Forgotten God. By Francis Chan

Forgotten God is a book by Francis Chan that specifically talks about the Holy Spirit.  So many times in the christian culture we completely forget or don't recognize the Holy Spirit.  I'm not talking about not knowing the Holy Spirit exists or denying that He is God, but forgetting that he is there, dwelling with in us.  God the Father, and God the Son seem to get all the attention.  God the Father created the world, or God the Son, Jesus, died on the cross for my sins.  And then there is God the Holy Spirit, umm.....oh yeah, the one that dwells in us.  Even this past Sunday at our church, many people were getting baptized and giving their testimony of salvation, one teenage girl in particular made me chuckle to myself when she thanked God and Jesus.  Normally I really wouldn't have thought twice about it, but because I was reading a book about the Holy Spirit, I was much more aware of the absence of mentioning the Holy Spirit.  I don't fault her for it at all.  I am public offender number one when it comes to forgetting about the Holy Spirit.  This is not a book that beats you over the head for constantly forgetting that the Holy Spirit dwells in you, nor is it a book about lifting your hands, speaking in tongues, and flailing on the floor because you are so filled with the Spirit.  This book is about God in the form of the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, (For those of us who are Christians) listening to his guidance, and living our life for God, not just inviting God to live life with us.  Francis gave some really good examples about actually following Christ through the Holy Spirit.  One example that he gave that really stood out was this:  when you truly want to be like someone (in our case it should be Christ) do you just try and do what they do, or do you actually follow them and mirror their life?  Francis takes seven chapters to cover the following topics regarding the Holy Spirit:

• The role of the Holy Spirit as Jesus' promised gift
• Fears and concerns about the Holy Spirit
• How theology about the Holy Spirit has more to do with how a person lives than what they say they believe
• Motivations around the Holy Spirit and his power
• What a relationship with the Holy Spirit can really be like
• Letting go of manipulation and control by trusting the Holy Spirit
• Living in true community with the Holy Spirit and with others

One of the things that I really appreciated about this book was at the end of each chapter he wrote a small biography on a person who was living out and demonstrating that aspect of the Holy Spirit in their life.  Francis doesn't just give you a bunch of useful information, but he gives Christians a call to action. This is definitely a worth while read for any Christian, no matter where they are on their spiritual walk.