Overcoming Nicotine Addiction

Overcoming nicotine adction

HAVE FAITH IN GOD pt. II

by Paul Benson

…and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5:5

Hopelessly Addicted To Nicotine!

One of most difficult struggles I have ever faced was overcoming the addiction to nicotine. God had done such a marvelous work to bring me back into His grace and I was full of a zeal to move on in the things of God; but shamefully I was still in bondage to a 2 pack a day smoking habit. The habit was so strong it would wake me in the middle of the night and I would have to smoke to be able to go back to sleep. During the day it was hard for me to go even an hour with out one before feeling uncomfortable.

Defeated and Discouraged

How I hated knowing others could smell the smoke on me at fellowship or prayer meetings. I tried and tried to quit but was so addicted I would get extremely sick. I have heard that for some people it’s harder to get off nicotine than heroin. I must have been one of those people. If I went without cigarettes for very long I would become so ill I would feel like a horrible case of flu had come upon me and within a day I would be literally hallucinating. That sick! Going through this a number of times, and giving up each time after a day or two of sheer agony; I finally decided to quit quitting.

Done fighting

As I was kneeling beside my bed one night I told God, “I’m done trying to quit smoking. I can’t do it. I guess you are stuck with a smoker for a son.” Quite to my surprise God’s Spirit spoke to my heart very clearly and said, “Give me the credit and I will do the work.” Quite overwhelmed to hear God speak to me (I don’t know why – I was speaking to him after all) I sat there trying to digest what He had said. If I give Him the credit He will do the work. That sounded like a pretty good deal to me.

Divine Intervention

As soon as I opened my mouth to voice a willingness to go along with this agreement the Holy Spirit welled up in me like a surge of power that flooded every fiber of my being. If I hadn’t been on my knees it would have knocked me off my feet. It took several minutes to regain my composure, and as I was sitting on the floor by my bed it happened again; a wonderful feeling of grace and the power of God’s presence flooded me. And now every time an urge for nicotine would try to grab me God would stop that urge before it could happen by hitting me with another wave of his Spirit.

Dazed and Delivered

Totally amazed, I hung out around my home for the next few hours periodically getting these eruptions of grace and love moving through me, and I noticed I was feeling no ill effects of withdrawal. It was an experience I find hard to put into words. The power of God was setting me free! Then I remembered my end of the deal was to give Him the credit. So I walked over to a friends house and told him God was doing something really strange in me to get me set free, and I wouldn’t be smoking anymore. I think he maybe thought I had lost it, but I didn’t care. All I knew was I wasn’t smoking.

Done Smoking!

Over the next several days this experience continued but with a decreasing intensity. I never felt a single urge to smoke hit me; each one was short-circuited by God’s grace. I never got even slightly sick, and I have never had a smoke since. It was a divine deliverance, and all the credit goes to Jesus. Thank you Lord. He can set you free from anything. Have faith in God!