I love your site & am blessed by it all the time. Thank you for all you do. I know you can help me with my question and worry. I love the Lord with all my heart & my mind. I always want to please Him. And pray everything I do & say will give Him the Glory.
But I’m a smoker & can’t seem to quit. I’ve prayed that the Lord will take the addiction away & I pray for Him to give me the strength to do it. But I still smoke. I don’t want to because I know my body is a temple & the Holy Spirit dwells in me. I’m truly upset about this because I know I’m grieving Him. And I don’t want to be smoking & miss the Rapture because I know it can happen at any moment. I want to please my LORD in all things. Please help with any advice & Please pray for me. I pray to be close to my Father & my Lord Jesus & I know smoking is hindering this. Thank you for your time & will be looking for your answer.
First and foremost, understand that while smoking is a habit that is detrimental to your health, it will not keep you out of the Rapture if you’re a born again believer. You’re saved because you believe Jesus has paid the full price for all the sins of your life, and that qualifies you for the Rapture.
Second, He is waiting to help you quit, and will do so as soon as you’re willing. I believe the best way to quit is one smoke at a time. Stop trying to say no to all the cigarettes in your future, and just say no to the next one. For many people, smoking is more habit than an addiction. You formed the habit by deciding to smoke whenever you get the urge. You can quit by forming the habit of saying no whenever you get the urge. Some do this by substituting other things, and some do it by just saying no. Do whatever suits you best, but do it one urge at a time. As your string of no’s gets longer your urges will become less powerful until they go away altogether. James4:7 says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” You can stop smoking the same way.
How the Lord helps is by giving you the faith to say that first no, and by increasing your faith with each successive one. So before you begin, ask for the faith to say no. You know it’s His will for you to do this. He’s just waiting for you to take the first step.
If you slip and resist can’t a particular urge, just ask Him to increase your faith to say no to the next one, and begin again. Pretty soon you’ll be saying no to all of them.
Many people, including myself, have quit just this way. I know you can do it too.
For more help on breaking bad habits, read The Law Of Displacement