Notice God now! (Embrace revelation.)

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Steve Simms

Revelation is communication from the living God. It can be in the form of thoughts, impressions, images, insights, or ideas. Since Jesus first revealed Himself to me, I’ve searched history and discovered the writings of hundreds of people who share my experience and relationship with the risen Christ.

Few Christians are trained to receive direct revelation from God throughout the day–to say “Speak, Lord,” and listen in stillness. The early Christians received revelation of things that eye can’t see and ear can’t hear. (1 Corinthians 2: 9-10) We can too! People hungry to know God seek Him with their whole heart and receive glorious insights. Pray: “Lord, make me hungry for You.”

We can personally interact with Emmanuel (God with us) every day. Here’s an example of how revelation works. Throughout last night the word revelation kept going through my mind. When I woke up this morning, I read a blog that I read daily. The author had used the word revelation (or revealed) at least 7 times.

God is as close and as real as our breathing and just as easily unobserved. It requires courage to receive revelation from God because it often conflicts with our feelings, desires, and opinions. Throughout history people who receive and talk about direct revelation from God that aligns with the Bible have often been persecuted.

Genuine revelation from God is consistent and always aligns with what God revealed in the Bible. False revelation redefines Jesus and departs from who the Bible says He is. Anyone who claims a revelation that contradicts what the Bible says about who Jesus is, has embraced a false revelation. Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets.”

Here’s an example: One large, growing, and aggressive religious group claims that Jesus is the physical offspring of the physical body of the god of planet earth and Mary. Their god was once a man on planet earth and is now only the god of earth. He isn’t the Creator of all that exists. This group is very deceptive. They hide what they really believe about Jesus and pretend that they believe in the same Jesus that the Bible describes.

Let casual/carnal Christianity (including the Christmas season) remind you that God has so much more for us than formal religion has to offer. The risen Jesus is eager to reveal Himself to you. Are you ready and willing?

God wants to reveal
And to unveil
But we prefer
To analyze detail
Instead of humbly
Following His trail
Into life-altering insight.

In this world
Of devastation
We desperately
Need revelation
From God.

Decide
Not to hide.
Open wide
Your heart
And confide.

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You have thoughts directly from Jesus

Posted on December 19, 2022 by Steve Simms

Much of our confusion in life comes from the lack of attention we give to the thoughts that pass through our mind directly from Jesus. If you will train yourself to daily notice and obey direct thoughts from Jesus, your life will become an amazing adventure.

God’s Spirit is called the Comforter because He imparts direct thoughts from the living Jesus to help and lead people from within. To be Spirit-led is to be guided and steered from the inside by direct thoughts and impressions from the risen Jesus.

Too often church attendance is seen as a substitute for being Spirit-led. However, just sitting thru church doesn’t earn a “Well done,” form God.

Thoughts from Jesus are much more common than we realize because we spend much of our time being distracted and we neglect to notice them. If you will pay attention to your thinking, you will notice that Jesus inspired thoughts often pass through your mind waiting for you to welcome and receive them.

Since Jesus is risen and ever-present, He puts His thoughts directly into your mind continually nudging you to align with Him. A thought that appears in your mind bringing hope or helpful insight is often a direct thought from Jesus.

Using religious entertainment and/or obligation to gather followers has trivialized Christianity. It discourages people from daily recognizing and following their direct inner thoughts from Jesus.

Direct thoughts from Jesus lovingly warn us when we are headed in the wrong direction. They gently call us to surrender our heart and will to His presence and control. When a direct thought from Jesus is noticed and nurtured it will burn in your heart and fill you with awe! Thoughts we hear in sermons are often sweet, but to notice and embrace direct thoughts from the living Jesus is life-changing!

Direct thoughts from Jesus are frequently ignored or rejected because they conflict with and challenge what we want. It’s important for Christians to learn to recognize and receive the thoughts that the risen Jesus puts in their mind so that they can walk in the Spirit.

Regularly reading the Bible with an open-heart trains people to recognize and receive thoughts from Jesus. Mary and Joseph treasured Jesus and let Him fill their heart with awe and wonder. O that we would do the same!

When people ignore or resist direct thoughts that Jesus puts into their mind, they trivialize Christianity. A Christian with a closed heart has trivialized Christianity.

Form without freedom, programs without power, preaching without passion, sermons without God’s Spirit, ritual without reality, liturgy without life, methodical meetings without supernatural mystery, Biblical analysis without the anointing, and hype instead of humility, are all signs of trivialized Christianity.

Neither trivialized Christianity nor paganism can produce inner peace in a human heart, but the risen Jesus can. Trivialized Christianity, superficial and artificial, distracts people from focusing on the risen Jesus and the thoughts that He deposits in our mind!

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Jesus gave me a heart transplant

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Steve Simms

A fresh start
Without a new heart
Will still dart
Down old paths.

You can’t mend a
Heart
With a mental
Agenda.
Many who are smart
Are inwardly torn apart,
But Jesus replaced
My shattered stone heart
With His healing love.

Now Jesus reveals
Light that thrills
And fills
My heart
With joy.

Jesus fills my life
And my mind
With adventures
Greater than any
I could find
On my own.

Inviting Christ to live in me and take over the control of my life has impacted me vastly more than anything else. Christ’s “Advent” happened to me the moment He entered my heart to rule, reign, and remain! Jesus is my Lord and Master.

Jesus cleared my conscience and deleted the load of guilt that pressed on my heart like a weighted quilt. Now I soar with Him. Jesus continually clears out my confusion and produces peace within me.

To make room for Jesus clear out what’s crowding Him out. “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

Sin clouds what’s clear. Aligning our thoughts and behaviors with God clears what’s cloudy.

The more I unclutter
The more I hear
Jesus utter
Words that make
My heart flutter.

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Climb to the top of the cone

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Steve Simms

Unless you
Pursue
Jesus first,
Religious
Passivity
Will subdue
You.

People have a need to be heard. God is always listening but few church services allow any time for ordinary people to be heard. Christianity’s not about people lined up in seated passivity. It’s about active and open heart-to-heart connection.

Christians want to unite around a thing that they can name–a church, a religious ministry, a missional organization, a person’s teaching. But once we identify with a thing, we distinguish ourselves from the Christians who aren’t aligned with our thing and further divide the body of Christ.

Jesus doesn’t want us to simply sit thru a Sunday church show. He wants us to open up and show Him our heart so He can show us His glory.

The closer people are to the risen Jesus, the closer they are to each other. There’s no connection like the Christ connection!

Christianity unity works like a sugar cone. Imagine a sugar cone upside down, surrounded by teeny people trying to connect with one another. What a difficult task that is with the cone separating them. However, when Jesus calls from the top of the cone, “Come unto Me,” the higher the people climb toward Jesus the closer they get to each other.

If you’re heart’s not getting more closely connected to the risen Jesus, it’s slipping farther away from Him. It won’t stay put. Keeping your attention fixed on Jesus is essential. Otherwise, you’ll become spiritually passive and lethargic.

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Who I love

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Steve Simms

I declare my love! You may not approve of or applaud who I love but that doesn’t mean you hate me. I love the living Jesus!

My thoughts focus on Jesus. My heart adores Him. I linger in His presence and excitedly interact with Jesus throughout the day. I’m OCD: Obsessively Christ Devoted!

Jesus first! He’s the center of my attention. Following and obeying Jesus is my number one priority in life. It causes me to want to spend all my time with Him.

My marriage is about seeking Jesus together with the amazing and adorable wife that He has given me. My friendships are about interacting with Jesus together with the incredible Christ-followers that He has brought into my life. My mission (regardless of my job or employment) is to care about and serve everybody Jesus brings my way and to speak the truth about Him and His kingdom as my heart overflows with His love. He compels me to love and forgive everybody.

Striving to do what Jesus tells me to and asking Him to show me anywhere I’m unaligned with Him, He redirects me where I’m off track. Basking in His mercy and forgiveness causes me to continually seek to surrender to His will in my thoughts, desires, feelings, opinions, and actions. I do my best to avoid anything that distracts me from the awareness of the risen Jesus or quenches His Spirit within me.

When I read what the ancient prophets and His first disciples wrote about Jesus, He makes His words burn in me. Reading the Bible every day with my heart wide open continually fans the flames of love for Jesus.

I say and write what I sense Jesus tells me to. It’s impossible to be quiet about Him! He’s so amazing. He fills me with streaming inner rivers of hope, love, revelation, trust, joy, grace, compassion, peace, self-control, power, and so much more.

Pouring out my heart in verbal adoration to Jesus, I listen to and sing along with deeply moving worship songs about Him. Throughout the day I talk to Jesus in unknown languages that pour out of my heart and make His presence more real to me than the physical surroundings.

At this point in my life, it all started 53 years ago. Reluctantly walking into an informal gathering of passionate Christ-followers who were telling each other about how they had first encountered Jesus, I was suddenly and astonishingly aware of a presence never felt before. In an instant I was changed from deep within. From that moment until now passionately love for Jesus has dominated my heart.

The greatest blessing in my life is to help someone else fall in life-long passionate love for the risen Jesus! If you will begin to consistently talk to Him with an open, honest, and humble heart and observe what happens inside of you, at some point you’ll be suddenly love struck and Jesus will be the One who you love!

It’s popular today to declare who you love. It’s time for Christians to let our words and our lifestyle demonstrate that we love Jesus!

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Posted in heart-felt love, love, love means, love wins, radical love, true love, way of love | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

If you cling to the vine, you’ll be fine!

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Steve Simms

Jesus is the vine,
We are the branches.
If we don’t stay connected
We’ll be mostly unaffected
By His presence and power.

Continually upgrade
Your connection
With Jesus,
Refuse to evade
His presence.
Never let Him fade
From your awareness.

Many Christians live like they’re plugged into a powerless religious outlet–uninspired and discouraged. Plug your heart into the risen Jesus! If you’re not experiencing a never-ending inner power flow from the living Jesus, there’s a disconnection somewhere. Be a Jesus clinger!

Powerless Christianity is dangerous. It causes people to believe they’re right with God but doesn’t motivate them to continually surrender the risen Jesus. When the power is out. People don’t need lectures about electricity. They need the power restored. We need the risen Jesus, not religious talks about Him!

Not only is possible to live in heart-to-heart moment-by-moment connection with the risen Jesus, it’s glorious to do so! Learn to connect to the risen Jesus with your heart and to let Him freely stream from within you.

Too many Christians settle for having an occasional little talk with Jesus instead of ongoing, heart-to-heart connection with Him. The formalized Jesus confined to church programs offers little power to change people’s lives, but the risen Jesus is still doing miracles.

Anyone who has ever been troubled by a thought or a feeling knows the power of invisible things. The living Jesus is now invisible but is also omnipotent–all powerful! Unless we intentionally work to cultivate a healthy inner relationship with the risen Jesus our mind and heart will be filled with weeds.

Before “Christ in you” became a reality, the Old Testament gave extremely detailed descriptions of religious ceremonies and formats to be followed. However, now that Christ lives in His followers, the New Testament calls us to be led by His Spirit. Today we’re called to follow the risen Jesus, not detailed religious procedures.

No matter how much we say “Jesus is Lord,” if we won’t let Him take direct control of a church service, we don’t truly believe it. If we won’t trust Jesus to actively lead and direct a church service, do we really trust Him about anything else?

It’s good to have
A biblical word view
But without a clear view
Of the living Jesus
Self-righteousness
Can fall on us like dew
And skew
Our faith
Until we don’t have a clue
And begin to do
Ungodly things
In the name of God
Like the Pharisees did.

Sermons can sprinkle
Your mind with spots
Of theological information
But unless the risen Jesus
Connects the dots
They’ll just be empty pots.

Praising the eloquence
Of a pastor
Is easier
Than obedience
To be the living Jesus.

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The call that’s out of this world!

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Steve Simms

The New Testament calls Christians the “called out ones.” That’s the literal meaning of the Greek word that is translated as “church” in most English Bibles. Christ-followers are called to no longer be conformed to the cultures of this world but to follow and obey the risen Jesus instead.

We are called out of:

  • Fear into faith,
  • Sadness into joy,
  • Worry into peace,
  • Hostility into love,
  • Pride into humility,
  • Anxiety into patience,
  • Corruption into purity,
  • Chaos into self-control,
  • Rudeness into kindness,
  • Apathy into compassion,
  • Rebellion into surrender,
  • Discouragement into hope,
  • Wrongdoing into goodness,
  • Resentment into forgiveness,
  • Troublemaking into peacemaking.

That Greek word that was translated as church (ekklesia) was also the name of the participatory town hall meeting in ancient Greek cities where the citizens were called to come together to interact with each other and to freely share their concerns about the city. Christ-followers are called out to connect heart-to-heart with each other and to help each other follow the risen Jesus out of earthy systems and structures and into the kingdom (government) of God by learning to be led from within by God’s Spirit.

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Christmas is too often like the World Cup without soccer

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Steve Simms

Christmas and Christians without the living Jesus visibly, presently, and actively working in and through them are like the World Cup without soccer or the Super Bowl without football. They are like a darkened light house.

The Christmas season overflows with decorations and pageantry but rarely has any room for the living Jesus. When Christmas is spelled without a space, Christ is crowded out and not pronounced. Make a space in Christ_mas for the living Jesus.

The Light of the living Jesus dawned about 2,000 years ago. Looking to the birth of Jesus and beyond, the prophet Isaiah wrote: “On those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” Ever since the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there’s no reason for humans to live in or to even linger in darkness. Jesus tells his followers, “You are the light of the world.” Paul reminds Christians that “God has shinned in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

People don’t wait until Christmas Day to put up and turn on their Jesus-birth lights. How the hurting people around us need to see Christians who will dazzle them with the brightness of Christ’s light all year long!

Without the active and present working of the living Jesus, Christmas is like a huge puppet show without a puppeteer. In order to let the risen Jesus empower us to be the ever-shinning stadium lights of the kingdom of God we need to go beyond religion and church as usual.

Instead of repeating the same Sunday morning routine until people finally drop out of church, perhaps it would be better to graduate people and send them out with prayer and blessing to live their daily lives all year long in the power and presence of the living Jesus. There are much more effective ways to disciple people and empower them to shine their light than making them dependent on a Sunday sermon.

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Self-dependency eventually leads to despondency

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Steve Simms

When you depend on temporary situations for happiness your happiness soon departs. Self-dependency will also eventually let you down and lead to despondency. It’s like your shadow. When the dark night comes self-dependency dissipates.

I’ve been deceived and disappointed too many times to depend any longer on my own desires, feelings, or opinions. If you’re looking for a solid foundation for your life, don’t depend on yourself. Trust in and rely on God. If you depend on anything but God, you can depend on being disappointed.

Faith means to be God-dependent–to trust in and rely on Him rather than self. The more I depend on His inspiration, the more I’m inspired.

Depend on yourself and you’ll be let down into discouragement. Depend on the risen Jesus and you’ll be lifted up into inner peace. Your feelings, desires, and opinions will be unreliable as long as your heart is out of focus. Depending on God means that you free to depend less on yourself and on other people.

No human is totally dependable. I had to look higher than humanity to find Someone I can trust to never let me down. My life has been changed, directed, and protected by God’s intervention so many times that I’ve learned to depend on Him.

Gather with Jesus
And a few friends,
Then depend on Him
And follow His lead.

Open churches without open hearts don’t depend on the Lord. What’s controlled from a stage is staged. What flows from hearts touched by the presence of Jesus is genuine. Hearing lectures about your friend would be a poor substitute for spending time together. Jesus is my Friend. I want to interact with and be dependent on Him, not to hear talks about Him.

Church teaches us information about Jesus, but until we learn to daily depend on and rely on Jesus, that info isn’t very helpful. Relying on a church service to keep you close to God is like trusting in a food TV show to keep you well fed. Church does us a disservice when it trains people to listen to a weekly lecture about God, but not to daily lean on and rely on Him.

Church says to depend on a solitary preacher for Christian guidance, but the Bible declares, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Let’s go beyond depending on religion. Let’s actively help each other depend on the living Jesus. If Christians relied as much on “Christ in you” as we do on a preacher in a pulpit, spiritual awakening would become our continuous condition.

Organization and programming prevent revival. God doesn’t work according to human specifications. Dare to tear up the program and depend on God’s Spirit instead.

Limiting church to some stage led songs and a one-man sermon greatly restricts what God can do. Jesus said, “Follow Me.” He never said, “Listen to a weekly talk about Me.”

Now is the time
To depend on God to do
What He wants to
In and through you.

You can depend on this: Christianity isn’t about religious organizations and religious belief systems. It’s about a personal relationship with the risen Jesus. Let every step you take be a walk with the risen Jesus carefully following His lead.

Now is the time to depend on the risen Jesus! We’re living in God’s now timing. The time to trust in and depend on the living God is always now. No matter our circumstances, in spite of our feelings, desires, pain, or confusion, and regardless of apparent delays, those who belong to Jesus can be supernaturally assured that God will never leave us or forsake us; that Christ in us is the hope of glory, and that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter abiding within us and dynamically empowering us with strength and faith — “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Instead of being
Visibly amazed
At the presence
Of Jesus
And dependent on Him,
Church has trained
Christians to sit
And be dazed
By sermon fatigue.
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Good fear produces good vibes . . .

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Steve Simms

The fear of the Lord isn’t about dodging lightning bolts. It’s about letting your heart be overwhelmed by His glorious light. Too many people want God’s approval, but the fear of the Lord makes us realize that what we really need is His mercy and forgiveness. Embracing the fear of the Lord fills you with His stupefying love that casts out the fears that have been tormenting you.

Our society doesn’t need more church attendance. We need more people greatly impacted by the fear of the Lord. Hiding and pretending you have nothing to fear from God is cruelly self-deceptive. Hope comes by surrendering to His love and mercy.

The fear of the Lord is like the fear of meeting a celebrity you admire. It’s the awe you feel when you open your heart to God’s greatness. It’s like spending time interacting with a human hero you greatly admire. You overflow with respect and awe. The fear of the Lord is the good and healthy fear that calls us to flee our bondage and to fully surrender to His love.

Without the fear of the Lord, human beings are easily influenced and ensnared by evil. The fear of the Lord frees us from the extremes of open rebellion and self-righteous religion so we can find true peace with God.

We say we want to be loved, but receiving intense love is scary because it will strongly bind us to someone. We can run or surrender. Face the fear of the Lord and embrace God’s love!

The closer I get to God’s holiness the more I sense a wholesome respect, awe, and fear for Him and the more I want His mercy. The justice of God is frightening. It means that the judgment I’ve earned must be carried out. I’m undone that Christ bore my judgment.

The fear of the Lord is like the fear you feel when truth that you’re uncomfortable with and/or ashamed of is exposed. It’s the fear of God’s complete honesty. Without the fear of the Lord, we humans try to rationalize away our great need for mercy, forgiveness, and deliverance.

The fear of the Lord is to be deeply moved by His majesty, shaken by His splendor, and gripped by His greatness. It’s the awareness that there’s nowhere to hide. God is truth and light. He knows and sees everything about you. The fear of the Lord shows us that it’s useless to run from Him and invites us to surrender our rebellion to His mercy and grace.

The fear of the Lord is the awareness of accountability–the knowledge that truth, light, and justice will ultimately prevail. It makes us conscious of His holiness and our sinfulness. It reveals out great need to receive His love, mercy, and forgiveness.

The most courageous people in the world are those who have surrendered to the fear of the Lord. They fear nothing else.

Christians today focus too much on church mechanics and not enough Holy Spirit dynamics and the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord helps us realize that earth has already been invaded by God incarnate (Jesus) and is currently being colonized by the kingdom of God. Jesus told his disciples “The kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus tells us to make seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness our number one priority in life! Our life on earth is supposed to be about surrendering to the living God and letting Him bring us from glory to glory into ever greater obedience to His direct inner rule, authority, and dominion.

God wants to overflow you with so much inspiration from within you that you don’t feel the need to depend on outward inspiration. If you’re not reading the Bible every day with an open heart and praying, going to church can easily become a mere religious exercise.

To preach without passion, excitement, and enthusiasm is to disrespect history’s greatest news! If a preacher isn’t deeply moved and personally stirred by what he’s preaching the congregation won’t be either. I’ve found few churches that make people who are continuously and visibly thrilled about Jesus feel welcome.

When Chistianity
Was ritualized
And systematized
It was lobotomized
And cut off
From the direct
Control of Christ
It’s living Head.

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