When you resist
The inner rivers
Of the Holy Spirit,
You can cause them
To be stuck, stymied,
Stalled and stagnant
Inside you.
Instead, prepare the way
For the Lord’s rivers
So they can freely flow
In and through you.
(“Quench not the Spirit.”)

Sermon-hearing often
Leads to aspiration
An inner wish
To live a better life,
But seldom to application,
Doing whatever it takes
To turn away from all sin
And wholeheartedly begin
To follow and obey
The living Jesus
Every day.
(“Repent.”)

Religious aspiration is sweet and sentimental, but it often lacks radical and ongoing life-altering repentance. Discipleship application embraces sacrifice and self-denial and produces dedicated Christ-followers who put and keep the risen Jesus first in their life.

Sentimental religious aspiration can easily be a cover up for doubt. Dedicated discipleship application, however, will demonstrate the reality of the living Jesus and knock the ubt off of doubt. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only.”