October 6th, 2003 I said a prayer last night and something amazing happened. I was still battling with smoking and feeling guilty. I knew I would not be a good witness or testimony to God if I continued to smoke. I said a prayer and it went something like this.

Father, I don't want to be addicted to smoking, I will not be a good witness. I am very good at many things in this life, but I am not great at anything. I know this may sound puffed up, but I want to be great at something and it needs to be in you. This smoking has to stop, please help me to quit Father. To the devil in me who has me held in bondage by the addiction of smoking, I bind you and cast you into the pit where you will remain until judgment day, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Amen.

Normally when I have said a prayer in the past before this I always said it in the name of Jesus or in Jesus' name, or in the name of Jesus Christ. Never before have I said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" until last night. I was doing some reading and I read about a preacher who cast out some witches at one of his services. His name is Greg J. Austin. I read his book, "The Awakening Anointing" Book 1 http://www.nrn.net/austin/books/1.pdf
He used the above prayer "in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" with great results and I also read how he bound and cast the demon out. I said the prayer last night earnestly and with some force and a sense of urgency, and with humility, and with love for Jesus and a lot of emotions were running through me while I was praying it. I don't think it matters how you say the actual name of Jesus, but that it is how you feel when you say it, how deep in your heart do you mean it. I guess reading that gave me a lot of encouragement and it really showed. Close to midnight, about 30 minutes after saying that prayer, the Holy Spirit came into me.

What I felt was a magnification of about 100 fold of what I felt when I asked God to receive the gift of the holy spirit back in April, 2003.

I slept good last night, and I have been awake since about 9am. It is now 1:30 pm and I am not feeling any urgency to have or want a cigarette. The thought is there when I bring it up, but I can easily dismiss it. I have a slight cold still where mucus comes up from my lungs, but it is clear. Usually in the morning I have some dark brown stuff come up from my lungs and now it is just clear. I have not coughed up any brown mucus. I seem to also be breathing easier. Praise God!

I thought about what day today is and I see that it is the Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement). They say that it is their most important and sacred holiday. I am not Jewish. But what the Jewish people do today is ask God to forgive their sins and broken promises made to God before the book of Life closes. It seems like it is a way for them to make things right with God so that they can have another good year ahead of them. They also pray and fast the whole day and have no marital relations and will not wear leather shoes and will not wear perfumes or lotions or wash. They say they do this to be like the angels in heaven who cannot do these things. In a sense, what I asked God to do was to help me to stop sinning by abusing my body and it happened to be on a very sacred day for the Jewish nation. I prayed it last night before midnight but I am not really that sure of the time. The spirit of God moved over me early this morning just after midnight.

I said that prayer around 11:30 pm on October 5th, 2003. It must have been about a half our later that I felt it. Something came over me and into me and out from me and encompassed me. I felt a lifting inward pressure on my body, but my mind was clear and unaffected. It was like a head rush kind of feeling but the warm heat and pressure were only in my body. This feeling lasted about 2 minutes maybe as long as 4 minutes. And then I felt it go into my jaw and around my teeth, and then back into my body once more but not as strong as the first wave and I began to breathe easier. While this was happening, I just stayed still and accepted what was happening to my body and I repeated over and over in my head, "Thank you Father, Thank you Father, Thank you Father!.."

That morning I did not grab a cigarette nor did I that night. The next day, in the evening on October 7th, the strong urge to smoke was again overpowering me. I am weak in this. I don't want to be weak. Soon, I pray soon will all the urges leave me. I smoked again and felt so ashamed. What have I done? Help me. Forgive me.