Is it Time for a Spiritual Detox?
It is spring in Cape Town. I love the season. It is a time when things start to warm up, and everything seems a little brighter.
During winter, many of the trees in our garden lose their leaves. They look barren, dead, and grey.
Yet, every spring, with summer on the way, new green shoots begin to emerge. By the time summer arrives, they will be vital and green, full of leaves, and hopefully have some fruit too.
Now, We All Go Through Seasons
Winters can be a great time for some, sitting by the fire and snuggling up under the duvet. For others, winter can be hard, stormy, cold, and feel dead and empty.
Summer can be fun in the sun for some. For others, the heat can lead to drought, dryness, and disaster.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that there is a time for everything…
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Sometimes the storms of life can leave us damaged.
Sometimes we build destructive habits.
Sometimes we allow damaging things to creep into our lives.
If your spiritual life is a mess, I want to ask you to consider uprooting the rubbish, tearing down the areas that are causing tension, and consider a spiritual detox.
With God’s help…
- You can be replanted
- You can rebuild what is broken
- You can restart your life
I pray that, despite the season you are in, you will know God’s peace, his comfort, his leading, and his presence, and that God will bring healing, peace, and repair what is broken.
Now, during the winter, we had a few leaks. Some of our gutters need to be fixed. We need to repaint. There are a few repairs needed.
Spring is a great time to start afresh. I am busy with a “spring clean.”
Spring Cleaning
This is usually a time at the beginning of Spring when many people around the world will do a clean-up after the long winter months.
A “spring clean” is usually a time to take stock, clean out the rubbish, and get things looking good for summer.
Do you need a spring clean in your life?
Just as we experience different seasons, ranging from autumn to winter, spring, and summer, so too can we go through various seasons in our lives.
Sometimes We Need a Spiritual Detox
Sometimes…
- We taint our lives with sin
- We open ourselves up to dark things that mess us up
- Evil actions and desires corrupt our hearts
- We look at things that pollute our lives
- We listen to things that poison our thoughts and attitudes
- We give the enemy a foothold through bitterness, offense, and unforgiveness
- We drift from God and end up in a downward spiral into darkness and gloom
- We make bad choices that set us up on a collision course with God, which leads us on the highway to destruction
Today, I want to encourage you to examine your life.
Do you need a SPRING CLEAN?
Maybe you need a SPIRITUAL DETOX.
Today, you can tear down the destructive habits and rebuild your life on Jesus.
If your life has been a mess, consider doing something about it.
You cannot do the same thing the same way and expect a different result. Something needs to change!
Dave Ramsey says, “If you want something you have never had, you’ll need to do something you’ve never done!”
Allow me to share a few scriptures from Psalm 50…
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
No matter what you are facing or where you find yourself, God can wash away the sin and the pain and restore your life.
Wheel Alignment
A while back, my car was pulling to the left. My wheel alignment was out. I needed to get my wheels rebalanced.
The same often happens in our spiritual lives. God wants to do a spiritual wheel alignment in your life.
If you have gone off course, or if you are continually veering off the road, away from God and into sin and destruction, then examine your life.
Psalm 139:23…
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
If your walk with God has broken down, why don’t you do a spiritual detox and get rid of the rubbish that is getting in the way of your walk with God? You can make a decision to restart your walk with God.
What season are you in? Do you need a spiritual detox?
Sin
Sometimes we take our eyes off God and become entangled in sin. This can happen overnight or occur gradually over time.
If you find yourself in this place, I want to encourage you to get right with God.
Hebrews 12:1-2…
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
1 John 1:9…
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
When you repent of your sin and surrender your life to Jesus, God will set you free; he will lift the heaviness off your life. He can wash you and cleanse you and make you whole.
Dry
If you find yourself in a spiritual dry spell, or feel barren, or as if you are going through a drought in your life, draw near to God. Confess the current condition of your heart to God. God can renew your life. He can replant you. He can pour out rivers of living water on your dry and thirsty life.
John 7:37-39…
Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8…
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Acts 3:19…
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Going Through the Motions
Are you just going through the motions?
Matthew 15:8…
Jesus said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”
If you have compromised your walk with God or become complacent, return to Jesus.
Don’t use religion as a cheap substitute for a real walk with God.
Return to God.
Come back to the heart of worship.
Set your sights on Jesus and life for Him.
Grown Cold
If you have grown cold, come back to Jesus before it is too late.
Matthew 24:12…
Jesus told us that in the last days, “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
Jesus can wash you clean. He will fill you. He will renew the right spirit in you and reignite a fire in your heart.
Lost Your Way
Countless times in the Bible, you see a picture of God’s people who got involved in stuff that wrecked their walk with God. Other times, God’s people rejected God and followed idols.
If you have strayed from God or somehow gotten off track, please consider your ways. If so, I implore you to turn from your sin and return to God.
In Ezekiel 37, God’s people had abandoned God and fallen. God told them that if they returned to him, he would cleanse them and restore them.
Ezekiel 37:25-27…
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”
With God’s help, you can begin again.
Jeremiah 32:27…
“I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?”
Nothing is too hard for God. He wants to walk the journey with you.
I believe that with a good “spring clean,” you can detox and clean up your life.
Make God your number one priority. Put first things first!
Matthew 6:33…
Jesus said, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Where are you at present?
Where would you like to be?
How can you get there?
What needs to change?
Repent of your sin.
Surrender to Jesus.
You can start afresh.
Let’s Pray
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that you came to bring me life and life more abundantly. I ask you to be by my Lord and Savior. Thank you for the price you paid on the cross for me so that I can be forgiven and become a child of God. Today I repent of my sin. I ask you to forgive and cleanse me. Lord, please do a thorough spring clean in my life and a full spiritual detox. I give you my life. Thank you for a fresh start. Thank you for setting me free. Thank you that I am born again and that I have eternal life, and that today I have the privilege of being able to have a close relationship with you. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit and lead me on the best pathway for my life. I put my life in your hands and thank you that you are my God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
