Welcome to another episode. There was a season I was struggling to focus. I would sit down to pray and within a few minutes my mind was somewhere else.
I would pick up my Bible, read a chapter, and after minutes and after 5 minutes later I couldn't even remember what I just read. I would unlock my phone to answer one message and somehow 30 or 40 minutes disappeared. I became easily [music] distracted.
I found myself more anxious than I used to be. My mind felt noisy even when I was not looking at my phone. It was as though my mind had become trained to expect constant stimulation.
Silence became uncomfortable. Stillness became difficult. [music] And the scary part was not that I was wasting time.
The scary part was that I was losing my ability to be present. I would lose my phone, lose my wallet, present [music] with people, present in prayer, present in God's word. Then one day I looked at my screen time report.
Honestly, I was shocked. Not because phones are sinful, but because I realized something. My attention had become my greatest weakness.
Then I started researching. Listen to this. The average person now spends 7 hours every day looking at a screen.
That's nearly 48 hours every week. Two full days every single week. The average person check their phones nearly 100 times every day.
Some recent studies suggest it's much higher. Imagine interpreting your thoughts that many times. Then I read another statistic that really convicted me.
The average attention span has dropped from about 150 seconds 2 years ago to around 47 seconds today. 47 seconds. No wonder many of us struggle to stay focused in prayer.
No wonder a 45-minute sermon could feel long. We have trained our minds for short attention and then expect deep transformation. And here is one statistics I can't stop thinking about.
If the average person continues in this space, they will spend more than 19 years of their life looking at a screen. 19 years. That isn't just time, that's attention.
And whoever has your attention eventually shapes your direction. Then the Lord convicted me with something. I was not just a screen problem.
I was dealing with a mind problem. You see, the social media is not the problem. Social media does not just consume your time.
It slowly reshapes your thinking. It trains your brain to crave constant novelty, constant change. It weakens your ability to meditate.
It feeds comparison. It fuels anxiety. It creates restlessness.
It fills your head with thousands of voices until you start go to recognize the one voice that matters the most. That is when I realized you don't just need less screen time. I needed a renewed mind.
Romans 12 says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Not changing your phone, by changing your mind. So, over the past months, I have been intentionally detoxing my mind and I want to share with you some of the things that I have applied.
Not because I hate technology, but because I love God's presence and today I want to share five biblical practices that have genuinely helped me become more focused, more peaceful, more attentive, more aware of God's voice. The first way is stillness, the luxury of God's presence. The first way I have been detoxing my mind is practicing stillness.
I know that doesn't sound exciting, but I have become convinced stillness is one of the rarest things in our generation. In other words, tranquility is a luxury. Silence used to be normal back in the days.
Now, it is uncomfortable. We can all agree the moment we stand in line, we grab our phone. The moment we get into the car, we turn something on.
The moment we wake up, >> [music] >> we unlock the screen. We have become afraid of being quiet, [music] being still, and yet God has always done some of his deepest work in the quiet places. Listen to what the Bible says in Psalms 46:10.
Be still and know that I am God. Most people think that verse means sit down and relax. No.
In Hebrew word of be still [music] is Rafa. It means let go, release your grip. God isn't first asking you to stop moving.
He's [music] asking you to stop striving, to release your anxiety, to loosen your grip on control, [music] to release your pleasure, your comfort, because you cannot cling to worry and cling to God at the same [music] time. Think about Elijah. He was desperately needing to hear God's voice.
So, God brought him into a mountain 1 Kings 19:11-12. And behold, the Lord passed by and a great strong wind rent the mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
And after the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice. Think about that.
The wind was loud, the earthquake was loud, the fire was loud, but God was not in any of it. He came in a still small voice. Now, I don't think God has become quieter.
I think our world has become louder. God has never struggled to speak. We have struggled to become still enough to hear God.
Notice what Elijah did next. The Bible says he wrapped his face with a mantle before stepping out, almost as if he was shielding himself from everything else, so he could give his attention to the voice of God. What if that's what we need to do?
Not physically cover our faces, but intentionally shield our attention, because every notification competes with revelation. Then another psalm that changed my life was Psalms 131 verse 2. Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned off his mother.
My soul is even as a weaned child. A weaned child no longer comes to the mother just for milk. Child has learned to enjoy the mother's presence.
That challenged me. How often do I come to God only because I need something? Prayer request, provision, direction, answers.
David says, I have become like a weaned child. In other words, I have learned to enjoy God. Simply because he is God.
So here is what I have started doing. Every day I will spend 10 to 15 minutes with my phone in another room. No worship music, no devotional app, no agenda, just me and God.
Sometimes I read one verse. Sometimes I don't say anything at all. I simply sit before him.
And those have become some of the richest [music] moments of my day. Noise is cheap. Stillness is expensive.
Tranquility is [music] luxury. And yet the presence of God is freely available to anyone willing to become still. So the second way is create intentional moments of Thanksgiving.
If you want to detox your mind, you have to be intentional in creating moments of Thanksgiving and praise throughout your day. Notice I said intentional, because gratitude does not happen automatically. Complaining does.
Worry does. Fear does. But Thanksgiving is a decision.
It is something you decide to do. I realized something. If I don't intentionally turn my attention toward God, my mind naturally drifts toward my problem.
So, I have developed a simple habit. Before I ask God for anything, I spend time thanking him for everything. Not because my life is perfect, but because God has been faithful.
David writes in Psalms 103 in verse 1 to 5. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Notice, David has to tell his own soul, bless the Lord. He does not wait until he feels thankful.
He commands his soul to remember. One of the enemy's greatest weapons is forgetfulness. If he can make you forget what God has done, he can make you doubt what God can do.
That's why David says, forget not all his benefits. Thanksgiving is not just praising God for yesterday. It is protecting your heart from spiritual amnesia.
Paul gives another principle in Philippians 4:6-7. Be careful for nothing, but in everything with Thanksgiving, let your request be known to and God, and the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ. Did you notice that?
Paul connects Thanksgiving to peace. Before God promises peace, he commands gratitude. Why?
Because you cannot focus on God's faithfulness and your fears at the same intensity. Never forget that. One will always become greater.
What this produced, I noticed my anxiety began losing its grip. Not because all my problems disappeared, but because my perspective changed. Praise reminded me that if God had carried me forward, he will carry me again.
Thanksgiving shifted my eyes from what I lacked to the God who had never failed me. So, try this. Before you touch your phone, before you check your notifications, before you talk, before anything, give thanks to God for five specific things.
Even not just general, specific things. Remember answered prayers, his protection, his provision, his mercy. Train your mind to remember God before it remembers its problems.
Because a thankful heart is difficult for anxiety to occupy. What you repeatedly remember eventually will shape how you live. As Thanksgiving began to change my heart, it led me to something that has changed my life that I've used to detox my mind, to rewire my brain, and it is writing scripture by hand.
I cannot overemphasize about this. I know that sounds simple, but I keep saying it. It's even old-fashioned, but it has become one of the most powerful habit in my walk with God.
Maybe you have heard me say this in another place, but even if it's one chapter, just a verse, slowly write every single down. People ask, "Pastor, why don't you just read the Bible? Why do you have to write it?
" Writing it is different. Right now, I'm in John chapter 5. I write.
I began notice words I rushed past for years. I start asking questions. I see repeated phrases.
Connections begin to appear. Then I discovered something fascinating. This wasn't my idea.
It was God. Listen to what he commanded every king in Israel. Deuteronomy chapter 17:18-20, "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book.
And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, that his heart be not lifted above his brethren. Think about that. Before the king led the nation, God told him to write the scriptures with his own hand.
God did not need another copy of the law, but because he needed the law to be written on his heart. I have come to believe that the hand is the speed limit of the heart. Your eyes can race across a page, your mind can wander, but your hand slows everything down.
And when you slow down, you begin to notice what God has been saying all along. Sometimes we read five chapters and remember almost nothing. So, the goal is not just to finish reading the Bible.
It is to let the Bible finish changing you. So, what I realized is that writing scripture transformed the way I study. Verses stayed in my heart even longer.
When I prayed, the word came out naturally. Even when I was tempted, scripture surfaced without trying to remember it. I wasn't just reading the Bible, you see.
The Bible was renewing the way I thought. There is a relationship between writing and the way you think. This week, choose one chapter.
Take a notebook. Buy notebooks. Write them slowly.
Underline. Repeat it times. Turn it into your hobby.
Circle phrases that stand out. Turn every paragraph into a prayer. It is never too late.
And don't say you'll start next year. Start now. You'll be amazed at how much you discover when you stop rushing through scripture and allow scripture to slow you down.
What your hand writes, your heart remembers. Or as I have learned to say, the pen writes on paper, but the Holy Spirit writes on the heart. That leads me to something that is very, very important, because I realized the battle was not only about what entered my mind.
It was also about what came out of my mouth. Because your words don't just reveal your thoughts. No, they have the power to reshape them.
The fourth way you can detox your mind is by learning to preach to yourself. I learned to preach to myself, not just because I'm a pastor. No, everyone can try this.
One of the greatest mistake we make is that we spend all day listening to ourselves. Very few of us actually talk back. Fear speaks, anxiety speaks, discouragement speaks, comparison speaks.
If you never answer those voices, they eventually become your reality. David understood this. Listen to what he says.
Psalms 42:5, "Why art thou cast down, oh my soul? And why are you disquieted in me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of my countenance.
" Notice what David is doing. He is not talking to God. He's talking to himself.
He asks his soul, "Why are you discouraged? " Then he gives it a command. "Hope in God.
" "Hope in God. " It's a command. Even, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul.
" That is a command. You're preaching to yourself. Most people let the thoughts preach to them.
David preached to his thoughts. That changed the way I handled anxiety. When fear tells me, "You are not going to make it.
" I don't silently listen. I answer it. When my mind says, "God has forgotten you.
" I answer, "He will never leave me, nor forsake me. " When discouragement whispers, "Give up. " I answer with God's word, because I have discovered something very important.
The words of your mouth have authority over the thoughts of your mind. I say that again. The words of your mouth have more authority than the thoughts in your mind.
Is it not fascinating the Bible says, "The book of the law shall not depart out of the mouth, but thou shalt meditate there in day and night: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, then thou shalt have good success. " Joshua 1:8. God did not begin with Joshua's mind.
He began with Joshua's mouth. Biblical meditation was not merely thinking. It was speaking.
Because your mouth becomes the governor of your mind. You cannot continually speak God's word and continually spiral in unbelief at the same time. One voice will eventually overpower the other one.
That's why it is written in 2 Corinthians 10:5, "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing it into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. " Thoughts are like prisoners. They're not meant to rule your life.
They are meant to be captured, questioned, confronted, and brought under the authority of Christ. I stopped letting my emotions have the final word. When negative thoughts came, I learned to answer them immediately with scripture.
Not once, twice. If one negative thought comes, you replace it two positive statements as many times as necessary. Eventually, I noticed something.
My thoughts became quieter, my mind [music] became healthier, because God's word had become loud. Tomorrow morning, before you unlock your phone, unlock your mouth. Speak one promise from God's word.
Speak it over your life, over your destiny, over your family, over your finances. Declare who God says you [music] are. Preach to yourself before the world preaches to you.
A thought left unchallenged becomes a stronghold. Never forget that. A thought answered with God's word becomes a prisoner.
Don't spend your day listening to yourself. Start preaching to yourself. As I began governing my thoughts with God's word and preaching to myself, I realized something else.
The battle was not just about removing distractions. It was about replacing with something greater, because an occupied mind always finds something to consume it. This is going to change your life.
The fifth and the final way I have been detoxing my mind is by filling my life with God's purpose. One of the greatest mistakes we make is thinking we overcome destruction by removing it. We delete the app, turn off notifications, put the phone away, and for a few days it works.
Then somehow we are right back where we started. Why? Because you cannot simply remove a distraction.
You must replace it with something greater. Jesus taught us this principle in Luke chapter 11 verse 24 to 26. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he findeth the house swept and garnished.
Then goeth and he taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself. Notice something, the house was clean, the house was in order, and it was empty. An empty mind is an invitation.
Many people detox from social media, but never fill their lives with God's purpose. So they remove the distraction, but they never replace it with an assignment. Eventually the distraction returns, not because it was stronger, because their mind remained vacant.
Do you remember Nehemiah? His enemies kept trying to pull him away from rebuilding Jerusalem. Listen to his response in Nehemiah 6:3.
I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down. I love that. I love that.
Nehemiah did not spend all day fighting distractions. He was too busy >> [clears throat] >> building what God had assigned him. Purpose is stronger than willpower.
I have discovered something in my own life. The seasons when I am more distracted are usually the seasons when I have become least intentional. But when I am studying God's word, writing, preparing messages, learning, serving, discipling, building what God has called me to build, the desire to endlessly scroll begins to disappear.
Not because my phone changed or anything, because my purpose became greater than my distraction. This produced something. I stopped asking, "How do I spend less time on my phone?
" Instead, I started asking, "Lord, what have you assigned me to build today? What am I working on today? " That one question changed everything.
Every morning now has a purpose. Every hour has a direction because when your life has an assignment, distractions begin to lose their appeal. It stops.
So, you must have your days full of purpose. Before you sleep, ask yourself, "What am I going to do tomorrow? " Every evening, give tomorrow a purpose.
Don't just wake up hoping you will be productive. Name your assignment. Maybe it is 11 chapters of scripture.
Maybe it is writing one chapter of the Bible by hand. Maybe it is learning a new skill. Maybe it is discipling one person.
Maybe it is making that phone call and pray for someone. Maybe it is finishing the project God has placed in your hand. Give every reclaimed hour a name because what is not assigned will eventually be consumed.
Can I leave you with this? The enemy does not have to destroy your life. If he can simply distract it because whoever has your attention eventually shapes your direction.
So, remember these five habits. Be still. Give thanks.
Write the word. Preach to yourself. Live on purpose.
If you practice this consistently, you will begin to notice something. Your anxiety will begin to lose its grip. Your focus will become sharper.
God's voice will become clearer and your mind will slowly become a place where Christ rules instead of chaos. You don't overcome distraction by fighting your phone. No.
You overcome distraction by becoming captivated by God's purposes. Because nobody keeps looking at their phone when they are standing before a burning bush. Is that true?
Yes. So, let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for reminding us that our minds belong to you.
Help us to become still, to remember your goodness, to delight in your word, to speak your truth over our lives, and to live each day with purpose, renewing our minds, and remove [music] every distraction that keeps us from knowing you more. Lord, let our attention be captured by your presence instead of the noise of this world. Give us the discipline to guard our hearts, and the grace to walk in the purpose you have prepared for us.
May our minds be transformed for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you have not subscribed, and I hope you enjoyed this. Now, drop in the comment section, I obtained the grace to have a healthy mind in Jesus' name. God bless you.
