Forgotten God

I was privileged to get an advanced copy of Francis Chan’s Forgotten God Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of The Holy Spirit    available – Tuesday Sept. 1.

In this book Francis offers a solution to the at times lifelessness that characterizes those who call themselves Christians and the lack of potency and relevancy that can plague churches.  The solution being … acknowledging the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives and then yielding to His promptings.   Now as simple as this sounds and it should be.  Chan addresses some of the reasons intentional or unintentional that we tend to complicate things by ignoring the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.  What gives this book its conviction is the fact that this is something Francis is wresting with for himself and the life of his church.

In addition what I found helpful in this book is how he addresses two of the extreme responses to the Holy Spirit and shares the positives and negatives that these positions presents, but more importantly how we need to look beyond our understandings of these extremes and focus on the Holy Spirits working in our personal lives.  

There is a real ease to way the book is written.  I read the book in one sitting when I received it.  Yet at the same time do not mistake Chan’s conversational approach to his writing to be lacking in challenging thoughts and ideas.  For throughout the book there are considerations where we need to take time to mull over because of the incredible implications for our lives.  

Here are some thoughts from Forgotten God Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of The Holy Spirit that I hope will prod you to read it.

“The flip side of fearing God won’t show up is fearing that He will.  What if God does show up but then asks you to go to somewhere or do something, something that’s uncomfortable?  For many people, fearing that God will ask them to go in a difficult, undesirable direction outweighs the fear that God will ignore them.”

“The truth is that the Spirit of the living God is guaranteed to ask you to go somewhere or do something you wouldn’t normally want or choose to do.  The Spirit will lead you to the way of the cross, as He lead Jesus to the cross, and that definitely is not a safe or pretty or comfortable place to be.”

“When it comes down to it, many of us don’t want to be led by the Holy Spirit.  Or, more fundamentally, many of us don’t want to be lead by anyone other than ourselves.”

Comments

[Rod Kaya]

Chris,
you are welcome -- I put that out there because of my own struggle in that area.
May God help us all as we seek to follow Him!
Rod

[Rod Kaya]

Chris,

I am glad you are reading Crazy Love that was a very convicting book for me too. You are going to really like The Forgotten God -- let me know when you are finished reading it.

thanks for checking in

Rod

[Chris Tagnani]

Just finishing up Chan's "Crazy Love"...can't wait to get to this one!
God's really speaking to me about getting out of my darn comfort zone. Grrr....

[Chris]

Great reflection of my own self-chaotic struggle! On the surface, I worship but not to far down, I struggle to keep the mask of fear hidden...not wanting to look so weak. I fear He will put me on the edge. I stay in the shallow water...avoiding the reality that says mediocrity kills! Thanks for word.