Steve Simms's Blog, page 52

Beyond Religion and Beyond Church

Daily writing promptDo you practice religion?View all responses

Rather than following religious rules, leaders, hierarchy, or organizations, I strive to follow and obey the risen Jesus Christ. I listen to His still, small voice in my heart. I actively resist my own desires, feelings, and opinions so I can more freely do what He tells me to. I read the Bible with an open heart asking God’s Spirit to speak to me from its pages and to make its words burn within me. This post explains how I try to get God’s message from the Bible, not my own or the message of any particular church or denomination.

Timothy, the Holy Spirit, and the Letter from Jerusalem’s “Esteemed Leaders”

The message sent from the “sent ones” (apostles) and spiritually mature older believers (elders) in Jerusalem was written in a letter that is recorded in Acts 15:23-29. In Acts 16:1-5, Paul is delivering that letter’s message in the small towns of Derby and Lystra. The message said that Gentle Christians were not to be burdened with any of the Jewish ritual laws “beyond the following requirements. You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.”

That message meant that Gentile believers didn’t need to be circumcised. Yet Paul, when he wanted to invite Timothy (who was uncircumcised) to travel with him “circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area.” Then “they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey.”

What a mystery? Why did Paul circumcise Timothy in order to satisfy the Jewish believers in the area at the same time he was delivering the message that Gentile Christians didn’t need to be circumcised?

In the next section (Acts 16:6-10) we see that the Holy Spirit was actually preventing Paul and Timothy from preaching in certain places until Paul had a vision that told them to preach in Macedonia: “Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia . . . After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

It appears that Paul trusted the Holy Spirit and followed the Spirit’s leadings more than he trusted and followed human leaders. Here is another example: Speaking about food offered to idols, Paul says: “We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.” (See 1 Corinthians 8:8.) Because of that Paul could write this in Romans 14:15-21: “If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore, do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval. Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.”

Here Paul explains how he saw the “esteemed leaders in Jerusalem. “I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message.” (Galatians 2:1-6.) Since Paul states that he sees all Christ-followers as equally favored by God, he doesn’t appear to recognize the leaders in Jerusalem as a religious hierarchy or clergy class having authority over him.

It is interesting that Paul goes on to add something that isn’t included in the Jerusalem letter at all: “All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.” (Galatians 2:10.) (They must have asked this separately.)

Jesus Himself, said: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28.) I believe that Scriptures show that Jesus wants the members of his body to be Spirit-led, not hierarchy led. Paul said: “As many as are led by the Spirit are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14.)

Here is Paul’s summary: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” (Galatians 5:13:18.)

Paul didn’t just blindly follow what leadership said. He did what the Holy Spirit said. Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia. Also search for: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.

Life Before Digital Platform Pride

Daily writing promptDo you remember life before the internet?View all responses

Humans have always found avenues for pride, but the internet’s digital platforms for pride take the cake. Now we’re bombarded by boasting day and night. Egocentric pontifications abound. Humility seems to be gone with the wind. The online pride factories have flooded our culture with their overly pitched products. Pride loves its new platforms where it’s never forced to verify its claims or to say it’s sorry.

Pride never does some things. It never weeps for mercy because it is too busy blaming others and pompously justifying itself. It scorns those who mourn and calls them weak.

Pride never pleads with tears for deliverance flooding itself with weeping. It denies its wrongdoing, its misery and its insecurity. Pride never wears itself out with groaning, grows weak with sorrow, or humbly admits to agony and anguish over its own wickedness. It refuses to separate itself from evil. (See Psalm 6.)

Pride never asks for forgiveness. Brokenness does; it’s a pride-buster! Poverty of spirit has no hope but God. It mourns with meekness, hungers and thirsts for righteousness, and continually gives in to the present and active kingdom, government, and control of the living “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Until pride is cast aside, humans will be trapped in the riptide of evil. They will forever hide inside themselves and never surrender to the glorious love and liberty of God’s presence and light. They won’t deny self-focus, take up their cross, or obey their conscience and the inner nudgings of Christ speaking within them.

Christianity isn’t about how much Bible info you know. It’s about how freely you flow with God’s Spirit and humbly obey His promptings. (Instead of encouraging people to obey the inner leadings of God’s Spirit churches prefer a planned and programmed presentation.) The more you humbly focus your attention on the risen Jesus, the more you will be aware of His presence and His nudgings. Listen to and obey Christ’s still, small voice right now. Let it override your pride.

[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." data-large-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." src="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." alt="" class="wp-image-39889" />Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Spending My Life Training to be Good at This

Daily writing promptWhat are you good at?View all responses

Deep inside myself, I want to be a good follower. I want to set aside my own thoughts, desires, feelings, and opinions and follow those of another instead. However, there’s something else in me that wants my own way. I have to battle every day and fight an inner fight to deny myself and to seek to be a faithful Christ-follower. I train day and night to be a Spirit-led disciple of Christ. I give my all trying not to miss, ignore, or disobey the inner leadings of God’s Spirit.

This morning this poem came to me. I call it: “Don’t Miss Today’s Spirit Nudges.”

God’s Spirit speaks.
God’s Spirit nudges
God’s Spirit can free us
From all our grudges.

God’s Spirit leads.
God’s Spirit flows.
God’s Spirit shows
That Jesus rose!

God’s Spirit prompts
God’s Spirit guides
God’s Spirit wants
To align our strides.

To receive the power
Of God’s Spirit
Obey His prompting
When you hear it.

Then you’ll be His witness
Demonstrating His love,
The miracle of His presence,
And His power from above.

Let the risen Jesus
Talk inside of your heart.
Follow the nudgings
That He imparts.

[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." data-large-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." src="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." alt="" class="wp-image-39882" />Photo by Eugene Lisyuk on Pexels.com

Getting All the Insight and Revelation That I Can

Daily writing promptWhat does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?View all responses

I want to have all the insight and revelation that I can. That’s why I am an avid reader and why I love to listen to people tell me about their life and their thoughts.

There’s an account in the Bible where Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement in Antioch and went their separate ways. Their disagreement wasn’t about doctrine. It was about a person’s behavior–how John Mark had abandoned them on their first Spirit-led journey. Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance, but Paul didn’t. The Christ-followers in Antioch gave Paul and his new ministry companion, Silas, their blessing. However, Barnabas and John Mark apparently left without it.

Early church history presents John Mark as the author of the Gospel of Mark. In 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul tells Timothy: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is useful to me for ministry (NKJV).” Many Bible scholars believe that Paul is asking for John Mark.

In the body of Christ, we can be useful to one another even when we disagree. I have learned so much from Christians I disagree with. I’ve been an avid reader of church history and of Christian writers living and dead, even when I don’t fully agree with them. I’ve found them all to be “useful to me for ministry.” The Holy Spirit has deeply touched my heart through the writings of “the church fathers,” ancient orthodox monks in the “Philokalia,” church historians, the Franciscans, the Moravians, the Catholic mystics, the Protestant Reformers, the Anabaptists, the Pietists, the Puritans, the Quakers, the Methodists, the Wesleyan Holiness writers, the Pentecostals, the charismatics/evangelicals, and too many more to name.

Christians need to frequently hear Spirit-led insights from many diverse Christ-followers. They can do that through the writings I just mentioned. They can also do that by listening to more than one person on Sunday mornings. When they gather for worship, they can open up the meeting and let anyone present speak as prompted by the Holy Spirit. I seek out those kinds of gatherings because hearing ordinary Christ-followers share from their heart as led by the Spirit has been one of the most useful things ever in growing my relationship with the risen Jesus. (As the early Pentecostals used to say: “The fire of God is more caught than taught.”) Continually expose yourself to it!

I always test what I hear and/or read to the Bible. If it contradicts the Word I set it aside. If it aligns with the Bible, I embrace it and try to live it out in my daily life.

As you daily watch
Your time unwind
Don’t neglect to find
Plenty of time
To always bind
Your heart to Jesus.

Life without
A Jesus focus
Is hocus pocus.
Make Christ your locus
Of control.
So Jesus can be
What your life’s about.

The thinker who thinks there is no such thing as free will is thinking that his own thinking isn’t truly thinking but only programming that passively passes through his brain. Use your free will to follow and obey the risen Jesus. There’s so much anointed wisdom in the body of Christ. Don’t overlook it!

I’d Like to Talk to You

Daily writing promptWho would you like to talk to soon?View all responses

May I talk to you through this post? There’s so much more to Christianity than churches portray. (If the only Christianity I ever saw was a typical church service, I wouldn’t want it.) I love Spirit-led Christianity where people are free and courageous to humbly open their heart up to the risen Jesus and to one another and then to speak as God’s Spirit prompts them.

There was no one-man-preacher monopolizing the church service in Acts 15:35. “Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord.” Guest speakers were sent home, and the body of Christ was opened up for many other people to share what the Holy Spirit was giving them.

What did the Holy Spirit do in Antioch? I believe that Paul explains that in 1 Corinthians 14:26 when he writes about what the Spirit did in Corinth: “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the ekklesia (the open-sharing-based town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities) may be built up.”

Let’s make plenty of room for the direct leading of the Spirit and the open sharing of the supernatural love and visionary insights of all God’s people. Let’s release people from being spectators visiting a religious monument and free them up to individually flow with the powerful movement of God’s Spirit as they openly share what He is showing them.

On again off again Christianity is turned on on Sunday mornings and off most of the rest of the week. Constant Christianity is never set aside or ignored.

The Most Important Citizenship in the World

I have two citizenships, one for the United States and the other for Heaven. One citizenship is temporary; the other is forever.

The United States and all countries worldwide are temporary and greatly flawed. They all need much supernatural healing and transformation. They need to be made great in love, justice, humility, and righteousness so that they can begin to reflect the beauty and reality of the truly great and never-ending government–the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of God is eternal, and countries are temporary. I believe that when the Christian flag and a country’s flag are flown together the Christian flag should always be flown above the country’s flag.

The nationalism of the kingdom of God embraces all people with love, kindness, forgiveness, and mercy. It welcomes everyone who wants to come to live under and submit to the presence, authority, and government of the living God who tenderly calls all people to align with His will as He speaks in and to their soul. “Come unto Me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Christianity isn’t about politics, sermons, or discussion topics. It’s about “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” “Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you.” When Christians lose sight of Christ’s inspiring insights they get caught up in rules, regulations, and organizational structures.

Spend (all your) time with God. Let no moment pass without being aware of His presence. Open the floodgates within you and let Christ continually pour forth from your heart.

Christ-followers, beware of quick accusers. Cheaters quickly accuse people of cheating. Liars rapidly call people liars. Crooked people rush to label people crooked.

[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." data-large-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." src="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." alt="" class="wp-image-39863" />Photo by Tyler Leigh Vivier on Pexels.com

The Personal Belonging That Most Impacts My Life

Daily writing promptWhat personal belongings do you hold most dear?View all responses

I have a personal belonging that powerfully enriches and empowers my life every single day. I keep in out in the open on a table by a comfortable chair. It is physically small, but its daily impact on me has been huge ever since I was 19 years old.

I’m talking about my Bible. I’ve worn out several copies through the years, but which ever one I’m using at the time is definitely my prized possession. Fortunately, I live in a country where I am allowed to own one and to read it as often as I want. In many countries it is illegal to own one or read one and people who break that law are severely punished and even executed.

I read my Bible every day for at least 5 minutes, often longer, and sometimes much longer. As I read it the words usually (but not always) burn in my heart and make me aware of the presence and reality of the living God. The Bible gives me amazing inner peace, but it also instructs me, shows me where I’m wrong, and challenges me to turn away from my wrongful thoughts and actions.

Over the years the Bible has helped me to follow and obey the risen Jesus closer and closer. I’ve never found another book (and I have read thousands of books) that has had anywhere close to the impact that the Bible has on me.

Here’s an example. The shortest letter in the New Testament only has 7 verses, yet it helped set me free from religious traditions and formalism so that I could more closely and freely follow the risen Jesus.

The apostles (sent ones) and elders (spiritually mature older Christ-followers) in Jerusalem (the center of Jewish Christianity) wrote a letter that freed Christianity from the treasured religious traditions and demands of Jewish ritual and regulations. Instead of just following their own desires and opinions, the sent ones and the spiritually mature older Christ-followers in Jerusalem agreed with and embraced what “seemed good to the Holy Spirit.” (See Acts 15:22-29.)

Their letter opened up faith in Christ to everyone regardless of their religious background. It set non-Jewish people free to directly and continually follow and obey the risen Jesus without the burden of being compelled to adhere to religious rites or a human hierarchy. Because of that liberating letter Paul, a sent one, could later write to the diverse group of Christ-followers in Rome: “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” The Bible has taught (and continues to teach) me to be Spirit-led day and night. I highly recommend it!

[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." data-large-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." src="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." alt="" class="wp-image-39856" />Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com

Collecting Original Thoughts

Daily writing promptDo you have any collections?View all responses

I love my collection of original thoughts. Currently my blog has 4,278 posts that are mostly filled with original thoughts. Here are the ones that assembled together in my mind and heart this morning:

God wants to rebuild, restore, and release the aqueducts that carry His rivers of living water that Jesus promised would flow from within the inner most being of His followers. Church shouldn’t make it difficult for people to seek the Lord and to freely obey and flow with God’s spirit when they gather in Christ’s name. Church should never quench, hinder, or interrupt the Holy Spirit.

It takes great care, much courage, and extreme humility to let the Holy Spirit freely flow in a gathering of Christ-followers. It’s essential that churches move beyond formalized orthodoxy that replaces spiritual fire with mere mental ascent to doctrines and creeds. Instead, it is time to stir up and ignite the words of orthodoxy to burn in people’s heart and continually transform their life.

Christians need to be on the right side of Christ’s living presence, not just promoting “a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.” We need to align and be ever led by Christ’s active presence and by His Gospel story.

Churches offer people religious programming but what people need is real demonstrations of the presence of the risen Jesus. Religious programming is often a cork that bottles up and shuts down the flow of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants to interrupt our religious programming with His real presence and with His own voice. If Christ is in you, don’t keep Him bottled up. Let Him continually flow out.

We live in a culture where many people insist that you approve of and applaud their behaviors. If you suggest what you believe is a better way than the way they have chosen, then people often accuse you of hating them. From a lifetime of Bible study, church history study, and fresh ways of relating to the living Jesus that keep my heart on fire for Him and aware of His presence, I have found a beautiful relationship with Jesus that I don’t get from any amount of religious programming. I’m so excited about relating directly to Jesus in a heart-to-heart way that I want to shout it from the housetops (even though some people accuse me of being on the wrong side of religion). There are so many much more powerful ways of relating to the risen Jesus and enjoying His presence than religious programming. Don’t miss out on the other powerful ways of experiencing Jesus, such as: Spirit-prompted testimonies, praying out loud with other people, words of knowledge, prophesying, opening your heart to the risen Jesus and to His followers, words of wisdom, open sharing, openly confessing and repenting of sin, obeying the Holy Spirit no matter how uncomfortable it makes you, and devouring the Bible daily with an open heart, etc.

[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." data-large-file="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." src="https://hopethoughts.com/wp-content/u..." alt="" class="wp-image-39850" />Photo by Hert Niks on Pexels.com

I want to leave a living legacy, not just lovely memories.

Daily writing promptWhat is the legacy you want to leave behind?View all responses

When I’m gone, I want to leave a living legacy, not just lovely memories. I want to leave a movement. I want to inspire people to listen to the living Jesus and to daily follow and obey Him in the way He personally directs them. That’s why I write the way I do. I want to help people wake up to the glorious reality and powerful presence of the living resurrected Jesus Christ so that they can overflow with the beautiful characteristics of the fruit of His Spirit and demonstrate to hurting people that “Christ in you” is indeed “the hope of glory.” If that happens a living Spirit-led movement will begin, grow, and spread far and wide that will heal and restore multitudes of broken hearts and lives.

Just Jesus!
He alone
Is the way.
Treasure Him,
Follow Him,
Obey Him,
Worship Him,
Night and day.
Set aside
Opinions.
Faith isn’t
About them.
Keep your heart
Always filled
To the brim,
Overflowing
With Him!

Going in and out
Of church doors
Once a week
Can give you
A religious tweak,
But what this world
That is so bleak
Needs you to seek
Is to hear
Jesus speak
Directly in
Your heart
Until His light
Shines from your cheek
And you reflect
His mystique
In all you say and do.

Church attendance isn’t a replacement for moment-by-moment surrender to the risen Jesus. Sermons that are focused on the mind, might teach a mind some religious information, however God is after people’s heart. We are supposed to love the Lord with our mind, but also with our heart. Jesus quoted this verse: “This people honors Me with their lips (their religious form) but their heart is far from Me” If a sermon doesn’t draw people’s hearts into passionate focus on and intimate surrender to the living God, it’s just a dry religious lecture.

If our modern sermons are effective, why is church in decline and why aren’t churches influencing the culture toward godliness instead of being brainwashed into compromise by the culture? If sermons are effective, why aren’t we seeing the kind of spiritual awakening we see in the book of Acts? If sermons are effective, why is it a running joke that people sleep through them? If sermons are effective, why are they so quickly forgotten? If sermons are effective, why are people eager for them to end at a prescribed time?

One of history’s biggest church critics almost singlehandedly made a sermon the center of a modern church service. His name is Martin Luther and prior to his time church services were centered around bread and wine and liturgical words, garments, and actions. However, in the earliest days of Christianity worship was focused on the presence and control of the risen Jesus in and through the direct leading of the Holy Spirit.

We live in a culture where many people insist that you approve of and applaud their behaviors. If you suggest what you believe is a better way than the way they have chosen, then people often accuse you of hating them. From a lifetime of Bible study, and church history study, and from ways of relating to the living Jesus that keep my heart on fire for Him and aware of His presence, I have found a beautiful relationship with Jesus that I don’t get from any amount of sermon-hearing. I’m so excited about relating directly to Jesus in a heart-to-heart way that I want to shout it from the housetops! There are so many much more powerful ways of relating to the risen Jesus and enjoying His presence than hearing a weekly sermon. Listen to and preach all the sermons you want, but please don’t miss out on the other powerful ways of experiencing Jesus, such as: Spirit-prompted testimonies, praying out loud with other people, words of knowledge, prophesying, words of wisdom, open sharing, openly confessing and repenting of sin, obeying the Holy Spirit no matter how uncomfortable it makes you, devouring the Bible daily with an open heart, etc.

I’ve not broken a bone, but I’ve been a dry bone.

Daily writing promptHave you ever broken a bone?View all responses

I’ve never broken a bone. However, I was once a hopeless dry bone. Let me explain:

One day a man named Ezekiel had a vision of a valley of dry bones and he heard a question in his mind: “Can these bones live?”

While he was pondering the question, Ezekiel had this thought go through his mind: “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.'”

So, Ezekiel prophesied and as he did the dry bones began to come together in his vision and they were covered with flesh and skin. Then they begin to breathe and stood up as a vast army.

Then God told Ezekiel that those bones are God’s people. He told him that their bones are dried up and their hope is gone. God also told Ezekiel that He will put His Spirit in His people and they will live.

When my bones were dried up and my hope was gone, Jesus Christ put His Spirit in me, and I begin (for the first time) to truly live. That was many years ago and I’ve never been the same. The power of Pentecost (when Jesus put His Spirit in His first followers) has never left me and never died down within me. Now I’m over the wall for Jesus.

The big lie of organized Christianity is to make people believe that they are dry bones, and that God almost never speaks directly to an ordinary person’s heart. Because Christians have been trained to believe that God isn’t speaking personally to them, they rarely hear Him.

Churches make a big deal about the day of Pentecost but mostly ignore the message of Pentecost: God’s Spirit has come to make us live and to directly and personally lead us! Why Pentecost? The Holy Spirit didn’t come to be an occasional sermon topic. He came to directly rule and reign over all Christ-followers.

Churches aren’t supposed to program and control the Holy Spirit. When they do they create dry bones. The Spirit has come to personally take direct leadership and control of all Christian gatherings. If we aren’t willing to listen to God’s Spirit and let Him personally lead and direct us when we gather in His name, hearing a talk about Pentecost is meaningless. Every church that says it belongs to God needs to let the Holy Spirit take direct control of all that goes on when it gathers and bring the dry bones to life!

To turn a church gathering over to the Holy Spirit’s control so the dry bones can live: 1) Ask the Holy Spirit to speak. 2) Everybody wait and listen. 3) Let people share what the Spirit tells them. 4) Do what the Spirit says.

Pentecost announced Holy-Spirit-given dreams, visions, and prophesying (Acts 2:17). Today we have too often replaced the Spirit’s dreams with human schemes, the Spirit’s visions with human decisions, and Spirit-given prophesying with human classifying.

The Holy Spirit came to stay, not to go away and come back for a short visit on Pentecost Sunday. If you don’t want the Holy Spirit to take direct control of your life and your church, then you don’t really want the Spirit.

The Spirit came at Pentecost and began to enable ordinary Christians to speak in languages that they didn’t know. Today on Pentecost Sunday ordinary Christians are made to be spectators while one man talks to them about things they already know. Pentecost was extremely disruptive. That’s why churches today would rather present a sermon about it than to open their doors and experience it in Spirit-led action.

Pentecost empowers us to know what is beyond knowledge. Christians need to be continually strengthened with supernatural power through God’s Spirit living and working inside their inner being so that the risen Christ may dwell in their heart through faith (through their moment-by-moment full reliance and dependence on Him) and so that they can personally, directly, and intimately know the humanly unknowable–Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge. This miraculous revelation and wonder working power is needed for Christians “throughout all generations.” It wasn’t just for the believers who experienced Acts chapter 2. (Inspired by Ephesians 3:14-21.)

There is so much confusion when it comes to God. People get their ideas about God from their upbringing, from pastors, from TV preachers, from religious radio and TV, and from books and social media. Often, they don’t ever check out what they have been taught with the Bible and by listening to the Holy Spirit speak directly to them. Confused people who are proudly and cantankerously convinced that they are correct have become the influencers and trend setters for our culture. In reality they are insecure. That’s why they pontificate so loudly and cruelly. Listen ever more closely to the Holy Spirit’s voice in your heart. Have mercy on the detractors and distractors. They are hurting and need your love.