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Christina Cook Lee

Media Producer - Author - Blogger - Songwriter

In The Secret

The stirring in your heart

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Focus: The stirring in your heart

Psalm 27:5 (NKJV) For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

Sometimes your circumstances can cause can cause you to feel like you’re trapped at a place in time. Your mind keeps trying to imagine various outcomes to different scenarios—all in an attempt to help yourself cope with the present—which is not what you would like it to be.

You’re hooked on a feeling that things could be better than they are. You are able to dream up ideas that seem good, but you wonder how they could ever come to pass because of all of the things that would have to change first. Still, you comfort yourself with visions of something different…something better…something more manageable.

You wonder why you have so much trouble concentrating on the present. You have asked God for help, but there are no clear answers at the moment, so your mind continues to ricochet.

When you are seeking God and you continue to have feelings of unrest, He is preparing you for something. One thing you can be sure of at times like these is that change is coming.

The test could be whether or not you are truly seeking God. If you’re not seeking God and you have feelings of unrest—don’t trust what you’re feeling. It could easily be a counterfeit. There are times when God wants you to stay put and there are times when He is stirring your heart to prepare for a move. Even if He is stirring your heart for a move, it might not mean a change is in the immediate future—it might just mean He’s getting you ready.

(Read more below)

New Strength Inspirational Statement of the Day

What you have to remember is that sometimes the enemy can trick you into thinking change would be a good idea when it’s the opposite of what God would want you to do right now.

This is where you must meet God in the secret place and have a heart to heart with Him. You have to pull your mind back in from the far reaches of your imagination and be still before the Lord. Tell the Lord you want His will and way more than anything and that you need Him to help you sort out the noise that is in your brain right now. He can do that.

He can help you figure all of this out so that you won’t make any mistakes. Truly trusting Him will help you not do anything you will regret down the road.

In all of our ways, we must bear in mind that the Word of God says, “There is a way that seems right, but the end of that way is destruction.” None of us would knowingly choose a path that led to destruction—and yet it happens. If we just go by what we ‘feel’, we might end up on the wrong road…just because it ‘seems right’.

When we truly want God’s way, we won’t be afraid of asking Him to slam a door shut if it’s the wrong one.

When you’ve sought the Lord and He has confirmed His will to you, it still might not be time to press on and push everything that is in the way, out of the way. Sometimes God does things suddenly…but not always. You still might have some waiting to do.

If you have been given full assurance that He is leading you—it’s time to start taking steps of faith. Even as you take a step, ask God for signs and confirmations. Keep telling Him—and yourself—that you don’t want to get ahead of Him. Trust Him to lead and guide you. He will.

For over five years, my husband and I have felt a stirring in our hearts to sell our house. We have had it on and off the market a few times. Houses that we thought we wanted to buy were bought or leased by other people, as we waited for the sale of our house. Each time we have seen a door ‘close’, we have had to believe that what ‘seemed right’ to us—was not.

Being where God wants you to be is the best place you can be. If you are feeling restless right now and wondering why the change you want to happen ‘hasn’t’, there is a reason you can’t see. God is lining things up. He has a plan for you that is good. What He has in mind is worth the wait.

Continue to meet Him in the secret place and quiet your mind before Him. He will not let you down.

Declaration: I will find new strength by trusting God for my future. He will always show me His faithfulness.

Turning to the Lord in loneliness and pain

By Leave a Comment

Topic: Loneliness

Focus: Turning to the Lord in loneliness and pain

Psalm 25:16-17 (NCV) Turn to me and have mercy on me, because I am lonely and hurting. My troubles have grown larger; free me from my problems.

Any trial seems to make loneliness and pain seem worse–just like trials seem bigger when you’re already lonely and in pain.

When you’re in that condition, it seems like the whole world is out to get you…especially when there’s no sign that there will be a change any time soon.

The only thing good about pain is that it brings us to our knees—and the only thing good about being lonely, is the way it causes people to draw closer to God.

Now, you can listen and/or read!

New Strength Inspirational Statement of the Day

When everything else fails—the Lord is there for you. When all of your other options have been removed and your back is against the wall, He is there. He is faithful. Psalm 147:3 says, ‘He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.’

In Isaiah 45:22 (KJV), the Lord answers the cry of the lonely and lost. He says, ‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.’

Turning to the Lord is the key—not turning to entertainment, or to people, or to any other kind of substitute.

When we turn to Him, some of the promises of the Lord in Isaiah 61 tell how He will comfort all that mourn and give those who grieve a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. He says the brokenhearted will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

The Lord will replace your shame with a double portion of goodness and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. You will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.

The Lord loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. In His faithfulness, He will reward His people and make an everlasting covenant with them.

When we are in need of comfort, it’s strange the way we turn everywhere else to try to find it. We try to fill the void that only God can fill—in so many destructive ways. When we don’t find the help we need—we sometimes resent Him, as though He hasn’t been willing to help us. When actually, we have been trying to fill our need of Him with other things. The only answer to the loneliness and pain we suffer is the Lord, Himself. All other substitutes are temporary. Nothing but the love and fulfillment He can give will be able to bring us lasting help.

The Lord alone is the answer to the cry of your heart. He is the all becoming One—able to ‘be’ whatever you lack. That’s why He is known as ‘I AM’—because ‘HE IS’ everything. Find all of your hope in Him.

The quantity of His mercy is greater than the quantity of your failure. The extent of His grace is greater than the degree of your sin.

In Romans 8:31 the Apostle Paul tells us, ‘What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?’ In verses 37-39 he goes on to say, ‘Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Wherever you hurt today—the Lord is able to bandage your wound and heal it. He doesn’t despise your loneliness and the broken state of your heart. His true desire is for you to turn to Him with your whole being and find all of your satisfaction in Him. He is the friend you long for—the One who is able to carry all of your pain.

Declaration: I will find new strength by turning to the Lord in a fuller and deeper way than I have in the past. I believe He is able to heal my pain and take away my loneliness by filling me completely. I will find all my satisfaction in Him.

IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO NEW STRENGTH DEVOTIONAL BELOW, A NEW SEGMENT WILL COME TO YOUR EMAIL EACH DAY.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, https://www.youtube.com/user/NewStrengthMusic/playlists?sort=dd&view=1

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee 2012. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog.

The secret place

By Leave a Comment

Topic: Loneliness

Focus: The secret place

Matthew 6:6 (NIV) 
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

There is a part of you that can only be restored by quiet time spent before the Lord, your God. No book, no counselor, no sermon, no song—not even a Bible verse can do for you what going to your room, closing the door and talking to your Heavenly Father, will do.

There are so many things trying to attack your peace—so much that demands your attention. Even in the midst of all of it—God wants you to have appointed times alone with Him that are shared with no one else. When you are willing to make time for Him, He won’t disappoint you. He is the lover of your soul.

God has always desired a ‘place of meeting’ with His people. In the days of Moses, God wanted the children of Israel to build Him a specific tent that was to be a Holy Place—a Tabernacle. He gave very detailed directions for the creation of ‘His House’. In those times, only the priests were allowed to go into the inner sanctum called the Holy of Holies.

We are told in the New Testament that through salvation in Jesus Christ, we have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in us. But even though He lives in us, we can’t give Him our full attention when we are being bombarded with life. As God, He shouldn’t have to ‘take a number’ to have some quality time.

Throughout history, amazing cathedrals and shrines have been constructed to honor the Lord as places of worship. There are accounts in the Bible of people who built an altar for God—to show Him their gratitude or to acknowledge and memorialize a special place where He did something great.

Do you have a dedicated place of quiet rest where you can be near to the heart of God? If not, could you create a spot that is just for you and the Lord? A place of intimacy and privacy where you can share your heart with Him and hear His voice. A place where you go just to meet with Him—where He knows He has your full attention.

(read more below)

Now, you can listen and/or read!

Link to New Strength Audio Version
New Strength Inspirational Statement of the Day

We put so much thought into creating comfort for ourselves in other ways. We plan our homes for usefulness with painstaking detail—sometimes going to great lengths so that we can enjoy life as much as possible within our walls.

Who can give us more pleasure than the Lord? Who gave us all we possess? Should He not have a place that is set apart for His honor? Not a shrine that others will see and marvel at—but a private place where we can go and close the door to be alone with Him.

Jesus liked to slip away from the crowds of people and have time alone with His Father. He relished His prayer time. He didn’t set His watch or time Himself while He talked to God. He made allowance for what was important to Him.

We spend so much time trying to solve our own problems. What if we just spent more time with God and let Him work out the problems? Scripture says for us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and as we have need of other things—they will be given to us, as well.

Some homes are filled with so much noise…how could His voice be heard? The Word of God says…in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. If we feel we are lacking strength—we need to get quiet with the Lord and let Him bring restoration to our soul.

Jesus was often tired after intense times of healing the sick and teaching crowds of people. As much as He needed rest, He wanted His prayer time more. We are told He went alone to pray. When His days were filled with people and their needs, surely He had to make His time with the Father late at night and early in the morning.

I’m not sure there is anything especially holy about late night or early morning prayer. The important thing to God is that we not be distracted by other things during the time we have devoted to Him. If the best time to be completely alone with God is in the middle of the day—then that’s the time that will be the most holy for you.

As social beings, most people naturally want the company of other people around them. If we are lonely, we typically try to fill our emptiness with other kinds of entertainment. Even in the depths of loneliness, it’s important to remember there is a lonely place in each of us that should only be filled by the Lord.

Declaration: I will find new strength in the secret place. I will purposely set time apart for intimacy with the Lord.

IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO NEW STRENGTH DEVOTIONAL BELOW, A NEW SEGMENT WILL COME TO YOUR EMAIL EACH DAY.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, https://www.youtube.com/user/NewStrengthMusic/playlists?sort=dd&view=1

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee 2012. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog.

The stirring in your heart

By Leave a Comment

Focus: The stirring in your heart

Psalm 27:5 (NKJV) For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.

Sometimes your circumstances can cause can cause you to feel like you’re trapped at a place in time. Your mind keeps trying to imagine various outcomes to different scenarios—all in an attempt to help yourself cope with the present—which is not what you would like it to be.

You’re hooked on a feeling that things could be better than they are. You are able to dream up ideas that seem good, but you wonder how they could ever come to pass because of all of the things that would have to change first. Still, you comfort yourself with visions of something different…something better…something more manageable.

You wonder why you have so much trouble concentrating on the present. You have asked God for help, but there are no clear answers at the moment, so your mind continues to ricochet.

When you are seeking God and you continue to have feelings of unrest, He is preparing you for something. One thing you can be sure of at times like these is that change is coming.

The test could be whether or not you are truly seeking God. If you’re not seeking God and you have feelings of unrest—don’t trust what you’re feeling. It could easily be a counterfeit. There are times when God wants you to stay put and there are times when He is stirring your heart to prepare for a move. Even if He is stirring your heart for a move, it might not mean a change is in the immediate future—it might just mean He’s getting you ready.

(Read more below)

New Strength Inspirational Statement of the Day

What you have to remember is that sometimes the enemy can trick you into thinking change would be a good idea when it’s the opposite of what God would want you to do right now.

This is where you must meet God in the secret place and have a heart to heart with Him. You have to pull your mind back in from the far reaches of your imagination and be still before the Lord. Tell the Lord you want His will and way more than anything and that you need Him to help you sort out the noise that is in your brain right now. He can do that.

He can help you figure all of this out so that you won’t make any mistakes. Truly trusting Him will help you not do anything you will regret down the road.

In all of our ways, we must bear in mind that the Word of God says, “There is a way that seems right, but the end of that way is destruction.” None of us would knowingly choose a path that led to destruction—and yet it happens. If we just go by what we ‘feel’, we might end up on the wrong road…just because it ‘seems right’.

When we truly want God’s way, we won’t be afraid of asking Him to slam a door shut if it’s the wrong one.

When you’ve sought the Lord and He has confirmed His will to you, it still might not be time to press on and push everything that is in the way, out of the way. Sometimes God does things suddenly…but not always. You still might have some waiting to do.

If you have been given full assurance that He is leading you—it’s time to start taking steps of faith. Even as you take a step, ask God for signs and confirmations. Keep telling Him—and yourself—that you don’t want to get ahead of Him. Trust Him to lead and guide you. He will.

For over five years, my husband and I have felt a stirring in our hearts to sell our house. We have had it on and off the market a few times. Houses that we thought we wanted to buy were bought or leased by other people, as we waited for the sale of our house. Each time we have seen a door ‘close’, we have had to believe that what ‘seemed right’ to us—was not.

Being where God wants you to be is the best place you can be. If you are feeling restless right now and wondering why the change you want to happen ‘hasn’t’, there is a reason you can’t see. God is lining things up. He has a plan for you that is good. What He has in mind is worth the wait.

Continue to meet Him in the secret place and quiet your mind before Him. He will not let you down.

Declaration: I will find new strength by trusting God for my future. He will always show me His faithfulness.

Turning to the Lord in loneliness and pain

By Leave a Comment

Topic: Loneliness

Focus: Turning to the Lord in loneliness and pain

Psalm 25:16-17 (NCV) Turn to me and have mercy on me, because I am lonely and hurting. My troubles have grown larger; free me from my problems.

Any trial seems to make loneliness and pain seem worse–just like trials seem bigger when you’re already lonely and in pain.

When you’re in that condition, it seems like the whole world is out to get you…especially when there’s no sign that there will be a change any time soon.

The only thing good about pain is that it brings us to our knees—and the only thing good about being lonely, is the way it causes people to draw closer to God.

Now, you can listen and/or read!

New Strength Inspirational Statement of the Day

When everything else fails—the Lord is there for you. When all of your other options have been removed and your back is against the wall, He is there. He is faithful. Psalm 147:3 says, ‘He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.’

In Isaiah 45:22 (KJV), the Lord answers the cry of the lonely and lost. He says, ‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.’

Turning to the Lord is the key—not turning to entertainment, or to people, or to any other kind of substitute.

When we turn to Him, some of the promises of the Lord in Isaiah 61 tell how He will comfort all that mourn and give those who grieve a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. He says the brokenhearted will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.

The Lord will replace your shame with a double portion of goodness and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. You will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.

The Lord loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. In His faithfulness, He will reward His people and make an everlasting covenant with them.

When we are in need of comfort, it’s strange the way we turn everywhere else to try to find it. We try to fill the void that only God can fill—in so many destructive ways. When we don’t find the help we need—we sometimes resent Him, as though He hasn’t been willing to help us. When actually, we have been trying to fill our need of Him with other things. The only answer to the loneliness and pain we suffer is the Lord, Himself. All other substitutes are temporary. Nothing but the love and fulfillment He can give will be able to bring us lasting help.

The Lord alone is the answer to the cry of your heart. He is the all becoming One—able to ‘be’ whatever you lack. That’s why He is known as ‘I AM’—because ‘HE IS’ everything. Find all of your hope in Him.

The quantity of His mercy is greater than the quantity of your failure. The extent of His grace is greater than the degree of your sin.

In Romans 8:31 the Apostle Paul tells us, ‘What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?’ In verses 37-39 he goes on to say, ‘Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Wherever you hurt today—the Lord is able to bandage your wound and heal it. He doesn’t despise your loneliness and the broken state of your heart. His true desire is for you to turn to Him with your whole being and find all of your satisfaction in Him. He is the friend you long for—the One who is able to carry all of your pain.

Declaration: I will find new strength by turning to the Lord in a fuller and deeper way than I have in the past. I believe He is able to heal my pain and take away my loneliness by filling me completely. I will find all my satisfaction in Him.

IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO NEW STRENGTH DEVOTIONAL BELOW, A NEW SEGMENT WILL COME TO YOUR EMAIL EACH DAY.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, https://www.youtube.com/user/NewStrengthMusic/playlists?sort=dd&view=1

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee 2012. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog.

Loneliness

By Leave a Comment

Focus: The secret place

Matthew 6:6 (NIV) 
But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

There is a part of you that can only be restored by quiet time spent before the Lord, your God. No book, no counselor, no sermon, no song—not even a Bible verse can do for you what going to your room, closing the door and talking to your Heavenly Father, will do.

There are so many things trying to attack your peace—so much that demands your attention. Even in the midst of all of it—God wants you to have appointed times alone with Him that are shared with no one else. When you are willing to make time for Him, He won’t disappoint you. He is the lover of your soul.

God has always desired a ‘place of meeting’ with His people. In the days of Moses, God wanted the children of Israel to build Him a specific tent that was to be a Holy Place—a Tabernacle. He gave very detailed directions for the creation of ‘His House’. In those times, only the priests were allowed to go into the inner sanctum called the Holy of Holies.

We are told in the New Testament that through salvation in Jesus Christ, we have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in us. But even though He lives in us, we can’t give Him our full attention when we are being bombarded with life. As God, He shouldn’t have to ‘take a number’ to have some quality time.

Throughout history, amazing cathedrals and shrines have been constructed to honor the Lord as places of worship. There are accounts in the Bible of people who built an altar for God—to show Him their gratitude or to acknowledge and memorialize a special place where He did something great.

Do you have a dedicated place of quiet rest where you can be near to the heart of God? If not, could you create a spot that is just for you and the Lord? A place of intimacy and privacy where you can share your heart with Him and hear His voice. A place where you go just to meet with Him—where He knows He has your full attention.

(read more below)

Now, you can listen and/or read!

Link to New Strength Audio Version
New Strength Inspirational Statement of the Day

We put so much thought into creating comfort for ourselves in other ways. We plan our homes for usefulness with painstaking detail—sometimes going to great lengths so that we can enjoy life as much as possible within our walls.

Who can give us more pleasure than the Lord? Who gave us all we possess? Should He not have a place that is set apart for His honor? Not a shrine that others will see and marvel at—but a private place where we can go and close the door to be alone with Him.

Jesus liked to slip away from the crowds of people and have time alone with His Father. He relished His prayer time. He didn’t set His watch or time Himself while He talked to God. He made allowance for what was important to Him.

We spend so much time trying to solve our own problems. What if we just spent more time with God and let Him work out the problems? Scripture says for us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and as we have need of other things—they will be given to us, as well.

Some homes are filled with so much noise…how could His voice be heard? The Word of God says…in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. If we feel we are lacking strength—we need to get quiet with the Lord and let Him bring restoration to our soul.

Jesus was often tired after intense times of healing the sick and teaching crowds of people. As much as He needed rest, He wanted His prayer time more. We are told He went alone to pray. When His days were filled with people and their needs, surely He had to make His time with the Father late at night and early in the morning.

I’m not sure there is anything especially holy about late night or early morning prayer. The important thing to God is that we not be distracted by other things during the time we have devoted to Him. If the best time to be completely alone with God is in the middle of the day—then that’s the time that will be the most holy for you.

As social beings, most people naturally want the company of other people around them. If we are lonely, we typically try to fill our emptiness with other kinds of entertainment. Even in the depths of loneliness, it’s important to remember there is a lonely place in each of us that should only be filled by the Lord.

Declaration: I will find new strength in the secret place. I will purposely set time apart for intimacy with the Lord.

IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO NEW STRENGTH DEVOTIONAL BELOW, A NEW SEGMENT WILL COME TO YOUR EMAIL EACH DAY.

For music selections that will help bring hope and encouragement during your recovery from depression and addiction, https://www.youtube.com/user/NewStrengthMusic/playlists?sort=dd&view=1

All NEW STRENGTH posts are Copyright by Christina Cook Lee 2012. Please request permission to re-post or re-blog.