meet.
June 2, 2018
All lives matter (or do they?)
You can’t treat me that way! I was worthless and disposable in the womb, but now my life matters. I lived through the womb!!!
I went through the womb and came out of it alive! (I bet you did, too.) I’m so glad that you lived through the disposable period of human life and that your mother chose life for you!
Womb survivors are everywhere; but the many millions of womb victims are seldom heard about. Womb life matters!
Here’s a watered down message: “Don’t choose to take human life unless, of course, it is still in the womb.” It’s also contradictory.
In the US a court decision; in Ireland a vote; and prenatal life suddenly becomes disposable. Doesn’t that devalue all human life?
Christianity goes beyond just respecting other people’s rights. It says: “in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Shouldn’t that also to apply to life in the womb?
