Reproductive Rights?

Posted on July 25, 2024 by Steve Simms

Reproductive Rights?

There is nothing
“Reproductive”
About taking
Prenatal life.
It’s destructive.

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My Body

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Steve Simms

My body has been marvelously and wonderfully assembled from more than 30 trillion living cells each one intricately designed and incredibly structured. My body is an astonishing gift that I have been given to live in, to take care of, and to use to do good and to serve others and to glorify God.

My body is my home away from my eternal home. It’s my earth suit that I wear during my time on this planet. “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”

I don’t live in my body alone. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Jesus said: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Many years ago, I opened the door. Now this Bible verse applies to me: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Jesus predicted that the ancient Jewish temple where the manifest presence of God stayed behind a veil in the Holy of Holies would be completely destroyed. When Jesus died that veil was torn from top to bottom. A few years later the Roman army leveled the temple to the ground in 70 AD. Now the manifest presence of God lives in the innermost being of His children who have opened the door and allowed Jesus in the person of the Holy Spirit to come and live their heart and to lead them from within. “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

Although Christ now lives in me, my body still has a rebellious nature and tries to get me to turn away from Jesus and do what I want to do. By regularly reading and daily applying the Bible in my life I’ve learned that I need to follow Paul’s example: “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Therefore, I’m continually learning and constantly training to be led by the Spirit, not by my own desires.

The human body (which includes the astonishing human brain) is the most marvelous organism on earth. However, the invisible person who inhabits that body is infinitely more marvelous. That inner unseen person has a choice — to seek to draw near and surrender moment by moment to the living God, or to ignore Him.

Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament said: “I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” O that all people would begin to do that moment by moment.

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I Attempt to Avoid Making and Hearing Accusations

Posted on July 23, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What strategies do you use to maintain your health and well-being?
View all responses

“We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him. By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him. The other Jews joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were true.” –Acts 24:5-9. (A very few years later in 70 AD the Jewish temple and all of Jerusalem were leveled to the ground by the Roman army.)

Last night it came to me that I was to write about accusations this morning. I wasn’t comfortable with that so throughout the night I tried to think about something else to write about, but nothing would come to me. Then this morning I came to a blog that I read regularly and saw the Scripture above with the word “accusation.” So I came back into alignment with what I felt prompted to write about last night — one thought at a time.

A society caught up in and swept along by the distractions of angry, unproven accusations cannot long endure.

When accusations are repeatedly made and boldly asserted without solid evidence people will believe and repeat them whether they are true or not.

Often it is the people whose arguments are the weakest who make the loudest accusations.

Accusations aren’t proof, no matter how confidently they’re stated.

The people who resort to unproven accusations are often the guilty ones.

It’s easier to discredit other people’s ideas with smear tactics than it is to promote your own case on its own merit.

If you don’t know the full story, there’s a strong possibility that your accusations are false.

Accusations made by people who refuse to humbly admit their own wrongdoing are usually false.

When a person verbally abuses people until they get mad and return his insults, he usually acts like a victim and says that he’s the one who is being mistreated.

Unproven accusations are often an attempt to divert people’s attention from your own guilt.

Accusations don’t prove anything. Without strong evidence they are only drama that distracts from the truth.

Be slow to believe accusations. There’s a good chance that they aren’t true.

People often use unsubstantiated accusations to try to hide their own insecurity from other people.

The spirit of accusation is the devil, and the Bible specifically calls him the accuser.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t accuse. He knows the full story about each one of us humans. He calls us to His presence and compassionately woos us to turn away from our darkness and deception and toward the honesty and humility of God’s Light.

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I’m Going to See the King (Here’s How I Received My Free Ticket)

Posted on July 22, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What are your future travel plans?
View all responses

Someday I’m going to go see the King of Kings face to face. Here’s how I got my free ticket (and had my guilt and shame removed so I can be at peace in His presence).

Ending guilt requires something much more powerful than forgiving ourselves. It requires God’s forgiveness. God’s forgiveness can’t be earned. It’s a free gift that God offers to whoever will receive it. How is it received?

1) Humbly and sincerely acknowledge that you desperately need God’s forgiveness and directly ask Him to forgive you. A Pharisee bragged to God about his self-righteousness, but a tax collector prayed, “God, have mercy on me a sinner.” Jesus said about the tax collector: “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

2) Renounce, resist, and reject your sinful thoughts, behaviors, and temptations and rely on God’s forgiveness instead of on your own efforts to forgive yourself. Jesus calls that repentance. He says, “Repent and believe (rely on) the Gospel.” (See Mark 1:15.)

3) Let the awareness of the cosmic, colossal price that God paid for your forgiveness by giving His only Son as the sacrifice for your sins and the for the sins of the world, sink deeply into your heart. (See John 3:16.) Fully trust in and rely on the blood of Jesus, the power of His resurrection, and the reality of “Christ in you” to be sufficient to wash away your sins and to set you free from them.

4) Surrender the rest of your life to the resurrected Jesus. Open your heart and mind to a beautiful relationship with Him. Let Him continually woo you and lead you by His glorious daily presence and amazing eternal love.

5) Forgive everyone who has ever done you wrong. Jesus put it this way: “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

Why trust in the weak human concept self-forgiveness? Instead prepare the way of the Lord in your heart and your life so that you can freely receive Christ’s powerful, everlasting forgiveness. That’s the only way to truly and totally be free from guilt.

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Changing Christianity from a Sunday Lecture Series into Live Daily Demonstrations of the Presence of the Risen Jesus

Posted on July 21, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What would you change about modern society?
View all responses

If I could change one thing about modern society, I would change Christianity from a tradition-bound Sunday morning lecture series into live daily demonstrations of the presence of the resurrected Jesus Christ. I would change it from a religion into a lifestyle. That would change everything for the better!

Jesus wasn’t born to give the world another religion. He was born to continually live and work in in human hearts and through His inner presence empower people to live a Spirit-led lifestyle.

I’ve always grown a lot closer to the Lord by listening to the Holy Spirit speak in my heart than I have by listening to sermons. Try it for yourself. Be quite and listen to His still small voice.

There is so much more to Christianity than going to church! There’s so much more that we can do to grow as Christians.

We can listen to the risen Jesus speak in our heart and do what He tells us. We can read the Scriptures and let them burn in our heart like a love letter from God. We can meet together and spontaneously pour out our heart in adoration to Jesus. We can pray over each other. We can gather to obey the 50+ New Testament “one another” commandments. We can rejoice in the Lord together and we can weep with those who weep. We can tell each what God is saying to us and what He is doing in our life. We can look for hurting people, listen to them, and compassionately serve them. We daily can demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit with everyone we meet. We can love our enemies, pray for those who despitefully use us, and bless those who curse us.

Christians like to organize independent religious denominations, churches, and “ministries” that have no outside accountability (even though Jesus prayed that His entire body be united as one). Then they proclaim that those independent organizations and their leaders are the official religious authorities. That causes people to believe that they have to belong to one of the worldwide tens of thousands of them in order to have a relationship with Jesus. The Bible says that Christians need to meet together, but it doesn’t tell us to organize ourselves into an ever-increasing number of self-governing tribes, clans, and establishments.

“The Resurrected Christ”

When Christ in you
Is your hope of glory
Christianity is
More than a nice story
Or a moral allegory.
It is auditory.
You hear Jesus speaking
In your innermost being.
He starts working inside you
As His laboratory.
Christianity’s not
Just informatory.
It’s reformatory!
Are you letting Christ change you
From glory to glory
And daily make you new?

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I Listen to the Most Uplifting Sounds!

Posted on July 20, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What do you listen to while you work?
View all responses

I listen to the most uplifting sounds both when I work and when I rest. For example, I woke up this morning with these words sounding in my mind and heart: “Rely, comply, and testify! Train yourself to continually rely on the living Jesus, to comply with His will, and to testify about how He’s working in your life. If you’re still here on planet earth God’s got things for you to do. Let Him lead you.”

There’s no sound around like the sound of Christ’s inner voice. An old song says:

“He (Jesus) speaks, and the sound of His voice
Is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He gave to me
Within my heart is ringing.”

Without daily dependence on the presence and grace of the risen Jesus and ongoing compliance with His will, religion is just an empty shell. Spirit-led Christianity is a powerful alternative to institution-controlled Christianity. See Romans 8:14.

You can train yourself to hear the inner voice of Jesus. Go somewhere that is quiet (like a garden or an isolated room) and turn your attention to Christ. Ask Him, “Jesus, will You please speak to me and help me hear Your voice?” Then still your mind, calmly wait, and notice what begins to happen in your heart. A sweetness will appear within you ringing in your heart and sounding out love, forgiveness, mercy, and healing as it brings you hope.

In the midst of all your troubles and frustrations there is a way out. Jesus is the way to a beautiful life. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Even if you’ve not be able to find hope anywhere else, you can find it in Jesus. Take some time to hear the sound of His voice in your heart and lose your discouragement in His presence. True Christianity is spread when hearts humbly open up to the risen Jesus and to one another.

God spoke about Jesus and said: “This is my beloved Son. Hear Him.” Jesus warned us to “Beware of false prophets.” If we’re not humbly listening to and obeying what the risen Jesus is saying in our heart, in our conscience, and through the Bible, we can easily be deceived.

The living Jesus is my Savior. I don’t need another one. I rely on Him alone to save me.

Humility has been 
Shoved off the stage.
Now that egos roar
Will anyone adore 
The risen Jesus, 
Weep in His presence,
And lay down their rage?
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Savoring the Most Comforting Taste

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s your go-to comfort food?
View all responses

I love to savor the most comforting taste that I’ve ever experienced. One way I do that is by eating and savoring a bit of bread as I think about and ponder a special moment in the Bible when Jesus shared bread and wine with His disciples shortly before He was crucified. The Bible also says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” God can be experienced not with the physical sense of taste but with the tasting of the heart through faith-based vulnerability.

God didn’t design Christianity to be forced on people. He designed it to win people’s hearts by humbly demonstrating Christ’s love. Christianity isn’t a club to beat people into better behavior. It’s spiritual awakening that supernaturally changes people from within. True Christianity is spread when hearts humbly open up to the risen Jesus and to one another.

Jesus showed how His followers are called to fight their battles when He laid down His life and asked God to forgive those who hung Him on the Cross. That’s faith-based vulnerability.

If Christians aren’t fighting with the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) they’ve picked up the wrong weapons! Spirit-led Christians fight their battles with love and with all the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. The essential leadership that a Christian needs is the leadership of the Holy Spirit. No other leader is essential. (See Romans 8:14.)

No mere human being should ever be looked at like a god. America needs some humble voices like Martin Luther King’s, Mahatma Ghandi’s, and Mother Teresa’s who will kindly, yet boldly and courageously speak the truth in love.

True Christianity
Isn’t a Sunday show.
It’s the Spirit’s overflow
That rises up to show
The reality of Christ’s love.

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Making My Mind Mind Me

Posted on July 18, 2024 by Steve Simms
Daily writing prompt
What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?
View all responses

I love challenges. If a game (or if life) is too easy I get bored with it. I love the daily challenge of making my mind mind me. My mind is stubborn and wants to do whatever it wants, even when my free will doesn’t want it to do or think something. I want my mind to align with Jesus, but it continually resists.

One of my favorite things to do is to take my mental control panel and strive to make my mind line up with the will of God. Therefore, my free will and my mind are often in conflict and engaged in a type of inner warfare.

The Bible talks about that. It says: “We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5. The real fight between good and evil isn’t in the social, political, or military arenas. It’s not primarily about overcoming and banishing physical enemies. The true battle between right and wrong is about each person overcoming and banishing the evil thoughts, feelings, and desires in his own mind and heart.

It does me little good to call other people evil and blame them for my problems when my number one problem is the evil in my own heart. If I’m not willing to work to fix myself, saying that other people are evil and are causing my problems is a cop out.

For me picking up and effectively using the control panel of my mind isn’t a game. It’s a game changer. I do it throughout each day because it pushes aside the evil that is within me and prepares the way for Christ who lives in me to step up and release His goodness in and through me. When that happens, life is so gloriously exciting that it floods me with the joy of the Lord!

Who or what is controlling your mind? Think about it.

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Jesus is God’s Beloved Son. Hear Him!

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Steve Simms

The Lord is near.
Tune up your ears,
So you can hear
What Christ in you
Is saying to you.

Biblical Christianity is about the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ and the kingdom (government) of God. (See Mark 1:1 and Matthew 24:14.) When Christians let their daily focus drift away from Jesus and what He has done and is now doing and to establish His government and authority inside the heart of each one of His followers by living and working and speaking within them, they get off track and get trapped in “another gospel.” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Accept no substitute for the good news of Jesus and His kingdom within you. Let Jesus live and speak in you and be your Lord so that moment-by-moment you seek to surrender to His presence by listening for and obeying His promptings in your heart.

Christ’s sheep hear His voice. His voice will be aligned with righteousness, holiness, truth, humility, and purity, with the 9 characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit, and with the Bible. If a thought enters your heart that so aligns, that’s the still small voice of Jesus, the beloved Son of God. Hear Him.

If Christ is living inside of you then you have spiritual insights and experiences that you need to tell people about. Ask God to remind you about what you have seen and heard the risen Jesus say and do. Ask Him for the courage to share it with other people. Then do it!

The Bible tells Christians to “speak the truth in love.” If we are not absolutely certain that something is true, we shouldn’t speak it. And if we are certain of its truth, we should speak it with humility and kindness.

Jesus can touch, heal, and transform hurting human hearts. Politics can’t.

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Discovering and Uncovering the Deeply Hidden Christian Unity

Posted on July 16, 2024 by Steve Simms

If Christians will always put and keep the spotlight on the resurrected Jesus, humbly align with His will, demonstrate and proclaim His presence, and lovingly wave His banner, we will discover supernatural heart-to-heart unity that we are ignoring. Instead, through the centuries we have divided into tens of thousands of denominations and hundreds of thousands of independent churches. We’ve taken political and religious sides. We’ve killed each other in the name of God over doctrinal differences and in the name of patriotic warfare, and we’ve even forcibly held each other in life-long slavery, Christians selling Christians like animals. (Even today Christians are killing Christians in Ukraine and in other places because their loyalty to their country or ideology is greater than their loyalty to Jesus.)

A casual observer can see that even today Christians see each other as competitors, threats, and even enemies. Yet Jesus prayed that we would be one, even as the Father and He are one. What happened?

I believe that God answered that prayer. If you are a Christ-follower, you and I are one in Christ, even if we openly deny it by our words, actions, and independent religious institutions. If the risen Jesus is truly living inside of me and actually living inside of you, there’s no greater unity than that! How desperately we need to acknowledge, embrace, appreciate and honor God’s wonderful gift of Christian unity! I frequently experience that gift of spiritual unity as I open my heart to and compassionately interact with all kinds of Christians who see things differently than I do. You can too!

O God, forgive us that we Christians have ignored the amazing way that you have joined us together heart-to-heart through the death and resurrection of Jesus and His coming to live inside each one of us through the Holy Spirit. Remove our spiritual blindness, our arrogance and pride. Help us recognize and deeply feel the amazing unity of the Spirit so that we can and will love one another across the lines that continually divide humanity and so that we can be a light to each other and to this world of darkness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

There’s such joy in Christian unity. Don’t miss out on it! Google: The Joy of Early Christianity.

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