Toxic?
The truth of the matter is we are bombarded every day with so many things that are toxic to our spiritual lives. Even if we are striving to live a clean non-toxic life we are bombarded with ungodly music, advertising, food, people, emotional stress, etc. You might be saying, “Food, what do you mean. How can food be toxic to my spiritual life?” I will get to that question in a few minutes.
There are so many spiritual toxins that we may not be able to control. Every time we go shopping we cannot control what we hear, music is everywhere. We may even have music to contend with at work and it may not be the kind of music that brings health to our spiritual lives. And then there are people. Can people be toxic? Yes, they can!! But we can’t always control what people we are around. It could be someone at work or it may be someone right in your own home.
What can we do?
“Breathing” (prayer) is a key component. For more details on this component read part 6. Just like we need to have fresh air breathed into our lungs to deal with toxins in the body we need “fresh” prayer to deal with our spiritual toxins. We can’t expect to do a quick prayer in the morning and maybe a short prayer at night and expect that to deal with the problem. We should naturally be “breathing” (prayer) throughout the day. What would happen physically if you stopped breathing? I will take a big breath in the morning and I will be fine throughout the day. Breathing once a day doesn’t work and neither does praying once a day. Prayer is just as important as breathing.
What we “eat” spiritually can also affect the toxicity within our spiritual lives. Read part 2 for more details on this subject. We need to be careful about what we take in. We know that we can be safe with God’s Word. But even then we need to be sure that we are being “washed” with “soap” (Holy Spirit). Just like we need to wash the wonderful foods that God has given us to get rid of any toxins that may be present, we need to be “washed” by the Holy Spirit to get rid of any “toxins” that may be present.
You may be asking, “Are you saying the Bible has the wrong things in it?” My answer is no. But without the Holy Spirit, we can get toxic ideas that are really not good food. So the good food of God’s Word can become toxic without the direction of the Holy Spirit. We also need discernment about any other books that we read, other than the Bible. There are a lot of spiritual books we can read but we need to make sure they are not toxic to our spiritual growth. They need to be in line with God’s principles laid out in His Word.
The rest we get…
The rest we get physically is very important. But the rest spiritually is just as valuable and important. They are really both intertwined. Lack of physical rest affects our spiritual rest and lack of spiritual rest affects our physical rest. How many times have you stayed awake at night because you are not spiritually resting? If we are not resting in Christ our spiritual lives will become very toxic. We have to be doing all the foundational things that I have talked about above in order for us to have that spiritual rest.
Exercise is another aspect that helps in eliminating our physical toxic load. The same is true in our spiritual lives. As we exercise our spiritual muscles with memorizing God’s Word it will help reduce our toxic load. It will also help us rest in Christ. We will have the help we need for us to rest physically as well as spiritually. I have been awake at night struggling with worry. I have found that as I pray and dwell upon Scriptures that I have memorized I go to sleep and have a peaceful rest. It can also help you resist temptations that will bring more toxins into your life.
Emotional stress…
Emotional stress seems to be more powerful than anything. Because it doesn’t matter what you are going through it affects you emotionally. Emotional stress can be the biggest toxic load to our spiritual lives. I believe that our moral character is made up of two things, thoughts, and feelings. Our thoughts affect our feelings and our feelings dictate how we respond. So one of the big things we need to control is our thoughts because that is where things begin. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:…” Proverbs 7:7.
We need to control our thoughts. Now, this is way easier said than done. And that is where memorizing scriptures and prayer come in handy. It is like anything in life. If you want to do something you learn how to do it and then you do it. Take any career. You go to school or someone trains you into a position. If you don’t work in the area that you have been trained you start to lose the ability to do it.
I know that prayer and memorizing God’s Word are keys to keeping my thoughts where they should be. But knowing it does not accomplish it. Doing is what brings about success. It will be a challenge at first just like it is in any career. But when you do it every day it suddenly becomes a habit and you tend to do it without even thinking about it.
We need to flood our bodies…
Just like we need to flood our physical bodies with water to help get the toxins flushed out we need to flush out our spiritual lives with God’s Word. “…Christ…loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” Ephesians 5:25-27.”
God’s Word is like water washing out the toxins in our lives. Drink from it daily and not just in the morning. If you were to drink only a glass of water in the morning and not drink anymore the rest of the day you would become dehydrated. It would affect your body in so many ways. The toxins would buildup, your brain would not function as it should, and you would be all together sluggish. You might be able to get by for a little while but your health would fail. The same is true with our spiritual lives. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to memorize God’s Word so you can drink it in several times a day.
What about…
What about the cleaners in our homes? Now in my last writing, I talked about ridding our homes of the toxic things that we use physically, like cleaners. How does this apply spiritual speaking? If the washing of God’s Word cleanses are there other things that we use in its place to “cleanse” us, maybe to get our thoughts on something else besides our problem we may be facing.
We want to cleanse our minds of the toxic thoughts that we are having. But do you use God’s Word or are we browsing Facebook, watching YouTube clips, movies, music, religious DVD’s, etc? In and of themselves these may not be bad but can they become toxic in our lives along with many other things. If they are robbing our time from doing those things God would have us to do, spend time with Him, family, homeless, widowed, helping others, etc., then they are getting in the way. There are some things that we need to totally eliminate and others refine how we use them so that they don’t control our lives.
I am grateful for all the options for us to keep spiritually healthy. God has given us His Word as our guide. Another guide that has so many lessons for us is nature. The health that we can gain spiritually as well as physically is profound. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is there are lessons for us to learn through nature.
Dear Father,
Thank You for Your Word. I give You thanks for the nature You have provided for our enjoyment as well as for great lessons that can empty us of the spiritual toxins within our lives. Lord, show us those things that are toxic to our spiritual lives and help us to eliminate them. Prompt our hearts to fill stay in Your Word and allow Your word to wash us clean from all the toxins of this world. The worldly toxins are all around us Lord and we need Your help to guide us. Convict our hearts and keep us in Your will as we surrender to You.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Cleanse your life of all those things that are toxic to your spiritual life.
Love you all.
Is there a blessing you can share of something you eliminated from your life that helped you spiritually. Please share below. If you feel uncomfortable sharing publicly feel free to email me. I would love to hear your story.
This is part 10 in a several part series “Maintaining Healthy Immune Function”. There are many things I have shared with you on how to support your immune system, both physically and spiritually. Although what I have shared has not been exhaustive, I have been sharing just a taste from my own experience. In part 9 I talked about the toxic products that we use in our home every day and things that we can eliminate to maintain healthy immune function. This concludes this series on how to maintain healthy immune function both physically and spiritually. I pray that you have gained a blessing. And as you make changes in both your physical and spiritual lives I pray that you will be drawn closer to Jesus and be ready for His soon coming.