Steve Simms's Blog, page 9

I’m an “Authority” on a Special Kind of Gold Rush

Several times in history tens of thousands of fortune seekers have left their comfort zone and their homes. With gold fever — a burning passion to find gold — they poured into an area where gold deposits had recently been discovered. They made great sacrifices, often risking their health and their life in their efforts to strike it rich.

Some of the most famous gold rushes were the California Gold Rush that attracted about 300,000 “49ers” from around the world, the Comstock Gold Rush in Nevada that Mark Twain wrote about in his book “Roughing It” and the Klondike Gold Rush in Northern Canada that drew about 100,000 “Stampeders” from around the world to brave the weather where many died hiking to Dawson City in the Yukon Territory. Jack London wrote about their sacrifices in his book, “The Call of the Wild.”

However, all my adult life I’ve been part of another kind of gold rush. I have found something more precious than gold. (Psalm 19:10) It’s much better than a physical gold rush. It is a spiritual awakening that attacks thousands of people who are hungry to know God. They leave their comfort zone and make great sacrifices to draw near to God.

When I was in college, I was a part of a spiritual gold rush. I was part of a movement of hundreds of thousands of people who encountered the risen Jesus and began to give their all to follow Him. It was called the Jesus Movement. It gave me a burning desire to follow and obey the risen Jesus that still is aflame in my heart. Instead of 49ers or Stampeders, we were called Jesus Freaks.

There have been numerous Jesus movements around the world. They are called revivals or great awakenings. For decades I have read and learned about all of them that I can find. I guess I have become an expert on spiritual awakening. The desire of my heart is to help bring about another one so that people can encounter the golden glory of God as an ongoing experience and not just settle for a little bit of religion.

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Divine Romance — Trumpets and Torches

A man named Gideon encountered the supernatural God. He listened and obeyed and changed history with trumpets and torches. You can read his story in Judges chapter 7. Here’s what Gideon’s bold and courageous example says to me.

Break out of the jar of routine religion. (2 Timothy 3:5) Smash the dark shell of guilt (Matthew 3:2) that hides and quenches (1 Thessalonians 5:19) the bright torch of Christ’s light burning inside you. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) Blow the trumpet of repentance by confessing your sins to one another, (James 5:16) forgiving one another, (Ephesians 4:32) and openly praying laying hands (Mark 16:18) on and praying over one another. (Ephesians 6:18) Literally “Shout unto God with a voice of triumph.” (Psalm 47:1)

Discontinue guilt-producing thoughts and behaviors. (John 8:11) Consistently resist them (James 4:7) until you learn to stop them in their tracks. (John 5:14) Replace them with the joy (Philippians 4:4) and profound inner peace (Philippians 4:7) of being forgiven. (Luke 7:48) Continually contemplate, cultivate, and embrace uplifting ideas, words, and behaviors. (Colossians 3:2) Grow them until they fill your life with beauty inside and out. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

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Thank You!

Daily writing promptHow do you express your gratitude?View all responses

The best way to express gratitude is to directly and verbally communicate gratitude with an open humble heart to the one you are grateful to. Saying “I am grateful (or thankful) to you for reading my blog,” is a rather weak expression of gratitude. It’s much more powerful to say from my heart directly to you, “Thank you each one for taking your time to read what I write. I sincerely appreciate your time and interest.”

I use the same approach to express my gratitude to God. I don’t just tell other people that I am thankful to God. I say directly to God, many times every day, “Thank you, Jesus for . . .” Then I express specific things that I am grateful to Him for.

Here’s an example: “Thank You, Jesus, for creating a passionate yearning in my heart for more and more of Your presence and for helping me to cultivate and maintain that longing day after day.”

The assurance of God’s presence in your life comes from hungering and thirsting for a closer relationship with Christ. Spiritual hunger is a gift from God. (John 6:44) You don’t need more information about Jesus. You need to yearn for more of His presence. (Matthew 5:6)

Ask God to make you hungry for more of Jesus in your life. Go beyond mental analysis of the Bible. Read it, ponder it, and absorb it with your heart wide open to God the Holy Spirit, and soon you will begin to experience a deep desire and longing for more and more of Jesus in your life.

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An Invitation to Live Beyond Worry

Here’s your invitation to live beyond worry. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Philippians 4:6)

Few people are eager to venture into a life full of God adventures by unceasingly focusing on what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing in every situation. (Colossians 3:2) It’s easy to dive face down into our own desires and let them distract us (Mark 4:18-19) from the Spirit’s inner promptings, (Romans 8:14) but if we don’t keep our eyes fixed on “Christ in you the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27) we’ll not experience much of the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) Cup your hands, (1 Timothy 2:8) open wide your heart, (Psalm 51:10) and drink the Spirit’s living water. (John 7:38) “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

Worry’s painful, but God’s peace is priceless! Choose inner peace. (Philippians 4:7)

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A Great Teacher Ignites the Desire to Learn

Daily writing promptWhat makes a teacher great?View all responses

I have always learned much more when I wanted to learn than when I was forced or coerced to learn. I have forgotten most of the obligatory learning I’ve done in my life, but I have remembered a great deal of what I’ve been eager to learn.

Teachers who lecture and explain but neglect to cultivate a deep desire to learn are like farmers who try to irrigate hard untilled ground. Most of what they put out runs off. Human minds like fallow ground need to be cultivated so that they can fully absorb what they are being taught. Great teachers cultivate people’s minds and create in their students an eagerness to absorb what is being taught.

Great teachers clearly demonstrate passion about what they are teaching. Passion for a subject can’t be taught. It must be caught. Great teachers are contagious with a deep and burning love for their subject matter. Students catch their teacher’s passion and find themselves hungry to learn more about what’s being taught.

People who hunger and thirst for knowledge are blessed because they will be filled. People who feel obligated to learn something are like a leaky bucket. They will never be filled.

The fact is people with a hunger to learn and the ability to read don’t even need a teacher. They will continually read books, watch videos, and search the internet attempting to satisfy their passion to learn.

The teachers that greatly helped me weren’t the many who meticulously worked through a daily lesson plan or an official curriculum. They were the few who were so excited about learning that they convincingly spoke from their heart about their subject matter and excitedly demonstrated how it inspired and empowered their life. The great teachers are the openly passionate ones!

Unfortunately, many centuries ago Christianity adopted the formal lecture format where a preacher presents a highly programmed talk (often reading it) instead of passionately speaking from the heart as inspired and prompted by God the Holy Spirit. The congregation was required to sit quietly and pretend to listen. The results have been a coldhearted form of Christianity that the Bible calls “a form of godliness but denying its power.” (2 Timothy 3:5)

Where are the Christ-followers who openly and boldly speak from their heart about the risen Jesus and clearly and continually demonstrate their passionate love for and commitment to Him? The Bible is full of such people, but they are rare today. Why? Perhaps we are relying on formal teachers instead of Spirit-led passion igniters.

It’s time that present-day Christians begin to follow this Scripture: “As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in Him.” (1 John 2:27)

When you feel like
You are living
Through a weak streak
Take a bold peak
Beyond what’s seen
And behold the
Presence of God.
For where you’re weak
His power abounds.
Hear and obey
The inner sounds
As Jesus speaks
Within your heart.
(2 Corinthians 12:10)

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Surgery to Remove Troubling Thoughts

I let someone
Regularly
Do surgery
On me.
He removes
The anguish
From my heart.
His name is Jesus.

Focusing on
A troubling thought
Can make you distraught
And filled with anguish.
Casting all your cares
On the risen Christ–
Fully trusting Him
To give you His peace–
Will make anguish cease.

I want to find
A clear way to
Put down in words
How wonderful
Life is trusting
And obeying
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My Daily Habit of Listening

Daily writing promptWhat are your daily habits?View all responses

I love spiritual pioneering–
Listening, hearing, and filtering
The meditations within my heart,
Sorting and savoring those from God–
Silencing those from evil or myself.
Great peace and wisdom come from thinking
When I focus on cultivating
God’s thoughts that bring insight and delight.
They are so much higher than my own.
Perhaps it’s time to begin clearing
The distractions from your mind and heart.
Do some attitude engineering.
Open your eyes and begin peering
At the living resurrected Christ.
Soon you will be hearing Him clearly–
The fruit of the Spirit appearing.
The hosts of Heaven will be cheering
And your eyes will be often tearing.

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Drinking Day and Night

Daily writing promptAre there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?View all responses

I love to drink day and night from this fountain. Give it a try.

From a mountain
And through a cloud
God’s message can
Be very loud.
When God’s cloud came
On Mount Sinai
What Moses heard
Was a clear word
To guide the world–
The Ten Commandments.
Even today
They still will speak
And guide those who
Follow God’s way.

Enclosed in a cloud
Atop a mountain
I felt God’s fountain
Flowing within me.
The fountain of life
Washes away strife
And floods me with peace
That will never cease.
Mountain or valley
It flows every day
As Christ’s living way.
Greater glory than
Even Moses saw,
It transcends the law
By changing the heart.
God wants it to start
And never to stop
Flowing in your heart.
Quench not the Spirit.
(2 Corinthians 3: 7-18)

Be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit. Perhaps Christians have overcomplicated things. What if church isn’t programmed religious meetings but simply Christians humbly connecting heart-to heart with Christ’s inner fountain and with one another?

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Cultivating and Savoring the Good Life in My Heart

Daily writing promptWhat’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?View all responses

A carefully cultivated flower garden has no weeds or unhealthy plants. It abounds with stunning beauty. The same ground left unattended becomes a thicket of invasive thorns, thistles, and other destructive undergrowth.

The human heart is the same. Left unattended it accumulates ugly and unhealthy thoughts, feelings, desires, and attitudes, but when continually weeded and cultivated it becomes a radiant reflection of love, joy, and peace. Why is that?

We live in a beautifully and intricately designed world that has been invaded by evil. That invasion has released forces that strive to distort and destroy all that is good in nature and all that is virtuous and respectful in people. Those forces frequently generate bad weather, storms, and harvest destroying weeds and insects in nature. They also stir up bad emotions, chaos, and happiness-defeating attitudes in human minds and hearts.

People can resist those dominating forces that operate to pervert both nature and human nature. A flourishing garden and a person who radiates godliness both demonstrate the power of persistent resistance to destructive forces.

I planted a small vegetable garden once and quickly tired of working in it. It didn’t take long for it to become a jungle. The only thing I got out of that idea to start a garden was an ugly and depressing area in my back yard.

The same thing happens in human hearts and minds. We realize that we can improve our inner health, so we take a first step in that direction. Then we get distracted, tired, or frustrated and once again surrender to self-destructive thoughts, desires, and behaviors.

All around the world people tend and tame nature creating farms, ranches, orchards, and vineyards — growing food to feed multitudes. We even turn dessert into fruitful fields. You can do the same within your heart. It begins with repentance, which is: 1) A vision of a better way to manage your heart and mind, 2) A passion to actively pursue it day by day, and 3) the persistence to never give up.

If you are willing to work to mow your yard and improve your property, why not put intentional effort into improving your thoughts, feelings, desires, and emotions? Begin now and never stop.

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I Choose to Wear Truth, Love, and Forgiveness Rather Than Tolerance

Daily writing promptIf you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?View all responsesThe inclusion of truth and mercy in day-to-day life takes us beyond mere tolerance to genuine love and forgiveness.


Holy Exclusion


Too much inclusion
Leads to confusion
Of truth and falsehood.
It calls wrong right and
Says that right is wrong.
It's an exclusion
Of the freedom to
Follow your conscience
And an infusion
Of pride that rebels
Against common sense.
Instead of random
And blind inclusion
Speak the truth in love.
Remove from your life
Everything God excludes.
Holy exclusion
Is to clean your heart
And align your thoughts
And actions with God.
(2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
The people of God
Need to turn away
From our wicked ways.
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