The Gift of No

Posted on January 4, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What is the greatest gift someone could give you?
View all responses

The gift of being told no to harmful things is great and wonderful. So much pain in our lives could be avoided if we were simply willing to follow the warnings of the gift of no. When your conscience says no that’s a gift that has the ability to save you from much self-caused misery. When the Bible says no, it’s a present that if received will protect you in many ways.

An unguarded heart is attracted to harmful attachments. That’s why God says no to certain things. That’s why the Bible says: “Above all else guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)

God wants your heart to be noticeably full of joy. (John 15:11) His nos are because He knows the things that will steal your happiness and will seal you in misery. That’s why God wants you to, “Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.” (Proverbs 4:26)

Keep your eyes focused on how God has called you to live. If you’re a Christian, you are called to live in this world but to not to be of the world. (John 17:14-16) Your citizenship is in Heaven. (Philippians 3;20) You’re not supposed to live like the world lives or to think like the world thinks. (Romans 12:2) As an ambassador of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) you are called to clearly represent Jesus in all you think, say, and do and you’re supposed to see persecution as a blessing. (Matthew 5:10-12)

You can only faithfully live out your calling as a Christ-follower by being consistently led by (Romans 8:14) and empowered by (Romans 8:9-12) God the Holy Spirit. You can’t do it without His presence continually living and working within your heart. (Zechariah 4:6) Open wide your heart, your mind, and your eyes to the Spirit’s wisdom and revelation so that you can know Him better and daily experience “the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:18-19)

Search the Scriptures, day and night, (Joshua 1:8) to learn how to (Romans 15:4) make more room for God the Spirit in your daily life and in your church. Train yourself not to grieve, sadden, (Ephesians, 4:3) or quench Him. (1 Thessalonians 5:19) Become addicted to reading the Bible as a love letter from God and consistently doing what it teaches in your daily life. (2 Timothy 3:16) Doing that will help you to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

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Beyond Liberal and Conservative

Posted on January 3, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What colleges have you attended?
View all responses

A Republican and a Democrat

A Republican and a Democrat were sitting on nearby park benches looking at a beautiful view. The Republican began to pray: “God, thank You that I’m not like that Democrat who wants the government to take care of hurting people. I just want the government to take care of me by protecting me from evil people like that Democrat, and by throwing the poor refugees that the Democrats support out of the country.”

The Democrat looked up and thought: “If we could just get the government to take care of more people they wouldn’t be tempted to rely on the God of the Bible and believe His teachings. Then they could freely praise and applaud the people who fly the rainbow flag, change their identity, and say, ‘My body, my choice.’ O, what a beautiful country it would be.”

The Bible offers a better way. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”

To trust in the Lord with all your heart is to set aside your own understanding and to surrender your will and all your ways to Him so that He, Himself, can begin to daily direct your paths and behaviors. (Proverbs 3:5-6) That’s not a lukewarm nominal faith. It’s faith that burns in the heart, (Luke 24:32) seeks first the kingdom — inner government — of God and His righteousness, (Matthew 6:33) and unceasingly presses toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, (Philippians 3:14)

Jesus calls us to give our all in full surrender. He says: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) Jesus made a radical call for self-surrender when told His disciples to shift their priorities and to begin to care for and serve other people in the same way and with the same intensity that they care for and serve their own daily needs. (Matthew 22:39) There’s nothing nominal or lukewarm (Revelation 3:15-16) in biblical Christianity!

Christ wants His followers to go all out in disciple making. (Matthew 28:19) Disciples are doers of the Word not hearers only. (James 1:22) They are made by hands-on Spirit-led training and by demonstrations of the presence of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:4-6) One word spoken to one person by God’s Spirit is more powerful than multitudes of words spoken to crowds of people by mere human wisdom. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Disciples are made by Christians assembling themselves together (Hebrews 10:25) so they can be freed up to obey the 50+ New Testament “one another” commands as the Spirit prompts them. (Romans 8:14) Then they can use Scripture not merely to teach biblical information but also to train each other to live in true Spirit-produced righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16)

If pastors could be trained to share the responsibility by freeing up all the congregation to share in church services as they feel prompted by God and to obey the 50+ one another commandments in the New Testament, burnout would run out of fuel. I wrote a guidebook about how to do that based on 10 years of doing it in a denominational church. Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.

If you want to praise God, shout it out. If you want to praise a country, that’s fine. However, please don’t praise them both together as if they are equal. God is eternal and the Creator of all that exists. Every country except for the invisible kingdom (inner government) of God (Matthew 6:33) will vanish into nothing. The eternal God and a temporary country are infinitely far from being on the same level! It’s best not to imply that they are.

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Heeeer’s More Than Play

Posted on January 2, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
View all responses

We live in a time of much deception. We need a wise and discerning mentality to help us avoid deception reception. Superficial, play religion is leading multitudes astray. God’s chosen way for you to know about what Jesus said and did is the Bible, not a weekly video series. Christians need to be focusing on the real deal — the Bible itself, not on people’s opinions about it!

We are living in the time that Jesus described in the Bible: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it.” (Matthew 24:23) Today many voices are saying “Look, here is the Christ,” — famous preachers promoting “their ministries,” political parties promoting their agendas, the millions of independent churches and denominations that disagree with each other, social media, The Chosen, Christian radio, famous Christian singers, cults, and on and on.

To avoid deception reception, don’t blindly believe and support those voices and their various claims to point to Christ! Instead read and ponder and talk about the Bible, day and night. (Joshua 1:8) Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. If they twist or distort who the Bible says Jesus is then refuse to believe them. (1 John 4:1)

Store up God’s commandments within you. Train your ear to hear His wisdom. Apply your heart to God’s understanding. Call out to Him for insight. Cry aloud for His understanding. Search for spiritual discernment as for hidden treasure. If you consistently do those things, you will find the experiential and relational knowledge of God. Then supernatural wisdom will enter your heart. Seek discretion, God’s gift of the discernment of spirits, and it will protect you from the massive deceptions of our time. (Proverbs 2:1-11)

“For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” (Proverbs 2:6) The Lord has revealed Himself through Scripture. He also wants to personally reveal Himself directly to your heart. (John 16:13) Listen to His still small voice. (1Kings 19:11-13)

If you believe in the personal God described in the Bible, don’t just learn some details and facts about Him. Get to know Him personally! Begin to regularly listen to and obey both the Bible and God’s inner voice. Routine religion wants to get you into passive church meetings. New Testament Christianity wants to get the one true living and resurrected Jesus Christ into you (Colossians 1:27) and the fruit of His Spirit into your behaviors. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Warning! “Your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4) Flee from the fictionalized and the trivialized false Christ’s being promoted today. Be like the Bereans. (Acts 17:11) Search the Scriptures every day and night so that you can discern what is true about Jesus and not be deceived by the many false Christs that are being promoted all around us.

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The Challenges of Having a Happy and Wise New Year

Posted on January 1, 2026 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your biggest challenges?
View all responses

Happy New Year! I woke up with these thoughts being poured out to me and streaming through my mind and heart this beautiful New Year’s morning. My biggest challenge is to daily and actively apply the wisdom of God in my everyday life.

The body of Christ is all the people who listen to, (John 10:27) love and obey Jesus. (John 14:15) It is headed up by the active presence of the living resurrected Christ, Himself (Ephesians 5:23) not by a mere human leader.

It is not confined to religious corners. It shares God’s presence and wisdom everywhere. It makes disciples in all the world. (Matthew 28:19)

The body of Christ is so much more than a passive audience of religious spectators who gather to simply hear a talk about the word. Members of the body of Christ assemble themselves together (Hebrews 10:25) in order to train one another (Hebrews 10:24) to actually do the word throughout their everyday life. (James 1:22)

Members of the body of Christ consistently shine His light. (Matthew 5:14) They show people His love (Mark 12:31) everywhere they go, even to their enemies. (Matthew 5:44) They do more than sit and listen to wise and persuasive words of men’s wisdom. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5) They testify about Jesus (Revelation 12:11) and demonstrate the Spirit’s wisdom and power. (Acts 1:8)

Every new year has many challenges. My greatest challenge every year is to be an effective and Spirit-led member of the body of Christ.

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No Room for Nostalgia

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What makes you feel nostalgic?
View all responses

There’s no room for nostalgia when every day is thrilling, healing, and joy revealing. How can you live every day like that?

Recognize Christ in You (Jesus Himself)

You can know many things
That Jesus said and did
But knowing about them
Isn’t knowing Him.
Open your ears and eyes
Until you recognize
The presence of Jesus.
Let Him rise in your eyes!
And His words thrill your heart.
Christ is closer to you
Than you right now realize.
See Him, serve Him, share Him.

Jesus reveals
Behold.
Jesus heals.
Be whole.
Jesus thrills.
Be wowed!

Bible teaching should do so much more than merely present and discuss biblical doctrines and information. It should also give people hands-on step-by-step practical training in actually encountering, experiencing, and applying what they are taught from the Bible. That way they won’t become “hearers only” who don’t regularly, daily, and faithfully do the word. (James 1:22 & Luke 24:13-35)

The biblical concept of teaching isn’t based on academics or on lecture style, classroom education. It’s based on direct personal revelation. (Matthew 16:17) It’s not just instructing people about Bible details. It’s hands-on practical training and discipling (Matthew 28:19) that empowers and releases people to daily live out and consistently obey the word they’ve heard. It doesn’t mold people into a passive audience. It transforms them into radical disciples who are strong, mighty, and outspoken in declaring their testimonies about how Christ, the Lamb of God, is working in them. (Revelation 12:11)

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A Relationship with God the Holy Spirit is Heavenly

Posted on December 30, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What relationships have a positive impact on you?
View all responses

How to Wake Up to Christ’s Presence

Where Christ’s presence is being ignored, God the Holy Spirit is being quenched. (Luke 10:38-42) Both individuals and churches can quench the Spirit. However, the Bible plainly says not to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19) and not to make Him sad. (Ephesians 4:30) So how do Christians and churches quench and grieve the Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved wherever:

* There’s anxiety or worry. (Philippians 4:6-7)
* Christians are lukewarm. (Revelation 3:16)
* Seeking the inner government (kingdom) of God isn’t the first priority. (Matthew 6:33)
* There’s little hunger or thirst for righteousness. (Matthew 5:6)
* Religion has become formalized and powerless. (2 Timothy 3:5)
* Audience-making is more important than disciple-making. (Matthew 28:19)
* The gifts of the Spirit are seldom experienced. (Corinthians 12:4-11)
* Pride is prevalent. (James 4:6)
* Sin is approved. (Matthew 4:17)
* Christians avoid, ignore or reject God’s inner promptings. (Galatians 5;16)
* Christians are trained and conditioned to be passive. (James 1:22)
* The fruit of the Spirit isn’t abundantly flourishing. (Galatians 5:22-23)
* Love is lacking.
* Joy is rare.
* Peace has been replaced with worry and conflict.
* Patience has been exchanged for impatience.
* Kindness has been set aside for unkindness.
* Goodness is uncommon
* Faithfulness has vanished.
* Gentleness is seen as weakness.
* Self-control is lost.

To avoid quenching the Spirit, Christians need practical hands-on interactive training and discipleship in actually doing what the Bible says. Neverending one-man teaching offers Christians lots of Biblical information (2 Timothy 3:7) but it doesn’t train them to stop grieving and quenching God the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t help them become active doers of the word rather than passive hearers. (Luke 6:46-49)

If you can’t find a church that offers hands-on training in obeying and being led by the Spirit, (Romans 8:14) God the Holy Spirit Himself is ready and eager to train you throughout each day. (1 John 2:27) Begin to consistently listen to and obey His inner promptings. (Revelation 3:22)

Quiz: Contemporary churches train Christians to be . . .
_____ Hot,
_____ Cold,
_____ Lukewarm.
(Revelation 3:16)

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Team Jesus (“That Whosoever Believes in Him”)

Posted on December 29, 2025 by Steve Simms

Those words from the world-famous John 3:16 Bible verse are an open invitation for any human being to trust in, rely on, depend on, have confidence in, and keep their faith in the living resurrected Jesus Christ. The belief in Jesus that brings eternal life is so much more than merely agreeing with what the Bible says about Him.

Even the demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God. They believe it so strongly that it makes them tremble with terror. (James 2:19) Yet instead of relying on Jesus they constantly rebel against Him. The demons are totally unwilling to trust in and depend on Jesus by aligning their behaviors with what He says. (James 2:18)

Are you aligning what you do throughout each day with what you say you believe? If not, the Bible says your faith is dead. (James 2:17)

Living faith, the belief that saves, is faith that works to produce godly behaviors and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) in your everyday life. It is to truly trust in Christ in you (Colossians 1:27) by consistently relying on Jesus to calm the storms you encounter in the boat of your daily life, no matter how frightened they make you feel. (Mark 4:35-41)

Being Spirit-led (Romans 8:14) is far more important than being tradition bound. (Mark 7:13) Be a “whosoever will” who dares to daily and diligently depend on Jesus regardless of what your circumstances may be! Train yourself to live in faithful obedience, ongoing wonder, and holy awe of Jesus.

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God’s Search Optimization (It’s Way Beyond Politics)

Posted on December 28, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
How have your political views changed over time?
View all responses

Optimize God’s mercy and grace in your life. (James 4:6) Wake up to God’s spiritual search optimization. (Matthew 6:33)

Optimize your relationship with God. (James 4:8)
Optimize your relationship God the Father. (John 4:23)
Optimize your relationship with Jesus, God the Son. (1 John 1:3)
Optimize your relationship with God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14)
Optimize the way you do church. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
Optimize the fruit of the Spirit in your life. (Galatians 5:22-23)
Optimize the gifts of the Spirit in your life. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
Optimize your ability to show mercy to all people. (Luke 6:35-36)

Christians have been trained to see Jesus as the Tree of Knowledge — as a religious figure to study, analyze, and learn information about. However, we need to see Jesus as the Tree of Life — as God in human flesh who we can develop a moment-by-moment intimate heart-to-heart relationship with.

We need to stop trying to understand and figure Jesus out. He’s beyond our human understanding. Instead, we need to allow Jesus to optimize who He has made us to be. Let Him straighten out and transform your heart and mind throughout each day. (Romans 12:2)

Ever since I was a child, I have found the one-man lecture method of having church to be a distraction from my focusing on the actual presence of Jesus. However, Spirit-led open sharing based on Romans 8:14 and 1 Corinthians 14:26 always makes me intensely aware that Jesus is present and active in the gathering.

Lifeless religion clearly demonstrates that the Tree of Knowledge doesn’t produce the life of God and the fruit of the Spirit. The Tree of Life is an invitation to experience the life of God working in and through you day and night. The Tree of Knowledge is an attempt to explain, analyze, and trivialize the life of God.

Sermon sitters who are Sunday hearers only (James 1:22) are always learning but never able to come to a personal heart-to-heart knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3:7) which is the living resurrected Jesus Christ. (John 14:6) They are trusting in the Tree of Knowledge but overlooking the Tree of Life. (Revelation 2:7) They tend to ignore the direct inner leadership of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14) — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)

Far too many Christians would rather hear a religious talk about Jesus instead of optimizing their personal experiencing of His presence. 2,000 years ago, religious infrastructure had Jesus, God the Son, crucified. Today religious infrastructure hinders the free movement of God the Holy Spirit.

The job of a minister is to get people to minister to one another, not to do all the ministry himself. (Ephesians 4:11-12) The job of a preacher is to get people preaching and testifying about the risen Jesus, not to make them lifetime Sunday morning spectators.

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Beyond Merely Studying to Freely Experiencing

Posted on December 27, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?
View all responses

How to Wake Up to Living Water

All study with little or no direct experience with the risen Jesus makes Christianity boring. Is there a more powerful approach to the Gospel? Yes, indeed.

Living water, rushing rivers, can be studied and analyzed. However, most people prefer to experience and enjoy them — to watch, to wade, to splash, to play, to swim, to float, to raft, to fish, to hike, and so much more. Sure, it’s good for a few scientists to investigate whitewater rivers academically, but for most of us that approach quenches (1 Thessalonians 5;19) our joyous spontaneity.

Jesus offers people inner rivers of living water (John 7:38-39) that will forever satisfy their thirst and spring up from within them into eternal life. (John 4:14) Jesus doesn’t give us those rivers of living water just so we can study and hear lectures about them. He wants us to continually experience and enjoy those rivers, both individually and in open-hearted community.

Jesus calls His disciples friends. (John 14:15) Friends don’t simply focus on studying to learn endless detailed information about each other. Instead, they get to know more and more about each other by enjoying continually interacting heart-to-heart with one another. They treasure experiencing daily life together. Let Jesus be your forever best friend not merely an academic religious assignment.

A Christ-less crisis can crush you. Whatever you’re going through, get through it with Jesus. (Matthew 11:28-29) Desire-led and pride-led people are drawn away from Jesus. (Mark 4:19 & James 4:6)) Spirit-led people are directed into His presence. (Romans 8:14)

If you’ll invite Jesus into your darkness, He’ll be your living light. (John 8:12) If Christ is truly Immanuel, God with us, He should be experienced, not just lectured about. (Matthew 1:23)

Baby stepping by sermon hearing is good, but if Christians never begin to take the steps that lead to maturity and discipleship, they stay stuck with baby steps. “Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity . . .” (Hebrews 6:1)

Sermon hearing is a good thing, but it is far from enough. Sitting and being taught once a week is a fine first step toward Christian discipleship, but without these important additional steps Christians will stay spiritual babies in the light of how Christ-followers lived in the New Testament.

* Deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow the risen Jesus. (Luke 9:23)
* Be continually filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5;18)
* Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
* Devour, ponder, savor, and absorb the Bible both day and night. (Joshua 1:8)
* Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. (1 Peter 5:6)
* Confess your faults one to another. (James 5:6)
* Walk in the light. (1 John 1:5-7)
* Cultivate the fruit of the Holy Spirit deep within your soul and demonstrate it by how you live your daily life. (Galatians 5:22-23)
* Learn to receive and frequently flow with the gifts of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)
* Love one another (John 13:35) and even your enemies. (Matthew 5:44)
* Keep Christ’s commandments. (John 14:15)

You can experience a Holy Spirit led meeting right where are. No need to travel to a conference, a seminar, a famous church, or a revival.

Holy Spirit led gatherings are amazing, powerful, life-changing, supernatural, and extremely rare. Yet all it takes to experience one is group listening to God the Holy Spirit and obedient surrender to what He says. Gather a few friends and experience one soon! (Romans 8:14 & 1 Corinthians 14:26)

Let me clarify. Holy Spirit led gatherings are rare because people seldom are willing to gather together to listen to God’s Spirit and then allow each person to say and do what God tells them to. If Christians were willing to do that, Holy Spirit led meetings would happen frequently.

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I Desire So Much More Than an Awesome Car

Posted on December 26, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What is your all time favorite automobile?
View all responses

Wake Up to (Godly) Desire

To truly know Jesus, you must desire to continually encounter and interact with Him. It’s not enough just to think about Him or study about Him or hear a religious talk about Him. That’s why the Bible says:

“Seek first the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 6:33) “hunger and thirst for righteousness,” (Matthew 5:6) “draw near to God,” (James 4:8) “press toward . . . the high calling of God,” (Philippians 3:14) “fight the good fight of faith,” (1 Timothy 6:12) “preserver to the end” (Matthew 24:13) “keep your spiritual fervor,” (Romans 12:11) “do not grow weary in well doing,” (2 Thessalonians 3:13) “fan into flame the gift of God which is in you,” (2 Timothy 1:6) “eagerly desire spiritual gifts,” (1 Corinthians 14:1) “eagerly desire the greater gifts,” (1 Corinthians 12:31) “the desire of the righteous ends only in good,” (Proverbs 11:23) “desire (God) more than anything,” (Psalm 73:25) “desire to live a godly life,” (2 Timothy 3:12) “desire for goodness,” (2 Thessalonians 1:11) “earnestly desire to prophesy,” (1 Corinthians 14:39) “desire a better country, that is a heavenly one,” (Hebrews 11:16) “my soul longs for You (God),” (Isaiah 26:9) “let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life,” (Revelation 22:17) “I desire to do Your will, my God,” Psalm 40:8) “we desire to see Jesus,” (John 12:21) and so much more!

“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in his temple.” (Psalm27:4) If the psalmist so passionately desired this in the Old Testament, how much more should we now that Christ has come to live within us (Colossians 1:27) and to lead us by His Spirit? (Romans 8:14) Jesus is the truth and those who are unafraid of the light behold Him.

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