Spiritual Cleansing

Recently my husband had surgery. During the time of his surgery I had some time on my hand so I was reading through the magazines that they have on the tables in the waiting areas. I ran across this ad for some type of slim product which you take to help jumpstart your diet by cleansing your body. The product helps by reducing fluid retention, moving out toxins and excess waste, and by relieving occasional gas and bloating, naturally. This morning I was thinking about this and what came to mind was Spiritual Cleansing. Sometimes we need to cleanse our spirits. So I did some research and this is what I found on that subject:

Spiritual Cleansing Brings Us Salvation

By Angie Lewis

Most people know that when you cleanse the body of toxins it is called physical cleansing. More and more people are cleansing the body regularly because they are knowledgeable about nutrition and natural ways of healing the body. What about spiritual health? Are we as spiritually in shape as we would like to be? Do we ever silently tell God we are sorry for a particular sin we can’t seem to get rid of? Are we happy with our lives? Do we ever wonder about our salvation?

The best way to find out if our body needs cleansing is in the way we feel. When we feel tired, sluggish, constipated, bloated, and often hungry, it usually means we are in need of a colon cleanse. We feel hungry because we are nutritionally deficient – our bodies are literally crying out for vitamins and minerals. Vitamins and minerals cannot pass through a sluggish colon. We must cleanse to feel better physically.

Ironically the best way to find out if we need a spiritual cleanse is in the way we feel. When we are feeling lousy about our lives, depressed, unhappy, anxious, and we carry around negative feelings about others then that means we are ready for a spiritual cleanse. We feel lousy about ourselves because we aren’t happy – our heart is literally crying out for love and completion of self. We must cleanse to feel better spiritually.

I believe the first way to begin cleansing ourselves of unwanted emotions, depression, anxiety, addictions, and sins is by talking to God and letting Him know how we feel. Even though God already knows how we feel, we have to go to Him and let Him know we trust Him. Too many times when we are feeling bad about our lives we involve ourselves in something sinful just so we can “feel” better. And usually that something sinful enslaves us, which is not conducive to the Christian lifestyle.

Why do we feel unhappy, anxious, and depressed? Why are we getting physically sick? Why do we feel anxious about our life, job, marriage, and family? We feel this way because we have slowly taken God and everything we have been blessed with in our life out of our life! Where is God in our job? Where is God in our marriage? Where is God in our family? Where is He!

We need to let God know that we are READY for Him to go to work in our lives because we TRUST in Him now! There can be no spiritual transformation until we are ready to be cleansed. In the same way until we actually rid the body of its toxins we will remain feeling sick and ailing in physical health. Are you ready for a spiritual cleansing?

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. To be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:22,23
Spiritual Spring Cleaning

By Mary Fairchild, About.com

See More about:


How to Spring Clean Your Spirit

While you're cleaning out closets and sweeping under the furniture, think about this: Spring cleaning, while worth the effort, will only last for a season, but spiritual cleansing could have an eternal influence. So don't just dust behind those book shelves, dust off that favorite Bible and get ready for a spiritual spring cleaning.
1) Cleanse Your Heart - Get Spiritually Healthy: The Bible encourages us to draw close to God and allow our hearts and bodies to be cleansed. This is the first step in our spring cleaning project. We can't clean ourselves. Instead we must draw near to God and ask Him to do the cleansing.

2) Clean Out Your Mouth - Deep Clean Inside and Out: Spiritual cleansing requires deep cleaning -- it is housekeeping that goes beyond what others see and hear. It's a cleansing from within -- inside and out. As your heart gets clean, your language should follow. This is not just talking about bad language, but also negative talk and pessimistic thoughts that contradict the Word of God and faith. This includes the challenge to stop complaining.


3) Renew Your Mind - Take Out the Garbage: This is one of the biggest areas of struggle for most of us -- removing the garbage from our minds. Garbage in equals garbage out. We must feed our minds and spirits the Word of God instead of the garbage of this world.


4) Repent from Hidden Sin - Clean Out Your Spiritual Closets: Hidden sin will destroy your life, your peace, and even your health. The Bible says to confess your sin - tell someone, and reach out for help. When your spiritual closets are clean, the heaviness from hidden sin will lift.

5) Release Unforgiveness and Bitterness - Get Rid of Old Baggage: Any sin will weigh you down, but long kept unforgiveness and bitterness is like old baggage in the attic you just can't seem to part with. You are so familiar with it, you don't even realize how it is hindering your life.

6) Involve Jesus in Your Daily Life - Let the Son Shine In: What God wants most from you is relationship - friendship. He wants to be involved in the big and small moments of your life. Open your life, let the light of God's presence shine into every part, and you'll have no need for a yearly spiritual cleaning. Instead experience daily, moment to moment refreshing of your spirit.

7) Learn to Laugh at Yourself and at Life: Some of us take life too seriously, or we take ourselves too seriously. Jesus wants you to enjoy yourself, and learn to have some fun. God made you for His pleasure!


More About Spiritual Cleansing

4 Essentials to Spiritual Growth

Christianity Basics
Spending Time With God


http://christianity.about.com/od/topicaldevotions/p/springcleaning.htm

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Spiritual Cleanse For the Heart, Mind and Soul
by

Angie Lewis

Often times when we don’t feel well, we cleanse the body for physical health to prevent surgery, feel good, look younger, and live longer. What about our spiritual health? Did you know that if we cleanse the mind of unwanted toxins our physical health would also improve?

Spiritual cleansing is excellent therapy for negative and destructive emotions, depression, sadness, drug and alcohol addiction, and all other addictions that have to do with the mind and attitude.

Rejuvenate the mind everyday with the positive affirmations of prayer. How can prayer help? The influence of prayer actually gives us the hope, faith, and encouragement that our negative feelings have taken from our heart and mind.

Every day we are literally plagued with negative garbage, listening to and looking at it, to behaving in destructive ways that upset the equilibrium of our minds.

Have you ever thought that maybe it is all the harmful garbage in the world that brings on depression, addiction, and bad feelings? If we are under control of addiction or depression how can we ever recognize the spiritual person within us? I know first hand that addiction keeps us far from God. So then how do we not know that all we need is a spiritual cleanse to free us from the grips of what is controlling us?

In other words, is it really a chemical imbalance in the brain, like doctors want us to believe that makes some people depressed or addicted to a substance? And if it is a chemical imbalance, could it have something to do with lifestyle/environment -- whether it’s through what a person eats and drinks or other contaminates that are entering their system?

CEO’s and business owners use affirmations in their corporations to keep the salesmen positive and optimistic. It is a well-known fact that positive minds sell more products. So then why couldn’t a positive mind learn to forgive and love completely too?

Every day prayer not only lets God know that we are genuinely seeking his spiritual counsel but also makes us feel better about who we are, even when we are battling with an addiction or just plain old negative feelings.

Applying prayer into our life is the first step to overcoming the negative aspects of our character and supercharging the positive aspects within us.

The first thing we need to do is to humble our selves to prayer. We need to remember that we are praying for a reason; a purpose, and not necessarily to get what we want but to get closer to God and become more spiritually aware. How should we pray?

We can pray anytime of the day and anywhere. We do not have to be in Church and we do not have to let others hear our personal prayers to God. We are in control of how, when and what we pray. Prayer begins in the mind and ends in the heart. We can pray silently and God hears us.

Prayer involves humbleness and humility. It entails that we trust that God is listening to us as we pray and that our prayers we’ll get answered. Your prayers may not get answered the way you want. Many times prayers are answered in the way that God knows is best for you, not what you think is best for you. Prayer involves talking to God through our prayers, bible study, and recognizing God as your source.

I have put together a one month spiritual cleanse that will help bring you closer to God, your loved ones, and your self using the power of affirmations, and prayer for more positive and spiritual way of thinking for your life.

Week one:

Focus on love. Loving God, being more loving to others, giving of ones self, loving neighbor and self. Be Love!

Prayer:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Affirmation prayer:

God help me to be more loving, humble, forgiving, giving, kind and patient with others and myself. I will strive to Love God with all of my heart, mind and soul.

God is love, and love is God!

Objective:

To love God FIRST, over others and myself. To realize that loving God above other things in my life frees me to love others with more of who I am and can become.

Week two:

Focus on wisdom, knowledge, truth and understanding from God. Do NOT seek out wisdom, knowledge, truth, or understanding from culture or society, or from anyone in the world. The bible should be your only source for all understanding and truth.

Prayer:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by his deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy, and good fruit… James 3:13-17

AFFIRMATION PRAYER:

God help me to NOT find fault with others, or to be argumentative or judgmental with my spouse, friends, and associates. I will seek your wisdom daily. I will look up the “True” purpose of my situation in the concordance/dictionary of my bible, and allow your wisdom to give me the understanding I need to handle the situation with your divine truth.

Objective:

To gain the understanding that God is your “ONLY” source for everything under the sun for your life.

Week three:

Focus on Spiritual self by thinking positive and doing constructive things. Take walks outdoors among nature. Try yoga, meditation, or other relaxation techniques to relieve your mind of stress and worry. Take up Pilates or other non-strenuous exercise to help relieve tension and stress. Doing these things will reflect back onto your spiritual consciousness.

We need to keep our minds free of clutter and junk. It is an attitude thing. What we allow into our heart and mind reflects back out in our actions.

Prayer:

…to be made NEW in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the New self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:23

Affirmation prayer:

God give me the encouragement and strength I need to exist with a renewed attitude of love, giving and forgiving. Help me to put on the new aspects of my personality that I have been hiding within the depths of my soul. Help me to see the good in people even though they are different from me.

Objective:

To recognize the potential within me and to be a new creative, positive person in Jesus Christ, displaying my full potential in everything that I do. To be renewed in mind and spirit. To not focus on my negative feelings of others but to focus more on the positive attributes of my self so I can be more loving and kind to others.

Week four:

Focus on applying God’s counsel, love, and wisdom on a daily basis through continual prayer and bible study. Learn to make God a priority in your life. Make God a habit! Change of heart, change of attitude.

Prayer:

To the man who pleases him, god gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness. Ecclesiastes. 2:26

Affirmation prayer:

God help me to apply your spiritual counsel and wisdom into my daily life to bring me purpose in all that do. Help me to make your wisdom a part of my life in everything that I do.

Objective:

To be free from negative and destructive junk, to be the whole and complete spiritual person that I was meant to be. To live life in peace and contentment.

Forgive someone today.

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