Want is not a Choice Richard V. Milner Dec 05, 2002

I have a dear friend who is a born again believer. She has been baptized in the Holy Spirit and she smokes. Does this sound like a oxy moron to you. Well it did to me until the Lord started working in my life about sin and started showing me my faults which made her fault less noticeable. I have about 100 pounds I need to lose. I had a friend once tell me that "if you Christians are all that, then where it says not to defile the temple of the Holy Spirit, then why are you so fat." That was a low blow, but it was the truth. Or one of my other problems is that I bite my nails. This is not a sin, but it is in a way. It is destruction of a part of your body. This one is worse than the overweight one. This one is a habit. And a hard habit to break. But there are other things that I do that are just as bad that I am constantly working on. Anger,pride,envy,etc... These are just as bad as smoking. So this morning I was trying to help my friend and trying to tell her how to do it, and I got frustrated while we were talking. So when I got off the phone I started praying about it and praying hard. Crying out to the Lord. I stopped my day and ask the Lord what I could do to help her quit smoking. We are both tired of this stupid demon messing with her. So I got on my knees and said I wasn't going anywhere until He spoke to me and told what I could do to help her. And this is what He said, " Nothing, you can do nothing. I have this all under control. What I need you to do is to be patient, kind, have a loving attitude towards her. BE like Jesus would have been toward her as if He was here ministering to her in person." As I cried out to Him and said that she wants to quit, she has wanted to quit for a long time. I said her desire are very strong. HE spoke and said, "Yes, she has the want, but she hasn't made the choice." This got me to thinking about that. Have you ever had a desire to do something or quit something and it never happened. Was it your greatest desire to have it and it never came. He says "I will give you the desire of your heart", but have you really gone after it. I have come to realize that in order to get you have to moving in one form or another. The want she has has not been fullfilled by the choice. There is always a choice attached to the desire or want. You have to make the choice to go after it or to change or to stop something. Prayer is one of those choices. If you want to quit something and you want it bad enough, the next step is to make the choice and quit. If you desire something that you need, have you gone and done your part in getting that. I have realized that my business would have never gone anywhere unless I got out there and work and worked hard. We never got anything until we started working, that is why it is called a job. If you desire something put forth the first effort to get it. If you can't put forth the desire to get it, then pray that the Father will change or place it in your heart so that you can put forth that desire to get it. There is a story in the Word that talks about the woman at the well. The story is in John 4. I heard it for the first time at a Howard Browne revival and from that point it has ministered to me in more ways than one. I love this story. When Jesus was standing at the well and the lady came up and Jesus started talking to her, what He said was give me some of your water and I will give you my water. The Living water. What was really said here was, "If you give to the Lord first (habits, spiritual problems,etc...) then He will give back to you. Give Him your problem, lay it at His feet. Quit the smoking, quit not try to quit but quit. And He will give back. I was at a Ruth Heflin's camp in Ashland VA a few years ago. During a men's convention I started to shake and shake uncontrollably. It happened as I let go and let God. I heard the Lord say you want some more and I said yes. It made me look funny, but it was doing something in the spiritual realm. I trusted Him. But what I realized later was that I was starting to shake on my own then He shook me. So what I am saying is, give to Him with a choice of going through with it and He will give back by giving back to you. BE Blessed! Richard