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Desire to be a vessel of honor unto the Lord Jesus Christ?
Join Hidden in Him and For His Glory for discussions on how
https://christianforums.net/threads/become-a-vessel-of-honor-part-2.112306/
Smoking: Christian or Non-christian
- Thread starter wavy
- Start date
U
unred typo
Guest
It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you but what comes out, so as long as you don’t exhale, you’re ok. :wink: :smt023 :-D
cyberjosh
Member
- Oct 19, 2005
- 3,472
- 11
Short answer: it ultimately doesn't matter. Long answer: I can matter in certain circumstances. First, for the general and obvious arguement: Smoking is bad for your health and God wants us to take care of our body, thus one should atleast try to quit if at all possible.
Second, the brand that got it its bad name and association with rebellion: It was being used by teenagers who were underage and thus breaking the law, who also used it as a deliberate way to rebell against parents when they know their parent's don't want them to (thus also became a "cool/badboy" symbol). Don't tell me that doesn't happen because I've seen it. Tatoos are used in the same way. Substance addictions are bad period, but it's not a sin in itself. Often its the motive behind doing it that determines the issue, or if you are trying to break its addicting hold on you.
That's all I really have to say about it. There are many friends of my parents that are good Christians that smoke. It's just a bad habit, and they'll tell you that point blank. And no, of course you won't go to hell over it.
Second, the brand that got it its bad name and association with rebellion: It was being used by teenagers who were underage and thus breaking the law, who also used it as a deliberate way to rebell against parents when they know their parent's don't want them to (thus also became a "cool/badboy" symbol). Don't tell me that doesn't happen because I've seen it. Tatoos are used in the same way. Substance addictions are bad period, but it's not a sin in itself. Often its the motive behind doing it that determines the issue, or if you are trying to break its addicting hold on you.
That's all I really have to say about it. There are many friends of my parents that are good Christians that smoke. It's just a bad habit, and they'll tell you that point blank. And no, of course you won't go to hell over it.
K
kenan
Guest
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; honour it.
- Apr 2, 2003
- 23,631
- 6,557
A Christian ought to do their best to stop smoking since, as kenan stated, our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we ought to honor and glorify God by taking care of our bodies (this includes obesity, etc.).
Having said that, God knows that we are frail, that smoking is addictive (as well as food) and that genetics can predispose us to certain behaviours. I don't think anyone will go to hell for it but I don't think that God is pleased with it either.
Having said that, God knows that we are frail, that smoking is addictive (as well as food) and that genetics can predispose us to certain behaviours. I don't think anyone will go to hell for it but I don't think that God is pleased with it either.
S
SnapCount
Guest
The body is a gift that God has given us. When you detriment it and voluntarily harms it by smoking, that's crossing a fine line.
1st Corinthians 6:19-20
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
1st Corinthians 6:19-20
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
- Nov 4, 2004
- 18,914
- 7,286
I smoked for right at 21 years and was pushing around 2 packs a day when I quit. I've been smoke free since Aug 27, 2004 and each year I feel better and better.
Is smoking a sin? For me it was, but not for the reasons you all might think.
I was playing catch football with my daughter outside and I couldn't keep running to catch the football. Now, I used to jog about 10 miles a day when I was a teen, so it was a pretty big kick in the face that I couldn't run 20 yards without becoming terribly winded as I would gasp for air and my stomach would bind and my lungs would have a tight, burning sensation. Anyway, my daughter was getting kinda aggrivated because she really wanted to play, and I couldn't because of my selfish choice to smoke.
It was during that experience that I looked at my younger son and the same thought occured to me. What if I can't play catch with him because I can't catch my breath? Suddenly, I realized how selfish I was being with my smoking habit. Because I made the choice to smoke, I was actually choosing to take something precious away from my children, and that to me was quality time together kicking and throwing a ball. Also, deep down I knew that I'd be taking something else away from them, and that would be possibly my life since smoking is directly linked to emphazema and heart disease and both run in my family (I have a bicuspis heart valve).
To me, being that selfish is a sin. It wasn't the actual act of smoking, but the selfishness in doing so and how it effected those around me. After 21 years of smoking, that's what it took for me to finally decide to give it up.
For sombody who currently smokes I've got a question.
Do you pay attention to your smokes more so than your family or other important matters? I'll bet you've never forgotten, or rarely forget to grab a pack of smokes when your running low, but how many times have you forgotten other things that should have been higher on your priority list? You know, like milk or something.
Is smoking a sin? For me it was, but not for the reasons you all might think.
I was playing catch football with my daughter outside and I couldn't keep running to catch the football. Now, I used to jog about 10 miles a day when I was a teen, so it was a pretty big kick in the face that I couldn't run 20 yards without becoming terribly winded as I would gasp for air and my stomach would bind and my lungs would have a tight, burning sensation. Anyway, my daughter was getting kinda aggrivated because she really wanted to play, and I couldn't because of my selfish choice to smoke.
It was during that experience that I looked at my younger son and the same thought occured to me. What if I can't play catch with him because I can't catch my breath? Suddenly, I realized how selfish I was being with my smoking habit. Because I made the choice to smoke, I was actually choosing to take something precious away from my children, and that to me was quality time together kicking and throwing a ball. Also, deep down I knew that I'd be taking something else away from them, and that would be possibly my life since smoking is directly linked to emphazema and heart disease and both run in my family (I have a bicuspis heart valve).
To me, being that selfish is a sin. It wasn't the actual act of smoking, but the selfishness in doing so and how it effected those around me. After 21 years of smoking, that's what it took for me to finally decide to give it up.
For sombody who currently smokes I've got a question.
Do you pay attention to your smokes more so than your family or other important matters? I'll bet you've never forgotten, or rarely forget to grab a pack of smokes when your running low, but how many times have you forgotten other things that should have been higher on your priority list? You know, like milk or something.
Drew
Member
- Jan 24, 2005
- 14,249
- 81
I am going to suggest that we need to treat our bodies with care because it may, repeat may, be the case that the bodies we get in the life to come (we will have bodies, of course) will inherit characteristics from the bodies we have now. In short, if we eat ourselves into obesity or smoke ourselves into sickness, the resurrection body that we get may reflect that damage.
Consider Jesus - his resurrection body had the damaging marks of the nails. We should be careful to not simply assume that "all will be entirely new" in the age to come. The Scriptures describe our future eternal home - the renewed earth (heaven is a temporary abode) - as being both continuous with and discontinuous with the present world. The analogy of the "seed" is used in the Scriptures and we should be careful to note that the plant that emerges from the seed does indeed retain some of the characteristics of the plant that gave rise to the seed.
I think it would be wise for us to take care of our bodies, and not just for the present life, there may be eternal consequences.
Consider Jesus - his resurrection body had the damaging marks of the nails. We should be careful to not simply assume that "all will be entirely new" in the age to come. The Scriptures describe our future eternal home - the renewed earth (heaven is a temporary abode) - as being both continuous with and discontinuous with the present world. The analogy of the "seed" is used in the Scriptures and we should be careful to note that the plant that emerges from the seed does indeed retain some of the characteristics of the plant that gave rise to the seed.
I think it would be wise for us to take care of our bodies, and not just for the present life, there may be eternal consequences.
J
jsasaki06
Guest
It's not just about smoking. If your body is a temple, then you should just look after your health in general.
R
Rick W
Guest
Drew said:
What if one is totally burned in a fire or completely blown apart by a large 2000 lb bomb? Or even cremation? I can think of many ways for a person's body to be totally obliterated. Chemical plant explosions or being totally devoured by animals.
Then what?
Where would the "point of preservation" be? Right at death? A little just before? Or just after?
I'm not trying to be funny, I'm honestly curious.
I
Imagican
Guest
Come on folks,
This is an EASY one. I AM a smoker. But I ALSO am PERFECTLY able to admit that it is NOT what God would HAVE me DO.
The Spirit WILL convict those that CHOOSe to submit to It.
Our bodies ARE the temple of God. HOW we treat it IS able to affect our walk. No matter HOW close we ARE, we CAN be closer the MORE that we submit TO The Spirit.
Is smoking able to 'separate us from God'? Absolutely NOT. But smoking IS able to impede our walk. God would have us indulge in NOTHING that is contradictory to that which is RIGHTEOUS. There is NOTHING 'righteous' in SMOKING.
We DO have freedom. But that freedom CAN often cause us 'grief'. For that freedom was MEANT to be exercised in RIGHTEOUSNESS. NOT for 'self indulgence'.
Where are we then? When I FIRST began to smoke it was a 'sign' of 'rebelion'. I have NO problem admitting this. I smoked because that was ABLE to make me FEEL like I was MORE adult than I was. I smoked because of 'rebelion' AGAINST that which was 'the norm'. I did NOT smoke because I LIKED the taste, (anyone that SAYS that cigarettes TASTE good obviously have NO taste buds), I did NOT smoke for the ENJOYMENT other than the appeasement of that spirit of rebelion.
Now I smoke for a MUCH different REASON. i smoke NOW because I have an addiction to nicotine. That SIMPLE. I smoke because I am MORE comfortable appeasing the addiction than by QUITING. And ANYTHING that we allow to cause SUCH an addiction IN OUR LIVES is NOT righteous. It IS able to impede the EXTENT to which our relationship IS able to Grow between God and OURSELVES.
But it is ALSO a 'personal' thing. A thing that is NOT a 'sin' against others. A thing that IS damaging but in a minimal way as compared to those THINGS that we CAN do that are AGAINST OTHERS.
So, CAN a person who smokes BE a Christian? That's like asking if ANYONE 'over weight' can BE a Christian. ABSOLUTELY. But BOTH conditions ARE able to affect our walk. ALL that smoke, both Christian AND non-Christian SHOULD abolish this HABIT or ADDICTION. And NOT for the sake of a relationship with God, but for the sake of their HEALTH. For cigarettes HAVE BEEN PROVEN to BE 'deadly'. And they offer NOTHING but a 'sensation', a HIGH. And ANYTHING that we DO that alters our mental capacity can ONLY be detrimental in the 'long run'.
So that is what I have to offer in TRUTH. I will NOT defend 'negative behavior' for the sake of SELF. What we MUST DO is be able to submit to the Spirit so that we are able to come to a more 'perfect understanding'. Denial is ONLY able to HIDE the truth. I smoke and I KNOW that it is NOT 'righteous' and that I SHOULD quit. Haven't done it YET but the day IS coming. What I would ask is that those that ARE concerned PRAY for their brothers and sisters that DO so God will offer them the STRENGTH to 'give up' such addictions. Prayer offered for the edification of their brothers and sisters in DOING that which IS righteous WITHOUT allowing such rudiments of this world to INTERFEERE with their WALK.
Blessings,
MEC
This is an EASY one. I AM a smoker. But I ALSO am PERFECTLY able to admit that it is NOT what God would HAVE me DO.
The Spirit WILL convict those that CHOOSe to submit to It.
Our bodies ARE the temple of God. HOW we treat it IS able to affect our walk. No matter HOW close we ARE, we CAN be closer the MORE that we submit TO The Spirit.
Is smoking able to 'separate us from God'? Absolutely NOT. But smoking IS able to impede our walk. God would have us indulge in NOTHING that is contradictory to that which is RIGHTEOUS. There is NOTHING 'righteous' in SMOKING.
We DO have freedom. But that freedom CAN often cause us 'grief'. For that freedom was MEANT to be exercised in RIGHTEOUSNESS. NOT for 'self indulgence'.
Where are we then? When I FIRST began to smoke it was a 'sign' of 'rebelion'. I have NO problem admitting this. I smoked because that was ABLE to make me FEEL like I was MORE adult than I was. I smoked because of 'rebelion' AGAINST that which was 'the norm'. I did NOT smoke because I LIKED the taste, (anyone that SAYS that cigarettes TASTE good obviously have NO taste buds), I did NOT smoke for the ENJOYMENT other than the appeasement of that spirit of rebelion.
Now I smoke for a MUCH different REASON. i smoke NOW because I have an addiction to nicotine. That SIMPLE. I smoke because I am MORE comfortable appeasing the addiction than by QUITING. And ANYTHING that we allow to cause SUCH an addiction IN OUR LIVES is NOT righteous. It IS able to impede the EXTENT to which our relationship IS able to Grow between God and OURSELVES.
But it is ALSO a 'personal' thing. A thing that is NOT a 'sin' against others. A thing that IS damaging but in a minimal way as compared to those THINGS that we CAN do that are AGAINST OTHERS.
So, CAN a person who smokes BE a Christian? That's like asking if ANYONE 'over weight' can BE a Christian. ABSOLUTELY. But BOTH conditions ARE able to affect our walk. ALL that smoke, both Christian AND non-Christian SHOULD abolish this HABIT or ADDICTION. And NOT for the sake of a relationship with God, but for the sake of their HEALTH. For cigarettes HAVE BEEN PROVEN to BE 'deadly'. And they offer NOTHING but a 'sensation', a HIGH. And ANYTHING that we DO that alters our mental capacity can ONLY be detrimental in the 'long run'.
So that is what I have to offer in TRUTH. I will NOT defend 'negative behavior' for the sake of SELF. What we MUST DO is be able to submit to the Spirit so that we are able to come to a more 'perfect understanding'. Denial is ONLY able to HIDE the truth. I smoke and I KNOW that it is NOT 'righteous' and that I SHOULD quit. Haven't done it YET but the day IS coming. What I would ask is that those that ARE concerned PRAY for their brothers and sisters that DO so God will offer them the STRENGTH to 'give up' such addictions. Prayer offered for the edification of their brothers and sisters in DOING that which IS righteous WITHOUT allowing such rudiments of this world to INTERFEERE with their WALK.
Blessings,
MEC
.
I smoked for 30 years before I finally quit. Took me a couple of times of quitting then starting up again and then quitting to the point of no returning to that aweful "addiction". Why did I quit? Not because I didn't enjoy it. I was hooked! And when someone is hooked on something, they love it and hate it at the same time. I quit because I started to get severe astham attacks. My face would turn red, I couldn't breathe, I'd have to run to the window or door to open it up and for fresh air. At times, it got so bad I thought I was going to die right there! I knew it was from years of smoking and my lungs were black stained destroyed with tar from the cigarette smoke I was putting into them on a daily basis for 30 years!
Now, I 've been smoke free for about 4 years and I haven't had an asthma attack since! I'll NEVER GO BACK TO IT! NEVER!!!!! I thank God for the success more this time than I did before. This time it finally sunk in that I HAD TO QUIT ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME! The first time I quite I quit for 6 years and I started up again because I was around others who smoked. I didn't resist the urge and I started up with sore regrets! The athma attacks came back after two years of smoking every day. I finally quit once and for all because the second time those attacks came back is when I thought "THIS IS SO STUPID!" I knew if I didn't quit I would make matters much worse and I would be denyig my lungs the chance to clean out. I thank God that final straw! It made me quit! God will allow sickness to enter in IF we don't follow his guidance for living a healthy life style. Smoking is not healthy, it is polluting the body. Your lungs help oxygen flow through your blood. Your blood is your life line! You need not pollute your body and restrict oxygen from your blood stream by smoking cigarettes. Poor blood circulation will cause more problems than you know, not just in the lungs. Get educated on what many problems smoking leads to so you can live preventativly rather than reactionary.
The mind-set is imperative, Confess you smoke and you will be a smoker, Confess you do not smoke even while you have that stupid cigarette in your hand and are sucking the life out of your blood, you will eventually see as you are saying, "I don't smoke", THAT as you say it you will be adding to the statement of , "THIS IS STUPID! I DON"T SMOKE! WHAT AM I DOING HOLDING A LIT CIGARETTE AND PUTTING IT TO MY MOUTH? THIS IS STUPID! " And you WILL proceed to put the cigarette out to obliterate it! Thereby making your confessin of "I don't smoke" as being a reality! Do it each time you light up a cigarette and eventually you will see that whatever you confess, you pocess. If you continue to smoke, you will see that you are allowing contradiction to rule your life, rather than allowing truth to rule your life! Make up your mind to stop contradicting your confession of truth of not being a smoker!
Make up your mind already! And stop allowing the lies of the devil to rule your behavior. Smoking STINKS! you may as well take a big lump of limburger cheese and rub it all over yourself when you light up a cigarette, Because when you are done smoking a cigarette, YOU WILL STINK! And that stink IS repulsive to a person who does not smoke. Even to a person who quit smoking, eventually, it is a repulsive smell.
So what's the choice? are you going to quit out of being reasonable with living a healthy life by preventing the whiles of the devil to persuade you to smoke, OR are you going to quit out of being so sick you have no choice but to quit? It took 30 years for my lungs to be so messed up I couldn't breath anymore! IS that what you want? God in His mercy will heal you ONLY IF YOU STOP THE DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR! And for some people! even that is too late! They didn't quit soon enough, they got emphazema, or cancer! What do you want? You want to be stupid and stink like hell? or do you want to be smart and listen to the wise advice of living a healthy clean life as the Holy Spirit of God suggests, to honor your body? It's a choice! Make up your mind! It's not easy to quit, but it IS possible! It may not work the first try, but IT WILL WORK with diligence and not giving up your confession of being a non-smoker!
You become what you say you are! Your actions eventually follow your confession! What confession do you want to rule over you? Make up your mind! I do not say this out of being mean spirited, but in fact, allowing the mean spirit of the devil to convince you that smoking ain't so bad, it's cool IS in fact the one who is mean. NOT ME for telling you the truth about smoking and the consequences of not quitting before it's too late! Make up your mind already and stop polluting your body and stop stinking!
BE COOL! QUIT SMOKING! 8-)
.
I smoked for 30 years before I finally quit. Took me a couple of times of quitting then starting up again and then quitting to the point of no returning to that aweful "addiction". Why did I quit? Not because I didn't enjoy it. I was hooked! And when someone is hooked on something, they love it and hate it at the same time. I quit because I started to get severe astham attacks. My face would turn red, I couldn't breathe, I'd have to run to the window or door to open it up and for fresh air. At times, it got so bad I thought I was going to die right there! I knew it was from years of smoking and my lungs were black stained destroyed with tar from the cigarette smoke I was putting into them on a daily basis for 30 years!
Now, I 've been smoke free for about 4 years and I haven't had an asthma attack since! I'll NEVER GO BACK TO IT! NEVER!!!!! I thank God for the success more this time than I did before. This time it finally sunk in that I HAD TO QUIT ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME! The first time I quite I quit for 6 years and I started up again because I was around others who smoked. I didn't resist the urge and I started up with sore regrets! The athma attacks came back after two years of smoking every day. I finally quit once and for all because the second time those attacks came back is when I thought "THIS IS SO STUPID!" I knew if I didn't quit I would make matters much worse and I would be denyig my lungs the chance to clean out. I thank God that final straw! It made me quit! God will allow sickness to enter in IF we don't follow his guidance for living a healthy life style. Smoking is not healthy, it is polluting the body. Your lungs help oxygen flow through your blood. Your blood is your life line! You need not pollute your body and restrict oxygen from your blood stream by smoking cigarettes. Poor blood circulation will cause more problems than you know, not just in the lungs. Get educated on what many problems smoking leads to so you can live preventativly rather than reactionary.
The mind-set is imperative, Confess you smoke and you will be a smoker, Confess you do not smoke even while you have that stupid cigarette in your hand and are sucking the life out of your blood, you will eventually see as you are saying, "I don't smoke", THAT as you say it you will be adding to the statement of , "THIS IS STUPID! I DON"T SMOKE! WHAT AM I DOING HOLDING A LIT CIGARETTE AND PUTTING IT TO MY MOUTH? THIS IS STUPID! " And you WILL proceed to put the cigarette out to obliterate it! Thereby making your confessin of "I don't smoke" as being a reality! Do it each time you light up a cigarette and eventually you will see that whatever you confess, you pocess. If you continue to smoke, you will see that you are allowing contradiction to rule your life, rather than allowing truth to rule your life! Make up your mind to stop contradicting your confession of truth of not being a smoker!
Make up your mind already! And stop allowing the lies of the devil to rule your behavior. Smoking STINKS! you may as well take a big lump of limburger cheese and rub it all over yourself when you light up a cigarette, Because when you are done smoking a cigarette, YOU WILL STINK! And that stink IS repulsive to a person who does not smoke. Even to a person who quit smoking, eventually, it is a repulsive smell.
So what's the choice? are you going to quit out of being reasonable with living a healthy life by preventing the whiles of the devil to persuade you to smoke, OR are you going to quit out of being so sick you have no choice but to quit? It took 30 years for my lungs to be so messed up I couldn't breath anymore! IS that what you want? God in His mercy will heal you ONLY IF YOU STOP THE DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR! And for some people! even that is too late! They didn't quit soon enough, they got emphazema, or cancer! What do you want? You want to be stupid and stink like hell? or do you want to be smart and listen to the wise advice of living a healthy clean life as the Holy Spirit of God suggests, to honor your body? It's a choice! Make up your mind! It's not easy to quit, but it IS possible! It may not work the first try, but IT WILL WORK with diligence and not giving up your confession of being a non-smoker!
You become what you say you are! Your actions eventually follow your confession! What confession do you want to rule over you? Make up your mind! I do not say this out of being mean spirited, but in fact, allowing the mean spirit of the devil to convince you that smoking ain't so bad, it's cool IS in fact the one who is mean. NOT ME for telling you the truth about smoking and the consequences of not quitting before it's too late! Make up your mind already and stop polluting your body and stop stinking!
BE COOL! QUIT SMOKING! 8-)
.
Biblereader
Member
- Aug 9, 2006
- 1,384
- 1
It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you but what comes out, so as long as you don’t exhale, you’re ok. :wink: :smt023 :-D[/quote]
heh heh! :-D
heh heh! :-D
Biblereader
Member
- Aug 9, 2006
- 1,384
- 1
wavy said:
Smoking doesn't send you to hell. Rejecting Jesus Christ does.
Read Romans 10:
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11: For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12: For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
NOT doing that, will send a person to Hell.
I
Imagican
Guest
Relic,
THANK YOU for your honesty. I REALLY DO appreciate it. NOTHING like ENCOURAGEMENT from the HEART. THANK YOU AGAIN for the support, (in NOT smoking that is).
You KNOW what a detrimental THING smoking IS. That is a 'good thing'. That you were able to 'overcome' is a monumental task that I'm quite sure that you are STILL proud of this 'four years later'. GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!
And WE both KNOW that God is able to offer the STRENGTH to 'overcome'. I'm SURE that you did your share of PRAYING and offering UP this detrimental behavior TO God in order to 'overcome'. God IS Good!!!
Thanks again for your testimony. You ARE obviously a man that had COME TO GRIPS with his ADDICTION and was ABLE to DO something about it. GOOD for YOU!!! And I am SURE that God LOVES you 'all the more' for being ABLE to 'cut this OUT of your life'.
Blessings,
MEC
THANK YOU for your honesty. I REALLY DO appreciate it. NOTHING like ENCOURAGEMENT from the HEART. THANK YOU AGAIN for the support, (in NOT smoking that is).
You KNOW what a detrimental THING smoking IS. That is a 'good thing'. That you were able to 'overcome' is a monumental task that I'm quite sure that you are STILL proud of this 'four years later'. GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!
And WE both KNOW that God is able to offer the STRENGTH to 'overcome'. I'm SURE that you did your share of PRAYING and offering UP this detrimental behavior TO God in order to 'overcome'. God IS Good!!!
Thanks again for your testimony. You ARE obviously a man that had COME TO GRIPS with his ADDICTION and was ABLE to DO something about it. GOOD for YOU!!! And I am SURE that God LOVES you 'all the more' for being ABLE to 'cut this OUT of your life'.
Blessings,
MEC
Imagican said:
MEC, I couldn't have done it without that words to speak to "it" the habit, "the action". I also said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. as I was saying to myself how stupid this is. I don't smoke, so why is this cigarette in my hand and I'm sucking poison smoke into my lungs. I knew it was the devil who talked into my mind to light it up and took my mind-set to the point of smoking that cigarette. I INTERVENED the process! By using the words to stop the process. It wa sonly by speaking to the action that it was stopped. It took at least 2 cartons of cigarettes that I spoke to every single action of finding a cigarette in my hand! And yes, sometimes I smoked a whole cigarette, but I didn't give up on the process of distinguishing each cigarette when I came to realize what I was holding a cigarette I truly didn't want to finish smoking! I put the cigarette out, distinguished it, and threw it away each and every time for 2 cartons worth UNTIL one day, I finally found the words I spoke to the ACTION, the Process, I caught dead in it's tracks! AND I THANKED GOD EACH TIME FOR EACH VICTORY! 2 cartons worth of having a victory over most every light up! Those words, my confession had taken root to the point of victory and I Thanked God each and every time. I Thanking God for the finished work in me and was happy for each one! Gave myself the pat on the back, the high five to God and a jump for joy, a stride in my step for each time I put out a half smoked or cigaretee in which I only took one puff ! I counted it all for joy! Wheening off of a bad habit takes time. I even had to use the power of abstinance, no differently than does one who is to abstain from sexual promiscuity! It many times took me begging God to keep me one more minute longer away from the next cigarette. Then I stretched it to two minutes then three, and so on and so forth. It takes determination of knowing that GOD is doing a work in and through you. You have to discipline your self. YOu have to give it to God each and every moment of this process! You have to ask God to remind you when you are weak and wanting to give in to it. YOu have to talk it away. You have to thinkit away and tell it that it is vile and stinky! it is destruction to your body and you will not allow it to win in the end of this long struggle! YOU will be the victor of it! Believe that by His stripes you are healed, the sacrifice of suffering through the wheening, that victory is at hand! Never give up on the process of knowing victory IS at Work to till it shines full fledge! No baby is born in an instant. every birth must go through a growing process till it's fruition! Never give up on the process, IT IS WORKING. Keep saying the words that pronounce the truth that says, I DON'T SMOKE. So this is a lie that the devil put in my hand, this lit cigarette! And then.... put the cigarette out! That shows the devil whose boss! The positive confession of what you have faith in.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for! Never forget that! Faith without works is dead! Put your faith in perspective to what you truly desire for the glory of God to come shining through in it's fullness, in due season! The process is part of the purpose!
I'll pray the lord put in you a strong determination to go through the process that it takes to overcome the addiction by having the power of HIS words to win the battle against the spirit of it.
by the way, I'm a woman who will be 57 in one month and one weeks time. :wink:
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