Tag: Jesus

LORD, Let me Serve You

June 10, 2024 /

The book of 2nd Corinthians calls Christians to examine ourselves. And that’s what I tried to do in exploring this new poem I wrote. It’s a poem of written repentance. I pray many are blessed by it.
-Leanne

My God, why do I serve you…?
Is it for my own glory,
or for my tears
and anxious fears
that through the years
have wore me?

My God, why do I serve you…?
Is it because I want
a miracle of health and wealth
that I covet
and long to flaunt?

My God, why do I serve you…?
What is my inmost aim,
when I cling to pride
and toss aside
commandments to my shame?

My LORD, please let me serve you.
Examine
my sickened heart
call me to seek
from a soul, meek,
and then set me apart.

For all my dreams are barren now,
like clouds without the rain.
And as if for some dead sacred cow
my efforts lie in vain.

LORD, strip me of my comforts:
all sheer and stain silk;
and my soul save
through a new crave
for the meat and not just milk.

LORD, shine your light
into my night
through words that guide and beckon…
that I may see
what needs to be
wrestled with and reckoned.

Then, LORD, let me serve You…
while to you, I draw near,
with a heart refined
in your good time
as the thirsting, panting deer.

And, LORD, let me serve you…
let me walk in all your ways,
for they are higher.
Let my desire
be tried by fire
in all the coming days.

Yes, LORD, let me serve you…
from motives pure and true
that my spirit, poor,
may know You more
and may be reborn, anew!

-M. Leanne Todd

References from the Holy Bible:
Line 10 – Exodus 20:17
Line 14 – Proverbs 16:18
Line 18 – 2nd Corinthians 13:5
Line 19 – Jeremiah 17:9
Line 20 – Matthew 7:7-8
Line 21 – Matthew 5:5
Line 22 – Jeremiah 1:1, Colossians 3:12-17, 1 Peter 3:15-17
Line 24 – Proverbs 25:14
Line 25 – Exodus 32:1-35
Line 26 – Ecclesiastes 1:1-2
Line 29 – Psalm 62:1
Line 31 – 1 Corinthians 3:2
Line 32 – John 8:12
Line 34 – Psalm 119:105
Line 35 – Matthew 13:16
Line 37 – Romans 6:11
Line 39 – James 4:8
Line 40 – Isiah 48:10
Line 42 – Psalm 42:1
Line 44 – Deuteronomy 10:12
Line 45 – Isaiah 55:9
Line 47 – Malachi 3:3
Line 51 – Matthew 5:3-4
Line 52 – 1 John 2:4
Line 53 – John 3:16, 2 Corinthians 5:17

The Newness of Life

May 25, 2024 /

The days were long,

and I was so small—

the insignificance of it all.

Doldrums loomed.

Joy had no room.

All efforts were naught and folly.

And despite warm sand,

as children ran,

nothing could lift my melancholy.

It hung as a foreboding fog

that choked each pensive breath.

And there was no bliss

in that abyss,

only waste and grief and death.

But from that night

I cried for Light

in the ruined aftermath,

and sin I owned

through wordless groans,

praying God might stay His wrath.

And that He did,

because, you see—

my Advocate drew near…

and to His face

I turned

for grace

with no more brokenness or fear.

In Him

all peace is magnified.

In Him

I rise,

absolved.

In Him

the peril of my sin

is ultimately resolved.

So fog, it cleared

as Jesus neared.

He broke its grasping hold.

And I bask in His Light

once pined for in night,

knowing He is in control.

All doldrums gone

and joy resounds,

for all these wounds

have now been bound.

Days are spent in song

and hope—it stands so tall,

for my soul’s made new

as one of the few, oh!

The vitality of it all!

References from the Bible Holy

Line 3 – Ecclesiastes 1:1-2

Line 16 – John 8:12

Line 19 – Romans 8:26

Line 23 – 1 John 2:1, James 4:8

Line 25 – Acts 3:19-21

Line 26 – Hebrews 4:16

Line 29 – Philippians 4:7

Line 42 – John 15:11

Line 44 – Psalm 147:3

Line 47 – Romans 6:4

Line 48 – Matthew 7:13-14

The Greater Grace

April 9, 2024 /

Each time I fail

it haunts me,

as I smolder in the ashes…

of what once was a conviction;

now burned out

as all hope crashes.

But there’s no time to wallow

in defeat or pity’s snare.

Though dreams implode

And strength erodes,

I’ll rally to cast my care.

Though never far from broken

and crushed in all despair…

I know the one who saved me

will not let me linger there!

He is the springing fountain

when seeds

cannot find rain!

And he’s the root of David

to this branch not graft in vain!

He is the light of the world 

when my faith is dim with doubt,

that beckons to repentance

like an oasis in the drought!

He is the bright morning star,

like a beacon, on the sea…

that guides my course

with unseen force

demanding all of me!

So even in my failure,

one point is underscored…

my sin is never greater 

than the grace 

of Christ, the Lord!

References from the Holy Bible:

Line 3 – Isaiah 44:20

Line 8 – 2 Corinthians 7:10

Line 11 – 1 Peter 5:7

Line 13 – Psalm 34:18

Line 14 – Acts 4:10-12

Line 15 – 2 Colossians 2:13-14

Line 16 – Jeremiah 17:3, John 7:37-38

Line 17 – Matthew 13:8

Line 19 – Revelation 22:16

Line 20 – Romans 11:16-24

Line 21 – John 8:12

Line 24 – Isaiah 44:3

Line 25 – Revelation 22:16

Line 27 – Psalms 32:8

Line 28 – Hebrews 11:1

Line 29 – Matthew 22:37-38

Line 33 – Romans 5:15-21

Loved

April 9, 2024 /

When I am broken,

forlorn and numb,

from all that this life throws me…

I take refuge

in the Fount’s deluge

and trust You, God, Who knows me.

Christ Jesus, You’re my shelter—

my calm in every storm.

Your Lordship role

restores my soul

when You call the clouds to form.

The Silversmith,

You light Your flame

and in it

casts this precious ore…

then pelt and beat

through searing heat

until in it

Your reflection shines, galore.

The Gardener,

You prune Your branch.

You do not neglect how it fares…

until fruit sprouts, blooming,

from Your faithful grooming

for You are the good Gardener Who cares.

The Potter,

You form Your clay,

but reserve the right to destroy it…

each vessel in His hand,

by Your command

for the use in which You employ it.

So let me wrestle like Jacob

for Your blessing,

even if I must be maimed.

Grant me grace to stay

and know Your Way

that I might proclaim Your name!

Give a glimpse of Your glory

that I may convey Your story—

set me, like Moses, in the cleft…

So I will not roam,

but will have a home

keep me right, that I will not be left.

Knowing this

I will count it all joy,

and in suffering I will not faint.

Let me persevere

at length to hear

“Well done,” before the saints.

References from the Holy Bible:

Line 4 – Psalm 46:1; 71:3

Line 5 – Isaiah 55:1

Line 6 – Psalm 139:1-5

Line 7 – Psalm 91:1-16

Line 8 – Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-41, Luke 8:22-25

Line 10 – Psalm 23:1-3

Line 11 – Exodus 13:22

Line 12 – Malachi 3:3

Line 13 – Hebrews 12:28-29

Line 19 – Genesis 1:26-27

Line 20 – John 15:1-8

Line 23 – Galatians 5:22-23

Line 26 – Isaiah 64:8

Line 28 – Jeremiah 18:1-4

Line 32 – Genesis 32:24-28

Line 36 – John 14:6

Line 37 – Psalm 105:1-6

Line 40 – Exodus 33:12-23

Line 42 – Matthew 6:20

Line 43 – Matthew 25:31-46

Line 45 – James 1:2-4

Line 46 – Isaiah 40:31

Line 47 – Hebrews 10:36

Line 48 – Matthew 13:16

Line 49 – Matthew 25:23

Act of God

March 10, 2024 /

When everywhere I look

there is

nothing but defeat,

and when the scorch is blazing

from the desert’s dying heat…

when skies withhold

the quench of rain

from thirsting plants so tender,

when hope is like a barren field

held captive to its lender…

when every time

my eyes

descry

the mountains

I can’t move,

when even faith is faint and weak

and, God, I cannot prove…

the darkness closes in, but

I will

fear not

the night—

with dreams, deferred,

and pain, incurred:

I’ll walk by faith, not sight.

For what’s a desert without heat?

What are storms without the wind?

And what growth’s sustained

or plants remain

without the rain

they send?

Truly, it was in a desert

where our LORD did pine for bread…

but chose to last

throughout His fast

on God’s Sweet Word, instead.

Yes, it was in the storms

where our Savior chose to rest,

knowing He could wake

for glory’s sake

to calm a sea’s dark, savage breast.

And it was on a bludgeoned cross—

a scandal, shame, disgrace;

that Christ took up

and drank the cup

of wrath

against our race…

of a people and our fallen state,

the thrall of broken laws:

this yoke,

He broke,

like light – He spoke

from darkness just because…

He saw that it was good

to let Himself be known-

part night from day

and make a Way

for our inward, wordless groans.

Let them cry out,

let earth give shout!

Through famine, quake, and fire…

that seasons bring

for death’s no sting

or souls it can acquire…

when even in our suffering,

we will have rejoiced and reveled…

knowing in the flood

of God’s Own blood–

our debt of sin’s been leveled.

References from the Holy Bible:

Line 20 – Isaiah 41:10

Line 24 – 2nd Corinthians 5:7

Line 35 – Matthew 4:1-4

Line 40 – Mark 4:35-41

Line 42 – Hebrews 12:1-4

Line 43 – Luke 9:23

Line 44 – Matthew 26:39

Line 48 – Isaiah 24:5

Line 49 – Deuteronomy 28:48, Lamentations 1:14

Line 51 – Genesis 1:3

Line 53 – Genesis 1:4

Line 54 – Ezekiel 38:23

Line 55 – Genesis 1:5

Line 56 – John 14:6

Line 57 – Romans 8:26-27

Line 59 – Psalm 66:4

Line 62 – 1st Corinthians 15:55

Line 65 – Romans 5:1-5

Line 68 – Colossians 2:13-14

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