How God Delivered Me From Smoking

I got saved in June of 1999. I was into partying and going to clubs. Even after I got saved for a while I still went until for some reason it wasn’t fun anymore. I was going through sanctification process and God was changing my thought process and that is what the Christian walk is all about.

Christ living in and through you! Nothing can match the Power of God NOTHING!

I smoke for several years 12 or more years. Then about almost two years into being saved I was going to this church in KY. They were a non-denominational church and they always stood up before church in the front and gathered around in a circle to pray openly meaning verbally. So to me I was really having a hard time focusing during prayer because I was not use to that and when you are hearing about 40 people praying it almost reminded me of that movie Bruce Almighty where he could start to hear people praying.

I remember I just spoke out and really to this day I am not for sure why I did? But I said “I want to quit smoking!” Then at that moment EVERYONE came around me. They put their hands on me and prayed. Some were speaking in tongues and I had no clue what they were saying. I even started making fun of them in my mind well because I was just saved in 1999 and I was just a baby in Christ. I had no idea about much of anything other that I knew I was a sinner…..

After they prayed I left the church and like always lit a cigg on the way home…God NEVER convicted me of it NOT ONE TIME! I went home that night and didn’t think much more of it……

The next morning I woke up and started my day and it was like any ordinary day…I went to work, ran some errands, ate lunch, clean the house…you know normal stuff.

Then about 3 pm it was as if I had been blind-folded! I was standing inside my living room and all the sudden I freaked out! I thought “Oh my gosh!” “I have not smoked today!” ‘Huh?” I was stunned!

I sat there in shock! It was like cigarettes were never invented! I would always smoke outside never inside so it was the normal thing for me to have a cup of coffee and smoke first thing in the morning and after I eat.

But nothing not one time and then I knew I was delivered! The desire, the want, the crave, everything GONE!

Then I was like “God please forgive me for making fun of you…I …..I was at a loss for words. But you see God KNEW what I was thinking and He KNEW that would get my attention! And it DID!

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO THINK HE IS SOME IMAGINARY FIGURE OUT THERE WHO IS SO FAR AWAY AND OUT OF REACH YOUR WRONG! WHAT HE HAS DONE IN MY LIFE HE WILL DO IN YOURS!

QUESTION IS DO YOU BELIEVE??

Be blessed!

Other Christian sites and articles

Poll: Americans see Christianity capitalism clash - USATODAY.com
Book Review - Christianity - The First Three Thousand Years - By ...
Christianity Home Page
Hidden Christians in Contemporary Nagasaki
christianity - Cultural Dictionary | New Words & Word Trends Added ...
10 questions that every intelligent Christian must answer - YouTube
The Galileo Project | Christianity | The Inquisition
BBC News - Guide: Christians in the Middle East

Is Satan Robbing You?

Jesus said, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

According to these words of Jesus, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy everything good in your life. He wants to destroy your job, your joy, your happiness, your health, your finances, your marriage, and your kids.The thief just wants to ruin anything he can get his hands on!

The devil is very cunning in the way he steals from people. He knows that if he does it outright, his actions will be recognized; therefore, he steals from people in such a deceptive way that he often accomplishes his evil goal before they even know he has stolen from them!

If the thief hasn’t already walked away with everything we hold precious and dear, he will then try to convince us that we need to sacrifice or give up everything he hasn’t already taken from us.

The thief cannot bear the fact that you possess any kind of blessing. Therefore, if he is unsuccessful at stealing the good things from your life, he will try to cunningly convince you to give up everything you possess and love — simply because he doesn’t want you to have it. He may even try to create stressful situations that cause you to conclude that your only solution is to sacrifice the things you dearly love.

We discover that if the thief is unsuccessful in his attempts to steal from you or convince you to sacrifice what you hold dear, he will then try to ruin it!

“The thief wants to get his hands into every good thing in your life. In fact, Satan is looking for any opportunity to wiggle his way so deeply into your personal affairs that he can walk off with everything you hold precious and dear. And that’s not all – when he’s finished stealing all your goods and possessions, he’ll take his plan to rob you blind to the next level. He’ll create conditions and situations so horrible that you’ll see no way to solve the problem except to sacrifice everything that remains from his previous attacks. The goal of this thief is to totally waste and devastate your life. If nothing stops him, he’ll leave you insolvent, flat broke, and cleaned out in every area of your life. You’ll end up feeling as if you are finished and out of business! Make no mistake – the enemy’s ultimate aim is to obliterate you.”

But in the bible Jesus says: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Jesus offers us a life that is filled with vitality. Jesus offers us a life of abundance.
What a comparison! The devil comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but Jesus comes to give life as we have never known it!

In your walk with the Lord, you will experience times when the devil pushes buttons in your emotions to keep you all bound up and depressed. Other times the enemy will disguise his voice to make you think God is talking to you in order to get you off track or cause you to cast off your deepest dreams as pure imagination.

But whenever these attacks occur, just tell the devil to shut up and stop dropping those dimwitted thoughts of nonsense into your head. Tell him to hit the road! Let him know you’re not going to bite that bait any longer, so he might as well go fishing somewhere else. You’re not a sucker anymore! You know how he works now, and you’ve determined that he isn’t going to steal, kill, or destroy one more good thing in your life!

There’s no doubt about it!

• The devil wants you to be defeated.
• The devil wants you to struggle through your entire life.
• The devil wants you to be sick, depressed, down in the dumps, glum, and miserable.
• The devil wants you to feel like you will never hit the target with your life.
• But Jesus wants to give you a life that is unrivaled, unequaled, matchless, incomparable, richly loaded, and overflowing with life to the ultimate maximum!

So now that you know the devil wants to make your life a less-than-gratifying, unhappy, uneventful life — a life that no one will even notice is gone once it’s over — what are you going to do about it?

This information was from the book Sparkling Gems By Rick Renner. A wonderful daily devotional a must have.

Other Christian sites and articles

Christianity in Egypt - ExchangesConnect
Christianity encyclopedia topics | Reference.com
The Gosselins Get Real - Kids & Family Life Reality TV Jon & Kate ...
Antisemitism and christianity encyclopedia topics | Reference.com
Comments on: Evangelist Franklin Graham questions Christianity of ...
Judeo-christian | Define Judeo-christian at Dictionary.com

Shattered Dreams – Chapter 2 – Part 2

“Trusting God is dangerous business. Unless we’re trusting Him for what He’s promised to provide, the step after trust is disillusionment.”

He then talks about Ted Turner, while in college, a friend of his died of cancer, though he was praying and believing for a healing, it didn’t come and then turned away from God. And now you can see the fruit of his bitterness of what he thinks of God.

That’s what why Larry was referring to disillusionment. My opinion is that too many people look at God as their genie, give me my wished and then I’ll be happy. As this book will go into further detail, what we believe God is and who he is, is even different for many Christians.

Next section begins with “Wju we’re alive at all”

Larry says that’s his problem with God. To people whose souls have been inundated with pain, God seems so unresponsive. We pray and nothing happens.

“What does it mean to hope in God as we continue to live in a world where good dreams shatter and God seems to do nothing about it?

I thought very good question. Guess where the answer lies? If you said, the Bible, you are correct!

Larry says it demands how we naturally look at lif. It demands an understanding why we’re alive at all, why God keeps us living in ths world for so long before we go to heaven.

Could it be that we have a wrong understanding of what life is meant to provide? We want godly kids, mates, help others, close friends, to enjoy God’s peace. Then comes “biblical” strategies for seeing that our dreams come true. They’re called “Godly parenting” and “discipline of spiritual living, principles of financial stewardship” all designed to give us a legitimately good time. He asks..”What’s wrong with that?”

We long to experience a compelling pleasure that eliminates all pain.

As Christians, “we give up immediate pleasures in order to later experience a deeper kind of pleasure, but we expect to feel that pleasure soon, certainly before we die. We insist on the internal good time of peace, of self-respect, of feeling at least pretty good if not full alive.”

I know as I look back at some of my rougher moments and life and realized the peace I had wasn’t true peace but it was more faith peace. What I mean is the peace I was getting was that this wast momentary, a test of my faith, darkest before dawn, blessings right around the corner.

I definitely didn’t have the peace that Paul talks about, whether good or bad times, I remain the same.

The problem is when dawn doesn’t come, you go through one trial to the next one and the last trial never gets fixed in the way you think it should be corrected. This usually leads to one thing, complete apathy, some form of depression because we are putting our joy in circumstances and not in our relationship with Him. I know a few times in life I just pretty much went through the motions of life b/c of my wrong thinking.

So now my prayer is.. God this doesn’t matter, just do a work in me, draw me closer to you because I can NOT do this in my own strength, You have to do it in me.

Other Christian sites and articles

The Language of Christianity - Video - Breaking News Videos from ...
Comments on: Evangelist Franklin Graham questions Christianity of ...
Christianity - Online Etymology Dictionary | Etymology of Words ...
Christianity encyclopedia topics | Reference.com

New Blogger Added To Bible Knowledge

Hi my name is Tina Bradley. Chris and I recently married on May24th 2008! God has done some amazing things in both of our lives and I would like to share with all of you the amazing journey so far. I will start to blog and share my experiences. Feel free to share your experiences as well and we can all learn grow and share in God’s amazing love for us. Be Blessed. Tina

Other Christian sites and articles

Redeem Christianity (@RDMChristianity) on Twitter
Picks and Pans Review: Damascus Gate : People.com
war against christianity | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Picks and Pans Review: Infidels : People.com
WSJ: How does Christianity believe in free will?

« Previous Page