Hi,
These are some verses pertinent to the topic in 1 Thessalonians 4:
1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;
2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
Verse 4 in the Amplified Bible it says: 4 That each one of you should know how to possess (control, manage) his own body (vessel) in consecration (purity, separated from things profane) and in honor.
When I worked at a Christian Mission we had Bible studies and taught the Scriptures, and I counselled the men. There were women workers to counsel the ladies.
--- One day a girl came and asked to see me. She had worked at our Mission some time before so I knew her quite well.
Most Christian girls that go into ministry as she had done have good moral standards, as I knew she had.
--- We went into my office and she asked me this question, "Is it wrong for me to relieve myself? --- We had a short conversation, and I said, "Don't be too hard on yourself." Then this question came to mind, --- "Do you feel guilty when you do?" --- She thought about it and eventually said, "No," --- as though it was a realization to her.
My wife and I were both smokers. When we became Christians and got involved in the Church we knew this was something that had to go. --- We prayed about it and asked God to take it away.
When we willingly get ourselves involved in a habit which we have had for years, we like to ask God to take it away instantly. --- But it wasn't God's problem, it was ours.
However the Lord led us to do something that we have never heard others do in stopping, though we have told many. --- The Lord led us to have one cigarette each night before we went to bed for 30 days. --- Of course, last thing, because if you had it earlier in the day, you would want it again at night.
--- We did this for 30 days. To start with I would smoke it right down to the end. --- After about a week I noticed it didn't taste as good as it used to, but I would smoke it right down, knowing that was all till the next night. After about three weeks it wasn't even a pleasure to smoke it , but the body was still craving whatever it could get. --- At the end of the 30 day, we were ready to quit, and we did.
--- We didn't do it on our own, we followed the Lord's plan and the Lord honors obedience.
The question was, were we completely free of smoking. I think my wife fared better than I did. I guess it was kind of like giving up an old friend, --- but we quit. Praise the Lord!
--- I still had some craving while the body was getting used to being starved, and two or three times after we quit, I took a cigarette and smoked it. I was confessing it as my weakness, and the Lord gave the assurance, "Its okay, your body needed that." --- so, no, I didn't feel guilty.
--- The Lord is leading us on to higher ground so we need to go through some rough spots. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in everything we do. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
