Steve Simms's Blog, page 3

Seeing Myself as If I’m On Stage

Daily writing promptWhat daily habit do you do that improves your quality of life?View all responses

Throughout each day I see myself as if I am living and doing all that I say and do on a stage, but not just any stage. I see myself on God’s stage. Because I strive to stay aware that God is constantly watching me, that helps me think and behave better than I otherwise would.

Since Christ-followers are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) we are not an audience of religious spectators. We are living today in this world on Heaven’s stage. Even the hairs on our head are all numbered by God. (Luke 12:7) Here on earth we are supposed acknowledge Jesus in front of people (Luke 12:8-9) and to speak about what we have seen and heard Him say and do. (Acts 4:20)

Throw off everything that hinders you from proclaiming and demonstrating Jesus to the world. Cast off the chains of your sin. Then you can with perseverance continually follow the script that God the Holy Spirit is laying out inside of you, by always keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus. (Hebrews 12:2)

Let Christ in you (Colossians 1:27) be the ongoing author and perfecter of your faith. Keep your mind and heart constantly focused on and always considering Jesus so that you don’t get tired of obeying the Spirit’s inner script, lose heart, step off of Heaven’s stage, and become a passive religious spectator. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

Christ is here
All the time,
Always near
To a heart
That’s open
To His love
And will hear
And adhere
To what He
Has to say.
(Matthew 15:8)

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Searching for a King

Daily writing promptWhat was the last thing you searched for online? Why were you looking for it?View all responses

Many people in the USA today seem to want a king. I too want a king, but I want a different kind of king. I want an invisible king who rules me from within. The last thing I searched for online were the Scriptures quoted in this post.

The kingdom of God is direct awareness of and intimate closeness to Christ the King. It is radical obedience to Jesus and to His will. Many hardships are required to bring a human being into the kingdom (inner government) of God — to full surrender to and alignment with King Jesus.

When your will, your opinions, and your desires are finally being broken down, the kingdom of God is beginning to break into your life. That’s why the Bible says: “The testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:3-4) That’s why Paul and Barnabas said: ” We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)

There are too many words about Christ without closeness to Christ. It’s time to embrace the inner government of King Jesus and to truly let Him be the Absolute Lord and Master of our life. (James 1:22)

Christ awareness
Is contagious.
Have you caught the
Fire of Jesus?
Christ-carriers
Can ignite you.
Faith is more caught
Than it is taught.
No mere teaching
Is able to
Show you Jesus.
Let Him reveal
Himself to you.
Seek and you will
Find.

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Open-Hearted Sharing Among the Tennessee Titans

As I read an article about the Tennessee Titans, I began to cry from deep within me. This NFL team is doing what I have longed for 55 years to see Christians do. The Titan players are opening up to one another and connecting heart-to-heart.

They call their unique approach to team building the 4Hs — Heroes, Hardship, Highlights, and History. They have divided their team into small groups unrelated to their football position. As the group meets and progresses week after week each person is asked to share about his heroes, the hardships he has faced, the highlights of his life, and his personal background.

Star wide receiver Calvin Ridley said: “I close the door, and I ask my group, ‘Tell me your Hs,’ and I tell no one to hold back to let everyone know what you have going on. Maybe we can help.” 

Rookie wide receiver Xavier Restrepo said this about the experience: “You have to know your guys on a personal level . . . that way when you are asking something from somebody, it is not out of disrespect. You know where they come from. You know their hopes and their heroes, and when in their life they have had a heartbreak.”

If it’s important for a football team to support and encourage one another with the comradery of honest, open-hearted community, it’s even more important for Christ-followers. I’ve searched for that kind of intimacy among Christians all my adult life and I’m sad to say that it is very hard to find. If you want a Spirit-led environment of open sharing, you usually have to create it yourself. Even then many people are threatened by it and do their best to stop it. That’s why the Titans article made me cry.

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Beyond TV I Listen to and Watch Christ in Me

Daily writing promptWhat TV shows did you watch as a kid?View all responses

“The Sovereign Lord is my strength.” “Jesus is Lord!” You’ve noticed that I talk about Jesus a lot. Here’s why:

* I can’t stop talking about the things I have seen and heard Jesus do and speak. (Acts 4:20)
* Jesus told His followers to go into all the world and talk about His Good News. (Mark 16:15)
* God the Holy Spirit has come into me and given me power to witness and testify about Jesus. (Acts 1:8)
* Christ has set me free from so much bondage. (John 8:32)
* I am a new creature in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
* I’ve been born again. (John 3:5-8)
* Christ’s words burn in my heart. (Luke 24:32)
* Out of my innermost being flow rivers of living water. (John 7:37-39)
* Christ in me is the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)
* Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
* I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8)
* Jesus has given me supernatural inner peace. (Philippians 4:7)
* “If I say, ‘I will not mention His word or speak anymore in His name,’ His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:29)

My Favorite Time of Day

Daily writing promptWhat’s your favorite time of day?View all responses

My favorite time of day is when the morning star welcomes the sunrise to enlighten, not just the sky, but also my heart. (2 Corinthians 4:6) Jesus is “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16) who welcomes me to experience and surrender to His presence because He is risen from the dead and living forever more.

Mornings are my favorite time of day because inspiring words flow as inner springs of hope and from joy deep within my heart. They wake me up to an ongoing awareness of Christ speaking and working within me. I love to listen to His voice and to post what I sense Him saying to me. These are words that came to me this morning:

Inner Springs of Hope

When things annoy
They’re a decoy
Distracting you
Away from joy.
Learn to deploy
Hope in your heart
So you can be
God’s envoy
And help people
To enjoy
Jesus’ presence.

The Simple Recipe of a Humble Open Heart

Daily writing promptWhat’s your favorite recipe?View all responses

Hard heartedness keeps people apart. It makes us suspicious of one another and causes self-protection and defensiveness to rise up inside of us. Hard heartedness keeps people in superficial relationships based on shallow triviality and away from the beautiful vitality of profound inner connection.

There is a simple recipe for moving beyond superficial relationships. Take the risk to humbly and honestly open your heart to people. Share your struggles, your pain, your hopes, your insights, your encouragement. Take off your masks and let people see inside of your heart. This is an incredible recipe although it is often frightening to implement it. To move beyond the fear, take a first step of opening your heart to God.

Get out of your head and into your heart. Daily notice and focus on what God is doing deep inside you.

Too much mental analysis of God produces the spiritual paralysis of merely scrutinizing the Bible without daily doing what it says to do. (James 1:22) God-lectures and God-experiences aren’t the same. Faith is more than hearing words. Let Jesus fill your life with God-experiences. Preaching that’s merely from the head without the heart burning with love for God, is dead. The proclamation of what God has said should never be dead, dull, or routine.

I have seen beyond religious routine. The scene I’ve seen is Jesus risen, alive, and working in and through ordinary people.

Worship is fire in the heart. It’s not merely a programmed religious gathering. “Fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you.” (2 Timothy 1:6 NIV)

I don’t want to hear a lecture about Jack-In-The-Box. I want to see Jack jump out. I don’t want to just listen to another lecture about God. I want to see God the Holy Spirit pop out of the religious box and freely manifest His presence, power, and love in, though, and among His people. I don’t want to hear a talk about ice cream. I want to taste and experience ice cream and enjoy it with other people.

I love to hear God the Holy Spirit speak through ordinary people — jars of clay — (2 Corinthians 4:7) and to watch them when they humbly radiate His eloquence. I love it when everyday Christ-followers take off their religious masks and let me see God in them. (For a biblical key to today’s recipe, look up 1 Corinthians 14:26.)

When the sunrise gets too bright for my physical eyes, I realize that I don’t need to analyze it. I need to let my heart look beyond such a glorious natural scene and behold its Creator.

Sign up for God’s Frequent Smiler Program. Watch your smiles grow! (1 Peter 1:8)

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The Last Thing I Got Excited About Was Astonishment

Daily writing promptTell us about the last thing you got excited about.View all responses

I woke up this morning with observations about astonishment dancing in my head. The more I paid attention to them, the more excited I became. After about an hour of lying in bed and listening to those incredible thoughts, I got up and wrote the following words. After posting them on Facebook and coming to WordPress, I saw today’s writer’s prompt. I am excited to share today’s amazement with my blog readers.

Learn To Be Flabbergasted! (Even By Little Things) Rediscover Your Lost Marvels

When we let explanations eliminate astonishment and we allow understanding to undermine amazement, we lose our sense of wonder and appreciation. That’s why illusionists don’t explain their tricks. They want their audience to walk away in awe, not to walk away from awe.

Explanations can tell us how the different aspects of the human body function, but they can’t make us treasure our existence. However, amazement and astoundment wake us up to significance, purpose, and calling. Marvelment matters. If you’ve lost your marvels search your heart until you rediscover the sensitivity of your childhood wonder years and it unleashes fountains of joy within you. Little by little cultivate the ability to receive, enjoy, and appreciate astonishment in the way that a little child does. (Luke 18:17)

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A City of Joyous Hearts Celebrating Kindness

Daily writing promptHow would you design the city of the future?View all responses

I’m looking for a city built differently. Like an ancient man who left his home and family to follow an inner calling, I’m looking for a city whose designer, “builder and maker is God.” His name is Abraham. You can read about him in the Bible. (Hebrews 11:8-12 and many other verses.)

To experience that city in your daily life begin to vet your circumstances in a different way. Instead of analyzing them with your mind or running them through your emotions, consistently say: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Habakuk 3:18) Regardless of the details of your life situation, nevertheless, continually trust in, rely on, and enjoy the presence of the risen Jesus. If you listen to and obey Christ, He will lead you and empower you to begin to experience the kingdom of God — the inner city and government of God that causes your heart to continually celebrate His presence and glorious reality.

Who Says?

Simon says
Is a game.
Jesus says
Is the way
To true life.
Every day
Listen to
And obey
What Jesus
Has to say.
In your heart
Jesus says
“Follow Me.”
Jesus says
“Stay aware.
My sheep hear
My voice.”
Jesus says
Let Me be
Your Leader
All the way
Everyday.”

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I don’t believe the origin of my name is definitive of who I am.

Daily writing promptWhere did your name come from?View all responses

As I watched dozens of tree branches in my backyard being moved by the wind, I thought about how beautiful it would be if people would allow God the Holy Spirit to move their heart and continually lead them to take the action of obeying His inner promptings. (Romans 8:14) That would begin to bring about the joyful kingdom of God both within them and around them. The answers to life are blowing in the inner wind of God’s Spirit.

Always seeking first to be led by God the Holy Spirit (surrendering to the inner kingdom/government of God the Father) brings astonishing purpose, meaning, and fulfillment to life. It makes your life like a glass perfume jar. God’s peace radiates from your pain and brokenness and releases a sweet aroma that anoints others with an astute awareness of the beautiful presence and reality of the resurrected Jesus Christ — God the Son.

Notice and obey the inner promptings of God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14) It makes Him sad (Ephesians 4:30) when you ignore or resist Him. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) Consistently obeying the inner voice of God the Spirit (Revelation 3:20-22) — Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) — will cause you to overflow with Spirit-produced righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17) and all the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) God the Father’s joyous and glorious kingdom will come within you when you begin to listen to His Spirit and to do His will on earth as it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:10)

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Reviving Crushed Motivation

Daily writing promptWhat motivates you?View all responses

When I am being broken and downtrodden, and my motivation is being crushed I am motivated by a guy named Habakuk and His deep reliance on and trust in the Lord. Habakuk said:

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
(Habakuk 3:17-18)

Lord, Like the group of Moravians on the ship in the life-threatening storm in the mid-Atlantic, even when I feel broken and crushed, I will sing Your praises with great hope, trust, and joy so that my life may touch and help to transform someone the way those Moravians touched and helped transform John Wesley. Lord Jesus, Christ in me my hope of glory, empower me to be faithful to You and to this prayer.

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