Temptation I-land lessons

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Steve Simms

As humans we find ourselves marooned on our own I-land. Escaping is the key to happiness.

All men are natural I-land people. It takes discipline, training, and self-denial to focus on others. Self is a topical island where it’s hard to see beyond “me, me, me!”

I-land happiness is a myth. The bigger the “I,” the less the happiness. Temptation I-land is overcome with lowland marshes. I-land living is hard because I-land is a lonely, rocky place, continually pounded by a rough sea.

When the waves
Of temptation
Surround me
With storm surge,
I climb to higher ground.

I-land is a tourist trap that tries to keep me stuck in the trinkets and trivialities of life. I-land life is self-focused, but when I obey my conscience and run from temptation, guilt has no chance to steal my liberty and torture me.

When wrongful desire
Tries to require
That I obey,
It’s best if I boldly say
“No way!”

When I land in temptation, my conscience warns me to quickly get out of there before compulsion captures me. When I stay, stuck on the I-land of self, desires get in my way, but when I focus on being kind to others, I have a wonderful day.

Isolation
Increases
Temptation,
But honest
Confession
Drives it away.

Elephants Inspiring The Room contains 365 original, uplifting statements and dozens of fun elephant illustrations that can help you escape from I-land. Find it here.

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Breakthrough gift-giving ideas

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Steve Simms

To give someone
An emotional lift
Is a great gift.

Give more
Than a present
To open.
Give something
That will open
People’s heart.

A simple gift
That shows you care
Can help someone bear
Their pain and despair.

A thoughtful gift
Can create a happy memory
That lasts a lifetime.

An inspiring book
Is an ongoing gift
That regifts itself
Every time it’s opened.

Eloquent
Elephants
Make an
Elegant
Gift.

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The best seed for your mind

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Steve Simms

Think outside of greed,
Beyond desire and need.
Its time to feed
Your mind good seed.

Thoughts
You often think
Slowly sink
Into your mind
Creating a
Mental link
Called habit.

For powerful, uplifting mental seed go Elephants INspiring The Room.

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Affirmations (“neuromanaging”) can give you hope & happiness

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Steve Simms 
Happiness doesn't come in a bottle
Or by being as smart as Aristotle.
It comes by flooding your mind
With thoughts that are kind.

For inner peace
And rest
Attest
To the best.

In a world of negativity, we need positive affirmations as a counter balance to keep us from tipping over into discouragement. When negative ideas threaten to pull you down, positive affirmations can resist and overcome them. That requires mental discipline and self-effort.

An affirmation often repeated eventually becomes a strong belief. Affirmations steer the mind toward the thing affirmed. Choose affirmation, not defamation.

Affirmations recognize and appreciate what your already have going for you. They embrace the good things in your life. Instead of letting your mind and emotions run amuck, “neuromanaging” applies the frequent use of positive affirmations to focus on hope.

Positive affirmations are statements that empower people. The more they are said, thought, written, or read, the more power they release. Affirmations challenge negative thoughts, words, feelings, and desires by focusing your attention on helpful alternatives.

Affirming words, frequently heard, read, or thought, will greatly enhance your life. Repeated frequently over time, they will gradually improve the way you think and feel. They will literally reprogram the subconscious mind and encourage it to embrace hope and happiness.

Using positive affirmations is a mental skill that you can train yourself to apply regularly. Affirmations direct the power of your subconscious mind toward the ideas that you most frequently affirm.

Fill your life with positive affirmations. Read my book, Elephants Inspiring The Room.

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Everyone knows it’s windy

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Steve Simms

Too many Christians wear a windbreaker to try to keep the wind of God’s Spirit from influencing their life. The Bible calls that “quenching the Spirit.” You can’t control the Wind of God’s Spirit, but you can try to avoid its impact on your life.

Your heart is like a windmill. It doesn’t work right until the Wind of God’s Spirit is blowing thru it. Without the Wind of God’s Spirit, the human heart quickly fills with cobwebs, spiders, and creepy things.

Your conscience is God’s Wind whistling in your heart. The invisible energy of God’s Wind should never be ignored and avoided. The Wind of God’s Spirit is the cure for the storms in your soul.

When Jesus is living inside of you, it’s windy. He continually blows away things that distract you from His will. When you hide from God’s wind, fog fills your heart. God’s wind is destructive to sin, but it caresses the soul.

What’s the “Wind Thrill Factor” in your life? How often does the living Jesus thrill you with the actual presence of the Wind of God’s Spirit?

The best plan for your life is to follow God’s plan for you. Until your heart is daily directed and controlled by the wind of the Holy Spirit, you’re settling for less than Christianity. The answer is when we’re continually blowing in the inner wind of God’s Spirit.

The words in the Bible are like wind. They’re meant to blow fresh air into your heart, not to be picked apart by your brain. I love to let my heart soar in the inner wind of the Holy Spirit!

“Church” in English Bibles doesn’t refer to people sitting thru sermons in a religious building, but to Spirit-led people gathering.

Cell groups, life groups, home groups? Perhaps what churches need are “practice groups,” where people can practice what they heard in the sermon. The living Jesus can’t be contained by religious cages.

The living Jesus
Is like the wind.
He’ll never fit in
Our religious systems.

Turn your face
To God’s wind
And let Him
Refresh you
From within.

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My high card is never high enough

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Steve Simms

If you don’t always
Draw an Ace,
The card of a perfect life,
You need God’s mercy.

All humans
Fall short
Of what
We’re supposed
To be,
That’s why
We need
God’s mercy.

Let the Ace of Hearts
Red like the blood of Jesus,
Remind you
You’re on His heart.

Just because I’m unaware
Doesn’t mean that
Sin isn’t somewhere
Hiding in my heart.

I need to be continually
Changed from within
Or else my behavior
Will descend.

All human boasting
Is vanity.
Everything
We have and are
Is a gift
We didn’t earn.

I don’t have to feel guilt to be guilty. Silencing my conscience doesn’t make my thoughts, words, and behaviors right. Until I deeply feel my own unworthiness, I can’t appreciate the grace of God.

It’s easy to tell who’s wrong in any argument–everybody involved. No one is 100% right. Lord, show me where I’m wrong.

Low morale will corral your life in mediocracy. Hopefulness will set you free. Without ongoing emotional dependence on the living Jesus, we become personally detached from His reality and settle for formalism.

Detached Christianity is a formalism that lacks ongoing, emotional engagement with the living Jesus. It’s satisfied if people have a onetime experience with Him. Detached Christianity relies on rules, coercion, and education, instead of on the indwelling Christ.

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Elephants inspire . . .

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Steve Simms

You know they’re cute. Let them inspire you.

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Selfie-anity

Posted on October 23, 2021 by Steve Simms

No matter how big it smiles, self-focused Christianity (“selfie-anity”) doesn’t present a clear picture of the risen Jesus. If your Christianity doesn’t look like the Book of Acts, it’s based more on habit and tradition than on the living Jesus and His word.

Lukewarm living isn’t Christianity. Halfhearted sermons preached to lukewarm people don’t accomplish much. To be halfhearted is to be apathetic. To be lukewarm is to lack heartfelt compassion.

The Bible calls Christians “living stones,” but halfhearted Christians are stone cold. A meeting of the body of Christ should be more than a Sunday morning run-through of a religious program. Church too often presents Jesus as being systemic — that you belong to Him just because you joined & attend a religious group.

When Jesus indwells you, you don’t have to look far to find Him. Until Jesus feels at home in your heart, you won’t either. Rebelling is an indication that we may lack Christ’s indwelling. Heroic, Spirit-led Christianity is far different from the lukewarm versions.

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War elephants can help you win your inner battles . . .

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Steve Simms

In history, war elephants (elephants that have been trained to be used in combat) have been powerful weapons. They were used to charge and rout the enemy. The most famous use of war elephants was when Hannibal used them to win a battle against Rome during the third century BC.

Elephantry is the word that was used for military units of elephant-mounted soldiers. Don’t let negativity troop through your mind and conquer it with discouragement or anxiety. Learn to use elephant affirmations (bold, powerful, positive statements) in the room of your mind. They can inspire you to victory over your inner enemies. Elephant affirmations are ready to fight for you, if you learn to use mental elephantry.

But how? I’ve written a handbook of 365 elephant affirmations that you can use to help you create a victory atmosphere in your mind and heart. Check it out here. Your victory awaits!

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Not a fountain of youth, but a book of uplifting truth

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Steve Simms 
Let uplifting words
Be like birds
And sing their song
As you go along.

Hope-filled thoughts
Will make your day
As they fill your mind
Along the way.
Read: Elephants INspiring The Room.

A book of
Uplifting truth
Can help you more
Than a fountain of youth.

Inspiring ideas
On every page
Will give hope to people
Of any age.

Live your life encouraged,
Not discouraged.

Some people play to forget; others forget to play. Elephants INspiring The Room will remind you to play.
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