A guide to gladness?

Posted on January 20, 2022 by Steve Simms

The human heart isn’t the best guide. It can lead us astray. Often instead of following our heart, we need to fix it and align it with truth,

There’s an often-ignored lighthouse in the human heart that can direct us to inner peace and healing. It’s called conscience. To follow my conscience, I frequently have to contradict my desires and feelings.

It not easy to have an accurate opinion of yourself. Conscience-following introspection requires great courage, honesty, and humility. It’s easier to let troubling thoughts, feelings, desires, abd behaviors run on the track of habit, than to lay a better track.

If you take the inner view, you can look and see what’s truly happening in your heart. Many thoughts that come to your mind aren’t your own unless you choose to own them. Instead, you can choose to resist them.

Your indifference often prevents the living Jesus from make a difference in your life. It quenches the Holy Spirit. If you feel a need for a change of scenery, turn away from self-focus and look into Jesus.

Revival is when Christian spectators who are sitting on the spiritual sidelines become passionate disciples of the living Jesus. Will you surrender your will and your life to Him?

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Moving beyond “clergified” Christianity

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Steve Simms

Don’t miss the inner view. Let Jesus’ light freely shine within you. Accumulating religious information without experiencing ongoing inner transformation falls far short of biblical Christianity. If you look around, you’ll notice that clergified Christianity creates casual, compromised Christians.

Also, we often let modern idols block our inner view of the living God. They include the god of comfort, the god of sexual desire, the god of pride, the god of money, and the god of nationalism.

Instead, let yourself be captivated by the living Jesus Christ, not captured and controlled by the carnal culture around you. Religious information, without God’s inner activation and spiritual animation, will fail to produce genuine heart-transformation and inner freedom.

Informational Christianity targets the mind. Inner-formational Christianity transforms the heart. Being a Christ-follower requires inner transformation, not just accumulating more and more religious information.

To be a member of the body of Christ is to be inhabited by the risen Jesus and led from within by His Holy Spirit. Romans 8:14.

Cultivate and maintain an ongoing heart-connection with the living Jesus as a member of the body of Christ. The body of Christ isn’t divided into organizations, denominations, or “tribes.” It’s one!

Christians who
Truly believe
That Jesus
Is "the way,"
Don't follow
A program
Or a plan.
They follow
The risen
"Son of Man."

When Christianity
Is dignified
And clergified,
It becomes
Petrified.

The thoughts
I listen to
And obey
Will eventually
Take control of me
Along the way.
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Things worse than skipping church

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Steve Simms

If you want to skip one of these two things, skip church before you skip daily Bible reading. Daily Bible reading is more important for a Christian than going to church.

One of the things that the Bible says overcomes our spiritual enemy is our testimony. Too many church goers never share their testimony about how they met Jesus. Too few Christians listen to other believer’s testimony.

When Christians skip out on being aware of the continual presence of the living Jesus, going to church on Sunday can’t make up for what they lose out on.

When Christians aren’t open and honest, they are unable to worship “in spirit and in truth,” no matter how often they go to church.

Christians who want to skip opening their heart and praying out loud with other believers can’t make up for that by being a Sunday morning spectator.

To refuse to confess your sins to God and turn away from them is far worse than not going to church.

If you’re unwilling to be kind and to respect all people as fellow humans, your church attendance can give Christianity a bad name.

Going to church can cause Christians to have a setback in spiritual growth.

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“Seaing” more

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Steve Simms 
Inspired,
I see more
At the seashore
Than sun, shells, and sand,
And the surf
Of moon-powered waves
Unwinding at my feet.

When I peer
At the sea
Peace appears
Inside of me.

I like to see
Beyond the sea's
Distant horizon
And view its majesty
With my heart
Overflowing with awe.

When I gaze
And take in
The splendor
Of the sea,
A beach party
Happens inside me.

Gazing at the sea
Connects me
To an unseen vastness
Within me.

Sea,
The salt of the earth,
I drink it in
With my eyes.

Sea sight,
Sea sound,
Sea smell
Make me feel
All is well.

The sea
Is our planet's
Wet suit.
I stand
On the land
And admire it.

Seaing,
Embracing
The inspiration
Of the ocean,
Is believing!
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The sea in me

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Steve Simms

The human mind
Is beachfront property
With waves of thought
Continually coming ashore.

Every mind is an island
Surrounded within
By a beautiful
Yet dangerous
Sea of thoughts.

Catch the brainwaves
Of hope.
Refuse to tiptoe
In mental undertow.

When waves
Of tormenting thoughts
Assail you,
Dock your sailing ship
In God.

God waves
So we can see
And welcome Him
To bathe the beaches
In our mind.

Let the high tide
Fill you with God’s hope
And the low tide
Wash away your chains.

Invite God
To come ashore
And He’ll turn
Your inner bored walk
Into unspeakable joy.

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Bounce boredom out of your life

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Steve Simms

Exploratory thinking can turn a problem into an adventure. It can bounce boredom out of your life.

Nothing is boring if you’re interested in it. Therefore, being bored is an inner condition, not an environmental one.

Assembly required: A positive attitude doesn’t just happen. It must be put together thought by thought.

Boredom is a state of mind, not a set of circumstances. Boredom is the refusal to think and embrace inspiring thoughts.

To reject reality is to dive deeply into denial. Denial prefers the boredom of hiding over the adventure of truth.

Obstacles provide opportunities to be an overcomer. There are no overcomers who haven’t had something to overcome.

Be prompt to obey God’s inner promptings. Daily interacting with the living Jesus is the greatest adventure in my life. Boring Christianity is unaware of Him.

Any Christian who helps lead, guide, or shepherd another Christian is a pastor. Pastoring is a behavior, not an office.

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The institutional Jesus or the Bible Jesus?

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Steve Simms

The Bible Jesus is everywhere. The institutional Jesus is mainly confined to church buildings.

The Bible Jesus calls for committed disciples. The institutional Jesus is satisfied with casual church members.

The Bible Jesus reveals Himself directly to people. The institutional Jesus needs to be approached thru a religious organization.

The Bible Jesus is risen and living all year long. The institutional Jesus is seldom said to be risen, except on Easter Sunday.

The Bible Jesus walked on water. The institutional Jesus is often used to water down the expectation of modern-day miracles.

The Bible Jesus cast out demons. The institutional Jesus is oblivious to demons.

The Bible Jesus is a firm foundation, stable and consistent. The institutional Jesus too often bends with and accepts the values of human society.

The Bible Jesus focuses on God’s kingdom. The institutional Jesus too often relies on human governments.

The Bible Jesus says, “Follow Me.” The institutional Jesus expects us to follow religious organizations.

Jesus never told His disciples to come to church and hear a sermon, but He did tell them to go into the world and make disciples. The good news about Jesus is designed to be spread throughout the world, not to be contained in church buildings!

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The Jesus of the Bible or the Jesus of our choice.

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Steve Simms

The Bible Jesus
Speaks thru more
Than “read letters.”
His word
Can be heard
In your heart.

The reverb
Of God’s word,
That’s been heard
In a human heart,
Is called conscience.

Everybody’s inner thought-flow contains words from God, but they mostly slip by unnoticed, like fish in a muddy river. Sermon-hearing can make people think they’ve been told all they need to know and thus distract them from personally hearing from God.

The body of Christ meets whenever two or more Jesus-disciples interact with each other as they are led by the risen Jesus. The body of Christ needs no special time or place to meet. Jesus can call two or more of His disciples together any time or place.

Jesus-disciples follows the living Jesus, not their own feelings, opinions, or desire. Jesus-disciples are a case for Christ. The risen Jesus lives inside of them and continually directs them. I seek to be His disciple.

Jesus-disciples aren’t self-sufficient. They’re dependent on the presence and power of the living Jesus. As long as Jesus-disciples are divided into different clicks or “tribes,” we’re in violation of Jesus’ prayer for unity.

When Jesus-disciples recognize the risen Jesus living in each other, they sense an immediate, spiritual kinship. To “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” we must give up anything that’s separating us from His will and dividing us from each other.

If truly received, the free gift of God’s grace changes people from the inside out and produces the fruit of the Spirit in them. Just because you’re not listening, that doesn’t mean that God’s not speaking to you.

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” To taste inner peace and see God’s love in action is to be forever changed.

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To be driven & dominated by desire is to abandon freedom.

Posted on January 13, 2022 by Steve Simms

Coping-skills
Help you survive.
Hoping-skills
Help you thrive.
Keep hope alive.

Follow the best part
Of your heart,
Your conscience,
Not your desires.

Decide
Against pride.
Set ego aside
And let Jesus
Be your inside
Guide.

True worship is
Unrehearsed,
Always seeking
God’s kingdom first.

Both history and today’s news show that humanity is messed up and needs more than therapy and drugs to fix us. When Jesus’ power and presence fill a human heart, an inner fire is ignited and inflames us.

Christians should be experiencing the glory of God’s kingdom, not obligatory religious boredom. Anytime you see boredom, you can be sure that the people present aren’t focused on the risen Jesus Christ.

Human opinions about God, apart from the confirmation of the Bible, can easily be misleading and deceptive. To think you understand God better than the Bible writers did is arrogance. Sunday lectures and religious conjecture lack the power of a daily, ongoing experience with the living Jesus.

If you don’t hear the invisible preacher (the living Jesus) hearing a visible preacher does little good. Jesus, the living King of hearts, will be the Sovereign Lord of your heart and life, if you will live in continual surrender to Him.

God’s power is released when people sense and obey His inner promptings. Try it and see! There’s an invisible preacher who preaches in the heart. Hear Him! His name is Jesus. Until the living Jesus becomes the ruling authority in your daily life, you’re not His disciple.

People come in various colors, but we’re all equally human. We’re built to follow our conscience so that it can steer us clear from guilt.

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Inner yearning, churning, & burning says you’re not a bot!

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Steve Simms

Too many people are like bots. They perform tasks and spread unverified ideas automatically, without thinking or discernment.

People are created to be more than a bot being carried around in a human body and controlled by predetermined programming. We’ve been endowed with the freedom and responsibility of choice.

What you allow to go on inside of you (in your mind and heart) impacts you more than what’s going on around you. We need to inwardly regulate and control our desires, thoughts, and feelings — to nurture and embrace good ones and to reject and oppose wrongful ones.

What’s yearning, churning, and burning inside you? Desire for God or rebellion against Him? When there’s little kindness and warmth radiating from people, you can be pretty certain that their heart isn’t on fire for Jesus.

When something important is on fire, people yell to let people know. When your heart’s on fire for Jesus, you gotta tell!

If Jesus is in you,
You’ll be
Burning,
Churning,
And yearning
For more of God.

Grace freely gives us the inner power to avoid being a bot by regulating our desires and doing what God requires.

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