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=> Testimonies / Prayer Requests / Fellowship => Topic started by: Roy Martin on March 02, 2009, 08:51:37 AM
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I have been smoking cigarettes for 40 years.God has taken so many things out of me that I cant count them.I ask God every day to take this deadly desire from me.Every day I say to myself that, no not today will I smoke.I can say that and think I really mean it and be smoking again 10 minutes later or ask God to take it from me,say amen and smoke a cigarette.I really really hate smoking.Its the hardest thing Ive ever dealt with to give up.Its not a simple choice as some might think.I really need help and prayer from all of you to be free from this.I cant stand it anymore.I'm in tears right now as I'm typing this. Why cant I stop this? I just don't understand it. I'm scared constantly of cancer. I know that God can deliver me from this and I know that I have to do something on my part but I haven't been able to do it.Please pray for me to be delivered from this and that God give me the strength to over come.
I trust God with all my heart and know that he hears my every prayer but I feel so alone from Him when it comes to giving up these deadly cigarettes.What is wrong with me? Why do I feel completely helpless? Ive never felt this way with any of the other things God has taken from me.Why do I not have even the slightest bit of control.Please help me God, and people reading this.
Sincerely
Roy :'( :'( :'(
I feel selfish to be asking for help with this, considering all the sick people out there.Its very rare that I ask people to pray for me.In most cases its between God and me and He always works it out with me w/o going to people.Am I wrong to ask for your prayers and advice?
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I have been smoking cigarettes for 40 years.God has taken so many things out of me that I cant count them.I ask God every day to take this deadly desire from me.Every day I say to myself that, no not today will I smoke.I can say that and think I really mean it and be smoking again 10 minutes later or ask God to take it from me,say amen and smoke a cigarette.I really really hate smoking.Its the hardest thing Ive ever dealt with to give up.Its not a simple choice as some might think.I really need help and prayer from all of you to be free from this.I cant stand it anymore.I'm in tears right now as I'm typing this. Why cant I stop this? I just don't understand it. I'm scared constantly of cancer. I know that God can deliver me from this and I know that I have to do something on my part but I haven't been able to do it.Please pray for me to be delivered from this and that God give me the strength to over come.
I trust God with all my heart and know that he hears my every prayer but I feel so alone from Him when it comes to giving up these deadly cigarettes.What is wrong with me? Why do I feel completely helpless? Ive never felt this way with any of the other things God has taken from me.Why do I not have even the slightest bit of control.Please help me God, and people reading this.
Sincerely
Roy :'( :'( :'(
I feel selfish to be asking for help with this, considering all the sick people out there.Its very rare that I ask people to pray for me.In most cases its between God and me and He always works it out with me w/o going to people.Am I wrong to ask for your prayers and advice?
NO!
"God is in total control of our destiny. God determines which trails we will go through; how severe they will be; and when we might have victory over them. We can "try" according to our own ability to overcome, but for the most part, we are too weak. We can keep ourselves from doing certain things, but not others.
So what is one to do? PRAY!
Yes, I know you've done that many times, but you never quit. God knows our state. It seems logical to think that if God wants us not to sin, and if we deeply desire NOT TO SIN, then surely He would be quick to grant such a wish. But this is not the case.
There may be numerous reasons for this:
It builds patience; we feel guilty and guilt can be a good thing as we eventually shame ourselves into obedience; we not only need to desire to stop whatever we know is sin, but we need to come to hate that sin, and the more we are plagued by it, the more we tend to hate it; our sin proves to us in undeniable terms that we really are powerless over our own behavior; it drives us to throw ourselves on God's mercy.
Sometimes we can come to believe that God has given up on us, or maybe we aren't even being called by God to be an overcomer of sin. This is not true. God is calling you alright-your request for spiritual help is proof of this. There is not, however, a secret formula for overcoming sin of any kind.
Smokers often have the very same addiction to smoke as others have to alcohol or sex. And many are addicted to all three.
Here is some instruction from Peter:
2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen.
We do not conquer all our sins just because we desire to conquer them, but we are to "grow" toward that goal. If you recall from my LOF series, "grace" is used as a verb in that it "teaches" us by life experiences how to live a godly life in this wicked world. Grace is not just an act of undeserved mercy by God, but it (grace) is also His way of teaching us through what most of us know as "the school of hard knocks."
We never become sinless, but we do reach the place that Paul stated that sin no longer has "dominion over us" (Rom. 6:14).
Roy, I also smoked for many years. One day the guilt was just too much and everything went into the dumpster (coincidence it was trash day? ;) ).
Continue to pray for this to pass. I'll stand and pray with you!
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Amen Patrick!
Roy, you are in our prayers...this too shall pass.
Marques
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Hi Roy,
I hear your plight loud and clear as I too smoke and it disgusts me. Several weeks ago I was visiting my aged mother who thought I had quit smoking and then saw that I was back to smoking and she scolded me. I told her I was waiting for God to come to my rescue, she scoffed at me. She said oh so it's God's fault you smoke? Well no not exactly but I just let it go at that. But I was very angry because one of my sisters was there too and she can't control her eating and nor can my mother, who is a diabetic and does not follow the diet that she should. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
I have tried at least five times to quit smoking. The longest I lasted was eighteen months. It is not only the vanity of weight gain that brings me back but more importantly it puts me in a perpetual bad mood which causes a strain in my marriage and my family life. The weight gain I could live with, it is the latter that always causes me to return to the cigarettes. I know it sounds like a cop out but I need the cigarettes to keep the peace. God knows this and I hope and pray that someday he rids me of this sin while at the same time keeping me sane and peaceful.
I understand your addiction and I will pray that God takes it away from both of us.
Eileen
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Roy,
I feel your pain brother. I have never smoked as this is not an area that has ever grabbed me. But there are temptations in my mind that have plagued me since my teenage years. I have never physically acted on them but yet the 'hook' still tries to grab me time after time. Just when you think your making progress it comes back out of left field and slaps you. I have asked the Lord innumerable times for victory and yet when I least expect it, wham!! I was listening to one of Ray's tapes awhile back and he was saying that in an area he struggled with and had prayed over for a long time that one day the struggle was just gone. Nothing he had done but it was God's time for him to have victory (paraphrasing from memory here). Some day the victory will come I am confident of. Until then for reasons God has reserved to himself each of us have the thorns in the flesh we are given to humble us by and brother, nothing like these things to take the wind out of our sails.
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Hi Roy,
I can empathise with you Brother because I'm a smoker too. Not much advice from me, but it
seems that you are ahead of me, in that you feel guilt and strongly desire to quit. I was going to Post
an Email comment from Ray regarding smoking, but someone beat me to it. I appreciated this sentence
from Ray's Email Posted by Patrick in this Topic: WE DO NOT CONQUER ALL OF OUR SINS JUST BECAUSE
WE DESIRE TO CONQUER THEM, BUT WE ARE TO GROW TOWARDS THAT GOAL. Also grace is the way he
teaches us by the School of hard knocks. (from Patricks Post quoting Ray, paragraph 4).
I quit smoking twice for seven years(1982-1989 & 1996-2004), my former Religion prohibited it on
threats of expulsion. I never actually quit because of a desire to do so. Type A addictive type
personalities like me find it most difficult to quit(IMO). Admittedly, I fear how I will act after quitting.
That's how badly addicted, I am. My Wife has stated, she would have to take a vacation, fearing how
Hyper and irritable I'd become.
Roy, since you sincerely desire to quit, pray to God incessantly to quit and when God decides to remove
your desire to smoke, you will quit. You already feel guilt and shame, that's a good thing. Perhaps your
example might inspire others, including me.
Kind Regards, Samson.
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Thanks guys,
That was some good replies and scriptures.Thank you for your prayers and I also have you in my prayers and thanks for having people like all of you on this forum.Ive got to get my wife to read your replies.Not a day passes that I dont get hammered on about smoking.I tell her Im trying very hard and pray constantly but she doesnt hear what Im saying.She blames me for it but she doesnt understand yet.She is still reading LOF series. Even after reading it myself and feeling down on myself for still smoking,well it took your reminders and scripture to let me know that I simply can not do it.I was to the point that I was about to stop praying for deliverance from smoking.During reading your replies I stopped and ask God to make me hate this more and more( Cigs.) Thank you for your understanding and for being a true brother in Christ. I can see now that God put in in my heart to ask for prayer.Isnt that just wonderful to say the least? Man I love the way He works.What a teacher and father He is.
Peace
Roy
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hi roy,
i have never really had a problem with smoking cigarettes (my problem was always with smoking pot). i no longer smoke weed but sometimes i think back on it and wonder what it would be like, but then i remember the scripture about a dog returning to his vomit, and that pretty much does it for me. my husband is a smoker and i admit on occasion i have had a cigarette with him. actually, when he went back overseas to work last month (he works as a mud engineer on an offshore oil rig off the coast of africa) he left a pack of cigs at home. i decided one day to smoke one and then another one. after the lightheadedness passed i was okay. the next day i smoked another cig. after about the 5th day i smoked another cig, but then the guilt hit me. i went to bed and prayed to God and repented of smoking the cigs (ESPECIALLY since i had breast cancer 9 yrs ago) and asked God to forgive me. believe it or not, i smoked another cigarette about 2 days later. i prayed and cried out to God telling him that i hated my carnal flesh and that i didn't want to smoke anymore. it was about that time that a thread was started on the forum about repentance. i think aqr/george started the thread. in that thread he wrote that the meaning of repent was a turning away from (like turning your back on). i did a word search of repentance on the emails to ray link on the forum. in an email ray responded to he was saying that we can't even repent on our own. we can't even repent until God causes us to do it. He is the one who brings us to repentance, but i was thinking that "i" was the one who was desiring to repent and that "i" was the one who did the repenting, BUT, i was so wrong. i then realized that when i repented to God for smoking the cigs that i was doing it from my fleshly heart and not from my spiritual heart because "i" was thinking it was up to me. wrong paleface! now i know the truth about repentance and it was brought about through my brother's thread on this forum, and through ray's email. there is no limit to the truths that we have to learn from God and that we can learn through each other on this forum and through ray's heart/spirit which he has been blessed with by God for our learning. and most importantly, everything we learn on this forum/website always points back to the scriptures. anyway, i no longer smoke anything (cigs or pot). praise to God for this. however, i still have "thorns in my flesh" which i deal with daily. as the others who have already responded to your prayer request, i too will stand with you in prayer for God to remove the desire completely from your heart to stop smoking. remember that it is ONLY in God's timing and in His plan for you that you will stop smoking. continue to pray daily for Him to remove this addiction. thank you for the post.
claudia
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Hey Roy,
Just letting you know you are not alone. I also struggle with this addiction. I will keep you and all others who are struggling in my prayers.
Suzie
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I had my wife read this post just to get me off the hook of her downing me, but now I feel like I need that constant fussing at me.I think I'll tell her to keep it up.Sure its in Gods timing but it just seems like it might be one of Gods way of making me hate it more,I don't know.
Roy Martin
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Hi Roy,
I will Pray for you to quit now. My 2 cents worth of advice; i smoked from 12 years to 25 years old. Was up to 2.5 packs per day before quitting, just quit cold turkey 31 years ago. I have never smoked or had the urge to smoke since, i did not know how, to or what, to Pray then. GOD does look out for fools (me back then) and little children (His Now), so try that, quit and turn away from it.
george. :)
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Hello Roy, We are in the same boat with this one. Me 38 years now. I hate it more than anything. It almost feels like I need it just to keep on living. I can only hope and pray that Ray is right on this one, He says when God wants you to quit, it`s done. There is a scripture that says, What goes into the body does not make it unclean for worship. I do not know if this also means smoking along with food, booze or drugs or what ever else people put inside them.
Bless you Bro. Ricky
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Roy,I understand your pain and your frustration having been someone who smoked for so many years. You need to remember that Nicotine is one of the most potent and addicting drugs known to man. It is thought that withdrawal from Nicotine is even more difficult than something like Heroin. So, don't beat yourself to death over this. You've come along way already,my friend. Keep on A truckin, as the ole saying goes.
There is something out there that can help you. It is called "Chantix", and it must be obtained with a prescription from your doctor. It does not work like a nicotine patch, simply replacing the Nicotine in the cigarette. Rather, it blocks the pleasure receptors in the brain that are stimulated by Nicotine.
You take one pill a day for the first week and smoke as you normally do,although less is always better, then you stop smoking and continue to take a stronger pill thereafter for the course of the treatment which is usually two months. I would recommend that you take it for a third month, if you can afford it.
If you have a drug plan I think it will cost you around $75.00 a month. Without one it will be much higher, but that's the deal. I really think it is good stuff or I would'nt be telling you this.
I don't know if this is what you are looking for, but I hope it is of use to you. I will certaintly pray on your behalf that you may conquer this demon that has harmed so many of us. You have'nt done anything to be ashamed of. Lots of us have been there and some still are.
Your brother,
Ron M.
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Hi Roy,
Just to encourage you that it can be done. It hurts but it's doable. I quit when I married a nonsmoker 18 yrs ago. I had to do it cold turkey too.
After one year, you couldn't have gotten me to smoke. It's worth the pain to smell good again and have your lungs back! ;)
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It is amazing how we do things that we know will kill us and the tobacco company gets rich off of it. That alone should make us quit. Yes, we have to hate it with a passion to overcome it.
God took it out of me over night of smoking pot. Now Im saying, God please make me hate this with a passion.I just hope I dont get cancer before I hate it the way I need to. Its very scary.
Is there never a time that God expects us to give something up rather than expecting Him to take it away? I think I know that answer already from Rays teaching and scriptures. I just dont feel right in getting comfortable about smoking. I want to fight it with all Ive got in me even with it being in Gods timing and hands. I know that I cant do anything on my own but Ive still got some carnal stuff going on with this. Smoking is of the flesh. Excuse me but I just had a thought from my last sentence that I have to pray about and dwell on.
Thanks for all the input and support.Its all been very helpful.
Peace and love
Roy
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Hi all,
Glad I came to look over the site today. I needed to read this one! Friday, I have to go for a lung scan, the last x-rays of my chest showed "chronic changes" as the Doc put it. Then next week its off to a stress test. I've been smoking on and off since I was 17, (53 now) and its catching up with me.
I've wanted to quit for a long time too, praying for it to happen, just like some of you folks. Now that I'm showing some pretty bad symptoms I guess maybe I'll get serious about quitting.
Hope it goes well for you Roy!
Later all,
Joe
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Joe, that is scary!
My sister just a couple months ago had the lower lobe of her lung removed from cancer! she was given a good report no chemo no radiation needed. Did that stop her from smoking?? For three weeks!! Now she is smoking again!! PLEASE don't let that happen to you!
My sister told the doc. "I will never touch another cigarette!: He looked at me and said, "They ALL say that! But many don't quit!" She wants to quit, but I guess a painful lung surgery wasn't enough of a deterrent! I can't really judge since I have never smoked...
Kathy :'(
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Joe your story is another straw thats about to break the camels back.
Here is whats going on and has been for the past year. Every time I get really in to it with all my heart and ask God to take this habit from me,I hear the same words in me every time.( If you will take a step and make it through one day) Is this just my imagination, my own unaware thoughts or is it God? I have no doubt that its God, but Im asking for witnesses. God has spoken to me many times but this time I feel like I need witnesses.Whats up with that? Im under heavy spiritual battle right now over this tobacco thing,even more so since I started this post. When it starts going like this then I know something is about to happen and its usually a break through. I have to admit that this is one of the toughest Ive dealt with to overcome. Are there any witnesses to what Im hearing?
Peace
Roy
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Joe your story is another straw thats about to break the camels back.
Here is whats going on and has been for the past year. Every time I get really in to it with all my heart and ask God to take this habit from me,I hear the same words in me every time.( If you will take a step and make it through one day) Is this just my imagination, my own unaware thoughts or is it God? I have no doubt that its God, but Im asking for witnesses. God has spoken to me many times but this time I feel like I need witnesses.Whats up with that? Im under heavy spiritual battle right now over this tobacco thing,even more so since I started this post. When it starts going like this then I know something is about to happen and its usually a break through. I have to admit that this is one of the toughest Ive dealt with to overcome. Are there any witnesses to what Im hearing?
Peace
Roy
Roy,an email to Ray,hope it helps.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2529.0.html
God Talks?
« on: November 29, 2006, 09:09:24 AM »
Dear Ray,
Thanks again for your great website. It continues to teach, challenge and excite my mind!
I have questions for you on the topic of communicating with God. Many Christians I come across talk about "hearing from God." I often hear people say that the Lord "spoke" to them and "told" them to do this or that or make this decision rather than that decision. One friend even told me he sometimes hears from God audibly. Whilst I am sure people can and do hear from God, I admit that at times I am a bit sceptical when people say this. It also leaves me wondering what is wrong with me that God doesn't speak to me or at least in the way he does to others. I know I prayed to God a lot to be given truth and understanding on the subject of eternal punishment and since then I have been introduced by friends to some great books by a theologian - Baxter Kruger as well as finding the wonderful material on your website. I have certainly felt that God has communicated to me through reading this materia l. I have been moved to tears at times as I have discovered more and more about God's heart. However there are many times I ask God for direction and it feels like the only answer I get is silence! Anyway am hoping you can help with these questions - How does God communicate to us? Do you think these people are for real? Does God "speak" to you? What does scripture have to say about this topic ?
Would appreciate any light you can shed on the above.
May God bless you mightily,
Caroline (from Australia)
Dear Caroline:
"And the Father Himself, which has sent Me, has borne witness of Me. Ye have NEITHER HEARD HIS VOICE AT ANY TIME, nor seen His shape" (John 5:37), pretty much takes care of all the tens of thousands of liars out there who have claimed otherwise.
God speaks to us through His Spirit and through His Word, but not in an audible voice. I have prayed many times and God then later put the answer into my mind. Likewise I have many times needed to know the answer to something in the Scriptures, and my understanding would be opened to something I read many times before, but didn't understand before.
God be with you,
Ray
Peace...Mark
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Thanks Mark.
I have never heard anything audibly. When I say hear in my heart, its not audible. Its more of an overwhelming thought like a clear understanding of something. I know that all is in Gods timing and I cant speed anything up regardless of what my thoughts are. I have never even come close to making it one day w/o cigarettes but God knows when I will. I thought for a few moments that I could do it and the stronger I thought I was about it,the weaker I got. Oh man, I just dont know.
This is no little thing to me but I guess Ive said all I can say about it.
Peace
Roy
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Roy, I believe God has put it in your mind to want to stop. But, now it is up to him to help you do it. I battled with eating problems because of depression. I dealt with that 10 years. Eating had become my life. I had depression cause I could not have children so I thought all I had was food. My Husband was ok with not having children, he was a Boy Scout Leader and helped many boys who had problems. Also, I helped many children that I helped to take care of in the family. If, I had my children I may have not had time for others. So, I know longer held eating as my only Hope. God became my hope.
To this very day I fight wanting to eat the correct things. I have to take medications for pain that makes you crave sweets and food. Only, things they make me crave is sweets. It is a constant battle that. I face. Just like cigarettes, medications can affect us. It is like a two-edged sword. Some days, I over come some are harder. But, the want is in there and I know he is able. Try not to focus so much on it. When, I stopped that God helped me. Even cereals they say are healty have lots of carbs. Carbs are a killer to me. I have diabetes. It makes you hungry. I feel like Ray. Its a battle. I have to read all the labels, however I try and only eat raw foods and cook at home. My Husband likes that better anyways. Eating out is a treat once in a while
But, our God is able. When, he is ready it will help. I will keep you in my prayers.
In His Love,
Marlene
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It is amazing how we do things that we know will kill us and the tobacco company gets rich off of it. That alone should make us quit. Yes, we have to hate it with a passion to overcome it.
God took it out of me over night of smoking pot. Now Im saying, God please make me hate this with a passion.I just hope I dont get cancer before I hate it the way I need to. Its very scary.
Is there never a time that God expects us to give something up rather than expecting Him to take it away? I think I know that answer already from Rays teaching and scriptures. I just dont feel right in getting comfortable about smoking. I want to fight it with all Ive got in me even with it being in Gods timing and hands. I know that I cant do anything on my own but Ive still got some carnal stuff going on with this. Smoking is of the flesh. Excuse me but I just had a thought from my last sentence that I have to pray about and dwell on.
Thanks for all the input and support.Its all been very helpful.
Peace and love
Roy
I started a thread on just that - how to hate sin, a little while ago: http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php?topic=9138.0 (http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php?topic=9138.0). Maybe God can use it to help you.
Steve
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I felt kind of self centered when I first started this post but now its something different because of something all of you made me feel about all of us. I started to see more into you than I did myself.
Does that make sense to anyone? Its a good thing I feel towards all of you,just dont know how to explain it. Hey Mark,I agree with you, not something to take on the chin w/o a fight.
Anyway, all of you have left me with much to dwell on about others but cant quite put my finger on it.
Oh and Mark I believe your reply is very accurate, at least I hope so. God bless every one of you.
Peace and love
Roy
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Roy, hope you don't mind if I continue this thread.
As you know, I'm scheduled for my lung scan this afternoon and I've been doing some thinking. Those thoughts I'd like to post here for your consideration. Your meaning all who read...
I know something is wrong, but I don't know yet what it is, maybe the scan will show what it is, thus the reasoning behind having one, duh...
Doc wants to rule out spots on the lung. All this has me mulling it over.
First of all, the scripture comes to mind about turning a person over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, yet his soul would be saved in the end. Wow! Is that happening to me?
I feel that if there IS a problem, it's my own stupid fault for doing something I've always known might end up killing me. I don't feel I could ask for prayer to be healed, at least in my mind that would be totally two faced of me. Is that a thought way off the mark???
I'm not worried,,well, not much anyway. I just feel that if there is something wrong I did it to myself, so take what comes and pay the consequence.
Another thing. Judgement begins in the house of God. I'm wondering, should I sort of look at this as God's fire burning this out of me, even if it kills me. (lol, a bit of irony there if you will.)
Thoughts?
I hope I'm not out of line here, just expressing what's going on with me about all this. I'm not boo hooing either. You know, if it IS God's judgement, you might think it odd of me, but I welcome it with open arms. Mainly because deep down my greatest desire is to please my Father.
Gee, do I post this or not?
Yes, I will, I want to see what others, my brothers and sisters in Christ might say...
And thanks.
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Joe, I want to hear everything you have to say. Say what you feel, as you have done.
I hear what your saying, I just am too immature to give you an answer, but we're in the same boat. Im not going to see a doctor yet but its sure to come if Im not delivered soon.
Is there no way that we can be disobedient to God? Why is there something weighing heavy on me to do something on my part.
Joe let me know how your test comes out. Ill pray for you for sure.
This is very confusing to me too Joe. I find it so hard to just lay down and not fight this with all Ive got. Like you said, do something that kills us and as we are dieing we ask God to heal us. So many people out there that are sick and crippled that didnt have a choice, and we choose to go from healthy to cancer, but theres a reason for that beyond my carnal mind. I cant keep from almost hating myself but I know its Gods will and we cant change that. We definitly are being tested by this deadly habit. What are we to learn from this?
Roy
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What are we to learn from this? Roy
You know, if it IS God's judgement, you might think it odd of me, but I welcome it with open arms. Mainly because deep down my greatest desire is to please my Father. jg
Roy and jg, I thought this might be of some help.
2 Corinthians 12
9 And he said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly; then will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may abide upon me.
10 Wherefore I am well pleased in infirmities, in outrages, in necessities, in persecutions. in straits, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.
2 Corinthians 4
17 For the momentary lightness of our affliction works for us exceeding abundantly an eternal weight of glory,
18 while we look not at the things seen, but at the things not seen; for the things seen are temporal, but those not seen are eternal.
Peace...Mark
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Thanks Mark,I needed that. As you could probably see that I was getting very beside myself. I have been through so many trials that it would seem that I could never forget the scriptures you provided.
I know something is about to happen when it starts gettin down like this.
Peace
Roy
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A few days before you started this thread I prayed that God would deliver me from smoking. I've been smoking for 33 years. I've really tried everything and failed. I have been resting and waiting on God for another 8 years since I last tried. A couple of days after I prayed I discovered electronic cigarettes and ordered one. I think it just might help me quit. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-cigarette
I know this might solve some health problems, but I also know that there is something very carnal in me that needs to be dealt with that keeps me in bondage to smoking. I also know that only God can show me what it is and deal with it. I can't even see it.
Psalm 139:
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Proverbs 20:
27The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man ; it searches out his inmost being.
30 Blows and wounds cleanse away evil,
and beatings purge the inmost being.
Matthew 23:25-27
25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.
I'm pretty sure smoking is the outside of the cup. I want to fight to clean the outside of the cup so it looks nice and clean, but I know it's the inside of my cup that needs cleaning. Once that is done the outside also will be clean.
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I just wanted to tell you my sister-in law was a smoker and God let her know if she made made it through one day He would do the rest and she did. That first day was very hard for her but after that she was delivered. It sounds just like what He let you know. God bless you!!!
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Tess, thank you for that.
I believe all the Scriptures provided in this post and also the replies, but I agree with your story. I know what I felt from the Spirit. God knows when I will make it for one day.
When I was in prison, me and some guys were sitting outside at a table for thirty minutes or so, I got up to walk away and had an extreme sharp pain in my leg from the knee down. Within and hour or so it was to the point that I couldn't stand at all, much less walk. I layed on my bed all day in bad pain that got worse. I kept thinking how strange this was. I kept thinking there was something supernatural about it. By 6:00 PM it was time for church, a couple guys came by to see if I could make it,I said I cant walk, they were almost out the door when I said, help me walk to the bus, I'm going to church. With one on each side of me, we went to church. As everyone stood to worship, I tried to stand, it was to unbearable so I sat back down, but soon as I did I felt the Spirit say something along this line," your pain is nothing compared to what I went through for you. I immediately stood back up, and sat back down when everyone else did. As I was standing I didn't notice or give any thought to my pain.I also didn't notice it as I was sitting. We stood again to be dismissed, and as I took a step I did it with a limp expecting pain,but it was gone completely. It disappeared as quickly as it came. I'm sure that some will say it was just one of those things, but I know it was God that gave it and took it.
Roy
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Hello Tess, I found your reply to this post interesting. I have now ask God if He could maybe let me know too.
Hello Roy, I have always thought, with guys like you and me, that it may take Him just a bit longer to come through for us. So if that is the case its gonna be worth the wait, hang in there bro, I am, because a lot of trails and tribe's have been coming my way the last few weeks, I have passed with all of them, I know this for sure. Roy, God really does answer prayers for guys like me and you. I have been without my professional drivers licence for many years because the eye doctor told me that my eyes were not good enough now to get it. He said that I would not be able to pass the vision test. So for many years I have been just driving small trucks and vans for a living. I went and did my professional training all over again and I do not know why I did this, because I forgot all about what the eye doctor told me. Two months ago I did the training and now it was time for the written and vision test. What an idiot I am, I said to myself, what a waste of time and money, what a goof I am now remembering what the doc told me. Sitting in my car outside the testing office, and this is true God is my witness, I prayed, I told God that I deserve nothing from Him, but Lord Jesus if You could do me this one tiny favor and make my eyes good enough to pass the test, I would be so grateful to you. That was about all I said , I thought I was just wasting His time and mine. I went in and did the vision test, and I passed. I was so stunned by this, I failed the written test and had to do it again the next day, UNBELIEVABLE. I am now going back to driving big trucks, and all I can say is Thank you Jesus.
Bless you all. Ricky
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Good for you, Ricky. ;)
I enjoy the big trucks myself.
Jobs are hard to come by out here in AZ right now; an estimated 250,000 people out of work at this time. I applied for a driving job, hauling aggregate, and one of the questions on the application was, "have you ever tested positive for an illegal substance in a DOT or non DOT test. If yes, please explain."
Well, I was honest and entered yes. Marajuana, 1991, non DOT (random test).
Guess what, even with 300K logged miles and 25 years of driving experience, that disqualified me from employment.
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Hey Ricky,
Congrats bro...
At least you did not have to test out for a pilots license :o ;D 8)
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/The-Only-Jet-Semi-Truck_101598.htm
Peace...Mark
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Hey Patrick & Mark, Thank you so much guys, Mark, that video was so awesome. I downloaded that puppy real quick. :o
Bless you Bro`s. Ricky
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Wow Patrick that is pretty sad considering we've had presidents who have done far worse and the current head of the IRS neglected to pay his taxes. Go figure. ???
Ricky, I have been doing the same thing you did. I have acknowledged my inability to quit smoking to God and promised that if He helped me kick this stinking habit once and for all, I would give all praise to Him!! We are working on it. I have cut back considerably. Glad to hear God gave you your eyes back. ;)
Eileen
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hey guy's
in 1994 i quit drugs and alcohol all in one second never to return not once.
but i didn't quit ciggies till 1999 it was the hardest thing i have ever done and am still doing, i want, crave or what ever you call it every day but i refuse to smoke and you know i minister to truck drivers every day and guess what over 99% of them smoke.
just the other day i was talking to a truck driver and he was telling me that ciggies went up again to over 5.00 dollars a pack and i was looking at the cigarette that he was smoking and it was popping and burning really weird and i said some thing to him about it and he informed me that they only make fire safe ciggies anymore and they burn differant so that if they are thrown out the widow of a car they will not start a fire so easily, that's just one more chemical to the already over abundance of chemicals in them.
you know if you think about it everything that gets burned off in the lake of fire probably smells like an ashtray. if you don't believe me go smell one, they really smell bad and if you smoke?
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Greetings Roy, I like many other suffer from addiction. I like you ask God every day and night to help me to get over my addiction. Its like being between a rock and a hard place. I been on pain meds for yrs due to serious back problems. If I don't take my meds I am in so much pain I can not work. I have no quality of life. If I don't take my melds for a day or two i start to get sick and go through withdraws. It's terrible. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I am a slave to these pain meds. I have read and listen to Rays audio on repentance. I have listen to it everynight for a week straight and I understand that when and only when God is ready to remove this addiction from me that it will happen. It is still so upsetting that I can not do anything about it and I must suffer and my family must suffer. But one day God will releave me of this addiction and until that day I will pray and thank Him for everything He does for me. The Lord will do the same for you Roy. One day you will wake up and not even think about smoking. it will be as if you never did. The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Darren
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Hi guys,
I quit smoking 5 years ago, I had smoked for the previous 25 years. I did a program through smokenders.
http://www.smokenders.com
The program lasted 5-6 weeks, the guy who was teaching us to quit over the 5-6 weeks told us that it was going to be very easy to quit at the completion of the program, most of us responded with carcastic remarks, because we the class of about 30 all tried to give up many times before with limited success and always ended up back on the smokes.
Shock Horror .....at about the 4-5 week mark, most of us were dying to quit...we couldn't wait for the program to finish so we could throw away the smokes once and for all. BTW the program has a 92% success rate. Trully once I completed the program I quit the smokes so easilly and never looked back. Maybe this is the answer to some of you who are praying for God to help you quit, perhaps our God through my experience will have some of you quit through the smokenders program.....I hope so.
Love you guys ...the smokers and the non smokers :)
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Some comments from Ray:
I know people who smoke and drink who are fine people. Do most such people have a deep love for the Truths of God and strong desire to live out the Truths of God in their personal lives? No. Not generally. But then again, there are those who are real religious zealots who don't fare much better even without some of these carnal desires of the flesh.
^
^
There is no mention of "smoking" in the Scriptures, as it appears to have been a more recent invention of modern times, so I can't give you specific examples of it in Scripture. It is a "lust of the flesh." It produces physical pleasure, but apparently GREAT PHYSICAL DAMAGE to the body. My father smoked for over a half century and died a horrible painful death from emphysema.http://bible-truths.com/email16.htm#drinking
Sin is sin regardless of whether "God controls everything," or God
controls nothing. Sin is lawlessness, missing the mark, coming short
of the glory of God, etc. God never ever does any of these things. Men
do. God made men so that they would "miss the mark," "fall short," and
be "lawless." It is not a sin for God to have made man so weak as to
prevent him from having the power to resist sin. There is a great purpose
for God creating man so that he cannot overcome the lusts of his carnal
weak mind, which God created. For the details, read the rest of our site.
God be with you,
Rayhttp://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,2302.0.html
God gives us an experience of "evil"--things that are wrong (Ecc. 1:13, Concordant Literal New Testament), so that we will learn and desire to do what is RIGHT.
http://www.forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,1189.0.html
There are hundreds of Scriptures that show that God is Sovereign and that man is caused to make his choices by circumstances that ONLY GOD CONTROLS.
It is not true that if you have no free will, then it is God Who does or commits your sins in you. No, YOU SIN BY VOLUNTARILY [NOT "freely" OR WITHOUT A CAUSE] DOING WRONG. You do wrong because you [and me too, sister] were created too spiritually WEAK NOT TO SIN. And it was NOT A MISTAKE [sin] on God's part to MAKE US WEAK so that we sin. He did it for great purpose. http://bible-truths.com/email2.htm#freewill
When one sins willfully or voluntarily, it means that he has lost his conscience about those particular sins. He feels no guilt nor shame for committing them. We all sin, but sin is not to "reign" over us, as Paul admonishes. When we sin, we should recognize it as sin, and feel shame, and repent, and go on. Once we feel no guilt nor shame, there only remains "judgment" which will assuredly remove (through fiery trials and purging) these "adversaries" that plague the human race. Hope that helps.
God be with you,
Rayhttp://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,7848.0.html
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I recommend Chantex for any body tyring to quit smoking. I had very good results, I still don't smoke. It is expensive if you don't have rx coverage(it is not covered under most insurance plans). My wife is giving it ago now and she hopes for the same results as I was given.
I am praying for all those wanting to quit...