Detox From Dependency

Detox from Dependency

What happens when we place our hope, identity, security, or worth in people and circumstances instead of Christ? In this episode of Woman in the Word, we explore what it means to release unhealthy dependencies and return to the truth that our righteousness, identity, and confidence must rest in Christ alone.

Through Scripture and honest reflection, we’ll uncover the things we may be leaning on that were never meant to carry us—and learn how to surrender them to the One who can. This is an invitation to let go, trust deeper, and discover the freedom that comes when Jesus is truly enough.

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Woman in the Word, the podcast where we dive into scripture, ask real questions, and walk through the Bible together, one honest conversation at a time. I'm Felicia Parker, I'm your host, and I'm so glad you're here. So whether you're new to the Word or you've been studying for years, there's a seat at the table for all of us. So grab your coffee, open your journal, or put on your walking shoes, and let's get into it. Hey, welcome to the Woman in the Word podcast. I am so excited that you're joining me today. Sorry, my voice. I have been sick for the last week or so, so my voice is going in and out. Um, but we're gonna knock through this podcast because this is gonna be a good one. Today we are talking about detox from dependency, and I'm really excited about it. So let's jump into it. Have you ever done a detox? Whether it be a detox for your body, a detox for your mind, a detox in your home, a detox in your relationships, whatever it is. Have you ever done a detox? Um, I've done detoxes as far as I'm gonna detox from social media or I'm gonna detox from certain things in my life. I'm going to detox from certain foods so that my body can have a break from things that I know are not most beneficial for me. And that's the goal of a detox. It's to remove what's there that is not being beneficial to my life, that's not helping me, that's not going to move me forward, that is not going to produce a good outcome in the end. And y'all, today, detox from dependency is God allowing our lives to rely solely on him and nothing else, to remove anything and everything that we are relying on outside of him and allow him to be the main source and the only source that we run to for our marriage, for our children, for our health, for our business, for our ministry, for our relationships. God wants to be that. And when he sees, hey, there's some there's some things in your life that you're using that you're relying on, that you're depending on, the resources in your life that you're somewhat putting in the wrong place and treating it as a source, he says, Hey, it's time for a detox. And I don't know about you, but I'm finding myself in that place in this season that I'm in. God has me on a detox and a deep, he calls it a detox from dependency in regard to the things that I've been relying on a little too much, or um relying on with a little too much weight on it. Meaning, okay, God is the source in regard to provision, but I may find myself saying, Well, okay, this organization or this person, or if this scenario comes together right, then we'll be able to take care of XYZ. And God's saying, Hey, great that you have a plan, but don't rely so much on the resource that you remove the source. And so God is having me on this detox of dependency. He's removing anything and everything that I would place my trust in, my hope in, my reliance on, and he's taking it out of the way so that what I trust in, rely on, and depend on is solely him. We can see a detox from dependency all throughout scripture. So we'll start with Genesis chapter 12, where God is talking to Abram and He says, Hey, leave your father's house, leave your country, leave your people, leave everything you know, and follow me. Come to a place that I will show you, and it's gonna be great because I'm gonna bless you, I'm gonna make your name great, I'm gonna bless those that bless you, I'm gonna curse those that curse you, but follow me to this place that you don't know so that I can show you things that you've never seen. And and in that moment, Abram had an opportunity to step out into greater things, or he had a choice to stay where he was and say, you know, I'm gonna hold on to the resources that I I have. I'm gonna hold on to my family and the place where I live, and this is fine, and I'm good, God, but thank you for the for the invitation. But he chose to detox himself from dependency, dependency on what? His family, his security, his identity in where he was and the family that he was in. And he chose to say yes to God and step out on something that was not concrete in his mind, but yet was concrete through the word that God gave him. He says, Hey, I'm gonna show you a land. I will show you a place if you'd follow me. And that weighed on him more than wherever he was living, the people that he was around and the things that he possessed. So it says that he went and he went on a word from the Lord, and sometimes detoxing us from dependency looks like, hey, I need you to see what you see and leave all that and come with me and follow me on just a word. I won't give you all the details, I won't give you all the connections, I won't provide all the resources initially, but I'm gonna give you a word and I want you to step out on it because this is gonna be the thing that is going to detach you from what you've been trusting in and connect you to your source. Hey, I just wanted to take a quick pause in our conversation and introduce you to the lover of your soul if you have yet to meet him. I would love to lead you in the prayer of salvation. So if you'd repeat after me, that'd be awesome. Dear God, I know that I am a sinner and I'm in need of a savior. I confess that Jesus is Lord and I want him to be the Lord of my life. I believe that you raised him from the dead to rule and reign for all of eternity. Forgive me of my sins and cleanse me with the precious blood of Jesus. I thank you, Lord, for dying on the cross just for me. In Jesus' name, amen. Hey, if you just prayed that prayer, I want to welcome you to the family of God and just say congratulations. We also see this with Gideon in Judges chapter 6 and 7, where God is calling him. And mind you, this man is hiding because the enemy is so heavy on their people and the place where they live that he's in a place of hiding when God finds him. And God says, Hey, I'm calling you to be a mighty hero and to save your people. And Gideon's like, Okay, I need proof. I need you to do some things to show me that this is the Lord speaking to me, and that you are calling me to do this and you'll be with me. And so God, you know, does the few things that he asks, what wet the fleece, you know, that I'm lying on, and the ground let it be dry. And then he flips it. Okay, now let the ground be wet and the fleece be dry, and all these things God does, and so he goes into um preparing for what God is calling him to do. And what does God do? He detoxes him from dependency by saying, Hey, those 30,000 warriors you have, that's too many. If you go into battle with those people, you guys will take the credit and you won't give me the glory, and so I need you to slim it, slim it down little by little, it dwindles down to 300. And Gideon's like, Okay, I've only got 300 men, and God says, With these 300 men, I'm gonna do more than you could do with 30,000. And so we know through the story that they overtake a army that literally says their camels are like sands of the sea, it just covered that much ground, these men and their and their camels and their you know their army, and they destroy the Midianite camp with 300 men because Gideon decided to believe God and detox from the dependency of a large army and the security of what a large camp looked like to him and trust God and stand in the truth of God's word that hey, if God is calling me to this, he's going to be with me and he's going to make sure I get the victory. And sometimes detoxing from dependency looks like, hey, I've got to step away from the crowd, and I've got to roll with the few. And it might sound crazy, it might look crazy, but God can do more with an obedient few than he can with the security in large numbers, knowing because scripture says those men, those 30,000, the first command was, hey, if you're afraid to be here, leave. And with that one word, Gideon spoke, like 10,000 people left. And so God was showing them, hey, you've you've got numbers, but you don't have commitment of heart. So you need to let this go. And sometimes detox looks like, hey, letting go of what looks like security, letting go of what looks like, hey, there's reassurance here be in the numbers. Because God is not focused on how many you have with you, He's focused on how many are willing to be obedient to Him and the word He gives and stand in the face of anything that they're facing because you've got God on your side. On September 19th, 2026, women will gather at the UNLV Student Union Ballroom for a powerful day of connection, encouragement, and renewal. The gathering 2026. There's a seat waiting just for you. We see another situation in Esther. In the book of Esther, this young lady is chosen to be queen, and God has favored her, and she has the opportunity to now be um queen. And she hears about a plot from her uncle Mordecai. She hears about a plot of this evil, evil man in the palace named Haman that wants to annihilate the uh children of Israel. And so he tells her, hey, you've got to do something about this. You weren't just here to be pretty and wear the dresses and go to the dinners and you know host the parties. No, no, no. You have been placed here for such a time as this. And he says, I just want to let you know, if this takes place and you don't stand up, you will not escape what's coming for the children of Israel. You won't escape it just because you're in the palace. And so he says to her, Hey, maybe you were chosen for such a time as this. And sometimes detox from dependency looks like courage. It looks like, okay, I'm in a place of comfort right now. I'm experiencing the joy of life right now, whatever that looks like. And then God knock on the door and say, Hey, I want you to use your platform, I want you to use your influence, I want you to use the impact that you're having on lives, and I want you to step out and help a people that cannot help themselves because of maybe the position they're in, maybe the the resources that they lack, whatever it is. But God sometimes will call us to a place of courage, and we have a choice. Will we allow where we are to keep us silent, or will we step out and understand that the only reason I'm here is to be a light to a dark world and to be salt to the earth. And so sometimes your dependency is gonna look like courage. Sometimes God's gonna say, Okay, I gotta detox you from this dependency of comfort, from position, from influence, from affluence, and say, Hey, use all of that and now use it to help people or use it to change a situation for the glory of God. And there are going to be times in our life that we're all tested with this one. As far as courage, it takes courage to step out on a word from God like Abraham, it takes courage to fight with three men like Gideon. It took courage for Esther to go before the king, and y'all, her courage required her to step out alone. She didn't step out with a group of people surrounding her when she went before the king. It was her and God. And she went before the king, and this is what she said. She told her uncle, tell the people to pray. She said, I'm gonna go before the king in a few days, and she said, If I perish, I perish. But I've gotta go. And we have to get to the point of understanding that if I lose my position, if I lose my title, if I lose whatever's been gained, I rather lose it than find myself in a place of being disobedient to God because I don't I don't want to go through the detox of dependency. I always want to offer up a sacrifice, like scripture says in Romans 12, I want to offer up my life as a living and holy sacrifice to God because that's what's acceptable to Him. And Esther showed us what that looked like. I might be in the palace, I might be the queen, I might have all these things going for me. But if I don't offer up my life as a holy and living sacrifice, none of this is truly acceptable to God. Hey, I just wanted to take a quick break in our episode and share with you some really exciting news. This year we are hosting our first ever outreach experience. This is an expansion of the gathering, and it is hosting 12 to 20 year old young men and women. I'm really excited about it. The location will be UNLB Student Union Ballroom. It's gonna be a great time of word, worship, connection, free merch, free food, a great concert, and you don't want to miss it. And it is totally free. So all you have to do is jump on our website, purpose-promise.com. Click on the gathering, drop down, register, and we look forward to hosting you. All right, let's jump back into the episode. We see in Luke chapter 5 another opportunity to experience a detox from dependency. We see Jesus using the boat of a man named Simon who would soon become one of the disciples of Jesus. And Jesus jumps in his boat and tells Simon to push out a little further so that the men can hear him speak. And then when he's done, he knows clearly that Simon has been fishing all night. And so he says, Hey, why don't you cast your net for a large catch? He says, I've been fishing all night, Lord. I've worked hard all night and I didn't catch anything. And this is what he says in verse 5 but if you say so, I'll let the nets down again. And y'all, it says, This time the nets were full of fish. And sometimes detox from dependency looks like I will let go of my expertise, my knowledge, my wisdom, my limited wisdom really, on a thing. And I will do it because he said so. I have to let go of what I know. I have to let go of the year exper years of experience that I have. I have to let go of the time that I've put in and the way I see it, and just say, well, if he says so, I'm gonna have to do it the way he says, even though it makes no sense to me. Even though I'm fishing in the middle of the day and throwing my net on the wrong side of the boat. Because you say so, I'm gonna do it. And sometimes detox from dependency looks like I'm letting go of what I know to pick up what he said. And we find ourselves experiencing a boat sinking catch of blessing and miracles because we listen to what the Lord said and let go of what we felt we knew. And sometimes that's what detoxing from dependency looks like. Letting go of our knowledge of a thing, our expertise in a thing, and saying, God, if you say so, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Every journey of faith begins with the choice to stay comfortable or to step out, to wait for clarity or to trust his voice. Because he said so was written for the moments when God calls you to walk an unpaved road with nothing but faith and his promise. The journey begins at the Gathering 2026. Join us for the release of Because He Said So and discover what happens when you say yes to God because He said So.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

So today my question is: what area is God trying to detox your life? Because one thing I do know is that all of us are experiencing some type of detox from dependency. Whether that's God calling you to step out on courage and to leave the seat of comfort. Maybe that's dwindling down your circle. Maybe that is stepping out into a place to go somewhere that he's calling you to go that you don't know. Maybe he's calling you to let go of the knowledge and wisdom that you have in regard to a thing and trust him just because he said it. Whatever area it is, we're all experiencing a detox. And the question is, will you, like the natural detoxes we use for our colon, our liver, all the things, will you finish the process so that everything in you that you are relying on, that you are depending on, will come out of you and what's left in you is him and him alone? Or will you say, you know what, this detox is too uncomfortable, it hurts too bad, it takes too much, it's costing me too much. I just want to stop midstream. I want to stop middle of the process and go back to what I depend on. And I I want you to know there is no judgment, but there's always going to be encouragement to keep moving forward in the things of God. So in scripture, it talks about the children of Israel when God brought them out of captivity, and they are now standing between where they left and an impossible barrier, which was the Red Sea. And we talked about this on a previous podcast. And God is setting them up for a big miracle, and they don't even know it. And so they begin to complain and they say, You know what? Take us back. We don't want to be out here, take us back. We didn't want to be delivered, take us back. Why did you bring us out here to die? Take us back. And sometimes when God is trying to detox us to remove things out of our life, we s we will sometimes give pushback because it's like, I don't see the the point of all this. The children of Israel were like, You brought us out, and now we're standing at a red sea, we're gonna die. What's the point of all this? And if we stop the process of the detox, we'll miss the Red Sea miracle at the end. Every detox is for the point of putting in something that we need to rely on wholeheartedly and removing anything and everything that is not going to serve us in the next season. So your detox today may be a friendship, it may be a position that you hold, it may be a city that you live in, it may be a mindset that you carry, it may be something that God is calling you to do, that maybe you feel uncomfortable or ill-equipped to do. But I need you to understand everything that God is calling you to do and detoxing you from is so that you are prepared for the next season of your life. There is nothing in this season that he wants you to get rid of that will be beneficial for you in the next season. So just finish the detox. Finish the process that God has you in so that you can look up and say, wow, look at what the Lord has done. Wow, he is the satisfier of all things. Wow, he truly loves me. Wow, he had a great plan for me. Wow, I'm on the other side of this thing, and I got to see the miracle of the detox in the dependency that I was holding on to that he needed to get rid of. So today, so today, trust the process of the detox of dependency because there is blessing in it, more than you can even imagine if you just finished the process with him. Thanks for hanging out with me in the word. I hope it encouraged your heart and gave you something to carry into the rest of the week. If it spoke to you, share this with someone who might need it too. And hey, don't forget to follow or to subscribe so you don't miss out on what's next. Until then, keep showing up, keep listening, and let his word lead the way.