Hostile language can provoke unintended violent actions. Let’s disagree with kindness.

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Steve Simms
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The Bible says to be “governed by the Spirit.”

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Steve Simms

When religion seems dead
Look ahead
To behold
The Lamb of God
And be Spirit-led.

“The Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God’s children.” Romans 8:16. Whew! Life doesn’t get any better than that!

Live your life “in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way” of religious rules and rituals. See Romans 7:6. “The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:6. Do you have a Spirit-governed mind?

To be Spirit-governed is to give up being your own manager by fully surrendering your daily life to God’s management. To be governed by desires, feelings, and compulsions is to be harassed by guilt, torment, and anxiety.

Be Spirit-governed today. Do what God wants not what you want. Turn the daily management of your heart and mind over to the Spirit of God. Live according to God’s Spirit, not according to your own opinions, emotions, and appetites. See Romans 8:4.

Let God’s Spirit manage your mental health. Set your mind “on what the Spirit desires.” See Romans 8:5. Without the active presence and working of the Holy Spirit, Christianity is just religion.

The kingdom of God begins in your life when you open up and let His Spirit literally govern you from within. See Luke 17:20-21. If Christ is living in you, you can participate in the realm of the Spirit by continually experiencing His presence and power. See Romans 8:9-11.

God’s Spirit governs people from within when they’re thirsty enough to allow Him to flow like rivers from deep inside them and to be swept along by His current. See John 7:37-39.

We need to be “taught by the Spirit” (1 Corinthians 2:13) “so that we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Corinthians 2:12). “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:14-15.

Sports teams inspire, touch, fill, and govern many human hearts. Jesus is always inspiring, touching, filling, and governing my heart!

Delayed obedience to God
Leads to spiritual decay
That slowly leads us away
From His Spirit and power.
Come what may
Be quick to hear and obey
What God says throughout the day
And follow Jesus all the way.
(See 1 Thessalonians 5:19.)

Romans chapter eight
Makes me feel great!
It tells me that if I let
God’s Spirit govern me
And give me life and peace
That my fate
Is no condemnation!

“Walk by the Spirit.”
“Live by the Spirit.”
“Keep in step with the Spirit.”
Galatians 5:16 and 25.
“Please the Spirit.”
Galatians 6:8.

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Does your heart dance with Jesus?

Posted on April 2, 2023 by Steve Simms

Sermons can’t teach you to dance with the living Jesus. Let Him have your heart and lead you to always follow His steps. An unwilling heart won’t dance with Jesus. It avoids His presence.

Hearing and saying religious words doesn’t bring a human heart close to God. On going surrender to the living Jesus does! Let your heart join in the dance with the invisible Jesus.

Sports teams inspire, touch, fill, and capture many hearts. The risen Jesus is always inspiring, touching, filling, and capturing my heart!

Palm Sunday was about people in Jerusalem rallying to praise Jesus but a week later shouting, “Crucify Him.” It’s easy to praise Jesus but very hard to follow Him to the Cross — easy to go to church on Sunday but hard to listen to Him with an open heart and obey Him during the week.

The Bible demonstrates that there are two opposing sets of invisible beings working behind the scenes to influence people and capture their heart — angels and demons. One set humbly seeks to help us open wide our heart directly to God’s Spirit; the other proudly strives to deceive us and coerce us to keep our heart shut down to the Holy Spirit. If we don’t learn to discern the difference between these two sets of unseen influences and fully surrender out heart to God, we’ll wallow in various degrees of confusion and bondage.

Here are two times I believe angels rescued me and helped my heart overflow with gratitude to God: Once something invisible abruptly stopped me immediately before I ran in front of a speeding car that I hadn’t seen. Another time I accidently slammed a car door on my infant daughter in her baby carrier. I looked around and the sharp corner at the bottom of the door was touching her temple. I pulled the door back and there was a tiny red dot on her temple, but she was completely unhurt. In these two incidents I believe an angel saved my life and an angel saved me from a lifetime of horrible pain by rescuing my daughter from my carelessness. My heart is ever full of gratefulness to Jesus!

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Demonstrating the reality of Jesus is powerful!

Posted on April 1, 2023 by Steve Simms

The Bible teaches that the Christian faith needs to be presented “with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (See 1 Corinthians 2:4-5.) Instead of using human wisdom to explain Christ, Paul demonstrated Christ’s glory by letting Spirit-taught words flow from within him.

Preaching that literally demonstrates Jesus is much more powerful than merely analytical and scripted preaching. Preaching the Gospel by definition is not enough! It needs to be preached by actual demonstration.

If you’re a Christ-follower, you’re supposed to be an actual demonstration of the presence of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” If Jesus is living in your heart, let Him demonstrate His presence in and through you throughout the day.

Words that only explain Jesus but fail to demonstrate His reality fall far short of communicating the truth of His presence. Jesus is demonstrated when human hearts are being so deeply moved by His presence that it’s obvious to those who are present.

People get bored hearing scripted lectures about Jesus, but when they see His reality demonstrated they are healed, delivered, and empowered. If your lifestyle doesn’t demonstrate the presence and character of Jesus, He might not be living inside of you.

The presence of the living Jesus is demonstrated by the presence of both the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. Everyday Jesus fills my heart and life with powerful demonstrations of His reality and power.

We can go beyond Bible study to Bible encounter by setting aside analysis and letting the words come alive in our heart. Bible words ignite a fire within me that doesn’t go out when I close the cover but continues to blaze as long as I keep my heart wide open to Scripture’s fuel and the Spirit’s presence.

It’s not enough to explain Jesus with words. We need to demonstrate Jesus by letting people see what he has done and is doing in our heart!

An orderly unprogrammed Spirit-led worship gathering is a powerful demonstration of the reality of the risen Jesus. Scripted words derived from study often block the flow of Spirit-prompted words in the moment that demonstrate Christ’s presence and reality. It’s hard to have strong faith if you’ve only heard lectures about Jesus but have never seen His presence demonstrated.

Demonstrate Jesus with your life. Show people that He’s real and present!

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What pastors can learn from dance instructors.

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Steve Simms

Dance instructors and disciple-makers find lecture to be ineffective. Instead, they demonstrate, involve people, and coach them. I believe that church would be much more effective at making Spirit-led disciples if pastors would teach like dance instructors instead of like college professors.

To teach like a dance instructor a pastor could show the congregation the basic steps, let them practice together, coach them as they do, then oversee them as they go into Spirit-led action. Lecture alone can’t teach dancing or Christian discipleship. People need to be shown and trained, not just endlessly told.

If church would become like a dance studio, Christians could practice and learn to move to the Holy Spirit’s music. Instead of song and sermon, church could be song, awe-filled heart-dance, and Spirit-led sharing.

Perhaps churches could begin to make Spirit-led disciples instead of making audiences. Jesus told His disciples that the Holy Spirit “will teach you all things.” If we’re not being trained to be taught by the Spirit something’s off base in church.

Christianity isn’t about everlasting weekly sermon-hearing. It’s about everlasting life! When it replaced discipleship with lecture it began to rely on human wisdom instead of on the presence of the risen Jesus. It’s time to train people to follow and obey the risen Jesus the way dance instructors train people to dance.

Jesus isn’t myth, theory, or religion. He’s reality, but a closed heart seldom experiences Him. Church needs to train Christians to open our heart and be taught by the Spirit.

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It’s easy to jump into deceptive desires.

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Steve Simms

Think before you jump! Satanic suggestions often call and coerce us to jump into our desires, feelings, and thoughts — to throw off the God-given safety net of our conscience and satisfy self instead. As people caught in the fall of humanity, we’re all tempted to define ourselves by our desires instead of by God’s Spirit and we all throw ourselves into that trap to varying degrees. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Like Jesus, we need to put the Father and His will first. That’s what the kingdom of God is about — learning to throw off self-satisfaction and to surrender to moment-by-moment Christ-control. True glory doesn’t come from the public display of deceptive desire-focused self-identification. It comes from constant surrender to “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Follow the Lordship of the risen Jesus, not the Satanic suggestions that stir up your self-driven desires. Continually draw near to God and let Him train you to cast out and throw down the demonic suggestions that torment and manipulate you. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

The way to get free from guilt isn’t denial. It’s to admit where you’ve done wrong and to ask for and receive God’s forgiveness and deliverance.

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There’s no reason to be spiritually deaf!

Posted on March 30, 2023 by Steve Simms

To make disciples is to train people to daily hear and obey the living Jesus. We desperately need disciple-making today. There’s no need for Christians to be spiritually deaf!

  • Hearing and obeying God requires:
  • 1) Willingness to hear (receptivity),
  • 2) Verification of what’s heard (discernment),
  • 3) Application of what’s heard (discipleship).

1) Receptivity? The most common reason people don’t hear God’s voice is because they don’t want to.

2) Verification? Every thought or impression that comes to your mind isn’t from God. God’s voice won’t contradict Scripture or God’s spiritual gift of discernment.

3) Application? To be led by the Spirit we have to do what God tells us to. That’s true discipleship.

If we made church a gathering for hands on coaching and training in hearing and obeying the risen Jesus, revival would roar through our land! Unfortunately, very few pastors have had hands-on training in how to hear and obey the living Jesus, so they don’t know how to train other people to.

In three years of seminary, and many years in church, I was never taught anything about how to hear and obey the risen Jesus. I had to learn by myself.

Heart-to-heart Spirit-led gatherings are essential! Without them we dry up like spiritual raisins. They also give us access to the discernment of other Christ-followers. Let the living Jesus transform church services into 1 Corinthians 14:26 meetings.

Instead of an institutional dispenser of religious information church could be a Spirit-prompted gathering of believers connecting heart-to-heart around the living Jesus. The cork of control causes church to stay bottled up in programmed religiosity. Pop the cork so God’s Spirit can freely flow!

If you would like to experience hands-on training in hearing and obeying the living Jesus, click on my invitation.

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Don’t just sit in church. Get up and obey God’s Spirit!

Posted on March 30, 2023 by Steve Simms

Jesus out of the church box so He can rule and reign in your heart. Take the risk to hear and do what His Spirit is saying. Begin to notice and obey His inner promptings throughout the day.

I propose a new motto for church services: DON’T JUST SIT THERE! GET UP AND OBEY GOD’S SPIRIT!

It takes courage to step out and obey a prompting from God’s Spirit. Be courageous! Church should be a gathering that encourages and welcomes Spirt-led risk taking instead of squelching it. I’ve always found spectator Christianity boring, but Spirit-led Christianity thrilling!

Human wisdom and religious lectures aren’t filling church attendees with glorious passion for Jesus. Perhaps it’s time to toss the program and let Jesus take the wheel!

God wants to ignite a widespread Spirit-led movement where people listen to Jesus and do what He says. Listen now right where you are. The Holy Spirit is beyond human control. His voice can be drowned out (quenched) but He can’t be programmed!

If you will gather with other believers and have a Spirit-led (unprogrammed) time of interacting with the living Jesus and with one another, you’ll experience His awe-filled presence and glory. A group of Christians can’t be led by the Spirit together unless they risk letting go of their agendas and programs.

Church programs are a fragile foundation for spiritual life, but the risen Jesus is the unshakable Rock! Sermons can never teach Christians to be Spirit-led because they teach people to be dependent on hearing a lecture instead of on hearing God’s “still small voice.”

You can’t be led by the Spirit in church unless you are willing to lose sight of the program. If you won’t risk being led by God’s Spirit, you’ll miss out on spiritual excitement, adventure, and miracles!

If going to church is the end of the road of your spiritual journey, you’re stuck in a religious rut. Follow Jesus beyond church! Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

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When human efforts aren’t working

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Steve Simms

When human opinions and efforts aren’t working to solve society’s problems, it’s an indication that we need God’s supernatural help!

Human performance often attracts human applause and praise, but it lacks the power of God. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they that build it labor in vain.” By learning to cultivate ongoing heart-to-heart surrender to and reliance on the risen Jesus you can begin to daily experience His power and presence working in and through you.

When Christians begin to rely on God to work instead of on programs and human performance, Jesus shows up and we call it revival!

Following Jesus is an amazing lifestyle of joy and adventure that goes way beyond merely attending church! Try it.

There's within my heart
An ongoing release
Of Christ's inner peace
Calming all my storms
And causing worry
And fear to cease.
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Hierarchy’s high places

Posted on March 28, 2023 by Steve Simms

What’s proclaimed from the high places of human popularity and honor is often distorted by the effort to maintain the supposed dignity and distinction of those spaces. Truth is often twisted and distorted to support whatever will bring respect and praise to the people occupying those positions.

That’s the problem with top-down human leadership. People will say what the leader wants to hear instead of what they really think, to the point that life becomes a charade created to fit the comfort zones that maintain the status quo. This tendency can even be seen in the church position of clergy where people often feel a need to say and do what will keep the pastor happy and the pastor feels a need to keep the people happy as well, to the point that truth can easily be ignored or even denied.

The solution to the temptation to twist the truth in order to keep a human hierarchy high and lifted up is to embrace and surrender to the literal Headship of the living Jesus. Jesus is the truth. When we let Him live in and through us and be our living Head, we’re no longer caught in awe of and/or fear of human hierarchy. Thus, we are free to take the lowliest position and “consider others better than yourself” freely “speaking the truth in love.” Then as Romans 8:14 says, we are led by the Spirit and are the children of God.

The challenge of Christianity is to respect the risen Jesus enough to listen to and obey Him throughout the day. When pastors and Christian leaders try to control what happens in church, they act like they think the Holy Spirit is incompetent. He’s not. Let Him be your constant leader!

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