So I knew I wanted to Detox from Mind Junk – but how??? The Lord empowers and helps His children in such unique and personal ways, but fasting and denying the flesh (delayed gratification) are battle secrets that the Lord uses every time.

I’m confident that the far-majority of Americans understand how beneficial fasting from food is for us physically. And I believe most Christians understand how important and beneficial physical fasting is for us spiritually. Jesus Himself fasted to prepare Himself for the testing in the desert (Matthew 4). It humbles and empowers at the same time. Weakens and strengthens.

Fasting from food absolutely is a discipline of the mind as well. There is great work done in the thought life in physical fasting. But this same denial of the physical impulses for food can be has to be applied specifically to the overfed, gluttonous mind too.

It starts with simply assessing your thought life and how you are (or are not) taking care of your mind:

What do I think about most of the day? What information do I read and listen to? What words am I speaking and hearing from myself? How much focus do I give any task? How much time do I spend on my phone (or computer or TV)? In dull moments, what do I think about? When I have downtime, what is my first instinct to do? How many times do I check my phone in an hour?

And then it’s simply working with the Lord to figure out a plan of action based on the areas of weakness. The plan will most likely include:

• some areas of fasting from things and will most likely be at least one dramatic and severe change (examples: I am taking off 6 months from social media. Or I am only going on social media on my computer and only on Fridays. Or I’m canceling all our TV subscriptions).
  
  
• some areas of new habit formation and increased delayed gratification (examples: I will speak verses of life and faith out loud every hour to combat my negative fearful thinking I’m prone to default to. Or every time I have an impulse in my brain to reach for my phone, I will delay 5 minutes. Or I will spend 20 minutes a day on focused, undistracted reading of a high-quality novel or article. )
  
  
• some replacement of mind junk food with quality nutrition (examples: I will commit to practicing scripture memorization every time I have the desire to scroll on social media. or I will practice the piano instead of watching TV when I have a free 30 minutes. or I will work on math puzzles and brain teasers when I am waiting in the car instead of going on internet rabbit trails)

The Lord is so faithful to help His children. The plan of action will look different for each situation and person because our weaknesses, personalities, callings, and seasons are different. But may Jesus be glorified as He helps us discipline our minds, just like we discipline our bodies. It takes faith to believe that denying our brain things that are easy and feel good…. will actually in the long run help us feel great and move us to new heights. But God’s people desire to be led by the Spirit and not controlled by whims, our feelings, or our wants. We want to truly have the mind of CHRIST not the mind of self or the world. He will show us how to give up even good things – to prepare us for His great things!

We are in a battle and we must discipline our mind, heart, and bodies to be under His Lordship. HE is the LORD and the Good Shepherd we can trust. We discipline the self not to *earn* His love or approval. We self-discipline FROM His Love and trust that HE knows best and He desires us not to be ruled by anything except His Spirit. Our actions do not justify us before God. We are not legalists or pious sour faces. We are soldiers whose leader has told us how to prepare for battle. Our willingness to listen when He reveals weakness and to quickly confess and ask for help to make changes shows a lot about our faith walk.