I Can Never Retreat or Retire

Daily writing prompt

How do you want to retire?

I can never retreat or retire from a mission that never stops burning in my heart. I’ve experienced something so incredible that I’m constantly compelled to tell people about it and to try to help them experience it to. It is the risen Jesus actively working in and though me and in and through other people.

My employer tried to force me to change what I felt called by God to do and had been allowed and encouraged to do for 10 years. Refusing to retreat caused me to lose my employment, salary, and insurance before I was ready to step down. So now I proclaim, encourage, and advocate what I deeply believe but receive no pay. People think I am retired but I am more fired up about Jesus and His Spirit-led, sermon-free worship gatherings than I have ever been. Experiencing them is life-changing, but there is such stubborn resistance against them.

Christian meetings that allow the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit are very rare. I’ve spent my entire adult life searching for them and or starting them. When I find one, I am filled with wonder and awe at the demonstrated presence and reality of the risen Jesus that I experience there. However, before long various people begin to rise up and work to stop the Holy Spirit’s spontaneity and replace it with human structure and control. I’ve seen that happen time after time. During the last six months I’ve seen a Spirit-led gathering that I was a part of brought under tight human control. It breaks my heart to see God’s Spirit quenched and corralled.

Those meetings don’t need to be large, but they can be. They can also be very small — just you and one other person listening to God the Holy Spirit together and then saying and doing whatever He tells you to. Learn more. Use the search bar at the top right of this page to search my blog for organic church, simple church, Berry Street, or sermon-free church. I have written two books that will guide you to experiencing the Holy Spirit’s spontaneity: Beyond Church and The Joy of Early Christianity.

God’s Spirit leads
Another way
He doesn’t say
Do what’s trending.
He is sending
You to go by
His narrow way.

Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

About Steve Simms

I like to look and think outside the box. In college I encountered Jesus Christ and I have been passionate about trying to get to know Him better ever since. My wife and I long to see the power and passion of the first Christ-followers come to life in our time. I have written a book about our experiences in non-traditional church, called, "Beyond Church: An Invitation To Experience The Lost Word Of The Bible--Ekklesia." If you need encouragement, search for: Elephants Encouraging The Room and/or check out my Amazon author page. Thank you!

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