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The Expectation Gap: The Tiny, Vast Space Between Our Beliefs and Experience of God

by Steve Cuss Publisher: ZONDERVAN

Critically Recognized

When belief and experience feel out of step

Regular price $20.60 USD
Regular price $34.34 USD Sale price $20.60 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praise from Christine Caine

    Christine Caine calls it the most helpful book she has read in her thirty-five years of ministry for recognizing...

AlbakiReads Editorial

When belief and experience feel out of step

Steve Cuss examines the disconnect that can arise between Christian beliefs about God and a person’s everyday experience of faith. The book names struggles such as not feeling loved or seeing God’s presence, alongside frustration over spiritual progress. Cuss presents tools for identifying expectations and patterns that he describes as keeping people spiritually stuck, then considers habits and practices for a deeper faith life. Its emphasis is practical spiritual growth, with attention to inner criticism and anxiety as part of the wider question of how faith is experienced.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Christians navigating a gap between what they believe about God and what they experience day to day.
  • Readers seeking practical reflection on spiritual habits, expectations, anxiety, or inner criticism.
  • Those interested in Christian spiritual growth and deepening their experience of faith.

Themes

Christian spiritual growthBelief and lived experienceExpectations and spiritual patternsAnxiety and inner criticismFaith practices

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

Learn how to quiet your inner critic, confront chronic anxiety, and relax into God's perfect presence.

Do you truly experience the promises Jesus gave to those who follow him--the benefits of peace, freedom, and love? The fact is that many of us struggle with a gap between what we believe about God and how we encounter him in our everyday lives. We don't want our faith to be merely conceptual--we want to experience it viscerally--and yet we often come up against one or more of these major gaps:

  • I believe God loves me, but I don't feel it.
  • I believe God is with me, but I don't see him.
  • I thought I'd be further along in my spiritual progress by now.

 

In The Expectation Gap, Steve Cuss--pastor and founder of the leadership organization Capable Life--offers tangible tools for engaging with God in a deeper, more soul-satisfying way. You'll unveil harmful expectations and patterns that keep you spiritually stuck so that you can replace them with habits and practices that will lead to a more vibrant faith life.

"This is the most helpful book I've read in my thirty-five years of ministry when it comes to recognizing, naming, and bridging the gap between what we believe about God and what we experience from God." --Christine Caine, founder of A21 and Propel Women

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Customer reviews

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AlbakiReads
Malaika Taylor

I highly recommend to for anyone looking for inner clarity

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Thomas DiMassa

Great service and fast service

Great shopping experience! The book arrived quickly, was well packaged, and matched the description perfectly. I would definitely shop with you again

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Olivia

Smooth.