Steve Simms's Blog, page 28

Our Words (Or Lack of Words) Reveal Our Character

Daily writing promptAre you a good judge of character?View all responses

Week after week Christians are being trained to sit by and be silent. However, silent Christians don’t:

* Testify (Revelation 12:11),
* Witness (Acts 1:8),
* Make disciples (Matthew 28:19),
* Speak about the things they have seen and heard (Acts 4:20),
* Quote Scripture (Joshua 1:8),
* Share a revelation that has come to them (1 Corinthians 14:26),
* Shout it from the housetops (Matthew 10:27),
* Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15),
* Confess their faults one to another (James 5:16),
* Exhort one another daily, (Hebrews 3:13),
* Teach one another (Colossians 3:16),
* Comfort one another with words (1 Thessalonians 4:13),
* Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11),
* Preach the Gospel (Acts 8:3-4),
* Spur one another on to love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24),
* Speak as the Spirit gives utterance (Acts 2:4),
* Manifest the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:1),
* Prophesy (1 Corinthians 14:31),19)
* Make a joyful noise unto the Lord (Psalm 100:1).

Perhaps our silence quenches the Spirit and keeps the body of Christ from being as effective and as powerful as God wants it to be. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” (Psalm 107:2) Train yourself to persistently speak out about Jesus! Here are some of my words about Jesus:

Jesus Can Stop Your Storm of Guilt

Your guilt can be gone!
Guilt goes
With being alive
Because everyone knows
We’ve all embraced
Thoughts and behaviors
Where guilt grows.
It’s one of our strongest
Inner foes
And it only goes
Away one way–
Where true love shows
And forgiveness flows
From the Cross of Christ.

If you’re not continually aware of the presence of the risen Jesus, perhaps it’s because you’re not keeping your focus on Him and continually speaking up about Him. If you’re not as close to Jesus as you used to be, you must have pulled away because He’s “the same, yesterday, today, and forever,” (Hebrews 13:8).

Unwrap Jesus from religious boxes. Let constant awareness of His presence be your never-ending present. Walking with Jesus keeps me holly jolly all year long! The Bible calls it “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Christmas is a nice moment. It’s a hopeful season, but it can’t compare to the joy, love, and power of an ongoing, ever-growing relationship with the risen Jesus Christ.

MCPA — Make Church Participatory Again. Jesus said that He would build His ekklesia (the proper name of the ancient Greek town council where any citizen could speak). Let’s take the gag rule off of ordinary Christians and let them speak up in church services as they are led by the Holy Spirit! (See 1 Corinthians 14:26 and the 50+ one another commandments in the New Testament.)

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I’m Happiest When . . .

Daily writing promptWhen are you most happy?View all responses

I’m happiest when I boldly yet humbly go beyond the veil. My goal is to live my life there day and night.

It’s exciting and joyous to focus on the living Jesus and let Him speak in my heart. It continually fills me with awe and wonder to know that the Creator of the universe is speaking to me.

The veil between
You and God
Has been torn
So you can
Let it go
And let Jesus,
Emmanuel,
“God with us,”
The Messiah,
The risen Lord,
“Christ in you,”
Light of the world,
Unceasingly
Shine His glory
Within your heart.

Get to know
God’s Spirit
More and more
So you can grow
In His flow
And daily go
Where He shows you.

Allow the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures to keep you ceaselessly aligned with the heartbeat of God. Let the Holy Spirit be your constant teacher and the Bible be your daily devotional guidebook.

When people abandon self-control and the awareness of God, they begin to obey their feelings and their desires instead of their responsibility and their conscience Thus they kill their joy and destabilize their mental health.

Joy to the world! Jesus has come and is alive, present, and available to give people the best present ever–the joy of His presence! (Christmas is a nice moment. It’s a hopeful season, but it can’t compare to the joy, love, and power of an ongoing, ever-growing relationship with the risen Jesus Christ.)

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Childlikeness Has Led Me to Joy

Daily writing promptWhat was the last thing you did for play or fun?View all responses

Childlikeness has led me to joy. It has helped me to find purpose and meaning in my life. It has opened my eyes to experience and follow the inner government of God as He speaks and leads me from within. The kingdom government of God must be received like a little child. (Mark 10:15) The humble, honest, and simple way that little children approach Jesus is an example of how to connect with the kingdom of God. (Matthew 19:14)

The kingdom of God happens inside of human beings. It is God’s personal and direct government of your heart. (Luke 17:21.) To be governed by the kingdom of God is to be continually led from within by God’s Spirit. (Romans 8:14)

The kingdom government of God is like yeast. Let it rule your heart, and it will transform you from within. (Matthew 13:33) The kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed. If you plant it in your heart and allow it to grow into maturity, it will become a large tree full of life. (Matthew 13:31-32.)

God’s kingdom is the pearl of great price. It makes you want to give up everything so you can fully experience it. (Mt. 13:46) The kingdom of God is God’s will being done on earth as it is in Heaven, in and through human beings. (Matthew 6:10) When the Holy Spirit is allowed to drive evil out of human hearts the kingdom of God is present. (Matthew 12:28)

God’s inner government is now close at hand. Align your heart with it and unceasingly believe and rely on the living Jesus to lead you by the Spirit. (Mark 1:15) People who have set aside pride and embraced poverty of spirit are able to experience the kingdom of God. (Matthew 5:3) Being directly governed by God and His righteousness leads to various degrees of persecution by people who want to avoid His literal presence. (Matthew 5:10)

The kingdom of God (His government) is like the wind. It can’t be seen with physical eyes. (Luke 17:20) It isn’t rules and regulations. It’s the Holy Spirit’s righteousness, peace, and joy within you. (Rom. 14:17) The kingdom of God isn’t about religious lingo. It’s about the power of God to transform human hearts. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

To be in the kingdom of God is to do the will of God instead of your own will. (Matthew 7:21) If you follow and identify yourself by your own desires, you won’t be able to be led by God’s kingdom. (Galatians 5:19-21) To be governed by the kingdom of God requires more than religious righteousness. (Matthew 5:20)

The kingdom of God isn’t a government established by people. It has no physical location or human hierarchy. (John 18:36) To enter the kingdom of God and be governed by His presence requires that we be born again by the Holy Spirt–that we be enter into a personal relationship with Him. (John 3:3-8)

The kingdom of God must be sought. Seeking it should be your first priority in all the areas of your life. (Matthew 6:33) Jesus sent His followers out to proclaim the government of God and to heal. (Luke 9:2) Thus the first Christians proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with great boldness. (Acts 28:31)

The kingdom of God is good news. It’s the essence of the Gospel. (Matthew 24:14) It’s the Father’s good pleasure to give to you His kingdom government and to lead you by His Spirit. (Luke 12:32) However, it’s not easy to be governed by God’s kingdom instead of by your own desires. (Acts 14:22)

“Emmanuel–God with us,” means the King has come to rule and reign inside of human hearts. (Matthew 1:23) Have you been delivered from the domain of darkness and begun to live in and obey the inner government of God? (Colossians 1:13)

Ancient shepherds were migrant farm workers. They got no respect as they moved their sheep from pasture to pasture, but people would have been hungry without them. Some of those ancient shepherds heard angles proclaim that the King of Kings has come to rule and reign inside of human hearts. Who knows what angels are telling migrant farm workers and other immigrants today, as they work in humble jobs. (“God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”)

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What I consume and store in my heart doesn’t come from the grocery store.

Daily writing promptList your top 5 grocery store items.View all responses

God has sent His positioning system to mankind! The Holy Spirit has come to be our GPS–God’s Positioning System. “Christ in you” is the living WAZE (the WAZE, the truth, and the life) who has come to fill you up with His presence and to directly lead you moment by moment from glory to glory into more and more of His hope.

It’s good to hear what a weekly sermon says, but it’s much better and more powerful to hear, follow, and obey the living Jesus, the perfect WAZE, all week long. Let’s go beyond what the sermon says and daily flow with what God’s Spirit says.

Christians need to be taught how to be taught and led by the Holy Spirit instead of merely by men. Biblical Christianity is so much more than lining people up in pews or chairs and preaching to them. The Bible says “Whoever has ears let them hear what the Spirit says . . .”

What a sermon says comes through a preacher, but what the Holy Spirit says is routed directly from God to your heart. Both can be helpful but it’s much more powerful to hear what the Spirit says and to read what the Bible says than it is to simply listen to what a sermon says.

The best sermons train people to continually hear what the Spirit says and to daily read and do what the Bible says. People who merely listen to sermons disagree with each other a lot, but people who consistently hear and obey the Spirit connect heart-to-heart and find themselves to be spiritually on the same page.

What one preacher’s sermon says frequently contradicts what another preacher’s sermon says. Thus, the world is filled with hundreds of thousands of independent churches and denominations believing different things, but the voice of the Holy Spirit consistently aligns with what God spoke to the writers of the Bible.

The sermon often says sit still and look like you’re listening. The Bible says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” The Spirit says, “Let Me lead you throughout each day.”

Would you like to be pure in heart? Only in and though the Spirit (the still small voice and WAZE of God) can you discover the pure version of who God made you to be. Hear Him speak directly to you.

Jesus said that our tradition can make the Word of God of no effect. Religious routine tends to lull us to sleep. When the sermon says to do what the Spirit says spiritual awakening is coming soon!

King Herod’s deceptive response to the wise men (the Magi) who were seeking the infant Jesus and the violence Herod later unleashed against the babes in Bethlehem show us that everyone who says that they want to worship Jesus doesn’t really want to worship Him in spirit and in truth. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit’s gift of discernment. The wise men had that gift and instead of reporting back to Herod after they found and worshipped Jesus, they obeyed what the Holy Spirit told them through a dream and went home another way.

Let’s not walk in the way of King Herod (and the Pharisees) and honor Jesus with our mouth while keeping our heart far from Him. Instead let’s boldly be led by God’s Spirit (like the wise men) and go another way. (See Romans 8:14.)

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The Man Who Told Me to Leap for Joy

Daily writing promptDescribe a man who has positively impacted your life.View all responses

A man told me to jump for joy when I am persecuted. I’ve discovered that obeying His words by jumping for joy when I don’t feel like it causes joy to jump into my heart and puts a smile on my face. It overrides my unpleasant feelings with fun and silliness. Hop to it and see for yourself.

Joy is like a jump ball. Leap up and grab it. Then pass it around.

To more fully enjoy life be a joy-jumper and a faith-leaper. Joyous jumping doesn’t require lessons. Simply leap in faith. Before you jump to negative conclusions, jump awhile for joy.

Sometimes a smile is just a hop, skip, and joyful jump away. Get a jump on inner peace. Stay one joy-jump away from sadness. Leap for joy at least once a day.

Perhaps the biggest leap of faith is to do what Jesus said and jump for joy when you are persecuted. Jumping for joy is seldom seen in adults (except for at sporting events and on TV game shows) They are generally embarrassed to jump for joy because they don’t want to hear anyone say: “Jeepers creepers — look at those crazy leapers!”

Spirit-led jumps of joy and leaps of faith are powerful exercises. They can turn spiritual couch potatoes into mighty Christ-followers.

Little children love to jump for joy, especially on beds and couches. Once they get started it’s hard to stop them.

Once I jumped up and down for joy when I was rejected. Then someone called the police on me.

I was selling books door-to-door one summer while I was in college. My company instructed me to overcome rejection by rejoicing and jumping for joy the next time someone slammed the door on me. (That kinda sounds like what Jesus said: “Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in Heaven.”)

It didn’t take long for an opportunity to arise. A man slammed the door when I told him what I was selling, so I jumped around and cheered on his porch like my team had just scored a touchdown. A few minutes a later police car pulled up beside me as I was walking through the neighborhood. Two policemen began to interrogate me about my criminal activities on that man’s porch.

I confessed that I jumped and cheered when he slammed the door and I told them that my sales company had told me to do it. One of them jumped all over me and then very seriously and police-like said, “We strongly suggest that you no longer do that.” What party poopers!

When you jump for joy your frown will turn upside down. One small step away from sadness can be a giant leap toward happiness. Jumping for joy can help your heart leap over sadness.

Jump at the opportunity to obey the Holy Spirit. (See Romans 8:14.) Wherever Christians gather is supposed to be a safe place to open your heart to God and to one another. It should be a safe place to leap for joy. Make it so!

A leap into the light will lighten your load. Jump out of your sin and into God mercy and forgiveness.

I love to spend time with people who like to pray aloud with me, who like to talk to and listen to Jesus together, who like to rejoice and celebrate His presence together, who like to pour out their heart in verbal expressions of adoration and praise to Him. I like to see people be so bold and moved by the Spirit that they even leap for joy in His presence.

If you want to grow
By leaps and bounds
Hang around
The risen Jesus
And jump
When He says jump.

To jump for joy
Let your heart
Always host
Father, Son,
And Holy Ghost.

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Picture Perfect Peace

Daily writing promptIs your life today what you pictured a year ago?View all responses

The Inner Light That Radiates from God’s Thoughts Will Guide You Home

Notice the thoughts within you that come from God. You don’t choose to think them (and you often may not even want them). They originate beyond your brain. They are wholesome and holy and call you to live a better life.

Many thoughts from God come to you every day but you mostly look away and let them pass by unnoticed. Those thoughts are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, full of virtue, and worthy to be praised. God-thoughts come to lead you to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Dare to daily listen to, be led by, and live by God’s thoughts that are always higher than your own thoughts–the gifts of hope and help that His Spirit speaks within your soul and your mind. Train your consciousness to hear Christ’s still small voice, to absorb and savor what He says within you, and to faithfully obey Him.

God’s thoughts enter you as words, promptings, sensations, images, insights, and more. You can also access them through the Bible. God-thoughts always align with the words that God spoke to and through the writers of the Scriptures. They come to exhort you, comfort you, and call you to open your heart to intimacy with and obedience to the risen Jesus Christ. Now be still and notice the thoughts of God . . .

I love to spend time with people who listen to and obey God-thoughts. They like to pray aloud with me, to talk to and listen to Jesus together, and to pour out their heart in verbal expressions of love, adoration, and praise to Him.

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Why We Celebrate December 25th

It's time to remember
Why we celebrate December.
Jesus Christ is Lord!
If you're a member
Of His body,
Don't be a cold ember.
Let your heart be tender
So He can make you whole
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Fine-Tuned Listening

Daily writing promptWhat skills or lessons have you learned recently?View all responses

I’ve been learning the skill of listening to the Holy Spirit. Here’s what I heard in my heart about the Bible as I laid in bed early this morning:

“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” (Joshua 1:8)

Continually quote the Bible. (When I got online this morning the first thing that I saw was these words: “Quotes to inspire you to try something new.” That describes the Bible! Quote it throughout the day!)Constantly ponder the wonders in the Bible. Do what the Bible says to do.

“You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.” (Mark 7:13.)

The routine of religious tradition distracts from the Bible. The lens of religious tradition distorts the Bible.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16.)

Don’t just be taught the Bible trough sermons and classes, let the Bible directly teach you. Don’t rebuke the Bible, let the Bible rebuke you.Don’t correct the Bible, let the Bible correct you. Don’t ignore the Bible, let the Bible train you how to live in peace and harmony.

“No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Set aside your own interpretation of things and replace it with what the Bible says. Let the Holy Spirit, Himself, directly interpret the Bible for you within your heart. Don’t study the Bible to prove your point. Read it with an open heart so the Holy Spirit can make His point to you!

Is Bible Study Biblical?

The King James Bible says: “Study to show thyself approved,” (2 Timothy 2:15) but the word study isn’t in the Greek. Almost all the other translations stay faithful to the original Greek and avoid the word “study.” The Greek word used instead of “study” means “be diligent.”

Because the King James translators put a word in their translation that isn’t in the Greek, many people have been misled to think that Christians need to study and be taught the Bible in an academic, analytical way. They focus more on searching for, evaluating, and/or memorizing information from the Bible than on diligently absorbing and applying the Bible in their daily life.

The Bible should be read with an open heart instead of with mental analysis. It’s a living book anointed by the Holy Spirit who speaks to people who humbly read its pages and causes the words to burn in their heart. The Bible is a love letter from the living God to soak up and savor. It’s not a systematic theology textbook to study and scrutinize.

To analytically “unpack” a love letter is to entirely miss its point! Set aside study and be diligent about devouring, savoring, and absorbing the Bible with your whole heart.

Jesus said: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He didn’t say, “Study the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

With all his academic study, John Calvin said: “”Ambiguity is the fortress of heretics.” He even ordered a man to be executed in Geneva because he disagreed with the other man’s belief.

However, I believe that Calvin was wrong. Ambiguity is the voice of humility and wisdom. It’s freedom from religious arrogance. It’s openness to being led and changed by the Holy Spirit. Christ’s parables were ambiguous by design. Love isn’t legalistic like the Pharisees; it’s merciful and forgiving. It boldly speaks the truth while overflowing with compassion, the way Jesus did.

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The City Set On a Hill

Daily writing promptWhat cities do you want to visit?View all responses

Here’s the city that I am eager to visit. The truth is, I try to spend all my time there every day. “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (See Revelation 22:23.)

God’s light has dawned in my heart, and I can’t not see it. I behold the invisible Lamb of God with the eyes of my heart as I look at the things that are unseen and stand in awe of His presence and power working within me day after day. “Christ in me, the hope of glory,” is the ever-expanding light that continues to find the darkness hidden deep inside of me and to drive it out.

Although at times I am tempted to quench (shut down) the light of the Holy Spirit, I do my best to continually surrender and submit my will to the great light of His inner shinning. Focusing on God’s inner light fills me with His hope thoughts and produces the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit within me. Always search for hopethoughts.

Biblical Christianity isn’t a pattern, a form, or a program. It’s “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” I believe that the three most important tools people need to use in order to mature and to grow strong in the light of Christ are:
1) Obey the Holy Spirit,
2) Devour, savor, and absorb the Bible, and
3) Open their heart up to one another.

The wind blows where it will. It doesn’t follow a human-led program. Neither does the Holy Spirit. Follow the light of Jesus, not a program. Christians can put on impressive religious programs, but we are called to put on Christ “and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (See Ephesians 4:24 and Romans 13:14.)

When you read the 50-something one another commands in the New Testament, it seems rather obvious that Christians need to meet more as a support group than as an audience. Corporate worship in the Bible is a simple gathering where Christians meet up with one another and with the Holy Spirit. It’s not an institution or a program. I meet weekly with some other Spanish learners that way. We gather without an organization in order to teach and encourage one another as we practice communicating with each other. I also meet regularly with various groups of Christ-followers to do the same.

Discipleship

This is the essence
And the evidence
Of discipleship.
Open up your heart
Until you can sense
Christ’ inner presence.
Then do what He says.
Let Jesus convince
You that He is real.

Christians are called to seek
The kingdom of God first,
Not religious programs
That happen every week.

The Holy Spirit
Doesn’t need to follow
A religious program.
He is the great I AM.
Let Him be your Leader,
The light of your life.