Power to be a strong witness

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Steve Simms

The inner fitness
To be Christ’s witness
Is released within people
Who obey the promptings
Of the Holy Spirit.

There’s an inner power flow
That lets people know
That the risen Jesus
Makes His followers grow
To be and to live like Him.
Without that inner flow
We can’t an effective witness
And demonstrate His presence
Because we have nothing
Supernatural to show.
Always surrender to Jesus
And let the inner rivers
Of His Spirit freely flow
Everywhere you are
And everywhere you go!

You won’t be an effective witness for Jesus Christ if you aren’t seeing and experiencing Him working in your life. Perhaps people don’t testify more about what Jesus is doing in their lives because they aren’t experiencing His presence and His working.

In order for Christ’s light to shine through you, you have to open your heart and let people see what He’s doing in you! There’s no limit to the power that can be released through Christ-followers who will testify about how Jesus is working in them!

An unspoken testimony has no power to impact people’s lives. It is time for churches to allow and to empower people to show and tell what God has done for them! When Christians aren’t allowed to freely be a witness for Jesus in church, it’s crazy to expect them to openly be a witness for Jesus in public.

Jesus said that His followers will be witnesses (people who will boldly proclaim what they have seen and heard Him say and do) not just preachers who merely lecture about what they have learned by studying. Since Jesus said that, shouldn’t churches allow them the freedom to testify when they gather in His name?

If you are a believer you have been summoned to testify about Jesus! To many Christians get so caught up in one man’s “call to preach” that they forget that all Christ-followers have been summoned to testify about Jesus!

Gravity and sin are invisible forces that pull down toward the ground. Life is an invisible force that mounts up as an eagle. Testify to life.

Photo by Zachary Caraway on Pexels.com
Posted in testifying, witness, witnesses, you shall be my witnesses | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two-way communication with God!

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Steve Simms

Jesus sacrificed His life to make mediation so that you can now experience direct, personal revelation from God! There’s no motivation like direct, personal revelation from the living God. People are crying out for satisfaction, validation, and restoration, but they’re only found one place — in the presence of direct, personal revelation from God! Ask Him to show you the reality of His presence!

The Bible says that Christ’s sheep hear His voice and that God’s children are Spirit-led. If those things aren’t happening, perhaps we aren’t what we think we are. What is Christ doing in you today? If you can’t answer that question, you’re distracted from His presence.

You don’t need more explanation about God. You need daily direct, personal revelation from Him! Direct, personal revelation from God opens the door to two-way conversation with Him.

Christianity is much more than having your mind convinced by religious concepts. It’s having the hurts in your heart healed by the rock of ultimate objectivity — direct, personal revelation from the Creator. Nothing is more real than God’s life-changing work in a human heart. To see God’s light in your heart is to be objectively and demonstratively set free from deception of darkness. If direct revelation from the living God isn’t objective, then all that we perceive is only passing illusion.

God was talking to me around three this morning and telling me to get up and write what He was saying, but all I wanted to do was sleep so I continued to lay there and resist Him. Then He asked me, “Isn’t what I’m saying more important than your sleep?” So, I jumped up and have been listening to God and writing what I hear for about 4 hours.

Some of the thoughts that come to you are thoughts from God. Train yourself to recognize, ponder, and obey those God-thoughts. Open your “cozy-zone” to the fire of direct, personal revelation from the living God! The invitation to direct, personal revelation from the living God is the rock that is proclaimed throughout the Bible. Keep God always the focus of your observation and let His revelation continually break through within you by the penetration of your heart.

Unless we open our heart to the reality of direct personal revelation from the Creator of the Universe, our mind will keep us in various states of deception by often misleading us with its subjective notions and analytical evaluations. No amount of Christian education is as powerful as one moment of direct, personal revelation from God.

A one-size-fits-all church service may not be what you need. Let Jesus speak His customized words to you.

Life is a series of passing moments. We have these moments to surrender and align our life to God’s will.

If your view
Of Christ is hazy,
It may be because
You're too lazy
To resist all the crazy
Ideas that surround you.

My way will
Lead me to stray,
But when I pray
And let God's Spirit
Lead me His way,
His light fills my day!


Good or bad,
What you stream
On the screen
Of your mind
Will leave
Its residue behind.
Photo by Mudassir Ali on Pexels.com
Posted in hearing God, listening prayer | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Why was Christianity turned into church?

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Steve Simms

Christians are willing to passively sit together in church but seldom willing to be gathered together in active heart-intimacy with the living Jesus and with each other. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem . . . you were not willing.” Never be satisfied with knowledge about Jesus without ongoing awareness of His presence!

People like to turn Christianity into church but reading the Bible reveals it to be so much more than that! Christians like to gather as a passive audience, but Christ wants to build and to be the literal leader (the actual Head) of the interactive assembly of His people that He called His “ekklesia” (His interactive Greek-style town hall meeting).

The purpose of preaching the Gospel is to help people connect heart-to-heart with the risen Jesus so that He can directly lead them by His Spirit without them needing to always depend on a preacher. Giving a talk about Jesus like He’s not in the room seems to miss the point of His resurrection. The purpose of Peter’s preaching on Pentecost was to explain the Spirit-led, crowd-gathering things that were happening in the moment (celebration that spilled into the street, massive speaking in tongues, fire-like-glowing on people, and the sound of rushing wind), not to present a programmed sermon to passive people.

Religious institutions that have grown around Christianity often hide the reality of the risen Jesus. Since Jesus said that His sheep hear His voice, wouldn’t it be nice to give His sheep some time in a church service to share what He’s telling them?

Christ-followers
Are called to:
* Celebrate Christ,
* Participate with Christ,
* Partake of Christ,
* Radiate Christ.

If Jesus isn't
Actively working
And living
In the meeting,
Then churching
Is just watching
A program.
Photo by Michael Morse on Pexels.com
Posted in church history, church hurt, church leadership, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Creator in human flesh

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Steve Simms 
The Creator in human flesh

Hanging bloody on a cross
Is the sacrificial Lamb of God.
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows
And by His stripes
We are offered healing,
Forgiveness and restoration
To heart-to-Heart relationship
With the eternal One
Who although He died,
Rose to live forever
With mortal wounds
In His back, head,
Hands, feet, and side.
Look, behold and experience,
His blood will never
Lose its power.

Seeing real love in view of God's mercy (Romans 12:1-2)

To truly view
God's mercy
You need
His transforming
Perspective
So you can see
Like Christ sees
And become aware
Of what it cost Him
To pay for
The forgiveness
Of your sin.

Life amiss
In emptiness?
We'll be hollow
Unless we follow
The risen Jesus
And no longer wallow
In the crud within
And around us.

We need
Conscious awareness
Of the living Jesus
Not just to ease us
Or to please us,
But to melt our heart
And to cease us
With never ending
Love and adoration
For the One who died
For us!
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Enough desire-driven Christianity, it’s time to be Spirit-led!

Posted on August 15, 2023 by Steve Simms

Desire-governed people are hostile when they don’t get what they want. They are dragged along and controlled by compelling cravings and rebellious compulsions.

Desire-governed minds do whatever they want. Spirit-governed minds obey the risen Jesus.

Spirit-governed governed people overflow with inner peace. They soar in the wind of God’s Spirit as they ever surrender to and submit to the realm of the resurrected Jesus.

When sex is presented as a show and a spectacle, as something to boast and be proud about, people become desire-driven and the heart-felt sensitivity, compassion, and commitment that make it special are stolen.

Biblical beliefs without biblical experiences are incomplete. Christians today need to be able to say, “This (what we’re now experiencing) is that (the Spirit-led experiences taught in the Bible).” See Acts 2. If Christians would listen more to God’s invisible teachers, the Holy Spirit and their conscience, and daily read the Bible with an open heart, they wouldn’t feel so dependent on religious teachers and preachers.

When Christians won’t let Jesus be the active leader when we gather in His name, we’re denying the reality of His presence by putting a pastor and a program in Christ’s rightful place. A pastor’s sermon is a poor substitute for the presence and power of the risen Jesus!

No person should usurp Christ’s authority in a Christian meeting and replace Him as the literal Head. When a meeting is said to be Christian it should be led and controlled by the risen Jesus and not by anyone else!

If you honestly look at the deteriorating condition of Christianity today, it becomes obvious that sermons and human controlled church services are not working. Sermons are like training wheels. They should proclaim the living Jesus, train people to continually obey Him, and then be set aside.

It never ceases to amaze me that Christians seem to prefer hearing weekly lectures about Jesus over daily experiencing His presence. Nobody wants to hear a weekly lecture about their spouse. They’d rather just live their life with them. Jesus is my heavenly spouse. Living my life with Him is what Christianity is all about, not hearing Sunday sermons. We need to talk about and obey Jesus, not just hear talks about Him.

If a coffee shop
Would suddenly stop
Serving true coffee
And just be a spot
Where people stop
To hear talks
About the goodness
Of drinking coffee
It would not
Be a genuine
Coffee shop.
"O taste and see
That the Lord is good!"

A weekly talk
About water
Can make you think
But it can't
Make you drink.

If you lecture
About food
But don't let
People eat
They'll be informed
But lack the joy
Of a good mood,
And when hunger comes
They'll come unglued.
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com
Posted in desires, selfish desires, Spirit-led | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

God’s stream of consciousness & flow of Bible verses

Posted on August 10, 2023 by Steve Simms

These thoughts were spontaneously flowing out of me when I woke up this morning:

* Count on Jesus don’t just collect information about Him.

* Depend on Jesus don’t just describe Him.

* Trust in Jesus don’t just talk about Him.

* Rely on Jesus don’t just respect Him.

* Bank on Jesus don’t just believe that He exists.

* Demonstrate daily faith in Jesus don’t just decide to call yourself a Christian.

* Surrender your heart to Jesus don’t just go through the motion of devotion.

* To be ruled by sin is to be ruined by sin.

* Fight to always keep your focus on Jesus don’t just attend a nice church.

Bible verses zoomed from people’s hearts. I recently lead a Zoom group of 14 people and had the experiencing of people letting Scriptures flow. I reminded the group that Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would bring the things that He told them to their remembrance.” I told them that Jesus has spoken to them through the Bible and that if we all ask the Holy Spirit to remind us, He will bring Scriptures to our mind. I then had everybody pray out loud after me as we asked God to remind us of Bible verses. Then I asked everybody to share with the group whatever Scriptures came to their mind. Bible verses began to flow like a surging river filled with sensitivity and power. Some of us even had tears in our eyes as we spoke the verses that came to us. It was amazing! Gather with one or more people and try it for yourself!

Church too often is a deviation from the priesthood of the believer (the kingdom of priests). It ignores the 50-plus “one another commands” in the New Testament by scooping up all the ministry in a local gathering of the body of Christ and removing it from ordinary people. Then it places all the ministry in the hands of one solitary pastor.

Photo by Ebru Yu0131lmaz on Pexels.com
Posted in consciousness, stream of consciousness, streaming | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The joy of “aha” moments!

Posted on August 9, 2023 by Steve Simms

I woke up this morning thinking about beliefs verses heart “ahas” and those thoughts assembled like this:

Christianity
Without heart “ahas”
Is dead religion.

Where there are no
Active heart “ahas”
People perish
From a lack of hope.

Beliefs
Without heart “ahas”
Are doctrine.

Information
Without heart “ahas”
Is data.

Celebration
Without heart “ahas”
Is hype.

Heart “ahas” transform
Religious “yeah, yeah, yeah,”
Into glorious
“Yes! Yes! Yes!

The first time
I heard people testify
About the living Jesus
My heart went “aha”
And I’ve never
Been the same.

Hungry for more “ahas”
I read a book
Full of testimonies
About Jesus Christ
And reading the Bible
With a hungry heart
Caused many more “ahas”
To pop in me
Like popcorn.
I read it daily
For ever more “ahas.”

I search for people
Who talk about Jesus
Like He is alive
And their true stories
Keep the heart “ahas”
Flowing from within me.

Now my life overflows
With thrilling “ahas.”
It dances with revelation
That keeps my spirit
At a high elevation
To experience
On going glimpses
Of God’s glory.

Awaken to realization
That’s more than
Stacks of facts
And let the light
Of “aha” insight
Be bright
Within you.

“Ahas” are pivotal points of sudden realization that produce powerfully positive changes in people’s perspective. Cultivate the awe of “aha” until it abounds within you!

Testify to triumph. Tell what Jesus is saying and doing. Spread His victory everywhere! Romans 12:11. Christians too often want to structure, formalize, and institutionalize community, but for community to be genuine it must be built on heart-felt relationships, not on programs.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Experience the reality of reminders from God’s Spirit

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Steve Simms

Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit will remind them of what He said. If you have ever read from the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to remind you of what you read. Then notice which Scriptures come into your head. That’s God’s Spirit speaking to you.

This is also a powerful thing to do with a group of Christ-followers and then let them share out loud the Bible verses that come to them. Some people will be visible moved by the word of God and the group will be collectively aware of His presence.

When the Scriptures stop coming ask if anyone feels led to pray about the verses they have heard. Then Scripture inspired prayer will fill the gathering.

I did this with a group of believers on Zoom yesterday and this morning I’m still basking in the glory of it. Do it today. You don’t need a crowd. You can even do this with one or two other people (in person, on the phone, or on Zoom).

(If you want someone to experience this with, I’m available. Just leave a comment and tell me how I can contact you so that we can set it up.)

Without ongoing active animation by and continual close connection to the inner life of the rivers of God’s Spirit, a human soul is homeless, helpless, broke, and broken. It might outwardly appear fine but inwardly it is bankrupt and empty. It is running on the fumes of pride and denial, overcome with debts it can never repay, and often unaware that it desperately needs a bailout from its hopeless situation. A soul that won’t awaken to its huge need for never-ending unconditional surrender to the living Jesus will miss out on the world’s greatest news–“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Every day, with an open heart, read the Book that can awaken your soul to Christ’s inner animation and His “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

Christians are called to seek an ever-stronger relationship with the risen Jesus by making Him our literal Head, Lord, and Master by surrendering our will to His in all of our day-to-day decisions and choices.”

Christ’s town hall meeting
Lets God’s wind freely blow
And His rivers flow
So His people will grow
Beyond what they know
And be Spirit-led
And inwardly fed
With Jesus as their Head

Too much administration
Even in a Christian congregation
Will cause people to close their heart
And merely coexist in isolation.

Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Are we barking up the wrong tree?

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Steve Simms

Depending on the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil rejects the humility that can receive direct supernatural revelation of God’s love, mercy, and grace and replaces it with the pride of human evaluation and self-protection.

The book of Revelation reveals three weapons for overcoming the enemy’s attempts to keep us eating from the wrong tree and entrapped by guilt and sin. The three spiritual weapons that will build us together in Christ on the rock of direct, personal revelation from the living God are:

1) Continually relying on Christ’s blood alone for forgiveness and freedom from guilt and sin.
2) Telling people how Christ has forgiven us and is freeing us from guilt and sin by His blood.
3) Abandoning self-protection and fear when we are faced with feelings of rejection, humiliation, persecution, and even of being threatened by death.

“They overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus the Christ, the Creator made flesh and dwelling among us) and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” –Revelation 12:11 (NKJV)

(Here’s a testimony: I woke up this morning with these 3 revelations running through my spirit. Then I went to a blog I frequent, Wake-Up Call and they were a great match for today’s content.)

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com
Posted in Revelation 12:11, tree of life, tree of the knowledge of good and evil | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beyond Easy Listening Christianity

Posted on August 6, 2023 by Steve Simms

Easy listening music is defined as: “a type of music that is not complicated, serious, or difficult.” That sounds like easy listening Christianity.

Easy listening
In a congregation
To a Sunday talk
Seldom brings genuine
Heart transformation,
But personal revelation
From the risen Jesus
Will directly change
Your inner situation.
Open your heart to hear
Jesus the Christ today!

Easy listening sermons seldom pop anybody’s bubble, rock anyone’s boat, or save someone’s soul. They just keep the same ole rhythm and blues rolling along. They say soothing sentences that won’t shake up a lost soul.

Easy listening sermons are quiet, agreeable talks that don’t require much of your attention. They sift through the Gospel and soften it so they can shelter people from the life-shaking sound of God’s voice.

Easy listening Christianity is sweet and soothing and never intruding. It’s polished and packaged to be palatable for passive people. Easy listening Christianity is an undemanding backdrop and mood setter that makes people feel comfortable about their spiritual condition without feeling a need to do anything about it.

Easy listening should be a genre of music, not a format for church. When Christianity embraced the easy listening Sunday morning format it shifted from being Spirit-led to public opinion driven.

For church to be instrumental in changing people’s hearts, it needs to be much more than a weekly, easy listening sermon. It needs to be raw, real, and Spirit-led! If we aren’t willing to listen to and be led by God’s Spirit when we gather with brothers and sisters in Christ, we won’t have the courage to listen and be led by the Spirit when we are around anybody else.

Most Sunday morning church sounds are easy listening. There’s rarely an electrifying bridge to effectively rock and roll a stoney heart. (Some people even make a playlist of their favorite easy listening sermons.)

The Bible isn’t easy listening. That’s why many people avoid reading it or hearing what it says. If you want people to hear the Gospel, you must first capture their attention. The Bible way is not to bore people with the Gospel but to transform them with it! Easy listening Christianity doesn’t do that.

Do you want more than easy listening? Try this: When you are truly in Christ, you remain in the world but are no longer of the world. In Him you live and move and have your being. Although you reside physically in the world, you are called to abide in the living Jesus and in every issue to be always on His side, not the popular side, even when it makes people decide to reject you. To be in Christ is to be an outsider–a stranger and pilgrim who abstains from the spirit of the world–a citizen of the kingdom of God, seated with Jesus in heavenly places.

Words that say
All is well
Clear the way
That leads to?

Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom on Pexels.com
Posted in casual church, lukewarm, popular Christianity | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment