Steve Simms's Blog, page 289

Think outside yourself!

It ain’t over till you quit praying over it. Believe in God. Your self will let you down. Keep your eyes on the wise, not on the foolish. Let Jesus lead you from the mundane to the marvelous in your life! Think outside yourself!

If you keep doing and thinking the same things, you’ll never get different results. When disappoints pounce, let God give you bounce!

Persistent prayer can take you beyond excuses into the power & presence of God! Pray large & let your worries be small. Pray, worship, and pursue Jesus outside your comfort zone.

When the going gets tough & faith seems to falter; passionately pursue Jesus. You don’t have to do everything. Give up & let God do something!

Discipling isn’t filling minds with religious information. It’s filling hearts with Christ’s fire! Do the next Spirit-led thing.

Freedom gives us choice. We can follow & obey Jesus or we can do our own thing.

I love how Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as inner rivers & I love to let them flow. Through Christ we can continually experience an inner strength that’s not our own.

Jesus sends a friend request to every human heart. We can accept or ignore it.

Paul describes Christianity as: “His working, which works in me mightily.” (Col. 1:29) Early Christianity was vibrant, spontaneous, life-transforming, & world-changing.

Faith often starts with a single prayer. Why not say one now?

Let the Holy Spirit

Be in control

Freely flowing

In your soul!

A month of freedom (31 freedom thoughts)

A month of daily freedom thoughts to help you recover & maintain your freedom:

1) Freedom without meaning & purpose wanders in despair.

2) True freedom is the power to do right, even when you want to do wrong.

3) Freedom of the body is not enough. Souls need freedom, too!

4) When we’re captured & controlled by our cravings, freedom slips away.

5) The hardest place to obtain freedom is in your mind.

6) Freedom is when our desire to show that we care, overcomes our need to impress.

7) Is a nation that overflows with anger, violence, addiction, depression, & crime, really free?

8) Freedom is found when we begin to obey our conscience & to ignore the enslaving seductions of our culture.

9) Freedom’s not the rights to do what we want; but the wants to do what is right!

10) Unbridled freedom leads to unsettled & unhappy circumstances.

11) No on can be really free until she/he has inner peace.

12) Outward freedom is often used to medicate inner bondage instead of overcoming it.

13) To get your soul right with God is to step out of bondage & into freedom!

14) The one who lives on her/his knees before God, is free to stand with bold love before people.

15) External freedom + internal bondage = personal & societal chaos.

16) The free person is the one who refuses to follow evil thoughts.

17) If you’re caught in a thought or behavior, Jesus can break your chains.

18) Freedom’s just another word for victory over negative desires, thoughts, & emotions.

19) Without the inner freedom to forgive, we get caught in the bondage of bitterness.

20) It’s hard for people to get free from bondage that they enjoy.

21) The amazing freedom to change the direction of your life, does you no good unless you use it.

22) It’s sad to have political freedom yet still be stuck in inner bondage.

23) Jesus unlocked & opened the door to your jail cell. Will you exit it?

24) The ability to feel what you want to feel is an important & realistic freedom that we can all strive for–attitude-engineering.

25) The freedom to think before we speak is often ignored.

26) Like all freedom, the freedom to align with Christ is costly.

27) Open, heart-felt sharing in caring community releases freedom.

28) The rarest freedom is the freedom to avoid thinking, saying, or doing wrong.

29) A comfort zone often feels like freedom; but it may be bondage.

30) What then is freedom? The power to consistently hear & obey your conscience!

31) Too many people celebrate freedom from conscience when what we really need is the courage to obey our conscience!

A few bonus thoughts to help keep your freedom going into the next month (BE FREE WITHIN):

B) Be an inner freedom-fighter. Always go all out to win your inner battles!

E) The more elaborate & restrictive a gathering may be, the less freedom of expression.

F) There’s no freedom to swim, unless you get in the water. Christ’s living water is beckoning!

R) License / Freedom / Legalism — (Notice that freedom is balanced in the middle.)

E) True freedom is a personal battle everyone must either choose to fight or ignore.

E) License exchanges freedom for bondage to our own desires & compulsions.

W) Let Jesus change your chains into change-agents of freedom!

I) Give yourself the freedom to live a better life, no matter what others think.

T) It’s amazingly liberating when you refuse to take offense at what others may say and/or do to you.

H) Fear and inner freedom don’t mix.

I) Freedom is to be so caught up in Christ & His cause that you forget about yourself.

N) If you have lies to protect, then you’re really not free!

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The status quo is often a no-go to following Jesus

If we refuse to glorify anyone but Christ, the glory of God will fill a meeting. When no mere human is the “King” of a meeting, ekklesia can break through.

A powerful way to minister to people is to let them minister to you. If we followed preachers’ example, we’d all be giving long talks.

Seeing Jesus working in synergy through ordinary people as they are prompted by the Spirit, produces hearts full of awe. Authentic community is not hard to find. We just meet with some believers & let the risen Jesus lead us!

Let’s look behind, back to the book of Acts, & go beyond church as usual. Let’s go beyond formality to an ekklesia mentality & experience our commonality in Christ. Ekklesia is home, even if we don’t realize it. Perhaps we are all homesick for it. Ekklesia dares to let go of the status quo & follow where the Spirit goes.

Listen to me speak & you’ll soon forget. Listen to Jesus & you’ll be transformed. God designed people to need one another. Ekklesia gathers to meet that need. Ekklesia is a morsel & foretaste of Heaven! It allows Christians to be child-like, innocent, joyful, & honest with one another.

Christ’s body can be seen when Christ-followers interact in Spirit-led community. When some members of the body of Christ aren’t allowed to function; the body becomes lame. When the body of Christ meets together, all members need to function, not just one.

Ekklesia lets ordinary people meet & share “best practices” for obeying Jesus. Living to obey Jesus isn’t legalistic; it’s live-giving, invigorating, & joyous! Let’s allow Jesus to be Himself instead of trying to squeeze Him into our programs.

No one’s income level, professional standing, level of education, or social status matters in ekklesia. Ekklesia’s simple: Come together; listen to Jesus; all share what you hear. Ekklesia is when a group of people meet under the direct influence of Jesus without an intermediary.

Ekklesia is “the communion of the saints” sharing their hearts with one another. Ekklesia lets people experience the availability of God. It shifts your focus from a program to the presence of Christ. Without ekklesia we long for genuine, heart-felt community.

Ekklesia is about sharing common life–the life of Christ working in us all. Ekklesia makes God known! “The real crisis of worship today is…that people have no sense of the presence of God.” –R.C. Sproul

Church often requires people to leave their spiritual gifts at the door before they enter the meeting. Church tends to be about the “art” of worship. Ekklesia is about the “heart” of worship. “Modern worship has become passive—listening to a message and singing some songs.” ―Craig Olson

Church tends to take the things that God is doing in and through ordinary people and hide them behind the preacher. Just listening to a preacher often makes my heart lukewarm. However, talking about Jesus sets my heart on fire!

Passively listening to one person can be a unity mask. True unity comes when we share our hearts with one another.

“The force be with you?” is so impersonal. I prefer “The risen Jesus be with you!”

Beyond “services” to meetings . . .

It’s time to let God go & let Him take control both of your life & of His gathered people. Churches have services; but ekklesia & AA & NA & Al-Anon have meetings.

Practicing the presence of God by yourself is powerful; but it can be even more powerful in a group meeting. When we meet together to minister to one another and experience Christ together, Jesus eclipses our sorrows, trials, and sins. By ministering to one another as the Spirit leads us, we can hydrate our hearts with Jesus’ living water!

Big Jesus in control + little us in obedience = ekklesia! To gather in Christ-led community is to experience a life recovery group. However, when the spiritual life in people is kept on lockdown, churches feel the need to rely on programs. Lecture informs. Heart-felt, community interaction & sharing heals. The body of Christ has much wisdom; but only being taught by one person can lead to deception.

Church looks to one person for ministry; ekklesia looks to one another. When Christians meet to encounter Christ in & through one another, He shows up! I love it when a meeting is carried along by the Holy Spirit rather than following a set program.

Spirit-led choreography happens when believers come together & “keep in step with the Spirit.” (See Galatians 5:25.) An every-light-shines meeting can release more light than just one person shining.

In the body of Christ “members do not all have the same function,” so why do we make all but one, passive spectators when we meet? Perhaps instead of relying on a program, we need to develop Jesus dependency. People who are Jesus-dependent have amazing lives! When Jesus-dependent people get together & totally rely on Him, Heaven breaks out! It’s such a blessing to meet with Jesus-dependent people who are hooked on the King of Kings! Jesus takes us beyond emotional medication to spiritual transformation.

True leadsrship in ekklesia: “We rejoice when we are weak & you are strong.” -Paul of Tarsus. In ekklesia we are told to: “Value others above yourselves.” –Paul of Tarsus, Philippians 2:3

The Bible helps us distinguish between the voice of self, the voice of the devil, & the voice of God. I’ve found that the more that I read the word, the more it burns in my heart and works inside of me! The Gospel is “now revealed & made known through the prophetic writings.” Romans 16:26

Some people fear that false doctrine &/or sin may be promoted when Christians are allowed to follow 1 Corinthians 14:26. However, in our 9 years of meetings at The Salvation Army Berry Street we’ve found that ekklesia is one of the safest places from incorrect doctrine and sin.

As we begin with someone reading a Scripture each week and them move into anointed worship, the Holy Spirit begins to freely move among us. When the Spirit is flowing, rather than promoting sin, people begin to feel convicted of their sins. Rather than sharing incorrect doctrine, their hearts are opened to truth as the Holy Spirit teaches us through His presence and humility in one another. However, as a safety valve, we do have mature believers (the Bible calls them elders) who oversee the meeting (like officials in basketball), so if anyone does share something in the flesh that needs to be corrected, an elder can simply stand up, thank them for sharing, and then correct anything that was off base.

Experience ekklesia every Sunday morning @ 10:45 @ The Salvation Army Berry Street, 225 Berry St., Nashville, 37207. Learn more about it here.

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Ekklesia’s worth 1,000 words (#UnconferenceNashville quotes)

Church looks to one person for ministry; ekklesia looks to one another. Here are a few quotes from people who attended UnconferenceNashville @ The Salvation Army Berry Street June 23-25.

“Who knew? I thought that I would learn about ekklesia. It ended up BEING ekklesia. Thanks from the bottom of my heart to each and every one who was there or had anything to do with making unconference happen. Above all thanks Holy Spirit for moving me to attend. Thanks Jesus for giving me a glimpse of what you died and live for. Thanks Father for the strong, strong fabric of love you have wrapped your creation inside. Much love to you all!”

“This weekend completely blew away my expectations. Even though we aren’t perfect, at Berry Street we have a functioning Ekklesia. BUT – having 50-70 people, with like mind and hunger creates an environment where God’s presence is undeniable. It was like a dream come true having so many hungry people in one place. The immense love in the room was powerful and Sunday morning was probably the funnest ‘church service’ of my life. Can all of you just move to Nashville and we do this every week?”

“A strong theme was Christ being the Head of His church, and the Spirit leading His church. I found that I pretty much cried through the whole service Sunday morning. There is such beauty in seeing the Spirit of God lead anyone and everyone to build one another up.”

“This weekend filled me with such real joy that I am still riding the high this morning as I sit at my desk in California. I was also filled with so much faith and confidence that the Lord can really do anything, and that He actually WANTS to do so much more than I usually expect.”

” So thankful to have gotten to meet such special new brothers and sisters. Can’t think about your faces without tears in my eyes. Last night, I was mulling over the weekend and was experiencing such complete contentment – it was beyond peace. R and I had ekklesia all the way home and both agreed that we are so thankful to have met such treasures who walk around on the earth. There is such depth in each one of you. Thanks for being real and for being Christ. Talking with each of you brought such encouragement. Blessings.”

And here are a few quotes about unconferences in general:

“Unconferences are about empowering attendees to share their expertise. They give participants the opportunity to have an unfiltered exchange of innovative ideas.” –Rebecca O. Bagley

“The sum of the expertise of the people in the audience is greater than the sum of the expertise of the people on stage.” Dave Winer

“An unconference creates an egalitarian moment in time where people from all walks of life . . . can simply share, learn, communicate and grow.” –Mitch Joel [image error]

Thoughts from a Jesus addict

I’m a Jesus addict, staying high on Him & looking to start a Jesus epidemic! I’ve found that true happiness is addiction to Jesus.

Group meetings help Jesus addicts keep His fire burning in one another! O, what a relief it is to forget about self by focusing on loving Jesus & serving others!

So let’s put our religious docket in our pocket & plug into Jesus’ power socket. For a meeting to have a docket & lock it in, can often knock it off track with the Holy Spirit.

The Bible’s like a powerful drug. Soak up some Scripture & experience what it does! Jesus doesn’t just reveal Himself within us. He has also revealed Himself to the writers of the Bible. Their writings give us a solid objectivity to anchor our own inner perceptions of Christ to.

Jesus doesn’t follow our schedule; but calls us to follow Him! Shall we? It’s much better to fit your life into God’s schedule than to attempt to fit God into your schedule. It’s important we don’t confuse following Christ with following our own feelings & opinions.

Trying to schedule God is like trying to schedule the weather. It just doesn’t work! Christ puts His wisdom in all His people. Perhaps we could let them all share it as they are prompted by the Holy Spirit.

Too many people try to make Christ fit their lifestyle instead of making their lifestyle fit Christ! Don’t let your feelings push you around. Stand up to them & do what’s right! A person following his/her own opinions & desires is like a dog chasing its tail.

Faith is birthed through Christ-encounters; not just by theological reasoning! The more we obey the risen Jesus, the less we are consumed by self.

“Encourage one another & build each other up.” (1 Thes. 5:11) That’s what we do when we meet in ekklesia! Ekklesia meets with no itinerary but to hear & obey Jesus together as His body.

God is beyond human comprehension, yet my heart sings His praises! Then I strive to be faithful to the truth revealed in Scripture both in my beliefs and in my lifestyle![image error]

A poem about an altar call

The beauty of an altar call,

When people open their hearts

And respond in obedience to God,

Doesn’t have to be confined

To a few minutes at the end

Of a church service.

Why not open up the meeting

From beginning to end

And freely allow people to

Hear and obey the risen Jesus

The whole time we’re together?

(Learn more about this @ http://amzn.to/2tg8Uxi)

Faith is a fight not a fiesta.

Faith is a fight not a fiesta. To love is to care deeply about someone, even if he/she disagrees with you. If your heart is full of love, your words will be, too!

If you don’t learn to love, follow, & obey Jesus while living, why would you do it when you’re dead? If you never learn to be obedient & submissive to Jesus, you’ll always be a rebel against Him! Close your soul to evil & open it up to the glorious presence of God. Being a Christian isn’t an occasional nod to Jesus. It’s total commitment!

When church tries to please people; we forget about pleasing God. People pleasing is based more on fear than on love. Rather than trying to please people, perhaps church could challenge them to follow & obey the risen Jesus!

People pleasing can prevent church from focusing on directly hearing & obeying Jesus. When you truly love people, you do what’s best for them, not what pleases them. When you’re goal is people’s approval, you soon become a slave to their opinions. Be faithful to follow Christ & His teaching, no matter what people say about you.

Nobody is liked by everybody, so don’t waste time trying to get everybody to like you. Living to please self leads to misery; living to please God leads to joy! The Bible shows us “how to live in order to please God.” -1 Thessalonians 4:1.

If you read the Bible with an open heart Jesus will tenderly untangle your soul.

People who live for people’s approval are quick to accuse others of “judging” them. To do wrong & expect to have no guilt is like rolling in the mud & expecting to not get dirty.

If you’re not daily growing closer to Christ, you’re missing life’s greatest adventure. If you’re not wildly in love with Jesus, perhaps you’ve never met Him. The risen Jesus continually lifts me out of sadness and into gladness!

If you’re full of self, there’s no room for God. To ignore God is to embrace loneliness. “I am not such a lover of myself nor so vain that in order to avoid censure I would refrain from preaching Christ’s glory and strength.” –Hrotsvitha, a 10th century Benedictine nun & Christian playwright.

If you feel the need to use profanity, perhaps you’re trying to mask insecurity. Cussing is adolescent language. Profanity is hate speech, cussing others instead of blessing them. Lying is also hate speech; robbing people of their right to know the truth.

It’s incredibly powerful to be quiet & let God form words in your heart! Try it. If you dare to take time to be still & silent, God will speak in your soul. It’s beautiful to worship with people who freely open their hearts to Jesus and to one another.

God cares deeply about every person, which means He experiences the pain of tons of unrequited love. “The mercy of Heaven is greater than you or your sins. Let your sadness be dispersed by its glorious beams. Do not let apathy prevent you from seizing the moment for repentance.” –Hrotsvitha

Christians can meet together & experience the life of the Spirit among them. Let’s go beyond the tree of the knowledge of good & evil, & back to the tree of life.

Ekklesia is based on the life of Christ in our midst, not on our religious knowledge. Ekklesia is an agape-lab where the love of God can be openly experienced & freely shared.

Prayer sayings & inspiration

Prayer is heartfelt connection with God that goes beyond words. Jesus is my PrayPal. We talk together all day long!

Prayer is not Amazon Prime. It often takes more time.

Prayer is scrappy. It embraces good & refuses to be deterred by evil!

Prayer is preferable to panic. To pray is to admit that you need help.

What’s learned in prayer is hard to forget. Refusing to pray is often more a result of pride than of belief.

Prayers don’t need to reach the ceiling. God’s so much closer than that. You can’t out ask God. Prayer for beginners: Simply & honestly talk to God.

If you don’t believe in miracles, don’t pray for one because that prayer will miss up your belief system.

Here are more original quotes on prayer. (Is that an oxymoron?) Yes, I’m quoting myself.

Prayer’s not just saying; it also involves listening. Just saying: There’s more to praying that just saying words. Prayer is like breathing — pulling in God’s presence & blowing out self-will.

When my mind could make no sense of life, prayer brought me encouragement & insight. Prayer is the ultimate communication devise, sending to & receiving from God. A surge of prayer in your heart can give your life a brand new start!

Praying for others often allows you to feel a bit of God’s great love for them. Heartfelt prayer will eventually overcome & overpower self-focus.

3-step prayer: 1) Hang up on self; 2) Connect with God; 3) Follow His instructions. Prayer makes the heart grow stronger.

A prayer acrostic:

Please

Return to

And

Yield to God.

Prayer makes the heart grow fonder of God & others! To hear everyday people pray from the heart is a powerful experience.

Prayer’s not natural; it’s supernatural. Try it and see. When hearts open to God in Spirit-led prayer, His presence becomes almost tangible.

The Bible says effective prayer is fervent–passionate, intense, burning, heartfelt. Prayer changes you! Say a few & see! Let your pain produce passionate prayer.

Prayer is not limited to words. It’s a human heart crying out to God. The way beyond guilt & shame is not denial; but to humbly confess your sins to God.

Prayer, direct connection with God, can continue though out your day–24/7/365. “To pray or not to pray?” shouldn’t really even be a question! Every pain & every problem is an invitation for you to talk to God.

To ignore prayer is to isolate from God. To pray is to open the door of your heart to God. To dare honest, humble, heartfelt prayer is to become aware of God’s presence! Prayer is an experience of the heart, not just religious words we run through our mind.

Treat those who mistreat you to your prayers for their transformation. Pray with gratitude; not with platitude.

Prayer is not confined by time, place, words, posture, or circumstances. Just pray! When things are troubling you, take the trouble to pray!

As you pray let your heart & words go where the Holy Spirit leads you. To laugh at prayer is to declare yourself unaware of the transforming joy & peace it brings to multitudes.

A current of prayer flowing through your heart can be more powerful than the flowing of a mighty river. Prayer is a soul-opener, exposing your heart to the love & reality of God.

God’s love calls us to turn away from our rebellion and to draw near to Him. Instead of putting people down; put down their names on your prayer list. Pray for someone who has done you wrong & before long your bitterness will be gone.

Spirit-led prayer is a chain breaker, setting captives free. There’s no need to read or rehearse a prayer. Just share your heart with God. To pray is to open yourself to the possibility of God.

Ultimately, prayer is not getting what you want from God. It’s surrender to what God wants in you. If you let prayer burn in your heart, you’ll discover more than you can ever learn with your mind.

If you’re not growing through what you’re going through, you’re missing a blessing. What to do on a typical weakday: pray! Need someone to talk to? God’s listening.

The media needs to get in touch with the real world where most people pray! Lord, help me! (Just prayin’ . . .) I’d rather pray than make a wish!

“Prayer is where the action is.” John Wesley–founder of the Methodists.

Love is to care enough to let your heart be broken by the trouble & shortcomings of others. Pray that God will stop the demons of violence that are terrorizing the world.

Prayer is how a hungry soul begins to open up to God. Here are two amazingly helpful addictions: 1) Spontaneous prayer; & 2) Reading the Bible with an open heart.

When people don’t like what God tells them, they sometimes say, “God’s not real.” When people don’t like what Scriptures say, they sometimes say, “You can’t trust the Bible.”

What happens when Christians gather to pray as led by the Spirit? Learn more @ this link for my book Beyond Church.

Preachers interesting & ordinary people boring?

Church acts like preachers are interesting & ordinary people are boring. (It could be the opposite.)

Protestants made church a classroom. Perhaps church would be more effective as a prayer closet!

The body of Christ is a team ministering together; not one person doing it all. In the body of Christ, all are wiser than one. Much wisdom is lost by the silence of all but one man.

When church opens up to unplanned content, Jesus brings beautiful surprises.

The more unconfined church can be, the greater the freedom of the Spirit. Christians are called to meet for spiritual combat; not just to watch a USO show.

Church needs to open up to “user generated content” (UGC) & let people speak out. I love seeing Christ working in & through ordinary people as they share from their heart!

Social media encourages people to make comments. Perhaps church services could too. Ordinary people have amazing, God-given insights. Maybe church could listen to them.

When Christ’s presence is substituted with a program, ekklesia becomes church. Before church there was ekklesia. (http://amzn.to/2stxptp) The New Testament takes us back to the time when Christians met informally as family. When Christians get together & freely pray for one another, they go beyond church to ekklesia.

Taking turns in church lets everyone have a chance to speak. Then Christians can meet like a bar-b-q grill of hot coals & all fire each other up!

A Christian testimony is a glory story. Do you have one? Experience Jesus in the Bible, in your heart, in an interactive body of believers, & in serving the poor.

However, we still need the Bible as God’s revelation to help us avoid the deception of human opinions. Have you every heard of Bible heart-burn: “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us . . . & opened the Scriptures to us?” –Luke 24:32

To help and/or encourage someone to do wrong is not love. It’s enabling.