Things that recently make me say: hmmm

[MoreMercy]

I am really not sure if this is a growth issue or a counseling request, I leave that decision to the Moderators here.
I am of the opinion that it is a growth issue because I feel it is degenerating my growth at this point because I am angry and frustrated over it again today...

It has to do with depending upon Christ in my weakness.

To me this is a faith breaker folks, either He is faithful to His words or He is not, period.
I pray a lot everyday and night, almost all day long. Most of my prayers are for my fellow creatures, and almost all of those prayers get answered in one way or another.
Some quickly, some not so quickly but most, not all but most are answered in one way or another in an observable and tangible way.

However, I also have a still unanswered prayer that I peteition our Creator for and have for a long time now that I am the beneficiary of:
I have been trying to quit smoking for a very long time now (several years), I know I cannot do it on my own and I do not want to depend upon a patch or medication or hypnosis to quit.
So my option over this period of time (several years now) trying to quit is to pray for help from on high to quit smoking. I request prayer help and support from friends and family even though I am not comfortable asking for prayer for myself (for what ever reason) but I frequently and consistently have for this issue of mine.

Now me seeing my prayers that I petitioned on behalf of my fellow creatures being answered and then not seeing one of my few prayers that I petition for myself answered is beginning to severly wear on and disapoint me to a point of me questioning the faithfulness of God to His own words.
Yeah I know, pretty bad stuff to think and feel eh ?

Why is this one of my few (very few) prayers for myself not answered. Is my attitude off the path. Am I misuderstanding His words about depending upon Him ?
I think it is cruel to be allowed and left in this state of mind by my Creator...
And today I have no problem at all expressing that to Him and to my fellow creatures while He sits on His throne.
(note) this is a very edited and extremely sugar coated version of my same private communication to Him earlier today over this issue of mine.
...I have only had one other unedited conversation with my Creator like this: it was when my father was in a hospital suffering, that bold and honest communication with Him brought a quick and merciful response.
I am not expecting mercy this time, just a darn response !
To me this is a faith breaker folks, either He is faithful to His words or He is not, period.



Father bless and have mercy on us.

[IMINXTC]

Beside the point, I know, MoreMercy, but if when you have time you could briefly detail how you went about trying to quit - what was the plan, and when did it fail?

I only ask because I've successfully done this myself (after many failings) and have gone through it many times with others.

Smoking is a diabolically difficult habit to break, nicotine being powerfully addictive. You've got to have a workable plan.

Once we can get a plan in view, I''d be most happy to pray with you through it.

[MoreMercy]

Beside the point, I know, MoreMercy, but if when you have time you could briefly detail how you went about trying to quit - what was the plan, and when did it fail?

I only ask because I've successfully done this myself (after many failings) and have gone through it many times with others.

Smoking is a diabolically difficult habit to break, nicotine being powerfully addictive. You've got to have a workable plan.

Once we can get a plan in view, I''d be most happy to pray with you through it.

Cold turkey, just quit on a dime, and I am now only expecting results in a progressive way.
The results have been a week to two days before I give in and return to my nasty habit.
I would be very content now to just see some progression.

The longest I have went with out smoking was nine weeks during military training, but that was forced and involuntary, and even then I took advantage of various opportunities to cheat the enforcers. (but I think that may have been rebellion more than submitting to the addiction)

Now it is a voluntary effort, and I have not been able quit, even with request made for help from our Creator.
When I say expecting progressive results, I do not mean I expect to immediately overcome the addiction any longer, but I do expect to see progression even if mixed with some disappointments.


Thank you and God bless.

[IMINXTC]

Maybe you could let me know when you want to give it another go?

The optimum time to begin, by the way, is a Monday morning, after a night's sleep and no cigs in the morning.

If you could cut down gradually until that date, it makes it much easier. And patches work well with most people.

You start on a Monday, and if you should fail during the week, you aim for the next Monday.

Are you capable of jogging or distance walking?

[MoreMercy]

Maybe you could let me know when you want to give it another go?

The optimum time to begin, by the way, is a Monday morning, after a night's sleep and no cigs in the morning.

If you could cut down gradually until that date, it makes it much easier. And patches work well with most people.

You start on a Monday, and if you should fail during the week, you aim for the next Monday.

Are you capable of jogging or distance walking?

Immediately, and yes I can jog and or walk distances, walking will be my preference until months or a year pass with no smoking.

What confounds me is I can and have and still do give up things I love to eat, for health reasons.
But I hate smoking, and cannot give it up for health reasons.


Thank you again and God bless.

[IMINXTC]

Great. Walking did it for me.

Yes, it's the nicotine - actually more addicting than heroin.

I'll be watching for when you want to go for it. But, no pressure until then.

Praying in advance.

You're going to feel great!

[MoreMercy]

Great. Walking did it for me.

Yes, it's the nicotine - actually more addicting than heroin.

I'll be watching for when you want to go for it. But, no pressure until then.

Praying in advance.

I am still trying, so immediately.

You're going to feel great!

Yeah I thought that too when I began to pray for help with this several years ago.

Thanks for the encouragement and support but I am still angry and extremely disappointed in our Creator (something very new for me !), probably not as disappointed as He is and has been in me, but He is God and I am only a man.

[Indueseason]

Brother, I went through this a number of years ago too, and I helped my husband through it. I prayed and prayed about it, having tried in the past and failed. It was over a period of a year, where it really started to get me down, and I wondered why the Lord would not take away my desire to smoke. I spent a lot of time bringing this issue before Him, asking for His strength to quit. You see, when I first got saved, I was living with other nasty habits(alcohol and drugs) yet the Lord took the desire for these things clean away! I was expecting the Lord to do the same with smoking, but the Lord had different plans.

One day I was in prayer about it, and the Lord simply told me to walk through it! He took me to scripture that reminded me, that I should desire Him, more than anything else.He reminded me that His power was within me, and that I should take every thought captive and focus on Him and not my weakness.

I did as Iminxtc said and cut down, but instead of saying to myself, I'm only going to have half the cigarettes throughout the day, I chose to miss out one key cigarette every week. I started with the morning one, I gave up drinking coffee in the morning, because that was a trigger. The morning one was easy, I just expanded my morning prayers and worship, until I had to run out the door for work. I continued to praise Him in the car, and it kept any urges at bay. Sometimes I had a coffee at work, where it was safer( couldn't smoke there)

Next was the bedtime one, I started having long baths before I went to bed. I would light lavender candles, and aromatherapy to relax me, and I'd put on worship music and focus on God. It was so good, I began to wonder why I didn't do it before! I still have "worship" today, I just love them! That took the urge away at bedtime.

Next was the after dinner one, I started doing an evening bible study with my daughter, and just focused on the Word( took quite a bit of determination, but when the urge came, I would thank the Lord that through Him, I was an overcomer.) I also went for a jog after the study, if the urges were too strong. I would put my go bible on and jog around the subdivision till the urges past.Then I would praise Him for that victory, all the way to the worship bath!

The other cigarettes were much easier, although I still had to avoid the triggers. I changed my life to avoid triggers until I had some control over them. After a month, things got way easier and I was way closer to God! Then I just continued to watch for triggers, and took every thought captive. If the thought of a cigarette popped into my head, I would tell the Lord, I loved Him more than that stupid habit, and praise Him for how He's helped me up to then.

It was all about where my focus was, and what my attitude was like. The Lord didn't take my addiction away, but in my weakness, I had to focus on Him, and that changed my walk with Him forever!! I'm now hopelessly addicted to praising Him!!

My husband gave up a few years later, and he did it in a similar manner. He was a heavier smoker than me, and he did have a few slip ups, but he didn't see it as a failure, just a lesson on where his weakness was.He just kept going, until the urges left.

Brother, please tell me when you plan to stop again, and I will happy to pray for you.

blessings to you

[MoreMercy]

Brother, please tell me when you plan to stop again, and I will happy to pray for you.

blessings to you

I appreciate you sharing your experience with me of you and your husbands similar struggle to quit smoking. And do appreciate your offer to pray on my behalf too.

My plan is to not stop trying to quit smoking, I have not stopped trying and will not. I will renew my effort to quit each time I fail.




The thing I have now stopped trying to do is asking Him for my help, for reasons I explained earlier on this thread. I am determined to stop by my own strength now, because He has not afforded me His strength to do it.
He knows how many times in a twenty four hour period I have looked to Him for help on this. AND how many years I have been looking to Him for help on this.

(metaphorically) I have been at His door all night knocking and asking Him for a loaf of bread and He answers me by offering me a stone, something His own words say He will never do !

My issue now is "why God, why ?" What am I or have I been missing ?
My issue is not "please help me Father, I am still looking to you for my help and or strength here".

As bad as that may sound to some of us, He knows my heart, and I am answerable to Him.
He proved to me He is our Creator, He has proved to me He is our only means of salvation/restoration to eternal fellowship with Him.
He has already proved to me that He answers prayers, sometimes well before they are even uttered by us.
Twice He gave me dreams that were to confirm that He hears my prayers, but I did not recognize the dreams as such until after He had answered said prayers.

I am now having extreme difficulty for reasons I shared earlier on this thread, that I can still accept that when He says He will be our strength in our weakness that that is something I can count on/stand on.

If I am my own block to Him being my strength when I am seeking Him in my weakness, I have been covering that in prayer too "show me Lord what you would have me learn"



Thank you and God bless.

[Indueseason]

My issue now is "why God, why ?" What am I or have I been missing ?
My issue is not "please help me Father, I am still looking to you Father for my help and or strength here".
As bad as that may sound to some of us, He knows my heart, and I am answerable to Him.
He proved to me He is our Creator, He has proved to me He is our only means of salvation/restoration to eternal fellowship with Him.
He has already proved to me that He answers prayers, sometimes well before they are even before they are uttered by us.
Twice He gave me dreams that were to confirm that He hears my prayers, but I did not recognize the dreams as such until after He had answered said prayer.

Dear brother, I am sorry that you are angry about this, I can sense it when reading your words. I have read through this thread, and it just seems to me that your blaming God for your continual smoking. If you liken smoking to being a sin(not saying it is and don't want to go there) then since when has our sins been God's fault? It's like someone who is fighting with a habitual sin, should they be angry at God because He is not helping them? I know that many are angry with Him, because it's easier to blame someone else, than it is to hold ourselves accountable.

Please take this in the manner it is give brother, for I speak in love, but have you forgotten that the power of Christ's death and resurrection live within you? If that same Spirit can raise your body from the dead, can it not overcome nicotine addiction? With all these things, He has already given us the power to overcome. It was placed in us at the moment of conversion. Your right, you do not need to keep asking for God's help, you need to start thanking Him that he provided that help before you even asked! You need to start walking in that power He gave you! Brother, it seems to me that satan has you in a trap, and it's not the nicotine addiction that's trapping you. It's your anger and your disbelief.

See cigarettes as sin and give them up the same way you give up any other sin, by yielding to God and walking in His power!

prayers and blessings for you

[MoreMercy]

Dear brother, I am sorry that you are angry about this, I can sense it when reading your words. I have read through this thread, and it just seems to me that your blaming God for your continual smoking. If you liken smoking to being a sin(not saying it is and don't want to go there) then since when has our sins been God's fault? It's like someone who is fighting with a habitual sin, should they be angry at God because He is not helping them? I know that many are angry with Him, because it's easier to blame someone else, than it is to hold ourselves accountable.

Please take this in the manner it is give brother, for I speak in love, but have you forgotten that the power of Christ's death and resurrection live within you? If that same Spirit can raise your body from the dead, can it not overcome nicotine addiction? With all these things, He has already given us the power to overcome. It was placed in us at the moment of conversion. Your right, you do not need to keep asking for God's help, you need to start thanking Him that he provided that help before you even asked! You need to start walking in that power He gave you! Brother, it seems to me that satan has you in a trap, and it's not the nicotine addiction that's trapping you. It's your anger and your disbelief.

See cigarettes as sin and give them up the same way you give up any other sin, by yielding to God and walking in His power!

prayers and blessings for you

I do see smoking as a sin after analyzing it, but I do not blame God for any of my faults.

I edited my last post after posting it so you may have missed one or more lines I may have added after you began reading
My edits to my last post here:

(metaphorically) I have been at His door all night knocking and asking Him for a loaf of bread and He answers me by offering me a stone, something His own words say He will never do !

I am now having extreme difficulty for reasons I shared earlier on this thread, that I can still accept that when He says He will be our strength in our weakness that that is something I can count on/stand on.

If I am my own block to Him being my strength when I am seeking Him in my weakness, I have been covering that in prayer too "show me Lord what you would have me learn"

Again: I do not blame our Creator for my faults, I am confounded as to what or why I am missing my error here.

I know who I am in Christ, and I know I am to wear the offered at the cross blood/robe of Christ's righteousness to go BOLDLY to and from His throne seeking answers to what perplexes or oppresses me or my fellows.

What perplexes me is:
1. why He offers me a stone when I ask Him for a loaf of bread.
2. why His strength is not afforded me when I seek it to cover my weakness.
3. what am I missing or doing in error (not what is He missing or doing in error) to receive this
same ongoing outcome.

I understand this is difficult to hear, accept and answer, but I will not stop asking my fellows or my God just because He chooses to wait or my fellows choose to dismiss this as me blaming my Father for my faults.


Thank you for your time and energy spent on a wretch like myself, God bless.

[Indueseason]

I do see smoking as a sin after analyzing it, but I do not blame God for any of my faults.

I edited my last post after posting it so you may have missed one or more lines I may have added after you began reading
My edits to my last post here:





Again: I do not blame our Creator for my faults, I am confounded as to what or why I am missing my error here.

I know who I am in Christ, and I know I am to wear the offered at the cross blood/robe of Christ's righteousness to go BOLDLY to and from His throne seeking answers to what perplexes or oppresses me or my fellows.

What perplexes me is:
1. why He offers me a stone when I ask Him for a loaf of bread.
2. why His strength is not afforded me when I seek it to cover my weakness.
3. what am I missing or doing in error (not what is He missing or doing in error) to receive this
same ongoing outcome.

I understand this is difficult to hear, accept and answer, but I will not stop asking my fellows or my God just because He chooses to wait or my fellows choose to dismiss this as me blaming my Father for my faults.


Thank you for your time and energy spent on a wretch like myself, God bless.

I'm trying to see it another way, honestly, but your words just seem to speak it, regardless of what you say.

Question 1 what did you ask Him?( I can only take that you asked Him to help you overcome) and what was the stone He gave you? ( I take it you believe He gave you no help to overcome)

Question 2 is just another take on question one,you don't believe He has given you what you need to cover your weakness.

Question 3 is the right question, and the only important one imho. What you are missing is belief that He has given you the power to overcome. What you have in error, is that He has given you not only bread, but a banquet to go with it.

I really don't want to misinterpret what your saying brother, I want to understand. Please pray about what I'm saying. I have been there brother, I've been spitting mad at God, that's why I said it was a trap. I don't want to upset you any further, so if I'm not helping you with my words, I will step back and allow others to help you.

Your are not a wretch brother, your a child of the Most High God, who is walking through the refiners fire!

prayers and blessings to you

[MoreMercy]

I'm trying to see it another way, honestly, but your words just seem to speak it, regardless of what you say.

Question 1 what did you ask Him?( I can only take that you asked Him to help you overcome) and what was the stone He gave you? ( I take it you believe He gave you no help to overcome)

Yes, I have been asking for help on this particular problem from Him for several years now ...fact

Yes, I do not see the help I see promised by Him ...(my perception) not fact !

Question 2 is just another take on question one,you don't believe He has given you what you need to cover your weakness.

That is my ongoing perception, yes. Also the reason for my anger/frustration.

Question 3 is the right question, and the only important one imho. What you are missing is belief that He has given you the power to overcome. What you have in error, is that He has given you not only bread, but a banquet to go with it.

Well, I do believe He has once and for all given me the power to overcome our enemy, but do not see the answer to my continual prayers to be delivered from my addiction to cigarettes.

I really don't want to misinterpret what your saying brother, I want to understand.

That is not an easy thing to do for any of us, and to compound it I am not the best communicator.

Please pray about what I'm saying. I have been there brother, I've been spitting mad at God, that's why I said it was a trap. I don't want to upset you any further, so if I'm not helping you with my words, I will step back and allow others to help you.

I still think I will not be praying until this is completely resolved for myself, I know who I am in Christ and what my new afforded rights are as Christ's adopted brethren, some may call this pride or self-righteousness but I will not settle for anything less than a full response from my Father after my daily sometimes hourly prayers for several years on this issue of mine, whether it is the response I desire or not I will not drop it nor be soothed by Him or my fellows until I get that response.
But I do already and will continue today to consider and think about what you are trying to share with me.

Ironic you should mention "spitting mad" because that is truly and literally where I have been in my communication to our Creator today over this issue of mine.
Shameful and quasi disrespectful I know, but He is My master and I am accountable to Him for my attitude and behaviors toward Him.

Your are not a wretch brother, your a child of the Most High God, who is walking through the refiners fire!

Yeah I am having more difficulty dealing with His refining than you know sweet sister and it has nothing at all to do with my desire to quit smoking, but has to do with Him actually answering a different prayer of mine: to receive His eyes, ears and heart so I can see, understand and love His creatures and creation the same way He does... that is some painful learning, but I asked for it, and He is still giving it to me.

As for me calling myself a wretch: I appreciate your contrary opinion but our Creator says something very different about us all: He says there is good in every man, He does not say there is evil in every man, to me that means that by default we are inherently evil/wicked by nature. And there are NT passages to confirm that even after we come to know Him through His Spirit of life, we are still evil creatures until we are fully restored in eternity.
But thank you anyways.

prayers and blessings to you

Blessings to you too, sister.

[Brother Mark]

Good morning MM. I am reminded of something the Lord did with me a while back. I had read/heard about confessing all our sins to the Lord. I think it was about Ms. Bertha Smith but it may have been someone else. Ms. Smith was teaching on being filled with the Holy Spirit. She had instructed the ladies to go and write out on paper all the sins they needed to confess to the Lord. This one lady finished and brought back a page full of sin! There was writing all over it. She handed the page to Ms. Smith and Ms. Smith glanced at it. Then looked at the woman and said "Is that all?" LOL! I chuckled when I got to that point in the story. Anyway, it seemed a good thing for me.

As a side note, it took me a while to get to this point in life. But eventually, the Father taught me that I cannot know my own heart. David said in Psalms 139 that God knew him inside and out and that such knowledge was "too wonderful for me". He starts the Psalm and ends the Psalm talking about God searching him. The last verse says this...

Ps 139:23-24

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
NASU

So I got before the Lord and started writing out my lists of sins. I wrote one down and the Lord spoke "Did I tell you to write that one down?" "No" I responded. I scratched it out. Then I wrote another one down. To which the Lord asked "Did I tell you to write that one down?" Again, I responded "No" and erased it. Finally, I asked the Lord "Lord, what do you desire to deal with me about today?" In my own way, I was asking Him to search me and to try me and to reveal to me any hurtful way in me. He told me this "I want you to deal with the concept that you have to perform for my love." In me, there was something much deeper, far more dangerous to my well being that God wanted to deal with than the sins I was writing down. He desired for me to learn to understand something about Him and His love that would help me deal with the more "surface" things I saw.

Perhaps, there is something the Lord wants to deal with in you that is deeper than smoking. Maybe it's related to smoking. Maybe it's not. I don't know. Just food for thought.

Along those same lines, God directed Israel to Jericho first and Ai second. When we fight our battles, it is best to follow his lead concerning what we are to battle against first and second and third and so on. God told Joshua to follow behind the ark (the presence of God) by such and such a distance. Why? Because they had not been this way before and it was important to follow the Lord in all things.

Food for thought... could it be that if you are freed from addition to smoking, a worse addiction takes it's place? Could it be that the Lord wishes to deal more with maybe a deeper cause of addiction instead of the actual addiction? God is not speaking to me, I am just expressing that there could be more at work here than just cigarette smoking and how important it is to allow the Lord to search our hearts instead of assuming we know.
Grace to you.

Mark

[lovex]

I hope the advice that I give you can be helpful in some way.

Now, I have never smoked before, so I cannot say how addictive or not addictive it is. But, I am very sorry that you feel bonded to this unhealthy habit. Fortunately, we have a Savior who is bigger than any desire, passion, lust, or evilness in this world.

I once struggled with something that is very personal. It was one of those struggles where you kept thinking about it and thinking about it until finally I just said "one more time, and then I'm finished!"... that was never the case. I remember one morning, I was going back in fourth between this temptation, I was biting my nails, worrying, and have anxiety over it... I gave in. But something was different after I gave in... I felt a heavy weight of sorrow over my heart. I was crying out to Christ to strengthen me and allow me to overcome this burden. To cast it onto Him and be freed from it. What I realized from the past times I tried to give it up was that, I really never "hated" it. I never felt that heavy burden over what it was doing to my relationship with Jesus. I never cried out to God because I put my hope and confidence in myself by saying "this is the last time... I won't do it again after this"... I was relying on myself. Now, I look back, and realize, that if you truly hate something.. so much... you run away from it as fast as you can, by depending solely on Jesus Christ alone. You can do anything, when you have Christ in control. Allow Him to work through you... be patient, and submit your ways and your desires to Christ. You can do it... run away from everything you feel bonded too and give it to Him. He is big enough for it.

P/s My grandpa smoked for 50 years of his life... and hasn't touched a cigarette the past four years... : ). You can be freed too.