Do You Need a Spiritual Detox?

 

Do you need a spiritual detox? The fact that you’re even asking yourself this question is a good sign that you probably do.

Let’s see. When I first realized I could no longer hear God’s voice in my life, I was vacuuming my living room carpet. I know, that’s pretty random, right? It’s amazing where God will decide to talk to you.

I was in a hurry and just wanted to quickly clean the rug so my grandson could play without me having to worry about him putting random debris in his little mouth.
The vacuum was making this shrill whirring sound, kind of like a muffled scream. Ignoring it, I kept going. I just wanted to get done. I didn’t need to play handyman right now.

Off to the side of the couch I noticed this large-ish, tightly compressed lump of —what even was it? I guess it was completely made out of dust and random carpet stuff. Turning the vacuum over I saw more of this compressed substance sticking out of the main “sucker hole” at the bottom of the machine. Sticking my finger into the hole as far as I could, I pulled out a nice pile of this compressed garbage that was obviously blocking the sucker power of my vacuum. There was a lot. It went up five or six inches into the tube.

As I was pulling out more and more of this junk (with a butter knife), God spoke to me:

“You’re like that. 
You’re ears are blocked. Your spirit is blocked. You hear from Me through a dirty filter that makes my voice so small in your life that it all gets muddied up and misinterpreted.”

It was true.
I had felt it for a while. It was as if my inner filter was dirty.
My thinking had been cloudy. I was easily pushed off my vision. I found myself getting entangled in negative emotions and I often woke up racked with anxiety.

I needed a spiritual detox, so God showed up and guided me through the steps to clean my spirit. I used to call it a “life douche” except that doesn’t sound very ladylike, and the truth is, it’s more of a detox. As a recovered addict and a healthy eating advocate, I can relate to the word detox. There were toxic things inside of me that were affecting my spiritual health and I needed to purge them out.

If It’s Good For Your Body It’s Good For Your Spirit

Whenever I have an ache, pain or symptom in my physical body, I religiously break out my juicer and go on a 5 day cleanse. Because of this, I’m rarely sick. It’s been years since I had the flu or any kind of pain in my body. God has taught me how to purge my body from the toxins that linger and wreak havoc on my health. The same formula is true for our spirits.

If you think I might be making this up, just look to the Bible. This guy, David, was feeling the same spiritual fog as me when he wrote:

“Purge me with hyssop and I will be clean. Wash me and I will be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7

There are many types of hyssop plant, but one of them causes vomiting and is used to empty the bowels, increase urination and eliminate intestinal parasites.  It literally purges you. I think this may be the hyssop David was talking about. He was looking for an inner cleansing, but related it to a physical purge.

Are you ready for a spiritual cleanse?

I Needed a Spiritual Detox

Okay, here’s your spiritual detox guide.

First, it’s vital to understand how things get IN to your spirit. If you don’t understand how you’re being polluted, you won’t understand how to keep yourself clean.

How do the toxins get in? 

Your being (or body) has gateways that allow external stuff to get in and pollute us internally. The world refers to us as “consumers” and we actually are. We are “feeding on” or “consuming” things every day, and they affect us.

Here’s how we consume or feed ourselves:

• Eyes – Whatever we choose to look at becomes spiritual food. Pornography is obviously a type of spiritual food that affects us adversely, but there are other things that are more subtle, like acts of violence on TV shows or fear-based movies. We can feed addictions and unhealthy desires just but choosing to put things in front of our eyes that are not spiritually healthy.”So, if I’m at the beach and a hot girl in a tiny bikini walks past me, am I supposed to close my eyes?” Obviously we are in the world and we will always have challenging situations, but we can choose what to do with the images we don’t have control over. If we make additional comments or continue to think about this image until we are dealing with lust…well, then it’s a problem. Bottom line, pay attention to what you’re paying attention to.We make “vision boards” for ourselves when we are trying to reach a certain goal. Why? Because we have learned that if we keep an image in front of it, we will keep thinking about it and moving towards it. The same is true with the unhealthy “vision boards” you might be creating for yourself. Look around your house. Look at your clothing, your reading material, your movie choices. Do you gravitate toward darkness? Then why are you alarmed that you struggle with depression and anxiety? You become what you continue to put in front of you.

• Ears – What are you listening to? What music do you choose? You may want to tell yourself that song lyrics don’t matter, but they do. We learn them. We “meditate” on them. Why would people bother to listen to inspirational podcasts while they are driving or subliminal positive messages while they sleep if none of it affected us? You don’t get to choose what affects you. If you “consume it” you WILL reap a harvest from it. Everything you put in you produces fruit.

• Sex – Sex is a gateway for you to receive every spiritual attack that is plaguing the person you are having sex with. The Bible tells us that when two people have sex “they become one flesh.” Well, every time we have sex with another person, we “become one flesh” with them. If they are struggling with drug addiction, we have just opened ourselves up to that. Anything that is affecting them has now been given a free license in our life. That’s why sex is supposed to only be a part of a committed, covenant relationship, because it’s a very serious thing. There is no such thing as “free sex.” We pay the price by polluting our spirits.

• Relationships – Not every person is good for us. Yes, we are called to love everyone, and I definitely do, but I can’t hang around with just anyone. I can’t allow people who are operating in negativity and unhealthy behaviors into my inner circle. This can be tricky because sometimes a friend who was once a positive influence will suddenly start to spiral into sick thinking and behaviors. Don’t judge them and run for the door. Instead, talk to them honestly about what you see occurring in their life. Offer to help. But if nothing changes you might have to remove yourself from their sphere of influence for a little while. Be kind and gracious, but set healthy boundaries for yourself that you stick to. And don’t talk about it with other people. “Oh, I just can’t hang out with so-and-so anymore because they were not healthy for me.” That is definitely not okay.
  Also, be aware of romantic traps. Every time I start operating on a higher level with God, old boyfriends seem to come out of the woodwork. It’s just like clockwork. Suddenly, the same girl who had no dates two weeks ago has five men falling at her feet. I’ve learned to just keep moving forward, knowing that I must be on a good path if so many distractions are being thrown at me!

• Thoughts and Words – What we think about and what comes out of our mouths can definitely affect our ability to hear God. If we are busy gossiping, thinking negative thoughts or complaining about others, we are not walking in love. In Corinthians it says that love is patient, love is kind, and love doesn’t even notice when we are wronged. Our conversations about others can muddy up our mind and spirit to such a degree that we are miles away from the voice of our Father. It’s not that He stops talking to us. We just walked so far away that we can’t hear Him.

Okay, so all of this is very insightful, but what should you do with this information?  

If you saw yourself in a lot in the explanations above and are in agreement that you could use a spiritual detox, perfect! I’ve got good news for you.

It’s a two step process and it’s not that difficult:

1. Ruthlessly remove everything that takes you away from the presence of God 

What do those things look like?
Only you know.
As believers, we are called to work out our own journey. We do this in partnership with God. So, if you want to know what things remove you from the presence of God, ask Him.
Sit with Him.
Listen to the inner voice within you. You already have the answers.

For me, most recently, it was television. I started binge watching this Netflix show called Shameless. Fifteen episodes later my brain was mush and my spirit was polluted. I decided I wanted the presence of God in my life more than I wanted to sit mindlessly in front of a television for two or three hours at a time. Since then I have cut out television almost 100%.

2. Put the good in you

It’s not enough to remove the things that are muddying the waters of your life. You need to drink from living wells of water on a daily basis.
Put the good in you.

How do you put the good in you?

For me, there are two things. One is worship. I just sit down on the floor, quiet my mind, and sing to God.
Below is one of my current favorites.

Another vital part of filling yourself up with the good is putting the Word in you.
“But the Bible is so hard to read. I don’t understand it.” I have heard so many people say they don’t read it because it doesn’t make sense.

I’m about to drop some freedom on you: Read it even if it doesn’t make sense to your natural mind. The Bible says, “The entrance of Your Word brings light.” —Psalm 119:130.

That means it’s food to your spirit whether you understand what you’re reading or not. Put enough of the Word in you and I guarantee you’ll start to understand it. Why? Because…the Bible says “the entrance of Your Word brings light.” Get enough light and everything that was in the dark to you will start to be revealed!
Woah….That sounds pretty good, right?
I thought so.

I really hope this article on spiritual detox has been helpful to you. Please share it and leave a comment, especially if you have any questions! I get comment notifications sent right to my email, so I will get back with you pronto.

Also, keep an eye out for my upcoming book, #Purge. It’s from the hashtag book series I’ve been working on. Each book is 10 pages or less and packed with life changing information on one subject!

Much love,

Robin xo