Take Hold Of The Faith You Long Forনমুনা

### The Land of In-Between [Illustrations included in this devotional are not visible in this view. Illustrations are only supported in the Bible App for iOS, Android, and at Bible.com] My early years in the faith were filled with wonder, expectancy, and downright giddiness. But somewhere along the line, I settled into being a good church girl—a Bible-study mom who moved into cul-de-sac Christianity, pitched my lawn chair under a shade tree, and waved at other well-mannered believers doing the same. Year after year I hoped, Maybe this will be the Bible study that will make it all better. The truth is, I didn’t even know what the “it” was. What do you do when your spiritual walk becomes a crawl? When you feel like a disappointment to yourself and to God? What do you do when you realize your once-passionate faith has morphed into a predictable, domesticated belief system? Sometimes the gap between the faith we long for and the faith we experience seems beyond bridging. We assume that going from where we are to where we want to be is impossible, so we settle in to the land of in-between. We read about the bold faith of others and think, Good for them . We make peace with passivity because we falsely believe God would never want to use the likes of us anyway. How do we move beyond the safe confines of cul-de-sac Christianity and into the mountain-moving, giant-slaying, lame-man-leaping, adventurous faith? We must be brave enough to let go of the lies that hold us hostage and take hold of the truths that set us free. Let go of festering offenses and take hold of forgiving grace. Let go of the preoccupation with self-doubt and take hold of the power-filled promises of God. Let go of comparing ourselves to others and take hold of our uniqueness fashioned by God. Let go of ungrateful grumbling and take hold of unceasing praise. Let go of paralyzing doubt and take hold of fleet-footed faith that’s ready to dance to the daring rhythm of God’s drum. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). He wasn’t simply speaking of the eternal life we receive when we leave this earth but the fullness and freedom we can experience in the here and now when we take hold of all He has taken hold of for us. How has your faith changed over the years? Would you say it’s gotten less bold or more bold? What do you think caused this change?