Dependent Spirituality Disorder

Introduction

Dependent Personality Disorder- is defined by helplessness, submissiveness, a need to be taken care of and for constant reassurance, and an inability to make decisions. It is marked by:

An inability to make common, everyday decisions without the reassurance of others

Avoidance of personal responsibility, including tasks requiring independent functioning

Avoidance of disagreement with others out of fear of losing support or approval

Sensitivity to criticism

Every believer must come to a point that their spirituality is not dependent upon anyone but Christ!

Dependency of Joash ()

Joash’s story begins with him doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. It seems, in the beginning, that Joash is going to be a good king who honors the Lord.

Joash did some good things, he instituted and offering that would be used to repair the house of the Lord. He even took the funds that were left over and had vessels made for the house of the Lord. He was even faithful to offer burnt offerings in the house of the Lord continually.

From the outside it seems that Joash is a Godly king. The problem is that all of the good that he was doing was merely because of the influence of Jehoida the priest.

Illustration: young boy attached to a girl and is asked a question and looks to the girlfriend for an answer.

Many young people today have learned how to play the role of a Christian young person. They talk right, they act right, they dress right, and they attend church faithfully, they have a time of personal devotions, yet all that they are doing is merely because of the influence of a godly mother or father, a caring youth pastor, godly grandparents. The problem is they have no personal spirituality.

Their behavior is controlled not by any personal convictions of their own but by the convictions of those around them. It is right to yield ourselves to the authority figures that God has placed in our lives, the problem comes when we are dependent upon them.

“There is great danger when our spirituality is more dependent on the people around us than it is on the Holy Spirit within us.”

What happens when we no longer have mom and dad around to make us go to church and read our Bible?

What happens when our youth pastor moves on to another place of ministry and he is not there to tell us how we should behave and how we ought to dress, what music we ought to listen to, what TV programs we ought to avoid?

In many cases we will find that the devil is more than happy to replace the godly influencers in our life with carnal influencers who will lead us away from the Lord if we are not careful.

You will have a lot of people who will want to influence you, but you need to be sure that ultimately you are equipped to operate independently of them all!

One day you will be out of your parents home and away from the influence of your youth pastor. What will you do then?

Discovery of the Real Joash ()

“Character is what you are when no one is looking”

The godly influence of Jehoida is now no longer a part of Joash’s life and now we begin to see the real character of Joash.

As soon as Jehoida is out of the picture there came a group of leaders from Judah to fill the vacuum of influence that had been left upon Jehoida’s passing.

Immediately they began to exert their influence upon Joash and the nation turned from worshipping God to worshipping idols.

Was Joash just a bad man? I do not think so. I think he was a man who had no personal spirituality, no personal convictions and as a result, his actions and decisions were totally dependent upon who he was around.

God was merciful to Joash and sent prophets to try and turn him back (), but Joash would not hear them.

God even sends Zechariah, the son of the man who had been such a positive influence on Joash. Yet Joash rejected the Word of God even from Zechariah and was so sensitive to his criticism that he had him killed.

Joash had strayed so far from God that he had no desire to turn back. This is the danger of allowing yourself to be dependent upon others and not developing your own personal walk with the Lord.

When you gain your independence and you have the freedom to choose, will you still go to church faithfully, will you still study your Bible, will you still guard yourself from wrong relationships, will you still choose to dress appropriately, will you still choose to listen to godly music and guard yourself from worldly media?

Destruction of Joash ()

Joash ultimately had to deal with the consequences of his decision to turn away from God as did the ones who had influenced him in such a direction.

He faced the penalty for forsaking the Lord and the nationwas judged for his choices at the hand of the Syrian army.

Never think that you can walk away from God and there will be no consequences. Joash probably enjoyed the popularity he had for yielding to the influence of the princes of Judah but it ultimately brought destruction to the kingdom and it cost him his life.

Joash was murdered by his own servants and was not even allowed to be buried in the sepulchres of the kings as Jehoida had been.

Those who remain dependent upon others will likely find themselves under the influence of those who will lead them away from God and bring about their own destruction.

Conclusion

If you have been guilty of allowing your spirituality to be dependent upon the influence of others to this point in your life then today will you admit you have a problem and seek to correct it. Don’t be like Joash in refusing to listen to the voice of God.

How do you correct the problem? You need the influence of the Spirit of God.

You need the influence of the Spirit of God.

You must first have trusted Christ as savior. You must not be depending on the fact that your mom and dad are saved, or the fact that your brothers and sisters are saved, you must personally make a decision to trust Christ.

When you trust Christ as savior, the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside of you and will be your guide to doing that which is pleasing to the Lord.

You must then develop a relationship with Christ by spending time in His word allowing Him to speak to you and spending time in prayer speaking back to Him.

You must be willing to yield yourself to the Spirit’s control as He guides you into the truth of the Word of God you must always be ready to apply every principle and every truth personally regardless of those who would seek to influence you otherwise.

“ Though no one join me, still I will follow”