Lighthouse Community Church

When conversing with fellow brothers and sisters, how often do you hear about the work of the Holy Spirit?  How often do you think about the Holy Spirit actively working in your everyday life?  As Francis Chan puts it, the Holy Spirit is “tragically neglected and, for all practical purposes, forgotten.”  Perhaps this why he refers to the Spirit as the “Forgotten God” in his latest book, Forgotten God: Reversing our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit. Unlike his previous book, Crazy Love, which focused on our obsession with God and issues with settling for a lukewarm Christian life, Chan emphasizes the importance of recognizing the Holy Spirit’s work in our daily lives as well as the need to develop a relationship with Him.  Chan explores the fundamental knowledge that most Christians have of the Holy Spirit, studying key Scripture passages about the Holy Spirit and continuously reminding us of our desperate need to desire and live the Spirit-filled life. 

Similar to Chan’s writing style in Crazy Love, he communicates truths about the Spirit that are clear, concise, and practical. He also incorporates short stories and interviews of individuals asexamples of the work that Spirit has done in their lives, much like those individuals he used in Crazy Love. He begins the book by discussing our need for the Holy Spirit even though we already have a relationship with Jesus.  He gives the example of how a church can grow numerically just by combining a charismatic speaker, talented worship band and great fellowship, but none of it necessarily means that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working in the people who are attending; it just means that the church has created a place that is appealing enough to draw people to its service on Sunday.  Chan observes that many of us may have a lot of “head knowledge” about the Spirit, but not much of a relationship with Him.

One of the Chan’s simplest and most practical truths is that many of us do not want to be led by the Holy Spirit, or more fundamentally, we don’t want to be led by anyone other than ourselves.  It ultimately comes down to trust - we must trust God and have faith in him alone . We must trust in the God who has sent the Spirit to dwell in and guide our lives.  We must remember that it is the Spirit that led us to the cross just as He led Jesus to the cross.  As believers, if we truly want to live empowered by the Holy Spirit, than we must honestly be willing to do His will.  I appreciate the fact that Chan challenges us as Christians with the truth that  if  “a person is habitually and actively submitted to the Spirit, [then] what comes out of his or her life is the fruit of the Spirit.” 

In the chapter titled “Theology of the Holy Spirit 101,” Chan states six practical truths about who the Spirit is and what He does in our lives. Some of the examples include how the Holy Spirit is a person, the Holy Spirit is God, the Holy Spirit has His own mind, and He prays for us and how the Holy Spirit is omnipotent, omnipresence and omniscient. While the Holy Spirit will always remain somewhat mysterious, this should not prevent us from seeking to know him and worship him for his work in our life.

The ultimate goal of the book is not to formulate or explain the entire doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but it is to learn how to live faithfully by the Spirit, acknowledging the Sprit’s work within us.  Hopefully this book will be an encouragement to Christians on how to be obedient and live the Spirit-filled life.