Do You Believe In The Bondage Breaker?

Hey Gang: Do you have a tough time breaking old habits? It is a known fact that New Year’s resolutions last about a week. I wonder if people even make such promises today. You might not believe this but in my earlier years I smoked. Yes, I really did. And then I got married and along came a little bambino and I made up my mind (well sort of) to not contaminate my home and family with smoke.

So, I quit, and then I quit, and then I quit, and then I quit, but each time I quit I found that I smoked more. They were sticking out my ears and nose and under my arm pits – just joking of course. And then I said, ”Lord, I am a bust, I cannot quit this habit that is taking money from my family (and at that time cigarettes were less than fifty cents per pack), stinking up the car and house and certainly not doing much good for my lungs.

After 189 tries to quit, I finally confessed to Father God ‘I do not have the guts to say no and break the bondage.’ Paul tells us the key to breaking bondages is to “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:15-17)

I had a hard time convincing myself that smoking was “doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus”, so I made a vow to the Lord, ‘I will give it my best shot but……I am going to need your help!’ A vow He honored and the cigarettes went into the garbage can. Tough, yes, but keep in mind Jesus words, “Let your actions and words be yes, yes, and no, no, for everything else is sin.” (Matthew 5:37)

I could not quit cold turkey without God’s help. Now we have 57 different varieties of little round pills, tons of mind games and a vast number of so called bondage-breakers, but take it from an old salt, the only thing that works is prayer and fasting from the thing that is holding you in bondage.

Soooo, my young friends, Jesus said He would walk with us through the valleys. He also said in Malachi 3, “Test me”. Oh, by the way, I often shared with the boys in Chapel that the recreation vehicle in my driveway was purchased with “cigarette” money that I save.

Blessings,

Gramps