Daily Devo

Has Your Faith Stalled?

By: Keefe Wilson

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Galatians 5:7 (ESV)

As a missionary, I remember driving our old van on Okinawa. It ran fine on flat roads, but Okinawa has steep hills. On the way to school one morning, traffic slowed down, and I saw a long, steep hill up ahead. I gripped the wheel, pressed the gas pedal down, and started praying! Halfway up the hill, the van's engine began to lose power; then it sputtered and stalled. All I could think was, “Lord, please don’t let our van stall on this hill.”

Cars stacked up behind us, and there was nowhere to pull over. As my kids shouted, “Go van, go,” I only had two choices: panic, or keep my foot down and trust God. By His grace, the van made it to the top of the hill. Once we crested the hill, it was smooth sailing all the way to school. I started to see my walk with Jesus was similar to my life in Okinawa—never flat, and a hill around every corner. Just like our van stalled halfway up a hill, I realized my faith often did the same! No matter how often I attended church, my faith seemed to occasionally stall.

Paul saw this same pattern in the Galatian church. His question to the Galatians still applies to us; Who hindered you from obeying the truth? Notice, Paul didn’t ask them if they had stopped believing; he asked them why their obedience was hindered. How about us... is our faith still growing, or is it stagnant?

A "stalled faith" is dangerous, but it rarely begins with outright rebellion; it's more like a slow drift away from spiritual disciplines. How does it happen? We stop praying with expectation. We don't hunger for God’s Word. We partially obey, then come up with excuses. Before we realize it, our faith is idling. Those idle days quickly turn into idle weeks. Our prayers become superficial, and we aren't spending time in God's Word. When our faith is stalled, serving others becomes a burden, not a joy. Christian fellowship becomes optional instead of essential. These are all signs our faith has stalled!

If we've stalled, God will help us get moving. Lean into Him and keep your foot on the gas. He doesn’t want us to quit; He wants us to ask for His help! Trust Him; talk to Him (pray) when you're facing a hill. Always keep moving towards God, even when it gets hard or uncomfortable.

God's power will help us make it past any of life's "hills", but we need to rely on Him to keep our faith from stalling!