Salvation isn’t a business transaction–it’s a heart dance

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Steve Simms

Once when I was praying, these words came to my heart: “The worst condition a person can be in is to think they’re saved (and a Christ-follower) when they’re not.” Someone has said, “The Gospel is actually knowing God. ” It’s not just knowing about Him.  If I think I’m saved when, I’m not, I’ll settle into a false sense of religious security based on my knowledge about Jesus and unintentionally substitute my knowledge about Him for a humble, submitted growing relationship with Him.

The more I get to personally know the living Jesus, the more I realize that my knowledge about Him is rather sketchy. The more I love Him and surrender to His will, the less need I feel to try to figure out all the theological details about Him. Instead, I prefer to bask in His presence and get lost in His splendor and wonder!

I continually invite the Holy Spirit to lead me so that I can know, experience, surrender to, and obey the risen Jesus better. I continually experience this beatitude: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness . . .” Although I have an M.Div. degree and have spent all my adult life daily reading the Bible and more Christian books than I can count, my informational knowledge about God is minimal, but my heart continually dances with joy in His presence.

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Freedom! True deliverance doesn’t require dueling banjos

Posted on April 18, 2022 by Steve Simms

Your inner imagery influences your perception of your life. Embrace hopeful inner images. Resist and reject harmful ones.

The more honest you are, the closer you are to freedom. The more you lie, the more you’re trapped in bondage. It’s amazing how much mental, emotional, chemical, and spiritual bondage there is in “the land of the free.”

There’s a powerful alternative to being controlled by your desires. It’s being led by the presence and power of God’s Spirit. Jesus taught His followers to pray, “deliver us from evil.” Christians need to demonstrate freedom from evil thoughts and desires.

Christians should be both an example and an agent of deliverance. We should be living free from bondage to wrongful desire and setting others free. If you want to be free from self-imposed bondage, let your heart connect with and surrender to the living Jesus! When Christians settle for bondage, they deny the delivering power of the risen Jesus. Are you denying the Lord?

Jesus came, lived, died, and rose to set His followers free from bondage to self and to dominating desires. Deliverance from controlling desires comes from heart connection with the risen Jesus. Bondage to desire comes from self-focus. If Jesus has set you free, why are you still hanging out inside a prison cell?

When I say,
“Jesus deliver me,”
He hands me
The key
And says,
“Go and be
Set free!”

When a cerebral attack
Weighs you down,
Don't surrender
And hunker down.
Counterattack
With the Word of God.
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Which “town meeting” has the most influence over you?

Posted on April 18, 2022 by Steve Simms

Living in any city, culture, or country, surrounded by its social structures and values, only an ongoing inner renewing can prevent Christians from becoming subconsciously molded and conformed into its image. Those in Christ need to gather regularly apart from the world’s town meetings and the peer pressure that surrounds them. Instead, Christians need to continually gather as Jesus’ town meeting in order to practice the 50+ New Testament “one another” commands (according to the example of 1 Corinthians 14:26) in order to remind each other of and to experience together, our supernatural citizenship in the kingdom of God.

Jesus said: I will build my town meeting (ekklesia in Greek). Now He calls citizens of His kingdom to gather in His name to learn to be led by His Spirit as He facilitates His town meeting.

Learn more about Jesus’ town meeting. Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

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Present tense proclamation of the risen Jesus

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Steve Simms

We need present tense proclamation. Too many sermons teach Christians to look for Jesus in the past and in the future, but neglect to teach Christians to see, encounter, surrender to, and daily obey the continually risen Jesus in the now!

On Easter, Christians like to say, “Jesus is risen.” The truth is, He has been risen for almost 2,000 years! It’s wonderful that Jesus’ tomb is empty. but it’s sad if those who say they’re Christians have hearts empty and unaware of His glorious presence.

The Bible says we can be distracted from the risen Jesus by “another Jesus.” Accept no substitute for the resurrected Jesus. To compartmentalize the Resurrection into one day a year is to miss out on the reality of His continual presence.

The risen Jesus needs to be proclaimed and demonstrated in the present moment, not just referred to in the past or future. The risen Jesus is the now Jesus–not just the “back then” or “someday” Jesus!

If you go to church, take the risen Jesus with you. Don’t just go hear a talk about Him. The body of Christ needs overseers, not over-bearers–people who let the risen Jesus lead instead of trying to control Him.

Though you may believe you are trapped by a behavior, the risen Jesus has opened your prison door. Step out into His freedom!

The living, resurrected Jesus fulfills the Beatitudes:

  • The risen Jesus is the One who comes to those who are “poor in spirit” and aligns them with God.
  • The risen Jesus is the One who sees and cares about those who mourn and comforts them.
  • The risen Jesus is the One who embraces those who are meek, humble, and pliable and leads them into the land of God’s promises.
  • The risen Jesus is the One who feeds the spiritually hungry and fills them with His presence.
  • The risen Jesus is the One who forgives and has mercy on people who forgive and have mercy on others.
  • The risen Jesus is the One who opens the eyes of those who purify their heart and shows them the presence of God.
  • The risen Jesus is the One who calls those who make peace with God and with people “the children of God.”
  • The risen Jesus is the One who gives His kingdom to those who are persecuted for righteousness and empowers them to rejoice.
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“Jesus was” or “Jesus is”?

Posted on April 16, 2022 by Steve Simms

Some people say, “Jesus was . . .,” but His resurrection declares, “Jesus is . . .!” His story isn’t just history; it continues to be written today in and through the life of millions of people.

Christianity’s not a role that you play when you go to church. It’s being inwardly transformed and empowered by the risen Jesus. The One who left His tomb empty can fill the empty places in your heart!

If you’re ever on TV
And play the role
Of a church attendee,
It’s easy.

God didn't roll
The stone away
So we can play
A religious role
But so we can
Be continually led
By the risen Jesus.
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Who will tell what the risen Jesus is doing?

Posted on April 15, 2022 by Steve Simms

When I testify
About how
The risen Jesus
Changed my life,
It makes me cry.

To testify about the risen Jesus is to tell people what He has done and is doing in your life. A Christian testimony is the story of how the living Jesus has changed you and the role He is playing in your life. Do you have one?

When churches don’t open the platform to people’s testimonies, members don’t realize what Jesus is doing in each other’s lives. If Christians don’t testify about what the risen Jesus is doing in their life, it makes people think He’s not doing anything. When we neglect to testify about what the risen Jesus is doing, we’re withholding information that can help people.

Sermons focus on religious information. Testimonies focus on how the living Jesus has produced and is producing personal transformation. Hearing ordinary people tell what the living Jesus has done in their life has greatly increased my faith.

When Christianity replaced salvation testimonies with religious ceremonies, it lost much power. Testify about the living Jesus. Show and tell what He has done and is currently doing in your life. Hearing people testify about how the risen Jesus has and is working stirs up faith to believe that God can work in you and in your situation.

If you haven’t personally experienced the living, resurrected Jesus, you don’t have anything to testify about Him. If you know that the risen Jesus has helped you, then you have a testimony. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”

Almost every morning the risen Jesus wakes me up with a stream of creative thoughts flowing through my mind. Recently the risen Jesus told me to “stop trying and start trusting” and He’s been reminding and helping me with that every day. Almost every day the resurrected Jesus brings at least one person my way for me to pray with.

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Your Easter basket doesn’t need to be spiritually empty

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Steve Simms

Resurrection is good news! There is more of Jesus’ presence and power for every Christian than they have yet experienced.

The Easter holiday is about tradition. The resurrection of Jesus is about shattering tradition and replacing it with life! The resurrected Jesus wants to live in and lead you every day, not just watch you attend an annual Easter service.

Proclaiming the historical resurrection of Jesus should inspire people to experience and obey the risen Jesus in the present. An annual Easter church service seems to trivialize the resurrection of Jesus. If it’s true, we should listen to and obey Him daily. Giving the resurrection a religious name and making it about an annual religious program, we can overlook the reality of the risen Jesus.

When I surrender wholly weak to the risen Jesus, His presence and strength arises in me. If Christians would be led by God’s Spirit instead of by the “holy days” of the “church calendar,” we’d be experiencing the risen Jesus instead of hearing talks about Him!

Painted eggs, candy bunnies, and religious pageantry miss the point of daily experiencing the presence and power of the risen Jesus. Easter sermons lecture people about the risen Jesus but neglect to empower people to daily experience and obey Him.

Instead of just sitting thru another annual Easter sermon we can be continually saturated thru and thru by the risen Jesus! Our Easter basket doesn’t need to be spiritually empty.

Christianity is supposed to be supernatural, not superficial. Learn to experience the risen Jesus all year, not just hear about Him on Easter. Search: The Joy Of Early Christianity book.

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Hype is a mask that humility never wears

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Steve Simms

Humility consistently aligns with truth. It doesn’t try to twist it, embellish it, or hide it.

Humility thinks outside the lens of self-focus. It sees beyond the box of self-interest.

Hype is a mask that humility never wears. Humility is aware that any self-hype is a dangerous type of deception that sucks honesty down the pipe of pride.

Humility doesn’t live in spin, attempting to create a favorable image of itself. Its honesty is heroic. Humility under promises and overdelivers. All hype and no humility keeps the truth away. Humility has no hype.

Humility freely embraces being “poor in spirit” as the blessing that Jesus declared it to be in the Beatitudes. It denies self in order to seek God’s kingdom and submit to His authority.

Like Paul of Tarsus, humility openly says and believes, “O wretched man that I am,” and “I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no go thing,” and “Consider others better than yourself.” Humility is willing to band together with other Christ-followers in the openness and brokenness of ekklesia under the direct orchestration and leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Christianity that fits nicely within your comfort zone is counterfeit. The nominal Christian life requires no effort or humility.

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Hijacking humans as hostages

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Steve Simms

Compulsive desire
Can distract
And hijack
Our will,
Then compel us
To get off track.

Hijacking is much more common than we realize. Much in society attacks and hijacks free will turning people into drones commanded and controlled by desire and manipulation. Any thought, feeling, or desire that is bullying you into saying or doing anything against your will has taken you hostage.

Addiction hijacks free will and holds it hostage to self-destructive desires. It’s a tragedy when people allow their free will to be hijacked and held hostage by unrestrained cravings.

A person hijacked and overcome by uncontrolled desire is in bondage. We can’t obey controlling cravings of our desires and the promptings of God’s Spirit at the same time.

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The Russian peace pilgrim who walked through both Ukraine and Russia

Posted on April 12, 2022 by Steve Simms

In the 1800s an anonymous Russian pilgrim wandered peacefully through Ukraine and Russia. He kept a journal of his journey which was later published under the title The Way of a Pilgrim in English and Candid Narratives of a Pilgrim to His Spiritual Father in Russian.

This Russian pilgrim’s goal was to learn how to practice the “unceasing prayer of the heart.” His method was to continually repeat The Jesus Prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner,” until it began to automatically and continually run through his heart.

I found his book while browsing in a bookstore several decades ago and it has and continues to strongly impact my life. The Pilgrim’s adventures, struggles, and experiences are both mind-blowing and heart-touching. They fill me with a sense of awe and inner warmth.

His book is so powerful that it inspired me to begin to say The Jesus Prayer. Few days go by that I don’t spend some time saying it over and over and experiencing inner peace and strength. The Pilgrim, himself, was inspired by a 5-volume set of books called The Philokalia which is a collection of writings of ancient Orthodox monks between the 300s and 1800s.

The Philokalia is the most powerful book I’ve ever read (after the Bible). I’m indebted to the Russian Pilgrim for introducing me to it. I wish that every Russian and the whole world would read and follow both it and the Pilgrim’s book.

Now, in the 2000s, Russia has trampled the path of their famous peace pilgrim by invading Ukraine and unleashing cruel death and destruction against both Ukraine’s military and their civilians. They’ve chosen the path of violence rather than The Way of a Pilgrim. Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us all!

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