Steve Simms's Blog, page 31

Reduce the Clutter of War! (Wars and Rumors of War)

Is the world in a new landgrab? Russia is killing lots of people as they try to grab Ukraine. Israel has grabbed the Gaza Strip at the cost of the lives of many thousands of civilians. China is threatening to grab Taiwan. And now the incoming President of the USA is threatening to grab Greenland, the Panama Canal, Canada, parts of Mexico, as well as the Gulf of Mexico. This “gimmie gimmie” or else attitude has the world tottering on disaster!

These thoughts came to me New Year’s morning 2025 when I saw a picture of the faces of Russian soldiers lined up to be marched into war:

Soldiers when they were little children in their hometown wanted to play, not to kill and be killed. But now they’ve been trained to see things differently and so there will always be wars and rumors of war. Lasting peace will be seen as only a dream and Christ’s command to “Love your enemies,” will continue to be His most ignored words. Regardless of what other people do, I’ll pray Saint Francis’ prayer: “Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”

Some people are sent to go and die in war and some people get to stay at home and make money. A very few people who sit and govern in safety and comfort get to decide which people are sent. That’s never seemed fair to me.

Old soldiers may “just fade away,” but dead soldiers on the battlefield were quickly turned into corpses.

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The Attachment That Lasts

As human beings we get attached. Certain things and certain people get ahold of our heart, and we treasure them. But all of our attachments eventually come to an end except for one–the eternal attachment.

The Bible is the collection of thoughts from God written down by the people who noticed and discerned them. God’s thoughts are higher than human thoughts. They soar far beyond the cognitive knowledge of the mind. God’s thoughts are life-givers and truth-tellers.

God still deposits His thoughts in human hearts, but they mostly slip by unrecognized. Begin to notice and discern God’s thoughts within you. Let them carry, empower, and lift you up day and night.

God’s thoughts are abundant and precious. (Psalm 139:17) They are “thoughts of peace and not of evil” designed to “give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) God’s “thoughts toward us” are “more than can be numbered.” “Declare and speak” them. (Psalm 40:5) God’s thoughts are wise. (Proverbs 2:6) God’s thoughts align with the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Thoughts from God don’t come from human thinking or reasoning. They come by direct revelation from God. (Matthew 16:17) God is continually giving you thoughts from Him as He seeks to wake you up and show you His never-ending presence and reality. (1 Corinthians 2:9-13)

The thoughts that God deposits in your heart are the pearl of great price. Set aside all distractions. Notice, treasure, and savor the God-breathed thoughts that come to you. Stir them up. Keep them ever burning within you so they can inspire, lead, and direct you in all that you think, speak, and do. Be still and know.

Trust in the Lord, not in your own understanding. Don’t put your trust in horses, or chariots, or religion, or doctrines, or a pastor, or a Christian celebrity. (They will all eventually let you down.) Trust in “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” and His voice speaking in your heart. Discern and confirm His voice by making sure what you hear aligns with Scripture. Then humbly step out and lovingly obey what He says.

“You can all prophesy.” It’s plainly stated in the Bible. Don’t just be a spectator who sits and listens. Speak up and declare what God has said and done in you!

Jesus never said, “Come and take a seat.” He said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16;15)

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There’s Light to See Your Mission

Life without a mission feels meaningless. Without a purpose boredom and discouragement set in. Is there a reason that you’re here on earth? Yes!

How’s your appetite for the presence of God. Do you hunger and thirst to taste and see that the Lord is good? Do you draw near to God and press toward the mark of His high calling day and night? Or are you content to coast along though life and be distracted from Him?

Rank yourself on a scale from one to 10. 1) Your spiritual hunger is satisfied by attending a Sunday morning church service now and then. 10) You’re as hungry for God as someone who has been held underwater until they are about to pass out, is hungry for air? What’s your number? Is God happy with that number?

Secondhand Bible information won’t make you hungry. Firsthand Bible inspiration that burns in your heart will! Read it, ponder it, and savor it for yourself. Don’t just hear it filtered, processed, and presented through the mind of a preacher or a writer. Flesh and blood can’t reveal God’s word to you, but God can and will! Let God the Holy Spirit lead you as you read the Bible and directly teach you what it means. Let Him light it up with the brightness of His light shining in your heart.

Let the words of the Bible
Go directly to your heart.
You don’t need a middleman
To explain it secondhand.
The Holy Spirit Himself
Will help you to understand.

Let the Bible
Work directly
Inside of you,
Unfiltered by
Other people.
Let it show you
What to say
And what to do.
(1 Thessalonians 2:13)

When you pray
Make it two-way.
God will hear
What you say
But will you hear
What God will say?
Make the choice
To listen for His
Still, small voice.

Shine, Jesus, shine,
In this heart of mine.
Illuminate
The Bible’s words
So they radiate
Your presence
Within me!

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Are Daily Devotional Books (and Sunday School Curriculum) Overused?

Christian books and pamphlets called “daily devotionals” usually follow the format of quoting a Bible verse and then having a Christian preacher or writer express their opinion about it through short insights and catchy illustrations. Then they end with a brief, written prayer. It all usually fits nicely on one page, and they do one for each day of the year.

Many Christians read one or more devotionals every day. (Believe it or not, sometimes they even prefer reading a devotional instead of the Bible.) However, for some reason I’ve never been able to stay with a daily devotional book. When I read the Scripture for the day original insights come to my mind that are so inspiring that I have no interest in reading what the devotional author has to say.

I believe that God wants to speak directly to everyone who reads a Bible verse by giving them fresh, original insights and revelation as they read and ponder the significance of what the verse means. Try it for yourself. Open the Bible. Read a verse. Then wait and notice any thoughts that come to your mind about the verse. Read it again and again and notice what comes to your mind. Don’t rush off. Be patient until you get some insight. Then write it down. What you write will be much more powerful in your life than what some devotional writer wrote. Why? Because you have written down something that God directly gave to you — not some second-hand comment from another person!

And how about Sunday school curriculum? Most churches spend money on Sunday school curriculum. That is, they purchase booklets that have lesson plans and lessons that are written for a particular age group from toddles to senior citizens. Most of the Sunday school classes that I attended when I was growing up were nothing more than the teacher reading the lesson directly from the booklet.

One nondenominational curriculum is called “Orange.” I’ve always preferred “Black” — the black leather Bible. I taught Sunday school for many years. I always opened the Bible to a particular book and asked people to go through that book with me. Someone would read a few verses and then people were free to share what they got from those verses. I learned so much from the “students” in the class and discovered that ordinary people have amazing insights about the Bible. You will to if you will trust the Holy Spirit to teach and inspire you.

Version 1.0.0

All Life Long I’m Being Taught to Live Better

Are you listening to the Spirit? Spirit-taught words will unleash God’s living Word into your life. Notice them. Receive them. Embrace them. Savor them. Obey them. Let them ever burn in your heart.

The Bible is meant
To be Spirit taught
So you can live caught
In the love of God.

No mere human being knows God’s thoughts, but the Holy Spirit does. Through Spirit-taught words the Holy Spirit reveals to humble hearts things that no eye has seen, that no ear has heard, and that no human mind has conceived. The Spirit empowers us to comprehend what God has freely given us. Words taught by human wisdom can never fully satisfy your heart. (1 Corinthians 2:9-13)

Learn to notice, focus on, and obey the Spirit-taught words that God deposits directly in your heart. Continually absorb and savor the Spirit-taught words of the Bible so you can clearly discern what the Spirit is saying within you. Without the inner teaching of the Spirit the human heart stays in ongoing confusion and uncertainty. The answer for your confused heart is to humbly surrender to, embrace, and obey the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 9:14-15)

Spirit-taught words are living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. They uncover, correct, and replace the faulty thoughts and intents of the heart so that it can be unceasingly Spirit-fed and Spirit-led. (Hebrews 4:12)

When Christians are divided and separated into followers of individuals (such as Paul or Apollos), they are being worldly and ignoring the teaching of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:1-7) who is working to make us one body with the living Jesus as our only foundation. (1 Corinthians 3:11) All Christ-followers (regardless of their religious affiliation) are called to function together as God’s temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-21) Spirit-taught Christians experience a sense of heart-to-heart unity when they encounter each other.

One of the first lessons God taught me as a new believer was to listen to Him and be Spirit-taught. I was reading the book of Acts and kept seeing where God spoke directly to people. In frustration I asked God, “Why aren’t You speaking today?” These words immediately entered my heart: “The problem’s not that I’m not speaking. It’s that you’re not listening.” Those words still burn in my heart and motivate me to keep listening directly to God and being taught by His Spirt as I seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now I frequently quote the young prophet Samuel and say: “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.”

Dare to Do Differently (So You Can Be Unboxed)

There is a book that is full of seeds that can set you free from the things that are holding you back from a beautiful life. God wants to cultivate those seeds so that they grow into powerful deeds that demonstrate the reality, presence, and power of the risen Jesus in and through your everyday life. “Quench not the Spirit.”

To refuse to let the Scriptures lead you into direct interaction with the risen Jesus is to quench the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms the Bible from a tedious religious textbook into the living Word of God spoken directly to burn in your heart and be implemented in and through your daily life. The Holy Spirit wants to take the word of God off of the Bible’s pages and makes it incarnate within us.

The Holy Spirit powerfully uses the Bible in human lives. However, if we only focus on the Bible, we will spiritually dry up. If we only focus on the Holy Spirit, we can easily be deceived by the counterfeit spirits of the devil and his demons.

The Bible and the Holy Spirit work together. Let the Bible be the sign that points out and shows you the reality of the Holy Spirit. Read it with a humble, open heart as you surrender to and obey “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

If you’re not:

* Loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, doing good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled, (Galatians 5:22)

* Remembering the things that Jesus said, (John 14:26)

* Glorifying Jesus, (John 16:14)

* Hearing what the Spirit is saying, (Revelation 2:7)

* Keeping your mind set on what the Spirit desires, (Romans 8:5)

* Letting your mind be governed by the Spirit, (Romans 8:6)

* Obeying the leadings of the Spirit, (Romans 8:14)

* Being taught by the Spirit, (1 Corinthians 2:11-14))

* Receiving revelation of things unseen and unheard, (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

* Being consistently honest and truthful, (John 16:13))

* Putting to death the misdeeds of the body by the Spirit, (Romans 8:13)

* Walking in the Spirit, (Galatians 5:16)

* Living in the Spirit, (1 Peter 4:6)

* In the realm of the Spirit, (Romans 8:9)

* Being comforted by the Spirit, (John 15:26)

* Crying “Abba, Father,” from deep within you, (Romans 8:14)

* Manifesting the gifts of the Spirit in and through your life. (1 Corinthians 12:7-11),

. . . Then you are quenching the Holy Spirit. If you won’t let God’s Spirit lead and direct you throughout each day, you must not really believe that He is alive, present, and communicating to you.

Lord, give me the courage to continually listen to and obey You regardless of the consequences. Help me to stop quenching Your Spirit. I ask this in Jesus’ name.

(When a preacher’s job security depends on keeping a congregation happy with his performance, very few are willing to preach deeply convicting sermons and risk losing their job. I’ve had a preacher’s salary before and battled with that strong temptation to quench the Spirit and instead preach things that people will approve of. But I have no religious salary anymore.)

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If I had a Billboard, it Would Say, “Let Jesus be Your Pastor!”

Daily writing promptIf you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?View all responses

Be “led by the Spirit.” (Romans 8:14) Let “Christ in you,” (Colossians 1:27) the Great Shepherd of the sheep,” (Hebrews 13:20) be your pastor.

According to the Bible, pastors are not individuals who head up Sunday services (Ephesians 4:11). Jesus is “the Good Shepherd” (pastor) who knows His sheep and they know Him. (John 10:14) Jesus is the only Head of the gathered body of Christ. (Ephesians 5:23)

Pastors (the meaning of the Greek word is “shepherds”) are people who function, along with 4 other groups of people — apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11-12). Together they are supposed to train, equip, and build up Christ-followers so they can all minister to one another and grow “to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15)

Those functions are not official offices that are limited to just one person in each group. If you aren’t identifying one person as your apostle, your prophet, your evangelist, and your teacher, then perhaps you shouldn’t identify one person as your pastor.

According to the Bible, all Christians (1 Corinthians 12:7) are empowered to function with various gifts to the body of Christ as “the Spirit distributes them,” (1 Corinthians 12:4) under the plural oversight of people functioning as elders, overseers, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers who should train all believers to daily depend on, rely on, and obey the only Head in the Body of Christ — the living, resurrected Jesus. This results in Spirit-led worship gatherings that function according to 1 Corinthians 14:26 where “you can all prophesy in turn.” (1 Corinthians 14:31)

Take refuge in the living Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him deliver you. He wants to rescue you and to be your refuge, your rock, and your fortress. Let the risen Jesus ever lead and guide you from within. Trust in the Lord. Be glad and rejoice in His love. He sees your struggles and will not abandon you. Keep your focus always on Jesus so that you don’t abandon Him. May your heart always cry, “Abba, Father!”

According to the Bible, Jesus Christ (the great Shepherd of the sheep) is the only Senior Pastor. Jesus, Savior, I surrender my all to You. Lead me as my Lord; shepherd me as my Pastor! (If you won’t let Jesus be your pastor, you must not really believe that He is alive, present, and communicating to you.)

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I Try to Stay Focused on God’s Amen! (His Wake-Up Call in My Heart)

Daily writing promptDo you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?View all responses

God is looking for people to speak, to live, and to demonstrate the wake-up call of the word “Amen!” (What does that word mean?)

The word “amen” doesn’t mean that a prayer has come to an end. It’s an affirmation that declares “So be it/May it be fulfilled.” It also means “Get going with God and keep on obeying Him no matter what.”

“Amen” is a wake-up call to “pray without ceasing,” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) — a call to consistently “live by the Spirit,” (Galatians 5:25) by staying in conscious contact with God and demonstrating His presence and power in and through your daily life. It’s a wake-up call to “hear what the Spirit is saying,” (Revelation 2:7) and to affirm it by being continually “led by the Spirit,” (Romans 8:14) of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

“Amen” is a call to live a life ever overflowing with worship “in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).” “The four living creatures said, ‘Amen,’ and the elders fell down and worshipped.” (Revelation 5:14) “All the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” (Nehemiah 8:6)

To Jesus ”be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father.” (Revelation 1:6.) “May the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. Praise His glorious name forever!” (Psalm 72:19)

“Amen. Hallelujah!” (Revelation 19:4) “Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20) Let the risen Jesus unceasingly speak these words to your heart: “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.” (Revelation 1:18)

Amen! God is continually calling me to keep waking up to the objectivity of Christ in me as He continually challenges and dismantles my subjective desires, feelings, and opinions. God is speaking in the heart of whoever will listen. Will you listen?

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The Gift of a Calming Inner Presence

Daily writing promptWhat is the greatest gift someone could give you?View all responses

God has given me the greatest gift. He has come to live in and work in me. I’m standing on the living Word of In-You-Christianity!

Live in the In-You-Christianity of the New Testament:
* Let God shine in your heart (2 Corinthians 4:6), draw you near (John 6:44), and work in you (Philippians 2:13).
* Let Christ be formed in you (Galatians 4:19), live in you (Galatians 2:20), and be your inner hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
* Let the Holy Spirit witness to your spirit (Romans 8:16), teach you (John 14:26), and lead you (Romans 8:14) from within you.

Receive the testimony of Jesus, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God and let it effectively work in you (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Let Christ live in you and make you alive to the glorious reality of His presence (Romans 8:10).

What is happening within you is much more important and powerful than what is happening around you. Outer peace without inner peace is peaceless. The only lasting source of inner peace is In-You-Christianity–“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Open up and fully surrender your life to the risen Jesus so that He can freely work and live in your heart (Ephesians 3:17). Let Him keep you in perfect inner peace (Isaiah 26:3).

Jesus wants to be a spring of water in you welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14). He wants to release His rivers of living water to flow from within you. (John 7:37-38).

Fan into flame the amazing gift of Christ’s presence in you (2 Timothy 1:6). Refuse to let your heart grow cold.

If Christ is living in you, He’s not there to be your copilot or a silent partner. He’s there to interact with you day and night. He’s in you to actively direct your life and align it to His will. If Christ lives in you, it is so He can release the gifts of the Spirit through you. He’s inside you to produce and manifest the fruit of the Spirit. He’s there to empower you. He’s in you to activate and direct your conscience and steer you ever closer to full surrender and obedience to Him.

Boldly open wide your heart to In-You-Christianity. Hungrily read and devour the Bible and let Christ, the living Word who works within its pages, read you like a book and reveal His presence and reality to you throughout each day. In-You-Christianity is the answer that you’ve been longing for.

God’s not playing dead so that preachers can talk about Him from their head. He’s alive and drawing ordinary people to Himself so they can experience Him in their heart. Christianity isn’t an organization that you belong to or a meeting that you attend. It’s “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The College of Daily Life

Daily writing promptWhat colleges have you attended?View all responses

Perhaps the greatest higher education comes from closely observing and learning from daily life. Are you passing the classes in the college of daily life?

Begin to observe the direct cause and effect between what people think, say, and do and the quality of their day-to-day life. Notice that people reap a (good, bad, or mixed) harvest from the quality of the behavioral, mental, emotional, and spiritual seeds that they sow.

Notice that people who are deeply hopeful and happy have predominantly sown positive seeds. Observe that people who struggle with coping have mainly sown negative seeds. In a discouraging world it’s much easier to go with the flow of fickle feelings, cultural conformity, distorted desires, and tormenting thoughts than it is to (internally and externally) sow encouragement, kindness, and joy. Our society calls the disturbing and depressing harvest that many people around us are reaping a “mental health crisis.”

Life’s pain is designed, not to harm us, but to direct and motivate us to turn away from the behaviors, thoughts, and desires that are causing our pain and replace them with behaviors, thoughts, and desires that produce inner peace, joy, and contentment. With decades of experience of observing life, I’ve found the most effective way I can consistently sow positive seeds is to maintain consciousness awareness of God.

Cultivate God’s SEED in your heart through Surrender, Eternal Empowerment, and Demonstration:

* Surrender: Arouse yourself to ceaseless conscious awareness of the presence of Jesus.
* Eternal Empowerment: Always allow Him to freely live in and through you,
* Demonstration: Faithfully follow and obey the risen Christ as He shines on and daily directs you.

Surrender: The love of God is the addiction that delivers a lifetime of inner peace and joy. Open up and surrender your heart (moment-by-moment) to Him so you can experience and get hooked on His love.

There’s a happy high that comes from fully focusing your heart on Jesus, a buzz (oh that does) feel so good, a release of inner peace that doesn’t cease, a wealth of mental health. The missing link between you and great contentment is complete ongoing surrender to the risen Jesus Christ.

Knowing and growing in Christ requires more than religious analysis. It requires a surrendered, open, and humble heart.

Eternal Empowerment: Live your life by the internal leadership of God’s Spirit. (See Romans 8:14.) Don’t forget to regularly flush your heart. Always empty it of pride anger, resentment, and other ugly things so you can make greater room for the living Jesus.

Your state of mental health and alertness to God is determined by which thoughts you delete from your mind and which thoughts you download to it. Cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. Welcome thoughts from God. Resist the devil and his thoughts. Cast out the desires and works of the flesh.

Demonstration: The Holy Spirit’s new wine and rivers of living water aren’t just metaphors. Jesus said: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.” “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” Open up and partake. Ceaselessly savor and demonstrate God’s favor!

It’s truly amazing how focusing my attention on Jesus keeps me smiling and hopeful day by day (regardless of my circumstances). I think the same will happen for you. Try it and see.

Go beyond your head
Be Spirit-led!
Let your heart be fed
By “Christ in you.”