Does God reject me cause I can't quit smoking?? Answers Plz

[mandii_ck]

I'm a born again Christian smoker (Born again on January 2nd).. The other day one of my co-workers offered me some advice, he said "Addiction is a sin and the Holy Spirit cannot live inside of a smoker cause good and evil cannot live in the same body together." --

I've been a moderately-somewhat heavy smoker for 5 years but after he explained this to me, I decided to quit and asked God to help me.. This was a few days ago, well since then I admit I haven't been able to quit cold turkey.. But with the help of God along with a whole lot of will power to please Him and keep salvation, I went from smoking half a pack (about 10 cigarettes) a day to only smoking 1-2 (so far only 1 1/2) cigarettes a day INSTANTLY.. After listening to my co-worker, I went home, finished the rest of my cigarette I had put out half way earlier that day, and that was it for the entire day (that was 2 days ago). Yesterday I only smoked 1 1/2 the entire day and today so far I've only smoked 1..

But when I light it up I feel extremely guilty cause I feel like by continuing to smoke, that I'm rejecting His help and I feel like a disgrace. After hearing what my co-worker had to say about smoking and the Holy Spirit I went from half a pack a day to less than 2 a day right away cause I'm having trouble with cold turkey.. It's only been 3 days..I'm taking the step cause I want to please the Lord and make Him happy, but I'm ashamed cause I shouldn't smoke at all.. I feel like God might feel it isn't good enough


Should I feel this way?

 

[In_One]

Know this, God will NEVER reject you even when you reject Him. You are His now and He will claim His.

 

[bliz]

Welcome to the family!

Smoking addiction does not have greater power than the blood of Jesus Christ. You aren't good enough for God. No one is (not even the guy at work) and that is why we needed Jesus to be the sacrifice in our place. We cannot accomplish our own salvation.

Give yourself a little slack. You have made great progress in just a very few days and I'm sure that will continue. But in the meanwhile, relax, your soul is not in jeopardy because you smoke.

 

[T Man]

Just a few facts for you...
1. Smoking is bad, Yes... But there are worse things, like not knowing Christ, not knowing His wisdom, not hearing him, not seeing him, not following him. Jesus said "its not what goes in the mouth, its what comes out of the mouth". Did you know, living in a city walking to work, one hour per day, you get more damage to your lungs than if you had 30 smokes per day.

2. Sin is bad, Yes. But did you know its the friut of sin that holds us back. The fruit of sin is the weapon of Satan. Guilt, being ashamed, feelings of not worthy etc etc. These fruits of sin is what holds us back from Christ. Christ says come and we hold our heads down and back off. God hates the sin, yes, but He loves the sinner, because God knows we are trying everyday. Its why Jesus came for us, so we could get help to overcome the friuts of sin. Sin itself will always be there, its the friuts of sin we need to watch. Look to Christ, not yourself. Pay no attention to wouldbe if I could bees, they too are unders the friuts of sin in other ways.

3. In Jesus all things can take place, not just a few things we beleive. We often limit Jesus, God to our understandings, its our human nature to do that. But in Christ, all things cand be done, even the things we don't understand.

4.rest your soul my friend, rest it so Jesus can fix it. its all to easy for us all to run around like headless chooks and never see or feel his power in our lives. Remember this poem..
Broken Dreams

As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend,
I brought my broken dreams to God
Because He was my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
With ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried,
"How could you be so slow"
"My child," He said, "What could I do?
You never did let go."

Robert J. Burdette
Just rest your soul, give it rest and know God loves you. Jesus if here in body would say to you "Love, forgiveness, hope and faith, to do this well you must achieve this within yourself first for yourself, before you can give it away to others" So love yourself, forgive yourself, have hope for better days in Him (Trust) and have faith in Him (Small tip: faith in not belief, faith is trusting in the unseen things of God, the things we don't know about Him)

God bless my friend, stay in Christ and drop the giult feelings, its satans way of keeping you from God.

 

[BobW188]

As a fifty-year smoker who, over the past two years, has struggled to cut back from 2 1/2 to 3 packs a day to about one, and who hopes eventually to quit entirely, I'd say the Holy Spirit is very much alive in you! From half a pack to two or three in the space of days? Good work! But it's made possible only through that Spirit.

If the Holy Spirit can't live within a sinner, then the Holy Spirit lives in none of us. Not you, not me, not the apostles, not Saint Francis, not Mother Teresa. The Holy Spirit is here specifically to enable us to accept Christ's gift of forgiveness and redemption. One way he does that is by showing you that you can not attain righteousness by your own efforts.

Addiction is not sin. It's what we do because we're addicted that is sinful. Check your community for stop-smoking support groups and programs, check out the Quit Smoking thread in the Recovery section. God has provided people and programs to help you. You'll get there!

And, when you do, save me a seat.

 

[Christfan]

That guilt you feel is what you are supposed to feel when you sin. God will never reject you, but you can by disobeying him. Remember, Christianity is a relationship. Jesus wants you to have a prayer life, bible life, and obeying his commandments. The love of Jesus should compel you to stop all sinful choices.

 

[Shulamite]

BobW188, very well said.
The scripture states that "outwardly we are wasting away, but INNWARDLY we are being renewed day by day." Jesus works and wills in us to accomplish His will. We are unable to do this on our own. Thank the Lord it's His power at work in us to change us to be what He desires us to be. He gets the credit. He does not change us over night, but day by day into His image.

God bless!

 

[spidergains]

1 Cor. 6:9Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Romans 12:1Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

That being said, I know the hell and torment of trying (and failing) to quit smoking. There are a number of addictions being satisfied by your habit (physical, mental & emotional). Understanding this and dealing with this "3-headed monster" will enable you to quit smoking.

The Physical Addiction: Cigarettes contain nicotine, which creates a mild feeling of euphoria when inhaled. Withdrawal from this drug will cause people a variety of discomforts (headaches, irritability, anxiety, anguish, insomnia, etc.).

There are a number of chemical substitutes that can reduce or eliminate most of the uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms from nicotine. Using one of these will greatly decrease your chances of relapsing. The nicotine patch is probably the most effective and hassle-free method of weaning oneself from nicotine.

The Mental Addiction: Whether you realize it or not, your mind has conditioned your body to provide you with a cigarette through association with various events in your day-to-day life. You might be familiar with the good morning smoke, the morning coffee smoke, the after meal smoke, the leaving the house smoke, the getting into the car smoke, the bus stop smoke, the morning break smoke, or the bedtime smoke. There are many others.

Even if you are successful in weaning yourself off nicotine, your mind will still prompt your body to light up out of habit. To deal with this, people will often hold and chew pencils or stuff their faces with food when the urge strikes. If you go the food route, I recommend carrying around a bag of carrots or some other low-cal veggie in your purse. Nobody ever got fat eating carrots. The mental addiction will subside over time, though every once in a while, your mind will prompt you to light up.

The Emotional Addiction: You may have noticed that people will reach for a cigarette when they are angered, upset, or stressed out. This is because nicotine has a mellowing effect on people's nerves. Many people have relapsed after quitting smoking when some event in their lives "sets them off."

It is very important to have a substitute routine for dealing with these emotional triggers. It could be a long walk, screaming into a pillow, working out or calling a friend. It can also be helpful to remind yourself the pain and misery quitting smoking has caused you and that it is something that you never want to go through again.

I smoked for 13 years and became a chain smoker. I used nicotine gum to help me quit and haven't had a cigarette since the summer of 1994.

YOU CAN DO IT!
​

 

[Trent61]

Don't be disappointed .. I used to smoke also...but i beat it by going to the Gym consistently. You might try and go the the Gym to work out.. you get some real good releases of endorphins, that seem to calm your nerves..

Anyway this is what helped me quit...

God bless and believe you will have victory soon

 

[capnator]

God doesn't reject you and you can quit smoking

 

[Miss Elly]

Why don't you just tell Jesus all about it? He knows it anyhow. You are trying in YOUR OWN strength and it very rarely works. Let Jesus supernaturally take care of the addiction, it's much easier that way. You can not earn your salvation.....by forcing yourself to give up cigarettes or anything else. It's a free gift. God knows your heart and loves you like you are.

People like your friend who told you could not have the holy spirit and your addiction at the same time make me very very tired. If he was being led by the REAL spirit of God, he would have tried to encourage you. He would have put his arm around you and said, hey, this habit is not good, let's pray about it. And KEPT loving you just the same. That is the face of Jesus....love and encouragement. Yes, I believe you should stop smoking - God delivered me and he can you also. Don't let the devil tell you that you don't belong to God because you do.

 

[mushowani]

Why don't you just tell Jesus all about it? He knows it anyhow. You are trying in YOUR OWN strength and it very rarely works. Let Jesus supernaturally take care of the addiction, it's much easier that way. You can not earn your salvation.....by forcing yourself to give up cigarettes or anything else. It's a free gift. God knows your heart and loves you like you are.

Jesus told us that it is the sick that require the services of a physician and from my observation it is the car that requires attention that goes for servicing despite the fact that it is OK or not... we all take our automobiles to the mechanic for servicing, electrical gadgets to the electrician, furniture to the carpenter and so on... why don't you take your problem to your maker for He alone can fix you not by might nor by power but by His Spirit. You were fearfully and wonderfully made after His likeness in His image so He knows the right remedy for you!!!!!! cheer up Jesus is concerned!!! all you have to do is to keep on praying and lay a siege around smoking, pull down that stronghold in Jesus' Mighty name!!! to lay a siege, one must build strong walls around the town to be conquered (smoking) so as to cut off all in coming or outgoing traffic (to block supplies from reaching it). quit hanging around things or people that make you crave for a smoke, make sure that you are not constantly supplied with smoke n fire. hang around people who encourage rather than down play you... people who know that JESUS is the ultimate answer!! and pray without ceasing...with all kinds of prayer!!! try a simple prayer each tym before you take a smoke.... just try a simple short prayer each tym before you smoke... Jesus will never fail you!!!

 

[mushowani]

I am also reminded that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit! We are just earthen vessels carrying the treasures of God... to this extent, allow the owner of the temple to cleanse it and to drive out all the filth form it just like Jesus drove all the traders from the temple courts. it was not the high priest who did it but it was the Lord himself. So why should you seek to fyt your own battle when the owner of the work is around? The more you crave for the work and fruit of the Holy Spirit in yor life, the more He will clean his dwelling place,,,, just allow Him to drive out all the traders from your life!!! Tell the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in His sanctuary and He will never dwell in it whilst it's dirty... He will definitely start by cleaning it... it all depends on how diligent you are in seeking Him! Know that Jesus loves you and will never dump you as long as you remain true to Him!

 

[Macx]

If I can quit, you can quit. I had the habit eight years, during which I smoked 1.5 to two packs a day of non-filters (Pall Mall or Kool depending on if I was in the mood for menthol or not) during work and additionally smoked (and inhaled) cigars and pipe on the order of 1 to 3 cigars and some times as much as an oz of pipe tobbacco during my down time. I tried and failed a couple times to quit. 16 Sept 1996, I smoked my last smoke. I have failed at being quit exactly zero times since that date. I have been through most of the storms life can toss at a person & not turned back to my old addiction. If I can do it, you can do it. You just have to keep trying until you find the method that works for you.

As to the sin and will Christ reject you question. . . . no, Christ won't reject you. He will expect you to fight against the addiction though. He didn't sacrifice Himself so that you could wallow. So long as you are fighting to get free of it, He will honor the effort. Don't give up.

 

[mushowani]

kip on moving....God will never let you fall by the way-syd

 

[mg0086]

I don't think so, but keep praying and you'll have the stregnth to quit...

Unfortunately,
I do smoke and don't have an intention to quit, but the good thing is i don't do it often at all. and I actually can go several weeks without a puff. but I will light up around friends who smoke or just when i feel like it.

I guess the better term is social smoker...

 

[Gregory Thompson]

I'm a born again Christian smoker (Born again on January 2nd).. The other day one of my co-workers offered me some advice, he said "Addiction is a sin and the Holy Spirit cannot live inside of a smoker cause good and evil cannot live in the same body together." --

I've been a moderately-somewhat heavy smoker for 5 years but after he explained this to me, I decided to quit and asked God to help me.. This was a few days ago, well since then I admit I haven't been able to quit cold turkey.. But with the help of God along with a whole lot of will power to please Him and keep salvation, I went from smoking half a pack (about 10 cigarettes) a day to only smoking 1-2 (so far only 1 1/2) cigarettes a day INSTANTLY.. After listening to my co-worker, I went home, finished the rest of my cigarette I had put out half way earlier that day, and that was it for the entire day (that was 2 days ago). Yesterday I only smoked 1 1/2 the entire day and today so far I've only smoked 1..

But when I light it up I feel extremely guilty cause I feel like by continuing to smoke, that I'm rejecting His help and I feel like a disgrace. After hearing what my co-worker had to say about smoking and the Holy Spirit I went from half a pack a day to less than 2 a day right away cause I'm having trouble with cold turkey.. It's only been 3 days..I'm taking the step cause I want to please the Lord and make Him happy, but I'm ashamed cause I shouldn't smoke at all.. I feel like God might feel it isn't good enough


Should I feel this way?

Jesus forgives you .

follow His example

forgive yourself in the every moment

and trust Jesus forgives it all

even the root .

shame, guilt, despair . those just reinforce that which you do not wish to do .

instead show self mercy . it helped me with my compulsions it still does .

hope some of that helps you in your struggles .

bless .

 

[mg0086]

Jesus forgives you .

follow His example

forgive yourself in the every moment

and trust Jesus forgives it all

even the root .

shame, guilt, despair . those just reinforce that which you do not wish to do .

instead show self mercy . it helped me with my compulsions it still does .

hope some of that helps you in your struggles .

bless .

Never heard it that way before...

luckily i'm not addicted to smoking or drinking and don't need to depend on it. but i do feel for those who are addicted and I pray for them on a daily basis