The Secret of Breakthrough?

Posted on November 4, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What will your life be like in three years?
View all responses

Almost everybody would like to have a breakthrough in their life. We hope for, long for, and strive for a breakthrough. Unfortunately, after various periods of time, many of us give up on the idea of a breakthrough and settle into a life of drudgery, routine, and hopelessness. Perhaps it’s time to get your hopes us!

Here’s the secret to breakthrough. Surrender to God’s inner wind. Let His Spirit freely flow from within you day and night.

God’s Interior Wind

Many Christians
Don’t even know
That God’s Spirit
Desires to flow
From inside them.
(John 7:38-39

To truly grow
Release the flow
Of the Spirit
From within you.
(Ephesians 4:30)

Boldly say no
To anything
That blocks God’s flow.
Now go and grow!
(1 Thessalonians 5:19)

Those born again
Can let God’s wind
Constantly blow
From deep within.
(John 3:6-8)

Ever enjoy
God’s rushing wind
(Acts 2:2)
That’ll lift you up
On eagles’ wings
(Isaiah 40:31)
Till your heart sings
Unceasingly.
(Ephesians 5:18-20)

God’s inner flow
Is way beyond
The things you know.
It’s a heart that’s
Open to grow
(Matthew 15:8)
And be led by
God the Spirit.
(Romans 8:14)

Organized religion hasn’t produced the unity in the body of Christ that Jesus so passionately prayed for. (John 17:21-23) Instead, it has hacked Christianity up into tens of thousands of independent churches and denominations that disagree with and work against each other in many ways.

True Christian unity only comes by the wind of God the Holy Spirit not through institutional churches. It’s time to give spontaneous, heart-to-heart, Spirit-led Christianity a chance. It’s time to go beyond letting the control and opinions of one man dominate church services week after week. It’s time to let God the Holy Spirit take control so that He can speak and testify (Revelation 12:11) in and through as many people as He wants to during a worship gathering. (1 Corinthians 14:26)

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The True Holiday Spirit

Posted on November 3, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Invent a holiday! Explain how and why everyone should celebrate.
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“The Fruit of the Vineyard” will release the true holiday spirit! Celebrate “The Fruit of the Vineyard Day” every single day of the year!

Jesus wants His followers to surrender to and be continually led by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14) He wants Christians to give Him the fruit of the Spirit (the fruit of the vineyard, Luke 20:10) overflowing from their heart to Him, to one another, and to everyone they encounter. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Jesus Christ wants people to have the glorious inner freedom (Romans 8:21) to unceasingly follow and obey God the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:1) He wants to set us free from bondage to religious laws (Galatians 5:4-6) and legalistic traditions (Mark 713) so that we can be led by the Spirit instead of being ruled by religious expectations and regulations. (Galatians 5:18) Jesus wants us to not quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) so that God’s rivers of living water can continually overflow from deep within us (John 7:38-39) and produce the wonderful fruit of the Spirit that is free from the religious law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Christians need to be trained to “live by the Spirit” and to “keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25) It’s not effective for them to merely be taught more and more religious information every Sunday. (2 Timothy 3:5-7) Christ-followers need more than sermons. They need interactive, hands-on, Spirit-led discipleship. (Matthew 28:19) Then they can live a lifestyle free from bondage to Spirit-quenching pride, spiritual envy, and church conflict. (Galatians 5:26)

Being led by the Spirit is God’s way. Anything that hinders Christians from being led by the Spirit is bondage. Politics and human control are the ways of the world. To revitalize Sunday morning church let people testify (Rev 12:11) and share Scriptures (Joshua 1:8) not simply sit and listen. (1 Cor 14:26)

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I’ll Do More Than Hear a Sermon

Posted on November 2, 2025 by Steve Simms

The heart of a worship service shouldn’t be a sermon. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” (Psalm 107:2) Release the overcoming power of people’s testimonies. (Revelation 12:11)

I’ll do more than hear a sermon
For a sermon in itself
Is not what God has required.
He looks much deeper within
To the way things are.
He’s looking into my heart.
I’m coming back to
Direct revelation
From the risen Jesus.
I’m sorry Lord for settling for a talk
When faith’s all about You.
It’s all about You.
Help me hear directly from You, Jesus.

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My Favorite “Inner-net” Site Is Joy.Jesus!

Posted on November 2, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite websites?
View all responses

Find joy in low places! Luke 19:6 tells us that Zacchaeus came down from his tree and gladly welcomed Jesus. Perhaps we should do likewise.

If you want to be strong in the Lord, humble yourself, (James 4:10) come down from your high places, and gladly welcome the living Jesus into your heart, your home, and your life. Open up your heart to surrender to and to overflow with God’s joy.

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) God wants to flood you with His indescribable and glorious joy. (1 Peter 1:8) Jesus says that He wants His joy to be in you and for your joy to be full. (John 15:11) Do you want Christ’s joyfulness?

The Bible says that the kingdom of God is not about religious rules or rituals. It’s about right living, inner peace, and Holy Spirit produced joy. (Romans 14:17) If you aren’t experiencing ongoing joy, you are quenching the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

Begin to allow God the Holy Spirit to continually produce the fruit of His joy (Galatians 5:22-23) within and through you. Then you will “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4)) You’ll discover that a cheerful heart is good medicine. (Proverbs 17:22)

Be glad and rejoice in the Lord. (Psalm 9:2) Let His written words be the joy of your heart. (Psalm 119:111-112) Even when you are persecuted for your faith, rejoice and be glad! (Matthew 5:12) Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. (Luke 6:23)

God keeps me glad by what He has done and is doing within and around me. (Psalm 92:4) Day by day gladness and everlasting joy overtake me and sorrow and sighing flee away. (Isaiah 51:11)

Go beyond routine religion to pure joy. Sermons are too often attempts to explain the unexplainable (Philippians 4:7) and to describe the indescribably glorious, (1 Peter 1:8) but the Bible teaches that the “enticing words of men’s wisdom” (1 Corinthians 2:4) are not fully able to communicate the reality of risen Jesus. (1 Corinthians 4:20)

People need to see actual demonstrations of Christ’s presence, of His power, and of the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) like Zacchaeus did. People need to continually experience the reality of divine revelation imparted directly to their heart, (Matthew 16:17) not just hear a mentally prepared classroom-style lesson once a week. (2 Corinthians 4:6) People need Christ’s words to burn like fire within them, (Luke 24:32) not merely to be explained to their mind.

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Daily Reliving Joy and Amazement!

Posted on November 1, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live?
View all responses

Every day I relive joy and amazement. It recycles through my heart and my mind. It’s not my own joy and amazement. It’s a gift I receive day by day. Here’s the secret:

Don’t just stay
Sermon-stuck
Week by week.
Let your heart
Be awe-struck,
Daily dazzled
By Jesus.
Don’t just hear
With your mind.
Learn to find
Ways to let
Jesus bind
Your whole heart
With God’s Spirit.
Always pray.
Don’t lose heart.
(Luke 18:1)
Can Christ chart
Living faith
In your heart?
(Mark 7:6 & Luke 18:8)

Contemporary Christianity overflows with information overload. The Bible says not to do that. (James 1:22) I seek to let information about Jesus transform into experience and relationship with the risen Jesus. Then He fills me with joy and astonishment throughout each day.

Thoughts are like YouTube videos. You can choose which ones to focus on and which ones to ignore. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2)

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Happy Reformation Day — October 31

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Steve Simms

Happy Reformation Day! It’s October 31.

There’s nothing spooky about celebrating people who try to change the way church is done so that it aligns closer with the Bible. “Sola Scriptura!” Thank God some people do. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have the freedom to worship the way you believe the Bible tells you to. Instead, you would be held in the same Sunday format and programming for life by religious pressure. Celebrate a Reformer today.

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The Historical Event I Daily Depend On

Posted on October 31, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What historical event fascinates you the most?
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There is one historical event that I daily depend on and constantly rely on. This historical event isn’t stuck in the past. It has a powerful life-changing effect on all who learn to persistently rely on it.

I’m talking about the most amazing event in human history. I’m talking about God becoming a human being named Jesus, dying on a cross to pay the penalty for human sin, and then rising from the dead to offer an eternal relationship with Him to whosoever will receive it.

I try to rely on the living resurrected Jesus Christ in all that I think, say, and do. I’ve discovered the reality of the words that Jesus spoke when He said, “If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) When I stay connected and surrendered to Jesus heart-to-heart, I experience the glory of His presence within me (Colossians 1:27) and the joyously peaceful fruit of His Spirit flowing from my innermost being. I’ve found nothing that can compare with heart intimacy with Christ.

Faith’s not science
Or religion.
It’s reliance
On Jesus
That leads to
Alliance
With Jesus
And to heart-felt
Compliance
With His will.
Ongoing
Reliance
On Jesus
Will make you well.

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Everybody Should Know About This Woman’s Experience

Posted on October 30, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s something you believe everyone should know.
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What was her name? Who did Jesus offer an inner spring of water that wells up to eternal life? Who so strongly believed in Jesus that she boldly testified about Him all over town? (John 4:7-42) The Bible doesn’t tell us her name, but it does tell us that Jesus revealed many things to her and so drastically changed her life that she said to multitudes of people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” God is offering you what He offered the woman at the well. Jesus says: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.” (John 7:37)

God is offering you His never-ending living water. (John 7:38-39) He is calling you to set your affections on things above (Colossians 3:2) and to always look unto Jesus the author and finisher of your faith. (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus is calling you to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. (John 4:23) Then God the Father can fill you with the mind and perspective of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and through the wisdom and understanding that the Holy Spirit gives (Colossians 1:9) the Father can directly and personally reveal to you things that no eye has seen or ear heard. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) Then, like the woman at the well and like James and John (who felt compelled to write about the woman at the well) you won’t be able to help speaking about the things you have seen and heard. (Acts 4:12) Wow!

October 31 is Reformation Day! It’s the day we celebrate people who criticized and changed church. That (and any other day) is a wonderful day to talk about and encourage people to open up and fully surrender to Christ’s inner spring of living water that wells up to eternal life.

Take Off the Locks and Unbox Your Faith!

It’s time to unbox
Christianity
And remove the locks
That quench the Spirit
So we can detox
From tired religion
And let Jesus put
Together His blocks
As the solid rocks
Of revelation
Directly from God!
(Matthew 16:17-18)

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A Holy Blast from the Past!

Posted on October 29, 2025 by Steve Simms

A holy blast from the past: I was just now taken back 55 years as I sat in a circle with a group of college age people and we all passionately sang “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” I could see the light of Christ in their faces. It was exactly like what I regularly experienced when I was in college during the Jesus Movement. “O God, do it again! Set multitudes on fire for Jesus the way you did then!” That’s my heart’s cry.

I marvel at God’s marvels. He keeps me marveling every day!

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Set Aside Pride & Enjoy Being Forgiven

Posted on October 29, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What does it mean to be a kid at heart?
View all responses

To follow pride
Is not a good guide.
It keeps you stuck inside
A trap of wrong thinking
And wrongdoing.
A childlike heart knows
How to set aside pride
And say, “I’m sorry.”
Please forgive me.

It is a liberating statement to humbly and sincerely say to God or to a person: “I have sinned against Heaven and against you.” (Luke 15:21) Jesus calls that realization and confession, repentance. (Matthew 4:17)

Admitting, being sorry for, and quickly turning away from your sins is an essential part of having an intimate, ongoing, heart-to-heart relationship with God and with people. Persisting in wrongful thoughts, desires, words, and behaviors quenches God the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) It hinders and hampers your relationship with God and with people.

Repentance isn’t just a onetime prayer. It’s a lifestyle — an ongoing attitude — a heart that’s aware that it needs to continually depend on God’s mercy, forgiveness, and new birth. Jesus put it this way: “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5

How’s your repentance level — high or low? When was the last time you confessed wrong thinking or wrongdoing to God and to a human being? (James 5:16)

God the Holy Spirit is nearby. (Acts 17:28) He wants to establish and maintain His government within you so that His living water can freely flow from within you. (John 7:38-39) To repent is to align your will, your thoughts, and your actions with the direct government of God (His kingdom ruling your life from within). (Matthew 6:33)

Frequently ask God to show you where you are out of His will in your thinking, your desires, your words, or your actions. Then let His light shine in your heart (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) and begin to daily realign with God’s will and with His presence. Frequently confess and repent and you will live a life that is bathed in and invigorated by God’s mercy, grace, presence, and power!

God’s call to repentance is good news! It is an invitation to experience and enjoy the presence of God and the amazing fruit that His Spirit wants to produce within you throughout your life on earth and then forever after.

The call to repentance is a loving warning that what you are putting out day by day is going to come back to you with full force. Everything bad you have thought, said, or done is working to bring you severe eternal consequences. Christ’s invitation to repentance is marvelous good news of the offer of freedom, forgiveness, and eternal life.

A warning isn’t good news to people who don’t believe that they are in any danger. For those who wake up to a warning, however, it is great news that they can avoid the harm and injury coming their way.

Repentance, alignment with God, is an ongoing attitude. It’s not an occasional prayer. Embrace it and live it every day. Experience the joy of Christianity. (Google: The Joy of Early Christianity.)

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