Getting too weak to hold on.

[Inasea Ofconfusion]

Much to my surprise, About 6 months ago, at 47 yrs of age, I became born again. I did not even know what had happened to me at first. You see, I was raised in church, I thought I had been born again, years ago, during one of the countless times that I said the sinners prayer. I eventually gave up on church, sometime in my twenties, as I knew I was a hypocrite. After many years of trying to be good and failing, I woke up one day and just cried out to the Lord, "I have tried to be good Lord, I have tried. I want to be good but there is just nothing good in me, and if you don't help me I will never make it." that was it, over the next few days I realized that I was a new person, really born again! I noticed so many sins were gone, and I did nothing!

Needless to say I was on cloud nine, my feet barely touching the floor, so much love and joy! I read through the bible in just a couple months, watched alot of sermons from different preachers to learn what it was all really about. I realized that my trying to be good my whole life was trying to be righteous myself, and that it was dirty rags to God. Imagine the surprise to find out I was trying to do something I could not do on my own power. I was after all just trying to do what I had been told to do my whole life, be good! That is part of getting to heaven right?

God totally delivered me from many sins, I have no desire for them anymore. But I was still smoking, and countless other "little" sins, I have never been more aware of sin in my life, I feel as though just about everything we do is a sin! Now that I am a real Christian I can easily quit smoking, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. I quit with joy. The next day I entered into a very deep depression, and what can only be demon oppression. I wont go into that, that is another story. I learned that some people do go into depression after they quit smoking, I prayed to be delivered from the depression, I eventually started smoking again.

So now I am plagued with this sin and guilt, I used to believe in eternal security, that is gone. So now I am literally left in fear, my life now is all about fear that Jesus will say to me, "depart from me..." So if I can lose my salvation, when does that occur? How many sins? how long? And I don't even understand this power over sin thing anyway, so sometimes I fall into fear that I was never saved and I am just a fake, like I was for my whole life. I do not know how to walk in the Spirit, do not know what that really means, and no one can tell me to do it. I've tried the patches and gum, still depression sets in, as it is not enuff nicotine. I have even been taking prozac and wellbutrin to quit smoking, to no avail. I want to obey Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I have prayed for total deliverance, now I am left hopeless, that Jesus will spit me out of his mouth. What do I do?

 

[Johnnz]

It will take far more than a cigarette to keep Jesus away from you. Smoking is highly addictive and as a consequence we must face up to a struugle while we 'detox'. That may not be a straight line, but whatever Jesus is right there with you, always.

John
NZ

 

[Mediaeval]

Christ is for you. Let nothing--not even a poor performance in your struggle against sin--disturb the peace that the Lord graciously gives. Keep praying and striving and, along the way, never stop rejoicing in the Lord and encouraging yourself in Him. Like the hymn says, "Jesus knows our every weakness," and He still loves us.

 

[1watchman]

Yes, make the Lord Jesus first in your life (2 Cor. 10:5) and your best Friend, and you will do well. With Him you can overcome every trial for He cares!

Let me invite you to a very sound source for much help at the Bible-only site: Bible Counsel. One can ask questions there for a personal response. Look up always!

 

[aiki]

So, what biblical basis do you have for thinking that smoking is a sin? I've never read that anywhere in my Bible. Smoking isn't good for you physically, but neither is too much sun, or too much sugar, or too much stress. But none of these things are on the sin list. Why is smoking on it?

Selah.

 

[IamNazarene]

Hey brother!

The fact is this, we all Sin.

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

If this verse is well known then why is it not so well known that salvation can be lost? Can ou not see the words written “should not perish but have everlasting life”

This means this.
To not perish is to not die.
To have everlasting life is to live.

This means if you believe in Jesus you will not die, ever.


There is pre telling of what Jesus will do in the old testament.

Isaiah 28:18
And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

Did you just read this? Our aggreement with HELL is broken...

Through Jesus it is broken, not twice or threet imes. Just once...

n 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand

That is means those who come to Jesus can not be taken out of te Fathers hand.

Do you understand???

Gods word says your saved for life and after life.

YOU ARE SAVED! for ever and ever more!
Jesus has not pinched you in insecurity and thought yuck and dropped you! No he has clothed you in righteousness!
Yes we Sin always in this life. Our deeds of Sin is forgiven through Jesus!

Trust in Jesus, do ou believe he has saved youfrom Hell?
If so then rest, pray and fast!

You love Jesus,keep his commandments! of course we all fail but he has given you a heart of flesha nd nto a heart of stone!

 

[Sketcher]

So now I am plagued with this sin and guilt, I used to believe in eternal security, that is gone. So now I am literally left in fear, my life now is all about fear that Jesus will say to me, "depart from me..." So if I can lose my salvation, when does that occur? How many sins? how long? And I don't even understand this power over sin thing anyway, so sometimes I fall into fear that I was never saved and I am just a fake, like I was for my whole life. I do not know how to walk in the Spirit, do not know what that really means, and no one can tell me to do it. I've tried the patches and gum, still depression sets in, as it is not enuff nicotine. I have even been taking prozac and wellbutrin to quit smoking, to no avail. I want to obey Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I have prayed for total deliverance, now I am left hopeless, that Jesus will spit me out of his mouth. What do I do?

You said you believed in eternal security. The doctrine of eternal security rotates around God's choice to save you and his refusal to break his covenant with you, and it relies on his grace not your works - so how then could falling off the wagon on smoking overcome the power of God, the love of God, and the will of God?

The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself. - 2 Tim 2:11-13​

You've had your faithless moments, as have I. But God remains faithful. You still love him, and he knows that. He is not a mere human being, who can misunderstand you, and because of that misunderstanding, lose patience with you. He knows things about you that you don't know about yourself yet, and some of them are probably sins. Yet he still loves you. At this point, you really need to re-encounter God's grace and love for you - not that he left you, but you need to be made aware of how steadfast it is, and lean on it. And let that be your strength as you continue to quit smoking and the other things you have not told us about. This is a faith that can carry you through your own failures and falling flat like this.

 

[insurchoftruth]

No matter where you are, how bad you fall in sin, if you repent and ask God to forgive and help you, he will!

God loves you too much, to give up on you! All you need to do, is trust in his love, goodness and care for you, and that will help you to believe, that he answers your prayers for help from him.

He does not give up on you, so try not to give up on him. Believe that he has answered your prayers, when you pray for help, before you see the answer with your eyes.

He can give you power to overcome any addiction or sin, because without his help and power, we can not overcome sin or addiction.

 

[parsley]

It is not our goodness that saves us.

We do try to "run the race" efficiently, and represent Him as ambassadors in the Kingdom; but these things come after faith. Abraham's faith was counted toward him as righteousness.

Jesus taught us about forgiving seventy times seven, as our Father continually forgives us.

Smoking is highly addictive and as a consequence we must face up to a strugle while we 'detox'. That may not be a straight line, but whatever Jesus is right there with you, always.

Your body went through a drastic change, and there are plenty of medical stories to back that up.

It's good to recognize our humanity, physical frailties. Scriptures tell us that we need rest. So a body also needs time and patience to get free from a habitual pattern. Nurses ask patients if they need caffeine when in a hospital. Habits are hard to overcome.

I do think that demons try to have influence in things we do (scripturally), but they do not need to have power over us. The price was paid, and we are told to drive them away in confidence that God is behind us. Jesus set people free from oppressive bondage.

Some historians believe smoking was around for thousands of years BC. And yet scriptures talk more about other mistreating others, when it comes to sin.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Psalm 29; Romans 8.38-39

 

[jannikitty]

Smoking is an addiction. There is a section here on the forum where you can discuss this with others who struggle with the same doubts and addiction and those who are in recovery. It's here: http://www.christianforums.com/f92/ Rest assured God's love for you never fails. It doesn't depend on your present situation. It just is. Your problem is bigger than the smoking. It is that you are having a hard time believing that. God is with you no matter how you feel. My heartfelt prayers. btw, delivered from smoking over 40 years ago. He is our deliverer. Believe it and seek help.

 

[Abandoned Barns]

I love my savior Jesus. With all my heart and all my sole and everything that I am, I love him; and still I find a way to fail him every day.

Smoking is like drinking, not really ever specifically prohibited in the bible, so it becomes a matter of conscience. If you feel convicted for doing it, if to you it feels wrong, if to you its a sin, then it's a sin. That's the bad news, but my friend the good news is that the fact that you feel convicted at all because of what you feel is a sin should be pretty clear evidence that you are in fact saved. Once you accept Jesus into your heart you receive the Holy Spirit. He begins to live and work inside of you. It's not like getting a flu shot. You don't get an instant immunity to sin. The Holy Spirit is going to work and to toil and chisel and mold you into the person that God wants you to be. With some sins he will make a short order of dispatching, with others our earthly selves are more resistant. The pain you feel, the sadness, the anger, the fear are all side effects of that battle within you. It doesn't happen right away, but I promise you it happens.

Let's talk about this:

Needless to say I was on cloud nine, my feet barely touching the floor, so much love and joy! I read through the bible in just a couple months, watched alot of sermons from different preachers to learn what it was all really about.

Understand that there is no such thing as a super-Christian. No one is saved and instantly becomes perfect or mature in every aspect of their Christian walk. We want that. We want that instant transformation to be a living testimony of the greatness and the power of our loving God, but for whatever reason it just doesn't happen that way. I, like you, was a late bloomer and I understand that sense of urgency. That feeling like I'd lost so much time and had so much to make up for, that it needed to happen all at once. That if I couldn't somehow make a very short order of maturing as a Christian that it was in some way demonstrating Jesus Christ's inability to effect that change within me. It's not like that. You can't cram scripture like you would for a Biology exam. It just doesn't work. I'm certainly not telling you to not be in his word every day, but there is a reason why we must necessarily progress from being baby Christians needing milk:

Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—

not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,

to mature Christians needing meat:

14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

It's actually dangerous for us to try to forego that process because we get ourselves into situations for which we are just not ready. You're a baby Christian. There's no shame in being a baby Christian, no matter what biological age you are. It's actually one of the most beautiful and exciting times in life. Let yourself be a baby Christian. Go easy on yourself and understand that you're going to have failures. Give yourself time. Let yourself learn. It will happen, just not all at once.

Anyway, that's just my $0.02, I hope it's helpful.

 

[AGTG]

First and foremost, reject this spirit of confusion that's besetting you. Do so by asking moderators to change your name to something godly like... WisdomOfGod, instead.

Don't let confusion be your identity. If you've repented of your sin, received Jesus' work on the cross as your covering, and have a relationship with Father God through Jesus' Holy Spirit, you are a new creation.

You are a saint. You are not in confusion, you are growing in wisdom and knowledge of God. Indeed, you have the mind of Christ!

 

[parsley]

You might find some strength in this talk (he even mentions cloud nine, lol).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8Tu6bxcCqvs

(I'm listening to it right now, and thought of your thread.)

 

[Emmy]

Dear Inasea Ofconfusion. You had some good replies, and may I give you one more? Why not show Jesus that you are ready to love and follow Him?
In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: " the first and great Commandment is:
Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul. and with all thy mind. The second is like it: Love thy neighbour as thyself." Then Jesus points out: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." God is Love, and God wants our love in all we say and all we do. Who is our neighbour?
all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends. Matthew 7: 7-10:
we are told: " ask and you shall receive," ask God for Love and Joy, then
your loving efforts, and God will bless you. Keep asking for Love and Joy and share all with your neighbour.
The Bible tells us: " Repent and be Born Again," change from being selfish and unloving, to Love God with all your beings, and love and treat your neighbour as yourself: You might stumble and forget at times, but then ask God to forgive you, and carry on loving and caring. The Holy Spirit will help and guide you, and Jesus our Saviour, will lead you all the way: JESUS IS THE WAY. I say this with love. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[Mister_Al]

Don't worry, you can't accidentally loose your salvation.

John 10:28-30Amplified Bible (AMP)

28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never lose it or perish throughout the ages. [To all eternity they shall never by any means be destroyed.] And no one is able to snatch them out of My hand.

29 My Father, Who has given them to Me, is greater and mightier than all [else]; and no one is able to snatch [them] out of the Father’s hand.

30 I and the Father are One.

 

[Albion]

Two points to keep in mind:

Even though we speak of being 'born again' and of 'conversion experiences,' this is a lifelong process of growth. Don't give up when the first doubt comes along. It's natural.

Second, being a disciple is not as much about "being good" as it is in being trusting of Christ as your Lord and Savior. You got off on the right foot by making a profession of needing God, but I notice that you couched it in "I have tried to be good" terms. Think instead of doing good because you ARE saved, not assuming that you will never fail at it or that this is what makes you a child of God.

Much to my surprise, About 6 months ago, at 47 yrs of age, I became born again. I did not even know what had happened to me at first. You see, I was raised in church, I thought I had been born again, years ago, during one of the countless times that I said the sinners prayer. I eventually gave up on church, sometime in my twenties, as I knew I was a hypocrite. After many years of trying to be good and failing, I woke up one day and just cried out to the Lord, "I have tried to be good Lord, I have tried. I want to be good but there is just nothing good in me, and if you don't help me I will never make it." that was it, over the next few days I realized that I was a new person, really born again! I noticed so many sins were gone, and I did nothing!

Needless to say I was on cloud nine, my feet barely touching the floor, so much love and joy! I read through the bible in just a couple months, watched alot of sermons from different preachers to learn what it was all really about. I realized that my trying to be good my whole life was trying to be righteous myself, and that it was dirty rags to God. Imagine the surprise to find out I was trying to do something I could not do on my own power. I was after all just trying to do what I had been told to do my whole life, be good! That is part of getting to heaven right?

God totally delivered me from many sins, I have no desire for them anymore. But I was still smoking, and countless other "little" sins, I have never been more aware of sin in my life, I feel as though just about everything we do is a sin! Now that I am a real Christian I can easily quit smoking, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. I quit with joy. The next day I entered into a very deep depression, and what can only be demon oppression. I wont go into that, that is another story. I learned that some people do go into depression after they quit smoking, I prayed to be delivered from the depression, I eventually started smoking again.

So now I am plagued with this sin and guilt, I used to believe in eternal security, that is gone. So now I am literally left in fear, my life now is all about fear that Jesus will say to me, "depart from me..." So if I can lose my salvation, when does that occur? How many sins? how long? And I don't even understand this power over sin thing anyway, so sometimes I fall into fear that I was never saved and I am just a fake, like I was for my whole life. I do not know how to walk in the Spirit, do not know what that really means, and no one can tell me to do it. I've tried the patches and gum, still depression sets in, as it is not enuff nicotine. I have even been taking prozac and wellbutrin to quit smoking, to no avail. I want to obey Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I have prayed for total deliverance, now I am left hopeless, that Jesus will spit me out of his mouth. What do I do?

 

[Peripatetic]

Our relationship with God is not merely a hot/cold yes/no kind of thing. It can help to ask the Holy Spirit to help to set our expectations first... so we don't lose hope when sorrow and frustration inevitably come. Then we can start to handle the ups and downs, and the middle ground where we just live a simple life dealing with the tensions and complexities that affect us all.

 

[thepromiseofgrace]

Much to my surprise, About 6 months ago, at 47 yrs of age, I became born again. I did not even know what had happened to me at first. You see, I was raised in church, I thought I had been born again, years ago, during one of the countless times that I said the sinners prayer. I eventually gave up on church, sometime in my twenties, as I knew I was a hypocrite. After many years of trying to be good and failing, I woke up one day and just cried out to the Lord, "I have tried to be good Lord, I have tried. I want to be good but there is just nothing good in me, and if you don't help me I will never make it." that was it, over the next few days I realized that I was a new person, really born again! I noticed so many sins were gone, and I did nothing!

Needless to say I was on cloud nine, my feet barely touching the floor, so much love and joy! I read through the bible in just a couple months, watched alot of sermons from different preachers to learn what it was all really about. I realized that my trying to be good my whole life was trying to be righteous myself, and that it was dirty rags to God. Imagine the surprise to find out I was trying to do something I could not do on my own power. I was after all just trying to do what I had been told to do my whole life, be good! That is part of getting to heaven right?

God totally delivered me from many sins, I have no desire for them anymore. But I was still smoking, and countless other "little" sins, I have never been more aware of sin in my life, I feel as though just about everything we do is a sin! Now that I am a real Christian I can easily quit smoking, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me. I quit with joy. The next day I entered into a very deep depression, and what can only be demon oppression. I wont go into that, that is another story. I learned that some people do go into depression after they quit smoking, I prayed to be delivered from the depression, I eventually started smoking again.

So now I am plagued with this sin and guilt, I used to believe in eternal security, that is gone. So now I am literally left in fear, my life now is all about fear that Jesus will say to me, "depart from me..." So if I can lose my salvation, when does that occur? How many sins? how long? And I don't even understand this power over sin thing anyway, so sometimes I fall into fear that I was never saved and I am just a fake, like I was for my whole life. I do not know how to walk in the Spirit, do not know what that really means, and no one can tell me to do it. I've tried the patches and gum, still depression sets in, as it is not enuff nicotine. I have even been taking prozac and wellbutrin to quit smoking, to no avail. I want to obey Jesus, my Lord and Savior. I have prayed for total deliverance, now I am left hopeless, that Jesus will spit me out of his mouth. What do I do?

Don't let the enemy play with your mind, your encounter to be born again was a real revelation that you cannot be a good person no matter how hard you try, the really good news is it is not about your performance Praise the Lord.

We are saved by Grace, it is the work Jesus did on our behalf that gives us our eternal security, there was nothing we would do to save ourselves the law was not meant to be kept it was to show us we would never be good enough by ourselves and we need a saviour, we need Jesus.

The awesome news is your are saved by Jesus and you did nothing to earn it but to trust by faith in Jesus, nothing can overcome his blood and you also received the free gift of his righteousness, you have the right standing of Jesus before God, that's why in Roman chapter 8 vs 1 it says their is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, Paul the apostle says in chapter 7 why do I do what o shouldn't so easily yet so seldom do what I should, Paul the apostle responsible for so much of the new testament says why do i do so much wrong, sin in other words, yet struggle to do what is right, so does any doubt the apostle Paul is saved and in heaven, I doubt it, so your sins will not separate you from God either.

So rest in the finished works of God, Know it is not about your behaviour, works, do's and don'ts to be and stayed saved it is what Jesus did for you that saved you and keeps you saved.

So tell the enemy to get lost and trust in what Jesus has done.

 

[drybomber]

I sympathize with you brother, except I had an addiction to pornography (not smoking) which is just as harmful to your spirit, if not more. Anything that harms the temple of God (Smoking or any drug use which is physically harmful to your body) can be sinful, so I just want to make sure you understand by you smoking is just as sinful as any other sin.

Satan wants you to feel hopeless, Satan wants you to doubt your faith and wants you to think you will never have victory over sin. Don't listen to him. Without Christ, we can't do anything but we can do all things through Christ. Have you rejected Jesus Christ as your personal savior? No you haven't, you are still saved and always will be! The difference between a Christian that commits a sin and a lost person who commits a sin is the Christian hates his sin and desires to turn away from it. Remember Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Don't believe the lie from Satan that because you are a Christian, you are in someway immune to temptations or ever committing sin. As long as we are still on earth, we still have free will. However, as Christians, we have the holy spirit living inside of us and we are not in bondage to sin. So as a believer, keep your guard up and that way when you are tempted, you'll be prepared to say no. I always pray that God will protect me from sin and temptation and that he will give me the strength I need to resist the temptation. Remember, Satan is not going to give up. The question is, are you going to give up? I think by making this post, it is clear that this sin is bothering you and that is a good sign, but keep it up, fight the good fight until the end!