Revealing truth & fun puns; Michael’s highlights

The majority of viral videos are cute animals, kids or stupid (yes I said it) kicks that make us laugh. Although Michael teaches that laughing is God’s medicine; he swings ‘out of the park’ revelations at us all on social media in the midst of everyday humor.

Those who follow Michael S. Tyrrell on social media forms often find the silly humor mixed in with deep thoughts refreshing and realistic. I think maybe some of his favorite puns got more attention than did his one sentence revelations. So, below is a combination of the best “overlooked” puns as well as the heart-felt, often inspiring open-hearted confessions. In no order, enjoy and follow Michael for realistic revelations & humor.

Fear God and live…fear man and die-M

I laugh when ever someone tells me they are a “control freak.” I tell them lovingly… “you are not even in control of your next heartbeat, so technically… your just a “freak.”-M

The wine of pride produces one deadly hangover-M

Everything I have posted here is way over your head….that’s because I am flying at 35,000 ft right now!-M

I am in lion for a promotion! – M

[When responding to his lion photo being “corny”] Awe shucks! Any one that really knows me will get an earful of corn and pun-ish-ment! Deal with it! And I ain’t lion. – M

Why would you want to be anyone else when you can be you? You were custom-made by God!-M

Glad to be a friend of God…. glad it’s a real relationship and not dependent on Facebook. -M

When God speaks, it’s like oxygen… when man speaks, just gas-M

Love the hell out of someone today, if you really love them, it will go. “Perfect love (Agape), casts out fear”… now that’s deliverance!!-M

He’s Got Your Back; The Great Chiropractor

It is with a heavy heart that I begin writing this month’s topic, “Back Posture And Spine Health.” I chose the title, “He’s Got Your Back,” just days before our beloved dog, “Selah”, took her last breath. If there was ever a time Lillian and I needed to know God had our back it is now (prayers graciously accepted!).

If you had the good fortune of reading April’s edition of HCTW in my article I mentioned a car accident where I went through the windshield of a car, breaking my neck as a result. Even though I was told I would never walk again God miraculously healed me completely and I walked out of the hospital three days later! Years later I took a fall down a flight of ice-covered stairs in Gatlinburg and I was rear ended by another car a few years later. Because of these injuries I visited a chiropractor once a week for a spinal adjustment.

In 1996 Lillian and I moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to Florida so I could take a position as an associate pastor and youth pastor in Coral Springs. Our church office was in a shopping center next door to a chiropractor so one day I walked into his office to meet him. The chiropractor was Howard Newman  I shook his hand and said, “How are you?” his response, “Simply spine how are you!” I totally cracked up (no pun intended) little did I know that my former chiropractor in Nashville, graduated from Life Chiropractic with Howard and they were close friends!

Today, 17 years later, I am not only Howard’s patient I am Howard Newman’s friend and he has taught me so much about the spine, its function and the body’s need for alignment. Howard Newman is a wealth of information and his state of the art clinic in Coconut Creek Florida East West Physicians offers the best of western and eastern healing modalities.

One term I picked up from Howard was subluxation, which occurs when one or more of the bones of your spine (vertebrae) move out of alignment and create pressure on, or irritate spinal nerves. This can cause a myriad of issues as these nerves run through the bones of you spine thus subluxation causes those nerves to malfunction and interfere with the signals traveling over those nerves. This interference of signals to other parts of the body inhibits the body from operating at 100%.

It does not take much to subluxate your spine believe it or not it is often a little impact like missing a curb, bending over the sink while brushing your teeth, starting an old school lawnmower, bowling or even sneezing! The culprit or pre-condition should be no surprise to anyone…STRESS causes your muscles to tense and tense muscles make it easy for bones to become misaligned or subluxated.

One day while reading the bible I came across a verse I have read countless times Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God” and it hit me…there is a big difference between peacemaking and peacekeeping just as there is a big difference between a chiropractor and a masseuse. On a recent trip to Minnesota a dear friend booked a massage for my wife and I and the masseuse would say, “how is that too much pressure not enough?” Although the massage made my muscles a little less sore it certainly didn’t help with my alignment. Yet one visit to the chiropractor and BANG alignment… no questions asked.

In the last 29 years of ministry God seems much more like a chiropractor than He does a masseuse He knows exactly what it takes to move me and bring me back into alignment.

Here is a working definition for alignment:

“The process of adjusting parts so that they are in proper relative positions or order.”

Have you ever driven your car when it is out of alignment? It makes a bumpy road bumpier, a crooked road more crooked and it takes a lot of extra effort and concentration just to keep the car straight because even on a smooth surface there is a constant pull to one side or the other. The problem is compounded when other people choose to ride with you in your misaligned car. And so it is on this journey called life. When your life becomes misaligned with God your journey becomes a perilous one at best things begin to wobble and shake, you are pulled in many directions and eventually you can completely lose control. When you are a leader (leaders are leaders because people are following them!) and your life is misaligned sadly the people who are following you are equally misaligned thus creating a fool’s parade that’s heading nowhere fast.

Sometimes the reason we continue traveling in the wrong direction is pride. I remember a friend telling me that her husband refused to stop and ask directions if they were lost he would say, “I’m not lost you’re lost I know exactly where I am going,” she said once he drove four hours out of their way because he had too much pride to admit he was going the wrong way until finally they ran out of gas!

When you look at the horizon it appears to be the line where Earth meets sky but as you move, the horizon moves with you it’s just an optical illusion. A man can miss his objective by hundreds of miles if he is navigating by magnetic north all the while believing he was following true north. In the bible and throughout history there are accepted terms for men and women who are aligned with God. In the Old Testament God’s criteria for kings was simple, he did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord or he did what was evil and wrong in the sight of the Lord. Words like upright, upstanding, stand up guy and righteous are just a few that are used to denote a person who is aligned with God.

Obviously people who don’t know God are misaligned but even the righteous have their seasons of misalignment I call this, “The horizontal conundrum of the upright man.” Proverbs 24:16, “Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.”

You can’t keep a good man down when a righteous man falls he is redeemed when a wicked man falls there is no redemption available for him. Look at the story of King David in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters He restores my soul. He guides (aligns) me in path of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, (not death just the shadow!) I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod (correction) and your staff (guidance) they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Sometimes God makes us lie down in the midst of our busy lives to align our souls (thought, will and emotions). Psalm 23 was written on a battlefield. God made David drop his sword and lay down on the battlefield in the midst of a bloody battle; to show David who was really in charge and to bring him to a place of trust and peace in the knowledge that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob HAD HIS BACK!

Remember dear reader it is usually the little things that remain secret that eventually lead to an obvious misalignment with God. Song of Songs 2:15, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards our vineyards that are in bloom” it doesn’t take much to get your life out of alignment and begin careening down the road to ruin. Friend, take a minute and get to a quiet place and do what King David did…ask God for a personal diagnostic test! Psalm 139: 23,24 (A psalm of David) “Search me O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wickedness in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”

God knows you inside and out He wants you to know yourself so you can make the proper adjustments to be aligned with Him. When your car is in alignment you experience a smooth ride because the car is already headed straight and the shock absorbers can more readily do their job. When your life is in alignment your course is set to the straightest road available, the King’s Way! Be advised being in alignment doesn’t patch the potholes or remove the bumps it simply allows the greatest shock absorber in the world, Jesus Christ to do His job, to carry you! No matter what life throws at you always remember, HE HAS YOUR BACK…

-Michael

PERSONAL ALIGNMENT CHECK LIST:

1. If you were lost on the road would you have too much pride to ask for directions?
2. Who are you following?
3. When was the last time you took a self-diagnostic test with The Almighty? What did He show you about you?

Die to live…Live to die

I am constantly amazed that so many find life through my death…dying to self releases the fragrance of Christ not the stench of death but life incarnate because as you decrease Christ IN you increases… Galatians 2:20 perfectly articulates this downside up paradigm. The Kingdom of God is an “upside down” Kingdom where the servant is the master of all. The Kingdom is a world outside of this world, a sky beyond the sky and a government that exists independently from man’s government and it operates with it’s own set of laws and principles and non linear physics. Gods Kingdom frustrates carnal man because mans thinking is diametrically apposed to it because it exists outside of his intellect in a realm that is organically Spiritual. Do you want the seeker to find Christ in you? Then, die to yourself as a caterpillar must die to reveal his true self to the world…a butterfly…if you are a believer your “true self” is Christ! Either we are “hidden” in Christ or if we refuse to die, He remains hidden in us and the seeker continues his sojourn for truth. If you are no longer your own and purchased with a price (blood of Jesus) how then can we remain selfish? Maybe a better term for being “saved” could be…conversion, transformation or metamorphosis…

Die to live, Live to die

-Michael

Proximity vs. Perspective

Next time you get in your car look at the cryptic message in your side view mirror, “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” The reason that message is there is to gently remind you that perspective is skewed and proximity is absolute! Accidents occur because of faulty perspective. In a large shopping mall there is usually a large info board with a map of the entire mall and a big black X which reads, “you are here.” In a world in flux it is imperative to know where you are and WHO you are! Emmanuel means, “God with us” pause and think about that statement…the God of ALL creation the maker of Heaven and Earth is with US…right here right now! The reason you may not have realized it is that He is soooo BIG and soooo Close that you couldn’t see Him! Like a fractal image that is too large to see in its entirety you may only see the edge or a fragment of the whole picture. I have felt a need to film “street video’s” for people who may never darken the door of a church…I could use some help. You see I am making these videos with my own resources…after you watch this video…if it moves you, help me move it! You can help me help others by making a donation, sharing the video and praying for the “Street videos” project. Watch it today…I pray the presence of God will inhabit your proximity today!

Love,
Michael S. Tyrrell

God’s Blueprint For The Human Body

For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place- Psalm 139: 13-15.

You are a wonder, a miracle, a divine orchestration, God’s Magnum Opus, His masterpiece! In all of creation, Man is God’s crowning achievement. As we study Genesis 1:26, 27 we find an astounding truth; Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. The ONLY time you see the “Godhead” or “Trinity” (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) uniquely involved in the 6 day’s of creation (the seventh day was designated as a Sabbath, or day of rest) was in the creation of man!!! Look again, “Let US make man in OUR image… wow. Why is this significant? Actually it can’t possibly be overstated we are the only creation beside God himself that has a “triune” nature or, three-in-one in our case, body, soul and spirit! And here is the kicker that is all inclusive, meaning we were created with moral free agency or free will. Angels are created beings that do God’s bidding while man is God’s creation with the power to make their own decisions. It sounds like a gamble doesn’t it? Creating man with the power to choose, what if man chose to reject Him? God is secure in His love (Agape, or selfless love) and what could be more selfless than to sacrifice His only son as a ransom for His favored creation, you and I? With this introductory foundation in place, let’s examine God’s uber creation the human body.

For years, scientists have reiterated an amazing statistic human beings only utilize 10% of their brains potential! Think about that all of the inventions, accomplishments and genius of man came from 10% of our total ability. My inquiring mind immediately asks the question, “What abilities reside in that unused 90%?” Dear friends, my purpose for writing this article is to get you to realize the potential of this extraordinary “Earth suit” that was custom made for you, by God, to maintain gravity while you are here and house two greater occupants, your soul and your spirit. Speaking of gravity I am amused that scientists often speak of the earth’s “gravitational” pull yet fail to mention the fact that without the body’s electrical charge we would not be properly grounded ourselves! Yes dear reader if you were not “electric” you would not be reading this article or doing anything else for that matter for your amazing brain operates on electricity… is that so hard to believe? Imagine your computer, television or hair dryer operating without power yet they are inanimate objects at best! Everything we do is controlled and enabled by electrical signals running through this conduit known as the human body. We are made up of atoms, atoms in turn are made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons produce a positive charge, neutrons produce a neutral charge and electrons produce a negative charge. When these charges are out of balance, an atom becomes either positively or negatively charged. This variance between the types of charges allows electrons to flow from one atom to another. This flow of electrons, or a negative charge, is called electricity. Since we are comprised of masses of atoms, our bodies generate electricity. In the movie, “The Matrix” the hero, Neo is referred to as “copper top” not because he has red hair, but because like a Duracell battery, Neo (like all of us) produce electricity! Now that we know how we are powered lets examine some of the other amazing attributes of the human body. I previously mentioned that most scientists agree that we only utilize 10% of our brains total capacity with that being said I find it humorous that they can’t agree on the amount of memory the brain can store! Obviously it is absolutely impossible to ascertain that information with only a 10% working knowledge of the brain. Here is something to consider, since each of us are completely unique as original as a snowflake with no two alike doesn’t it stand to reason that our ability to utilize memory may invade the other 90%? And if I may add insult to injury, perhaps our lifestyles, environment, selective memory ie, our free choice design could also be another determining factor in what we remember yet exclusive of our actual memory capacity? The educated honest assessment can be derived from the obvious… no one could possibly calculate the extraordinary capabilities of our marvelous minds with the exception of it’s architect, God almighty! Maybe your brain is reeling already from what you have just read lets move to another wonder, the human heart.

In the heart of a man he devises many plans, but in the end his steps are ordered of the Lord – Proverbs 16:9.

Who among us could possibly discern the power of the human heart? We all know the hearts elemental functionality it is the epicenter of life, belonging to the circulatory system it pumps blood to the entire body. The heart also fills the blood with vital nutrients from the digestive system and oxygen from the respiratory system. As you can imagine if I were to attempt to go into detail concerning any part of our amazing body I would be writing till Jesus returned and would have only scratched the surface! So let me quickly develop some food for thought concerning the heart. If the heart was merely a pump why does the Bible contain so many scriptures alluding to a far greater function? Here are just a few, Psalms 14:1, The fool says in his heart, “there is no God.” Psalms 19:14, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick. Proverbs 27:19, As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man. Matthew 12:34, Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Romans 10:10, For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. There are a multitude of scriptures concerning the heart and all of them allude to far greater function than that of an inanimate blood pump. Could the heart also be a moral compass the place where discernment originates a veritable storehouse of feelings and emotions, passion and purity? Is it possible that there is a true difference between mental assent (thought) and heartfelt knowing (belief)? Consider this, every single patient that undergoes open-heart surgery reports an unexplained, often debilitating depression afterwards? Could that depression have anything to do with the fact that a human (surgeon) actually held their heart in his hand? Remember before modern medicine or technology the only being that had access to the human heart was God Himself. You can also read myriads of medical reports of heart transplant patients that testify that they have different feelings, emotions, thoughts and even beliefs after receiving a donor’s heart. As much as we know about the brain (10%) we know even less about the power of the heart. We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made!

As a man thinketh, so he is. -Proverbs 23:7

Although the mind/body connection is relatively a newly accepted idea, its truth is ancient knowledge and the Bible is rife with understanding on the subject. You can think yourself sick or healthy, poor or wealthy you can think yourself defeated or victorious, pitiful or glorious it is up to you! “Nothing shall be impossible for those who believe.” Matthew17:19, 20. Can you recall a time in your life when everyone told you couldn’t do something yet you had already seen it happen in your minds eye and nothing could discourage you? What happened? Of coarse you did it, why?

As a man thinketh, so he is. -Proverbs 23:7

Your body will respond to what you believe. You don’t believe you don’t conceive. Consider this you are depressed and despondent because you cannot pay your mortgage yet the same day, a stranger hands you a check for the exact amount of your need and instantly you are happy again! Here is a secret there is a huge difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is dependant upon circumstances joy is the bedrock of your salvation (belonging to God) happiness vacillates but joy is unshakable. At the beginning of this article I mentioned that God created man in His own image. You are divinely capable of the impossible because you are created in Gods image and you can’t set the bar any higher than that! We live the life fantastic before us lies a myriad of possibilities. Believe it or not what you believe you receive God has given us carte blanche! Mark 11:23, “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” As you can see this only applies to God’s favored creation…man, with one proviso; the man belongs to God! You see, if a stranger demanded the same rights as a member of your family you would not be obligated to them but if it was your own son you would give him all you have, and so it is with God. That is why so many exist without ever experiencing the fullness of their potential. Luke 18:27, Jesus said, “Whatever is impossible with man is possible with God.” Faith in yourself will take you the extra mile but faith in God will take you to eternity. Love is a risk God created you with the freedom to choose for yourself.

Epilogue

While you were reading this article, thousands of amazing functions where taking place that you where not even aware of, cellular communication, respiration, cellular turnover (you lose 30 to 40,000 dead skin cells per minute!) perspiration, replication, imagination, digestion, contemplation, assimilation, ionization, circulation, restoration, carbonation and prayerfully salvation producing transformation creating elation which guarantees eternal elevation! You are God’s favorite, equipped with an extraordinary body and a soul that is capable of infinite thought, will and emotions but in the end your spirit will be your true identity so dear reader to fully function to the letter of God’s blueprint for the human body you must be fully His. How can we escape if we ignore so great a salvation?

May you live your life to the fullest

-Michael S. Tyrrell

Divine Inconvenience

When David went to the cave(s) of Adullam he thought he would be hiding primarily from King Saul who was pursuing him to take his life…instead he was joined by 400 people who were in distress or in debt or discontented! Jesus once withdrew to Bethsaida to rest and teach His disciples privately but the crowd (masses) found out and followed Him there. JESUS WELCOMED THEM AND SPOKE TO THEM ABOUT TH…E KINGDOM! What happened next? 5000 fed with 5 loaves of bread and two fish…what happened to David? He led (pastured) those 400 hurting people and they become known as David’s mighty men of valor! Moral of the story: Divine interruptions lead to Divine interactions producing unspeakable miracles, it is more blessed to give than it is to receive! Remember you were bought (purchased) for a price (blood) and YOU are NO LONGER your own… You belong to Him-

Finding God’s Horizon

2013 The Unknown and Unpredictable, true “prophetic” words will be rare. Things will not go according to YOUR plans! Even though this will cause frustration it will prove unwarranted as you will find God was sovereign, lovingly leading you in a direction that was “outside” of your horizon yet well within His. He is making a spectacle out of you! Seriously he giving you spectacular vision from Hi…s Kingdom perspective instead of your natural vision beneath the drop-ceiling of your human interpretation of the Divine. Although the word “best” is relative, this could be the ‘best” year of your life if you are willing to FULLY surrender your self to His direction like Huckleberry Finn on a raft trusting the Mississippi to take him where it flows you will sail past the good, the acceptable and moor soundly in the harbor of God’s perfect will for your life…let Him be your tillerman HE KNOWS THE WAY…He IS THE WAY… Follow…Lean NOT on YOUR own understanding for that could prove disastrous…Trust, Obey, THRIVE

-Michael

Smoke and Mirrors: Resolve to Quit 2/2

Part 2 – Mirrors Revealed

Here’s the truth, what you believe about your smoking addiction, is an illusion! Addictions are predominantly divided into two categories mental (emotional) or chemical (physiological). The truth is, all addictions are a bit of both, because you cannot affect the mind without the body being affected and visa versa. Lets dispel some classic misconceptions and shatter the illusions that have kept you from quitting.

1) After quitting, you are always one puff away from being addicted again.

Really? A close family member smoked for years, she said she started to look cool. One day she read a report from the American cancer society and never smoked again.

2) Nicotine is a powerful highly addictive drug.

Really? No, cocaine, heroine and opiates like oxycontin are powerful highly addictive drugs. People have quit cigarette smoking with hypnotism, however you will NEVER find it effective with cocaine, heroine or oxycontin. Smoking is predominantly a mental addiction with a slight chemical interaction. I have never met anyone with a nicotine deficiency, likewise, I have never seen junkies snorting, shooting or dropping nicotine.

Here is a list of myths former smokers have shared with me to help you identify your own.

“Smoking makes me look more attractive, calms my nerves, keeps me thin, helps me cope, gives me confidence, helps me focus, makes me look “cool.” ‘

What do YOU believe? Do you believe a wooden stick can cure warts? Do you believe sugar pills can cure cancer? Do you believe a cigarette has power?

The truth is, your addiction is attached to a personal belief system or imagined reality that you have created, all based upon an elaborate…illusion!

Every smoker I have encountered that has been unsuccessful quitting, says the same thing; “I can’t quit, I’ve tried everything!” Look at your words, can’t never could!

The truth is, you have tried everything that doesn’t work. Trying hard has made you skeptical, frustrated, tired and numb.

Lets change that now, first realize that your healing began the moment you started reading this article and truth is gradually replacing the lies that you have been telling yourself for years. Next, begin to laugh at yourself, seriously, see the humor in you, Gods greatest creation being afraid of a piece of paper with tobacco stuffed in it! (If your still not laughing) remember the scene from the “Wizard Of Oz” when Dorothy and her friends were shaking like leaves in the presence of Oz, the great and terrible, when all of a sudden, Dorothy’s dog, Toto pulls back the curtain revealing the real Oz, a short old man with a loudspeaker, smoke and mirrors! Now realize, you don’t have to work or try harder, just change what you believe, change your mind and you will change your LIFE!

Let me leave you with one last story: Years ago, a dear friend of mine (lets call him, David) was beside himself because after trying everything, he could not stop smoking. David’s wife was pregnant with their first child and he wanted to quit before the baby was born. Many of David’s well meaning Christian friends offered suggestions, but it was the advice of a new convert that changed David’s life, he said; forget the patch, forget will power, this is what you do. Every time you walk out to the dock to smoke, hold that joker in the air and say, “God, You know I hate this, but I have been powerless to stop, what can you do for me?” On David’s seventh trip down the dock, he threw his cigarettes into the lake, that was over seven years ago and he has never smoked again.

 I love the word, Emmanuel, it means: God with us! Friend, you are not alone in your struggle.

He is always there, and created you with the ability to overcome any obstacle in your way. I am looking forward to hearing your stories, please write and let us know if this article was helpful.

It is my prayer that you will be ringing in the New Year with a prayer of gratitude on your lips, instead of a cigarette. LOL, which is short for:

Lots Of Love,
Michael

Smoke and Mirrors: Resolve to Quit 1/2

Part 1 – Removing the Smoke

Greetings from sunny Florida, where it is currently a lovely 72 degrees, Fahrenheit! Well there is something to be said about living in a state where instead of wearing sweaters and coats at Christmas, you are sweating and coating yourself with sunscreen. Oh, and before I forget, Happy New Year! January 1st is traditionally a time to make (and often break!) a “new year” resolution. The word resolution defined simply means; “A firm, unwavering decision.”

Health clubs and personal trainers know that they will have a bevy of ninety day disciples come January, complete with good intentions and bulging holiday bellies. Unfortunately, like clockwork, dreams of  “6 pack” abs and “buns of steel” soon become “6 packs” of beer and “buns of oatmeal.” Human beings are notoriously creatures of habit, which leads me to; “How To Quit Smoking.”

Before I proceed, let me share this disclaimer: I am a minister, not a doctor, or a licensed nutritionist. I write for, Home Cures That Work, which offers its readers a variety of articles written by authors who focus on their area of expertise. My modality of healing is predominantly spiritual, however, in no way am I undermining the importance of doctors, psychologists or nutritionists. Though we may see through different lenses, we are all looking for the same result, a healthier more vibrant… you!

 It is estimated that 26 million men (25%) and 23 million women (21%) in America smoke.

Considering those numbers, few would argue that cigarette smoking is a powerful addiction. If you google “stop smoking” a multitude of sites pop up, each with a bold promise of instant freedom from your smoking addiction. What they don’t tell you is, their success rate! Why? because a smoker can “quit” the habit on Monday and be chain smoking again by Friday! It is my prayer that this article will help you leave your addiction in the rearview mirror, for good. In order to get free from this addiction, you must have an open mind, so open in fact, that truth can walk in right now and delete all of the misconceptions you have filed away in your mind concerning your smoking addiction. And by the way, I know a little bit about addiction, I will be sharing how this former crack addict was set free, literally over night!

Before you can understand your smoking addiction, you must first understand how you are designed. We are triune beings, or three expressions in one. Let me explain. A laser-beam is actually three lights focused into one! That’s how we are designed; we are body, soul and spirit, divinely packaged into one being.

Our body or “Earth suit” is a wonderful, yet extremely vulnerable container. Our soul is the “epicenter” of our thought, will and emotions. Another interesting feature of the soul is its ability to enable either physical consciousness or spiritual consciousness. In other words, it acts like a selector switch that determines if your thought, will and emotions are based on the spirit or the body (flesh). Learning to “flip that switch,” will change your life, and as you read this article you will begin to see how simple this is, and suddenly you will realize that the key to your freedom has been with you all along.

Romans 8:5, “Those who live according to the flesh, (body) have their minds set on what the flesh (body) desires, But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”      

Your spirit wants you to be free, but your flesh (body) desires momentary gratification at any cost, and your mind is the key! Lets get one thing straight, as a man believes, so he is, whatever you believe, you conceive. Notice, I did not say, whatever you think you conceive. This is where most people miss it, thinking something and believing something are two different things! A thought is subjective or suppositional; a belief is something the mind accepts as truth. The difference between thinking and believing… is knowing, and this is where faith comes from.

Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is being sure of what we hoped for. It is being certain of what we do not see.”

Faith moves mountains, faith is resolute, and faith changes things. Years ago, there was a clinical study performed by a group of oncologists. They told five cancer patients with malignant tumors, that they would be receiving “cutting edge” cancer fighting medicine that would shrink the tumors and completely cure them of cancer within a few months. The “medicine” the doctors gave them was a placebo, pills made of sugar. In a few weeks, the doctors noticed that the tumors of all five patients had begun to shrink! After four months, all five patients were discharged, cancer free. What caused their healing, sugar pills? No dear reader, their faith made them whole.

As a child, I recall one of my neighbors taking his son to the doctor to get a wart treated. When the little boy came home, I noticed he was pressing a wooden tongue depressor on his wart. When I asked him what he was doing he replied; “The doctor gave me this special wart stick and told me keep it on the wart and it would go away.” A few days later, when I saw that little boy again, his wart stick was gone and so was the wart.

Faith has a nemesis, fear, they are diametrically opposed, and therefore, you can only experience one at a time. Fear cancels faith and faith cancels fear… period. Remember, a double-minded man is unstable in ALL of his ways! Vacillation and resolution are also juxtaposed, hence, people that make New Year resolutions they believe in, succeed, and those who merely think it might work, do not.

How powerful is fear? It can kill you.

Years ago in Atlanta, Georgia, I met a minister who shared a tragic childhood story with me. The minister said that his mother was so affected by her mothers passing that after the funeral, she began to say; “I will never live a day longer than my mother and I will die the same way she did.” With tears in his eyes, the minister said; “ and you know Michael, my mother died the same age as her mother, with the same disease, on her mothers birthday.”

The bible tells the story of a man named Job, who makes this powerful statement after seemingly insurmountable loss; “the thing I feared the most has come upon me.” Before you can find faith, you must lose fear. I will show you how in these 2 segments of this article.

The title of this article, “Smoke And Mirrors” is a metaphor for a deceptive, fraudulent or insubstantial belief or description. The source of the name is based upon a magicians’ ability to manipulate the natural (often using mirrors or a puff of smoke) to make it appear supernatural. This is called, an illusion. Top illusionists like Chris Angel or David Copperfield make their money by getting people to think (some actually believe!) that something happened that never actually happened. David Copperfield made the Statue Of Liberty disappear right? No, its still there. Chris Angel walked on water in Vegas right? No, there was a plexiglass platform in the pool and strategically placed mirrors (note, one of the pool chairs has 6 legs!) creating the illusion that Chris Angel walked on water.

Here’s the truth, what you believe about your smoking addiction, is an illusion! Read part 2 to find out how to remove the illusion.