We Humans Are All Villains, Not Heroes

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Have you ever liked a villain more than the hero? Who and why?
View all responses

“We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him (Jesus Christ) the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) Self-reliance that radiates self-righteousness isn’t Christianity. It’s pride.

Do you trust in and rely on your own effort and the false belief that you are a good person? (Romans 3:23) Or do you continually trust in and rely on Christ living and working both within and through you? (Colossians 1:27)

The Bible says, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6) People who are proud of their religion are actually being resisted by God, not favored by Him.

God is looking for people with humble hearts. (1 Peter 5:6) Jesus said that God has hidden spiritual things from “the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” (Luke 10:21)

True Christ-followers do more than merely believe in the existence of God. The Bible says that even the devils believe in God’s existence and tremble. (James 2:19)

Genuine Christians do much more than talk about what they believe about God. They humble themselves. (James 4:10) With deep, heart-gripping dependence on the risen Christ, they confess with their mouth that Jesus is their absolute Lord and Master and literally rely on His presence and power throughout each day. (Romans 10:9-10)

God wants pruned people, not proud people. Don’t try to look like a Christian. Humble yourself and let God prune you. Allow Him to cut off anything in your life that is hindering you from overflowing with the fruit of the Spirit — “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness . . .” (John 15:1-12)

Christian preachers and Bible teachers aren’t just supposed to be dispensers of religious details. The fact is, every single Christian is supposed to be a dynamic demonstrator of the supernatural presence, love, and power of Jesus.

Globe marked with protesters and a sign reading “GLOBAL PROTEST”
A globe covered with miniature demonstrators illustrates worldwide protest and collective action.
Posted in chief of sinners, good people, self-righteousness, sinners | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Boasting Boosts Deception

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Steve Simms

Boasting boosts deception. It bankrupts the truth. When you are proud and self-righteous, you are deceived. (James 4:6)

I am deceived. You are too. No one’s thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and feelings, are completely aligned with truth.

Every time you lie or twist the truth away, you are spreading deception. When your beliefs shove aside God’s love and compassion, you are deceived. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

If you are listening to, trusting, or even spending time with people who you know lie, you are being deceived. When there is no distinction between your politics and your religion, you are deceived. (John 18:36)

If you don’t verify the validity and veracity of what you hear, you will believe much that is untrue. Test what you hear. (1 John 4:1)

When you trust in and rely on human pride, power, and might instead of on God’s Spirit, you are deceived. (Zechariah 4:6) When you hear the Bible taught but don’t do what it says, you are deceived. (James 1:22)

Bible-twisting preachers are dangerous. There are lots of them nowadays. Search the Bible to test everything that you hear preached. (Acts 17:11) Avoid any preacher whose teaching doesn’t align with the Bible.

Beware. People who brag about promoting Christian values but lie and do other ungodly things are using Christianity for their own purposes.

When a church has a stage, it’s probably staged. When it has a platform, it probably follows a rigidly set form. When a church seats people in rows that all face the front, it probably focuses on one man speaking up front instead of on keeping people’s attention on listening to Jesus who rose from the dead.

When unscheduled voices aren’t allowed to speak as Jesus prompts them to, the Holy Spirit is quenched. When the Sunday program rarely, if ever, provides any places or spaces for people to “spur one another on to love and good works” and to actively “encourage one another,” Hebrews 10:24-25 is being ignored and disobeyed.

No mere human being fully understands God. We are all deceived to some degree. Lord, search my heart and show me where I am deceived. Help me to align more fully with You and Your will wherever I am deceived. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Deception
Reduction:
Don’t follow
The path of
Temptation.

Woman holding a sign reading “AVOID DECEPTION RECEPTION” in a public square
A woman holds a bold sign urging the public to avoid deception and reject reception.
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The Best Advice

Posted on September 15, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you?
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My best advice would be to honestly and sincerely answer this question. Have you settled for less than true Christianity?

True Christianity isn’t merely believing Jesus lived, was crucified, and rose in the past. It’s living those beliefs as present-day truth.

True Christianity is faithfully denying self-righteousness and self-reliance to make room for King Jesus to live and rule in and through you. It’s taking up your cross daily. It’s being continually aware of and led by Christ in you rather than by your own thoughts, feelings, desires, and opinions. True Christianity is total ongoing trust in and dependence on the presence and power of the risen Jesus in the present and in the future.

If you have settled for anything less than true, whole-hearted, life-changing Christianity, I’d advise you to seek God like never before. Humbly and sincerely ask Him to search your heart and show you anything that is keeping you from being continually aware of and fully surrendered to Christ living in you.

Then listen to Him speak to you through His Spirit speaking in and through your conscience. Obey what He tells you to do.

Begin to devour and absorb the Bible. Read it like it is a rope thrown out to a drowning man. Let its words burn within you. Humbly and faithfully do what it says, and it will grab hold of your heart and pull you into the presence and power of the risen Jesus.

Man holding a sign reading “ARE YOU OPEN TO ADVICE?” on a busy street
A man holds a handwritten sign asking, “ARE YOU OPEN TO ADVICE?” amid a busy neighborhood street.
Posted in advice, career advice, relationship advice, the way the truth the life, true Christianity | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

More People Humbly Receiving & Using God’s Gift of Tongues

Posted on September 14, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s one thing that would instantly improve your city?
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Praying in tongues makes people conscious of their sins, and of God’s power and forgiveness. It floods them with an intense awareness of His presence!

Paul asks in the Bible, “Do all speak in tongues?” The obvious answer is no. However, Paul also wrote: “I want you all to speak in tongues…”

When the first 120 Christians were gathered in prayer, “They all began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance.” They did that by moving their mouth, tongue, lips, and vocal cords as the Spirit supplied the words. They did the speaking. The Holy Spirit gave them the words to say. Even Jesus’ mother, Mary, spoke in tongues. (Acts 2)

So, why don’t more Christians speak in tongues today?

1) They’ve been incorrectly taught what the Bible says about speaking in tongues.
2) They have been falsely taught that the gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, aren’t for today.
3) They believe that it’s up to the Holy Spirit to move their mouth, tongue, lips, and vocal cords, so they passively wait for Him to do that.
4) They are too proud to speak out in words they don’t understand.
5) They are afraid of being embarrassed, humbled, or disappointed.
6) They don’t ask God to give them the gift of speaking in tongues. “You have not because you ask not.”
7) They ask with the wrong motive.
8) They are afraid that if they get closer to God, He will show them their sins and call them to repentance.
9) They are afraid they might receive a counterfeit gift of tongues.
10) They believe they don’t need a supernatural gift that bypasses their brain and connects them directly, heart-to-heart with God.
11) They believe that God doesn’t want them to have it.
12) They say speaking in tongues is the least of God’s spiritual gifts and imply that it’s not good enough for them.

Praying in tongues is so powerful that the Bible calls it a gift of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) It’s so powerful that the first time the earliest Christians gathered and began speaking in tongues as the Spirit gave utterance, 3000 men (not counting women and children) became Christ-followers. (Acts 2) It is so powerful that whenever I pray in tongues, I sense an overwhelming awareness of the presence, power, and love of the risen Jesus.

I pray in tongues many times every day. I even sing in tongues. God uses the gift of tongues to strengthen me, encourage me, and help me hear and obey Christ living in me. I even quietly pray in tongues throughout the night.

I highly recommend that everyone who wants a closer relationship with Jesus set aside their pride and ask God for the gift of speaking in tongues. Then open your mouth and start the act of speaking, but not in a language you know. At that very moment the Holy Spirit will release a supernatural stream of words, and rivers of living water will overflow from within you.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Glory disrupts the status quo with an overwhelming sense of awe. It doesn’t turn Christians into a passive church audience neatly lined up in rows. “Stir up the gift of God within you.”

More about tongues @ What About Tongues

Posted in gifts of the Spirit, praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues, speaking in tongues | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Journey of A Lifetime

Posted on September 13, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s the longest trip you’ve ever taken?
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The longest trip I’ve ever taken has been from conception until now. It has been the journey of my lifetime. It began when two cells connected and started my existence. Little by little my body grew into the baby boy my parents adored.

Over the years I continued to gradually increase in size and understanding until I was called an adult. As an adult I’ve continued to change, to observe, to learn, and to age until this very moment. What an amazing adventure I’ve had so far.

I’ve learned to appreciate other human beings who are also traveling through life. I’ve discovered that when people are approached with kindness, appreciation, and friendliness they respond with the same and a heart-warming encounter occurs.

The greatest travel guidebook I have ever found for my journey through life is the Bible. As I read it daily with openheartedness it speaks deep within my soul.

The greatest personal guide I’ve ever discovered is the risen Jesus Christ. He leads, directs, and protects me throughout each day. I continually experience the reality the Bible proclaims, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The risen Jesus Christ has led me far beyond religion and mere church attendance. He helped me to understand the difference between these two approaches to Christianity. By God’s grace I have chosen the second one. Jesus taught it in Luke 9:23.

The Three Expectations of Church Attendance

  1. Enter the building,
  2. Endure the service,
  3. Exit till next week.

The Three Requirements of Christ

  1. Deny yourself,
  2. Take up your cross daily,
  3. Follow wherever He leads.
Travel agency storefront reading “The Journey of Your Lifetime Travel Agency”
A charming travel agency invites passersby to explore the world from its colorful storefront.
Posted in Christian spirituality, spiritual formation, spiritual growth, travel, travel guide | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Church Cruising but Going Nowhere

Posted on September 12, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s your best tip for budget travel?
View all responses

Words without power
Heard for an hour
Are like a dry shower
Or a plastic flower.
Don’t let them devour
Your heart-love for Jesus
Till you become lukewarm.
Instead, let Christ tower
And rule inside of you
Displaying His power
Hour after hour!

Vegetables are grown in rows. Christians are grown in Spirit-led, support group style, circles.

Church is too often like a group of people getting on a cruise ship once a week to sit in straight rows, sing some songs, and to listen to a featured lecture about travel. Then they immediately get off the boat and forget all about what they’ve heard. Stil, they keep coming back week after week to get on the boat and hear another similar sermon before they disembark and go about their merry way again and again.

Spirit-led, heart-to-heart pre-church Christianity, which Jesus called “ekklesia,” floated the boat of the earliest Christ-followers. It supernaturally empowered them to demonstrate Christ’s love and presence far and wide. But drydocked Christianity is shipwrecked.

Jesus said to make disciples. He didn’t say to make people lifelong dependents on a professional pastor.

Does church-going and going and going improve your character and how you live your daily life? Does it empower you to do what the Bible says even to the point of loving your enemies and blessing those who curse you? Or do you leave church behind as you walk out the door? People who don’t love their enemies aren’t following Jesus.

Church of the High Seas designed as a Gothic ocean liner
The Church of the High Seas combines a grand Gothic church with a full-sized ocean liner beside the water.
Posted in Christian spirituality, church, church attendance, institutional church, liturgical churches, rethinking church | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Mindset For True Success

Posted on September 10, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
How does your mindset affect your financial success?
View all responses

Circumcision of The Heart (The Cure for Christalgia)

Christianity isn’t about events like concerts, conventions, and comfortably crafted church services. It’s about “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Let God the Holy Spirit do open-heart surgery on you and remove anything that is quenching (1 Thessalonians 5:19) His presence and power within you. Then Christ will demonstrate His glory both in and through you like never before. (Colossians 1:27) The Bible calls that “the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit.” (Romans 2:29)

Are you Christalgic? If you have ever drifted away from focusing your daily life on the living Jesus, you may be feeling Christalgic–nostalgic for the conscious awareness of His presence and power in your life. If so, the Holy Spirit is calling you back to Jesus.

Be like the early morning. Daily, allow God the Son to drive any darkness out of your heart and shine brightly within you. (2 Corinthians 4:6) Keep your mind and heart set on Jesus.

Photo by Efren Ftz on Pexels.com
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Find True Prosperity

Posted on September 9, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
If your pet could talk, what would be the first thing it says?
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The deceitfulness of money and the desire to be wealthy work together as distractions from true prosperity. Fill your life with inner riches. Focus on treasuring and cultivating the wealth of health, an abundance of heart-to-heart community, the beauty of nature, the affluence of peace of mind, and the riches of contentment and joy.

If your pockets are overflowing with money but your heart is bankrupt of gratitude, you are still far away from prosperity. Wanting more and loving less is not success.

Prosperity is so much more than the accumulation of things. It’s the acquisition of a treasure chest of faith, hope, and love. Refuse to allow inner passivity and spiritual inaction to push you off the path that leads to freedom from sadness, discouragement, despair, and depression.

The prosperity that produces pride builds a divide between people. Material wealth is a tool to be used not an idol to be worshipped. Financial success without character, honesty, and morality is an empty vault.

The pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of economic gain are not the same thing. True happiness isn’t the absence of hard times it’s learning to live with joy in both good times and hard times.

Evaluating yourself by your bank account will produce more stress than feelings of secure success. True prosperity is built on non-financial assets. If you’re not achieving inner peace and lasting joy, you’ve wandered from the path to true prosperity.

True prosperity comes from aligning your heart, your thoughts, and your behaviors with God. The Bible advocates self-focused fault-finding. That’s what true prosperity and repentance are all about. “Have mercy on me.” (Mark 10:47) Self-righteousness, on the other hand, promotes the false prosperity of finding fault in others to justify ourselves.

King David prayed: “Search me, God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me.” (Psalm 139:23-24) And: “Create in me a pure heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:10) That, not his material wealth, was his true prosperity.

Prosperity

How much stuff
Does it take
For your soul
To prosper?
(3 John 1:2)
Food and clothes
Are enough.
Be content.
(1 Timothy 6:8)
Enjoy
Inner peace.
(Philippians 4:7)

Man holding sign reading “MY DOG SHOWS ME TRUE PROSPERITY!” beside dog
A man and his dog share a heartfelt message about finding prosperity in companionship.
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I’ve Regretted Not Reading What God Has Written on My Heart

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Have you ever regretted reading a book — which one and why?
View all responses

Your life will work right when you begin to live righteously by consistently discerning and obeying what God has written on your heart. Try it and see. (Romans 2:13-15)

If you don’t keep
Your inner eyes
Focused on Christ,
Religion will
Institutionalize
And shrink-wrap your faith.
Let the living
Jesus arise
Within you and
Personally
Direct your life!

Christians and churches need to say and do Spirit-led things that literally demonstrate that Jesus is alive, present, and powerful. It’s not enough to merely make statements that say He’s alive.

When Christians gather
To be Spirit-led
And built together
As Christ’s living stones
They experience
His purifying
And healing presence.

A Christian’s leader should be God the Holy Spirit, not a mere human being. I can’t find the Greek word for leader, “prótostatés” used anywhere in the New Testament to describe leadership in the body of Christ. Instead, the New Testament uses three other words: 1) “episkopos” which means overseer, someone who functions like an official in basketball and oversees a Christian gathering to allow the Holy Spirit to freely speak through the people present; 2) “presbuteros” which means elder, someone who is older and more mature in their relationship with Jesus; and 3) diakonos meaning servant, someone who humbly serves others.

A Christian is called to be a sent one, “apostolos” in Greek. All Christians are supposed to follow and obey Christ, living within them and writing God the Father’s laws on their heart, as they are sent, prompted, and led by the Holy Spirit.

Man holding an open Bible inside a church
A man holds an open Bible in a warmly lit church while reflecting quietly.

Posted in back to the Bible, Bible memory, Christ in you, Christian spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Is “Lukewarm Christianity”?

Posted on September 7, 2026 by Steve Simms

Lukewarm Christianity is:

* Stubborn,
* Lacking repentance,
* Short on love,
* Truth-rejecting,
* Sin-excusing,
* Bible-ignoring,
* Without daily discipleship,
* Self-seeking,
* Casual,
* Trivial,
* People-pleasing,
* Compartmentalized,
* A powerless form of godliness,
* Toned down,
* Ho hum,
* Programmed,
* Humanly controlled,
* Routine,
* Compromised,
* Tradition-bound,
* Half-hearted,
* Passive,
* Obligatory,
* Prayer-deficient,
* Culturally influenced,
* Entertainment-driven,
* Spirit-quenching
* Legalistic,
* Boring,
* Proud,
* Self-righteous,
* Commandment-breaking,
* Passionless,
* Comfortable,
* Lecture-based,
* Politically focused,
* “Neither hot nor cold.”

Discussion questions:

How many of those characteristics does your Christianity have? Have you ever seen a list like this in a church bulletin? What would you add to or remove from the list? How would you define the two other types of Christianity (hot and cold) that Jesus mentions in Revelation 3:16?

Gray mug reading “ANYTHING BUT LUKEWARM!” surrounded by ice and flames
A steaming mug boldly declares “ANYTHING BUT LUKEWARM!” while surrounded by ice and flames.
Posted in be hot or cold, Christian spirituality, lukewarm, Revelation 3:16, spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment