People of Purpose

    Truthfully there are some days where I barely can get out of bed. I have to coach myself like I'm playing football; and what I really mean is, I have to coach myself like I'm playing football for the Lions. Previously in life I've been guilty for calling off of work for being "sick", but really it was just because I was overwhelmed with feelings of depression and hopelessness. I've had thoughts that life is not worth living. I've had thoughts of leaving. I have had thoughts of sinning. If you haven't felt worthless then let's just call you what you are - a liar. Ha-ha. I am positive that almost everybody has felt worthless at least once.

    I am positive that we've all tried to cover up how we really feel inside with things whether it be weed, alcohol, buying an excessive amount of new products, blotting out our thoughts with music, or whatever else helps us to not deal with the pain that we really feel inside. It can be hard to see your purpose when you're so focused on the pain, or when you're so focused on internalizing the pain. But the day we seek God for healing is the day we can see our purpose through clear glass. We start to look to God for our identity instead of looking to our feelings of illegitimacy. Wake up. Your designer clothes can't define you. Your sports abilities can't define you. Your radical rap skills surely can't define you.

    If you think they do then you must know that eventually your clothes will get holey (not holy) and frankly, the body that your designer clothes are cladding will get wrinkly and you won't think you look as good in them as you did in your youth. Then when your body gets wrinkly, your bones get brittle, and your b-ball skills are going to drastically dwindle. Then when your body gets wrinkly, your bones get brittle, your voice is definitely going to start to diminish and in reality, your hip hop is going to start to sound like Frank Sinatra. These may be gifts and talents that you have now, but what's your reason behind doing them? You can be making a huge difference, but if you're not doing it with the right heart, a heart of love for others, then it means nothing.

    God gave you a purpose and it is up to you to fulfill it. In order for us to fulfill it He must repeatedly refine us so that it is not our purpose that defines us, but His purpose and who we are as children of promise. If our purpose ultimately defines us, instead of God then we are going to be focused on the wrong thing. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." I want to encourage you today to keep hanging onto the words God has spoken to you and hanging onto the words that have been prophesied over you that you're still waiting to see come to pass. In 1 Kings 9 God had made a covenant with Solomon that if Solomon walked in uprightness and kept His statutes then God would establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. In other words, if Solomon did his part then God would do His. Long story short, and I encourage you to read it for yourselves; Solomon did not obey the Lord.

    The importance of obedience is great. Deuteronomy 28:1 says, "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all of his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth." In other words, obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings curses. A good example of this is the prodigal son taking his father's inheritance, leaving his father, and wasting it on things of this world. If you're living in blatant sin I also want to encourage you to turn from it and to come back home. He's waiting for you. Don't miss out on the things He has in store for your life. I pray that whatever you're pursuing this day is not the world, but the Prince of Peace who has given you these promises.

Cry Of My Heart

Cry Of My Heart

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

Until I reach the promise land

Don't..let go of my hand

Mold me into an iron band

So many temptations I will withstand..

Because of You.

Do you see me here..

Drawing near..

Crying deep oceans,

Tears yearning for more devotion,

Bearing past all my emotions

I keep perse-vering through..

Holding onto You..

 I praise..You past the pain

Because of the sovereignty of Your reign..

Waiting here in the rain..

I'm kneeling amazed.

So come while I wade in the water..

Come and cleanse Your daughter

Come hell or high water

Make me bold like a martyr..
And continue..to author my steps.
 

Doormat Turned Tapestry

    In the past I've had several instances where my family, friends, and some now ex-boyfriends treated me less than the way they would have wanted to be treated. So how could this happen to me? Treat others the way you want to be treated; that's the golden rule, right? Well then we get caught up in the mindset that we should treat them how we want to be treated and that means continually allowing them back into our lives again and again and again and again until we're so broken that we can't even function. We become stuck in a rut, but that's what forgiving someone means, right? Nope.

    God doesn't want you to be a doormat. He doesn't want you to be someone who won't stand up for themselves or someone who doesn't speak truth regarding whatever the situation is at hand. Hypothetically if someone kicked you in the leg over and over and over then eventually you're not going to be able to walk and if you can't walk how are you going to be able to reach the place you were meant to reach?  It's hard to believe someone is truly sorry when they go back to doing the same thing they were doing before. I came across a really great quote today from Booker T. Washington - "You can't hold a man down without staying down with him." Maybe you aren't the person holding someone down, but maybe you're letting someone hold you down and it's keeping you from everything God has for you.

    You may have thought that you were putting them first. At least that was what I was thinking in the situations I've been in, but in reality you're destroying both you and the person who may be (intentionally or unintentionally) keeping you from the gift God wants to give you. Putting others first does not mean letting people walk all over you. You're God's creation. You were made for a greater purpose than being a doormat. You were made as a tapestry. You are an exquisite, rich design that is meant to be cherished, loved, and admired so that you point to the magnificent, omnipotent Creator.

    God doesn't want His daughter or son to be lead down a path that ends in destruction for you and the person who is treating you unfairly. I'm not telling you to not forgive the people in your life who hurt you and I'm not telling you to leave everyone who hurts you behind, but discretion is advised. Keep in mind that your exit from their life could be their entrance into God's kingdom. You are then guarding your heart and letting God deal with that person in a healthy way and in some cases an even more healthy way if they've been relying on you to be the one that heals them. We should, however, always love one another and be gracious even if it means at a distance. I'll leave you with these words: Evaluate closely the relationships you're hanging onto. Forgive, forget, love, and know when to let go of control.

Million Dollar Message

    This message has been on my heart for a while now and now that I have my laptop charger I am able to write to you guys as long as I want. I kind of took having my laptop, let alone my charger for granted instead of being thankful and cherishing that I had one at my fingertips so that I was able to share things with you all so easily. That's when I was noticing a lot of discontent people in my life lately including myself. This is when I decided to really disect it and not on my own understanding obviously because I was right along with them! So I went to look in the "Prosperous Life for Dummies" more commonly known as the Bible lol.

    Thank God He speaks to us through His Word or we'd all be sitting in our own crap, right? Well the Bible speaks about prosperity and God's blessings all throughout! Look at how God had blessed Job with way more than what Job had before he went through life's tests and trials. What a nightmare!? Yet Job still persevered through it all even when everyone from his friends to his family discouraged his faith in God. They saw no reason in living for the very One who created them because a lot of horrible things were happening. Well just like them a lot of us seem to only be content when everything in life is going perfectly, but when things start going in a different direction than we want it to we start to complain about everything we DON'T have instead of focusing on everything we do have and everything that God has blessed us with in our lifetime. This is a simple and silly example, but instead of being thankful for and cherishing the time in my life where I had my laptop charger I was taking it for granted. It seemed like something so small to me when I had it at my fingertips, but when I didn't have it I was whining about it and wishing I had it.

    I really had never thanked God for my laptop. I thanked people. I never really did put any thought into all that I had every day. I sort of breezed through life not even paying attention to these things, but then it took God shaking my life up a little bit to get my undivided attention and to teach me a lesson that I had forgotten once again. I was reminded that the secret isn't in what I have, what I don't have, where I am, where I'm not, how things are happening, or how things are not happening. It's being content in whatever I have or don't have, wherever I am or wherever I'm not, and however things are going or not going. The secret isn't just  in my contentment, but in rejoicing and being thankful through it all. I am positive that every single one of you has something to be thankful for. Are you breathing? Did Jesus die on the cross for your sins? Does God love you? If you're reading this then the answer is obviously yes. So my word for you today is to replace complaints with thanks!

    When we start to give thanks and we persevere in our thankfulness God will give us joy, unspeakable, unexplainable joy. It's the kind of joy that will grasp people's very core and make them wonder why you're "worse" off than them but still so much happier than them. It's that joy of the Lord that you feel that makes you stronger. When you give thanks you're also putting your trust in him. You feel the peace of the Lord because He helps you in your time of need no matter what it may be and I'm not talking about just because you don't have a laptop. I'm talking about any and every situation whether you barely have money to pay your mortgage or you're struggling to put food on the table, whether you're searching for a job or you don't like the one that you have, whether you feel consumed with depression or anxiety, or whether you just simply need to feel that you're loved. It's that very strength that can get you through even the worst of days and through it all He will bless you. If He cares enough to know how many hairs are on top of your head and how many tears that you've cried then He cares enough to help you in your time of need.

Philippians 4:11-13 - "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Nehemiah 8:10 - "For the joy of the Lord is your strength."

Psalm 28:7 - "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song."

My Strength

My Strength

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

It's days like this that I want to climb back into..

Bed,

And give way to the..

End.

Because I feel there's no..

End

When depression's kicking..

In.

 But what keeps me going isn't looking at the now, but the..

End

If I keep on going instead of giving..

In.

The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green..

Pastures.

He heals all the brokenness, bruises, and..

Fractures

Of a wounded heart. 

A..

Preacher. 

A..

Teacher,

He leads me, an undeserving..

Creature

Beside still waters.

He restores my..

Soul.

Replaces the broken with something new and..

Whole.

So that I can get up and enjoy a sunny..

Day.

In actuality any..

Day

The Lord has made.

And when pain comes in the night.

All I have to do is fight

To reach the joy that comes in the..

Morning

And to give sincere thanks in the midst of my..

Mourning.

One Way

One Way

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

 

 

Sometimes we need to fast..

The good things..

 To get back..

 On track..

So that..

Those things can become great..

To remember our first love and not those things that..

We "hate."

 

We don't fight against flesh and blood..

But principalities, rulers of darkness..

A flood..

 Of crud..

Not a tree full of harmless..

 Buds..

Waiting to bloom into something..

 Gorgeous.

 

Where there is no vision..

The people..

 Perish.

When eyes aren't focused on the mission..

We forget His means to..

 Cherish.

 

When things are more than off..

 Kilter..

They start to look more like..

Hitler.

Ugly, disobedient, misdirected..

 Anger..

 In need of a perfect working..

Filter.

 

To change the course of all..

Things..

To lay down one's life completely for our..

King.

To exchange weakening and..

Worrying..

For strengthening..

 Being..

Worthy of..

Rings.

 

 

 

 



Wonderful Counselor

Wonderful Counselor

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

Touches my eyes so I can see.
Takes my hands and shows me what I need.
Touches my heart so I can be freed from my past impurities
And any presence in my life that may be dirty.
He gives me strength to continue to endure
When those evil spirits continue to try to lure.
Those temptations, ha salutations.
He says I'm worth something more.
He tells me I've got something worth living for.
So let me show you to the door.
I don't need you anymore.

Wonderful Counselor,
He directs my steps.
He gives me peace when I start to worry what's next.
When I am weary He gives me rest.
Shows me how to live.
You can read it in the text.
He encourages me to do my best.
"Don't you worry.  I'll take care of the rest."
A little love is all that I need,  but He
Created - Excuse me.
He IS love, the one and only perfect love, the one and only Savior, God.

Love Like Christ

#LoveLikeChrist

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

Not hypothetical

Love...overcomes...

The hardest of obstacles.

Love's...outcome

Promises great harvests...

Even in the hardest.

A love unconditional

Going deeper every day,

Not superficial only on weekdays.

But on weak days it fights to be stronger than before

Instead of giving in deciding you don't want it anymore.

A love that casts out fear was a love that endeared.

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

Love is loyal not looking to find...

Temptations, abominations.

Love is more than a monotone recitation

Or some silly citation.

It's deeper than relation.

Love protects.

It doesn't expect...

Others to be perfect.

But love corrects out of another's benefit.

Love always hopes.

Love always trusts.

Love perseveres...

Love adheres

In sickness and in health,

In poverty and in wealth.

Love never fails.

No matter what it entails

Love will prevail.

Beautiful Desperation

Beautiful Desperation

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

 

I want to keep His face in mind,

The One who died on the cross to save..my life,

I surrender everything..that I have.

I surrender everything..

That I am.

 

I lay down my life

To glorify

 The One who saved me,

The One who bled for me

To be free.

I can't do this on my own,

For it is Him to all I owe.

 

Though I'm weary and burdened,

Tired and worn.

I know the pain doesn't end when you're re-born.

So I dream of heaven where no one mourns.

But I choose to praise Him..in this storm.

 

He is worthy..to be adored

And I find beauty in my desperation

The veil..has been torn,

No more seperation.

So I hope in heaven.

 

A wondrous desitination,

Free from pain.

Though the growth from this rain,

 Is beautiful

So in this life I'll choose to be..joyful.

 

Temptation, What?

    Most of you who read my blog are following me on twitter and joining the movement that is taking place to spread the truth about the enemy's lies and plans to weasel his way into your lives one slimy little finger at a time. I have found that insecurity and greed are often the root problems causing people to fall into sexual sin. You first think your problems are small. A few negative words spoken over your life won't cause too much harm or will it? I've heard several people's stories and even taking my own into account I found that insecurity was the source of their issues. It all starts around; let's say the sixth grade and for some it starts earlier. There are kids making fun of you or your parents are saying you will never mount up to anything and so you make your first mistake. You let those words cut you deep.

    You take them to heart and start looking for acceptance in all the wrong places. We'll use my biggest struggle as an example. In fourth grade I overheard these girls talking about how much fun they had at this birthday party. These were the same girls I invited a month earlier to mine and I felt hurt that I hadn't been invited. I listened into what they were talking about and it was then where I was introduced to masturbation. At nine years old I didn't know what it was, but I then went home to later "experiment" so that I would feel accepted, but as I experimented I learned a new feeling - the feeling of greed. It made ME feel good. I felt remorse after, but I never heard it talked about in the church. As time went on it had become an addiction, an addiction that had a death grip on my life for many, many years. I couldn't sleep without it and as I got older it wasn't satisfying enough for me. I wanted to be loved, loved in all of the wrong places that is.

    All of my relationships started out as a few months of getting to know each other and then that went out the door and the relationships found a new foundation to be built upon - sex. With the first guy I would never let myself go all the way. I still felt remorse. I didn't want that in the relationship, but I couldn't stop it because I was pulled in two different directions. One direction told me this is wrong, the other lied to me saying this is love and that I want to feel "good." As I broke free from that relationship after too many fights and broken hearted nights I eventually found myself in another. It started out innocent like the first, but again a couple months later I was in the same situation as the first and a couple months after that I was in deeper. I felt pressured to give myself away, but as I engaged more and more in sex I began to numb myself to life around me so that I didn't have to feel. As a couple months passed several areas in my life crumbled at my feet. I began to become even more severely depressed than I already was and I was so stressed I developed many sicknesses and I had lost several pounds that I needed.

    I had become hysterical when that boyfriend had broken up with me right before my birthday. I had already lost all of my family and friends and here I felt as if I had no one left. I had always hung onto a quote I had made up back when I was going through hard times previously: "If you feel as if you have nothing left, remember that you still have hope." Here I was still bounded by lust and for the first time in my life I didn't even feel like I had hope left. After getting into another toxic relationship and that one also burning to the ground I had given up. Slowly but surely I got back onto the right course - the straight and narrow. I was pulled by a friend I was living with and then as life went along I felt a little more like myself, but it was painful. I had numbed myself from so much and hadn't dealt with anything that all of it came flooding back to me at once. I was still dealing with sexual addictions, but I had gained hope. I was then pushed by another friend and I found myself in the word and praying to God once again. It wasn't easy. I didn't want to do it, but He broke the chains after I learned of His strength and the authority that he had given me.

    I had hope and I began to recognize the game of the enemy. Listen up, precious ones, the enemy is a liar and his game is trickery. Don't be a product of his foolery. If it doesn't line up with God's word DON'T listen to it. Temptation only has as much power as you give it. If you feed temptation it grows, but if you starve it it dies. You have to uproot the greed and insecurity of your life because if you leave the roots the plant is always going to grow back. Kill all of it and listen to God's will. Use God's word as your shield. Spit scriptures and don't let the enemy intimidate you into silence. Do NOT give up.

Romans 5:3-4 - "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

Daughters of Christ

Daughters of Christ

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

Ladies, if you wouldn't want your future daughters

Wearing low shirts, short skirts, skin tight, the works

Then don't wear them presently.

Better yet let's be dressing modestly

Because you're supposed to be.

Encouraging purity.

Daughters of Jesus,

 Being cautious

 Of what we wear,

Taking God's promise

Looking in His mirror.

 He looks at our hearts

Helps us dodge all of those flaming darts

Of insecurity,

All the dirty.

He'll quench all you thirsty.

For eternity.

You don't have to look like Barbie.

Or go to parties

Speaking malarkey to be liked.

Quit using your own psyche.

Clothe yourself with the mind of Christ, See

To it, you agree with it?

 Holy Spirit and you should be tightly knit.

Admit your sins

Fall on your knees in repentance.

You're the one choosing your own sentence.

Proverbs 16:18

Proverbs 16:18

By: Elaina Morgan

Enemies will never quit it, get it.

They let themselves be blinded by those lies, 

Ruined by their pride.

But they have nothing good to offer.

Just let your answer grow a little bit softer.

Their only focus is on how to make you "better."

Try to cover who you are like a heavy sweater.

They know of no such thing as a true love letter.

They say they only want the best for you.

But they only want what they think's due.

Those aren't the models you want to be looking up to.

They puff it up.

Puff you up.

Take you down.

Like a city rundown.

Kind of like Motown, they represent the D.

But they're only representin the bad seeds, 

No, not me.

They're lackin good deeds.

Goal's to try to make you bitter 

Coating every ugly thing in glitter.

They stalkin every single move you're making on your Twitter.

I'll give them one thing.

They ain't quitters.

They think they able

Layin everythin on the table.

They think they tough,

Arrested in cuffs, 

They quick to lie, homicide.

Won't get caught. 

Or so they thought.

Think listening to us will make them weak.

They goin 'round week by week.

It's the same ol thing. 

They wanna drink.

They wanna shed blood.

Tell em about the one who shed His blood.

Pause.

Wasn't for a lost cause.

Wasn't ours.

Yet He gave it so willingly.

I hope I'm makin sense lyrically.

Stop the stupidity

Start goin prodigiously.

Always sayin go big or go home.

Well where's your home?

I hope you know.

Aimless

Aimless

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

I know who I am.
Although I'm lost.
I know the way.
Its my choice.
I’m reaching as I fall.
With nothing left to lose.
Knowledge or poison?

I know what to choose.
I’m running aimlessly.
Trying to decide where to go.
Maybe into your open arms.
I would find inexpiable love.
But my mind can’t comprehend.
How my heart can disarm.
Love or reason?

I know what is right.
And I know what is wrong.
Love is the light.
A place where I can be strong.
There’s a war going on.
A place where darkness can’t be turned off.
Obscurity, lurking in the shadows.
We flip the switch.
And that light turns on.
Openness, shining so.
Spirit or flesh?
I know where to go.

Redeemer

Redeemer

By: Elaina Morgan

I need to stop putting off the change that must take place

Because with that I'll never win this race.

It's time to face all the things I should be,

I'm going to redo so redeem me.

I won't let them tell me who I am

Because I know I've been saved by the blood of the Lamb.

They say, "You're this, you're that."

But only He knows where my heart's at.

I know my own strength's too trite.

So I'm giving it all to my Jesus Christ.

Heart's contrite.

I know what's right, 

But they keep knocking at my door.

Walk right in and knock me to the cold hard floor.

There's a constant war raging inside.

Battling with myself to fight against all of my pride, suicide.

Tried to kill my flesh,

But I can only do it with His help, no less.

Hitting refresh.

I'm giving it back to You

Because it's all I can do.

Sick of doing what I do, it's true.

The old is gone.

The new has come because I'm done.

I've had my "fun."

I know I was sending myself to the grave.

So glad Your Son came to save,

Pave the way.

My way: foolishness and fatutity.

Sinful ways just grew with me.

It was just losing me, abusing me.

Not healthy.

Lord, help me.

My life's not mine.
It's Yours.

I'm not fine and I can't take it anymore.

Hold me up because my heart's too sore.

All I'm yearning for is more.

I'm only the renter of this body,

But you're at the center of this body.

You have saved this very soul,

But I'm full of guilt.

I'm like torn pieces from a quilt,
A flower wilted in the wind because I've sinned.
Yet you pick me up so tenderly.
You walk ahead of me.
Today's inception of Your redemption.

Purified

Beautiful Bride

By: Elaina Grace Morgan

Tattered and broken,
Dirty and torn,
Crying and weeping, she shed the dress she had once worn.
She had come so far, so far from her past,
far from the lusts she knew wouldn't last.
Searching and hurting,
Lost and weak.
She had no idea what she had seeked.
Was it love, was it care?
Was it happiness? Cheer?
It was deliverance from all of her fear.
The fear of confession,
She was impure.
Fear of depression which she was uncured.
Her questions were answered after all of these years.
Down on her knees,
Emotions up and down like waves in the sea.
There she knelt.
There she had confessed all that she had felt.
"Forgive me for I have sinned," she cried.
"Fear not my love. Your tears I have dried," came the reply.
"Here is something beautiful and new."
A deep breath in she had once drew.
It was the prettiest sight, relief from this fight.
A dress the brightest of whites.
Prettier than couture.
It was purity,
A prettier picture.