Discovering Discipleship

By Beth Barnhart

In a world of uncertainties, where do you turn for guidance and truth? Are you lost with no concept of where to turn or what to do?

As each chapter unfolds, there is a facet of uncertainty as it relates to trials of this world. Learn how to see the daily trials and distractions of this life for what they really are-temptations to give up

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685565015

Beth Barnhart

Beth was raised in Harman, Virginia and graduated from Grundy Senior High in 1988. Raised in a small Southern Baptist church, she learned the importance of faith early in life. She then moved to Roanoke, Virginia and earned her AAS in Mental Health from Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke and her BSW from Radford University. Beth has two adult children and now lives in Franklin County, Virginia with her husband of 31 years. She has worked with several populations whom society tends to look down upon in judgment and condemnation. Beth is a natural encourager, and as such, it is her goal to reach out and touch everyone in her life with the goodness, hope, peace, and love of Christ.

Book preview

Introduction

Several years ago, I was asked to conduct a Bible Study for the women of my church. I was earning my Bachelor’s degree in Social Work at the time, so my mind went immediately to psychological vs. spiritual aspects of life. While researching this topic, I was reminded of the work of Erik Erikson (1902-1994), a German-born immigrant who studied under some of the greatest minds of psychology. A few years before, I had taken a class focused on Erikson and his work. It is the textbook for this class that I will be referencing as I write. According to Newman & Newman, (1987) Erikson’s psychosocial theory has three main concepts.

The theory addresses growth across the life span; assumes that in addition to biological and environmental influences on growth, individuals at every life stage have the capacity to contribute to their own psychological growth; and takes into consideration the active contribution of culture in shaping the direction of an individual’s growth.

The more I studied, the more I realized the psychosocial theory could be applied to spiritual development. As I explored the role of each of these crises, I began to ask myself where I was in my spiritual development in relation to these situations. I also began to study the Bible more in relation to each of these crises. I learned what Erikson calls crises could become a life crisis if left to grow stagnant in any specific phase of life. For example, if we don’t learn to trust God’s intentions to be good, can we ever begin to become excited about His plan for our lives? Personally, I don’t believe we can. As such, the resolution of the specific crisis reflects on each subsequent crisis. The concepts and principles in this book relate to your relationship with Christ as it develops. For example, the case of trust vs. mistrust should be resolved in the first two years of your relationship with Him.

This study has crossed my mind several times over the years, and each time I distinctly remember throwing away all my notes on the topic. I even considered doing the research over again, but never had the thought of a book crossed my mind. The questions at the end of each chapter have the power to change your life. I believe with all my heart this book is from God. I thank Him for blessing me with the resources necessary to write this and give Him all the glory for impacting lives through me. My intentions for this book are to help you grow in His will for your lives and to come alongside you as a means of love and support, not condemnation or judgment. It is my fervent prayer that God will speak to each of you in a very personal way. Although I may never meet you this side of Heaven, I pray this book will open the door for the God of the universe to work His magical miracles in your life. I also pray that you will allow God Almighty into your daily decisions, so you will come to realize the power of true discipleship in its purest form. Webster’s New Dictionary defines the term disciple as, One who accepts and helps to spread the teachings of another. Given this context, I am nothing more than a disciple of God Almighty and His Perfect Son, Jesus Christ: nothing more and nothing less. As I write this book, 2 Samuel 23:2 will be my fervent prayer, The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; His Words are upon my tongue (NLT).

I have friends with family members who are not convinced of the truth of the Holy Bible. If this describes you, I will be praying for the Spirit of Wisdom to come to you while reading this book. You will see me quote the Holy Bible as a means of confirming what I believe. My purpose behind this is to point you to the source of all truth. So many Christians are judgmental, vindictive and bitter. This is not the true spirit of Christ, my friend. The true spirit of Christ is love, patience and support.

Crisis #1:

Trust vs. Mistrust: Birth - 2 years old

The first crisis, according to Erikson, is focused on trust vs. mistrust. Ideally, this crisis is resolved in the first two years of life (Newman & Newman, 160). It is very important to resolve this issue as it relates to our Heavenly Father because we must know that He can be trusted (Genesis 49:18; Leviticus 19:4, 20:6; Psalm 9:10, 11:1, 13:5, 28:7, 31:6, 33:4). It was Erikson’s belief that resolution of this basic crisis involves mutuality (Newman & Newman, 184). In other words, how consistently does Our Heavenly Father meet our needs appropriately? Don’t let yourself get tripped up on the word appropriately in this context. God always responds appropriately. We just don’t always see it as appropriate because we have just a small portion of the picture; He sees the whole picture. First John 4:8 tells us that, God is love. Also, in Psalms 46:10 we are reminded of the need to, Be still and know that I am God. So sometimes we just need to be still and know that He is love. Even when things seem dark and dreary, we must learn to see our lives through the filter of God’s eternal love. We must allow ourselves to rest in His eternal peace and provision in our lives (Psalm 23:2, 91:1, 116:7; Hebrews 4:1).

We tend to trust in our friends in this life more than God. If we can trust our human friends completely, what keeps us from affording the same trust to our Heavenly Father? Maybe it’s because we can’t experience Him completely with our natural minds. We tend to hesitate to trust in someone we cannot know is there based on our five senses. If we can’t see, hear, touch, taste or smell something, we tend to discount it as unimportant simply because we don’t understand it. In doing this with God, we focus on our circumstances instead of the Lord of our circumstances. This always brings more questions and confusion than peace. The God of the universe is not the author of confusion but of order (1 Corinthians 14:33). If we could just trust in His peace and plan for our lives, we would be able to stand strong in the face of adversity. He loves you so much and will never allow you to be tempted beyond your ability to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13). As we progress in this first stage of life with God, we must develop a specific emotional attachment with Him, be it positive or negative. Erickson believed there are three distinct attachment types (Newman & Newman, 166). Secure attachment is when you are sure that God is always there, no matter what you may be feeling. This is obviously the healthiest type of attachment in both cases: with God and others. When you know for sure that God is there no matter what you’re going through, it gives you peace. This is the peace that comes especially when you know that He loves you and gives you the strength you need at every turn. The second type of attachment is anxious avoidant. This type of attachment says, I know God is there, but can I ever trust Him again? It’s easy to get disillusioned with God when you think He has let you down. I know all about this from experience. Maybe you’re concerned that, like man, God will simply get tired of putting up with you and give up on you, if He hasn’t already. He addresses that concern repeatedly in Scripture. He loves you and will never leave you (Psalm 37:34, 40:1, 55:22; Matthew 28:20; 1 Peter 5:7). No thing you could ever do could make Him love you any less than He does at this very moment. I was there just a few years ago myself.

I’ve heard it said many times, God is not hearing me or if He hears my cries for help, why isn’t He answering me? I’m convinced that God always answers our prayers—there is no such thing as unanswered prayer. Sometimes His answer is, Not yet, I’ve got something better in mind, or sometimes He just gives us a peace deep down in our souls. Just because He does not answer you audibly do not fall for the lie of Satan that says, He doesn’t hear you, He doesn’t care, or He won’t answer you. Satan wants to get that message down into your heart. If he accomplishes that, he has won. Don’t give Satan the satisfaction of winning this battle. For if he wins this, you will struggle with trusting God for years to come. Satan may even have you doubting the very existence of God. Maybe you’ve gone through so much in your life that you don’t see how God could even exist, and if He does exist, He doesn’t like you for some reason beyond your understanding. Did you do something to make Him not like you? Let me assure you that you have not. This is simply another of Satan’s lies to bring you to the point of trusting in him rather than trusting in God. God sees you; He knows what you’re going through, and YES, He does care about you (Psalm 138:6, 139:7-10; Hosea 14:8; Luke 12:28; 1 Corinthians 6:15; 2 Corinthians 7:15; 1 John 4:8).

If you really stop to think about it, you will see evidence of God’s existence all around us. The very fact that you woke up this morning is a testament to His existence. Hebrews 11:3 says, Faith convinces us that God created the world through His work. This means what can be seen was made by something that cannot be seen (NLT). We are social creatures; we absolutely need each other. God created us to need the support of others (Romans 12:15-16). We must not allow others to control our thought patterns negatively. When you notice this happening, you must be strong enough to realize these friends are hurting your walk with God and act accordingly. It is only then that you will experience the perfect peace of the King of Kings.

A few years ago, I had a friend that only seemed to contact me when she needed something. She was really going through a lot at the time, so I gave her whatever she needed. Our friendship soon progressed into an obsession with me. I would cringe at the thought of missing her call, but when she would miss my calls, she was ignoring me. She never called just to check in with me or ask how I was doing because she was so caught up in her