Joy Beyond Cartoons (And Self-Medication)

Posted on December 9, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite cartoon?
View all responses

True joy comes from more than food, drink, entertainment, and self-medication. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes. (Matthew 6:25) Christians are supposed to break the human cycle of looking at and depending on the things that are seen. Instead, we are called to look at and rely on the things that are unseen. (2 Corinthians 4:18) Worry is worthless. Jesus wants us to cast it aside and depend on Him throughout each day. (Matthew 6:31-34)

Let King Jesus wipeout your worry! Continually surrender your life and your will to the moment-by-moment inner government of Christ and His Kingdom. (Colossians 1:27) Train yourself to deny yourself (Luke 9:23) and to always be led by God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 814) Build your life on the everlasting Rock of King Jesus, not on the temporary shifting sand of human kingdoms, governments, or nations. (Matthew 7:24)

Let Jesus touch your heart every day. Stay consciously connected to His presence. Let Jesus be your interior decorator. Be still and get to know the wonderful presence of God the Son living and working within you. (Psalm 35:10 and Colossians 1:27)

Walk about step by step with Jesus as you live your daily life. It’s not enough just to hear a talk about Jesus once a week. Don’t neglect to frequently meet with and open your heart to the gathered body of Christ. (Hebrews 10:25 and 1 Corinthians 14:26)

Jesus Christ! His name remains in Christmas and Christianity, but He is mostly ignored. Too bad . . . Jesus is alive, present, amazing, and available to live in you and lead you to great joy! To experience that joy open your heart more and more to Jesus and to the gathered body of Christ. Google: The Joy of Early Christianity.

Dominating, controlling, and monopolizing leadership has tended to bore Christians with lazy lectures. (Church leaders even joke about people sleeping in church.) Pastors far too often turn church members into a passive audience and refuse to actively train, empower, and release them in hands-on discipleship and in hearing and obeying God the Holy Spirit throughout each day. (Ephesians 4:11-13) Too many pastors have turned churches into “a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.” Paul says, “from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:5) Paul says that when Christians come together, they all should be free to speak up in the meeting. (1 Corinthians 14:26) Let’s get back to what the Bible says.

When churches are in such a sad state of condition that they trust the state and its politics to make the culture Christian that is a bad state of affairs. There’s no such thing as cruel Christianity. When religion becomes cruel, it’s no longer Christianity.

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Less Sermon-Hearing / More of God’s Presence

Posted on December 8, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What could you do less of?
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Sermon-hearing is a very poor substitute for God’s presence. No one can preach you into inner peace. It only comes from surrendering to God’s presence. Accept no substitute for the actual presence of the living God.

Peace is the fruit God’s presence. (Galatians 5:22-23) Jesus put it this way: “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Moses knew something that most Christians today don’t know — God’s presence is essential! Moses said to God: “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that You are pleased with me and with Your people unless You go with us? What else will distinguish me and Your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16) God didn’t just give Moses and the children of Israel the Ten Commandments. He gave them His presence — cloud by day and fire by night. (Exodus 13:21)

Moses said to God: “Show me Your glory,” (Exodus 33:18) and God did! Paul declared that “the ministry of the Spirit” is even more glorious than the glory that Moses experienced! He said that Christ-followers can now behold the Lord’s glory and be “transformed into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-18)

Jesus demonstrates His presence (Matthew 28:20) in the world today in and through the Person of God the Holy Spirit. When we ignore the direct inner leading of the Spirit, (Romans 8:14) we humans tend to hide behind religion while our hearts and actions wander far from God’s presence (Titus 1:16) and our lives fill with anxiety. (Philippians 4:6-7)

God never intended for preaching to replace His presence! Preaching is supposed to announce and demonstrate the presence of God, not to replace it. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

Church attendance without ongoing heart-to-heart interaction and intimacy with Jesus is like being married but your only contact with your mate is to hear a Sunday morning lecture about your spouse. That wouldn’t be much of a marriage.

Can a person be a Christian and not be a Spirit-led disciple of Jesus? The Bible doesn’t present that as an option.

Where there’s little or no heart-to-heart sharing and interaction people aren’t truly “assembled together.” (Hebrews 10:25) No amount of sermon hearing can make a Spirit-led disciple. That requires moment by moment surrender and obedience to the presence of the risen Jesus.

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Does the Concept of “God and Country” Lead to Positive Events?

Posted on December 7, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
View all responses

History shows that the concept of “God and Country” often leads to “might makes right” and produces many cruel and tragic events. Faith and politics don’t have a great track record of producing peace and love and the other fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The Assyrians invaded Israel — the 10 northern tribes of the children of Abraham. (2 Kings 17) They hauled them off and scattered them across their empire where they were inbred with other people groups and were lost as a distinct ethnicity. They are known as the 10 lost tribes of Isreal.

Later the nation of Judah was invaded by Babylon and taken into captivity for 70 years, however, they mostly stayed separate from other people groups and kept their identity as children of Abraham. After 70 years many of them returned to Jerusalem and reestablished the nation of Judea which was eventually conquered by Rome. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the Roman province of Judea. (Micah 5:2) Through Jesus, those who have faith are now considered to be the children of Abraham. (Galatians 3:7)

Is the phrase “God and Country” accurate? Does God still have special countries? God tried working with a country once. He did miracles among them. He gave them His laws. He revealed Himself to them in many supernatural ways. God called His chosen country Israel to follow and obey Him. But instead of doing what God required they mainly followed human leaders and each individual did whatever they personally desired. They eventually split into two different countries — Israel and Judah.

Even when it spit in two, God didn’t want to give up on the one nation He had called to be His own. He sent many prophets to them to call them back to Himself. He gave them many opportunities to follow and obey Him. Still, they mostly ignored Him and did whatever they wanted, including many evil things.

So, God looked beyond human nations with their physical borders. He decided to establish His own kingdom as one to rule and govern people from within themselves — the kingdom of God. (Romans 14:17) In order to build His invisible interior (Luke 17:20-21) kingdom, God needed human beings who would allow themselves to be set free from their bondage to the forces and presence of evil. (John 8:32)

To do that, God the Word (John 1:1) took on human flesh (John 1:14) and became a human being. As many as received Him to them He gave the power to become sons of God (John 1:12) and to become the building blocks — the “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) — in His kingdom’s inner government of God.

The invisible kingdom of God is made up of people from all nations, (Matthew 28:19) tribes, peoples, and languages (Revelation 7:9) who are directly led from deep inside by God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14) Life’s most important question is are you a citizen of the invisible interior kingdom of God? (Colossians 1:13)

So, what about other nations — all of the visible nations that have mere human leaders? God has given them authority to keep peace and order (Romans 13:1-2) so that His invisible kingdom can be proclaimed, spread, and demonstrated through the radically transformed thoughts, words, and behaviors of the people who have become children of God.

And what about Israel? God still loves Israel. Jesus sent (and continues to send) His disciples to go and make more disciples for the kingdom of God out of (from) all nations. (Matthew 28:20) The phrase “all nations” includes Israel.

I grew up hearing about “God and Country.” It was a Boy Scout medal. I earned every major rank, medal, and badge in the Boy Scouts except for “God and Country.” Why?

Even as a young boy and then as a teenager, the phrase “God and Country” never sounded right to me. I wasn’t a Christian then, but I did believe in some sort of Creator. It always sounded crazy to try to put a temporary human country on the same level as the eternal Almighty God. I just couldn’t do it, so I refused to earn the “God and Country” metal.

Another thing that has always bothered me is to see a nation’s flag being flown in (or on) a church building. If a church wants to fly a flag, I believe that it should be a flag that represents only Christ and His kingdom, not any other nation. A Christian’s citizenship is in Heaven. (Philippians 3:20) Jesus should have our total allegiance!

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Flow Like the Wind — Like a Giraffe — Like an Atom

Posted on December 6, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Do you ever see wild animals?
View all responses

You can flow with inner freedom. You can flow like the wind — like a giraffe — like an atom. Train yourself to overflow with the freedom of wild animals and with the joy of glorifying and flowing with the Lord. God the Holy Spirit wants to freely flow from within you.

Everything God made is based on flow. Even the infinitesimally small building blocks of all creation — atoms — are based on flow. The electrons orbiting in atoms are flowing incredibly faster than the speed of sound creating what appears to us as solid matter.

Nature doesn’t resist God’s flow. Neither should you.

Wind flows, rivers flow, waves flow, sound flows, light flows, time flows, electricity flows, smells flow, clouds flow, thoughts flow, feelings flow, ideas flow, brain waves flow, blood flows, sap flows. Even the earth flows as it spins and orbits the sun.

The whole universe flows. Life itself flows.

God created you to flow with the living water (John 7:38-39) of the leading of His Spirit. (Romans 8:14) Allowing God to train and disciple you to flow like that, more and more effectively and consistently throughout each day, is what true Christianity is all about.

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The Best Place For Finding Hope

Posted on December 6, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?
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The best place for finding hope is anywhere you talk to and listen to Jesus. Don’t settle for just knowing information about Him. Talk to Him now. Doctrine without discipleship makes Christians spiritually docile.

Jesus isn’t seasonal like Christmas or regional like Christian nationalism. He’s always everywhere but people are usually unaware. He can be encountered anywhere.

It’s good to look back to Christ’s first coming and forward to His promised return. However, we Christians too often forget to look around us, look within us, and look within each other at the presence of the risen Jesus here and now in this very moment. Here and now is the best place to meet Him.

Several years after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended the writer of Hebrews told Christ-followers to be “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of your faith.” We are still invited to “Behold the Lamb of God.”

When Lazarus died and Jesus came to raise him, Mary and Martha, looked back to the past and said, “Lord, if You had been here,” he wouldn’t have died. Then they looked to the future and acknowledeged that their brother would rise on resurrection day. But they missed the point of Jesus coming to see them. Christ came to do a mighty miracle at that moment.

So it is with you and me. Constantly rely on the presence of Jesus and let Him do mighty miracles within you, around you, and through you now! Be led moment by moment by His Spirit.

To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to inwardly yearn and deeply groan for more heart-to-heart connection with Jesus and greater awareness of His reality and of His presence.

Listen to, surrender to, and obey God the Holy Spirit. Let Him create within you an intense ongoing longing for more and more of “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” not just when you die but every moment you’re alive!

Be Spirit-led
With Jesus as your Head.
Be Spirit-fed
Not spiritually dead.
Have you not read
Where Jesus said,
You can’t live on just bread?

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I Want the Hope That Empowers Me to Wait with Joy

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What is one thing you would change about yourself?
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I want the hope that empowers me to wait with joyful anticipation! I want to be a cheerful waiter, not a grumpy one.

To continually focus on and surrender to the presence of Jesus is to wait well! In the light of Christ’s presence there is joyful patience that overflows with the fruit of the Spirit. Inner disturbance disappears into peace when Christ-awareness is cultivated, embraced, and maintained.

The pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46) which is the inner government of God (Luke 17:21) is built on ongoing conscious awareness of “Christ in you.” (Colossians 1:27) Your own thoughts, feelings, and desires and the cares of life continually work to distract you from the conscious awareness of Christ’s presence. Refuse to let them disrupt your awareness of the risen Jesus. (Colossians 3:2)

Ongoing consciousness awareness of the presence of the risen Jesus is the key to Spirit-led Christianity. Notice Him now. Notice Him later. Notice Him always! (John 15:4) Christ-awareness gives you the capacity to hear and learn directly from Jesus.

True Christianity is Christ awareness! Settle for nothing less. To continually be aware of Jesus and enjoy His presence will bring your life into focus.

The purpose of church is to raise our awareness of the actual presence of Jesus. If it doesn’t do that it’s missing the point. Religion is a substitute for Christ-awareness. Christianity without Christ-awareness is empty religion.

To read the Bible without Christ-awareness is to ignore the power of the Book! Analysis of the Bible without the awareness of the presence of Jesus leads to blind religious pride. To be aware of the presence of Jesus for a single moment is more powerful than all the theology you can learn in a lifetime.

Stop for a moment. Look around you. Listen to Jesus. Wake up and become aware of His presence with you and in you.

Here and there
And everywhere
The presence
Of Jesus
Can lead us.
Learn to hear
And obey
What Jesus
Has to say.
Let your fear
Disappear.
Be of good cheer.
(Matthew 28:20)
(Colossians 127)
(Romans 8:14)
(John10:27)
(John 14:15)
(1 John 4:18)
(John 16:33)

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When Night Overshadows Trust That Morning Will Come

Posted on December 2, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Are you more of a night or morning person?
View all responses

Let the Holy Spirit “Overshadow You.”

It’s not enough to say,
Lord, have Your way.
We need to lay aside
Every bit of our pride
And let God’s Spirit
Overshadow us.
May God Himself decide
And His Spirit guide
All that we think and do.

If there’s nothing supernatural about your faith, it’s just religious tradition — a form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Timothy3:5) Churches need to stop lecturing people with monologues called sermons and begin to demonstrate the actual presence of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 2:4)

We’ve reduced Jesus to a sermon subject, a talk topic, a lecture lesion. We’ve forgotten who He really is: Emmanuel — God with us! (Matthew 1:23)

Religious information served up in a Sunday sermon can’t compare with “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” (Colossians 1:27) “Stir up the gift that is in you.” (1 Timothy 1:6)

“Draw near to God.” (James 4:8) Don’t just hear a talk about Him.

Christianity is so much more than sitting through a Sunday sermon! It’s fun, exciting, and amazing! Google: The Joy of Early Christianity.

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Be An ICU (Intensive Care Unit)

Posted on December 1, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your feelings about eating meat?
View all responses

When I see you and all people with tenderness and compassion my heart becomes an intensive care unit. (ICU) Dare to care intensively! See people with your heart not just with your eyes. Let God the Holy Spirit continually tenderize your heart with His fruit and His spiritual gifts. Spirituality isn’t about what we eat and drink. It’s about “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17)

Life defies logic. It’s been a mystery throughout history. We all experience it with its pain and pleasure, but we don’t even know what it is. Live it up higher and higher! Behold the Lamb of God! Accept no substitutes for the risen Jesus.

To continually do that is to see the greatest light. (2 Corinthians 4:6) It is to come out of deep darkness. It is to live a life celebrating the dawn of a new day. It is to have your burdens shattered and your oppression removed. It is to have your heart enlarged and made new so that it always overflows and rejoices (Isaiah 9:2-4) with glorious joy-filled rivers of living water! (John 7:37-39) It is to take the burdens off of your shoulders (Isaiah 9:2-4) and to seek first (Matthew 6:33) to constantly surrender the government of your life to Christ’s shoulders (Isaiah 9:6) so that He can establish and rule His kingdom within you! (Luke 17:21) Never stop looking unto the risen Jesus — the author and finisher of your faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

Lord, help us look beyond church and discover the peace and joy that comes from the direct personal leadership of the Spirit (Romans 8:14) and from letting “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:25) take full Headship and control of any churches and “ministries” that belong to Him. (Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.)

True love,
Intensive
Caring,
Means sharing
Your heart,
Baring
Your soul,
And bearing
The burdens
Of others.

Pray For Us . . .
Jesus
Cease us.
Lead us,
Teach us,
By Your
Spirit.

Don’t lie,
Rely
On truth.

Posted in gifts of the Spirit, intensive care, Love one another, spiritual gifts, spirituality, true love | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

I Love to Be Clothed in Christmas Love and Hope

Posted on November 30, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your two favorite things to wear?
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The Christmas Season reminds me that my favorite things to wear are love and hope. I love to clothe myself with the presence and power of the one who created the universe and became a man to demonstrate His love for the world. (John 1:1-14 & John 3:16) To believe in Jesus is to clothe yourself with His presence and to daily depend on Him to lead you in everything that you think, say, and do. (Romans 13:14) To believe in Christ is to rely on Him every hour.

A true Christmas is about the one who was born to clothe people with His love and hope. Don’t abandon Christmas for Happy Holidays and the chaotic Shopping Season.

If your “Christmas” Season isn’t for focusing on and celebrating Jesus, it’s not really Christmas. It’s just a hollow holiday (devoid of any real meaning) that gives people an excuse to travel and gives the economy a huge end of the year boost. Bye, bye. Buy, buy! That’s what stole Christmas! (John 10:10) To get Christmas back, surrender to, depend on, and rely on the living Jesus.

If you rely
On Jesus Christ
You’ll be able
To look and see
Things that no eye
Can even see.
He’ll lift you up
So you can stand
Strong and faithful
And demonstrate
His true presence
Throughout the land.
To believe in
Jesus the Christ
Is to deny
Your self-effort
So that you can
Fully rely
And depend on
His pure presence
And great power
Every hour.
(1 Peter 5:7)
(1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
(1 Peter 5:6)
(Ephesians 6:10)
(1 Corinthians 2:4)
(Acts 1:8)
(Luke 9:23)
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
(Matthew 28:20)

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Without ChatGPT I Can Better Hear Chat-GPT

Posted on November 29, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What technology would you be better off without, why?
View all responses

Experience Ghat-GPT — God’s Presence Talking to you. Hear what Jesus, the Son of God, says! “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27) Trade artificial intelligence for supernatural intelligence.

How does the Son speak? Jesus said: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you.” (John 16:12-15)

If you really want to hear Jesus do this. Continually welcome and obey the inner promptings of God the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14) as Christ in you, the hope of Glory. (Colossians 1:27)

33 Things That God is Saying to You

1) Think hope thoughts! (Philippians 4:8)

2) In everything give thanks. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

3) Be anxious for nothing. (Philippians 4:6)

4) Trust God to work things out for your good. (Romans 8:28)

5) Cast all your anxiety on God for He cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)

6) Pray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17)

7) Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. (Colossians 3:15)

😎 Trust in the Lord with all your heart. (Proverbs 3:5)

9) Lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)

10) In all your ways acknowledge God’s presence and authority. (Proverbs 3:6)

11) Be led by God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14)

12) Worship God in the Spirit. (John 4:24)

13) Let God arise and His enemies be scattered. (Psalm 68:1)

14) Glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:3)

15) Put no confidence in the flesh. (Philippians 3:3)

16) Rejoice in the Lord always. (Philippians 4:4)

17) Be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)

18) Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19)

20) Be glad in the Lord and rejoice. (Psalm 32:11)

21) Quench not the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

22) Walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:16)

23) Don’t believe every spirit but test the spirits. (1 John 4:1)

24) Stir up the gift of God that is within you. (2 Timothy 1:6)

25) Always seek first the inner government of God. (Matthew 6:33)

26) Continually draw near to God. (James 4:8)

27) Encourage people. (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

28) Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. (Ephesians 6:10)

29) Continually open your heart to Jesus. (Revelation 3:20)

30) Desire spiritual gifts. (1 Corinthians 14:1)

31) Love the Lord with all your heart. (Matthew 22:37)

32) Give and it will be given unto you. (Luke 6:38)

33) Call on the Lord. (Jeremiah 33:3)

Bonus) “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)

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