Smoking Testimony

I no longer smoke cigarettes. In fact, for the last 14 years, it is as if I had never smoked. This is not a small life change like no longer being blonde or getting a tattoo. Smoking affects the smoker’s health, his or her outlook on life, all aspects of daily living and the lives of those around him or her. A deliverance from smoking is something that is at the very elemental level of a smoker’s being. This is how I came to be delivered.

I was raised in the Presbyterian Church and came to a saving knowledge of Christ when I was 20. I had been smoking about a pack a day of cigarettes since I was 17. I sometimes smoked more, sometimes less but about that amount on a daily basis.

I fell away from Christ during the next 18 years but I was able to quit smoking for about 6 of those years. When I picked it back up, it was two packs a day and it was so urgent a demand that I was unable to stop smoking for even one day.

I tried everything, nicotine gum, smoking cessation programs of all sorts, hypnotism. I tried anything and everything. I might be able to cut back; sometimes down to just a few a day, but I could not get free. Anxiety, headaches, stomach distress, sleeplessness would gradually force me back to the regular habit.

I was 38 when I renewed my relationship with the Lord. I’d been smoking for about 7 years. As I grew in my relationship, I realized that smoking was a severe addiction and had become the idol in my life. I prayed. I fasted. I had others pray for me. My disgust with myself and my continual defeats affected my view of God, my view of salvation and my own nature. It took 4 long years to bring this problem to Helen and Ian.

We began simply. We affirmed the nature of God. We affirmed the work Christ had done on the Cross. We agreed that it was rebellion against God and His plan for my life. All of this supported by prayed and Scripture. I confessed my sin of smoking (and hypnotism, by the way). This continued for three or four visits over a period about two months. During this time, I continued to smoke. I did not reduce my smoking or in any way change my behaviors. We agreed on a final visit and agreed that following that final visit, I would no longer smoke.

On that day, I arrived a few minutes ahead of time for my appointment. I had a few cigarettes before I came into Helen and Ian’s home. We prayed. We agreed that this practice must stop. I absolutely agreed and wanted it to stop. Ian took authority over the minions of Satan binding me to the habit, he and Helen anointed me with oil and prayed over me, we sang a few praise songs and I left their home.

When I got into my car to leave, I noticed that I had no real desire to light a cigarette. An interesting circumstance because I’d always lit a cigarette when I drove my car. All that day and the next and the next I went without a cigarette. It suddenly dawned on me that not only was I not smoking but there were NO withdrawal symptoms. No nervousness, sleeplessness, anxiety, urges . . . nothing. It was as if I had never smoked. I was delivered.

Today, when people ask if I had ever smoked, I tell them; “Yes, indeed I did!” When they asked how I quit, I tell them; “I did not quit.” Invariably, I am asked; “So . . . what happened?” When I tell them “I was delivered!” and I tell them this episode, it always gives me the opportunity to point to Christ, the Maker and Perfector of our souls and of Helen and Ian’s ministry. Praise God from whom all blessing flow!