The Legacy of the Invisible King

Posted on May 21, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What is the legacy you want to leave behind?
View all responses

There is an invisible King. However, you can’t follow the invisible King if you’re unaware of His presence.

The invisible King is continually offering to establish His kingdom in human hearts. Dare to be a disciple of the invisible King. Follow and obey Him. Let Him be your boss in everything.

Focus your attention on the invisible King, not on your desires and feelings or on people’s perspectives, opinions, or interpretations of Scripture. The invisible King isn’t seen with eyes of flesh and blood. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10) He’s supernaturally revealed by God the Father. (Matthew 16:17) Ask and you shall receive. (Matthew 7:7)

Let the invisible King take control and rule within your heart. Those who haven’t seen the invisible King yet believe in Him and chose to rely on Him day and night are greatly blessed. (John 20:26-29)

There are many spiritual counterfeits that try to pull us away from the invisible King. Discernment is vital. Anyone who changes the biblical definition of who Jesus Christ is, isn’t speaking for God.

John begins his Gospel with the statement: “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” A few sentences later John writes, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us,” clearly referring to Jesus Christ as the Creator in human flesh.

Later in the letter that we know as 1 John, he wrote: “This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God.” (1 John 4:2-3)

The way you can tell whether a person is speaking by the Spirit of God is by whether or not what they say and how they live aligns with who Jesus is. That’s the key. Jesus, Himself, said: “By their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:20)

Church isn’t God. Jesus is. Religion can become an idol. (John 1:1)

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I Like What Wakes Up Cold Hearts

Posted on May 20, 2025 by Steve Simms

I don’t like coldhearted environments. I prefer to be around people who are warm, kind, open, and friendly. Sometimes those environments can be difficult to find. Here’s how I have experienced the most warmhearted atmosphere that I’ve ever encountered.

To do what is pleasing to God is an interesting biblical concept. (1 John 3:22) That of course means that we don’t do what we want to do or what we feel comfortable doing but instead we surrender our desires to God’s will and let Him lead and control us. That’s what Christ’s mother, Mary, told the servers at the wedding where Jesus turned the water into wine, “Whatever He says to you do it.” (John 2:5) Then Jesus told the servants to do some weird and risky things (and those brave guys were willing to leave their comfort zone and do what Jesus said).

I believe that over the early centuries of Christianity, Christians made Sunday worship comfortable and set it up so that it pleases people instead of letting the Holy Spirit take the direct lead and personally direct it in the “spirit and truth” ways (John 4:21-24) that please God the Father. It’s much easier and more comfortable to worship God with programmed words that someone else says for us (or has us repeat) than it is to allow our heart to be near to and controlled by the living God, Himself. (Matthew 15:8)

Ever since I encountered and surrendered my life to the living Jesus, I’ve been hungering and thirsting (Matthew 5:6) and searching for a spiritual city whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10) — for people who will courageously gather in Jesus’ name (Matthew 18:20) and in His presence to set aside their desires (Luke 9:23) and their programming and let Jesus, Himself, take the wheel. (Romans 8:14) I’ve found that kind of gathering a few times, but it never seems to last. Human programming and control strive to enter in and to set aside the Holy Spirit’s direct control. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

I love unprogrammed Christian gatherings that are directly led and controlled by God the Holy Spirit, but they are so rare that few people have actually experienced one. I’ve spent my life seeking for them because in a Spirit-controlled environment I encounter the real presence and supernatural power of the resurrected Jesus Christ living and working in and through ordinary people. If you know of a Christ-controlled meeting like that, please tell me about it. (Search for: Beyond Church Ekklesia.)

You can’t manage a Spirit-controlled meeting. If you (or another person) begin to manage it yourself, it’s no longer fully managed by God the Holy Spirit.

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My Conscience Frequently Has “a Bone to Pick” With Me

Posted on May 19, 2025 by Steve Simms

It’s vital to have and keep a clear conscience. Here’s why.

The human conscience isn’t perfect. The Bible clearly states that our conscience can be defiled. (Titus 1:15) However, all people are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27) and the requirements of God’s law are written on our heart to varying degrees and reflected by our conscience. (Romans 2:14-15)

Because we all have gone astray and turned to our own way (Isaiah 53:6) our conscience is imperfect. It is often weak. (1 Corinthians 8:7) Our conscience can be defiled and can even be seared. (Romans 13:5) We can have a good conscience (1 Timothy 1:5) or an evil conscience. (Hebrews 10:22) Because of that we have to fight to hold on to a good conscience that aligns with God and to avoid an evil or seared conscience that excuses and justifies our sins. (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

We need to always make sure that our conscience is confirmed by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 9:1) That’s what Paul said about himself: “I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.” (Acts 23:1) As Christ-followers we need to keep our conscience clear toward both God and man (Acts 24:16) by desiring to act honorably in all things. (Hebrews 13:8)

The most effective way to have a clear conscience is to let your heart break free and soar with the wind of God’s Spirit. If the wind of God’s Spirit isn’t blowing in your heart, why not? (John 3:7-8)

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A Collection of Mr. Simons Quotes (Simons Says)

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Steve Simms

Mr. Meno Simons was born about 1496 in the Netherlands. He was an extensive writer and made some mighty strong statements. The following were taking from The Complete Writings of Meno Simons in the order they appeared.

“Those who with the Pharisees oppose Christ and nevertheless think they are enlightened shall be blinded with the Pharisees.”

“None but Christ can be the King of His believing church.”

“All believers are the sheep of Christ and there is but one fold, of which Christ is the Shepherd. From this it must follow that Christ is the only Shepherd, and that no one else can be that.”

“Christ is the only Shepherd; for all believers must hear His voice and the voice of none other.

“All those who are His sheep will hear His voice. But those who are not His sheep will not hear His voice.”

“Christ did not want to be defended with Peter’s sword. How can a Christian then defend himself with it?”

“How can it be harmonized with the Word of God that one who boasts of being a Christian could lay aside the spiritual weapons and take up the carnal ones?”

“I by the grace of God seek and shall seek nothing upon earth but the unadulterated Word of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that according to Scripture.”

“(God) in love received me, converted me to another mind, led me with the right hand, and taught me by the Holy Spirit.”

“I did not know my infirmities as long as they were not manifested to me by the Spirit. I thought I was a Christian, but when I looked carefully I found myself altogether earthly and carnal and without the Word.”

“Since you do not do as He commands and desires, but as you please, it is sufficiently proved that you do not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, although you say so.”

“Let Christ Jesus with His Spirit and Word be your teacher and example.”

“All who are born of God bring forth the fruits of the Spirit and suppress the works of the flesh.”

“God’s work is a heavenly power, a vital moving of the Holy Spirit which ignites the hearts and minds of believers; pervades, comforts, anoints, encourages, rouses, and stirs; makes joyful and happy in God.”

“We must be in Christ and Christ in us; we must be moved by His Spirit, and abide in the holy Word outwardly and inwardly. Otherwise we have no God.”

“No other kingdom do we know, teach, and seek, than that of which shall endure forever, which is neither pride nor pomp, gold nor silver, eating nor drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For we confess with Christ that our kingdom is not of this world.”

“Truth will remain truth forever.”

“For this reason, I am not ashamed to write down, publish, and proclaim loudly my faith, doctrine, intention, and desire before all men who will hear, no matter who they are.”

“My writing and preaching is nothing else than Jesus Christ. I seek and desire nothing but that the most glorious name, the divine will, and the glory of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ may be acknowledged throughout the world.”

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Life Balance Revealed

Posted on May 18, 2025 by Steve Simms

As people something within us wants to live a balanced life. Yet living in a culture of haste, hustle, and haughtiness, it’s easy to get pulled (or thrown) off balance. Personally, I’ve discovered that I don’t have to “only imagine” how to balance my life. I can be directly led by divine revelation.

God the Holy Spirit supernaturally reveals things that the human eye can’t see, and the ear can’t hear, and the heart can’t imagine. Ceaselessly seek, pursue, receive, and surrender to the Spirit’s direct personal revelation so that you can dynamically experience and boldly proclaim this:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man he things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:8-9 NKJ)

Christians need to become aware of, open up to, receive, and obey what God is revealing to us through His Spirit. Too many Christians quote the “eye has not seen,” part but completely leave out the “but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit,” part.

Multitudes of Christians let the fear of being misled keep them from asking for, receiving, and obeying God’s personal revelation to them. They falsely believe that their imaginations, feelings, and opinions are more accurate than God’s supernatural revelation. They put their trust in what preachers say instead of in the Holy Spirit’s direct teaching. (1 John 2:27)

We don’t need to stay stuck in human wisdom and human understanding of Scripture! We can step into God’s direct revelation and be led by the Spirit. (Romans 8:14) If we ask for bread, God the Father won’t give us a stone. (Matthew 7:9-11) We have not because we ask not. (James 4:2-3) Have you asked the Father for direct, supernatural revelation? “Ask and you shall receive.” (Matthew 7:7)

How can you recognize God’s revelation? It will burn in your heart (Luke 24:32) and it won’t contradict what He revealed to the apostles, prophets, and other writers of the Bible.

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My Momma and Elvis Were Next Door Neighbors in a Black Neighborhood in Tupelo, Mississippi

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Steve Simms

My mother, her maiden name Dorothy Beeding, grew up next door to Elvis Presley in an extremely rare predominantly black neighborhood in Tupelo where poor blacks and poor whites lived side by side as friends and neighbors and as outcasts of society. This was in the forcibly segregated South.

My mother was 4 years older than Elvis, but my uncle was the same age. He and Elvis played together with the black children who lived around them. When Elvis recorded the song, “In the Ghetto,” he knew first-hand the struggles of living in a marginalized and oppressed neighborhood.

While they were living there Elvis’ father was sent to prison. My grandfather used to drive Elvis and his mother Gladys to visit his father Vernon at the prison. When Elvis was famous and would come back to Tupelo, he would sometimes drive by my grandmother sitting on her front porch and wave at her.

That’s my family ties to the King of Rock and Roll and to a heritage of racial equality in a land of legally enforced racism and segregation. I never heard my mother (or my father, also raised in the arrogance of the racist South) ever say anything racist. The blatant racism of the time and place, however, won my uncle over as he got older. For as long as I can remember, my uncle would frequently and randomly throw out cruel racist remarks, slurs, and insults.

Being a Southerner, Elvis was sometimes rumored to be a racist, but his ex-wife Prisilla Presley is quoted in IndieWire (July 21, 2022) as saying this about Elvis: “He was not a racist. He had never been a racist. He had friends, black friends, friends from all over. He loved their music, he loved their style. He loved being around black musicians . . . He loved being around anyone, actually. He was not prejudiced in any way.”

For some reason, although growing up in segregated neighborhoods and schools in Arkansas and Tennessee, I never thought anything negative about black people. I graduated in 1969 from a segregated high school in Jackson, Tennessee, right across the street from the city’s black high school. Integration finally arrived in 1972.

When in college I got the very strange summer job of selling black history books door-to-door in the deep South. That was my first real personal exposure to black people and to black history. It was life changing. I loved black people and was grasped, shocked, and inspired by their history, their suffering, and their courage. I wrote a book about the beauty of color. It’s called Off the Race Track–From Color-Blind to Color kind. Click the link for more.

“Elvis was a great man and did more for civil rights than people know.” –African American photojournalist Ernest Withers

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Beyond Sacrifices to True Love

Posted on May 17, 2025 by Steve Simms

Most people would consider setting aside their desires and feelings in order to serve someone else to be a sacrifice. I disagree. I would call that true love. Sacrifices are often made reluctantly or with regret, but true love is given freely from the heart. True love is supernatural. It is given by the Spirit of God.

People today need to see and interact with Spirit-led people. Will you be someone who shows them the presence and reality God’s Spirit? Let the Holy Spirit free so He can do whatever He wants to in and through your life. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

To allow “a Holy Spirit–inspired disposition of the heart” to motivate and direct you into obedient action is to be led by the Spirit. Christ-followers are called to learn to truly trust in, rely on, surrender to, and obey the workings and leadings of the Holy Spirit within us. (Romans 8:14) That’s how we begin to seek first the kingdom (the interior government) of God. (Matthew 6:33)

Refuse to deny or ignore the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit. Discern them, (1 Corinthians 12:7-10) recognize them, and dare to continually put them into action. (James 1:22) The way to grow in Christ is to go about sowing and doing what God the Holy Spirit teaches and directs you to do. (John 14:26) If your life isn’t frequently producing, manifesting, and demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit, then you aren’t being very well led by the Spirit of God. (Galatians 5:22-23)

To call “the deep wellsprings of Christ in us” “subjective” is to deny that He is God. If the Holy Spirit is God, then nothing that He says or does within you is “subjective.”

Your subjective desires that the Bible calls “the flesh” (Galatians 5:16-18) work against the Holy Spirit. To be led by the Spirit we have to continually deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow the living Jesus. (Luke 9:23)

Love proclaimed with words or speech is not the same as love demonstrated with heart-felt actions that are truly (and objectively) inspired and empowered by God the Holy Spirit. Instead of trying to force yourself to love, plug your heart into God’s supernatural love and let His Spirit flow unceasingly through you like a powerful electric current. (Acts 1:8) Then God’s love that you are personally experiencing within you will overflow like rivers of living water, (John 7:37-39) filling you and the people around you with shock and awe at the goodness and reality of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

Wherever you go and whatever you do, be sent out by the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:4) “Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and join this chariot.:” What is God the Holy Spirit saying to you?

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My Wedding Ring and the Challenge to Be Faithful

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Steve Simms

I was asked, “What is the oldest thing you’re wearing today?” It’s my wedding ring which is a symbol of love and commitment. Its a challenge and constant reminder to be faithful to live out and demonstrate the love I profess. I proclaim love for my wife, for my daughter, for all my family, for my friends, for all human beings, and especially for Jesus. Living up to those professions is life’s greatest challenge.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:3-5) “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16)

Both history and the present day are full of examples of how selfish ambition and vain conceit cause people to arrogantly and recklessly ignore, disrespect the humanity of, and even demonize other human beings. “My way or the highway isn’t “the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus Christ is, and He laid down His life for us.

Jesus challenged us to: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:27036)

Now that’s a challenge! Do you have the courage to embrace it and to pursue it with all your heart?

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I Strive To Follow the Inner Objectivity of God the Holy Spirit

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Steve Simms

There is nothing subjective about God the Holy Spirit, (Romans 8:14) “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) He’s not the product of our human feelings or imaginations. He’s the Creator of the universe. We need to learn to discern the difference between our own thoughts, the temptations of the devil, and the voice of the Holy Spirit. The inner voice you hear calling you closer to God is real. It’s not your subjectivity.

The more we die to (Galatians 2:20) and deny ourselves, (Luke 9:23) the more we can recognize and align with the living God and with the inner objective teaching of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:13, 1 John 2:27, & John 14:26) Then our life and character will begin to clearly and outwardly demonstrate the objective inner reality of the Spirit in and through us. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5) The world desperately needs to see people who call themselves Christians begin to surrender to and demonstrate the real presence and power of God the Holy Spirit.

“Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:7-8) The battle you experience within you between the devil and God is real. It’s not your subjective imagination. “Fight the good fight of faith.” (1 Timothy 6:12)

  • Resist hatred. Draw near to love.
  • Resist sadness. Draw near to joy.
  • Resist anxiety. Draw near to peace.
  • Resist frustration. Draw near to patience.
  • Resist rudeness. Draw near to kindness.
  • Resist badness. Draw near to goodness.
  • Resist rebellion. Draw near to faithfulness.
  • Resist harshness. Draw near to gentleness.
  • Resist self-focus. Draw near to self-control.
  • Resist pride. Draw near to humility.
  • Resist despair. Draw near to hope.

No amount of sermon-hearing can make you a disciple. It takes daily dying to self and ongoing surrender and obedience to “Christ in you” to do that.

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Training to be Fruitful

Posted on May 14, 2025 by Steve Simms

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” (1 John 3:11) Let’s do it now. Christ-followers let’s train to love better every time we gather. It’s not enough just to hear more sermons about love, we need hands-on training in love, not just talks. Let’s train to cultivate and demonstrate more of the fruit of God’s Spirit everywhere we go. (Galatians 5:22-23) Let’s train like medical professionals!

For many centuries Christians who “ought to be teachers” have been trained to sit passively and be taught the same religious basics, what the Bible calls “milk, not solid food,” over and over week after week and year after year. That tedious teaching (that never graduates anybody) has trained Christians to be spiritually inexperienced infants. Pastors have repeatedly given their congregations the same basic info about Christ, but they have given them little or no practical, hands-on training in and experience of being personally led by His Spirit. (Romans 8:14)

The Bible says in Hebrews 5:12-6:1: “Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food! For everyone who lives on milk is still an infant, inexperienced in the message of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity.”

It is time for Christians to do what the Bible says. (James 1:22) It’s time to set aside our redundant religious infancy and to go into rigorous training for spiritual maturity. But how?

Stop the repetitive Sunday service passivity. Make church interactive and hands on. Enough teaching about prayer, train and release people to pray. Enough teaching about heaven, train people to experience the will of God “on earth as it is in heaven.” Stop teaching people the same information about God, train them to experience, demonstrate, and share His reality. Stop teaching people about community, train them to obey the 50+ New Testament “one another” commands here and now. Stop teaching about Jesus like He’s not in the room, train people to continually listen to and obey Him. Stop keeping Christians spiritual babies, train them to be mature and mighty men and women of God.

The most effective way to live as a Christian is to ignore your own desires, feelings, and opinions and instead listen to, follow, and obey the risen Jesus throughout each day. If you really want to grow strong in the Lord, read the Bible every day with a humble hungry heart and let God the Holy Spirit teach you. The Christian way of life involves two-way communication with God and following His desires instead of your own.

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