Troublesome Topic: HOW TO DETOXIFY YOUR INNER BEING

Detoxify from What?

1.   Detoxify from Destructive Influences

One powerful source of destructive influences is entertainment. We should be very, very careful about the movies we watch, the music we listen to, the video games we allow into our homes, and the magazines we open.

Relationships can be another source of negative influences. Many followers of Jesus say things like, “I can handle it” or, “they don’t affect me.” But over time the influences prove to be more powerful than they imagined.

I have not found any place in Scripture that tells us to get close to the world in order to better fight off its influence. The Bible always says the opposite—to get as far from the world’s influence as possible. Absorbing the world’s message will never inoculate us against it, rather we will begin to reflect it. The way to be a good witness in this world is to look different than the world, not be just like the world. The primary influences in our lives should be very different from the primary influences of those living for themselves. Look what I Jn. 2:15-16 has to say about this:

2.   Detoxify from Past Hurts We hold on to our pain, it creates fear, anger and resentment in us. So we need to be detoxified of those hurts that cause fears and hinder our faith. Having wounds is not a sin. All of us have them, and God accepts us just the way we are, including our wounded emotions. In fact, God uses the painful experiences of life to teach us many important lessons. The problem is not having pain, but holding on to the pain. If we wish to experience dramatic spiritual growth, we need to release those hurts to God. He wants to free us from fear, anger and bitterness; He wants to release us from those anchors that restrain us, preventing our ship from leaving the harbor. Hebrews 12:15 says “Watch! lest a root of bitterness spring up and trouble you.“

3.  Detoxify from Stress in Relationships 

Stress in relationships causes us to respond out of fear of being hurt, to shrink back from those who bother us, to see others as a problem rather than seeing their potential. All these, and more, must be dealt with in long and solitary times of prayer and Bible reading (and journaling). That is the place where God does His best work deep within us.

Prepare an Inner Sanctuary

The “inactive” times make the “active” times possible if those inactive times are used wisely. I am not advocating yoga. What I am saying is to properly connect with God we need to stop, cease, pause, and rest. Our intimate, personal, quiet times with God shape us, making active obedience possible.

Remove the Trash by Dedicating Blocks of Uninterrupted Time for God’s Spotlight

The first step in building this sanctuary in time is to remove the trash from our lives (see Ps 139:23-24).

Pray Through

Don’t stop too soon. One of Satan’s favorite tricks involves us waiting till later to finish what we should finish at that moment. If he can get you to walk away from finishing your business with God before you have arrived at peace and assurance, he will be happy, for he knows that the likelihood of you finishing that business with God is much reduced.

Act

Eliminate All Competition

Anything to which we devote a huge part of our time, emotions, energy and affection is a competitor against God. The Bible calls them “idols.” The presence of such competitors is revealed by:

~ how we decorate our walls, cars, or desktops

~ how we use our free time

~ how we respond to our cravings

~ how we utilize our energies

~ how we use our money

Jesus gave His all; He expects us to give our all. Jesus asks, “AM I ENOUGH?”

Rest means to practice selflessness. As Isaiah 58:13 says, rest does not mean you can do as you please.

Don’t Turn the Ten Commandments into The Seven Suggestions

By making the Sabbath about one day with certain rules, rather than about connecting with God and family, we have conveniently freed ourselves from the time and effort required to build these key relationships. As long as we follow certain rules about that day then we must be okay. But wait. Do people even try to follow any rules about the day of rest anymore? No, not very many do. That is because those rules seem so out of touch with reality. We know that God is not about rules; we know that following a few rules is not what spirituality is all about. So what have modern American Christians done? We have abandoned both the rules and the principles behind the rules. We have totally ignored both the internal and the external aspects of one of God’s commands. We should no longer call them the “Ten Commandments,” but rather the “Nine Suggestions.”

But wait. Do we follow even nine of those “suggestions?” I fear that if we are honest with ourselves, we should call them the “seven suggestions.” But I won’t go further into that because it is outside the scope of this study.

Let’s get back to rest. For too many people who call themselves believers, after rushing around to get to a worship service just in time for the “main event” to start, the rest of the day is seen as theirs, so they think they can do whatever they wish on that day. This is the polar opposite of what the passage in Isaiah tells us. We think we can pacify God by giving Him a few minutes each day and one or two hours on Sunday. After our obligatory one or two hours on Sunday we rush around the rest of the day, squeezing in as much as we can, then we fall into bed at the end of the day and wonder why we dread Monday mornings. In this regard we are as bad as the world. As a culture we play harder than we work, so by Sunday night we have worn ourselves out. Of course we don’t feel ready to face another week. I understand that many people do not enjoy their jobs and so they don’t look forward to starting up again on Monday. But besides that, there is a general disdain for Mondays which would not be there if Christians were using their time off from work to truly connect with God and family. Work may never be a joy for some people, but they don’t need to start the week completely worn out. Our culture says, “I deserve to have fun, I deserve to be able to do whatever I want to do on my own time.” The church has absorbed that attitude and so we treat the weekends much the same as the world does.

Give God Permission to Do Anything

Do we really trust God enough to tell Him He can do anything with us, or require anything from us?  What do you most fear that God would ask of you?  Whatever it is, don’t keep that from Him.

Mold Your Outer Life around Your Inner Sanctuary

We often try to reshape our outer life (the things people see such as our actions) but there is nothing to mold the outer life around. Our outer life needs a mold in order to be properly formed; our inner sanctuary (which no one else sees) is that mold. Our focus should be to shape and strengthen what Paul calls the “inner man.” That inner character, that inner godliness, is formed by enjoying time with God. The inner sanctuary must come first before the outer life can be changed. So Rest Already! Stop trying to fit God into your life; instead learn to build your life around Him!

Closeness is the goal,

Rest is the setting,

Prayer, Bible reading, and personal worship are the vehicles.

The next lesson is Rest Brings Healing and Wholeness