Steve Simms's Blog, page 76
October 21, 2023
I’m learning Spanish @ 72
View all responsesI don’t know much about the French I took but I do know that I love learning Spanish in creative ways as a 72-year-old. Several times in my life I’ve tried to learn Spanish, but each time I gave up. However, I recently got serious about it. I knew that memorizing vocabulary and grammar had never worked for me, so I decided to try a different approach.
About 10 months ago I began to watch YouTube videos that were completely in Spanish. For an hour or more almost every day I watched Spanish travel videos, documentaries, classes, and sermons. In the beginning I understood almost nothing, but gradually I began to understand more and more.
I also began to read the New Testament out loud in Spanish every single day for 10 minutes or more. (I have daily devoured the Bible for 10 minutes or more all my adult life and it has encouraged and empowered me like no other book. Because of that I know its contents very well and can understand much of it when I read it in Spanish.)
After about 8 months two Mexican families (a total of 4 adults and 5 children) moved into one side of the duplex next to my house. Only one of the family members spoke any English and he spoke very little. My wife and I made friends with both families and the 4 adult Mexican men who moved into the basement, and I suddenly and mysteriously had many people to practice Spanish with.
After about nine months of focusing on absorbing Spanish, I was understanding people who spoke slowly and distinctly but still not getting much when people spoke at the normal rapid rate. Also, when I used Spanish subtitles, I could understand most of what was said on the videos.
However, I suddenly felt prompted to go to Costa Rica to attend Intercultural, a Spanish immersion school, for two weeks. There I had 20 hours of classes presented in Spanish each week (with only 3 students in each class). I stayed in the home of a Spanish speaking family that spoke almost no English, so I had many opportunities to practice my speaking. The two weeks were amazing! I highly recommend Intercultural to anyone who wants to improve their Spanish.
My Spanish grammar still needs a lot of improvement, but many of the Costa Rican Spanish speakers who I interacted with, greatly increased my confidence in my ability to communicate with people effectively in Spanish. Now I’m ready to jump back into spending time with my Mexican neighbors, watching more videos in Spanish, and continuing to daily devour the Spanish Bible (I’m almost through the New Testament in Spanish for the second time in 10 months).
Here’s a picture from Intercultural Spanish School in Heredia, Costa Rica. I’m chatting with my classmate Eric from Germany and my classmate Scott, a doctor from New York City, is in the background.
October 20, 2023
Lazy days can be very productive!
View all responsesProductivity can’t always be measured by activity. If we are busy doing the wrong things, activity can be unproductive. Wrong activity can even be harmful.
Too much activity can stress us out. It can kill our creativity. It can cause us to spin our wheels in unproductive behavior patterns.
However, lazy days, if used to refresh and renew, can bring us hope, insight, energy, and creativity that will greatly increase our productivity. Learn to listen during your lazy days. Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings that are circulating within you. Some of them are negative and destructive. Resist them and drive them away. Some are healing and revealing. Focus on them and embrace their insights by writing them down and putting them into practice at your first opportunity.
When I follow this advice, my lazy days never make me feel unproductive. It’s just the opposite. I often find that my lazy days to be the most productive days of my life.
Let your heart be a Jesus lab. Experiment with opening up more to the living Jesus and observe what He does in you.
[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." data-large-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." src="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." alt="" class="wp-image-37724" srcset="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 971w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 112w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 224w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 768w" sizes="(max-width: 971px) 100vw, 971px" />Photo by Footnote In Travel on Pexels.comOctober 19, 2023
Can people today be led by God’s Spirit?
You’re the one they’re looking for. Sow well! Often when you meet a stranger in what appears to be a random way, you’re the one they’re looking for. They want you to sow hope into their life. You and they might not notice it, but you are in the middle of a divine encounter with someone who the Holy Spirit has led to you.
Many people you meet are being sent to you by God because they are searching for “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” for the fruit of the Spirit, and for the joy of the Lord. Open your heart with humility and kindness so that they can see the risen Jesus living and manifesting His presence and qualities in and through you. Then they will begin to open their heart to you.
Be sensitive to the Spirit as He leads you in what you say and do as you take the time to compassionately listen to and interact with people God sends you (even if you see them the way the ancient Jews saw the Gentiles). Right in front of your eyes God will touch and begin to heal their soul through the spiritual seeds you caringly sow (and He will do many other amazing things that you may not see until eternity).
It takes rare courage to obey the Holy Spirit, but those who dare to do so experience amazing things! Dare to be a Spirit-led child of God today. (Romans 8:14.)
Spirit-led people need discernment. Here are some keys to discernment. 1) Stay in the Bible. If it doesn’t align with the Bible, it’s not from God. 2) if it’s not true, it’s not from God. 3) If you don’t want to do it, it’s not from you. It’s either from God or the devil. 4) If it’s against your conscience, it’s not from God. 5) if it aligns with the 9 aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, you can trust that you are hearing from God.
In churches and conferences Christians are trained to sit and listen over and over until they die, but surely there’s more to Christianity than that! Isn’t there? To reject the idea that God wants to directly lead ordinary people by His Spirit is to ignore Romans 8:14 and to embrace the doctrine of Cesationism.
How is your relationship with Jesus? 1) What is a relationship with Jesus? 2) I sometimes talk to Jesus. 3) I talk to Jesus a lot. 4) I listen to Jesus. 5) I say and do what Jesus tells me to.
Cornelius was a Spirit-led man in the Bible. He was a seeker of the kingdom of God. He was someone who was hungering and thirsting for righteousness from deep within his heart. He wanted more than religion. He wanted the presence of the living God. He was living in active obedience to God as much as he knew how to. When God answered his heart’s desire and sent him an angel to instruct him, Cornelius obeyed. He was neither a pastor or a church attendee/layman. Because He was a passionate God seeker, his life helped demonstrate the reality of the risen Jesus. Be like Cornelius!
Jesus talks.
Hear Him,
Not just
A sermon
About Him!
October 16, 2023
Presence instead of principles
View all responsesWhen I try to live by principles, I never live up to them. My principles are always higher than my ability to consistently and persistently follow and obey them.
I’m like the ancient Jesus. I believe in the Ten Commandments and sincerely want to live by them, but I’m never able to fully comply with them in my daily lifestyle, in my desires, in my beliefs, in my words and in my thoughts. If I start to believe that I’m a good man and am finally following the Commandments, I find my heart filled with pride, secret rebellion, and self-righteousness.
The ancient Jesus had the same problem. Those who felt like they were the best at following God’s Commands were actually the people who worked behind the scenes to have Jesus Christ crucified. His presence was a threat to their feelings of being greatly successful in their religious endeavors. Jesus spoke the truth in love to the Pharisees (the proud religious Jews of His day). They hated His honesty because it revealed their heart. The feeling that they were successfully following God’s principles was something they wouldn’t allow to be questioned. Their principles were much more important to them than God’s presence.
The only way that I or anyone else can live up to God’s principles is by looking beyond the principles and our human effort to follow them, and instead surrendering our life to the real presence of the risen Jesus. I’m so grateful to the living Jesus for making His home in my heart and daily giving me the mercy, strength, and power to enable me to live by His presence, not just by my efforts to obey God’s principles.
The Lord wants us to notice and be amazed by what He is doing inside of us. I believe He is continually calling all human beings (like He did Adam and Eve) to the awareness of and surrender to His presence. Because God’s communication with us is mixed with our own thoughts and feelings (and with the deceptive thoughts and feelings of the devil), it’s easy to write them off as being nothing more than uncomfortable self-talk. A closer, humble look with God’s discernment will make you aware of the risen Jesus working in and through you.
[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." data-large-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." src="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." alt="" class="wp-image-37711" srcset="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 1880w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 150w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 300w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 768w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1880px) 100vw, 1880px" />Photo by Joshua Miranda on Pexels.comOctober 15, 2023
I put off thinking negatively about things
View all responsesBeing quick to be negative is not a nice thing. There’s so much that troubles me about the world today–unkindness, hostility, anger, hatred, bullying, cruelty, violence, wars, and rumors of wars (especially concerning politics). I could easily let my mind run wild with negativity and vengeance. However, I choose to put it off and not get around to it.
In the meantime, I’m going to focus my mind on whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, kind, hopeful, and peaceful. In today’s environment those things are hard to find, but I am determined to find them!
I delay believing accusations and conspiracy theories, until they can be proven beyond a doubt. When I disagree with people’s beliefs or behaviors, I don’t get around to writing those people off and I try to speak the truth to them with love, patience, and kindness. When I’m feeling discouraged, I put it off until later and then I don’t get around to it.
Sometimes negative thoughts, feelings, and desires swarm my mind and emotions like a hive of angry killer bees tempting me to surrender to hopelessness and self-destruction. When they do, I continually swat them down one after the other and never give up until they leave me alone.
When something happens that I don’t like, I’m tempted to declare it to be bad. Instead, I put off giving in to that temptation and delay my negative judgements by saying: “This seems bad to me, but It’s too soon to tell. I’m going to put off evaluating it and see how it turns out in the future.” That delay keeps anxiety and worry from consuming me. Then after a few days, months, or years the situation I thought was bad often in retrospect looks good.
October 14, 2023
The arrival point of full maturity?
View all responsesMaturity is like a pole attached to a donkey’s head with a carrot dangling in front of the donkey’s eyes. No matter how hard you pursue it, you’re unable to reach it. Your body may tell you that you’re a grownup and you may feel like you are mature, but in reality, we’ve all still got a long way to go.
Would a world of grownups living with mature wisdom look like earth does today? Would it be filled with crime, murder, violence, pollution, lying, greed, jealously, addiction, suicide, hate, child abuse, trash, bullying, hunger, poverty, name calling, racism, accusations of cheating, sexual harassment, self-focus, human trafficking, war, terrorism and genocide?
How far are we human beings from true maturity? The Hindu religion gives an interesting answer to that question. It declares that it will take a million lifetimes for a person to finally experience the carrot of true maturity, Although, I don’t believe in reincarnation, I think Hinduism appreciates how far we all still have to go before we are truly a grownup.
So how do we get there if we don’t have a million lifetimes to slowly grow into full maturity? Christianity has a different answer than reincarnation. That answer is the Incarnation, “Emmanuel–God with us.” God became a man in Jesus Christ, lived a perfect and truly mature life, and was crucified in order to carry all the guilt that has resulted from our human immaturity (called sin).
Then Jesus rose from the dead and lives to this day in order to actively work in human hearts and to supernaturally lead the people who surrender their will to Him from glory to glory while they’re on earth, and finally into the place of full maturity called Heaven. The answer to the immaturity and sin in humans that wrecks our planet, and our souls, is not reincarnation. It’s “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
The Spirit of Christ is the greatest source of comfort and joy in the universe–incredibly better than substance or event on earth. Open your heart and see! If you are searching far and wide for inner peace, let the living Jesus direct your life from within you and peace of mind will finally be yours. If you want contentment and joy, you can find it by opening up to a heart-to-heart relationship with the risen Jesus.
Jesus, thru the Holy Spirit, is doing inspiring things in all people. Begin to notice what He’s doing in you. What Jesus does inside me throughout the day is more exciting than anything I can find on Google. When my life was transformed by the risen Jesus, and I began to listen to and obey Him throughout the day, I started to feel like I’m on the way to being grown up.
[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." data-large-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." src="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." alt="" class="wp-image-37694" srcset="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 1880w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 150w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 300w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 768w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1880px) 100vw, 1880px" />Photo by u0412u043bu0430u0434u0438u043cu0438u0440 u0412u0430u0441u0438u043bu044cu0435u0432 on Pexels.comOctober 13, 2023
Are you a Christ-carrier?
The book of Acts is addressed to Theophilus which means “friend of God.” True Christians are such friends of God that they carry Christ in them. They are Christ-carriers. In Acts, Christians demonstrate the power of being a Christ-carrier who is courageously led by God’s Spirit.
People who are
Christ-carriers
Let their body
Be a temple
Where God’s Spirit
Lives, loves, and leads.
Contemporary Christianity is too often a demonstration of the doctrine of cessationism–the belief that God has stopped actively working in and thru ordinary people so now we have to depend on religious programming and control. However, the truth is: “Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever,” and “Christ in you the hope of glory.”
Churches tend to do many things that aren’t effective for training, empowering, and releasing radical and obedient disciples of living, resurrected Jesus Christ. In fact, the most widespread form of cessationism (the belief that God no longer does miracles) is the belief that God can’t even run a church service without a pastor controlling it from the front.
There’s a call from God
For His people
To be led by the Spirit
That is going out to
To all who will hear it!
Passing on a million bucks . . .
View all responsesI have my ideas of what I would do if someone gave me a million dollars to give away, but I think my ideas are pretty self-focused. Left to my own feelings and desires I would probably give the money away so that I could get the most praise and recommendation. I might even give an organization with a noble purpose a million-dollar building so that they could put my name on it.
Because of that, I would need to pray and fast and ask for Jesus to show me what to do with it. Then I hope that I would have the courage and humility to do whatever He told me to, even if I have to remain anonymous.
[image error]Pexels.com" data-medium-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." data-large-file="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." src="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co..." alt="" class="wp-image-37677" srcset="https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 1880w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 150w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 300w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 768w, https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.co... 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1880px) 100vw, 1880px" />Photo by Jonathan Borba on Pexels.comOctober 12, 2023
An “unsuccessful” attempt isn’t a failure
View all responsesYou are guaranteed not to fail! Here’s why: Every attempt succeeds at something. It successfully produces some kind of result, even if it’s not the result you want. An attempt that doesn’t produce your desired results isn’t a failed attempt because it has successfully shown you something that doesn’t work. Chalk it up as positive feedback and move on to your next successful attempt.
Since I can’t fail, I attempt to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, to be daily led by His Spirit, and to communicate His presence and reality to other people. This has been my overarching goal and deep yearning ever since I was 19. There have been many times in my quest that my thoughts, words, and actions have produced results that didn’t directly draw me to my goal, but over time they successfully taught me what not to think, say, and do and how to more effectively align myself with and surrender my will to the risen Jesus.
Continually open wide your heart to the living Jesus and you will be ever amazed by the Lord and constantly encouraged by the Holy Spirit like the early Christmas were. If you will step beyond religious rules, rituals, and analysis and into active surrender to the risen Jesus, He will mystify you by what He does in your heart, in your mind, in your relationships, and in your surroundings. Search for: The Joy Of Early Christianity.
The greatest hindrance to the body of Christ worldwide is the exchange of the direct, active leadership of the Holy Spirit for the dominance, divisiveness, and dysfunction of human leadership. It’s easier to follow a pastor than it is to follow Jesus. The body of Christ needs wise, humble and kind overseers (elders–mature believers) who will gather people and focus them on the presence and direct leadership of the living Jesus, not a one-man leader who will program and control the meeting. Spend your life becoming one.
It’s openly acknowledged that Christianity has lost and continues to lose multitudes of people in the West. On Sunday morning the church program is Lord. It’s handed out at the door and precisely followed. But Jesus said: “Follow Me!” For centuries Christ’s ekklesia has been held in captivity to church programs, rituals, sermons, traditions, etc. O for freedom to follow God’s Spirit! Perhaps it’s time to exchange programmed Christianity for Spirit-led Christianity.
The Pharisees in the Bible had an institutionalized approach to Jesus and look how they treated Him. From their negative results, we can successfully learn not to treat Jesus the way they did.
Seeing church as a place to receive religious services stunts spiritual growth. Christians need interactive, Spirit-led community where they can connect heart-to-heart with Jesus and with one another.
October 11, 2023
The hardest goal with the greatest joy
View all responsesIt’s hard for humans to surrender — to intentionally give full control of our life to someone. Here’s how Jesus Christ states that challenging goal. “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” I believe that self-denial, embracing the execution of our hopes and desires, and faithfully and consistently obeying the living Jesus is the hardest goal that can ever be set, but that it paradoxically produces life’s greatest joy.
The most exciting part of my life is my interaction with Jesus. Nothing else can compare to having a close and continuous relationship with Him.
True Christianity isn’t about what you do. It’s about what you allow Jesus to with you. To open your heart and let the living Jesus work in and thru you (although very difficult) is to step into the greatest adventure on earth. Christians are supposed to be led by God’s Spirit (“Christ in you,”) not by their personal desires, feelings, and choices. (See Romans 8:14.)
Christians need to listen to Jesus, obey Him, and express adoration to Him, more than they need to hear another sermon about Him. If you aren’t aware of Jesus prompting you to do something, then saying, “Yes, Lord,” doesn’t really mean anything.
What Jesus did in history opened the door so that His followers can surrender to Him to experience and be led by what Jesus is saying and doing today. Jesus is continually amazing me by what He’s doing inside of me. When I first encountered the risen Jesus, something instantly happened deep within me, and I was forever changed and continually connected to Him heart-to-heart.
The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee (where I live) was built by a rich riverboat owner whose life was transformed when he surrendered to the living Jesus. He wanted a place in Nashville where Jesus could be proclaimed without being controlled by a particular church. Although it became the internationally known home of Country Music, the original intent was to proclaim the love, power, and presence, of the living Jesus.
Are you ready to embrace the truth of my short poem and to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow and obey the risen Jesus?
Thoughts, feelings,
And desires
Can be accepted
Or rejected;
Selected
Or neglected;
Reflected
Or deflected;
Collected
Or ejected.
![[image error]Pexels.com](https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/pexels-photo-3230849.jpeg){kind=link}
![[image error]Pexels.com](https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/pexels-photo-7048337.jpeg){kind=link}
![[image error]Pexels.com](https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/pexels-photo-4027658.jpeg){kind=link}
![[image error]Pexels.com](https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/pexels-photo-5146177.jpeg){kind=link}
![[image error]Pexels.com](https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/pexels-photo-14468604.jpeg){kind=link}
![[image error]Pexels.com](https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/pexels-photo-14820469.jpeg){kind=link}
![[image error]Pexels.com](https://stevesimms.files.wordpress.com/2023/10/pexels-photo-3651674.jpeg){kind=link}