overcoming

Overcoming Impossible Odds

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There are many stories in the Bible about overcoming impossible odds. Some of these stories have to do with overcoming the number six, others with overcoming the number sixty, but in the final generation, the issue will be concerned with overcoming the number 666, the number of anti-christ.

A few hundred years after the children of Israel overcame their enemies and had settled in the land of Canaan, the time came when they demanded that they have a king, like all the other nations around them. So the Lord granted them a king in response to their request. Samuel the prophet anointed a man by the name of Saul as the first king of Israel. They found out later that they had been much better off when the Lord had been their only king, and having a human king turned out to be a real disaster. It is similar to starting down the road of socialism; once you begin that journey, it is very hard to retrace your steps. The time came when Saul had not only rebelled against the Lord, but he had committed the unpardonable sin. This caused much anxiety for Samuel, but the Lord told Samuel that he was to not fret about this anymore.

Now that Saul had been rejected, Samuel was directed to anoint another person as the king. The conversation went this way: “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.’ And Samuel said, ‘How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.’ And the Lord said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.’ ” I Samuel 16:1–3.

Samuel did as the Lord had bidden him to do. He went to Bethlehem, where Jesse lived, and told him that they would have a sacrifice there. Not all of the plan was revealed, but Jesse was asked to call his sons who came to be seen of Samuel, who requested that they come to him in order of their age, beginning with the oldest. Eliab was so good-looking and had such a handsome stature that Samuel thought surely this was the one. However, when Samuel wanted to anoint Eliab, God told him something very interesting. “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’ ” Verse 7.

There is no beauty of appearance, there is no outward manifestation of handsomeness, or beauty, or desirableness that can recommend any man or woman to God. What He is interested in is the character, a man’s inner worth, the excellency in his heart; that is what determines acceptance with the Lord of hosts. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8 KJV.

We see in this story the mistake that Samuel, a very wise prophet, made; how vain it is for us to make estimations about a person because of the beauty of face or nobility of their stature. We also see how incapable we are of understanding the secrets of the heart, or of comprehending the counsels of God without special enlightenment from heaven.

After Eliab passed before Samuel, then Jesse had the second oldest son pass before him, and they kept this going until finally, seven of Jessie’s sons had passed before the prophet. The Lord did not consent for any of them to be anointed to be the king of Israel. Samuel was perplexed, for the Lord had told him specifically to go there because He had chosen for Himself a king from the sons of Jessie. But as they all passed before him, the Lord said no to each one.

Finally, Samuel asked Jessie: “ ‘Are all the young men here?’ Then he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.’ So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!’ ” Verses 11, 12.

Samuel anointed David with the horn of oil in the presence of his brothers and “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.” Verse 13. Samuel went back home and David, after being anointed as the king of Israel, went back to herding his sheep. He was not king yet. Saul was still king, and was determined that nobody else was going to be king except him.

A short time after this, a terrible crisis happened in the land of Israel, the Israelites and the Philistines went to war with each other. In this war, the Bible says that the Philistines had in their army a giant, a man by the name of Goliath; his height was six cubits and a span. A cubit is approximately eighteen inches, so this man was over nine feet tall. He was a very strong man and a trained warrior. He came out against the children of Israel and threatened them.

“And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

“Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, ‘Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.’ And the Philistine said, ‘I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.’ ” I Samuel 17:4–10.

He kept uttering this boastful charge and sneering accusation against the armies of Israel, saying, “You don’t have anybody. You don’t have anybody that can fight me. If you do, just send them out. We’ll fight, and whoever wins, the other side will be their servants.” Well, this went on day, after day, after day. There was no man of the children of Israel that wanted to venture to fight against the giant. In fact, the Bible says this went on for forty days, but before the forty days were over, God had in mind a way to deliver His people. God always has a plan and a way in mind to accomplish His purpose.

Often, though, we don’t understand what that plan is. We are bewildered because we cannot understand the outcome of affairs or events, and think everything is going to ruin. That is what Saul and his army thought. But God, as is always the case, had a plan in mind to defeat this boastful enemy. The person that He had in mind to defeat this giant was the boy, David, who was out herding his father’s sheep. David’s three oldest brothers were in the army; they were with Saul and listened to the defiant speech of Goliath day, after day, after day.

The time came when David’s father, Jesse, gave him food to take for his brothers and to check out if they were doing well and how the battle was going. “So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, and took the things and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the camp as the army was going out to the fight and shouting for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. And David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines; and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. So the men of Israel said, ‘Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel; and it shall be that the man who kills him the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter, and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.’ ” Verses 20–25.

David was indignant when he heard the speech. He said, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” Verse 26.

And so, the people began to talk about what David had said. He said, “Who is this man? He is not a follower of the Creator of the heavens and the earth; he is a worshiper of idols. Why should he defy the armies of people who worship the God of heaven?” Finally, the report reached King Saul. And Saul said, “Send that young man in to see me. I want to see him.”

When David came in to see King Saul, he told the king that he was willing to go and fight Goliath and they got into a little argument. The Bible records it this way: “Then David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.’ ” Verses 32, 33.

Then David gave his credentials. He told Saul why he believed he was qualified to go and fight with Goliath. “But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.’ Moreover David said, ‘The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you!’ ” Verses 34–37.

Saul did not really believe that David would be victorious. He thought he would end up being killed, but he was willing to let him give it a try. They had been enduring Goliath’s mockery for forty days. Saul put his own armor on David and sent him out to face the giant. After David had gone out a little ways, he came back. All those watching thought he had decided that it was just too dangerous a venture; he would not take his life in his hands and get killed trying to kill that giant!

But actually, that wasn’t what David had in mind at all. When he came back, “David said to Saul, ‘I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.’ So David took them off.” It’s not good to try to fight in armor with which you are unfamiliar. David took only what he was familiar with, what he knew. The Bible says, “He took his staff in his hand [used for herding the sheep]; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.” Verses 39, 40.

As the two unlikely contestants drew closer, the Philistine looked to see who it was that had come out against him expecting to see the most powerful warrior in the Israelite army. Instead, he sees what is apparently a teenager, a young man with no armor, no bow, no sword and no spear. “And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine [being quite insulted] said to David, ‘Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!’

“Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.’ ” Verses 42–47.

When David had made such a speech, the rage of Goliath seemed to be intense. He became so outraged and so angry that the Bible says, “The Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.” Verse 48. Goliath was so angry and so outraged he failed to properly protect himself with his head armor. Approaching the giant whose face was exposed with his visor up, “David put his hand into his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.” Verse 49.

The watching army expected that in just a moment, they would see David killed, decapitated by Goliath’s sword, but now everyone stood shocked, and in amazement as they watch the stone go whizzing through the air, straight to the mark. It hit the target in the forehead so hard, that it sank into his forehead. Goliath suddenly staggered, and fell to the ground. David did not hesitate. “Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.” Verse 51. David prevailed over the Philistine giant with nothing more than a sling and a smooth stone that he picked up out of the brook.

David was faced with impossible odds against him yet he prevailed, because he had faith in God and he was prepared to do what he knew he could do. He’d had some experience. God had sent him some trials in life beforehand to prepare him for this very event. God had allowed him to meet up with a lion, and to meet up with a bear. He had successfully killed those ferocious animals to protect his flock. He knew that the same God Who delivered him from the lion and the bear could deliver him from Goliath. Perhaps you noticed that the number six appeared often in the description of Goliath, concerning his spearhead and also his height.

A deeper Bible study on Goliath reveals several other sixes related to him. Several hundred years later, three of God’s children, had to come to an image that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. This image was sixty cubits high and six cubits wide. David had to meet a man that was six cubits and a span tall. The three Hebrew worthies, written about in Daniel 3, had to come with all the people gathered from all over the earth to a golden image that was sixty cubits high, and six cubits wide. They were commanded to kneel down and worship it at the sound of music. However, the second commandment says that you are not to worship, you are not to bow down before any image (Exodus 20:4–6). The second commandment is the second longest commandment in the law. God said that we are not to bow down or worship any graven image or anything we have made in His likeness.

The three Hebrew worthies refused to bow down, even under the threat of being thrown into the fiery furnace for disobeying the command of King Nebuchadnezzar to worship his image. They fearlessly remained standing when all others bowed. When brought before the king, they said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:16–18. When they were thrown into the fiery furnace, the same God that delivered David out of the hand of Goliath, delivered the three Hebrew worthies. They walked out of the fiery furnace when Nebuchadnezzar asked them to, no longer bound and unharmed. God delivered them. With David it was six, with the three Hebrew worthies it was sixty. But, God’s children will have to meet a crisis at the very end of the world, having to do with the number 666, the number of anti-christ.

Christ can give you the grace to be an overcomer against impossible odds. Will you have the kind of faith that David had? Will you have the kind of faith that the three Hebrew worthies did so that you will able to say, “I know God is able to deliver me from your power, but if He does not, and whether you kill me or whatever you do, I will continue to worship the God of heaven. I will keep His commandments; I will do His will.” The time to develop that kind of faith is now. Now is the time to say, “Lord, I’m choosing to follow and obey You, and I pray that You will give me the strength to follow You, to be obedient to You, no matter the outcome.”

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church of Free Seventh-day Adventists in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Living a Victorious Life

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Many try to live the life of a Christian, desiring to serve God in every way. At the same time, we must face the reality that many have become discouraged at their continual failure. Maybe you are just drifting along in this Christian life, thinking that there is no hope of living like Jesus. But I want to tell you the good news; there is hope! This hope has already been given to us in the word of God.

We have been told: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48. This is the utmost challenge. How in the world can I be as perfect as the Father of Jesus? It is impossible, so why expect this? There are some Bible examples of Christian perfection. There are those who have walked through our same experiences and have succeeded, after coming to Jesus, and live a sanctified life. There are stories of others who have fallen and later repented of their sins that are encouraging examples of victory.

The first righteous man the Bible mentions is Enoch. It is recorded, “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him.” Genesis 5:24. What did he do right? He walked with God. That sounds very simple. The apostle Paul adds a little more information and explains that it was “by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.” Hebrews 11:5. Enoch walked with God by faith. His faith was in the promise of the Redeemer Who would come. Because he had this hope, he lived by faith. It continues: “… and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” He not only walked with God, but he pleased God. All that God required was for him to walk with Him. This is so simple, yet it is so hard for people to grasp the concept and allow this beautiful truth to sink into their hearts. Praise God for His patience!

Another example of an excellent person who walked with God and who is a favorite Bible character with many people is Joseph. Joseph was raised in a God-fearing family. It was not perfect, like all of our families, but he grew up fearing God. He was the favorite of his father, Jacob, which unfairly provoked so many relationships that were not conducive to harmony in the family. The ensuing jealousy of his brethren was the cause of him being sold to the Ishmaelites, which landed him as a slave in Egypt. For many years Joseph’s life was not one to be envied however, God had His hand over Joseph for a special purpose and there were many experiences he went through that prepared him for this work. We also can learn from the experiences of Joseph. He was a very attractive young man, and Potipher’s wife attempted on a number of occasions to lure him into an illicit relationship. But Joseph walked with God and repelled her advances saying, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9. Joseph’s refusal to sin and the consequent accusations against him caused him to be thrown into prison. “But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” Verse 21. Mortal eyes could not yet see God’s big plan for Joseph’s life, but God had His hand over Joseph and was in control of every event affecting him. Joseph’s faith did not falter, and while in prison he shared his faith to his captive audience.

To have victory over our own sinful nature we must walk with God continually. We must have Him with us even as we go to the grocery store and allow Him to direct us in what items we purchase to put into our bodies to keep us healthy, giving the enemy no room to distract us.

The story told of the three worthies while captive in Babylon is one that parallels well with the time in which we live today. Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were among the princes that were taken captive and given the new names of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, of which we are more familiar. There are several points in this account that are very important to understand. Daniel 3:8–10 says, “Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live for ever. Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, shall fall down and worship the golden image.” Nebuchadnezzar felt so proud and honored to have an image of his own interpretation of the dream God had given him. Considering himself a god in his high position, like Satan, he craved the worship of all the people.

Continuing their accusation: “And whoso falleth not down and worshippeth, that he should be cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?’ ” Verses 11–15.

There is a movement today happening around the world, particularly in Europe, pushing for a day off each week, apparently to be set-aside for the family. Bible students know what is behind this push, which of course is Sunday and will be the spurious Sabbath that all will be required to acknowledge. It is hidden behind the guise of a necessity for the family, which would absolutely be a benefit.

At first, Nebuchadnezzar looks like a nice guy, a patient king. He offers a second chance and an opportunity for them to change their minds. He basically said, You can save your skins if you just bow down! But then followed the awful declaration in which he was really challenging the God of heaven, the God of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. His declaration was similar to Pharaoh’s when he said to Moses, “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.” Verses 16, 17. What a statement of faith! They knew their God, that He would not be mocked.

We can identify with these men as we make spiritual preparation for the Sunday law that we know is coming. We must determine in our minds not to worship the image that will be set up and be prepared to tell the authorities that our God, Whom we serve, is able to deliver us out of any punishment that is devised for those who refuse to conform to this law. That is all fine, but …!

What if God doesn’t deliver you? What if God has assigned that you and I be martyrs for His honor and glory? Those faithful men fearlessly standing before the king of the greatest nation on the earth at that time said, “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.” Nobody dared to challenge the king as they did. So, he “… commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” Verses 18–24. Suddenly God opened this king’s eyes and he saw what you and I today don’t physically see while we walk with God, the presence of Jesus safeguarding His loved ones.

“They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Verses 24, 25. That is one reason why they were able to answer the king and say, “No,” and even if he was going to take their lives, they said, “We’re not going to obey you anyway.” They were confident in their individual relationship with their God, they were in His presence; they walked with Him.

The only reason we sin and fall into the traps that Satan has set for us is because we lose the awareness that God is with us. When we forget or neglect our morning devotions, we walk away from Him and miss His guidance. The day never goes well without His companionship.

The story continues in verses 26 and 27, “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” What an encouragement is this story from past times; we cannot thank God enough for giving us this story of faith.

The Bible is full of stories of faithfulness. In John 1:47, it says, “Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him, and said to him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!” Nathaniel, a person that walked with God, and Jesus declared him to be righteous, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.

Our greatest example of faithfulness is our Saviour, Jesus Christ. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:14, 15.

Was He tempted beyond our human capability? Absolutely not! In this one sense, I have to clarify, but He was tempted in everything that we humans could be tempted. I do believe He was tempted even more, because for Him, being part of the Godhead, and knowingly, that He could not yield His power so He could be our example. He could have called a legion of angels to come and save Him, but He would have ruined His example for us and broken the agreement He had with the Father. In that sense, He was harassed even harder by the enemy. In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells us to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” The battle we fight is in the mind, and all power is given to us to win this war by having the mind of Christ.

Jesus, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in the fashion of a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Verses 6–8. As a man He became obedient unto death. Are you ready to die, to die for your faith? We need the fullness of God in us.

In I Peter 2:21–25, it reads, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.” How can I follow the example of Somebody that has more power than I and “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” Jesus committed Himself to His Father Who was the source of His power. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.”

“For verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” Hebrews 2:16–18.

Jesus went through suffering and temptations and He succeeded, by the power of His Father. We are living in the time of the end, and we want to be part of that group who sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.” Revelation 14:1. That name describes their character, the character of God, their Father. That name is engraved in every cell and in every feeling. It influences everything they do.

“These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.” Verses 4, 5. In Jesus there was not found any guile, neither was there in the three Hebrews who were tossed into the fiery furnace. God says, in Matthew 5:48, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Never are we asked to do anything without being given power to accomplish the task.

An instruction manual for righteousness has been given to man, the Bible. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished into all good works.” II Timothy 3:16, 17. “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” I Corinthians 12:28. Our ignorance is without excuse.

Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” John 15:1–4. The key word is abide. The word abide came from the word abode, which is dwelling, a house.

If we are attached to the vine, we will produce fruit. To increase fruit production the branches must be pruned. Ever so lovingly He prunes away our bad habits, all the time giving us grace so we don’t get discouraged. We may not notice the changes in our own lives, but others will see the evidence when patience is displayed instead of the past quick temper. Paul identifies these fruits in Galatians 5:22, 23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Do these attributes describe you?

“Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for His seed remaineth in him.” I John 3:9. That sounds very simple. Looking at the parable in Luke 8:11, we see that the seed is the word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1, 2. Paul said, “Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:6, 7. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

God certainly understands human nature but makes no excuse for sin when He has provided a remedy in abundance. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take need lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.” I Corinthians 10:12–14. One of our biggest idols is self – my needs, my wants, my own opinion and my own comfort – the importance of me!

“Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” Jude 24. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13. How many blessings are missed that can never be recovered because we don’t take the time to “be still, and know that I [God] am God.” Psalm 46:10.

There is a promise found in I John 3:5: “And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin.” God is able to keep us from falling through Jesus Christ. Matthew 1:21 tells us, “And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins.”

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1. This is so encouraging, for if we do fall we can raise a hand and call out as did Peter when he took his eyes off Jesus and sunk into the water, “Lord, save me!”

“But when he [Peter] saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.” Matthew 14:30. Immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him. Paul spoke of this great mystery: “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:26, 27.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. Surround yourself with the things of God and don’t give the devil any ground. Jesus has shown the way, and His word overflows with counsel how to live a righteous life – walk with Jesus! He is coming soon to take His children home. “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and is whose spirit there is no guile.” Psalm 32:2. Let this be our prayer!

Harold Cortes serves as the pastor for 7th Day Sabbath Church in Colton, California. He has a wife and two children. Brother Cortes grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist faith in Colombia, South America and received his medical degree in Mexico. After coming to the United States he obtained a Master of Public Health degree from Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, and it was there that he received the call from the Lord to become a pastor and has been serving the church in Colton since 1977.

Inspiration – How to Defeat Satan

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What are the issues in this great struggle between good and evil? Why has Satan been so successful in confusing so many people? How can we deal with our doubts and overcome them?

The great controversy between Christ and Satan, that has been carried forward for nearly six thousand years, is soon to close; and the wicked one redoubles his efforts to defeat the work of Christ in man’s behalf and to fasten souls in his snares. To hold the people in darkness and impenitence till the Saviour’s mediation is ended, and there is no longer a sacrifice for sin, is the object which he seeks to accomplish.

When there is no special effort made to resist his power, when indifference prevails in the church and the world, Satan is not concerned; for he is in no danger of losing those whom he is leading captive at his will. But when the attention is called to eternal things, and souls are inquiring, “What must I do to be saved (Acts 16:30)?” he is on the ground, seeking to match his power against the power of Christ and to counteract the influence of the Holy Spirit.

The Scriptures declare that upon one occasion, when the angels of God came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan came also among them (Job 1:6), not to bow before the Eternal King, but to further his own malicious designs against the righteous. With the same object he is in attendance when men assemble for the worship of God. Though hidden from sight, he is working with all diligence to control the minds of the worshipers. Like a skillful general he lays his plans beforehand. As he sees the messenger of God searching the Scriptures, he takes note of the subject to be presented to the people. Then he employs all his cunning and shrewdness so to control circumstances that the message may not reach those whom he is deceiving on that very point. The one who most needs the warning will be urged into some business transaction which requires his presence, or will by some other means be prevented from hearing the words that might prove to him a savor of life unto life.

Danger in Neglecting Bible Study and Prayer

Again, Satan sees the Lord’s servants burdened because of the spiritual darkness that enshrouds the people. He hears their earnest prayers for divine grace and power to break the spell of indifference, carelessness, and indolence. Then with renewed zeal he plies his arts. He tempts men to the indulgence of appetite or to some other form of self-gratification, and thus benumbs their sensibilities so that they fail to hear the very things which they most need to learn.

Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer and the searching of the Scriptures, will be overcome by his attacks. Therefore he invents every possible device to engross the mind. There has ever been a class professing godliness, who, instead of following on to know the truth, make it their religion to seek some fault of character or error of faith in those with whom they do not agree. Such are Satan’s right-hand helpers. Accusers of the brethren are not few, and they are always active when God is at work and His servants are rendering Him true homage. They will put a false coloring upon the words and acts of those who love and obey the truth. They will represent the most earnest, zealous, self-denying servants of Christ as deceived or deceivers. It is their work to misrepresent the motives of every true and noble deed, to circulate insinuations, and arouse suspicion in the minds of the inexperienced. In every conceivable manner they will seek to cause that which is pure and righteous to be regarded as foul and deceptive.

But none need be deceived concerning them. It may be readily seen whose children they are, whose example they follow, and whose work they do. “Ye shall know them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16).” Their course resembles that of Satan, the envenomed slanderer, “the accuser of our brethren (Revelation 12:10).”

Darkness Before Dawn, 5–7.

Inspiration – The Portals We Must Watch

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Why God Gave Us Eyes, Ears, and Speech –

God gave men eyes, that they might behold wondrous things out of His law. He gave them the hearing ear, that they might listen to His message, spoken by the living preacher. He gave men the talent of speech, that they might present Christ as the sin-pardoning Saviour. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

How Satan Gains Entrance to the Soul –

All should guard the senses, lest Satan gain victory over them; for these are the avenues of the soul.

You will have to become a faithful sentinel over your eyes, ears, and all your senses if you would control your mind and prevent vain and corrupt thoughts from staining your soul. The power of grace alone can accomplish this most desirable work.

Satan and his angels are busy creating a paralyzed condition of the senses so that cautions, warnings, and reproofs shall not be heard; or, if heard, that they shall not take effect upon the heart and reform the life.

My brethren, God calls upon you as His followers to walk in the light (I John 1:7). You need to be alarmed. Sin is among us, and it is not seen to be exceedingly sinful. The senses of many are benumbed by the indulgence of appetite and by familiarity with sin. We need to advance nearer heaven.

Satan’s Strategy Is to Confuse the Senses –

Satan’s work is to lead men to ignore God, to so engross and absorb the mind that God will not be in their thoughts. The education they have received has been of a character to confuse the mind and eclipse the true light. Satan does not wish the people to have a knowledge of God; and if he can set in operation games and theatrical performances that will so confuse the senses of the young that human beings will perish in darkness while light shines all about them, he is well pleased.

Satan Cannot Enter the Mind Without Our Consent –

We should present before the people the fact that God has provided that we shall not be tempted above what we are able to bear, but that with every temptation He will make a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13). If we live wholly for God, we shall not allow the mind to indulge in selfish imaginings.

If there is any way by which Satan can gain access to the mind, he will sow his tares and cause them to grow until they will yield an abundant harvest. In no case can Satan obtain dominion over the thoughts, words, and actions, unless we voluntarily open the door and invite him to enter. He will then come in and, by catching away the good seed sown in the heart (Matthew 13:36–40), make of none effect the truth.

Close Every Avenue to the Tempter –

All who name the name of Christ need to watch and pray and guard the avenues of the soul, for Satan is at work to corrupt and destroy if the least advantage is given him.

It is not safe for us to linger to contemplate the advantages to be reaped through yielding to Satan’s suggestions. Sin means dishonor and disaster to every soul that indulges in it; but it is blinding and deceiving in its nature, and it will entice us with flattering presentations. If we venture on Satan’s ground, we have no assurance of protection from his power. So far as in us lies, we should close every avenue by which the tempter may find access to us.

Who can know, in the moment of temptation, the terrible consequences which will result from one wrong, hasty step! Our only safety is to be shielded by the grace of God every moment, and not put out our own spiritual eyesight so that we will call evil, good, and good, evil (Isaiah 5:20). Without hesitation or argument we must close and guard the avenues of the soul against evil.

Every Christian must stand on guard continually, watching every avenue of the soul where Satan might find access. He must pray for divine help and at the same time resolutely resist every inclination to sin. By courage, by faith, by persevering toil, he can conquer. But let him remember that to gain the victory Christ must abide in him and he in Christ (John 15:4).

Avoid Reading, Seeing, or Hearing Evil –

The apostle [Peter] sought to teach the believers how important it is to keep the mind from wandering to forbidden themes or from spending its energies on trifling subjects. Those who would not fall a prey to Satan’s devices must guard well the avenues of the soul; they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing that which will suggest impure thoughts. The mind must not be left to dwell at random upon every subject that the enemy of souls may suggest. The heart must be faithfully sentineled, or evils without will awaken evils within, and the soul will wander in darkness.

Everything that can be done should be done to place ourselves and our children where we shall not see the iniquity that is practiced in the world. We should carefully guard the sight of our eyes and the hearing of our ears so that these awful things shall not enter our minds. When the daily newspaper comes into the house, I feel as if I want to hide it, that the ridiculous, sensational things in it may not be seen. It seems as if the enemy is at the foundation of the publishing of many things that appear in newspapers. Every sinful thing that can be found is uncovered and laid bare before the world.

Those who would have that wisdom which is from God must become fools in the sinful knowledge of this age, in order to be wise. They should shut their eyes, that they may see and learn no evil. They should close their ears, lest they hear that which is evil and obtain that knowledge which would stain their purity of thoughts and acts. And they should guard their tongues, lest they utter corrupt communications and guile be found in their mouths.

Resistance Is Weakened by Opening the Door –

Do not see how close you can walk upon the brink of a precipice and be safe. Avoid the first approach to danger. The soul’s interests cannot be trifled with. Your capital is your character. Cherish it as you would a golden treasure. Moral purity, self-respect, a strong power of resistance, must be firmly and constantly cherished. There should not be one departure from reserve; one act of familiarity, one indiscretion, may jeopardize the soul in opening the door to temptation, and the power of resistance becomes weakened.

Satan Would Eclipse the Future Glories –

Satan has worked continually to eclipse the glories of the future world and to attract the whole attention to the things of this life. He has striven so to arrange matters that our thought, our anxiety, our labor might be so fully employed in temporal things that we should not see or realize the value of eternal realities. The world and its cares have too large a place, while Jesus and heavenly things have altogether too small a share in our thoughts and affections. We should conscientiously discharge all the duties of everyday life, but it is also essential that we should cultivate, above everything else, holy affection for our Lord Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Angels Will Help Us –

We should ever keep in mind that unseen agencies are at work, both evil and good, to take the control of the mind. They act with unseen yet effectual power. Good angels are ministering spirits, exerting a heavenly influence upon heart and mind; while the great adversary of souls, the devil, and his angels are continually laboring to accomplish our destruction. …

While we should be keenly alive to our exposure to the assaults of unseen and invisible foes, we are to be sure that they cannot harm us without gaining our consent.

The Adventist Home, 401–405.

Steps to Victory

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The word victory means to win a battle, to overcome, to conquer the enemy, to stand and not to fall. “But how shall this victory over the world be obtained? Go to your closet, dear reader, and there plead with God: ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.’ Be in earnest, be sincere; Jacob-like, wrestle in prayer. Do not leave your closet until you feel strong in God. Remain until unutterable longings for salvation are awakened in your heart, and the sweet evidence is obtained of pardoned sin. Then when you leave your closet, watch; and so long as you watch and pray, the grace of God will appear in your life.” Signs of the Times, November 18, 1886.

The first step to victory is prayer. We cannot have victory without it. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7. Then ask and believe what God has said. He will surely fulfill His word, brothers and sisters. The victory must be gained day by day, hour by hour, yea, even minute by minute. We are told that Jesus, our Example, spent entire nights in prayer. We also need to be in constant prayer. Paul tells us, “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. The Psalmist says, “Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Give heed to the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for to you will I pray. My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.” Psalm 5:1-3 says that in our daily life, we can have that attitude of prayer. We can be continually sending up silent prayers to the Lord.

“The darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray. The whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin; and it is all because they do not make use of the privileges that God has given them in the divine appointment of prayer. Why should the sons and daughters of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence? Without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless and of deviating from the right path. The adversary seeks continually to obstruct the way to the mercy seat, that we may not by earnest supplication and faith obtain grace and power to resist temptation.” Steps to Christ, 94

The second step to victory is the study of the Word of God. In Matthew 4:4 we read, “But He answered and said, ‘It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”’” Seventh-day Adventists used to be a people of the Bible, but this is no longer true. We are now a part of the television generation. The majority of Seventh-day Adventists spend more time watching television than they do reading the Word.

“The Saviour overcame to show man how he may overcome. All the temptations of Satan, Christ met with the word of God. By trusting in God’s promises, He received the power to obey God’s commandments, and the tempter could gain no advantage. To every temptation His answer was, ‘It is written.’ So God has given us His Word wherewith to resist evil. Exceeding great and precious promises are ours, that by these we ‘might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.’ 2 Peter 1:4.” Ministry of Healing, 181

Do you remember Peter’s experience in walking on the water? As long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk; but the minute he looked down and saw the waves, he became fearful. What happened? He sank. “Christ is uplifted in the pages of the Bible, that all may see that in Him alone there is ‘everlasting strength;’ and unless the sinner makes it his life-work to behold the Saviour, and by faith accepts the merits which it is his privilege to claim, he can no more be saved than Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus.” Review and Herald, September 29, 1896

One of my favorite passages of Scripture says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” Psalm 119:11. We need to be memorizing these Scriptures today, brothers and sisters. “The heart preoccupied with the Word of God is fortified against Satan. Those who make Christ their daily companion and familiar friend will feel that the powers of an unseen world are all around them; and by looking unto Jesus they will become assimilated to His image. By beholding they become changed to the divine pattern; their character is softened, refined, and ennobled for the heavenly kingdom.” Testimonies, vol. 4, 616. Is your character being refined, softened, and ennobled for the heavenly kingdom?

This Word will make us perfect if we will hide it in our hearts. We are told, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. We need to uplift the Scriptures and be studying them daily.

“Whoever has the Word of God, the appointed instrument of salvation, abiding in him, will overcome the wicked one, and he will grow up into Christ in all things. But of how many may it be said, ‘Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God’! Their weakness is found in the fact that they do not study the Scriptures for the purpose of practicing them in their daily life.” Signs of the Times, October 3, 1895. It is important, brothers and sisters, that we so fill our minds with the Scriptures that there is no room for the enemy, no temptation for him to even get a foothold in the door.

“Do we now obey the Word of God, and live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God? Are we established and settled in the present truth? There is need of closely examining yourselves whether you are in the love of God; for except Christ be in you, you are reprobates. Self-deception is dangerous, and not one of us can afford to go in delusion.” Youth’s Instructor, May 18, 1893. As we draw closer and closer to the end, it becomes ever more important that we have Christ abiding in our minds and hearts, controlling all of our thoughts and actions.

The third step to victory is faith. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. As we study the Word of God, our faith will develop and grow. A.T. Jones defined faith as depending upon the Word of God only and expecting that Word only to accomplish what it says. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:6-9. That is the power we have available in our lives today.

“We must have that faith in God that takes Him at His word. We can have no victory without cloudless confidence; for ‘without faith it is impossible to please Him.’ It is faith that connects us with the power of heaven, and that brings us the strength for coping with the powers of darkness… In order to exercise intelligent faith, we should study the Word of God. The Bible, and the Bible alone, communicates a correct knowledge of the character of God, and of His will concerning us.” Review and Herald, September 22, 1910

The fourth step to victory is to cleanse ourselves, healthful living. We are told that, “the controlling power of appetite will prove to be the ruin of thousands, when, if they had conquered on this point, they would have had moral power to gain the victory over every other temptation of Satan.” Counsels on Health, 574. Many people spend a great deal of time in study and prayer, but they neglect themselves physically. We need to seek the Lord through the Spirit of Prophecy and the Bible to see what He would have us to do. Anything we allow to cloud our minds hinders our understanding of the Scriptures. God has given the eight laws of health to keep our bodies as a living, holy sacrifice unto Him.

The fifth step to victory is to educate our minds, thoughts, and habits. We must be educating our minds in the school of Christ.

“To restore in man the image of his Maker, to bring him back to the perfection in which he was created, to promote the development of body, mind, and soul, that the divine purpose in his creation might be realized—this was to be the work of redemption. This is…the great object of life.” Education, 15, 16

“There are hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil that must be overcome. The training and education of a lifetime must be often discarded that the Christian may become a learner in the school of Christ, and in him who would be a partaker of the divine nature, appetite and passion must be brought under the control of the Holy Spirit.” Christian Education, 122. Are we doing that today?

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” Proverbs 1:7. Do we love the Lord so much that we want to have this knowledge? To educate and acquire knowledge and the beginning of knowledge is to fear God.

“Educate your mind to study the Word of God. Study it with your whole heart and pray much….Educate it to dwell on the life, the character and the lessons of Christ….But you must resist the devil. You must educate yourself to a different train of thought. Put no confidence in yourself.” Testimonies on Sexual Behavior, Adultery, and Divorce, 127

Why is it, brothers and sisters, that our people are so susceptible to every heresy that comes along? It is because we have not taught ourselves to think and to reason things out. The Bible is so simple that the common man can understand it. Take it as it reads. It is not complicated, and we do not have to be highly educated to understand it. As a matter of fact, very often education gets in the way of understanding simple Bible truth. “Many seem to have no power to think….some need to discipline their minds by exercise. They should force it to think.” Testimonies for the Church at Alcott, New York, 9

Now as we go into true education, we only have one Teacher, and that is Christ Jesus. He is to be our only instructor. “Jesus was the greatest teacher the world ever knew, and He chose men whom He could educate, and who would take the words from His lips, and send them down along the line to our time. So, by His Spirit and His Word, He would educate you for His work. Just as surely as you empty your mind of vanity and frivolity, the vacuum will be supplied with that which God is waiting to give you,—His Holy Spirit. Then out of the good treasure of the heart you will bring forth good things, rich gems of thought, and others will catch the words and will begin to glorify God. Then you will not have the mind centered upon self. You will not be making a show of self; you will not be acting self; but your thoughts and affections will dwell upon Christ, and you will reflect upon others that which has shone upon you from the sun of righteousness.” Review and Herald, March 15, 1892

The sixth step to victory is sacrifice. Christ sacrificed His position in heaven. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. He became poor that we might have salvation. We are told that, “The Christian church was founded upon the principle of sacrifice. ‘If any man will come after Me,’ says Christ, ‘let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’ He requires the whole heart, the entire affections.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 307

We need to sacrifice self daily, taking up the cross of Christ. In Testimonies to the Church, vol. 9, 53, we read, “Perfection of character cannot possibly be attained without self-sacrifice.” Paul says, “I die daily.” 1 Corinthians 15:31

The spirit of sacrifice leads us right into the seventh and final step to victory—Christian service. Matthew 20:26-28 says, “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” We need to be servants one to another. As members of the body of Christ, we must all be involved in this work. “But no one will ever enter heaven who is not a laborer together with God.” Review and Herald, February 19, 1895

Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19. We need to be following Christ. The fields are ripe for harvest. Let us take as many as we can into heaven with us, brothers and sisters.

Our home is where our mission is to begin, but it is to extend beyond to our neighborhood. “Everyone who receives the light of truth should be taught to bear the light to others….some may be so constituted as to see failure where God intends success; they may see only giants and walled cities, where others, with clearer vision, see also God and angels ready to give victory to His truth.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 392

As we press forward, we must not become weary along the way. There may be giants in the land, brothers and sisters. Some people see sin as an insurmountable giant; but praise the Lord, there is also victory as we apply these seven steps. “It was Caleb’s faith that gave him courage, that kept him from the fear of man, and enabled him to stand boldly and unflinchingly in the defense of the right. Through reliance on the same Power, the mighty General of the armies of heaven, every true soldier of the cross may receive strength and courage to overcome the obstacles that seem insurmountable.” Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 1, 1113

God is preparing a land for us, and He wants each and every one of us to be there. Let us say, as did Caleb, “It is a goodly land, and we are well able to go up and possess it.” (See Numbers 13:30; 14:6-9.)

The End

How to Quit Smoking

by Dr. John J. Grosboll

How to Quit SmokingHave you ever tried to stop smoking? You may have had temporary success before, but now has your habit returned, leaving you frustrated? Are you reading this booklet in quiet desperation wondering whether it will be able to do for you what nobody else has been able to do?

Are you apprehensive that trying again and failing will simply weaken your will power and sense of self- worth even more, so that it seems dangerous for you even to keep reading?

WOULD YOU TRY AGAIN TO QUIT SMOKING IF YOU KNEW OF A WAY THAT WAS FAIL-PROOF?

There is such a method. The really good news is that this method can be followed not only by average men and women but even the weak. Those who have apparently been failures all of their lives can gain lasting success, permanent freedom from tobacco and a sense of dignity and value never before experienced.

The author has helped others who were heavy smokers for decades, to experience this success and has not found one person in more than twenty years who has followed all of the principles of the method now to be explained without permanent success.

This method is not based on anything mystical but rather on thoroughly researched scientific laws which govern the body and the mind. There are not only physical laws in the universe but also mental or spiritual laws, and if you know what these laws are and are willing to obey them, your success is absolutely certain.

Before we explain what you need to know and do, however, we need to investigate three important questions:

  1. Why did you start smoking?
  2. Why is it so hard to quit?
  3. Why do you want to quit?

WHY YOU STARTED

You need to know something about why you began to smoke because if those motivations still exist, they will make it harder for you to quit. A common time to start smoking is twelve years of age. This is a time when a child is seeking adult status in the world. Because of the example of his older peers or adults whom he knows, smoking often has seemed to be a way to become more “grown- up.” People who were role models for you may have been a large part of this influence. Your subconscious mind accepted the constant input from advertising and the example of others that there was a real benefit to smoking. This is a lie. Smoking does not make you more mature, smarter or in any way better or more attractive. In fact, it does just the opposite.

Smoking causes constriction of blood vessels and at the same time lowers the oxygen delivering capacity of the blood. This reduces the delivery of oxygen to the brain as well as other vital organs of the body. Habitual smoking causes you to appear elderly faster and decreases your beauty and attractiveness. It does not improve you mentally or physically. Smoking weakens the body so that the smoker has less endurance, higher mortality and more sickness.

Diseases which are especially increased by smoking include the following: lung cancer and cancers of other parts of the respiratory system; cancer in the urinary bladder, the pancreas and the kidney; heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and other vascular diseases; emphysema, chronic bronchitis, peptic ulcers; various mouth disorders such as tooth loss, jawbone deterioration, inflamed gums, and pyorrhea and oral inflammations. Smokers are absent from work more often and have more headaches and coughs than non- smokers.

ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN

For women, smoking presents shocking hazards. Smoking mothers have more premature babies, more stillbirths and miscarriages, and more babies who die a short time after birth. Babies born to smoking mothers have more congenital abnormalities. A woman who smokes and takes oral contraceptives containing estrogen increases her chances of a heart attack several times.

In addition to all of this, smoking decreases your ability to experience pleasure— for example, it decreases taste sensitivity so that you have less capacity to enjoy food. Your ability to experience pleasure is based on your sensitivity, and this is lessened by all narcotics.

SO WHY IS IT SO HARD TO QUIT?

Nicotine causes addiction. After a person is addicted to nicotine by habitual smoking, to cease smoking produces physical symptoms. Symptoms which habitual smokers experience when they stop smoking include irritability, muscle pain, headache, nausea, inability to sleep and jittery nerves. These symptoms are not imaginary because when you quit smoking, measurable physiological changes occur, such as changes in heart rate, blood pressure and in the electrical waves of the brain. Withdrawal symptoms, however, are not the only reason that it is difficult to quit smoking.

A number of social and psychological habits are often intertwined with the smoking habit. Smoking has often become associated with every major event of the day. For example, a smoker often takes out a cigarette every time he has a cup of coffee. An important business decision or meeting is often associated with a smoke. A change of pace, such as getting in a car to drive to work or sitting down to relax, is often associated with a smoke. So, every major start or stop or pressure or change of pace during the day is often associated with smoking. But even these are not all of the reasons that it is hard to quit smoking.

Smoking is also a physical habit. The hand reaches for the pack and a cigarette is retrieved. It is placed in the mouth and a lighting device is ignited. The inhale to kindle the end is accompanied by the fondling of the cigarette by the lips and later the playing with it by the hand. Later, ashes are flicked out, and finally, it is stamped out. These activities become deeply ingrained habits which the habitual smoker has repeated many thousands of times. Since smoking is an all- pervasive habit which has chemical, physical and mental or spiritual components, any rational attempt to quit must have an attack plan which includes physical, chemical and spiritual components.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO QUIT?

Since smoking is an all-pervasive habit having physical, chemical and spiritual components, the reasons why you want to quit are often the determining factors as to whether or not you will be permanently successful. You probably do not have the appropriate motivation right now to quit smoking permanently. If your motivation had been perfect, you would have been successful before and would not be reading this. Do not worry about that. One of the major purposes of this booklet is to help you acquire the proper motivation through a series of tested techniques. The result will be that you will acquire a power that most smokers desiring to quit have never experienced.

HOW TO GET STARTED

The first thing to know about how to quit smoking is that you need help, and the second thing to know is that all of the help in the universe will not give you victory without your determined, persistent effort.

We will study the first thing first— how you can get help to quit smoking.

HOW TO GET HELP TO BE FREE FROM TOBACCO

It was not long before midnight on April 14, 1912. The ocean liner Californian was on its way to Boston from London. As Charles Groves, the ship’s third officer, sat on the top deck, he saw, several miles away, the lights of another ship speeding westward. As this ship was rapidly passing his own, he saw a splendid burst of lights, revealing a large passenger liner. Suddenly, however, it seemed that the big ship stopped and put out most of her lights. It did not occur to him that perhaps the lights were still on but only appeared to go out because the ship was no longer broadside but had swerved sharply to the left.

That night, when help was near, over fifteen hundred people lost their lives in one of the worst ship disasters of history because of no communication. Help was near, but there was no communication. So, when the Titanic went down, nobody was there to help.

DROWNING WITHIN REACH OF HELP

There are millions of people today who have a problem with tobacco and are ready to sink. Many are sinking in an abyss of smoke while help is available. What if a man was drowning and when a life buoy was thrown to him he refused to take it because he did not know if the rope or the buoy or the rescuer were trustworthy. He has no confidence, no faith. That man will drown because he cannot save himself and he is unwilling to accept outside help.

The man who is drowning must choose to believe in the person who is out to save him. If he believes and if he acts on that belief by taking hold of the help that is made available, he will be delivered. He will be saved. The tragedy is that there are so many people whose bodies are drowning in an ocean of smoke who will not ask for or accept the help that is available.

HELP IS AVAILABLE!

Wonderful help is available. Through an ancient prophet, God says, Call unto Me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know (Jeremiah 33: 3).

And through the apostle Paul, God declares that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or even think (Ephesians 3: 20). So, outside help is available. There is powerful help available, and many millions of people have found in this outside help the answer to the problem of self- control. Your nature may be so weakened through continual indulgence of wrong habits that it is impossible for you in your own strength to resist the craving for nicotine. You may be literally a slave to tobacco, but nonetheless, there is help available for you.

HOW CAN YOU GET THIS HELP?

1. Ask.

Acknowledge that you have a problem for which you need divine help, and ask for divine help. Jesus said, Ask, and you will receive. Everyone who asks receives (Matthew 7: 7).

2. Make a commitment.

God does not force the will of any human being. He does not want blind submission or unreasoning control. God does not use force. In order for Him to deliver you from the slavery of tobacco, you must be willing to make a commitment— choose to yield your will to Him so that a change can be worked out in your life.

3. Surrender your will to Him.

A lot of people in our world are do- it- yourselves. There are some things that we apparently can do ourselves. However, if you have found that you cannot stop smoking by yourself, you need to surrender your will to God in order to receive the divine help that will set you free from the slavery of bad habits.

Although you will find it a struggle to do this, surrendering your will to Him is vital if you are to have permanent success. To surrender the will to God means to accept Him to be our Lord and Master in all things, to acknowledge ourselves to be His servants, ready always to yield obedience to His commands. You can do it if you choose to. The surrender of your will to God’s will, moment by moment, is the vital key to success.

4. Are you in earnest?

God has promised, you will seek Me and find Me when you shall search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29: 13). If that is your decision, there is no question that a divine miracle is going to take place in your life to give you victory over tobacco. You are on your way to fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16: 11).

5. Exercise your power of choice.

You may have decided that you are weak in moral power. You may consider yourself a victim of doubt. Your life may seem to be continually controlled by your past when you were constantly losing self- control and smoking. The resolutions that you made on New Year’s day may have fallen apart immediately. It may seem to you that it is impossible for you to control your thoughts, and by yourself, this is true. Your habit of smoking, your passionate craving for nicotine, your affection for this vice may be humanly uncontrollable. The knowledge of this causes you to have feelings of despair. There is a way out, however. What is that way out? The way out depends on your power of decision or choice.

You cannot change your heart or your affections for your past habits or your passionate cravings for nicotine. You cannot change your impulses, but you can make a decision. You can choose to yield your will to divine power. If you do this, divine power will work in you, and your nature will be brought under the control of a divine spirit. A change will occur in your affections and in your thoughts, giving you power to be free from tobacco.

The Scripture says, If anyone destroys the temple of God, him will God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are (I Corinthians 3: 17). If you have decided to make a decision to live a life that is pure— free from the defilement of tobacco— here is what to pray: “Father in heaven, I choose to surrender my will and all lam to You. I choose to seek You with all of my heart and live by every word that comes out of Your mouth. I choose to live a healthy life and not destroy myself with tobacco. Please help me, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.” Over and over throughout the day, you should breath this prayer to God— “Father, I choose to live a healthy life and not defile myself with tobacco. Please help me as You have promised, for I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

6. Why many fail to receive help.

It is fine to have desires to do the right thing, but if you stop there, nothing will happen. Millions of people are hoping and desiring to quit smoking, but they do not come to the point of yielding their will to a divine influence. They do not make a decision to yield their will to divine power.

If you exercise your will and make a decision, make a commitment to God about your smoking problem, you are going to experience divine strength in your life which will hold you steadfast. If you constantly yield your will to this divine power, you will be enabled to live a new life, a life of self- control, a life in which you will be in control of your thoughts, your affections, your cravings, your impulses and your past smoking habit. All of this is possible to you if you make a decision to yield your will to divine power.

God is interested above all things that you may prosper in all things and be in health (III John 2). If you acknowledge your condition and yield your will to Him, if you make a total commitment (full surrender) to this divine influence, God will fulfill His promise to you. He will supply the fact. He will make you whole in your spirit. It is so, if you believe it. Do not wait to feel that the miracle has happened, but believe it, because God has promised.

WHAT TO DO EVERY DAY

Now that you have come for divine help, do not draw back and take yourself away from the divine influence. Every day say, “I have yielded my will to Christ. I have surrendered my smoking problem to Him.” Then say to Him, “Please give to me Your Spirit, grace and power to live this new life. “It is as you continually give yourself to Him and believe in Him that a divine miracle takes place in your life. This is a miracle of self- control, of victory over your affection and craving for tobacco and nicotine.

THE NEW YOU

This is a miracle which no human eye can see but which you can experience. It is so exciting, the apostle Paul expressed it as being made into a new creature. He said, Old things have passed away, ail things are become new (II Corinthians 5: 17). Every thought, every word, every action is purified and brought into subjection to the righteous will of Christ. (See II Corinthians 10: 4,5; Ephesians 4: 28- 32; Romans 1:16,17.)

THE NEW RELATIONSHIP

A change is seen in our habits. We develop an emotional attachment for the One who has saved us from these bad habits which had fettered chains around us that we could not break. We begin to learn the meaning of the statement in the Bible where the apostle said that we love Him because He first loved us (I John 4: 19).

There are people who were smokers who never realized how personal and how individual God’s love was until they found out that God was interested in helping them solve their problem with tobacco.

DO NOT GO BACK TO TRYING BY YOURSELF.

There are two erroneous ideas against which we need to especially guard ourselves after asking for divine help. The first is the philosophy that we can trust in something that we can do in order to bring about the change in mind and spirit and the self- control that we need. Jesus said,

Without Me you can do nothing (John 15: 5). Place your complete trust in Him. Do not place any trust in what you can do. In every time of temptation, look to Him for power to overcome and have victory. If you trust yourself, you will fail, but Jesus never fails.

BELIEF ALONE IS NOT ENOUGH.

The opposite and no less erroneous idea is the common belief that if you just believe, then you do not need to do anything. The fact is that the divine miracle takes place only when there is a union of divine power with human effort. As long as you surrender your will to the divine influence, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. And the works of obedience to the physical laws of your body will take place in your life as you cooperate with God by making a persistent and vital effort to live according to your requests. The apostle said, You WORK OUT. . . with fear and trembling . . . God . . . WORKS IN you to will and to do. . .” (Philippians 2: 12, 13). The secret then is not that God does it— you gain the victory in the fight for self- control— but God supplies to you the power to gain the victory which, on your own, would be impossible.

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

The question arises, Will this miracle continue to happen? As long as you yield your will to Christ, as long as you are choosing to fully cooperate with Him, this divine miracle will continue to happen because your hope is not in yourself but in Him. So, you are not to look to yourself or depend upon yourself in order to have control over your craving to smoke or to manifest self- control in any other area of life. You are to look to where the help is.

One of the Bible writers expressed it like this. He said, speaking the Word of the Lord, Look unto Me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else (Isaiah 45: 22). If you look to Him (in your mind), you are going to be delivered from your problems of smoking, lack of self- control, obeying wrong impulses, and affection for wrong past habits.

There are all kinds of things in life to divert your attention from where the help is, but remember, you must not allow anything to prevent you from looking for and asking for divine help.

This divine help is in Jesus Christ. If you commit the keeping of your mind to Him and trust in Him, He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him (II Timothy 1: 12). So, look to Him every time you are faced with a temptation to smoke. Choose to follow Him in obedience, who said, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself (Luke 9: 23).

Self denial is the way to become an ex- smoker and the way to eventually gain life’s greatest happiness and pleasures. It is a divine principle that Jesus constantly taught by precept and example.

THE THREE PRINCIPLES

Here are three principles that you can use to keep this divine power flowing into your life, giving you control over the craving to smoke.

First:

Fix the Bible promises to smokers in your memory. Some Bible promises for smokers are:

Call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you and you shall glorify Me (Psalm 50: 15).

Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things that you do not know (Jeremiah 33: 3). The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed. A refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You (Psalm 9: 9, 10). For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened…. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to them who ask Him (Matthew 7: 8, 11)! With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible (Matthew 19: 26). For with God nothing will be impossible. (Luke 1: 37). I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4: 13). And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 19).

God stands back of every promise He has made. Memorize them; repeat them over and over to yourself. This is a weapon that Jesus Himself used to overcome temptation.

Second:

Do not fail to continue asking for help. Jesus said, Men ought always to pray and not to faint (Luke 18: 1); in other words, do not give up. Keep asking continually. As you go about your daily activities, let your heart and spirit be uplifted to God, asking Him for divine help to conquer every subtle and surprising temptation to smoke. There is no time or place where it is inappropriate to offer up a request for divine help to assist you in conquering a temptation to smoke.

Third:

Develop the habit of being joyful and thankful. Did you know that most people are about as happy as they choose to be, and the Bible acknowledges this fact. If you will make the decision to be joyful and thankful, you will be surprised at the divine power that will come into your life in the very act of expressing your joy. The apostle said, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice (Philippians 4: 4). In other words, express your joy. h everything with prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 6, 7). There is the secret, friend. Be joyful and express your joy and thankfulness for God’s answer to your request and a divine miracle is going to take place in your life.

You have an imagination. In your imagination, every time you are assailed with a temptation to smoke, even if you are depressed or discouraged or ready to yield to despair, look to Jesus and request help. Ask and you will receive. When a perverted craving struggles for the mastery in your mind, look to Jesus Christ. His power is sufficient to subdue any bad habit. Choose to turn to Him. Lay hold of the hope that is set before you. He has strength for your weakness, and He is ready and willing right now to lead you step by step to perfect self- control, permanent freedom from the slavery of smoking. Never fear that He is far away because He is always near (Acts 17: 27), and He is interested in having communion (fellowship) with you (Revelation 3: 19- 22). He is ready right now to work in your behalf and to impart to you power to subdue every craving to smoke. He does not do this without your consent. You are free to choose what power you want to rule over you. Nobody has fallen so many times or is such a slave to tobacco that they may not find deliverance through divine power (Hebrews 7: 25).

WHAT HUMAN EFFORT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE?

God expects you to live in harmony with the physical laws which He has created within your body. The particular physical laws which you need to pay special attention to when you begin to resist the craving to smoke are listed below.

1. Eat mainly fresh fruit and some fruit juice the first day.

As soon as you quit smoking, your body starts trying to rid itself of nicotine and all of the other poisons from tobacco that have been accumulating. You can assist your body in this effort by adopting a cleansing type of diet. If you are engaged in hard, manual labor and need a more liberal diet, a suggested first day diet would be as follows:

Breakfast

1- 2 slices of whole wheat or whole grain toast 1 banana 1 orange or apple 1 bowl of cooked cereal or cold cereal with low sugar content, with milk or milk substitute and fruit sauce, if desired 1 glass of apricot nectar, grape juice or orange juice a few nuts, such as almonds, pecans, walnuts, filberts or brazil nuts— raw nuts are best, dry roasted next best, roasted in oil should be avoided, if possible.

Lunch

1 baked potato with gravy or other topping 1 bowl of tossed, green, garden salad 1 serving of cooked greens— broccoli, spinach, turnip greens, mustard greens, kale, collards or Swiss chard— if none of the above are available, green vegetables would be second best, such as: green beans, okra, cabbage or brussels sprouts 1- 2 slices of bread, whole wheat or whole grain 1 serving of high protein food— Any kind of legume— cooked, dried beans, peas, lentils or garbanzos— is excellent. Lima beans are fine. Peanut butter sandwiches can do in a pinch. a few nuts (Nuts also provide protein.) 1 glass of milk or milk- substitute, optional

Supper

Any kind of fresh fruit as desired any kind of fruit juice without added sugar— Use juices in moderation that are high in sugar content, such as grape juice and pineapple juice. crackers, optional

The above menu is only for those who engage in hard manual labor. Others are advised to eat mainly fresh fruit and fruit juice the first day. If you want to be successful right from the start, you are advised to not eat or drink any type of food or beverage not listed.

2. Drink a minimum of six glasses of water per day.

This is in addition to whatever fruit juice, milk or vegetable juice you drink during the day. If you do not like the taste of your water and do not have access to purified water, you may put a small amount of lemon juice in the water. This is also advisable if you have weak digestion or if your stomach rebels at the thought of plain water.

The way to get enough water is as follows: Drink at least one eight- ounce glass of water during the first thirty minutes upon arising in the morning. Do not drink anything for one to two hours after breakfast. During the late morning, drink a minimum of two eight- ounce glasses of water. Do not drink anything for one to two hours after lunch. During the later afternoon, drink at least two glasses of water. Either before supper or just before going to bed, drink one more glass of water.

You will have more energy as a result of drinking more water and your body will be assisted in ridding itself of the poisons that have accumulated from the use of tobacco.

3. Practice deep breathing at least three times per day.

First of all, stand up and be sure that nothing is tight or restricting around your waist. Loose fitting clothing is absolutely essential to proper breathing. Through either your nose or your mouth, inhale the largest amount of air possible. Your tummy should go out both in front and on the sides. After you inhale as much as you can force yourself to, then inhale just a little bit more until you are feeling some discomfort.

Hold the air for a moment and then breathe out rapidly through your mouth. While breathing out, bend over and place your palms flat against your ribs, or abdomen, and push in. If you cough at the end of this breathing out, you will get more air out of your lungs, which is what you want. Repeat this exercise two more times. Repeat the entire procedure at least three times per day.

Note: If you are a jogger, a bicyclist or a long distance swimmer, you may eliminate this activity on any day that you work out.

4. Get plenty of rest the first few days.

Your body will exert tremendous effort during the next few days to purify itself, so you will need adequate rest and sleep.

5. A tepid bath or shower is recommended every day.

A tepid bath is one that is not very hot and not cold, just lukewarm. A lukewarm soak before bedtime for the first few days helps some people go to sleep.

6. Avoid all alcoholic beverages.

The cerebrum or forebrain is the first part of the brain to be affected by alcohol, and even a small amount of alcohol results in a decrease in judgment and the ability to exercise the will. Alcohol will sabotage your efforts to be free from tobacco. You cannot expect God to help you quit smoking if you use alcoholic beverages because He has forbidden their use. (See Proverbs 23: 29- 35; 20: 1; I Corinthians 6: 9, 10.)

7. Avoid all compromise.

If you decide to taper off from cigarettes or other forms of tobacco, you will surely fail. You cannot be successful unless you quit totally and entirely.

8. What to do if you fall.

A righteous man may fall seven times and rise again (Proverbs 24: 16). If you fall, confess your fall to God (I John 1: 9; Proverbs 28: 13). He has promised to forgive you and help you to finally succeed. Read the first part of this booklet over again and go through all of the steps faithfully. Start over immediately to be free from tobacco, and do not allow anyone to discourage you.

In the Revolutionary War, America lost battle after battle but finally won the war. If you should stumble, get up immediately and start again. God will not forsake you and will give you a permanent victory over tobacco if you do not give up because of a temporary failure. Pray most earnestly. Say like Jacob, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me’ (Genesis 32: 26). If you keep going through the steps listed in the beginning of the booklet and keep asking, you will be given power to have permanent victory. The reason that some people stumble while quitting smoking will be explained later.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

1. How to deal with headache.

  1. First and most important of all, pray whenever you have a headache. Say, “Father in heaven, You have promised to keep me in perfect peace (Isaiah 26: 3) {f I trust in You. I have chosen to trust in You so I ask that You will give me peace of mind and spirit and impart to me that rest (Matthew 11: 28- 30) that You have promised, for I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
  2. Drink a glass of water. Extra water is helpful for headaches.
  3. Practice the deep- breathing exercises.
  4. If practical, you may go for a walk. Your arms and legs should be well protected if the weather is cool. An outdoor walk is the best.
  5. Try to practice a strict, regular schedule— a set time for eating meals, a set time for going to bed, etc. Regular habits will help you to get adequate sleep. Headaches are often caused by lack of sleep.
  6. Do not eat anything between meals. Do not have meals closer than five hours apart. Avoid overeating, and do not eat many varieties of food at the same meal. Avoid any practice which has caused you to have indigestion. Headaches can be precipitated by indigestion.
  7. Headaches can be caused by improper clothing, either too much clothing in a hot room or climate or improper distribution of clothing, day or night, so that the extremities (arms and legs) are inadequately clothed while the trunk of the body is warmly covered. Chilling of the neck and shoulders can cause a headache. Tight restrictive clothing either at the neck or at the waist or other part of the trunk of the body can cause a headache by imbalancing the circulation.
  8. A hot foot bath with a cold cloth on the forehead, or even an ice bag placed at the top of the back of the neck against the skull, is sometimes necessary. The foot-bath can be 103- 106 degrees Fahrenheit. The washcloth on the forehead should be kept cool by frequent rinsing in cold water. A tepid bath (94- 97 degrees Fahrenheit) for one- half to three- quarters of an hour sometimes relieves headache.

2. Before you get up in the morning

Always pray before you say or do anything in the morning. The first thing in the morning, you might be severely tempted to have a cigarette. Before you get out of bed, talk to God about the upcoming day.

You might say something like this, “Father in heaven, I choose to consecrate myself to You and to belong totally to You today. On this condition, You have promised to give to me the fullness of Your blessing, to abide in me by Your Spirit and to be my strength and constant Helper. I claim these wonderful promises and claim a pure life free from the defilement of tobacco, in Jesus’name, Amen.” (This prayer is based on Numbers 6: 24- 26; John 14: 1- 17; 15: 1- 14; Hebrews 13: 5, 6.)

3. Use your leisure time wisely.

After supper, do not sit down and relax in an easy chair for the first few days because this will be one of the more dangerous times of the day when you will be tempted to smoke. Engage in an active or absorbing hobby, go for a walk or find something that will keep you busy until bedtime. Doing nothing will sabotage your efforts. Doing nothing can have a devastating effect on your will, so keep busy, except for time for sleeping the first few days. It will be advantageous for you to get a thirty minute walk or thirty minutes of working in the garden, etc., every day. Aerobic exercise will help you to always have a positive mental attitude.

The rest of this booklet will give you more help. If you are having any trouble, you may go over and over the first part of this booklet. Many people must go over and over the principles before they become a part of their character. Until your character is changed, your life free from tobacco is not yet permanent.

THIS IS ALL THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED.

HOW TO GET ANSWERS TO YOUR PRAYERS

The components of successful prayer are cited below. These concepts are from the Bible, but they are also found in a nineteenth century book called Steps to Christ.

Prayer is talking to God concerning our actual life— it is a conversation with Him. It is talking to Him in the same manner as we would talk with any friend.

Jesus taught His disciples to (1) present their daily needs before God and (2) cast all of their cares upon Him. He gave them the assurance that their petitions would be heard.

God’s heart of love yearns toward the children of men. He is ready to give them more than they can ask or think, but these divine gifts are only for those who ask and put their trust in Him.

Prayer should not consist altogether in asking and receiving. We are to praise God for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men (Psalm 107: 8).

To obtain answers to our prayers, the Bible presents the following prerequisites:

  1. We must feel our need, Isaiah 44: 3. 2. We must not cling to any known wrong, Psalm 66: 18. 3. We must choose to exercise trust in God, Hebrews 11: 6. 4. We must choose to exercise a spirit of love and forgiveness, Matthew 6: 12.
  2. We must persevere in prayer, Romans 12: 12; Colossians 4: 2; I Peter 4: 7. 6. We must take every opportunity to pray: in the family circle, in secret, with others and as we go about our work or daily activities. There is no time or place in which it is inappropriate to offer up a petition to God, Luke 18: 1.
  3. Christ’s example is that we are to blend prayer and works— we are to pray even in the midst of our work, but we are not to isolate ourselves away from others and retire from the world in order to pray. If we only pray and do not work, soon we will cease to pray or our prayers will become a formal routine.

So, take to God everything that perplexes your mind. Nothing that in any way concerns your peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no perplexity concerning your smoking problem that is too difficult for Him to understand. There is no calamity that can happen to you or anxiety that can harass you to which He is unobservant or in which He does not take an interest.

So ask. Ask when you are driving your car and you are being tempted to smoke.

Ask when you are on the job. Ask when you are talking with someone and you are tempted to smoke. Ask when someone offers you a cigarette and you do not know how to resist. You can always make a request for help in your mind, and God will hear. He says that He sees every thought that you think (Psalm 139: 2). Ask, Jesus said, and it will by given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it will opened unto you. Everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened (Matthew 7: 7, 8). Are you knocking on God’s door? Are you seeking for His help? If you are, He has promised to hear your request and answer you. God stands behind every promise He has made.

MORE HUMAN EFFORTS YOU CAN MAKE

Success is the result of divine power and human effort. Your utmost human effort is necessary. If you stop making a consistent effort, then God must stop providing miraculous power to help you because He never works out of harmony with your own will— that would restrict your freedom, which God will not do. Here are more things to do to have permanent success.

1. Avoid all coffee and caffeine.

Caffeine is a chemical stimulant that can initiate a craving for a cigarette. Very few people will be able to permanently quit smoking and still keep on drinking coffee. Caffeine is a drug and is potentially dangerous like any other drug. For many smokers, coffee seems to automatically signal for a cigarette afterward.

Caffeine and nicotine are chemically related drugs and the use of one can cause a craving for the other. The only sure way to quit smoking is to quit drinking coffee.

Caffeine is much more dangerous than usually described in the public press. As little as two cups of coffee per day can retard bone growth in the fetus and significantly decrease placental blood flow. The use of caffeine can result in calcium loss and gradual thinning of the bones. It can also result in a marked decrease in iron absorption, which could lead to anemia.

In addition to this, high dosages of caffeine can result in nervousness, irritability, restlessness, anxiety, insomnia and headaches. Do you need all of this extra trouble when you are quitting the use of tobacco?

Furthermore, since caffeine is a drug that can harm your body, can you with a clear conscience ask God to provide miraculous power so that you can be free from tobacco while you are needlessly using a drug that can seriously harm your body? Can you expect Him to restore your body if you are deliberately doing something that could destroy it?

2. Use natural, harmless stimulants.

One of the most powerful natural stimulants is a cold mitten friction. In the morning, fill the sink with cool or cold water. Dip a washcloth (or terry cloth mitt if you have one) into the water and wring it out dry. Then rub one arm at a time until the arm is pink.

The second morning you can fill the sink with colder water until eventually you may put ice cubes in the water, if you desire. The second or third morning you may want to rub your chest, as well as your arms, until it is pink. The morning after that you may rub your arms, your chest and your back until they are all pink. Then you may rub both of your arms and the entire trunk of your body. Finally, in about a week or ten days, you will be able to rub your arms, your chest, your upper and lower back, your abdomen and your legs until they are all pink.

After a cold mitten friction, you will be awake without having to use coffee, and you will feel better and have no harmful side effects. It will give you a lift without a later letdown. It will also increase your resistance to colds and other upper respiratory infections.

You will need to get up a few minutes earlier in the morning to do this, but it will be worth it for the rest of the day.

3. Your diet

After the first day, you may liberalize your diet, but if you make fresh fruit and vegetables the major part of your diet, you will have better health and you will probably feel better during the time your body is flushing the poisons from tobacco out of it. A good plan is to have a generous amount of fresh fruit for breakfast with a whole- grain cereal or other whole- grain food, milk or milk substitute, whole- grain toast, fruit sauce and a few nuts. Lunch would then include a generous amount of raw and cooked vegetables and should include one dark green or orange vegetable daily with whole- grain bread and a protein food. Potatoes are an excellent staple vegetable and when eaten with another cooked vegetable, a salad and a legume or casserole, provide satiety and enduring energy. The best protein foods were listed earlier. The third meal, if eaten, should be light, preferably fresh fruit only, but crackers and fruit juice with the fruit is all right if you are very hungry.

HOW DOES GOD EFFECT BEHAVIOR CHANGE?

Behavior change takes place when there is a combination of supreme human effort and divine power working in a person’s life. Consistent human effort never occurs without motivation. Where and how does lasting, powerful motivation come into a persons life? How does this take place? Jesus said, If you can believe, all things are possible to the one who believes (Mark 9: 23).

Trust or belief in God comes the same way as you learn to trust or believe in anyone else. We learn to trust others as a result of our acquaintance or experience with them. We learn to trust God as a result of our acquaintance or experience with Him. How do we become acquainted with God? We become acquainted with Him in the same way that we become acquainted with anybody else. We talk to Him, and He talks to us.

We have already talked about asking Him for help continually and praising Him for answering our requests. Some changes take place instantly; some changes take place over a period of time. Just because you do not feel any different right this moment, this does not mean that a change is not really happening.

When we become acquainted with God, we learn to believe or trust in Him to give us control over our past smoking habit or any other unhealthful craving. The Scripture says, We love Him because He first loved us (I John 4: 19).

EXPERIENCING LOVE

When Jesus was here, the disciples experienced His love by being with Him. John says, We heard Him, we saw Him with our eyes, we gazed upon Him, our hands handled Him (I John 1: 1). Concerning what they saw, he said, That which we have seen and heard we declare also to you so that you might have fellowship (verse 3).

If we experience Jesus’ love now, it must be by reading these reports (the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) of what those disciples saw, heard and handled. If we do this, the result will be a fellowship with the Father and the Son, a precious experience in receiving divine love. Love brings joy and control into our lives.

When a man and woman are first in love, they spend as much time as possible with each other, and that love grows and becomes a powerful force in their lives.

Divine love is the most powerful motivating force for smoking cessation there is. We must spend as much time as possible with the source of that love so that we will receive it. Otherwise we will not have this most powerful motivating force in our lives which will bring about permanent freedom from tobacco. We love because He first loved us (I John 4: 19). Schedule at least fifteen minutes per day to read from one of the Gospels. A good place to start is the Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5- 7. You will find a great deal of help to give you complete freedom over smoking in this sermon that Jesus gave.

WILL MY LIFESTYLE CHANGES BE PERMANENT?

Love is the most powerful motivating force there is for smoking cessation. When we love God and realize that He will give us any help necessary for us to achieve victory over our bondage to tobacco, lasting changes will take place. The result will be permanent cessation of smoking.

SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES IN SIMPLE STEPS

  1. We become acquainted with God in the same way that we become acquainted with anyone else— by talking to Him and listening to Him talk to us (I John 1: 1- 3; Job 22: 2 1). We talk to Him when we pray. He talks to us through His Word, the Bible.
  2. As we become acquainted with God, we experience His love for us (Jeremiah 31: 3).
  3. If we become acquainted with God, the natural result is that we will love Him (I John 4: 19).
  4. Divine love is the most powerful motivating force there is to make and keep you free from the bondage of tobacco. It is a divine power that enables a person to develop self- control( l Corinthians 13: 7,8; John 14: 23).
  5. As our love relationship with God develops, we have more desire to become all that we can become with His divine power operating in our lives.
  6. His love to us and our responding love to Him empowers us to fulfill the desire to be free from tobacco.

OBTAINING PERMANENT RESULTS

Divine love is more powerful than any enslaving habit to tobacco you have. It is the only thing that will produce permanent results. Any other motivation will eventually wear off and your bad habits and bondage to depravity of one kind or another will return, but love never fails (I Corinthians 13: 8).

The first requirement for developing a love relationship with God is to spend time with Him— talk to Him. The second requirement is to listen to God talk to you.

HOW GOD TALKS TO YOU THROUGH HIS BOOK

God has big plans for you, bigger plans than you have for yourself. God created man to be in charge, to have dominion over the whole world, not to be a slave but to be a ruler. These plans can never be fulfilled unless you are in control of your own life. How does God plan to bring this about? He brings it about through His Word. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit for without Me, you can do nothing (John 15: 5).

Because of the effect of heredity, of bad habits, of wrong lifestyle and of bad choices, we do not have the ability of ourselves to exercise self- control. We cannot control our minds or our bodies in our own strength. Jesus said, If a man does not remain in Me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned (John 15: 6). This is an apt illustration of the life that is ruined by bad habits. Jesus continued to say, If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you shall ask what you wish and it shall be done to you (John 15: 7). So, knowing the promises in the Word is very important if we want to obtain answers to our requests.

GOD’S PROMISES

The promises in God’s Word show us what to pray for and what to ask for. We know that if we ask for something that is promised in His Word, our request will be fulfilled (I John 5: 14).

Let us look now at a few of the Bible promises especially applicable to smokers. The apostle Paul says, Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6: 19). You are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body (I Corinthians 6: 20). It is God’s will for you to live in harmony with the physical laws of your body, in fact, the apostle says, If anyone destroys the temple of God, Him will God destroy, for the temple of God is holy which temple you are (I Corinthians 3: 17).

So, you know that it is not God’s will for you to destroy your body by unhealthful habits, such as smoking. God has promised to deliver you from every desire contrary to His will if you are willing. But I say, Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust [craving] of the flesh (Galatians 5: 16).

If you choose to follow the instruction of the Holy Spirit given in God’s Word this is a promise that you will have victory over every unhealthful craving and temptation. Through whom are given to us exceeding great and precious promises that through these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped from the corruption which is in the world through lust. (II Peter 1: 4). It is by memorizing, quoting and claiming the promises in God’s Word in every time of temptation that victory is gained. Jesus Himself used this spiritual weapon. (See Matthew 4: 1- 11.)

GOD UNDERSTANDS YOUR TEMPTATIONS

Somebody might say, “Well, God doesn’t understand howl am tempted.” But God does understand how you are tempted; in fact, the apostle Paul says in Hebrews 4: 14, 15, We have a great High Priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. We do not have a high priest which cannot not be touched with the feeling of our maladies, but He was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin.

Jesus knows how you feel; He knows how you have been tempted. He knows how you are tempted because He was tempted in all points like as you are. Because He was tempted in all points like as you are, He knows how to deliver you from temptation. Look at the promise that follows in Hebrews 4: 16, Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Does it seem impossible to obtain freedom from the bondage of tobacco? Does it seem impossible to keep from lighting up? The apostle said, Let us come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4: 16). In other words, every time you have a temptation that seems irresistible, you need to ask for divine help, and the promise is that you are going to find mercy and grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4: 16).

YOU CAN BE FREE FROM TOBACCO.

Did you know that Jesus Himself has promised to set you free from every sinful or unhealthful habit? This is one of the most wonderful promises in all of the Bible. You can claim it every time you are assailed by temptation to smoke.

This promise is found in John 8: 32- 36: And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. They gave answer to Him, We are Abraham’s seed and we have never been enslaved ever. How do you say that you shall become free? Jesus answered them, Most assuredly I say to you, that every one who commits sin is the slave of sin and the slave does not remain in the house forever, but the Son remains forever. If, therefore, the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.

Sin is simply doing something that is unlawful (I John 3: 4). The sixth commandment says, You shall not kill. This includes more than pointing a gun at yourself or somebody else. It includes slow suicide. This would include smoking because habitual smokers have a higher death rate than they otherwise would.

JESUS’ PROMISE TO YOU

Jesus has promised to set you free from all bondage. He has promised to deliver you from every kind of slavery. He has promised to deliver you, set you free, from every wrong habit, every unhealthful habit. This is a promise that you can claim every time you are tempted, every time it seems impossible not to yield to the temptation to smoke.

DO NOT SABOTAGE YOUR WILL

The will is the governing power in the nature of man. It is God’s design that your body be in absolute subjection to your will at all times. Only then are you truly free. (See 1 Corinthians 9: 24- 27.)

It is necessary for you to surrender your will to God in order to be delivered from the bondage which has kept you a slave in dire captivity to tobacco. (See Romans 7: 18- 8: 17.) As long as your will is surrendered to God, He will work through your conscience and reason to control it. God does not usurp your own mental powers, but as long as you are surrendered to Him, He works through them to elevate, refine, ennoble and bring you in every way to a condition where you might enjoy lasting pleasure and happiness with no hang- over, smoker’s cough or other sorrow connected with it.

But you have a part to act in order to keep your will from again becoming a slave to your body or the lower powers of the mind, such as the emotions. (Emotions should always be the servant of the will; the will or power of choice should never be under the control of any part of the body.)

There are certain physical and mental habits which can weaken the will and again bring it into slavery. If you deliberately weaken your will, God will not work a miracle to keep you free— by your actions you are declaring to the whole universe that you have not chosen to be free, and God’s power is not exercised contrary to your own choice. The practices which weaken the will are listed below. If you are brought into difficulty through no choice of your own like Daniel was when taken a captive to Babylon, God will protect you, but God’s power is not exercised to protect the presumptuous.

Physical and Mental Habits that Weaken the Will

1. Overeating

The will, as all other powers of the mind, is affected by the physical state of the body. If you overeat, the circulation is imbalanced and you lose your power to resist temptation. Overeating is often followed by a sensation of drowsiness, and in this half- awake state, the will is in no condition to bring perverted bodily cravings into absolute subjection as is necessary to acquire freedom from the slavery of tobacco.

If you are a habitual overeater, you can use the same principles found in the first part of this booklet to gain the victory over overeating. Especially remember to ask God for victory and selfcontrol. There are also a few physical techniques you can use to avoid overeating:

Practice regularity in eating. Eat only at regular times and not more than three times per day. Regular, balanced meals will help you to avoid the unhealthful habit of snacking.

Avoid extreme- type diets which can result in excess hunger. Any diet which is severely restricted in fat content can result in extreme hunger. While excess fat and fats that are solid at room temperature are dangerous to your health, there must be a balance. Get some fat at both breakfast and lunch. The best fat is in whole, unrefined foods. A recommended list of foods containing large amounts of fat follows. These foods should be used in moderation.

High fat foods include, most nuts and many seeds, such as sunflower and sesame seeds, avocados and olives. Refined foods containing fat, while not totally prohibited, should be restricted. This would include all oils and many dairy products. Milk substitutes have to be evaluated individually. Many have a high fat content.

Use whole foods and plant foods as much as possible. These foods have protective factors that help you to feel satisfied on less calories and thereby avoid overeating.

Eat slowly, laying your fork down between bites. Swallow each mouthful before taking another fork full of food. Chew your food slowly and thoroughly and allow adequate time for meals. This last point is very important. If you do not allow at least twenty to thirty minutes for your meal, you may feel hungry even if you have had plenty to eat.

Regular exercise has a powerful regulatory effect on the appetite. If you walk for thirty minutes a day, you will probably feel a need for less food than if you were totally sedentary.

2. Overwork and lack of rest

Any habit that results in undue fatigue will result in weakening the will. Staying up late at night, followed by an early rise which is still not early enough for a good breakfast, results in starting the day in a weak condition. Lack of planning and scheduling or trying to do two day’s work in one and the resulting lack of sleep, plus overwork, can sabotage your will power.

3. Alcoholic beverages or other mind altering drugs

The higher powers of the mind are more and more anesthetized as alcohol is used. Many people who had quit smoking have started again after drinking alcohol.

4. Tea, coffee and other caffeine sources

Caffeine is a stimulant to the nervous system. Continual use of caffeine has the same effect as overwork or lack of rest— the nervous system, as well as the rest of the body, because of unnatural stimulation, does not recuperate adequately and becomes debilitated until the will is overborne, and then the person has no ability to escape unnatural cravings. Divine power is ready to deliver you from this vicious circle, but you must do your part— decide to abstain from all harmful substances which weaken your will, and follow your decision with your utmost effort while calling upon God for divine power to help you. You must work out what God works in. (Philippians 2: 12, 13).

5. Overindulgence in sexual passions

Every blessing that God has given the human family can be abused and thereby become a curse. Sexual intimacy requires a large amount of biological vitality, and overindulgence can have a weakening effect. One of the worst effects is the habit that can be formed of placing the higher powers of the mind under the control of the sexual passions. The will should always control the passions and never be controlled by them.

If sexual passions control the whole being, man is then in a similar position to dumb animals. A person who is used to being a slave to emotions and feelings will find it impossible to become free from tobacco unless God works a miracle in His life. The first part of this booklet outlines how this miracle can happen.

6. Other unnatural stimulation

Many other habits and practices can unnaturally stimulate the body and the mind and result in a weakened condition of the will. These include using large amounts of certain condiments and spices. The general rule is that if a seasoning tastes hot when actually it is cold, it might be used as a medicine, but it is not safe to use as food. Condiments can immediately start a strong craving for a cigarette.

The mind can be unnaturally stimulated by watching crime, either in the news or acted out. The mind can be unnaturally stimulated by reading novels, various works of fiction and other exciting literature or by watching movies. Such stimulation unbalances the circulation, and any excess stimulation finally results in debilitation and weakening of the will. You can keep up with what is going on in the world and know everything you need to know without this constant stimulation and knowledge of the details of every outrage that is committed.

Rich and heavy foods can unnaturally stimulate the body. A high protein diet is a stimulating diet and not the best for health. While you are still experiencing cravings for tobacco, any unnecessary stimulation of the body can make this craving worse, so avoid meat as much as possible because meat not only is high in protein but contains purine and ammonia which have stimulating qualities. Especially avoid rare meat.

The general rule is that any substance, when taken in far greater amount than needed by the body, can result in stimulation or debilitation, either of which is not helpful to having strong will power. Some other common substances which can have stimulating qualities when taken in very large amounts are vitamin pills, food supplements, sugar, eggs, milk and other dairy products.

A word of caution is in order here. If you have been using large amounts of food supplements, it is wiser to decrease the amount taken slowly rather than all at once because your body probably has a tolerance now to large amounts of these vitamins or whatever supplement you have been taking. You can experience a severe letdown in energy and a feeling of malaise and fatigue if customary food supplements are suddenly discontinued. This extra shock to your body is totally unnecessary while you are acquiring permanent freedom from the slavery of tobacco, so do not discontinue supplements all at once.

7. Doing anything that you know is wrong

If you deliberately do anything that you know is wrong, you will suffer a violated conscience and an immediate weakness of will power to do what you know is right. You will immediately lose the divine power that God has been giving you to help you to obtain freedom from the slavery of tobacco.

If you experiment with any instrument which is used of evil spirits, such as spiritualistic mediums, psychics and fortune- tellers; secret associations and seances; healers who claim to employ electricity, magnetism, or “sympathetic remedies”; if you attempt to communicate with the dead (See Deuteronomy 18: 10- 12; Isaiah 8: 19, 20; I Chronicles 10: 13, 14; Ecclesiastes 9: 5, 6.); if you venture into scenes of dissipation or irreligious pleasure; if you seek the society of the sensual person, the skeptic or the blasphemer, either in person or through the medium of the press or theater, you will lose the miraculous power of God in your life.

Your only sure escape if you are in this situation is to follow the divinely appointed steps back to freedom:

First, you must acknowledge the wrong you have done to God and also to others if you have injured them and ask forgiveness of all injured parties. (See Proverbs 28: 13; I John 1: 9.) Then you must follow the steps presented in the first part of this booklet again about how to get started and how to get divine help to gain back your freedom and self- control.

HOW WE ARE TEMPTED TO SMOKE

In 1 John 2: 15- 17, the apostle says, Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him because everything that is in the world, the craving of the flesh, the craving of the eye, and the ostentatiousness of life, is not from the Father but is out of the world. The world passes away and the cravings of it, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

This is a plain acknowledgment that our body can crave things that are not good for us. It is also evident that we must not gratify these cravings if we desire life. The apostle says, Do not love these things. Do not love the world; there are only three things in the world, the craving of the flesh, the craving of the eyes and the ostentatious- ness of life.

WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THESE CRAVINGS?

Now the question that comes to you and me is, If I love the world, if I have been giving in to the craving of my flesh, if I have been giving in to the craving of my eyes, if I have been smoking until that craving has become almost overwhelming, what do I do about it? How do I get over it?

The secret is right in this passage (1 John 2: 15- 17) I am not to love the world, but I am to have a transfer of my affections so that I can do the will of God. You see, if my whole life revolves around the craving of my flesh and the craving of my eyes, it will never be possible for me to obtain perfect self- control over my cravings or urge to smoke. In order for me to gain the victory over bad physical habits, what must happen? I must have a transfer of my affections from these things to somebody above.

HOW OUR DESIRES ARE MODIFIED

This happens in the following manner. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4: 19). Did you know that God is never tempted to smoke? God is love and His love is always directed outward toward the benefit of the intelligence’s He has created. Our wrong habits and cravings are the result of a perversion of His love. Instead of our love being directed outward toward the happiness and benefit of others, our love is directed inward to the happiness and benefit of ourselves— to gratification of our flesh by smoking or wrong eating, etc. Wrong habits are cultivated through this basic root principle of self- love.

We can never quit our wrong habits unless we learn the essence of the divine character— that principle which seeks not its own but another’s good. How does this happen? The process of overcoming wrong habits is, in its most simple explanation, a process of learning to love the way God loves.

HOW DO WE LEARN THIS VITAL PRINCIPLE?

The problem is, how do we learn to love when we are so used to loving that craving of our flesh, that craving of our eyes, our oppressive desire to smoke and other gratifications of these desires of our flesh and our eyes? How does this process of learning to love the way God loves happen in us?

Before we will have any love to give to anybody else, we must first experience His love to us. When Jesus was here, His disciples experienced His love by spending time with Him. John says, We heard Him, we saw Him with our eyes, we gazed upon Him, our hands handled Him (I John 1: 1). Concerning what they saw, he said, That which we have seen and heard, we announce also to you that you might have fellowship with us (1 John 1: 3).

HOW DO WE SPEND TIME WITH HIM?

If we are to have fellowship with Jesus now, it will have to be by reading the reports about what these disciples saw, heard and handled. If we do this the result will be a fellowship, a close interpersonal relationship with the Father and the Son, a precious experience of receiving divine love. This experience will give power to our decisions to be free from tobacco and to overcome our bad habits. We will have a transfer of our affections from the satisfaction of the cravings of this world to the satisfaction of fellowship with the Father and the Son. Then, the apostle says, our joy is going to be full (1 John 1: 4).

HOW DO WE FALL IN LOVE?

When a man and woman are first in love, they spend as much time as possible with each other, and that love grows and becomes a powerful force in their lives. Divine love is the most powerful force there is to overcome the craving to smoke. It is the most powerful force there is, but we need to spend as much time as possible with the source of that love so that we will receive it. We will never be filled with that love with just a few minutes a day thinking about Him while we spend the rest of the day thinking about the cravings of our flesh or booking at secular pictures and advertising with craving in our eyes.

We must experience His love the same way that the first disciples experienced it. We must hear His voice speaking to us. We must see Him in our imagination. We must gaze upon Him. As we work in this world, our hands must touch Him. We must have the same intimate spiritual fellowship with the Father and the Son that they had. People who love each other always find time to be together.

THE RESULTS OF SPENDING TIME WITH HIM

The result, friends, of that relationship in your life will be that you will receive divine power to overcome the craving to smoke. Spend time with Jesus by studying His life every day, and the result will be that a new love will take possession of your mind. Your affections will be imperceptibly changed from love of the world with its craving of the flesh and craving of the eyes to the love of the Father, an intimate love relationship with the One who has all power and who will give you His power to overcome. He will give you power to carry out your own best decisions.

THE HUMAN ESSENTIAL FOR SMOKING CESSATION

Jesus talked about the human essential in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord is going to enter into the kingdom of heaven, hut the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7: 21). It is not what we say, it is not what we profess, it is what we do that counts. And why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and you do not do what I say (Luke 6: 46)?

WHEN WE BECOME SUCCESSFUL

We become successful in becoming free from tobacco when:

  1. we ask for help,
  2. depend upon God to give us divine help and then, in obedience to our request and trust in Him,
  3. we take action— we act on our trust or our belief in Him.

It is always true that we will act out all of the trust or faith in God that we have, and it is when we show by our actions that we believe that God is going to help us, that a miracle begins to take place in our lives.

ON THE BORDERS OF THE PROMISED LAND

There was a time in ancient history when the children of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, the spiritual forefathers of the faithful of later ages, marched out of Egypt and went across a terrible wilderness to inherit the promised land. The time came when they were encamped on the borders of the promised land.

Right now, if you have been following the instructions in this booklet, you are encamped on the borders of your promised land— the new you, the new self-controlled you, the you who has control over your lifestyle and is free at last from all enslaving habits.

But when the children of Israel were encamped on the borders of the promised land, it was not enough for them to have a knowledge of Canaan. It was not enough for them to sing songs about Canaan. This would not bring them into possession of all those wonderful vineyards and olive groves in that wonderful country. They could make it theirs in truth only by occupation. They had to go across the Jordan and actually occupy the land. They had to do something. They had to comply with the conditions. They had to exercise faith in God and take His promises to themselves while they obeyed His instruction. They had to have an active experience.

IMPORTANCE OF TAKING ACTION

Becoming free from tobacco consists in doing something, doing something active about the problem. Whether or not we will be successful depends not just on whether or not we ask for help, whether or not we believe or whether or not we make a profession of believing. Whether or not we are successful will be made manifest by whether or not we actually do or act in harmony with our requests. We must do and not say only, because it is only through action that new habits are built.

HOW CHARACTER IS BUILT

These new habits develop into a new character. Actions become habits and habits become character— you. You started reading this booklet with many wrong habits in your possession as a part of your character. You have been making decisions based on the information presented about changing your character.

We cannot do this unless God supplies the power. That is why this must be a spiritual experience, an experience of asking Him for help and getting to know Him. Although God will supply the power, it is up to you and me to use the power. We cannot just sit in our tents and pray and study. We must get up and take action— walk into the promised land.

Taking proper action will result in the development of good habits which will result in the development of a different character, a new character, a new, pure, tobacco- free you. You have had a misshapen character because of smoking. Our goal is to help you to reshape your character using divine power that is most certainly available to you. It is impossible for anyone to do this perfectly by themselves. That is why we have talked about the necessity of receiving divine help.

YOU ARE THE ARBITER OF YOUR DESTINY

Remember, God will supply the power, the help. It is up to you and me to take hold of that power and do something with it. No matter how much power God supplies to you, He leaves it up to you to take that power and work out what He works in. Every day you are building the new you. Your character depends on the actions that you take. Your actions result in habits, and the habits result in character.

OBTAINING LASTING RESULTS

There is a true foundation to build your character upon— a living Stone— and if you build upon that true foundation, God’s life will be imparted to you as you build upon Him (1 Peter 2: 4- 9). If the building that you are building is on another foundation, someday it is going to fall. Some people build their character (their attempt to become free from the slavery of tobacco and other bad habits) upon a foundation of human ideas, upon human philosophy and opinions, or upon protocols of some man’s invention.

The person who does this is building a structure of character upon shifting sand. Someday, sometime the fierce tempests of temptation will sweep away this sandy foundation and leave that person’s house of character a wreck, and they will say, “I stopped smoking once. I was free from tobacco once, and I thought I could handle it myself But when the stress of _________ happened, I started again.”

If you are resting your hope of having perfect self- control upon yourself, you are building on shifting sand. It is not too late, friend, to escape ruin. Before the temptations of perverted carnal desires break over you, flee to the sure foundation, the tried and living Stone.

Listen, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, and the one who believes will not be in a hurry, . . . Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is none else…. Do not be afraid for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you by the right hand of My righteousness (Isaiah 28: 16; 45: 22; 41: 10).

The help is available. The question is, What are you doing with it? What character will you build with it? Your actions develop your habits, and your habits develop your character, the new, pure, tobacco- free you. Whoever hears these words of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock (Matthew 7: 24).

TODAY IS THE DAY FOR A MIRACLE IN YOUR LIFE

There is recorded in the Scripture a time when the apostle Paul spoke the good news to a Roman governor. The Scripture says there were three things that Paul talked to this Roman governor about. He talked to him about right— about doing that which is right. He talked to him about self- control. He also talked to him about having to give an account in the future for this life that we live here.

THE DANGER OF PROCRASTINATION

As Paul did this, the Scripture says that this Roman governor, by the name of Felix, trembled and he gave this answer, Go your way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for you (Acts 24: 25).

This is a classic reply, a classic response. Go your way right now; when I have a convenient season, I will call for you. I am going to do something about it. Have you ever heard someone say that? Today lam going to smoke just a little bit. Tonight I have to go to a party, but tomorrow I am going to develop self- control; tomorrow I will become free of the slavery of tobacco. Today, during the holidays, I need to enjoy myself, but lam going to do something about my smoking later. I am going to change my lifestyle sometime in the future. Tomorrow I am going to do it. Today I have other things to do.

THERE WILL NEVER BE AN EASIER TIME

The news is, friend, that today is the day for you to make the changes that you want to make in your life. It will never be easier tomorrow than it is today. It is easier today than it ever will be again, on the basis of what you have just read. The actions that you commit today develop habits, and these habits develop character. Your character is what you really are. If you keep on indulging yourself, if you keep on smoking, more and stronger, wrong habits will be formed. The result will be a deterioration of character, a depraved character. So, tomorrow it will be harder for you to make the changes you want to make than it is today. Although nothing is impossible with divine grace, it will be more difficult. So, today is the day for you to make the changes that you want to make in life.

TODAY IS THE TIME

We read in the Bible about a woman that was brought to Jesus from the very act of adultery. And they came to Jesus and they said, Moses said that such should be stoned, but what do you say? And this they said that they might have something to accuse Him (John 8: 5, 6) either to the people or to the Romans. Jesus arranged affairs in this incident so that all of the people who brought the woman to Him left, being accused by their own conscience of their own sins, and the woman was left alone with Jesus. When that happened, it says that, Jesus lifted Himself up and saw none but the woman, and said to her, Woman, where are those your accusers? Has no man condemned you? She said, No man, Lord. Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more (John 8: 10, 11).

When Jesus talked to that woman, He said, in effect, today is the day for you to make a change in your life. Jesus never told anybody that tomorrow will be all right; you can go ahead and indulge yourself today. You can go ahead and practice your unhealthful habits today and change tomorrow. Jesus never told anyone that. Jesus told people, today is the day to make a change in your life. Today is the day that God is willing to work a divine miracle in your life. Today is the day. He said to that woman, Go and sin no more (John 8: 11).

Do you realize what that almost certainly meant? That meant that the woman had to go and get a different kind of job. That meant that she was out of a job because she was involved in prostitution to make a living. But when Jesus talked to her, He did not say, “Let’s work on this and see if you can make some arrangements to get another kind of job.” He did not say anything like that; He said, “Today is the day, tight now. Don’t live like that any longer. Today is the day; right now is the time to change. Right now is the time to have new life. Friend, that was the beginning of new life for that woman, that day.

Now, which kind of person are you? Are you like that Roman ruler who said, “Go for right now; I want to enjoy my wrong indulgences a little more, so I want to wait for a more convenient time. There are so many wrong habits in my life, and it will be inconvenient for me socially and professionally to change right now. I am going to wait for a more convenient time.” The more convenient time does not come.

Or are you going to be like that woman that Jesus met? Right then, right that day, a change was made in her life. She started to live a new life that very day. Jesus said, Go and sin no more. Today is the day to make a change. That was the beginning of new life for that woman. If you are willing to make a change today, God is willing to help you to make that change today. But God will never work a miracle in the life of a person who says, “I want to continue in my wrong habits for today. I want a more convenient time, and then I will make a change. I want to taper off from my bad habits.” If you decide to taper off from bad habits, you have decided to do some evil still, and if God were to help you, He would be blessing you in evil- doing. So, you cannot have any help from God until you decide to quit completely all evil or unhealthful habits. The person who is waiting for a more convenient time or who is trying to taper off never experiences a miracle. They may believe, they may know, but they are waiting for tomorrow to quit completely, and life passes by. At the end, their character is a wreck in the annals of time and eternity.

SUMMARY

Today is the best day, the best opportunity you will ever have, to make a change. Let us review what we have studied:

  1. Ask for divine help, knowing that God never tells a lie and that He stands back of every promise He has made.
  2. Become acquainted with God. Talk to Him every time you are faced with a temptation to smoke.
  3. You become acquainted with God when you listen to Him talk to you about the big plans that He has for your life and by exposing yourself to His Word, especially to the promises He has made in His Word to everyone who wants complete freedom.
  4. You expose yourself to the most powerful force in the world by experiencing the love that Jesus has for you— you experience His life by reading about it in His Word.
  5. Then you start to act out the promise that God has made to you, depending upon Him to work a miracle in your life.
  6. When you do these things, the miracle begins today. Do not say, “I am going to wait for a more convenient time; I am going to wait for a better opportunity.” Do not say that, because then the miracle will never happen. We have no record that Felix ever had a change in his life— the Lord never worked a miracle in His life. He went on with all of his wrong habits, wrong actions and depraved character development.

Today can be the day that a change occurs in your life, if you make the choice today. Jesus said to the woman that was taken in adultery, Go and sin no more (John 8: 11). In other words, be done with all of those bad habits, today. If you want to live a new life, if you want to have perfect self- control, if you want victory over the craving to smoke or a life of idleness and inactivity, today can be the day when you have a new life. Jesus worked miracles for those who were willing to exercise trust during the present— today.

WALKING ON WATER

There is a story in the Bible about a man who walked on water with the Lord.. This story happened between three and six o’clock in the morning. The disciples of Jesus were on a boat, alone, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. A fearful storm had arisen on the sea. During this storm, Jesus came to the disciples walking upon the sea— Jesus was walking on water.

At first when the disciples saw a person walking on the water, they were afraid, but then Jesus said to them, Be of good courage, it is L Do not he afraid (Matthew 14: 27). The Scripture says that Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water. And He said, Come. And coming down out of the ship, Peter walked upon the water to come to Jesus, but looking on the wind boisterous, he was terrified and beginning to sink, he cried saying, Lord, save me. And Jesus stretched forth His hand and took him, and said to him, Oh, you of little faith. Why did you doubt? (Matthew 14: 28- 31).

PERMANENT SUCCESS AND TEMPORARY FAILURE

We are now going to address the subjects, “Will you be free of tobacco permanently?” and “How to deal with temporary failure.” From the human point of view, walking on water is impossible. From the human point of view, being permanently free from tobacco is impossible for many.

But there is Somebody who can help you to walk on water. Peter’s experience of walking on water covers the steps that we have been studying about becoming permanently free from tobacco and developing new habits of behavior— forming a new character.

ASK THE RIGHT PERSON

First of all, Peter asked the right person— he asked for divine help. We have already seen the importance of asking, continually asking for divine help. Right in the middle of business affairs, you can send up a silent request to God, and He will hear and answer your petition, although it is not verbalized.

CHOOSE TO TRUST HIM

Second, Peter was acquainted with the divine Person whom he asked for help and he trusted in this Person that He would help him. He had so much faith in this Person that when the Lord told him to come down out of the ship and walk on water, he believed. He did not say, “Oh, no, I’ll sink if I do that.” He believed in the Person because he was acquainted with Him. We have studied about becoming acquainted with this very same Person— we become acquainted with Him just like we become acquainted with anyone else, by talking to Him and listening to Him talk to us, which He does through His Word.

Third, because of this complete trust in the Person whom he had come to know and love, Peter got down out of the ship and attempted to do something that had always been impossible for him before— walk on water.

If we trust Him and He tells us that He wants us to develop perfect self- control, as He indeed does in I Corinthians 9: 24- 27, then we, too, will attempt to do something that has always been impossible for us to do before, such as becoming permanently free from tobacco.

Is it impossible to walk on water? Is it impossible to be totally and permanently free from tobacco? It may be just as impossible as walking on water, but when you ask for divine help, place your trust in the Person whom you are asking and begin to take action based on that trust, a miracle starts happening in your life, and you start to walk on water.

WHEN THE MIRACLE BEGINS

So, Peter acted on his faith. He got down out of the ship, and because he asked the right Person and he had faith and confidence in this Person, he acted on his faith. When he acted on his faith, a miracle began to happen in his life. This is a very important concept to understand— when did the miracle begin to happen in Peter’s life? It began to happen when he acted on his faith.

God does not begin to work a miracle in your life until you start to demonstrate your faith in Him by doing something active while you trust in Him to work a miracle in your life. Millions have experienced this miracle. How about you? God stands behind every promise that He has made.

WHAT IF I START TO SINK?

Now, the questions come, What if sometime I should do something wrong? What if I should give in to my perverted craving for cigarettes sometime? What if I should engage in an unhealthful practice at some time? What then? Is everything last?

As soon as you begin to practice a known unhealthful habit that you know is not right, you lose the spiritual power that you have within and the same thing happens to you that happened to Peter; immediately you begin to sink. Peter looked at the problem— big waves, a big storm, great surges of waves under his feet.

The same thing can happen to you— you look around and you see a cloud of smoke around you, on television, on billboards, in magazines; the lust of the flesh, the cravings of the eye, the unhealthful habits, these perverted cravings that you have been developing for years surround you. Everything around you seems to be a temptation, and if you look at the problem instead of looking to the One who is the solution to the problem, you will begin to sink.

If you take your eyes off of the One who can and will always be a never- failing source of help for you and look at all the problems, immediately you will begin to sink. The problem seems overwhelming. Discouragement sinks in when you have a temporary failure and you say, “What happened? I had victory yesterday and the day before that, and now, today, it’s not happening. What am I going to do? I am facing failure. Is everything going to ruin?”

That is the situation that Peter was facing. He was walking on water. He had asked the right Person. He had put his trust in the right Person. He had acted on his faith. A miracle had been occurring in his life. But he took his eyes off of where the help was; and, friend, when you look away from where the help is, you are automatically looking at the problems. You start looking at your perverted cravings and that cloud of smoke obscures your thinking. Right away you begin to sink. What do you do then, when you are sinking and you are facing failure?

Friend, you must do what Peter did. You must say, “Lord, save me!” You must look where the help is. You remember the text in the Bible that says a righteous man falls seven times and rises again? Friend, it does not take very long to sink; you may have been walking on water for a longtime, but when you take your eyes off from where the help is, when you start deciding to do it yourself, down you go. When you lose your connection with your all- powerful divine helper, you go down in the water (or smoke) very rapidly. Very fast you can sink right back down to your old habits, your old, smoky lifestyle.

What do you do to keep this from happening? Remember to keep your eye on where the help is, keep asking for divine help and keep taking action on your confidence in that divine help. Keep studying the promises in His Word and claiming those promises. The result will be that you will keep on walking on water.

Here is a prayer that you can pray: “Father in Heaven, I thank You for Your promises and the divine miracles that they bring into my life. I come to You to make request. I ask that You will give to me right now, that miracle of grace that will give to me perfect freedom over tobacco. Help me to act on my trust in You and to come down out of the ship of complacency and inactivity and do what I know that I should do as Your child, by Your grace. Help me to experience this miracle that can keep happening in my life every day.

“If I make a mistake, Lord, and I begin to sink, save me when I call. Help me to turn me eyes toward You. I claim Your promise that You will help me keep on experiencing that miracle in my life which will impart to me that self- control over every craving of the flesh and of the eyes. May I experience Your love in my heart every day which will be a power over and against every wrong habit, for I come to You in the all- powerful name of Jesus, Amen. “

HOW TO OBTAIN DIVINE HELP OVER WRONG HABITS

  1. Realize that you need help to be set free from tobacco (John 15: 5; Jeremiah 33: 3).
  2. Know that God desires to provide this help to you (Isaiah 41: 10).
  3. Acknowledge your need and your willingness to come to God and fully cooperate with Him in causing a complete change to happen in your life (Matthew 11: 28- 30). It is vital that you not live in a state of denial. Acknowledge to God, verbally, your condition and need. Ask Him to give to you a change of mind about tobacco. Tobacco is not to be your master (Matthew 23: 10). This can only happen if you have a change of mind (heart). Confess your guilt and ask for release from the guilt and power of tobacco (I John 1: 9; Proverbs 28: 13).
  4. Ask for divine help to be set free from tobacco (Matthew 7: 7, 8).
  5. Choose to believe that God will fulfill His Word to give you perfect freedom over tobacco (Mark 9: 22, 23).
  6. Express trust in God and His promise to help you gain perfect freedom from tobacco (Luke 11: 13).
  7. Act on your belief by making a commitment to live a life of self- control enabled by God’s power (John 1: 12). It is not enough to be sorry. You must actively turn away from your former lifestyle (I Corinthians 9: 24- 27).
  8. Spend time fixing the divine promises in your memory. These promises will bring power into your life when you are assailed by perverted cravings. This is the weapon that Jesus Himself used when He was tempted on appetite (Matthew 4: 4).
  9. Ask for help in every time of temptation (Luke 18: 1, 7, 8; James 4: 7- 9). (God is not wearied by your continued requests for deliverance.)
  10. Express your joy verbally; thank God for helping you to control your appetite (Philippians 4: 4- 7).

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