I Love the Quaker Brand

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What brands do you associate with?
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I love the Quaker brand, but not the company that makes and sells oatmeal. I love the Society of Friends that began in the 1600s and were called Quakers as an insult because they often shook and trembled during prayer and worship. I’m not so fond of the modern version of Quakers, but. I greatly admire the early Quakers. Here’s why:

  • I am inspired by the early Quaker peace testimony. They took the Sermon on the Mount literally. They believed that Christians should actually “turn the other cheek,” “love your enemies,” and “bless those who curse you.” They believed in total non-violence. The people stirring up political violence in the USA need to listen to the early Quakers. No one should be assassinated for his or her political views. No one! I miss an America where you could kindly express your opinion without someone wanting to demonize you because of your beliefs. The freedom to politely express your opinion (as I am doing now) without being hated for what you say makes a nation great. If America doesn’t get that freedom back no leader can “make it great again.” The early Quakers can show the way.
  • I love the early Quaker faithfulness to the Bible and to historic Christian doctrine. Many modern Quakers like so many Christian denominations have abandoned the belief in basic Christian doctrine and biblical morality. Many people who call themselves Christians proclaim that they are deconstructing their faith. That often means that they reject the authority of the Bible. The early Quakers put the Bible and the Holy Spirit above non-biblical traditions and rituals.
  • I am thrilled about the early Quaker belief in the equality of all Christ-followers. They rejected the non-biblical clergy/laity divide. They embraced Jesus’ command to not create and follow a human hierarchy.
  • I am excited by the early Quaker rejection of planned worship meetings and their desire to let the Holy Spirit personally direct all that happened when they gathered to worship God. Everybody present was encouraged to listen to the Spirit and then say or do what they heard.
  • The early Quakers discovered that God is more powerful than religion and politics. God transforms people. His supernatural transformation of people is much more powerful than anything that politics or religion have to offer. Seek to be continually transformed by Him. Live in continual surrender to God and demonstrate His love, power, and presence to everyone you encounter.
  • The early Quakers trained people to be led by God the Holy Spirit — to be still and quiet and to notice and obey His inner promptings and the things He brings to mind and puts on the heart. Quiet is uncommon in contemporary culture. Hearts that need mending are crowded with clamor and chaos. Pensive solitude is seldom experienced in a society that prides itself on activity, accomplishment, and acclaim that is mixed with long doses of entertainment. Keeping up appearances by manipulating visible things and outward behaviors has eclipsed and darkened the interior richness and abundant encouragement that is available to the human heart. Like the early Quakers, we need to simply listen to and obey the inner voices of faith, hope, and love and let them lead us to joy and peace beyond measure.
  • God is speaking
    Today.
    Will I listen
    To what
    He has to say?
    Or will I walk
    Away?
    I want to stay
    In His presence
    And hear His voice
    All day.



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Developing Discernment

Posted on September 23, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What could you do more of?
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Jesus said: “Many false prophets shall appear and deceive many people.” (Matthew 24:11) How can we recognize and avoid false prophets? Their lives will lack the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23) They won’t have these qualities:

* Love — False prophets are unwilling to love their enemies or even to love people who disagree with them. (Matthew 5:44)

* Joy — False prophets rarely radiate the joy of the Lord. (Nehemiah 8:10)

* Peace — False prophets promote hostility rather than peace. (James 1:19-20)

* Patience — False prophets are impatience with people who disagree with them. (Colossians 3:13-15)

* Kindness — False prophets are often unkind. (Ephesians 4:32)

* Goodness — False prophets see goodness and innocence as weakness. (Galatians 6:10)

* Faithfulness — False prophets are unfaithful to the writings of the earliest Christians in the Gospels and the Epistles. (1 Timothy 6:3-5)

* Gentleness — False prophets are pushy and arrogant. (Philippians 4:5)

* Self-control — False prophets are often given over to and controlled by unhealthy attitudes, emotions, and desires. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

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Surrender Your Heart and Your Will to The Lord

Posted on September 22, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
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To not know the Scriptures in a way that they burn in your heart and fill you with the power of God is to be lifeless. (Matthew 22:29) True life is to love the Lord with your all in all and to focus on caring for your neighbor in the same way that you focus on caring for yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)

Jesus rose from the dead to live in His followers, not to start a lifeless religion. (John 14:20) Hopelessness is lifelessness. (Romans 15:13) To feel soulless is to be lifeless but surrendering your will to Jesus will bring you life and solace. (John 14:6)

To have religion in your life but no life in your religion is to have a lifeless form of godliness that has no power! (2 Timothy 3:5) True Christianity is to have the risen Jesus alive and working inside of you. (Colossians 1:27) It is to let Christ the living Word of God (John 1:1) literally work in and through you. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

Spectator religion is lifeless. “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.” (James 1:22) Faith should produce the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and lead to Spirit-led activity (Romans 8:14) that demonstrates the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) and the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Christians should talk about no one more than they talk about Jesus! (Acts 1:8) They should continually proclaim and demonstrate Christ’s lifegiving presence and power. (John 16:33)

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Spiritual Energy Doesn’t Come from a Temple

Posted on September 21, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What things give you energy?
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God had King Solomon build a temple. During the dedication of the temple the glory of the Lord filled the temple. All the people present knelt with their faces to the ground as they worshipped and thanked God. (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)

Later the Lord appeared to Solomon and told him that the temple was supposed to be about more than the rituals of animal sacrifices. It was supposed to be about God’s people humbling themselves, praying, seeking God’s face, and turning from their wicked ways. (2 Chronicles 7:14) It was supposed to be a house of prayer.

Instead of gathering in the temple court for prayer, people gathered to buy and sell animals for ritual sacrifice. Jesus drove the animal sellers out of the temple court because they had turned what God intended to be a house of prayer into “a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13) When Stephen was preaching just before He was killed for his radical and consistent focus only on the risen Jesus, Stephen said: “But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands.” (Acts 7:47-48)

It’s interesting that about 40 years after Jesus was crucified, risen from the dead, and living in His devoted followers, that the temple and the whole city of Jerusalem was leveled to the ground by the Roman army just as Jesus had predicted. (Matthew 24:2) Like Jesus told the woman at the well: “A time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” He told her that instead “True worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:21-24)

God doesn’t want His people to think that Jerusalem or a physical building is a special place to worship. He wants us to know and daily experience worship flowing from our innermost being like rivers of living water (John 7:38-39) wherever we are.

Paul taught that a Christ-follower’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19) Paul called this “the word of God in its fullness,” and “the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27)

If you will humble yourself, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from your wicked ways, God will release such healing within you and through you that it will be contagious and spread throughout your land. Christianity is better caught than taught. Seek God until you become contagious with Christ. Put your faith in and radically surrender your thoughts, feelings, and desires to the control of the risen Trust in the presence and power of the living Jesus not in money, politics, or religious organizations.

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“Absorborize!”

Posted on September 20, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s your all-time favorite album?
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The best way to experience and enjoy music, beauty, food, and the other good things in life is to absorborize them. The analytical approach pays attention to detail but often misses the joy of a heart that has been deeply touched and profoundly moved by something.

To memorize is to force information into your mind. To absorborize is to soak up and capture content with your heart. Wherever you sense hope, encouragement, goodness, joy, peace, kindness, and other heart-warming things, savor them and soak them up!

I seek to soak in and absorborize the presence of the risen Jesus Christ. One thing that helps me do that is to read the Bible and let the words continually burn in my heart.

Don’t try to force information about God into your brain. Instead always absorborize the risen Jesus with your innermost being and let the presence of His Spirit freely flow from deep with you. Every day make more and more room in your heart for God to work. (Philippians 2:13)

Christians aren’t rewarded by the hour — by the number of sermons they remember or how much of the Bible they have memorized. (Hebrews 11:6) They are rewarded by showing up, savoring, soaking up, and surrendering to God’s presence as they seek His face. (2 Chronicles 7:14) There’s no hierarchy in Christ. (Matthew 23:8) All are equally brothers and sisters. (Galatians 3:28) You don’t need someone to spoon feed you with religious information. (1 John 2:27) Instead, absorborize Jesus day and night.

I’ve never lived a perfect moment. Every moment of my life I’ve needed God’s mercy. That awareness keeps me absorborizing His love, His forgiveness, and His power. Be a holy soaker!

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I Always Want To Know More About This Topic

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Which topics would you like to be more informed about?
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A man named Thomas had some close friends who told Him they had seen someone who had been executed and entombed, who is now alive from the dead. Of course, Thomas didn’t believe them. He quite reasonably told them that he wouldn’t believe something that outrageous unless He himself encountered the dead man living.

A few days later when Thomas met the resurrected Christ, he called Jesus “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28) Thomas was a changed man. (2 Corinthians 5:17) He radically followed and obeyed his Lord for the rest of his life traveling to tell people about the God-man and training people to daily listen to and obey the risen Jesus. There are ancient indigenous Christian groups in India who trace their origin back 2,000 years to Thomas.

An encounter with the risen Jesus will drastically change your point of view about Christ. You will no longer think of Jesus as a famous historical personality, or as a good moral teacher, or as a religious leader, or as the lead character in “The Chosen,” or as a mythical figure, or as whatever you formerly thought Him to be.

A genuine encounter with the living Jesus will cause you to call Him “My Lord and my God.” Christ will begin show Himself to you more and more. As you daily surrender to His will and keep His commandments (John 14:15) Jesus will begin to build your life on the inner rock of direct personal revelation. (Matthew 16:18)

Today all true followers of Jesus have Him living inside of them as their Lord and their God. Christ living in them (Colossians 1:27) doesn’t just help them to cope with life. Jesus living within true Christians fills them with ongoing hope to see and experience God’s glory here on earth as it is in Heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
The true children of God are led by Jesus living inside of them as God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14) They are led by the Spirit, not by the desires, feelings, and opinions of their flesh. (Galatians 5:19-21)

Jesus doesn’t what the Spirit to be quenched when Christians gather in His name. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) He wants people to be free (John 8:32) to follow Him. (Matthew 4:19) As each person present in a Christian congregation listens to Jesus (John 10:27) and shares and obeys what the risen Jesus is saying to him or her, the glory of God demonstrates Christ’s presence and power. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Why not gather with some Christ-followers, listen directly to Jesus together, and let people share what Jesus tells them? You will be amazed at how Christ (the Lord and God) will demonstrate His presence among you. Jesus will take you beyond doubt to certainty. (2 Timothy 1:12)

Don’t just work for a living. Live to continually experience Jesus the God-man working in and through you. (Philippians 2:13)

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Wisdom From Silly Playful Songs

Posted on September 19, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What would your life be like without music?
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Simple, playful, silly songs help me remember the importance of having a childlike spirit. Life can seem so rigid and serious that it’s easy to shut down and forget to be spontaneous. Fun, children’s songs remind me to set aside my pride and to freely and innocently enjoy the beauty of being alive. Without silly children’s songs I might forget to do that.

Be childlike! Jesus encourages people to be like little children. Why?

Little children are tender and open hearted. They value having an innocent heart more than they value what other people say or think about them. They are spontaneously joyful. Jesus wants you to be that way.

Little children aren’t ashamed to cry. They aren’t embarrassed by their emotions. Jesus wants you to be unashamed to openly express heart-felt love for Him and for people.

Little children aren’t trying to please people or to live up to other people’s standards and expectations. They are so free that they don’t mind looking silly. Are you willing to be a fool for Christ?

Little children don’t hold grudges. Jesus said that when there is unresolved conflict, we should tell it to a gathered congregation of Christ-followers and that the people involved should listen to the congregation. (Matthew 18:15-17) This clearly means that Jesus wants the people in a Christian gathering to have the freedom to share their thoughts. (If not, how could people listen to them?)

Somehow, we have gotten away from Christ’s desire for His followers to have input when they gather in His name and not to always be silent spectators. Churches have quenched people’s childlike spontaneity instead of encouraging it.

O that the people of God would be allowed to have direct input in worship services. O that churches would allow people the freedom to obey God the Holy Spirit and to express themselves with the spontaneity of little children. (1 Corinthians 14:26)

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Celebrate Love Throughout Every Day

Posted on September 17, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
How do you celebrate holidays?
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True transformation isn’t to change your body. It’s to change your heart. It’s not produced by rearranging your physical appearance but by replacing your thoughts, feelings, and desires with the love and the will of God.

When your full focus is on the glory of the Lord you won’t feel threatened by people or circumstances. You will be overcome with love for everyone as God’s Spirit transforms you step by step into His image. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

“Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18) The more you open your heart to the influence of God’s love the less you will feel threatened in life.

The most courageous response to a threat is love and kindness. (Luke 6:35) It’s supernatural! When you allow people’s threats to cause you fear, hatred, and the desire for retaliation you’re their slave. (Matthew 5:11-12)

A Christian’s fight isn’t against people. It’s against the thoughts, words, attitudes and temptations that attempt to pull you away from the will and the love of God. (2 Corinthians 10:4) Hatred and unforgiveness threaten your soul. They are the true threat to your wellbeing. (Matthew 6:15)

Christians aren’t supposed to see people as a threat but as an opportunity to show the love of God. (1 Peter 3:9) To see people as a threat is to dance with fear and hatred. It hardens your heart and darkens your soul. (Matthew 5:44)

Christians are supposed to:
* Love like Heaven,
* Worship Jesus like Heaven,
* Obey the Holy Spirit like Heaven,
We’re not supposed to live like Hell.
(Matthew 6:10)

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How To Recognize a True Christian

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Write about your most epic baking or cooking fail.
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When I try to use self-effort to cook up the fruit of the Spirit, I always fail. Only the Holy Spirit can produce it in my life.

Here’s how to spot genuine Christ-followers. According to the Bible they are doers of the word not hearers only. (James 1:22) Look for the fruit of the Spirit in the things they say and do. When the risen Jesus Christ is living inside of someone God the Holy Spirit produces:

* Love not bitterness,
* Joy not negativity,
* Peace not hostility,
* Patience not pushiness,
* Kindness not meanness,
* Goodness not self-righteousness,
* Faithfulness not falsehood,
* Gentleness not brashness,
* Self-control not self-justification.

Beware. There are many false prophets. (1 John 4:1) Jesus said to watch out for wolves in sheep’s clothing. (Matthew 7:15) They claim to be Christian but there’s very little of the fruit of the Spirit flowing out of them in the things they say and do. Listening to false prophets is like settling for burnt toast.

Jesus is the God-man (John 1:1&14) who rose from the dead, (Matthew 28:5-6) lives in His true followers, (Colossians 1:27) leads them from within, (Romans 8:14) and produces the fruit of the Spirit inside of them. (Galatians 5:22-23)

If you are looking for someone to admire, and celebrate, don’t settle for a mere human being. Behold the Lamb of God — the God-man Jesus Christ! Give all glory, honor, and praise to Him! (Revelation 5:11-13)

Instead of talking about religion and politics I find it much more exciting and life-transforming to talk about the risen Jesus and the government He is establishing in surrendered and obedient human hearts — the kingdom of God. (Matthew 6:33) He’s ready to establish and maintain His government in your heart, moment-by-moment, if you will let Him.

Let the glorious attraction of the living Jesus set you free from the many distractions that cause you to ignore Him. Allow Jesus to take His place as the never-ending focus of your life. (Hebrews 12:2) The Bible will show you how.

The Bible meddles with my mind, my methods, and my moods all the time. (Hebrews 4:12) Will you let it meddle with you? (2 Timothy 3:16) A preacher who neglects to mention repentance, humility, the fruit of the Spirit, loving your enemies, and blessing those who curse you is neglecting his responsibility.

Christ alone
Is the cornerstone —
No person,
No nation.
When love is gone
We’ve gone wrong.
Our only hope
Is Christ alone.

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The Lesson of Recovery

Posted on September 15, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.
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If your joy has been lost, it can be retrieved. If your inner peace has vanished, it can be rediscovered When love has diminished it can be restored. If your faith has faded it can be recovered.

If the fruit of the Holy Spirit has withered in your life, it can be revived. If your direct personal connection with the risen Jesus is shaky, it can be made stronger than ever through a spiritual wakening called revival.

When people saw Jesus healing people and doing miracles, they were amazed and praised God. (Matthew 15:31) Two of Christ’s first disciples when threatened with prison or death said: “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)

When people see Jesus doing miracles and when they experience His presence and reality in their life, they are amazed by Him. All they want to talk about is Jesus. They continually testify about the incredible things they have seen, heard, and experienced Him say and do. They are so focused on the living Jesus that the things of earth fade away from their awareness.

We live in a time when there’s not much amazement about Jesus. There’s very little focus on Him. You seldom hear church goers testify about how Jesus is working in their life. (Revelation 12:11) They rarely even say His name unless a preacher tells them to or they are made to repeat words written on a Sunday morning bulletin. Instead, Christianity has focused on personal prosperity, promoting preachers as personalities, political power, and prideful self-focus. It desperately needs reviving and reconnecting with the risen Jesus!

To experience revival, keep your focus on the risen Jesus, not on any other person, place, or thing. Revival restores Christians to an ongoing awareness of the presence of the risen Jesus. It keeps them in such awe of Him that they humbly listen to His voice, set aside their own will and opinions, and excitedly obey Him.

Revival isn’t a bunch of people merely repeating a “salvation” prayer after a leader and then being baptized. If the people’s beliefs, words, and way of life isn’t changed from within to align with the Sermon on the Mount that’s just a powerless form of religion.

When revival happens sermon-hearers will be changed into Jesus-mirrors. They will reflect and radiate His love, His presence, and His power everywhere they go. Sunday church goers will be miraculously transformed into radical and obedient Christ-followers who humble themselves, earnestly seek a greater awareness of God’s presence, turn away from all the sins they are defending, forgive everyone, love their enemies, and bless those who curse them. What will it take to experience a Spirit-led revival? Begin to daily and wholeheartedly obey 2 Chronicles 7:14.

If you’ve never lived with an ongoing awareness of the living Jesus and the fruit of His Spirit, you can begin to daily live that way. Begin to continually surrender your thoughts, words, feelings, desires, and behaviors to His moment-by-moment control and allow Him to be the absolute Lord and Director of your daily life.

Jesus is better
Than lottery pics.
Jesus is better
Than getting your kicks.
Jesus is better
Than politics.
Nothing is better
Than Jesus Christ.

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