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Quitting Without the Holy Spirit is not Possible |
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The Never Ending Journey |
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E-Mail me |
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What is G.P.S? |
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My Prayer to God |
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Verse of the day |
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Prayer of Salvation |
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Picture yourself at the top of a cliff looking down at the most wonderful surf and beach but there is no real way down. This is how I felt with my habit as it had a hold on me and I could not get rid of it. Well then He said �I have given you the amour for this challenge, trust in me and you will succeed.� What I began to realize is that many time I have taken or tried to take the �leap of Faith� and have failed for the following reason. I did not trust in the Holy spirit to help me. I will talk about this later. Now I tried the patch to quit and this was like tying a rope to a tree at the top of the cliff and throwing the rope over the edge and then climbing down. As a Christian, He will never let you fall but you have to trust in him. With the Patch, I would start my descent to the surf and wonderful sand but wither the rope would not make it to the bottom and I would be afraid to jump and climb back up or I would just climb back up. Using any means to quit smoking is just like throwing this rope over the edge. Now I have tried �cold turkey� before but all I did was step off the cliff with one foot while Father God held me and kept me from falling but would not push me. I needed to take the next step. |
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With that in your mind. On January 12th 2006 at 6:30pm I walked into my mens group and sat down and told them that I had something to say. I pulled my cigarettes out and had 6 left in the pack and I broke them in half and said that in the presence of my Brothers, I have given up the sin of smoking with the help of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and Took that �Leap of Faith� Well today is February 18th 2006 as I write this and I have not had one cigarette and the Lord has answered all my prayers. After quitting, the next week, I shared my testimony with one of my Church Family members who has been struggling with quitting smoking and during the sermon, I was led to Jeremiah 7:1-10. I have been using a study bible written by Max Lucado titled �The Devotional Bible� Experiencing the Heart of Jesus. This is written in the New Century version and Max Lucado has in the margins, Situation, Observation, and Inspiration. |
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Well I began reading this passage and then his notes and he stated the following
God will uncover and rebuke sin, especially when people minimize it or let it go unacknowledged.
Under the inspiration section, he says the following:
Habits are the thought and emotional patterns engraved on our minds. These internal habit patterns play just as a forceful role as external influences on our actions--in fact perhaps more so��..
Romans 6:19 Talks about these habits and Paul called them �Ever increasing Wickedness�
Further on down Lucado states the following which hit home for me and said why I was able to quit this time.
�We must not try to do it on our own strength. Breaking sinful habits must be done in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and in dependence upon him��
The determination that �I�ll not do that anymore,� based on sheer human resolve, has never once broken the shackles of sin.
I was then led to Romans 6:12-14 Which I have selected as my life verse
Taken from the new century version
�So, do not let sin control your life here on earth so that you do what your sinful self wants to do. Do not offer the parts of your body to serve sin, as things to be used in doing evil. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have died and now live, Offer the parts of your body to God to be used in doing good. Sin will not be your master, because you are not under law but under God�s Grace.
I have written this in an effort to let those who are suffering from sins that they cannot get away from whether it be smoking or anything that is worshiped more than God, All you need to do is Pray and ask for the help and strength of the Holy Spirit as id and you will succeed.
Good luck and God Bless
Joe Yamiolkowski Smoke free by the Power and strength of Gods Grace. |
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