Christianity is about individuals, not clones in religious institutions

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Steve Simms

Until we gather with and spiritually connect with Christ-transformed individuals, there will be little unity among Christians. When Christ-transformed individuals recognize each other there’s an instant sense of kinship and community. I sold black history books during college summers and every day I had empowering encounters with Christ-transformed individuals.

Christ-transformed individuals break the religious mold and embrace their calling to be unique and diverse members of Christ’s body. Don’t be a religious clone. Be a Christ-transformed individual connecting heart-to-heart with others who want to freely follow Jesus. Perhaps it’s time to de-clone church attendees.

Spirit-led heart-change happens to individuals, not to religious institutions. Christian meetings should train people to be Spirit-led. They should never take the place of God’s Spirit. Before Christianity can be a group thing, it must begin with Christ-transformed individuals.

A group religious meeting that keeps Christ-transformed individuals in a passive and silent role may be doing more harm than good. Churches need to encourage Christ-transformed individuals to speak up about Jesus, not keep them quiet.

Disciple making is about training, empowering, and releasing Christ-transformed individuals to daily follow and obey the risen Jesus. A religious hierarchy tends to silence Christ-transformed individuals and force them to conform to group protocol.

Christian community begins with Christ-transformed individuals, not with organized meetings for religious “services.” When “going to church” replaced personal connection among Christ-transformed individuals, institutionalism replaced the body of Christ. Revival happens when Christ-transformed individuals begin to recognize and humbly open their heart to each other.

Christ-transformed individuals have a supernatural, inner connection with each other that can override their differences. The body of Christ consists of Christ-transformed individuals. It’s not a religious hierarchy or a human-led institution. When Christ-transformed individuals gather and connect with humble, open hearts, God’s glory fills the atmosphere.

Christ-transformed individuals need more than religious lecture. They need hands-on training and personal experience in obeying God’s Spirit. When Christ-transformed individuals are trained to perpetually depend on sermons, they tend to drift away from being Spirit-led.

Christ-transformed individuals do life with the living Jesus. They’re quick to apologize and make things right when they slip up and do something wrong.

Biblical Christianity is a Spirit-led lifestyle not a pastor-led Sunday program. Christ-transformed individuals are led by the Holy Spirit, not by their own desires, emotions, and opinions.

The risen Jesus should be the Lord of a Christian but sinful habits give ungodly desires lordship over a person. Ungodly desires and Jesus can’t both be Lord of your life at the same time. When Christians believe they are 100% free from sin, they often “cast the first stone.” Because Christ-transformed individuals have a strong definition of sin (missing the mark of God’s perfect moral standards in actions, omissions, thoughts, or heart) they show much mercy and kindness toward others.

Christ-transformed individuals
Are often in disguise.
You can't always recognize
Them with your natural eyes
But when you mention Jesus
You see His glory rise
And shine thru their eyes.

I love to let
God’s grace
Displace
My distractions
With His Spirit
And put His glory
In their place.
That happens the most
When I have
Nothing to base
My hope on
But Jesus.

The witness
Of God's Spirit,
Can you hear it.
Silently sounding
And abounding
Within you?
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Posted in Christian living, Christian recovery, institutional church, life transforming, spiritual formation, transformation | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Words in my heart are my wake-up call

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Steve Simms

I wake up in the morning and Jesus puts words in my heart. I respond by passively pondering and the words come together as individual phrases (and sometimes as poems). These are the words that manifested in my heart this morning when I first woke up: (The process sometimes continues throughout the day.)

“To abide in Christ is to stay ever focused on Him.”

“True Christ-followers keep their focus and awareness stayed on Jesus, not on self.”

“In order to abide
In Christ
Let your heart reside
Ever in awe of
His presence inside.
Continually confide
In Jesus as your guide
And never hide
Or set Him aside.
Always ride
His Spirit-flowing tide
Far and wide.”

Here are the words that danced together in my heart yesterday:

“Attune your heart
To Christ’s tune
Let Him consume
Your time and attention.”

“Many people spend life
Attuned to their desires
And never discovers
That joy requires
We delight in
What inspires
Hope and kindness”.

“If you’re not aware of Jesus actively working inside of you, He may not be in there.

“When Christ-followers gather and intentionally attune to Jesus, they discover that they’re in tune with one another.”

“The ‘go to church’ Bible verse? Some people think Hebrews 10:25 requires church attendance. I think it means to spiritually interact with other Christians and actively help each other follow and obey the living Jesus.”

“When I read the New Testament, I don’t see a ‘thing’ — an organization or religious institution. Instead, I see the members body of Christ fulfilling the 50+ NT ‘one another’ commands. The body of Christ in the New Testament is organic and Spirit-led. There is oversight in the meetings by the ‘overseers’ but not human control and programming. We can assemble ourselves together without ‘a form of godliness’ that too often ‘denies the power thereof.'”

“10 sins American culture embraces and even celebrates:

  • Self-focus
  • Unrestrained sexual desire
  • Abortion
  • Divorce
  • Drunkenness
  • Dishonesty
  • Lust for wealth
  • Verbal attacks
  • Glorifying violence
  • Rebellion against authority”

“Surrounding yourself, family, and neighbors with decorations of darkness, death, and evil is probably detrimental to your mental health. Fully embrace and live in God’s Light!”

When life looks backwards, let the ever-living Jesus turn you around.
Posted in great awakening, language, spiritual awakening, wake up, wake-up call, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A ground-breaking wake-up thought this morning

Posted on October 25, 2022 by Steve Simms

As soon as I woke up this morning, I wrote this on a slip of paper: (“If Christ is in you, He’s not just there passively. He’s there actively working in you.”) That was ground-breaking in my consciousness. Now, after reading today’s edition of the blog, Wake-Up Call, I know one of the things that Jesus is doing in me. He’s attentively scratching the ground that He has planted inside my heart searching for signs of growth — the germination of HIs working to cultivate His life in me.

Paul of Tarsus wrote: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Then he said: “Christ so powerfully works in me.” How does Jesus want to work inside of you? He wants to powerfully lead you, convict you, comfort you, heal you, teach you, strengthen you, protect you, train you, disciple you, release His glory in you, and much more — moment by moment.

Contend with your will that is intent on resisting and/or manipulating Jesus’ working in you. Fight to surrender to and fully cooperate with the way Jesus is attentively cultivating the field of your heart. Deny yourself and your own self-dependency. You don’t have the ability or the power to grow the spiritual seeds that Jesus is nurturing withing you. Make yourself step aside and let the ever-living Jesus freely break up your fallow ground. Rely on His ability and desire to cultivate you from within and carry you from glory to glory, not on your self-effort.

What’s Jesus
Up to
In you?
Are you
Cooperating?

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Christians meeting with heart-felt awareness of Jesus

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Steve Simms

Acute awareness of the risen Jesus requires much more than hearing a talk about Him. It requires direct, personal, ongoing, and interactive encounter with Him. It requires a knowing beyond head knowledge that ignites the heart with awe-filled aha and hallelujah.

Christ-followers can gather with other believers in heart-felt, attentive awareness of the presence of the risen Jesus. Then, instead of relying on a program, ministrant, agenda, or curriculum, they can experience the simplicity and faith of children relying on their father to pick them up and carry them. That sets the stage for the divine intervention and holy awe that was manifest when the disciples gathered in the Book of Acts.

People who hunger and thirst for a deeper relationship with Jesus can go beyond gathering in “a form of godliness” that essentially ignores the active and ongoing presence, power, and Headship of the ever-present Jesus. They can have everyone present listen to (attune to) the risen Jesus and then say and/or do whatever He tells them to. The resulting demonstrations of Jesus’ reality will be awe-inspiring and life changing.

Then, having encountered and experienced (seen and heard) the living Jesus actively working in and through the ordinary believers gathered in His name, people will have an awareness of Jesus that will remain with them as they are supernaturally empowered to live in, but not of, the world. Try it for yourself. Gather with one or two or more people. Tune into Jesus. Then let each person say and/or do what He prompts them to.

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Posted in alternative church, church, spiritual worship, the heart of worship, unprogrammed, unprogrammed church, worship | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is a Christian still a sinner?

Posted on October 23, 2022 by Steve Simms

It’s easy to see sins in other people; it’s much harder to see them in yourself. It’s easy to “plead the 5th” and hide your sins, but until you confess them and receive forgiveness, they’ll cause you much misery.

To believe that you have no sin is deception. (See 1 John 1:8.) To continually ask God to reveal any sin in you is wisdom. (See Psalm 139:24.) If you think that there is no sin in your life, what do you call those bad things that you’re trying to hide from other people?

Some Christians claim that they’re not a sinner, but you’re still a sinner if you’re:

  • Self-focused,
  • Misrepresenting the truth,
  • Manipulating people,
  • Ignoring your conscience,
  • Lusting or coveting,
  • Cheating,
  • Watching or reading sinful entertainment.
  • Blaming people for your bad behavior,
  • Putting anyone or anything first before Jesus,
  • Neglecting to “consider others better than yourself,”
  • Taking anything that doesn’t belong to you,
  • Not loving your neighbors (and your enemies)
  • Surrendering to wrongful peer pressure,
  • Praising or applauding wrongful behavior.
  • Resisting God’s command to “humble yourself,”
  • Jealous,
  • Seldom showing mercy,
  • Wanting bad things to happen to someone,
  • Ignoring those in need,
  • Refusing to forgive anyone,
  • Not blessing those who curse you,
  • Being hard-hearted,
  • Helping trash the planet with disposable plastic,
  • Following your desires instead of God’s will,
  • In any way quenching the Holy Spirit,
  • Claiming you’re not a sinner.

Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. Help me keep repenting and realigning with You as long as I live.

Blaming other people for your sins is cowardly. It takes courage to take responsibility for your wrongful thoughts and behaviors.

To repent is to testify against yourself. It is to openly admit your wrongdoing, to stop it, and to do your best to make amends.

Repentance isn’t just confessing sins that are in your past. It’s the ongoing process of acknowledging and turning away from present moment sins.

Guilt before God doesn’t depend on the number or the quality of our sins. It only takes one sin to make us need God’s forgiveness. Anything we think, say, or do that goes against God’s will is a sin.

If someone doesn’t have a deep desire not to sin, there’s a strong likelihood that they don’t really know the Lord. A true Christ-follower can’t freely sin and not be troubled by it.

Too many people
Read the Bible
With weeds,
Religious distractions.
Instead read it
With deeds,
Of repentance.
Then its seeds
Will flourish in you.

Jesus is the Way
To experience healing
And forgiveness.
He’s the Door
Who has opened up
To whosoever
Will enter into
And live in
Humble surrender to
The presence of God.

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The glory of God’s oratory in my heart

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Steve Simms

God’s thought-voice is audible
And you are capable
Of hearing it,
If you make
Your heart available,
Just like you hear
Other thoughts in your mind.

I’ve never heard anyone preach or speak like the glory of God’s oratory in my own heart. His thought-voice continually leads me from within and fills me with floods of insight and joy.

If you can use thoughts to silently speak in your mind, God can too. Learn to recognize the thoughts that God gives you.

Church-based Christianity needs to be more aware of the presence and thought-voice of God. It needs to use more of a listening-heart approach to God than an intellectual lecture approach.

Biblical Christianity isn’t a sedative. It’s a shake-up to break up complacency, not religious make-up to cover up our rebellion. Casual Christian discipleship is a ship that will always sink. Discipleship won’t float without burning passion and commitment.

Biblical Christianity is challenging, not comfortable. Casual Christianity is lukewarm. Too often church oratory is merely auditory and has little or no impact on a person’s lifestyle. Christians are called to be doers of the Word, not bystanders or Sunday-service-sitters.

Experience the Jesus story
In your daily life.
Don’t just depend
On religious oratory.

Too often church lets a good talker monopolize the mic every week and requires everybody else to pretend to be good listeners. A sermon that stirs nothing up and creates no burning desire to do the word that was heard is just a casual talk. I saw The Jesus Movement of the 1970s gradually became a causality of church-based casual Christianity.

Casual Christianity makes me yawn, but when people are surrendered to the ever-living Jesus, I feel His fire in them. Christians are called to be audible about their affection for Jesus (not silent sitters). “Shout it from the housetops.”

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Posted in God's voice, heart, heart care, heart religion, inner voice, mental health, mind | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Making the most of the marvelous mystery of Christ in you . . .

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Steve Simms

To delight in what you desire is death. To delight in what God desires is life. Grace isn’t the end of salvation. It’s the beginning.

Christ comes into people as a seed. In a heart that is poor in spirit, meek, and mournful He begins to grow a hungering and thirsting desire for righteousness and to produce purity within. He fills that heart with mercy and love as He cultivates blessed inner peace and the restfulness of the fruit of the Spirit.

Then persecution comes along and further tills the heart’s soil, intensifies spiritual growth, and generates supernatural strength and miraculous rejoicing. Experiencing the reality of the Beatitudes depends on active and ongoing surrender to the risen Christ living inside of you.

Beware of the inner and outer weeds. Keep them out of your heart and mind. Being a sincere Christian doesn’t mean being beyond deception. Any Christ-follower can be deceived. “Beware of false prophets.”

Christian bystanders are easily deceived. They sit out of (and excuse themselves from) the most important Bible instructions: “forgive,” “repent,” “humble yourself,” “deny yourself,” “take up your cross,” “consider others better than yourself,” “speaking the truth in love,” “blessed are the merciful,” “turn the other cheek,” “bless those who curse you,” “love your enemies,” “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” etc.

Salvation doesn’t end with being born again. That’s where it begins.

Posted in Blessed are the pure in spirit, blessings, Christ in you, Count your blessings, false prophets, mystery, mysticism | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

People follow coffee, sports, music, politics, family, patriotism, romance, etc.

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Steve Simms

I frequently see people
Take delight in coffee,
Celebrate sports,
Appreciate family,
Brag about a politician,
Go gaga over music,
Gush about romance,
Glory in their nation,
Get excited about an award,
Applaud alcohol,
But not very many
Who continually
“Delight in the Lord”
And keep Jesus first!

The clue
To great breakthrough
In your life is:
Whatever you do,
Follow Jesus first.

Follow Jesus,
The “Son of Man,”
Not your own plan.

Jesus has many admirers
But few followers.
May He always
Be my first delight.

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Who and/or what are you following?

Posted on October 20, 2022 by Steve Simms

It matters who and/or what you follow. Following the hollowness of triviality leads to inner emptiness.

Following yourself is dizzying — like a dog chasing its tail. When following your desires doesn’t make you happy, you’ve let them deceive you. Don’t let your soul be sold to your highest betting desire. Your attitude and your lifestyle clearly proclaim who and/or what you’ve been following.

Too many people are following too many things that are going in circles. Be careful who and/or what you let your thoughts, desires, and emotions follow. Use discernment. If you follow thoughts, feelings, and desires you’ll wind up where they’re going. Notice their destination before you jump on board.

Refuse to follow anyone or anything that leads you away from your conscience. Follow your conscience. Your heart will often lead you to bad decisions.

When your conscience says “wrong way” it’s telling you the truth. Refusing to follow your conscience is often an unconscious decision. Stay awake! It’s dangerous to follow people who don’t know where they’re going.

Following happiness is like chasing the wind. Following the living Jesus is like an eagle soaring with the wind. Christ-followers follow Jesus. They don’t lead (or ignore) Him. You can’t follow Jesus while following a culture that contradicts Him.

The more I follow Jesus the more He leads me in ways that exceed my dreams. Jesus isn’t “the way-maker.” He is the way! Following and subscribing to Jesus requires much more than a single click. If you’re trying to go faster than Jesus, you’re not following Him.

When a church is scripted like a play it’s hard to avoid playing church. A church is too often a building where Jesus is mentioned a little bit but mostly replaced with a program. Christianity was never meant to be routinized into a highly programmed and tightly controlled hour on Sunday mornings. Follow and obey the risen Jesus.

If you follow along
With wrong
You may feel
Like you belong
But it won’t be long
Till it ruins your song.

Following the trend
Will bend
And send
You into compromise
With sin.

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When the Cultivator cultivates human heart-soil

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Steve Simms

Trust God
To cultivate
Your heart.
Let Him pull
The weeds out
Before they start
To overrun you!

When weeds
Are allowed
To run wild
In your heart
Peace and joy
Depart.

For life-giving cultivation
Read the Bible with
Heart-warming contemplation,
Not theological speculation.

Some people let God cultivate beauty within them. Some people don’t. God is the Cultivator of happiness. It’s not self-produced. Self-focus often stops and stomps happiness in its tracks.

If you want the fruit of the Spirit to flourish in your life you have to let the living God cultivate your weary heart. God cultivates the fruit of the Spirit in a human heart by refining, redesigning, and realigning it. The Bible’s list of the fruit of the Spirit is a beautiful description of mental health. (Galatians 5:22-23.)

Continually surrendering to Christ in you allows God to cultivate glorious hope in your heart! A hard heart resists God’s cultivation. God is cultivating every heart that surrenders to Him. Is He cultivating yours?

God is the Cultivator of the soil in the human soul. Without Him it grows weeds. The Bible is one of God’s cultivators. He uses it to plow through my heart, to sow and to grow His seeds within me, and to keep the weeds out. I love to quote Scriptures and let them flow out of me one after another.

Encouragement empowers extraordinary endurance. Let God cultivate encouragement in your heart! Jesus is the door. When you open yourself up to Him you let God begin to cultivate the garden of your heart.

Christian sand sculptures seem to have replaced discipleship. When we hear God’s word without doing it, we’re building our life on sand. Even God has trouble cultivating on sand.

Gather with believers and create an environment where God’s Spirit can freely move to cultivate the heart-soil of those present. If you want inner peace, let God cultivate it.

When we don’t allow the living God to cultivate the garden of our heart, weeds take over. Deceptive desires are weeds that disrupt discernment and delete discretion. Weeds of unhappiness are a sign that we’ve neglected to let the living God cultivate our heart.

No one can understand Jesus without letting God cultivate a growing relationship with Him. Intellect alone can’t do it.

Instead of letting
Your mental state
Distance you from God,
Let Him cultivate
And reinstate
Your access to His presence.

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Posted in Christian spirituality, growing in grace, how to grow spiritually, spiritual formation, spiritual health, spirituality | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment