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?
View all responses

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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Religious Activities or Relational Interaction with God?

Posted on November 28, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?
View all responses

Jesus wants a dynamic interactive relationship with people. He’s not looking for religious activities. The Word of God must go beyond mere words and ever burn in the heart, creating ongoing intimacy with, passion for, and obedience to the risen Christ! Let Jesus lead you beyond religious activities into relational interaction with God.

Religious activities teach human wisdom. Relational interaction with God teaches directly from the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:13)

Religious activities train people to look outwardly respectable. Relational interaction with God cleans and transforms people from the inside out. (Matthew 23:26)

Religious activities tend to create modern-day Pharisees. Relational interaction with God makes radical disciples. (Matthew 23:23-24)

Religious activities are all about works. Relational interaction with God is about His mercy, grace, and forgiveness. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Religious activities give God lip service but produce hardness of heart. Relational interaction with God will make your heart tender and bring it close to God. (Mark 7:6)

Religious activities attract people who think they are righteous. Relational interaction with God calls “sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32)

Religious activities put tradition above God’s commandments. (Matthew 15:3) Relational interaction with God seeks first the kingdom of God. (Matthew 6:33)

Religious activities tend to point to a Jesus who is in the distant past or the distant future. Relational interaction with God embraces the Jesus of the Bible who is living, active, present, and speaking right here and right now. (2 Corinthians 11:4)

Religious activities often create spiritual, ministry, church, or denominational pride. Relational interaction with God produces humility. (Matthew 18:4)

Religious activities seldom warn people about false prophets. Relational interaction with God takes seriously Christ’s warning against false prophets. (Matthew 24:11)

Religious activities train Christians to dutifully accept whatever a preacher says. Relational interaction with God teaches Christians to personally search the Bible and verify or reject each thing that a preacher says. (Acts 17:11)

Religious activities follow human desires and opinions and create divisions among Christians. Relational interaction with God always follows the Holy Spirit. (Jude 1:17-19)

Religious activities are often misled by “deceitful spirits and things taught by demons.” Relational interaction with God refuses to abandon reliance on the risen Jesus. (1 Timothy 1:4)

Religious activity tries to be justified by obeying the law. Relational interaction with God trusts in Christ’s mercy and grace. (Galatians 5:4)

Religious activities depend on tradition. (Mark 7:13) Relational interaction with God is built on the living Word of God. (Hebrews 4:12)

Religious activities are based on human effort. Relational interaction with God depends on the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 3:1-3)

Religious activities are programmed. Relational interaction with God flows from the heart. (John 7:38-39)

Religious activities are leader led. Relational interaction with God is Spirit-led. (Romans 8:14)

Religious activities are dutiful. Relational interaction with God is joyful. (Nehemiah 8:10)

Religious activities are systematized. Relational interaction with God is spontaneous. (John 8:32)

Religious activities? Or relational interaction with God? Choose wisely! Interact relationally with God! Don’t just sit through religious activities!

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I Give Thanks For True Prosperity

Posted on November 27, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
View all responses

Releasing the Breath of God from Within You!

True prosperity is soul prosperity. (3 John 1:2) It comes from God the Holy Spirit being released from deep within you. Learn to prosper in the fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) of the Spirit.

Your heart is like a big sink that has many faucets. Some faucets are full of corruption and deception. (Matthew 15:19) Shut down those faucets and keep them closed! “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)

Other inner faucets, like the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, are filled with the breath of God. (Genesis 2:7) They are ready to overflow from within you with rivers of living water (John 7:37-39) by pouring forth supernatural flows from God.

You need to open up God’s inner faucets so the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit can pour out of them, flood your heart, and overflow to the people around you. Do it now and always!

The wider you open the Holy Spirit faucets the more the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit will flow through your life. Train yourself to keep the Holy Spirit’s rivers of living water wide open and rushing forth with Christ’s lifegiving hope. (Colossians 1:27) That is true prosperity!

Prosper in hope. Prosper in thanksgiving. Prosper in inner peace. Prosper in joyfully rejoicing. Prosper in compassion. Prosper in loving your enemies. Prosper in forgiving others. Prosper in humility. Prosper in your soul!

Meanwhile always resist, (James 4:7) quench and shut down (2 Corinthians 10:4) the inner faucets of corruption that are continually trying to fill you with evil thoughts, feelings, desires, and temptations. (1 Corinthians 10:13) Fight day and night (1 Timothy 6:12) to stop their inner flowing.

Respectable religion tries to fit Jesus and the inner breath of God into formulas, but He won’t stay put. 2 + 2 ≠ Jesus!

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The Time of My Life Is To Enjoy Jesus and His Inner Rivers

Posted on November 26, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
View all responses

The fear of losing respectability keeps Christians focused on burying and embalming the dead Jesus (John 19:38-41) instead of on surrendering to and radically obeying the inner rivers of the Jesus who lives within them. (Colossians 1:27) Let me tell you about my Jesus and His glorious inner rivers of living water! Hallelujah!

Supernatural fruit and gifts are released in human beings when the inner rivers of Jesus’ Spirit are allowed to freely flow from deep inside of a person’s innermost being. Christ’s spiritual rivers can be cultivated or quenched. They can be surrendered to or suppressed. They can be relied on or denied. They can be released or rejected.

A lifestyle of humility, tenderness, sensitivity, purity, brokenness, surrender, and obedience open up a human heart to Christ’s inner flowing. Developing those characteristics prepares the way for the Lord’s spiritual rivers to freely and powerfully flow from deep within a person.

Society and even religion too often train us humans to rely only on the workings of our intellect, our undisciplined desires, and our own efforts and abilities. They teach us that Jesus’ inner flowings are merely unreliable intuition and irrational imaginings. They tell us that the inner release of God’s supernatural fruit and gifts needs to be feared and avoided.

Society and even religion have brainwashed us humans to be respectable, proud, hardhearted, insensitive, impure, faking mental health, rebellious, and disobedient. No wonder we’re mostly unaware of and missing out on God’s inner rivers of wholesomely beautiful spiritual fruit and supernatural gifts.

Christians desperately need to wake up to the glorious reality of God’s spiritual rivers. (John 7:38-39) We need to wholeheartedly embrace them. (Colossians 1:27) We urgently need to set aside our own feelings and desires and instead to be supernaturally swept along and led by God the Holy Spirit’s inner rivers both day and night. (Romans 8:14)

If going to church was all there was to Christianity, I wouldn’t want to be a Christian. Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia. Too many pastors spoon feed people every week with a sermon. They give people just enough Bible to make them think they don’t need to open it for themselves. I don’t think God likes it that so many Christians depend on a weekly sermon for their spirituality. If a pastor won’t trust the people in the congregation to speak out in church, he’s not making disciples. He’s making an audience.

To seek and receive the gift of speaking in tongues is a powerful way to humble yourself and open up to the life-changing inner rivers of God’s Spirit. Set aside your respectability and go for it!

There’s a special way
That people can pray
Where the words they say
Flow out as they may
In an unlearned language.
That’s the way I pray
Many times each day.

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Hardheartedness, Hardheartedness, Hardheartedness

Posted on November 25, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Name your top three pet peeves.
View all responses

Open your heart so that you can hear the truth that comes from God’s voice and be set free! (John 8:32) A tender heart will be drawn closer to God. A hard heart will drift far from Him.

The Bible plainly says: “Do not harden your heart.” (Hebrews 3:8) Oops. A lot of Christians choose to ignore that verse!

A tender, caring, and compassionate heart can learn to hear the voice of God. (1 Samuel 3:10) It can become consciously aware of His Presence. (Psalm 46:10) It can become good soil (Mark 4:20) to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)

A closed heart cannot. Even when people honor God with their lips, hard hearts stay far from Him. (Isaiah 29:13) A closed heart bites with such stubbornness and clamps shut so tightly that it leads to truth decay. Without openness to God’s mercy and grace, the human heart is hopeless. (Mark 7:21-23)

Hardness of heart hides so effectively and is so deceptive that most hardhearted people have no idea that their heart is made of stone. (Ezekiel 36:26) A hard heart prevents people from having a deep, personal, ongoing relationship with God.

A broken heart is painful, but it can help a person open up to, experience, and enjoy the wonderful presence of God. A hard heart alienates people from the life of God. (Ephesians 4:18)

If you neglect to cultivate tenderness of heart, your heart will naturally be hard. (Jeremiah 17:9) An open, tender, and caring heart is strong and courageous. A closed, hard, and angry heart is hiding in fear. (1 John 4:18)

Dry eyes are often a sign of a hard heart. Honesty, (Ephesians 4:15) humility, (2 Chronicles 7:14) openness, (1 John 1:7) and vulnerability (Galatians 2:20) are keys that can open a hard heart. Without the living water (John 7:38-39) of tenderhearted Spirit-led discipleship, (John 13:35) Christianity is easily shipwrecked. (1 Timothy 1:18-19)

A nation full of people with hard hearts is a nation in trouble. Let Jesus soften your heart. The USA and other nations have plenty of crackpots, but far too few people who allow Jesus to crack and soften their heart so that His living water (John 7:38-39) can freely flow from within them.

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People Who Flow And Glow With Love

Posted on November 24, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
Who are your current most favorite people?
View all responses

My favorite people are people who flow and glow with heart-felt love, kind words, and caring actions. I love people who overflow with living water.

Living water causes Christians to love one another and unites them heart-to-heart as one in the Spirit. Bottled water divides Christians and scatters them into hundreds of thousands of denominations and nondenominational churches worldwide, each one acting independently and disagreeing with the others (often with hostility) about many things.

Living water is the risen Jesus Christ freely flowing in your heart and releasing rivers of His presence and the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) from deep inside of you. Bottled water is religion with its talks, rituals, divisiveness, controls, pride, and expectations.

Christians too often treat Jesus — the living water of Christ in you — like a plastic bottle of water. Bottled water is completely contained and controlled. It is opened and closed. At times it is carried around and other times it is set aside and ignored. Bottled water is sometimes sipped, sometimes gulped, and sometimes even tossed aside.

Living water, however, is completely different from bottled water. Living water freely flows without human controls. Attempts to control living water will quench and slow down its flow. Dams will even shut it down. (1 Thessalonians 5: 19)

Lectures or teachings about living water don’t satisfy the hunger and thirst (Matthew 5:6) in a human soul. Living water needs to be experienced not explained. “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8) Jesus said: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.” (John 7:37)

Jesus offers to release “rivers of living water” from within your “inner most being.” (John 7:38) He doesn’t invite you to a religious meeting to hear another theological lecture about Him.

Without the living water of Spirit-led discipleship Christianity is easily shipwrecked. It’s not enough to hear religious talks. Instead learn to jump into and be freely carried along day and night by the inner flowing of the living water of Christ in you. Let the world see Christ living in and consistently flowing through you so that they can truly know that Jesus is sent from God. (John 17:23)

Jesus alive,
The Living Word,
Needs to be heard.
It’s not enough
To hear lectures
And conjectures
On the subject
Of religion.

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My Best Friend Isn’t an Animal

Posted on November 23, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite animals?
View all responses

Pets are wonderful. Animals are amazing. However, my best friend isn’t an animal. My best friend is an invisible person who lives and works inside of me.

“This is what the disciples of Jesus do. They put down pretense, confess their ignorance, and ask one another questions in order to grow in their faith and understanding.” –JD Walt

This is how Paul describes the disciple making process that Christ-followers need to engage in: “When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.” (1 Corinthians 14:26) “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” (Psalm 107:2)

People’s testimonies about “the blood of the Lamb” are so powerful that they overcome the devil (Revelation 12:11) and his temptations. (1 Corinthians 10:13) It’s time for the body of Christ to quit focusing on the same person’s teaching every week and instead to begin to train and release all of God’s people to openly testify about Jesus as they are led and empowered by the Spirit! (Acts 1:8)

Then Christ-followers can begin to hear what God’s Spirit declares in and through one another. (1 Thessalonians 5:11) They can become openhearted friends living in intimate community with one another and with the risen Jesus working in and through each other. They can train one another how to listen to Jesus, how to be friends with Him, and how to hang out with Him night and day.

True Christianity isn’t a religion. It’s a heart-to-heart friendship with the risen Jesus.

Religious people like to ask:
“Where do you go to church?”
But I prefer to ask:
“What do you and Jesus do together?”
Or even:
“What’s your favorite thing to do with Jesus?

Here are some things that I love to do with Jesus:

  • Listen to Him.
  • Do what He tells me to.
  • Talk to Him.
  • Read the Bible with Him.
  • Sing to Him.
  • Thank Him.
  • Worship and praise Him.
  • Walk with Him.
  • Write with Him.
  • Tell people what He tells me.
  • Focus on and enjoy His presence day and night.
  • Do everything that I do with Him.

What has the Godman Jesus (John 1:1-14) done for you?

When you were born
Christ gave you a lot.
Appreciate
And celebrate
What you were given
And what you got!

At birth you were gifted with and received most if not all of these things . . .

  • Eyes to see,
  • Ears to hear,
  • A nose to smell,
  • A tongue to taste,
  • Hands to work with,
  • Legs to stand on,
  • Feet to walk with,
  • Arms to reach with,
  • A heart that beats,
  • Lungs that breathe,
  • Conscious awareness,
  • A mind to think with,
  • The ability to learn a language,
  • Someone to feed and clothe you,
  • People to care about you,
  • The ability to communicate and express yourself,
  • The opportunity to experience life,
  • The capacity to enjoy being alive,
  • An awareness that someone created you,
  • The potential to be a benefit to others,
  • The capability to care deeply about people,
  • A conscience to guide you to inner peace,
  • A period of time to be alive,
  • The invitation to be a friend of Jesus,
  • And so much more!
    What are you doing with all of that?
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Soaring Above the Mountains

Posted on November 22, 2025 by Steve Simms

Life can give us lots of problems and many difficult mountains to climb. When life does that to me, I like to soar above them by hang gliding with Jesus.

Abide and Hang Glide!

To learn to glide
And how to ride
With the Spirit
As your true guide
Begin to reside
And to abide
In Jesus Christ.
(John 15:1-5)

Let the Bible direct you to God’s launch site. (John 3:30) Then spread your wings of hope (Psalm 2:5) and take a leap of faith. You can rely on the mighty rushing wind of the Spirit to fill you (Acts 2:1-4) and to lift you higher than you can imagine. (Ephesians 3:20) If you’re tired of being swept along in the wrong direction, (Galatians 5:19-21) let Jesus always be the wind beneath your wings.

Don’t just wing your way through life. Be uplifted. Glide with the moving of God the Holy Spirit in your heart. Humble yourself. Jump into God’s wind (John 3:8) and let Him lift you up. (1 Peter 5:6)

Christ’s joy is anti-gravity. (John 15:11) Hang-glide with the risen Jesus. (1 Corinthians 15:4) Catch the inner updraft of His Spirit and joyfully soar like an eagle (Isaiah 40:31) as you ride with the inner leadings of His Spirit. (Romans 8:14)

It’s important for Christians to learn to be individually led by the Holy Spirit. It’s also important that we learn to assemble together (Hebrews 12:2) to worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23) and to minister to one another (1 Corinthians 14:26) as we are corporately led by the Spirit.

My favorite church service rarely happens. It is when the preacher loses the control of the meeting, and the Holy Spirit takes over.

If you are wondering about the picture on this post, I wrote a book about Black History and as I researched it, I was amazed at how African Americans survived and overcame the cruel horrors they were subjected to in the USA. Multitudes of them relied on the risen Jesus to get through all the evil they were put through. Their faith greatly inspired me! To learn more Google: Off The RACE Track–From Color-Blind to Color-Kind.

Posted in abide in the Vine, hang gliding, hope, spiritual growth, spiritual guidance | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Nothing Tops This!

Posted on November 21, 2025 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your family’s top 3 favorite meals?
View all responses

Jesus allowed God the Father to live and to work in Him. (John 14:10) Now Jesus wants to live and to work inside of you. (Colossians 1:27)

Will you persistently surrender to the risen Jesus and always make room for Him to be your Lord and your God? (John 20:28) Will you let Jesus constantly lead you by His Spirit? (Romans 8:14) If so, He will manifest and demonstrate His presence in and through you by empowering you to outwardly do the works that you allow Him to do inside of you. (John 14:12)

One way that Jesus works in people today is by you allowing the writings of His earliest disciples (collected in the Bible) to burn in your heart (Luke 24:32) and to effectively work in you. (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Another way is by you allowing Him to speak directly to your heart (John 10:27) and to personally lead you from within by His Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)

Paul put it this way. “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12) To do the works of God it is essential that you let the Godman (Jesus) unceasingly live and work within you. (John 15:5)

Let nothing come between you and the presence of the risen Jesus (Acts 4:12) — no person, no ministry, no technique, no doctrine, no name, no organization, no church, no pastor, no strategy, no plan, no teaching, no sermon, no nation, no distraction! Jesus said: “Come unto Me,” not come unto something or someone else. (Matthew 11:28)

Jesus said: “Follow Me.” (Mark 1:17) Follow no one and nothing that doesn’t point you to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and cause you to hunger and thirst (Matthew 5:6) for more of His Presence. Ever and fully surrender to the love of Jesus.

Let Christ’s love overflow from your inner most being (John 7:38-39) with kindness, joy, peace, patience, and all the rest of the fruit of His Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) touching every person you encounter both in person and through media. Let Jesus display and demonstrate His love by freely expressing Himself through your words, your actions, and your emotions to everyone you come across.

Lay down and walk away from the love of power. Let Jesus work deeply within you to release the unending flow of the present-day reality of His Presence and His love from your innermost being. (John 14:34-35)

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