A Southern Boy Traveling Through Southern Italy With New Englanders

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.
View all responses

My wife, Ernie, and I just returned from a visit to Italy. We’re from the South (in the USA) and traveled with a group of 44 people from Massachusetts. We only knew two of them.

We were amazed by the Italian sights, people, culture, and food. However, we were even more amazed by the warm loving reception and caring friendship that we received from the people we traveled with.

Almost immediately we felt connected heart-to-heart with them. There was a beautiful sense of community and unity among us. It wasn’t a Christian-based tour. It consisted of people from different backgrounds and beliefs, and yet our heart-connection and love for one another was so strong that it overrode divisiveness and created incredible togetherness. Ernie and I felt totally loved, received, and accepted, even though we didn’t hide the fact that we are passionately in love with the risen Jesus.

We saw a lot of ruins from two ancient cultures. The ancient Greeks and Romans demonstrated the deep human need to worship by worshipping many gods. The Romans saw the Christian concept of one God who created all that exists, as a threat to their religion. That’s why they violently persecuted Christ-followers.

Suddenly in the fourth century, Roman Emperor Constatine made Christianity legal throughout his empire and called Christian leaders together to institutionalize it. Shortly afterwards Christianity was made the official religion of Rome and multitudes of pagans joined the officialized form, bringing their belief in many gods with them.

Constantine even gave pagan temples to the institutionalized form of Christianity, and they turned them into churches. This picture is one example of that. In the process of institutionalization Christianity lost much of the Holy Spirit led community that the early Christ-followers experienced daily. In Italy, traveling with a diverse spectrum of people, Ernie and I experienced a fresh taste of that wonderful, Spirit-led community. “O taste and see that God is good.”

Christianity as a personal, Spirit-led relationship with the risen Jesus, began to fade away when human hierarchy took control of it. Throughout the centuries that human hierarchy has evolved into an estimated 40,000+ Christian denominations that all claim that they are following Christ rather than human institutionalism, yet no two of them completely agree with each other. Perhaps it’s time to go beyond religious institutions and return to Spirit-led Christianity.

Thank you to all my new New England friends, family, and “groupo” for sharing your love with Ernie and me! You inspired us beyond measure!

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My testimony about testimonies

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Steve Simms

I woke up this morning with the word “testimony” on my mind. It made me realize how fortunate I was as a new Christian to be surrounded by people who shared their testimonies of how Jesus was working in their lives. Their real-life stories helped me to learn to recognize, hear, and obey the voice of God in my heart and made me hunger for more and more of the Bible. I got out of bed and immediately wrote this testimony about testimonies:

I love to hear salvation testimonies, the living word about the present-day work of the risen Jesus, shared from the heart of people who were born again, healed, and set free by Him! Testimonies overcome the darkness in human hearts by shinning the light on how the risen Jesus is speaking, acting, and working today.

Christians need to gather to hear the living word of heart-felt testimonies, not just one man’s analytical talk about the written word. As a new Christian I was part of a weekly testimony gathering. The first time I went there, I heard people testify about how Jesus saved them. As they spoke Jesus suddenly became real to me and I’ve been passionately in love with Him ever since. Every week I heard open-hearted testimonies that not only told me what Jesus was doing in people’s lives, but also showed me. I could see Jesus in their radiant faces as they told about what Jesus did and was still doing in their lives.

Their living word, life-story testimonials made me so hungry for the written word that I would continually devour the Bible. I still read it every day with an open hungry heart. Although our testimony gatherings had no sermon, my three years there caused me to grow in my relationship with Jesus and in knowledge of the Bible far more than decades years of sermon-hearing ever did. See Revelation 12:11.

When people are being led by the Spirit to show and tell what God has done and is doing in their lives the presence and power of Jesus is demonstrated for all to see. Regularly gather with some Christ-followers and open the meeting for anyone present to testify as they feel prompted by God’s Spirit. The most powerful sermons I’ve ever heard have been sincere, heart-felt testimonies!

There’s no reason why every church service shouldn’t feature at least one salvation testimony from a member. If they run out of members with testimonies, each week they could invite someone from another church to come and testify.

If Jesus has saved you, don’t silently sit on that experience. Tell it far and wide-even in church services! If you are shy about speaking your testimony, write it down. Then post it on social media and/or make copies of it and pass it out to people you see throughout the day.

When Christians meet and testify as they let the risen Christ take full control of His body, amazing things happen! Christian, you have a calling and a ministry. Get busy doing it daily! I don’t think that Jesus calls His followers to assemble together to sit & passively listen to one man’s ministry, but to actively obey the 50+ New Testament “one another” commandments.

The Bible warns us about a false Jesus. Many people and a few denominations that claim to be Christian redefine Jesus. We should always verify testimonies with the Bible and make sure that they are talking about the Jesus who is the Creator of the Universe in human flesh and not a redefined Jesus.

Years after my experiences in the first testimony gatherings I was helping lead a church. Every week we invited a different guest to come on Sunday and give their salvation testimony. We had about 90 different guests come and do that, and it was glorious. Some Mormon missionaries found out about it, and they kept trying to get us to invite them to testify. However, if you examine their beliefs about their Jesus, He isn’t the Creator of the Universe in human flesh, so we politely turned them down.

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Posted in personal testimony, salvation testimony, testifying in church, testimony, witnesses, witnessing | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

When I’m doing good things that I’m prompted to do

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
When do you feel most productive?
View all responses

I feel the most productive when I’m doing the good things that I’ve been prompted to do. When I obey the wholesome leadings in my heart, my life begins to flow with positive results. I believe those leadings come from the risen Jesus as He speaks in and through my conscience.

Jesus isn’t a statue or a spiritual symbol or the dead founder of a religion. He’s the Creator of the Universe, God in human flesh! I feel the most productive when Christ’s living water is freely flowing from deep within me.

When Christ-followers call Jesus Lord and acknowledge that He is the Head of the body of Christ on earth, we’re proclaiming that we’re letting Him take over and personally direct our lives moment-by-moment, both individually and as a body of believers. O how we need to back up that proclamation with our behavior and allow the risen Jesus to personally direct us in our daily thoughts, words, and behaviors, and in what we say and do when we assemble ourselves together for worship. It’s vital that we let the living Jesus personally lead us both individually and corporately so that through us He can demonstrate His Lordship for all to see.

When Christians gather for worship, we need to let God’s Spirit show us how to light each other up with the light of Christ that is shining in our heart. We need to follow the direct, inner promptings of the Spirit, not just human traditions. We need to openly testify about what Jesus is doing and has done in our life. We need to individually show people the reality of His presence and Lordship by personally saying and doing what He tells us to. Following Jesus throughout each day makes life an exciting adventure.

Where is Jesus in the typical church service?
A) Watching from heaven?
B) Present but mostly ignored?
C) Actively directing the meeting by prompting various people to openly and humbly share what He puts on their heart?

O that we would let the living Jesus take full and direct control when we gather in His name!

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The Way the Body of Christ Can Be One

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Steve Simms
May be an image of 2 people

Viewing the risen Jesus together with other Christ-followers as we watch Him work in and through each other will override our divisive personal views about doctrine or politics or any other obstinate opinions that we have. Observing Christ living in and acting through each other will unite our hearts in overwhelming love for the risen Jesus when He is being literally and clearly demonstrated in our midst. Our love for each other will soar.

So why not? Why not gather and cultivate an environment where Christ-followers can watch the living Jesus work in and through each other? Why not let the Holy Spirit (Christ in you, the hope of glory) take control and personally direct our church services by prompting anyone present to say and/or do whatever He tells them to? Every Christ-follower can be aflame with the fire of God and overflowing with His Spirit.

The world has seen enough tightly programmed and rigidly run Christian meetings. It’s time to let Jesus lead us and be the literal Head of His body, not a mere figurehead whose authority is usurped and overridden by human hierarchy and control.

Many times, I’ve experienced the living Jesus working in and through a group of diverse people who are free to listen to and obey His Spirit together. I always leave in awe about how Christ’s presence unites our hearts in love that sweeps aside human pride and opinions. Why not make that the norm for Chrisian worship gatherings? See 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Romans 8:14.

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My Favorite Emoji Calls Me Out of My Complacent Zone

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite emojis?
View all responses

The classic smiley face is my favorite emoji. It reminds me that there’s not much to smile about in my complacent zone.

The smiley face emoji makes me realize that staying in my complacent zone is boredom for my mind! It challenges me to stretch my face with a smile and to stretch my life by living beyond complacency.

Think about, focus on, listen to, watch, and read the things that make your mind a peaceful paradise. Mental health without mind-management is a myth.

Mental health is built on mind management. It requires discernment, discipline, and focus. Recognize the thoughts that make your life better and the thoughts that make it worse. Welcome and cultivate thoughts that improve your mental wellbeing. Oppose and drive away thoughts that don’t. Refuse to be distracted by the enslaving enticements that seduce you from within and without.

Messed up thinking is not mental illness. It’s brain mismanagement.

A great way to get out of your complacent zone is to welcome Christ’s thoughts into your mind. Let them lead and direct you throughout each day. Resist and reject all ungodly thoughts. Allow them no place in your mind. Step outside your complacent zone and begin to experience Jesus-adventures every day.

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“Accidently” Attending Mass in Italy

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What topics do you like to discuss?
View all responses

The topics I most like to discuss and share with others are the amazing things that Jesus does in my life. For instance, He led my wife and me to unintentionally attend a Catholic mass. Here’s how it happened:

We were recently in Matera, Italy. As we were exploring the medieval walled city there, we realized that we were lost in the narrow maze-like passageways of a residential area early on a Sunday morning and there was no one around to help us. Suddenly we heard what sounded like a beautiful Gregorian chant.

I walked around the next corner and heard the chant-like song coming from a small church. I looked in the open door and saw a priest robed in white and singing passionately from His heart in a darkened sanctuary with only two women in attendance. I immediately went in and sat on an ancient uncomfortable pew. My wife came in to rescue me and then we realized that we were stuck.

The priest’s face was aglow with an inner light; his eyes hope-filled and bright. He was truly a delight to watch. The priest began reading a liturgy in Italian and the two women in the congregation responded from time to time. Although we didn’t understand, our hearts were captivated by the presence of Jesus that we felt there.

After a few minutes the priest stopped, walked over to us, and in the kindest voice began talking to us in Italian. We didn’t understand his words, but we knew that he was welcoming us with the love of Christ. We smiled and nodded and pointed to heaven and told him that we didn’t speak Italian. He beamed with peace, walked back to the front and continued with the liturgy.

Then one of the women went to a pulpit and prayed. Later another went and read something.

The priest walked back to our pew again and we understood that he wanted to know our names. So, we told him: “Steve and Ernie.” He repeated each name a few times and pointed to us correctly identifying us. Then he smiled, walked back to the front, and continued the liturgy.

Suddenly he stopped and walked back to us for a third time. As he spoke, I heard the word “cantare.” I told my wife that I thought he wanted us to sing. Ernie began to sing Amazing Grace in English. I quickly joined in. Then to our surprise the priest began to sing it with us in Italian as the two ladies watched from the front of the sanctuary. His face was beaming. It was a special God-moment for all five of us.

After the song, the priest spoke more to us in Italian. I think he was inviting us to the altar for the Eucharist, but we weren’t sure. However, sitting there in a sanctuary packed with ancient religious ornamentation and tradition, we experienced deep heart-connection with a beautiful Christ-follower–a priest who was eager to step out of routine formalism and demonstrate the reality of “Christ in you” to two strangers from another country who didn’t speak his language or follow his religious tradition. I loved accidently attending mass!

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What “services” do church services offer?

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Steve Simms

I have never figured out what services church services offer. Although for centuries attending church services has been presented as obligatory for Christians. I can’t find the idea of “church services” in the Bible. Christ-followers are told to assemble themselves together and in 50+ places Christians are told to serve one another in various ways, but nowhere are they told to be the passive recipients of the services of a religious organization.

Too often the body of Christ, His assembly, rejects His dominion and Headship, honoring Him with their lips but keeping their heart far from Him. Look what human leadership and the concept of human authority (headship) has done to the body of Christ. (Jesus is the only Head of His body.) It’s estimated that there are more than 40,000 independent Christian denominations worldwide and that doesn’t include all the independent non-denominational churches. Jesus prayed that His body be one. Human leadership has sliced and diced it into shreds.

The dream that God has planted in my heart is to see members of the body of Christ overcome their divisions by connecting heart to Jesus and to one another. I want to see churches allowing the Holy Spirit to directly and personally lead the congregation in the actual doing of the New Testament “one another” commandments when they gather in His name. That would be a great service to their members and to the world in general!

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Social Gatherings Make Me Nervous

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What makes you nervous?
View all responses

I feel awkward and alone in casual social gatherings. I feel like I don’t have a purpose or a role. I don’t know what to say and do. Almost everyone is interacting, and I don’t know how to approach small groups of people engaged in conversation. When I walk up it seems like they ignore me. When I interject a comment, it seems to flop. I’m really uncomfortable. I’m the wall flower.

(Perhaps most people feel that way about social gatherings. Maybe that’s why those kinds of get togethers are so dependent on alcohol.)

However, when I gather with people who want to spontaneously pray, worship, testify, talk about Jesus, and be led by the Holy Spirit, I feel totally at peace sharing what God puts on my heart, even if I don’t personally know anybody in the meeting. That’s one reason I’m so excited about Spirit-led Christian gatherings that Jesus called “ekklesia” in Matthew 16.

Also, when I make it my mission to show people the love and kindness of God, my nervousness begins to lift. When I get my focus off of myself and my feelings by focusing on helping other people feel comfortable, everything changes. As if by a miracle, I find myself being welcomed and appreciated by others.

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A Better Way Than Wine To Unwind

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
How do you unwind after a demanding day?
View all responses

I don’t look to wine to unwind. Wine runs out, but Christ’s new wine never runs dry. It never leaves you hanging over despair.

Talking to the living Jesus is my way to unwind. He is the stairway to an amazing, ongoing, openhearted, and intimate relationship with God. He’s the Tree of Life.

Jesus is the go to God. An open heart paves the way for a fresh start. Open your heart to the risen Jesus. Go beyond routine religion to the rejoicing of revelation that reaches the heart. Without awe that ascends to aha, escalation of revelation, and insurgence of insight, humans are trapped the triviality of carnality.

There's no hope in wine.
Hope doesn't grow
On a grape vine.
Let hope freely flow
From the true vine.
Open your heart
To Christ's new wine.

Wine can't erace
Deep tear tracks
Or replace
The tears of a clown
With lasting joy.

I ask the Holy Spirit throughout the day: 
* Who do You want me to reach out to? 
* What do you want me to say and do? 
* Where do you want me to go? 
* When do You want me to speak or to act and when do you want me still and quiet?
* Which paths do you want me to take?
See Romans 8:14.

Human beings are
Mostly unaware
Of the air
That we breathe 
But it's always there 
Keeping us alive. 
The risen Jesus 
Is my air.
I love to stay aware 
Of His presence.

True Christianity 
Is to be led
By God's Spirit,
Not just to sit
For a sermon
And hear it.

Get to know
The unknown God.
Let His presence
Freely flow
Within you.

Let Jesus reside
Always in your heart.
Walk side by side
And stride by stride.
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In 10 Years I See Myself Staying, Not Straying

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
View all responses

We’re prone to stray
And drift away
From Jesus Christ.
Choose to stay
Conscious of Christ
Throughout each day,
Always aware
Of His presence
And His power
Along the way.

When Christians gather
To be Spirit-led
And obey what Christ
Says within their heart,
Everyone can see
Jesus is their Head
And know He’s not dead.

If you’re a Christian you are called to take the witness stand for Christ, to proclaim the Good News about Jesus, and to tell what He has done and is doing in your life. If you are a Christ-follower you are a preacher–a clergy person. Daily experience His love and preach it! Stay with your calling. Don’t stray from it.

Christians who focus on following a human leader tend to fall or be discouraged when the leader they depend on falls. Christians who focus on following and obeying the risen Jesus, press on no matter what a leader does. Leaders in the body of Christ are called to function not as a dominating individual but as a humble plurality that holds each other accountable.

The Holy Spirit is the only leader not subject to the deception of pride. The role of human leadership in the body of Christ is “episkopos” which unfortunately is translated as bishop in many English Bibles. It actually means “overseer.” That’s someone who oversees a gathering of the body of Christ like an official oversees a basketball game. He lets the game flow and only steps in if someone is out of order. As long as believers are being led by the Spirit, Christian leadership’s role is to equip and release all Christ-followers so they are empowered to do the work of the ministry themselves, not to make them ever dependent on hearing one person lecture.

When Christianity becomes more about the Holy Spirit steering than sermon-hearing, that’s revival! Let Jesus have the final say in what you say and do day by day. Stay close to and obedient to Him.

Christ-followers need to trust in and rely on the risen Jesus, not religious leaders. The leadership of the Holy Spirit is the key to spiritual awakening. Human leadership too often gets in the way. When we read the book of Acts, we see the leadership of the Holy Spirit being the key to growth in the body of Christ (ekklesia). When the Spirit-leads as at Pentecost, divine order that transcends human control prevails.

When the disciples try to set up a hierarchy with the 7 in Acts 6, it quickly gets blown up by Stephen’s preaching (instead of following his assignment of table serving) and scatters all the believers everywhere preaching the Gospel, except for the sent ones (apostles) who remained in Jerusalem. That leaves the scattered ones without their leadership until Phillip inspired such a spiritual awakening in Samaria that the sent ones finally send Peter and John on a temporary mission to offer some very short-term leadership. The spread of the Gospel was Spirit-led, not leadership driven. That’s still the key today.

People have skin
Of different hues
But didn’t choose
Whose hues are whose.
Please don’t refuse
To love all hues.
For healing views
Based on true news
Google the book,
“Off the Race Track–
From Color-Blind
To Color-Kind.”

I seldom quote other people. I believe that Christ is calling all His followers to directly listen to Him and to proclaim (tell, preach, write, and/or post) what He is telling them. However, I so identify with this quote that I feel the need to share it.

“I didn’t want to be a religious professional whose identity was institutionalized. I didn’t want to be a pastor whose sense of worth derived from whether people affirmed or ignored me. In short, I didn’t want to be a pastor in the ways that were most in evidence and most rewarded in the American consumerist and celebrity culture.” —Eugene Peterson

You don’t need to hear more preachers and Christian speakers. You need to hear “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

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Focus, Focus, Focus, Focus, Focus

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?
View all responses

I focus on what makes me happy. (To be unhappy, focus on yourself and your problems.) Things don’t make me happy. Jesus does. The key to happiness is Christ-focus.

If the main attraction
In your daily life
Is continual distraction,
You’ll be spiritually
Out of action,
Lacking interaction
With the living Jesus.

Focusing
On
Christ
Unleashes
Serenity.

If you haven’t
Recently heard
The living Jesus
Speak in your heart
Your vision of Him
Will be blurred.

Every moment that you ignore Jesus you’re missing out on the glorious awareness of His presence! There’s no other focus in life like the living Jesus. Keep your attention locked on Him.

When we aren’t focused on the risen Jesus, life quickly gets off track. If you will forget about yourself and begin to focus on the risen Jesus, you’ll be amazed at what happens in your heart.

Keep your conscious mind focused on the risen Jesus, not on yourself. You don’t get inner peace by focusing on yourself. You get inner peace by continually focusing on the risen Jesus. If you will keep your heart always focused on the living Jesus, you’ll be daily carried along by the reality of His presence.

You can focus on the risen Jesus, or you can ignore Him. The key to happiness is to always focus on Jesus and head in His direction. The more you focus on the living Jesus the more you will be aware of His presence and reality, His power and love. Live your life intensely focused on the risen Jesus.

When your heart is blurry, your mind will deceive you. Let the risen Jesus clear up your inner vision! People who are focused on the risen Jesus have an instant heart-connection when they encounter each other.

Your life will follow your focus. You can’t follow Jesus without continually focusing on Him. No one is perfectly focused on the living Jesus. Daily improve your focus. Seek to make Christ your ongoing locus of control. Develop a laser-like focus on the living Jesus. You’ll never see Him very clearly by candlelight.

Focus directly on the risen Jesus, not on lectures and programs about Him. When people are satisfied with an occasional glimpse of the living Jesus or a weekly religious service, they stray away from the awareness of His presence and live their life like He is far away from them.

Don’t ghost the risen Jesus. Be His daily host. If you leave church and ghost Jesus the rest of the week, you’ve wasted your time.

To focus on the living Jesus:

  • Stay in continual open-hearted conversation with Him.
  • Quickly and consistently do what He prompts you to do.
  • When the attention of your heart slips away from Him, promptly redirect it to His presence.
  • When you disobey or ignore Him, immediately get back on track, ask for His forgiveness, and realign with His will.
  • Daily read the Bible with your heart wide open to Him.
  • Keep Scriptures flowing through your mind.
  • Spend a lot of time with and open your heart to people who are intently focused on Him.
  • Look for how Jesus is working in every circumstance throughout the day.
  • “Consider others better than yourself.”
  • Humbly love and serve people.
  • See Christ in “the lease of these.”

You have the right to control your focus. Boldly and courageously keep it on Jesus! Focus is about spiritual warfare. Whatever gets your focus wins the battle. Self-focus interrupts Christ-focus. Choose which you will serve. When your focus on the risen Jesus is so intense that others think you’re crazy, you’re headed in the right direction. (Paul the Apostle said, “We are fools for Christ.”)

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