Why I Write Differently

Posted on January 7, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What could you do differently?
View all responses

I’ve spent 5 1/2 decades devouring the Bible and storing up God’s words within me. I’ve diligently sought to absorb and obey His words. They’ve been the apple of my eye. I’ve read them almost every day, as a living love letter written directly to me, not like a dry theology textbook. I daily dwell on them, ponder them, savor them, let them work in me, allow them to change me, and let them direct how I live and pray.

Little by little God has written His words on the tablet of my heart. They have gradually been stored up within me. God’s wisdom continually calls, challenges, and comforts me like a dear relative and best friend. Everyday my fingers type it on my keyboard, and I post it far and wide. (Proverbs 7:1-4) “Bit by bit, day by day, the Word of God will light our way.” Here’s why and how I write differently:

I wake up very early each morning with words floating into my awareness, some individually and some in groups. They begin to repeat themselves and little by little assemble themselves into sentences.

I don’t want to get up so early, but eventually several sentences are dancing together in my consciousness. I realize that if I don’t arise and write them down, I might forget them. So I raise myself out of bed and post those intruding thoughts on Facebook. As I do more words and thoughts drift into my awareness and arrange into more sentences.

Eventually the flow slows to a trickle. The last several years I’ve been going to The Wake-Up Call by Seedbed. (Google it for a great blessing.) There I copy and paste the sentences (that I’ve posted on Facebook) in the comment space of the Wake-Up Call blog in whatever order that I feel prompted. After that I read their blog, and it causes a few more sentences to come to me. I add those sentences to what I’ve written in their comment section and post it all there.

Next, I copy what I’ve posted on Wake-Up Call and go to my WordPress blog called Free Gas For Your Think Tank. (You can also google it.) WordPress has a feature called “dailyprompt” which gives an idea to write about each day. I click on it and what I have written matches the “daily prompt.” A few more sentences float through me and I add them and post it all on my blog.

Finally, I post a link to my blog on my Facebook page. Then I go to X and break apart my blog into individual sentences or sections posting them on the former Twitter as tweets.

This process usually takes two to three hours. This morning the floating words suggested that I describe how they work in and through me. That’s what I’ve just done.

Also, before I got out of bed this morning this poem also developed in my mind:

How I Pray in Tongues

As I speak up
Words I don’t know
Begin to flow
From deep within
Releasing love,
Joy, peace, and hope
And awareness
Of God’s presence.
That’s the essence
Of how I pray
In other tongues
And languages.
Spirit-given,
O what a thrill,
I taste and see
Jesus is real.

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The Poem About How Church Can Shine

Posted on January 14, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
In what ways do you communicate online?
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Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is where
Christ’s light is shined.
(2 Corinthians 4:6)

I want a church where I can see Jesus freely working in and through everyday people, not just hear another lecture about Him. Here’s the poem I wrote about how church can shine:

Church should be so much more
Than a preacher preaching,
And a congregation
Passively listening —
The singing of some songs
Money dropped in a bag,
And a quick departure
As we try to make sure
We get to lunch on time.
I believe that’s only
A weak caricature
Of what God really wants
Christ-followers to do
When they come together: (1 Corinthians 14:26)
Encourage one another. (Thessalonians 5:11)
Teach and admonish one another. (Colossians 3:16)
Speak truth to one another. (Ephesians 4:24)
Submit to one another. (Ephesians 5:21)
Confess your sins to each other
And pray for one another. (James 5:16)
Bear one another’s burdens. (Galatians 6:2)
Be at peace with one another. (Mark 9:50)
Rejoice with those who rejoice
And weep with those who weep. (Romans 12:15)
Worship in Spirit and truth. (John 4:24)
(Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.)

If Christians will praise and adore the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) and put our focus on His presence instead of on a preacher in a pulpit, we will participate in the power of His Spirit (Acts 1:8) — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) We will taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34:8)

Let Jesus put His shine on your face. Let Him polish your heart with His presence. Let Him radiate His love by your words and demonstrate His mercy through your actions. If there is a God, you’re going to have to answer to Him when you die. Why not get started now?

Don’t just hear about religion in a church service. Let the risen Jesus Christ live inside of you and radiate His presence everywhere you go!

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Life’s Like a Road Trip — You Can Make it Better or Worse

Posted on January 13, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Think back on your most memorable road trip.
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Does it get any better than this? Yes! Life gets better when you make it better.

  • Life gets better when you spread kindness to everyone you encounter, whether in person, on the phone, by texting, or through social media. Kindness is a boomerang. Unkindness is too. The more you send them out the more they return to you. Unkindness produces unhappiness. If you want a happy kind of life, be kind!
  • Life gets better when you think better thoughts. Exchange worry for “worglee.” Replace fear with hope. Instead of thinking about and dreading bad things that might happen, ponder and anticipate good things that may occur.
  • Life gets better when you get rid of the things that give you guilt. How do you do that? Align your life with your conscience instead of with your guilt producing desires and behaviors. If something makes you feel guilty stop doing it. Humbly apologize to and ask everyone you’ve wronged to forgive you — including God. Do whatever you can to heal the wrong you’ve done and make it right. Rather than trying to forgive yourself, open up to, accept, receive, and live daily in the fullness of the forgiveness that God offers you through the Cross of Jesus Christ.
  • Life gets better when you forgive everyone who has offended you or done you wrong. How do you do that? Bless them by speaking and praying good things for them. If you do that every time they come to your mind, your grudge will gradually go away. Your chains of unforgiveness will come undone. Your life will be better.
  • Life gets better when you allow Jesus to put His supernatural joy within you and you let His Spirit freely flow from and ceaselessly pour out of your innermost being like rivers. Jesus said: “I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” He also said: “Whoever believes in (relies on) Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” Jesus is speaking to you both with words He puts in your mind and beyond words. Continually listen to His still small voice. Allow the risen Jesus to personally lead and direct you to His incredible joy!

Are you ready for a better life? Go for it. Daily, little by little, train yourself to live better, “Seek first the kingdom (inner government) of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)

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No Snack Can Root Out Your Anxiety

Posted on January 12, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What snack would you eat right now?
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No snack, no concert, no sporting event, no movie, no series, no text, no class, no degree, no success, no self-help, no friend, no income level, no savings account, no president, no patriotism, no military action, or no religion can set you free from anxiety and bring you long-lasting inner peace. Only the supernatural God can do that.

There is Someone supernatural who wants to produce ongoing peace in your inner life. Will you let Him?

God’s nature is supernatural. You can’t get close to God without encountering the supernatural activity of His Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6) When you do experience God, you can either quench His Spirit (1Thessalonians 5:19) or be led by His Spirit. (Romans 8:14)

God is eternal with no beginning and no end. He created all of creation — nature and everything that physically exists, but He’s not a part of it. He’s beyond nature. He is supernatural.

If there was a big bang blast, God created the super compressed small blob of subatomic matter and then blew it to smithereens. Then He individually directed each one of the uncreated neutrons, protons, electrons, quarks, fermions, leptons, bosons, and gluons that the hand-sized blob somehow mysteriously contained, to fly into their proper places and arrange themselves into the universe and all that it physically contains. But was all that physically exists really randomly created by an uncaused fireworks show? Who or what created the supposed densely condensed material and caused it to vastly expand and turn itself into everything that physically exists?

When we look away from planet earth and behold the night sky, we’re observing inexplicably more than the light from the uncaused explosion of uncreated subatomic matter that unguidedly assembled itself into stars, planets, asteroids, comets, galaxies, and nebulae. We are seeing an infinitesimally teeny, tiny speck of the beauty and the grandeur of God’s creation! O how small we are!

Your body is physical. It had a beginning called conception. The life of your body will eventually come to an end in death. Then it will finally decompose and disappear into dust. Yet your body isn’t all of you. Something within your body is right now aware that you are reading this. Your brain isn’t just electronically processing what I have written. You are consciously pondering it. What is that conscious part of you that no machine has? It’s your eternal soul. It’s who and what you really are. Your soul is your never-ending identity.

Did an uncreated little blob really blow itself up and cause everything that physically exists to come into existence? Hum. Sounds farfetched and anxiety producing to me. However, trusting in and daily relying on the Creator allows Him to create great inner peace within me!

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My “Crazy” Business

Posted on January 11, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Come up with a crazy business idea.
View all responses

Here’s some crazy looking hope for a world that’s truly crazy. My “crazy” business keeps me sane. It’s a simple business — the daily business of focusing on and being continually led by the living, resurrected Jesus Christ. It doesn’t make any sense to most people, but throughout all the ups and downs of my life, the crazy business of following Jesus keeps me mentally healthy.I am a fool for Christ. (1 Corinthians 4:10)

My crazy business motto is “Take up your cross daily.” To take up your cross daily is to deny your own desires so that you can devote every day to hearing and doing what Jesus desires for you. (Luke 9:23) My business goal is to let the risen Jesus release the radiant riches of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in and through my daily life. (John 10:10)

Jesus is my daily bread. (Matthew 6:11) He’s the living bread who came to give me life (John 6:51) — the bread of life. (John 6:48) I partake of His presence throughout each day. (Psalm 34:8)

My business CEO is Jesus. Jesus is speaking. Listen. (Luke 9:35) Jesus wants to be your CEO, your Lord, your God. (John 20:28) His sheep can hear and obey His voice. (John 10:27) True Christianity is a daily delight, not a Sunday morning duty! (1 Peter 1:8)

So why don’t churches present radical obedience to the risen Jesus as a crazy daily delight? That’s because church and ekklesia are not the same thing.

The New Testament word for gatherings of the body of Christ isn’t “church.” It is the Greek word “ekklesia” which was the town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities where anybody present could openly speak.

The early Christians met ekklesia-style as described in 1 Corinthians 14:26. Gradually, Christians moved away from the ekklesia-style gathering where Christ-followers were free to obey the Bible’s 50+ one another commandments. It was replaced with the classroom-style one man lecture meeting that we call a church service. Without the Spirit-prompted energy of Christians testifying (Revelation 12:11) about their daily encounters with Jesus and their daily God-sightings, crazy-love Christianity morphed into dry, passive religion.

How to daily live supernaturally:

1) Recognize that your life itself is supernatural.
2) Understand that God Himself is supernatural.
3) Observe how God is supernaturally working within you to draw you closer to Himself.
4) Ponder and surrender to God’s presence.
5) Obey the inner promptings that God puts on your heart.

Religiosity
Is a poor substitute
For true intimacy
With the risen Jesus!

See two fools for Christ on YouTube @ https://www.youtube.com/@CrazyBibleStuff

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Bathtub Ships

Posted on January 10, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?
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As a little boy I loved playing with toy ships and boats in the bathtub. I had several of them but as time went by, I lost them all. Far too many Christians have lost their “ships.” Here are some powerful “ship” words that describe a true relationship with the risen Jesus. Don’t let your life get shipwrecked!

Citizenship in God’s Kingdom (Colossians 1:13) calls you to continually live your life in:

Fellowship with Jesus, (1 Corinthians 1:9)
Friendship with Jesus, (John 15:15)
Close relationship with Jesus, (John 14:19-20)
Discipleship with Jesus, (John 13:35)
Kinship with Jesus, (Ephesians 1:5)
Citizenship in Christ’s kingdom, (Colossians 1:13)
And in full surrender and obedience to His Headship (Colossians 1:18)
With pleasure! (John 15:11)

Church membership and/or attendance aren’t the same thing as citizenship in Christ’s kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom has the word “if” in it. God has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Jesus — “if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” (Colossians 1:21-23)

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My Mission Is to Build My Life on the Strongest Foundation

Posted on January 9, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What is your mission?
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My mission, my goal, and my deepest desires are to build my life on the best pillars. I want to build my life — my thoughts, feelings, desires, words, and behaviors — on the firm foundation of solid rock, not on sand that shifts and sinks. If you like my mission, here’s how you can apply it in your life.

Keep yourself aware of and focused on “Christ in you. the hope of glory.” Let His presence and the leadings, (Galatians 5:18) the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) and the fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) of His Spirit, and His direct personal revelation to you, (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) and His wisdom written in the Bible, (Hebrews 4:12) be the pillars that you are faithfully building the house of your life on. (Proverbs 9:1)

To seek first the kingdom — and pillars — of God (Matthew 6:33) allow Jesus to live inside of you (Colossians 1:27) and to be your absolute King, (John 18:37/Revelation 19:16) your risen Lord, and your glorious God. (John 28:20) Let Him rule, govern, and direct you from within, moment-by-moment. (Romans 8:14)

Christianity built on the sand of routine religion isn’t the same thing as Christianity that is built on the rock of direct, personal, ongoing revelation from (Matthew 16:17) and radical obedience to (John 14:15) the risen Jesus Christ. A sermon prepared by a mind might possibly reach a mind, but words shared from the heart as led by the Spirit can release God’s living water in people. Are you building your spiritual house on the sand or on the rock? (Matthew 7:24-27)

If you’re unwilling to forgive, (Matthew 6:15) to bless and pray for, (Luke 6:28) and to love your enemies (Luke 6:26-27) you’re building your life on sand. You don’t yet fully know what it means to love!

Beware of the sand and deceptions that are all around you. I have chosen to adore, follow, and obey the risen Jesus Himself as described by the Bible, and not to watch or be influenced by a show called “The Chosen” that distorts and fictionalizes who Jesus is and the things that He said and did! I have chosen to continually savor and devour the Bible and to faithfully stick with what it says about Jesus. I strive to continually discern and to avoid all of the deceptions about Jesus that religion and society are prompting and throwing at us.

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Open Up, Come Clean, and Listen to People Who Seek to Obey God

Posted on January 8, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
View all responses

Listen to God the Holy Spirit. Hear Him speak directly to your heart. Hear Him speak through the Bible. Hear Him speak through your brothers and sisters in Christ. Train yourself to speak when you are prompted by the Spirit, not just whenever you want to say something.

It’s God’s nature to be supernatural. He supernaturally created the natural world with His words. (Genesis 1:1-31) Now God the Holy Spirit wants His presence and His words to supernaturally flow in and through you as vibrant rivers of living water. (John 7:38-39) Begin to live your daily life attentively listening to and being faithfully obedient to God the Spirit. If you will refuse to stop or slow the flow of His inner voice, He will freely release His gifts and produce His fruit inside of you and around you. Diligently train yourself not to hinder God’s Spirit and not to hold Him back. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

Pastors and Christian leaders also need the accountability of listening to one another in church instead of being the only person allowed to speak. Perhaps that lack of listening time is why so many fall into or live with sin.

Another Christian leader, bestselling author and speaker, Philip Yancey, has joined the crowd of pastors, priests, and leaders who have admitted to or been caught in blatant sexual sin. He admitted to an 8-year affair during His ministry. If the pastor-focused religious tradition (Mark 7:13) where one person monopolizes Sunday morning services was effective, would sexual sin be rampant among Christian leaders and church attendees?

When will we see that it’s time to return to the body of Christ that Jesus, Himself, wants to build? It’s a gathering where Jesus is the literal Head (not the figurehead) and the Holy Spirit is free to prompt anybody present to speak up in the gathering. (2 Corinthians 5:17) It’s a meeting where people are willing to lovingly and patiently listen to one another as individuals are prompted and led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14) to open up and humbly obey the 50+ New Testament “one another” commandments.

When people are lovingly holding each other accountable by sincerely listening to one another being open and honest with each other, they have more power to resist temptation than if they are just passively listening to religious lectures once a week. Alcoholics Anonymous illustrates that.

When Alcoholics Anonymous was set up the founders decided to focus on open-sharing meetings where people could listen to one another, instead of on one-speaker-focused meetings. When alcoholics or addicts are faithful to regularly attend those meetings and to open up to, be honest with, and support and hold each other accountable, they experience the freedom of recovery. I believe that if churches would use the open-sharing format, they too would be much more effective at helping people live free from the bondage of sin. Lecture alone isn’t very effective!

When someone tries to compassionately hold us accountable to obey God, that’s neither judging nor casting a stone. It’s obedience to what Jesus says in Matthew 18:15-17. When there’s no opportunity for open sharing, people can’t “tell it to the church.”

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.com
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Guilt and Shame Be Gone!

Posted on January 6, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?
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If I had a freeway billboard it would say: “Guilt and Shame Be Gone!” Underneath that it would direct people to my blog: hopethoughts.com so that they could find out how to experience ongoing freedom from guilt and shame.

All the time keep your heart, your eyes, and your ears focused on Jesus, His commandments, and His innocence. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Love Him with all you’ve got. Keep Him as the center of your everyday life.

Refuse to let guilty feelings keep you from living in openhearted intimacy with the risen Jesus. Every time an impure thought grabs your attention, push it aside and turn your attention back (Luke 5:32) to the presence of Jesus (Matthew 28:20) and to His wisdom. Let the gift of Christ’s forgiveness free you up to live your life free from guilt and shame and unceasingly empower you to deeply love Him and to keep His commandments. (John 14:15)

When toying with temptation (James 1:14-15) has taken away your innocence and filled you with guilty feelings, making excuses won’t remove the accusations that gnaw on you from within. Pleading not guilty won’t ease your conscience, but Jesus can drive away the accusations that assault you. (John 8:1-11)

Every loss of innocence quenches God the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and hinders the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) from growing within you. Use God’s gift of discernment (1 Corinthians 12:10) to guard your heart (Proverbs 4:23-27) and protect your innocence. Avoid exposing yourself to things that steal innocence. Instead, continually watch, read, and think about what is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. (Philippians 4:8)

Humbly receiving Christ’s forgiveness is the way (John 14:6) back to inner peace. (John 14:27) Every time you sin in thought, words, or actions, cry out to Jesus and sincerely ask Him to have mercy on you. (Mark 10:47-48) Genuinely ask Him to forgive you and to create a clean heart within you. (Psalm 51:10) If you truthfully do that, He will cleanse you, (Isaiah 1:18) flood you with forgiveness, and give you the desire to daily follow and obey Him. (Mark 8:34)

Saying that you’re innocent doesn’t make you not guilty. If you want to lose that guilty feeling till it’s gone, gone, gone; put away your guilt producing thoughts and behaviors, and fully surrender your life to the risen Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19) Let Him forgive you and cleanse you (1 John 1:9) Let Jesus make and keep you pure within. (Matthew 5:8)

Let the nostalgia that you feel for innocence, whenever you see a small child playing, (Matthew 2:5) motivate you to always seek first the kingdom — inner government — of God in your life (Matthew 6:33) and the ever-increasing cleansing, healing, and freedom that Christ offers you. (2 Corinthians 3:12-17)

Jesus asks us to get out of the boat and walk on water with Him. When He does, we need to be free to obey Jesus and not be bound by religious traditions, (Mark 7:13) protocol, and human control. (1 Peter 5:3)

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Hope Beyond the Past, Present, and Future

Posted on January 5, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?
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I find hope by looking beyond the past, the present, and the future. The discipline of God the Holy Spirit gives life and hope. Jesus calls the Spirit’s discipline discipleship. (Proverbs 5:23)

Jesus said to go and make disciples. (Matthew 28:19-20) To make disciples is to train, empower, and inspire people to be aware of, attentive to, and activated by God the Holy Spirit in their daily life. (John 16:12-15) Then they can be transformed by God’s power (Acts 1:8) from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18) and become effective witness to the actual presence of Christ living and working in and through them. (Colossians 1:27)

To make disciples we need to help people encounter, obey, and fully surrender all to the living resurrected Jesus Christ. Simply put, disciple making is helping someone love Jesus more. The focus of Christianity is too often on filling religious buildings with church members, but Jesus wants us to fill the world with totally committed Christ-lovers who consistently follow and obey Him.

Too many Christians are educated but not discipled. They’re taught but not trained. They’re informed but not empowered. They’re instructed but not inspired. (2 Timothy 3:16) They are lectured but not Spirit-led. (Romans 8:14)

In much of contemporary Christianity, direct revelation from God (Matthew 16:17 & 1 Corinthians 2:9-10) has been exchanged for human wisdom. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Heart-to-heart relationship with God (John 15:14-15) has been replace by routine religion. (Mark 7:13)

Jesus wants His followers to go and make disciples, not to passively sit together and make an audience. To make a disciple you must be a disciple. It’s so much easier to simply be a Sunday morning spectator. Dare to make disciples, not just to invite people to attend church! Unless Christian converts are converted into true disciples, they’ll gradually revert to their old habits and lifestyle patterns, even if they continue going to church.

Christ’s goal isn’t to make us safe and secure in our own nation. It’s to save us from self-focus and to set us free to consistently love, serve, and obey Him (John 14:15) and to love other people, even our enemies. (Matthew 5:44) Many churches and Christian leaders have begun to make political activists. Meanwhile Jesus is still waiting for us to make disciples who will deny themselves, take up their cross daily, and follow Him. (Luke 9:23)

Is the way church is being done an effective way of making disciples? Answer honestly. Does Jesus really want churches to make Christians into Sunday bench warmers on the sideline of life who are required to listen to a weekly religious lesson?

Disciples do
What Jesus
Tells them to.
How about you?

For my books on discipleship, google: The Joy of Early Christianity and/or Beyond Church Ekklesia.

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