Steve Simms's Blog, page 37

My Favorite People Radiate God’s Glory

Do you want to experience the glory of God — to behold the glory of Another in humility and hiddenness? Moses did. He said to God, “Now show me Your glory.” Paul declared, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The hope of a Christ-follower isn’t just to cope and get by day after day. It is the hope of glory! That glorious hope is the reality of the risen Jesus living inside of you. It is what “no eye has seen, what no ear has heard and what no human mind has conceived — the things God has prepared for those who love Him — these are the things God has revealed to us by His Spirit.”

If you want to receive rivers of living water that release within you direct ongoing revelation from the Holy Spirit, begin to read the Bible at least 10 minutes every day. Let it work in you and touch your heart. Consistently do what God’s Spirit shows you. Then you’ll begin to daily live in awareness and awe of His glorious presence. Paul said that he thanks God “because when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.”

Christians need to daily read and obey the Bible, not just be Sunday sermon hearers. If I could get Christians to just do one thing, it would be to read the Bible at least 10 minutes every single day with an open, humble heart and then do what it says.

Daily absorb the Bible with your heart. It’s not enough to just analyze it with your mind (or to listen to someone else analyze it for you).

The New Testament
Is testimony
From the earliest
Followers of Christ.
The Bible is meant
To show the lonely
The living Jesus
And His glory.
It’s God’s written Word,
Not just an ancient
Document.
Humbly reading
The Bible daily
Won’t let your heart
Stay stoney.

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Am I One of God’s Favorite Creatures?

Daily writing promptWhat are your favorite animals?View all responses

Is God “well pleased” with me? I know that God isn’t perfectly satisfied with and delighted by everything I think, say, and do. However, I also know that He consistently loves me, even when I displease Him.

I believe that the belief that God is well pleased with me is dangerous. It can quickly lead me to the self-righteousness and pride of the Pharisee who believed that he was a good person and looked down on others as bad people.

A voice came from Heaven and said that God is well pleased with Jesus, but I don’t think God said that about anyone else in the Scriptures. To be well pleased with someone implies approval of their thoughts, feelings, desires, and behaviors. The prophet Isaiah said: “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and God has laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.” If God was well pleased with us, then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to sacrifice His life for us.

In some of my thoughts, feelings, desires, and behaviors I am living in ways that please God (and I should “do this more and more,” see 1 Thessalonians 4:1) but definitely not in all of them. I haven’t yet arrived at a heart, a mind, and a lifestyle that fully pleases God. I desperate need His mercy, forgiveness, conviction, and presence to continually show me where I am not pleasing Him and empower me to please Him “more and more.”

God loves all people and His heart breaks over our rebellion and disobedience to Him. He loves us and through the blood of Jesus He has made a “new and living way” through the veil that separates us from Him so that we can live in His presence throughout each day. However, when we avoid Him, ignore Him, shut down our awareness of His presence, or quench the Holy Spirit (even for an instant), He isn’t pleased.

Paul prayed for the Colossians (1:10) that they would “live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way.” However, I don’t know of anyone (besides Jesus) who has ever pleased Him perfectly.

I thank God that I don’t have to please Him perfectly. I thank Him for continually showing me so gracefully and tenderly areas when I am not pleasing Him.

If you have the risen Jesus crowded out of your life, make some room so He can step in and display His glory within you and through you. Mobilizing the masses of Christians to flow with the gifts and fruit of the Spirit has been the missing ingredient in the body of Christ ever since the institutionalization and formalization of church. Get going!

The cure for spiritual smothering
Is humble Spirit-led one-anothering:
“Love one another,”
“Teach one another,”
“Comfort one another,”
“Build one another up,”
“Pray for one another,”
“Exhort one another,”
“Encourage one another,”
“Look to the interests of one another,”
“Submit to one another,”
“Serve one another,”
“Bear one another’s burdens,”
“Care for one another,”
“Confess your faults to one another,”
“Forgive one another,”
“Be kind to one another,”

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Beach or Mountains? I’m Thrilled Wherever I Pitch My Tent

Daily writing promptBeach or mountains? Which do you prefer? Why?View all responses

In my heart I’ve pitched a tent “outside the camp” of the crowd of confusing and troubling thoughts that constantly try to harass me. There I “inquire of the Lord” and carefully notice the thoughts of conviction, wisdom, and peace that He deposits in my mind and heart.

As I am yielded and still, the cloud of His glorious presence fills my soul. I hear His “still, small voice” speaking to me “friend to friend.” Worship and adoration, like rivers of living water, flow out of my innermost being. There’s a “tent of meeting” with God inside of every human being inviting us to humbly open up and continually surrender our heart to His presence and reality.

When people personally and consistently experience God’s presence, power, and sacrificial love, they will persistently pursue more information about Him. However, when they are only given information about God, they will have little or no desire to actively, personally, and passionately pursue His presence, power, and sacrificial love.

The Bible can guide you to your inner tent of meeting. It is a collection of life-changing testimonies that are designed to touch and heal the human heart. It’s not a textbook of religious data to research and dissect with human analysis. When I read the Bible with an open heart, its convincing testimonies of the presence and reality of the living God thrill my soul and invite me to continually encounter Him.

Your mind can absorb and file data about Jesus, but only your heart can truly know Him. No amount of info about Jesus can impact your life like an intense inner relationship with Him can. Fully open up and surrender your heart to Christ and to His community of Spirit-led people. Let Him call you friend 24/7/365.

Begin to experience “encounter Christianity” — continuous close encounters with the risen Jesus. Then you’ll soon discover that inner demonstrations of God’s presence and sacrificial love are much more powerful than just hearing religious information about Him.

To let your heart
Live in and walk
Through the Bible.
All the day long
Far surpasses
Simply hearing
A weekly talk.

(See Exodus 33:7-11.)

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Feasting on the Presence of “The Top Three!”

Daily writing promptWhat are your family’s top 3 favorite meals?View all responses

My wife and I feast on the presence and reality of “The Top Three”– God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit–the Three in One! “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” God has “given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” “For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.” (Bible quotes are from the New King James Version.)

Jesus said: “I am the bread of life.” Routine church services are quickly forgotten but getting out of religious ruts and feasting on the presence of the living God, make lasting memories.

People need demonstrations of God’s presence, power, and sacrificial love more than they need religious information about Him. When people personally and consistently experience God’s presence, power, and sacrificial love, they will persistently pursue more information about Him. However, when they are only given information about God, they will have little or no desire to actively, personally, and passionately pursue His presence, power, and sacrificial love.

Jesus leaves
The ninety-nine
For the one
Who’s gone astray.
Who’s there
Pursuing you?
It’s Jesus.
He’s everywhere.
No matter
Who you are
Or where you run
You can find
Jesus, God’s Son.
To repent
Is to stop
Trying to avoid
His presence
And reality.

Engaging in behaviors that produce guilt is not the way to find freedom from guilt. Human anger is not the fruit of the Spirit. It has another source. Learn to continually feast on “The Top Three.”

I’m a Disciple of This Historical Figure

The process of shifting from self-focus to Christ-focus–from a self-centered life to a Christ-centered life is called discipleship. Discipleship is to come out of hiding and to learn to fully open your heart and life to the presence, power, and direct authority of the living Jesus. Discipleship looks “not at the things that are seen but at the things that are unseen.” It beholds and obeys Jesus, the Lamb of God.

Just before Jesus ascended, He told us to “Go and make disciples . . .” To make disciples is to train people to continually hear and obey the risen Jesus instead of their own feelings, desires, and opinions. A disciple is someone who continually surrenders the control of their life to the direct Headship and Lordship of the Jesus. Discipleless Christianity is unbiblical.

I don’t think that lining people up in rows and lecturing them is the best way to make disciples. The Bible gives a better alternative in 1 Corinthians 14:26.

I’m a content creator crying out in the wilderness of social media: “Make room for the risen Jesus to be the absolute Lord and Master of your daily life. Move beyond complacent and comfortable religion into a dynamic, obedient, never-ending, lively heart-to-heart relationship with Christ. Learn to decrease so that Jesus can increase in you and the devil and His temptations to sin will flee from you.” See James 4:6-8.

Discipleship isn’t a weekly Bible lecture. It’s an everyday lifestyle of listening to and obeying the risen Jesus. It isn’t boring. It’s joy-restoring!

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My Instincts Sometimes Stink

My instincts, feelings, desires, and opinions sometimes stink. I often have to refute them, deny them, and forcefully turn away from them. Christianity helps me do that. Christianity isn’t about justifying or excusing my faulty instincts, feelings, desires, and opinions. It’s about humbly laying them down and submitting them to the will of the risen Lord Jesus.

Christianity isn’t about counting down till Heaven. It’s about building up the kingdom of God in human hearts.

Christianity isn’t about religious information. It’s about inner transformation.

Christianity isn’t about passive church attendance. It’s about active divine assistance.

Christianity isn’t about a lot of rules. It’s about Spirit-empowered tools (the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit).

Christianity isn’t about a daily quiet time. It’s about all the time of your life.

Christianity isn’t about what you do without. It about what you let the risen Jesus do within your heart.

Christianity isn’t about a church building. It’s about people letting God build them together in Spirit-led relationships.

Christianity isn’t about compliance with a religious organization. It’s about real reliance and daily dependence on Jesus.

Christianity isn’t about religious favors that you earn by being good or learn about by studying. It’s about letting your heart continually yearn for an ever-closer relationship with the living Jesus.

Christianity isn’t about religious clicks, human politics, or calling people heretics. It’s about showing everyone (even your enemies) that the living Jesus causes you to care about them.

If Christians hadn’t listened to criticism about church the Protestant Reformation would have never happened. Let’s look beyond our instincts, feelings, desires, and opinions and put Jesus first!

I look forward to the day that Christians won’t be talking about what they heard in a Sunday sermon but that church services will be asking Christians to openly share what they heard directly from the living Lord during the week. Learn to listen to and rely on Jesus. He said: “My sheep hear My voice.”

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All Year Long

When is the best time? What is the best month to receive hope, encouragement, inner healing, contentment, and peace of mind? Anytime, anyplace, all year long!

When you’re awash in a flood of mighty waters, listen for the still, small voice of the Lord! When you are week find strength in the powerful voice of the Lord speaking within your heart. When you feel hopeless, focus on the majestic voice of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” When you’re chilled to the bone the voice of the Lord can break through the shade of the strongest trees to warm your heart. When you are confused and distracted let the voice of the Lord awaken your awareness of His presence with His lightning flashes of divine revelation.

When inner dryness surrounds and shrivels your soul let the voice of the Lord shake your inner desert and release His rivers of living water to flow from out of your innermost being. When you’re lost in one of life’s dark forests, be still and notice the sound of God’s voice so He can show you the way He has cleared for you. If you are a born again Christ-follower, you are God’s temple. Be led by the Spirit. Let all that is within you align with His voice.

Jesus said: “My sheep hear My voice.” There is no ceiling for those who follow and obey the voice of the risen Lord Jesus. “They shall mount up with wings as eagles,” and continually soar to new heights.

There is no floor for those who ignore or reject the hope-filled voice of Jesus Christ the Lord. They will live on the edge of the void of bottomless desperation one misstep away from despair.

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My Favorite Place to Go

Daily writing promptWhat is your favorite place to go in your city?View all responses

My favorite place to go is anywhere Christ is in control. I’m not particularly fond of paces, meetings, or events that are run by human control. However, I love it when individuals and groups of people let the living Jesus take and maintain control of the wheel. (For two practical guidebooks about how to experience Jesus taking the wheel, search for: The Joy of Early Christianity and Beyond Church Ekklesia.)

It’s time to let the risen Jesus be the literal Head (the One who personally directs and controls the body of Christ). Jesus said: “Do this in remembrance of Me.” What do we need to remember about Jesus?

* “Jesus Christ is Lord.” (He is supposed to be the one in direct control of His people both in their individual lives and when they meet together as His body.)
* “He is risen.”
* “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
* “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”
* “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
* “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
* “I am with you always.”
* “My sheep hear My voice.”
* He is calling you to “Repent,” and “Follow Me.”
* “In the beginning was the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
* “And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.”

Experience the Jesus thrill. Let Jesus step into and take and keep full control of your heart.

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The First Impression I Want to Make on People Is “That Guy Really Loves Jesus!”

People need to see people who love Jesus with all of their heart. Those people live and radiate Christ’s presence all around the world. Physically they look like ordinary people, but if you closely look into their heart, you notice a glorious mystery. Those people have the gift and art of beholding the Lamb of God (the risen Jesus) and demonstrating His presence in and through how they live their life. They are Jesus first people!

Jesus first people don’t use religious words for their own benefit. They embrace humility by leaving behind the boxes of religious boasting and self-righteous pride. Their lives are adorned with the fruit of the Spirit, the beauty of the Beatitudes, and the gifts of the Spirit. People recognize the character and presence of Christ in their behavior, their attitude, and their words.

One day Jesus stepped out of religion and into my heart. Now throughout each day He prompts me and leads me by His Spirit and shows me how real He is. I’m continually in awe as the eyes of my heart feast on His glorious presence! I want people’s first impression of me to be “I see Christ in you.”

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The Book of God’s Presence

I woke up this morning with this question in my mind: “What percentage of your life is lived without conscious contact with God?” Then these thoughts began to flow from me:

Life without constant contact with the living God is an empty shell. Let that thought jell until it rings a bell.Religious words without heart contact with God are little more than a hollow thud. Without intimate, personal, ongoing, heart-to-heart interaction with the living God, routine religion is just ceremony and formality.Ongoing heart contact with God keeps me passionate about staying continually aware of His presence. It keeps me full of joy, wonder, and awe.Far too many Christians have Jesus as their emergency contact, but not as their best friend and closest companion.In the Bible Christianity is about staying in constant contact with Christ, not about hearing a weekly talk about Him. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” That’s why Jesus said “Abide in Me.”Without constant contact with God, we become obsessed with, controlled by, and identified by our own desires.Sermons that don’t lead to ongoing heart connection with God are promptly deleted from conscious awareness.Guilt causes people to avoid heart contact with God by hiding behind religion or avoiding Him altogether. Humbly and continually receiving His forgiveness opens the door to constant companionship with Him.To stay in constant contact with God continually focus on and obey the “still small voice” of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”Heart-to-heart intimacy with the risen Jesus is the most exciting part of being alive!

Religion tends
To talk about
God as distant
And live without
Constant contact
With His presence.
(Matthew 15:18.)

God’s desire is to “dwell among” (and within) His people, not occasionally, not weekly, but continually. Until we allow the blood of Jesus to continually consecrate us and keep us pure in heart, we won’t be able to concentrate on Christ’s continual presence but instead we’ll settle instead for occasional glimpses of His glory and live our daily life without Christ beaming continually in our consciousness.