This powerful book is dedicated to "reversing our tragic neglect of the Holy Spirit."
Forgotten God, by Francis Chan, is a book with very directly stated goals: to inform its readers of the lack of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and to encourage growth in each of us to truly pursue an authentic relationship with the Spirit.
Do we allow the Spirit to lead us in worship, and in our lives? These are the crucial questions that Chan addresses. He teaches we should be in relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; he asks “We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two?” Forgotten God reminds us we are called by God to be temples of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit should dwell within us, and Chan asks us to never forget it.
In our humanity, we all struggle with confidence and having strength to trust. Chan tells of his relatable struggles with feeling guilty for his inadequacy to follow the Lord. “Serving God and living faithfully became a constant guilt trip of ‘trying harder’ and ‘doing better next time.’ I have spent much of my Christian life battling insecurity, never quite feeling sure of my salvation, living out of fear and a desperate determination to earn acceptance,” writes Chan.
The Holy Spirit offers this to us; total acceptance. The more we learn to trust Him to lead our lives, the more and more we will receive. The Spirit gives us confidence so we can enjoy intimacy with our Creator. From engaging in a relationship with the Holy Spirit, we gain intimacy, security, and encouragement to live more faithfully for our Maker. The Spirit reminds us that we’re God’s children and loved unconditionally. The Spirit desires to use us; to spread God’s love in amazing ways we never deemed possible. The Holy Spirit, if present in our lives, can lead us to fulfill our Maker’s goals in creating us. As Chan observes, “if you’re still alive on this planet, it’s because He has something for you to do.”
How do we come to know the Holy Spirit? Be quiet and listen. “In the craziness of our world, it takes tremendous effort to find a quiet place. It takes time to quiet your mind and your heart before the Lord,” says Chan. Maybe we need to make a special effort to listen, instead of distracting ourselves with our phones, emails, televisions, video games, to-do lists, etc. Once we make space for the Spirit and full-heartedly attempt to get to know Him, we’ll be able to draw closer. We are also called to take chances in our lives; “put [ourselves] out there,” in a situation where we need the Spirit’s guidance. We’re only given one life. We can either live the gospel, or we could sit in complacency. “Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the ‘Helper’ or ‘Comforter,’” Chan writes. How do we expect the Spirit to help or comfort us if we aren’t in situations where we need Him?
Chan teaches, and attempts to personally live, a lifestyle that's fully engaged with the Spirit. He wants to live each day in the presence of the Holy Spirit, to fully know the Spirit as a separate entity. He is tired of hearing us compare the Triune God to earthly things; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are like the shell, the white stuff and the yolk of an egg. As Chan notes, “While these serve as cute metaphors for an unexplainable mystery, the fact is that God is not LIKE an egg. God is not LIKE anything.”
Chan is the founder of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley California, a congregation known for being radical with its missions and budget (they currently give away 55% of the church’s budget to ministries outside of Cornerstone). The church also sent $1 million, over the course of a year, to support the Children’s Hunger Fund. The congregation has recently decided to move out of their “comfortable space” in the church building, and into an outdoor amphitheater for their worship time, sacrificing comfort in an effort to free up more money to donate to other causes.
Chan and his family even left their home after returning from a mission trip abroad in Uganda, Africa, and plainly seeing how little he actually needed to live comfortably. He and his wife moved to a house half the size and began to take in relatives and friends in need of a place to live. Clearly, Chan is a pastor who is interested in living a more modest lifestyle—the very lifestyle he challenges his congregation to live.
Chan’s certainly not shy about telling us his perspective on the church’s inattention to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit “should not be a mostly forgotten member of the Godhead whom we occasionally give a nod of recognition to, which is what He has become in most American churches.” Imagine how powerful our worship time together could be, if we all sought the Holy Spirit to lead us! Chan discusses how energetic and well-attended worship services don’t necessarily mean the Holy Spirit is present. “Find the right creative team, musicians, and speakers, and you can grow any church,” he says. Surrender yourselves to the Holy Spirit. Pray independently, as well as together with the group you worship with, and work towards worship that is empowered and moved by the Spirit.
A notable feature of the book is the series of included testimonies from people of different ages and backgrounds. Chan wraps up each chapter with inspirational stories from people who have been able to make a difference in the lives of many because they’ve let the Spirit guide them.
Forgotten God brings up important questions for any Christian to consider. This book is meant to get our attention—there are plenty of “feel-good” Christian self-help books out there that are padded with encouragement and that are non-confrontational, but this book confronts the reader. It is encouraging in a different way, an important way that asks us to question ourselves and how we’re living our lives. Chan gives us a lot to think about; maybe we should listen to him.
