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Christina Cook Lee

Media Producer - Author - Blogger - Songwriter

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NOVEMBER 28

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Focus: Allowing the Spirit of the Lord and the presence of God to transform your circumstances

Romans 8:11 (NIV) And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.

The Spirit of the Lord in your life is what will get you through anything. Whether you face sickness, trials, rejection, pain, loss, persecution, discouragement, depression, loneliness, hardship, fear, anger, confusion, weakness…anything. The Spirit of the Lord will neutralize the influence those things have had over you.

When you praise the Lord by acknowledging His qualities and abilities, He comes closer to you. The more you praise Him—the closer He gets.

The presence of the Lord changes everything.

God is love.

The love of God is the solution to every problem you have.

Having the presence of God in your life is worth more than anything else you could ever achieve.

You may have learned many important facts and you may be filled with knowledge about a wide variety of topics, but without the presence of God, it’s all meaningless.

Whatever you think you’re good at, means nothing compared to having the presence of God.

If you gave away everything you owned, you would gain nothing if you didn’t have the presence of God.

With the presence of God in your life, you can be patient and kind.

In the presence of God you would have no reason to be jealous, boastful, or proud.

The presence of God in your life will help you not to be rude or selfish or upset with others.

The presence of God will keep you from counting up and remembering the wrong things others have done.

In the presence of God there can be no pleasure in pursuing evil.

The presence of God will cause you to rejoice over the truth.

The presence of God in your life will help you to accept whatever comes your way with gratitude.

The presence of God will help you to trust, hope, and never give up.

God is everlasting.

The presence of God brings complete joy. There is no reason you can’t enjoy the presence of God forever.

A grateful heart attracts God.

Call to mind the good things God has done for you in the past.

Speak to God with a grateful heart, spend time verbalizing your thanks for what you have, your abilities, and everything you can think of.

Live a life focused on the goodness of God.

Learn to recognize and praise God in all things.

Declaration: I will find new strength by deliberately cultivating the presence of God in my life—knowing that His Spirit in me will transform my circumstances.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book at the end of 2012, by the grace of God.To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0

NOVEMBER 27

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Focus: Changing the way you think

Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV) Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

When I make a mistake, I am reminded of how much I need God. I’ve prayed many times that I would stop making mistakes, yet I still make them—even when I try hard not to. It’s painful to have to realize that no matter how perfect I want to be—I’m just not.

One way we can make the most of our mistakes is to realize that they keep us humble…and humble is what we should be—whether we’re making mistakes or not.

But just imagine if we didn’t make mistakes, wouldn’t we get to feeling pretty smug and proud of ourselves? Wouldn’t we look at other people who were still making mistakes and think all kinds of wrong things about their spirituality and character?

I think God allows us to make mistakes so we’ll remember that He is perfect—and we’re not.

Of course we should always try to make the best effort we can in all we do, but at the same time, we need to keep from trusting in our own abilities. God doesn’t like it when we try to be self-sufficient. He hates pride.

When we try to do everything perfect—we will usually be disappointed in our efforts. The pride/perfection syndrome is another one of those things that is upside down in God’s sight. What He wants to see is humility not pride.

While we’re thinking we should be perfect to get God’s approval—what He’s really looking for is humble. Humility is perfect, in His sight. So if we work very hard and actually get something right, but we aren’t humble—we still blew it.

Proverbs 29:23 says, A man’s pride brings him low, but a man of lowly (humble) spirit gains honor.

The harder we try to do things perfectly, the bigger the let down when we realize we missed the mark, after all.

In that case, some people would think, ‘Well then, why should I try at all?’ And honestly, we’ve probably all felt that way at least once, and probably more times than we care to admit. It is a fair question…especially when you’re discouraged. Why should you try? And furthermore, what if you didn’t? I’ve asked myself those questions quite a few times in the past few years.

For a lot of my life I did things to prove to myself and others that I could. I was sometimes intrigued with taking on a project that was crazy hard. I liked the challenge of sorting out the pieces and putting a complicated puzzle together—particularly if it was one that someone might have thought I couldn’t do. I also liked to do things that were harder than anything else I’d ever done. I liked the rush of pushing myself past my own personal best.

These days, I think I’ve proved enough to myself—and others—so when I look at something I could try to do, I think about the questions, ‘Why should I?’ and ‘What if I didn’t?’

These days, I know that the only things worth doing and spending my life blood on, are the things that God can get glory from—not me. He is the one who should get all of the credit and praise for anything I manage to ‘do’.

The things we are capable of doing in our own strength are not going to mean anything in the long run, anyway. It’s the things we did that we could have only done by the grace of God that will last for eternity.

If it’s truly God that we want to live for and please, then we should focus all of our attention on resting in His ability and strength—not our own.

When you can think about life that way, it changes a lot of things.

Imagine living a life that is centered around the adoration of God. What if we just lived differently in the future than we have lived in the past? What if we stopped trying to live a performance/pride/perfection oriented life focused on not making mistakes—and just focused on being ‘nothing’?

Declaration: I will find new strength in examining my true reasons for the things I do. I will start asking myself searching questions before I do things—testing my motives—to make sure that the reason I do anything at all, is to bring God glory.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book at the end of 2012, by the grace of God.To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0

NOVEMBER 26

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Focus: Listening to good teachers

Luke 6:40 (NKJV) A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

If the promise of Luke 6:40 is that you will become like your teacher when you are perfectly trained, then you’d better be sure that whoever you’ve chosen to be your teacher is someone you want to be like. Of course we all want to become more like Jesus, but in the Word of God we are instructed to be teachable and accountable to others who are able to teach well.

In Ephesians chapter four, the apostle Paul is writing a letter to the church at Ephesus. Paul uses the occasion of his letter to speak some truth into the Ephesian’s lives. In verses eleven and twelve, Paul is describing some of the spiritual gifts that Jesus imparted to his disciples before He ascended back to heaven. ‘And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.’

It’s clear that Jesus appointed some people to be teachers, and that expected there would be those who would need to be taught. None of us should consider ourselves to be above learning from another brother or sister in Christ who has studied the scriptures and has the gift of teaching and an honest and humble spirit—no matter how much experience we may have. We should always be willing to learn and be taught the truth.

In 2 Timothy 2:1-2, the apostle Paul was writing to his disciple, Timothy. Paul refers to Timothy as his son in the faith. ‘You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

As Paul was writing to Timothy, he was explaining to Timothy that he was responsible as a student, for what he had been taught. He was letting Timothy know that his knowledge was not intended for his own exclusive benefit. Timothy was being instructed and exhorted by Paul to share what he had learned with other faithful believers who would be able to continue passing down what they had learned from person to person, and in essence, from generation to generation.

Something we all need to be careful of is that we are not being taught by the wrong teachers. Not all of the false prophets and teachers in the world today realize that what they are prophesying and teaching is false. They may be passionately convinced that what they are prophesying and teaching is the truth. Passion is not to be mistaken as, or confused with the truth.

2 Peter 2:1-3 says, ‘But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false word. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

1 Peter 3:18 says, ‘But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ Just before Peter said to ‘grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,’ he warned the people he was writing to, to be careful who they listened to. Peter said that some scriptures are hard to understand and people who haven’t been properly taught—and who were also unstable—would intentionally or unintentionally twist the scriptures to their own destruction. As we grow in the Lord and apply ourselves to the truth, God is able to lead us and guide us in the building of our faith, but He wants us to be willing to learn to know the truth from lies.

2 Timothy 4:3 warns, ‘For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions…’ In other words, Paul was saying that people who found the truth of the Word of God to be unpalatable in some areas, would twist it for their own convenience.

So, how can we find a good teacher and how do we know if who we are listening to is teaching the right things? Matthew 7 has the answer. ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you the, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!’ We can be sure if we ask God to help us, He will.

Declaration: I will find new strength by asking my Heavenly Father to lead me to the teachers He has chosen for me to learn from.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book at the end of 2012, by the grace of God.To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0k

NOVEMBER 25

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Focus: Remembering the Sabbath

Exodus 20:8-10a (NKJV) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

Hardly anyone would resent the idea of having a day off after working for six days, yet how many of us actually honor that day off as a holy day, set aside for worshipping God, rest, and acts of mercy?

I don’t want to go into a detailed exposition of everything the Bible has to say about what we should or shouldn’t do on the Sabbath, but I would like to spend a little time contemplating the benefits of observing such a practice and its possible effects on our well-being in the context of recovery from depression and addiction.

Simply stated, the observance of the Sabbath calls for us to ‘not work’ on one day of the week. Further, the expectation is that we would rest on that day and spend time focused on the Lord.

You might wonder how not working one day a week could possibly help your productivity or income. It seems that getting some odd jobs done around the house would be more honorable than doing nothing. It’s also hard to imagine that a person could actually be blessed for not grabbing an opportunity to work an extra day and make more money. Shouldn’t taking a day off result in more stress? From a human standpoint, there is no explanation. God’s ways are not our ways.

We blame stress as one of the known causes of depression and dependency, but what if stress comes as a result of not taking the proper time to rest and recuperate from six days of working? What if we truly spent one day a week resting in the Lord—free from all of the physical and financial pressures that life puts on us?

True rest would be not working and also not worrying about what you’re not getting done and not earning.

But before we go any further, let’s take a step back for a moment and have another look at Exodus 20:9. It says, ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work.’ Could the reason we sometimes feel like we can’t afford  to take a whole day off for rest be because we spent more time ‘resting’ during the other six days than we should have?

It’s normal to come home from a day on the job and figure we deserve a break, right? Hard to say, but maybe not—if it means that we have to work on the day God told us to rest…

Most people who are trying to recover from depression suffer from fatigue. Many tasks that wouldn’t normally require that much effort seem to wear us out—physically and emotionally. So, how do we keep up? The only way I know of, is with the help of the Lord. He gives us the strength we lack, if we seek Him for it.

During one of the worst periods of depression in my life, I had a job singing approximately six hours a day, six days a week. Singing is one of the last things you feel like doing when you’re depressed, yet the Lord gave me the ability to do it, and I became stronger because of it.

If our life is out of control and we aren’t able to get everything done in six days, maybe we should consider simplifying. Possibly a smaller house and fewer possessions would require less of our attention.

God’s expectations are not that complicated. He really hasn’t asked much from us in return for all He has done for us. To give Him one day out of seven is a small thing, really.

If it seems like something you’re not willing to do, it’s probably time to do some soul searching. In the first place, it’s actually a gift from God, to be given one day off every week. Think of it like a ‘paid holiday’. You may not see the actual bonus dollars on your paycheck, but you can be sure the blessing will come in other ways, if your heart is right about it.

I believe that the observance of the Sabbath is ‘waiting on the Lord’. It’s waiting to do what you could have done, and giving that time to Him, instead. Isaiah 40:31 says, But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Declaration: I will find new strength by taking steps to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book at the end of 2012, by the grace of God.To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0k

 

NOVEMBER 24

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Focus: Filling the void

Isaiah 30:15 (NKJV) In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.

Silence is some people’s friend—and other people’s enemy. I wasn’t always comfortable with silence. There have been times of my life when I felt compelled to fill the silence with noise.

Some people have never known anything but noise. They grew up in a home filled with noise and accepted the practice of a having a radio playing or a TV blaring, as ‘normal’.

Things have changed a lot in the past 10-20 years with the entrance of portable media players. Even before that, people were creating their own personal listening environments and staying ‘tuned in’ to their sounds of choice.

Media in general has become increasingly sophisticated and some people have become very particular about their own individual tastes. With current technology, and so much media available, people are able to tune in or tune out, whatever they want, or don’t want to hear.

But audible sound is not the only ‘noise’. People who may not have a need for actual audio—are addicted to social media, or surfing the internet. The habit is not just a pastime, but a way of filling the void they feel when nothing is demanding their attention.

Most people prefer to have their minds programmed with media for several hours a day, at least.

People who have no interest in audio or the internet, sometimes turn to books, magazines, and newspapers for entertainment.

The way to know if something has a foothold in your life is whether you become defensive or offended when you’re confronted with the amount of time you spend doing whatever it is that makes you defensive or offended.

Filling the void is something people often do when they are uncomfortable with being alone. If a person is struggling with loneliness—entertainment can be a way of escaping from their own harsh reality.

Some people create their own environment when they are uncomfortable with the people they live with and would prefer to be ‘alone’.

In Bible times, Moses was leading thousands of people through a wilderness, in search of the promised land. We can’t even imagine the amount of noise he had to contend with. It’s noted in scripture that the ‘Children of Israel’ were discontent and had a habit of blaming Moses for their living conditions and everything that came up. Moses spent a lot of time wishing he could ‘tune out’ the complaining and murmuring.

Exodus chapter 33 tells us how Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. It was the place where he could go to be alone with the Lord. In that place of solitude, separation, and silence, Moses was able to hear the voice of the Lord and find the hope and encouragement he needed to continue his assignment.

Moses yearned for God. He knew the importance of getting alone with the Lord.

In Psalm 27:4, David wrote, ‘One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.’

Both Moses and David embraced being alone with the Lord and having time to behold His beauty. In both of their writings, it’s evident that neither of them could get enough of the presence of the Lord.

When our minds are filled to the brim with media, where is there room for the King of Kings? When we spend more time pursuing ‘noise’ than we spend seeking the Lord—who is the king on the throne of our life?

When we tune out everything else—the voice of the Lord can be heard.

Declaration: I will find new strength and confidence by being quiet before the Lord. I will commit to making Him the one thing I desire most. I will show Him I’m serious by having the willingness to wait in silence before Him and spend time listening for His voice. As I hear Him speak to me—my void will be filled.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book at the end of 2012, by the grace of God.To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0k

NOVEMBER 23

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Focus: Peace

Colossians 3:15 (NKJV) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.

There are a lot of things I’d like to see different in the world. It’s troubling to know that crime is commonplace. It’s hard to see liberalism on the rise…while many conservative people have become calloused and complacent about principles our grandparents would have fiercely defended. What has happened to us?

It can be hard to have a positive outlook, when you view the unrest. It’s natural to want peace and wish that everyone could just get along.

Something that bothers me almost more than the secular society, is the seeming lack of interest on the part of so many Christians, to remember what the Word of God says about the last days and how we should behave—and just get on our knees.

Humans have a strong sense of self-preservation; such an automatic tendency toward self-defense. Some view the events going on in the middle-east and are quick to criticize the actions of the Israelis. I wonder how willingly they would walk away, if the ownership of land that was supposed to be theirs, was being questioned…

Without getting into a big debate, I’d like to spend a little time thinking about peace. Peace means different things to different people. Peace might be getting through a day without arguing with anyone, as much as it might mean a cease fire on war-torn foreign soil.

You might not realize it, but there are ways to control peace. You may not be able to do anything about missiles being launched or bombs going off, but you can have peace in your own heart, in spite of the circumstances in our world.

The Bible compares the events of the end times to the birth pangs of an expectant mother, when she is in labor and about to give birth. Any pregnant woman in her final month of pregnancy is only concerned with one thing. She just wants to have that baby. You can try to talk about any topic you choose with that woman, and the conversation will  always find its way back to pregnancy and childbirth. This is perfectly normal. A pregnant woman is focused. She is passionate to see the baby and be done with pregnancy.

I can see the parallels about the birth pangs. The intensity of world crisis is increasing and catastrophic events are getting closer together. Yet saying ‘PEACE!’ would be like a woman in childbirth saying—‘Okay, let’s stop the labor. I think I just want to stay pregnant and not have this baby.’

If the end times can truly be compared to childbirth—then we should be saying, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’ and be focused on our part in the management and cooperation of the advancement of the birthing process.

When I went through birthing classes, we were told to have an object that we focused on when the labor became increasingly hard. We were instructed to breathe in certain ways and we were given various recommendations as to what kind of posture would help, and so on.

Jesus is really coming. The time is getting closer. The struggle is going to continue intensifying. It seems like a bad thing—but it’s really a good thing, when you realize this is the Word of God coming to pass in our lifetime.

Shortly before the baby is born, a pregnant mother goes through the period known as ‘transition’ in the birthing process. It’s a time when she might be apt to become critical of anyone around her. She might find it hard to listen to advice from a birthing coach, but at that time—she really needs to work hard at cooperating with her body—and her coach, to bring forth her child. At that time, it’s vital for her to stay as calm as possible.

World peace is a dream we can wish for…but whether we see world peace or not, we can stay calm and cultivate the ability of allowing the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts. While we can be so critical of our leaders and the way things seem to be going in the world—we could be working on cooperating with the body of Christ and our fellow believers right here at home—building unity and peace in whatever way we can, to advance the kingdom of God.

Declaration: I will find new strength by getting a grip on where we really are in the process of Christ coming again. I will stop being critical and start embracing the birth process by staying calm and having the peace of Christ in my heart.

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee as of the date they were written and posted. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog. This material will be published as a book at the end of 2012, by the grace of God.To subscribe to New Strength, select ‘follow’ in the upper left corner of this page.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, browse:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW5unzXXC0k