Faith is a fight not a fiesta.

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Steve Simms

Faith is a fight not a fiesta. To love is to care deeply about someone, even if he/she disagrees with you. If your heart is full of love, your words will be, too!

If you don’t learn to love, follow, & obey Jesus while living, why would you do it when you’re dead? If you never learn to be obedient & submissive to Jesus, you’ll always be a rebel against Him! Close your soul to evil & open it up to the glorious presence of God. Being a Christian isn’t an occasional nod to Jesus. It’s total commitment!

When church tries to please people; we forget about pleasing God. People pleasing is based more on fear than on love. Rather than trying to please people, perhaps church could challenge them to follow & obey the risen Jesus!

People pleasing can prevent church from focusing on directly hearing & obeying Jesus. When you truly love people, you do what’s best for them, not what pleases them. When you’re goal is people’s approval, you soon become a slave to their opinions. Be faithful to follow Christ & His teaching, no matter what people say about you.

Nobody is liked by everybody, so don’t waste time trying to get everybody to like you. Living to please self leads to misery; living to please God leads to joy! The Bible shows us “how to live in order to please God.” -1 Thessalonians 4:1.
If you read the Bible with an open heart Jesus will tenderly untangle your soul.

People who live for people’s approval are quick to accuse others of “judging” them. To do wrong & expect to have no guilt is like rolling in the mud & expecting to not get dirty.

If you’re not daily growing closer to Christ, you’re missing life’s greatest adventure. If you’re not wildly in love with Jesus, perhaps you’ve never met Him. The risen Jesus continually lifts me out of sadness and into gladness!

If you’re full of self, there’s no room for God. To ignore God is to embrace loneliness. “I am not such a lover of myself nor so vain that in order to avoid censure I would refrain from preaching Christ’s glory and strength.” –Hrotsvitha, a 10th century Benedictine nun & Christian playwright.

If you feel the need to use profanity, perhaps you’re trying to mask insecurity. Cussing is adolescent language. Profanity is hate speech, cussing others instead of blessing them. Lying is also hate speech; robbing people of their right to know the truth.

It’s incredibly powerful to be quiet & let God form words in your heart! Try it. If you dare to take time to be still & silent, God will speak in your soul. It’s beautiful to worship with people who freely open their hearts to Jesus and to one another.

God cares deeply about every person, which means He experiences the pain of tons of unrequited love. “The mercy of Heaven is greater than you or your sins. Let your sadness be dispersed by its glorious beams. Do not let apathy prevent you from seizing the moment for repentance.” –Hrotsvitha

Christians can meet together & experience the life of the Spirit among them. Let’s go beyond the tree of the knowledge of good & evil, & back to the tree of life.

Ekklesia is based on the life of Christ in our midst, not on our religious knowledge. Ekklesia is an agape-lab where the love of God can be openly experienced & freely shared.

Posted in approval, Benedictines, commitment, cussing, disapproval, dishonesty, faith, influence of words, is cussing judging?, judging, lying, power of words, profanity, rebellion, rebellion against God, Thessalonians, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Prayer sayings & inspiration

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Steve Simms

Prayer is heartfelt connection with God that goes beyond words. Jesus is my PrayPal. We talk together all day long!

Prayer is not Amazon Prime. It often takes more time.

Prayer is scrappy. It embraces good & refuses to be deterred by evil!

Prayer is preferable to panic. To pray is to admit that you need help.

What’s learned in prayer is hard to forget. Refusing to pray is often more a result of pride than of belief.

Prayers don’t need to reach the ceiling. God’s so much closer than that. You can’t out ask God. Prayer for beginners: Simply & honestly talk to God.

If you don’t believe in miracles, don’t pray for one because that prayer will miss up your belief system.

Here are more original quotes on prayer. (Is that an oxymoron?) Yes, I’m quoting myself.

Prayer’s not just saying; it also involves listening. Just saying: There’s more to praying that just saying words. Prayer is like breathing — pulling in God’s presence & blowing out self-will.

When my mind could make no sense of life, prayer brought me encouragement & insight. Prayer is the ultimate communication devise, sending to & receiving from God. A surge of prayer in your heart can give your life a brand new start!

Praying for others often allows you to feel a bit of God’s great love for them. Heartfelt prayer will eventually overcome & overpower self-focus.

3-step prayer: 1) Hang up on self; 2) Connect with God; 3) Follow His instructions. Prayer makes the heart grow stronger.

A prayer acrostic:

Please
Return to
And
Yield to God.

Prayer makes the heart grow fonder of God & others! To hear everyday people pray from the heart is a powerful experience.

Prayer’s not natural; it’s supernatural. Try it and see. When hearts open to God in Spirit-led prayer, His presence becomes almost tangible.

The Bible says effective prayer is fervent–passionate, intense, burning, heartfelt. Prayer changes you! Say a few & see! Let your pain produce passionate prayer.

Prayer is not limited to words. It’s a human heart crying out to God. The way beyond guilt & shame is not denial; but to humbly confess your sins to God.

Prayer, direct connection with God, can continue though out your day–24/7/365. “To pray or not to pray?” shouldn’t really even be a question! Every pain & every problem is an invitation for you to talk to God.

To ignore prayer is to isolate from God. To pray is to open the door of your heart to God. To dare honest, humble, heartfelt prayer is to become aware of God’s presence! Prayer is an experience of the heart, not just religious words we run through our mind.

Treat those who mistreat you to your prayers for their transformation. Pray with gratitude; not with platitude.

Prayer is not confined by time, place, words, posture, or circumstances. Just pray! When things are troubling you, take the trouble to pray!

As you pray let your heart & words go where the Holy Spirit leads you. To laugh at prayer is to declare yourself unaware of the transforming joy & peace it brings to multitudes.

A current of prayer flowing through your heart can be more powerful than the flowing of a mighty river. Prayer is a soul-opener, exposing your heart to the love & reality of God.

God’s love calls us to turn away from our rebellion and to draw near to Him. Instead of putting people down; put down their names on your prayer list. Pray for someone who has done you wrong & before long your bitterness will be gone.

Spirit-led prayer is a chain breaker, setting captives free. There’s no need to read or rehearse a prayer. Just share your heart with God. To pray is to open yourself to the possibility of God.

Ultimately, prayer is not getting what you want from God. It’s surrender to what God wants in you. If you let prayer burn in your heart, you’ll discover more than you can ever learn with your mind.

If you’re not growing through what you’re going through, you’re missing a blessing. What to do on a typical weakday: pray! Need someone to talk to? God’s listening.

The media needs to get in touch with the real world where most people pray! Lord, help me! (Just prayin’ . . .) I’d rather pray than make a wish!

“Prayer is where the action is.” John Wesley–founder of the Methodists.

Love is to care enough to let your heart be broken by the trouble & shortcomings of others. Pray that God will stop the demons of violence that are terrorizing the world.

Prayer is how a hungry soul begins to open up to God. Here are two amazingly helpful addictions: 1) Spontaneous prayer; & 2) Reading the Bible with an open heart.

When people don’t like what God tells them, they sometimes say, “God’s not real.” When people don’t like what Scriptures say, they sometimes say, “You can’t trust the Bible.”

What happens when Christians gather to pray as led by the Spirit? Learn more @ this link for my book Beyond Church.

Posted in agreeing in prayer, answered prayer, Bible, learning to pray, listening prayer, pray for one another, pray for your enemy, prayer list, prayer meetings, prayer without ceasing, prayers don't get past the ceiling, praying community, praying in the Spirit, Quotations, Scripture, soak in prayer, supernatural praying, the effectual fervent prayer, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Preachers interesting & ordinary people boring?

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Steve Simms

Church acts like preachers are interesting & ordinary people are boring. (It could be the opposite.)

Protestants made church a classroom. Perhaps church would be more effective as a prayer closet!

The body of Christ is a team ministering together; not one person doing it all. In the body of Christ, all are wiser than one. Much wisdom is lost by the silence of all but one man.

When church opens up to unplanned content, Jesus brings beautiful surprises.

The more unconfined church can be, the greater the freedom of the Spirit. Christians are called to meet for spiritual combat; not just to watch a USO show.

Church needs to open up to “user generated content” (UGC) & let people speak out. I love seeing Christ working in & through ordinary people as they share from their heart!

Social media encourages people to make comments. Perhaps church services could too. Ordinary people have amazing, God-given insights. Maybe church could listen to them.

When Christ’s presence is substituted with a program, ekklesia becomes church. Before church there was ekklesia. (http://amzn.to/2stxptp) The New Testament takes us back to the time when Christians met informally as family. When Christians get together & freely pray for one another, they go beyond church to ekklesia.

Taking turns in church lets everyone have a chance to speak. Then Christians can meet like a bar-b-q grill of hot coals & all fire each other up!

A Christian testimony is a glory story. Do you have one? Experience Jesus in the Bible, in your heart, in an interactive body of believers, & in serving the poor.

However, we still need the Bible as God’s revelation to help us avoid the deception of human opinions. Have you every heard of Bible heart-burn: “Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us . . . & opened the Scriptures to us?” –Luke 24:32

To help and/or encourage someone to do wrong is not love. It’s enabling.

Posted in Beyond Church, church reform, church refugees, ekklesia, house church, preachers, simple church, social media, testimony, Uncategorized, unprogrammed church, unprogrammed meetings | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Holiness: restrained from bad or inspired to be good?

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Steve Simms

Holiness anyone? Although some Christian groups are built around the concept of “holiness,” I’ve had trouble understanding it. To me holiness has always seemed like legalistic adherence to outward appearances, and not really a matter of the heart.

However, as I was praying this morning for someone struggling to overcome an addiction, I saw holiness in a different light. I prayed something like: “Lord, let this person see Your beauty with such intensity that he/she can’t bear to turn away from it, even a little bit.”

I have usually thought of holiness as turning away from something that appealed to me and turning to some standard that didn’t appeal to me. However, now I see that holiness is just the opposite. Holiness is to behold such beauty that I can’t bear to abandon it.

After praying that prayer, this Scripture popped into my mind: “O, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” –Psalm 96:9

Lord, let everyone who reads this be so captivated by Your beauty that they long to gaze at Your beauty all the days of their life and forever afterwards.

A meeting about Jesus is informative and tends to become legalistic; however, when a group meets with Jesus, it’s inspiring and life-changing from deep within! In the beginning Christians met as a family; now we meet as an audience. Perhaps holiness calls us back to family, what the Greek New Testament calls ekklesia.

Spiritual paralysis and unholiness occur when members of Christ’s body are taught to be passive spectators rather than active participants. Early Christians met to minister to one another as they were prompted by the Holy Spirit; now we meet to sit and have one man minister to us. (See 1 Corinthians 14:26.)

“What the law tried to do by a restraining power from without, the Gospel does by an inspiring power from within.” –Catherine Booth

“If holiness is possible anywhere for anyone at anytime, it is possible anywhere for anyone at all times.” –Bramwell Booth in The Splendor of Holiness

What will you let the living, resurrected Jesus Christ do in and through you?catherine booth church & world

Posted in 1 Corinthians 14:26, Blessed are the pure in spirit, Christian spirituality, church, ekklesia, Holy Spirit, obedience, obedience to God, purity, spiritual formation, spirituality, Uncategorized, worship | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Keepsakes of the heart (inner connectedness)

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Steve Simms

Connection happens when people meet up with one another in a Christ-led environment.

To collaboratively hear & obey the Spirit with others, is an incredible experience!

If people are kept silent about their faith while attending church, they’ll have little confidence to speak about it elsewhere.

Don’t forget, misplace, or overlook the keepsakes God has deposited in your heart!

Let Jesus turn on delight in your heart!

Christricity is more powerful than electricity. Plug into Jesus’ current.

When people say, “No way,” Jesus says, “I am the Way!”

A joyous life-journey with Jesus starts with a single step.

Jesus’ living water won’t flow until the faucet is turned on.

Don’t be on the wrong side of His story! Follow & obey Jesus.

Once upon a time Christians met & let Jesus lead without a program. It was powerful!

Jesus is the Architect of community!

Ordinary people sharing stories of faith is built into the DNA of Christianity.

Let’s gather & let Jesus build us together as “living stones” in Spirit-led community.

Perhaps silent faith is an oxymoron: “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”

Faith gets people moving for Christ. When we believe something we act on it.

Posted in experiencing God, faith, faith in action, faith stories, hearing God, hearing the Spirit, heart-felt, heart-felt worship, I am the way, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, living water, telling their stories, testimonies, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Content that can make a heart content

Posted on June 10, 2017 by Steve Simms

Human hearts are very relatable & connect in community when they are drawn out of hiding by authentic content.

To be content is to step beyond torment, anxiety, & turmoil & let peace settle in.

Quantity & contentment are unrelated.

It will do you no good to get more, if you don’t enjoy what you already have.

The more the “content of your character” (thanks to MLK,Jr.) contains godly attributes, the more content you’ll be.

To forget about yourself releases you to soar in the heights of joy and creativity.

Messed up words make messed up lives. It pays to watch your language.

Lies are self-made myths that keep you fogged with the content of deception.

When people share their stories they connect at a deep level.

The Bible offers content that can make your heart content. Soak up the inner peace!

If you could kick the person most responsible for your problems, you wouldn’t be able to sit down for a month. The Bible helps you change that fact!

The Bible’s words explode in my heart and cause me to marvel at Christ’s light!

I don’t worship the Bible, but reading the Bible causes my heart to worship Jesus!

Discontentment was not meant to be the human condition. Christ restores inner peace.

(Discover the lost word of the Bible at this link.)

Posted in buzz words, community, content of their character, discontentment, how to create community, inner peace, Martin Luther King, myths, power of words, Quotations, releasing creativity, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Maybe church gets the altar call & the call to worship backwards!

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Steve Simms

Christianity’s greatest ministry resources are ordinary people, not just ordained ministers. All Christ followers are called to let God transform us from within & make us like Jesus. Christ came not just to get you into Heaven, but also to get Heaven into you. Therefore I believe that Christians should be called to take action, not at the end of church in a altar call; but at the beginning in the call to worship.

For centuries people have been asked to respond to God in an altar call; so why don’t we ask people to respond to God in a call to worship? Here are some ways that we can do that. Paul’s call to worship: “When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation…” My favorite call to worship: “Everybody listen to Jesus & then say & do what He tells you to. Mary’s words are a good call to worship: “His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.'” Here’s one more Bible call to worship: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another…” –Col. 3:16

Christianity is not just hope to merely cope with life; but “Christ in you the hope of glory”! People need personal & spiritual growth. Without inner growth we stagnate. If you don’t keep on growing, you’ll keep on towing your same ole baggage.

Let’s grow in love for one another. When you hide your heart; love departs. Minds debate. Hearts relate. To spend your life me-ing is to miss its meaning. Focus on God & others instead. Heart-felt, spontaneous prayer often moves into the gifts of the Spirit.

The Bible & spiritual experience are not either or. We need both. If you’re not experiencing Jesus when you’re reading the Bible, you’re not reading it with an open heart.

Reading the Bible with an open and hones heart stirs up passionate love for Jesus in me. (To be dishonest is to live in a world of self-made myths.) The Bible is amazing testimony to the reality, teaching, work, & divinity of Jesus. Read it & see! Christians promote books, products, music, movies, etc. I like to promote the Bible. Read it daily. It will show you Jesus!

When the Holy Spirit takes over ekklesia breaks out. (See Acts 2) Ekklesia is when Christians gather to watch the Holy Spirit work in and through one another. Let’s gather & let God unfold our hearts like flowers, in the Son’s radiant light!

To dive into doubt when God can’t be figured out is to miss out on what life’s about. Nudists like to live au naturale; Christ-followers prefer au supernaturale.
berry street chairs

Posted in changes in worship, contemporary worship, experiential worship, heart of worship, heart-felt worship, leading worship, new ways to worship, pattern of worship, planning a worship service, praise and worship, public worship, spiritual worship, types of worship, Uncategorized, Worship City, worship innovation, worship leader, worship leading, worship styles | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pentecost defined

Posted on June 4, 2017 by Steve Simms

Pentecost — to be so overcome with the Spirit that people think you are drunk. (“These people are not drunk, as you suppose.” Acts 2:15) Without spiritual fire burning in people’s hearts, Pentecost is just a religious word.

Peter used the Bible to explain the joyous freedom of Pentecost. Let’s be biblical. “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.'” –Acts 2:16. (The freedom of the Spirit does not give us a license to contradict the Bible.)

Pentecost set “sons & daughters” free to prophesy. It released visions & dreams!

Pentecost was when God first disrupted a Christian meeting. May He disrupt many church services again and again until we surrender control to Him.

Religious decorum was lost
When on the day of Pentecost.
Human control was tossed!

Pentecost was a God-surprise. Every Christian meeting needs the unexpected! Pentecost wasn’t just once & done. We need Spirit demonstrations every time we meet! Paul of Tarsus put it this way in 1 Corinthians 2:4 — “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.”

The first Pentecost was unprogrammed & full of God-surprises. Let’s let God do Acts chapter 2.

A Pentecost Sunday program is an oxymoron. Pentecost was unprogrammed. Pentecost, not a seeker-friendly meeting, produced 3,000 new Christ-followers.

If there is no room for an unplanned God-surprise; church may be too controlled. Risk a few unprogrammed minutes in a church service, trust God, & see what He does. A Bible-style Pentecost will quickly defrost your religion.

God once spoke through a donkey. That means He can speak through anybody. Let Him speak through you!
donkey me & ernie

Does your preacher dare to share the message of Pentecost? “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Acts 2:40

Don’t just commemorate Pentecost. Experience it with us every Sunday morning @ 10:45 @ The Salvation Army Berry Street — 225 Berry St., Nashville, Tennessee 37207. Here’s a book about how we meet.

Posted in Acts 2, another Pentecost, dreams and visions, drunk in the spirit, Feast of Pentecost, God demonstrations, I will pour out my Spirit, old men will dream dreams, Pentecost Sunday, These are not drunk, this is that, This is that spoken by the prophet Joel, Uncategorized, with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, Your sons and daughters will prophesy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

False prophets & fake news confuse

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Steve Simms

We need clear reception of God’s perception so we can be an exception to deception. Reading the Bible with an open heart filters out the impurities in your thoughts. The Bible keeps our faith anchored to the objectivity of the truth about Jesus. Don’t be deceived by false ideas about Jesus. Check the Bible before you bite their bait.

False prophets & fake news confuse. The Bible will infuse you with God’s light. Daily reading the Bible with an open heart will fill & thrill you with Jesus. The Bible is soul-stirring, renewing, & mystical; not dry, analytical, & scholastic. Hang out with true prophets & apostles by reading the Bible daily.

If you’re unhappy & your life’s messed up; reading & obeying the Bible will lead you to freedom! The Bible tells us about the Way. The risen Jesus is the Way. When we follow our way, we lose sight of the Way (the risen Jesus)! Jesus didn’t say, “I am a way, some truth, & one source of life.”

The risen Jesus uses the Bible to show who He is. Luke 24:27 reads: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”

As you journey toward the end of your life, travel wisely. Let God’s inner river-geysers lift up your heart with dancing fountains of joyous love. When you let your life be a Spirit-guided tour, it’s amazing! Your conscience isn’t a guilt-machine. It’s a guide to joy. Follow it.

Listening together to God’s Spirit, we meet to be led by our living Head; Jesus. In ekklesia, each person’s testifying, sharing, & praying, flow together as a whole.

Let’s meet to be listeners,
Not listening to just one man;
But sisters & brothers together
Listening to God’s Spirit
Speaking in our hearts
And then sharing what we hear
With one another.

Know Jesus,
Grow in Jesus,
Flow with Jesus,
Glow with Jesus.

set your mind

Posted in art of listening, back to the Bible, Bible quotations, Bible reading, Colossians 3, conscience, ekklesia, I am the way, Jesus, listening skills, Luke 24:32, Scriptures, Spirit-led, the way the truth the life, truth and error, Uncategorized, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Blind man seeing!

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Steve Simms

Bible reading — blind man seeing.
Bible reading blind man seeing!

Posted in back to the Bible, Bible verses, doers of the word, doing the Word, how to learn the Bible, New Testament, Old Testament, Scriptures, sola Scripture, staying faithful to the Bible, the Word, Uncategorized, what the Bible says about, word of God | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment