Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit

by Francis Chan

But what if you grew up on a desert island with nothing but the Bible to read? Imagine being rescued after twenty years and then attending a typical evangelical church. Chances are you’d be shocked

Having read the Scriptures outside the context of contemporary church culture, you would be convinced that the Holy Spirit is as essential to a believer’s existence as air is to staying alive.

The fact is, I don’t have the “right” to write this book, but I believe it is a book that needs to be written, so I have written it, trusting that God will use it for His glory.

if the Holy Spirit moves, nothing can stop Him. If He doesn’t move, we will not produce genuine fruit—no matter how much effort or money we expend.

I hope we can go beyond our current understanding of the Holy Spirit and begin to commune openly … that our experience with Him would be day by day, even moment by moment. That by keeping in step with the Spirit, we might regularly fellowship over what He’s doing rather than what He did months or years ago.

When we are referring to God, balance is a huge mistake. God is not just one thing we add to the mix called life.

I have yet to meet anyone with too much Holy Spirit.

I know only that when you surrender fully to the Spirit, Christ will be magnified, not you (John 16:14).

“the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power” (4:20 NIV).

I refuse to live the remainder of my life where I am right now, stagnating at this point.

As we begin this book, may our desire to experience more of the Holy Spirit be our starting point. And may we open our hearts and lives to His presence and action more fully than we have ever done before. By the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, may we be different people when we finish from when we started.

I was taught to interpret the Scriptures through exegesis alone. Start with God’s Word; pray that the Spirit gives you clarity; then study to see what the text actually says. The Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Bible, so who better to help us as we seek to understand it?

We have measured ourselves by ourselves

but we also measure ourselves by a false image of the apostles as more than mere men.

Most people do not connect what is missing or wrong with a particular need for the Holy Spirit.

I asked the Spirit to make them “living and active” to me, though I’d been reading them for years.

(according to the world’s standards)

Even our church growth can happen without Him.

It certainly does not mean that people walk out the doors moved to worship and in awe of God.

Honestly, sometimes I am embarrassed by some of my “Christian” neighbors because my unbelieving neighbors seem more joyful, welcoming, and at peace. Why does this happen? And how is it even possible?

If it’s true that the Spirit of God dwells in us and that our bodies are the Holy Spirit’s temple, then shouldn’t there be a huge difference between the person who has the Spirit of God living inside of him or her and the person who does not?

But what do we do with the fact that Jesus says it is better for His followers to have the Holy Spirit? Do we believe Him? If so, do our lives reflect that belief?

WWJD is a great guiding question. I think an even more important one is "Do we believe Him?"

The reality is that the early church knew less about the Holy Spirit than most of us in the church today, at least in the intellectual sense. But they came to know the Spirit intimately and powerfully as He worked in and through their lives.

many of us don’t need more knowledge about the Spirit from a cerebral vantage point—what we need is experiential knowledge of His presence.

I think the fear of God failing us leads us to “cover for God.” This means we ask for less, expect less, and are satisfied with less because we are afraid to ask for or expect more.

it is a test of faith constantly, to dare to believe.

God is a good Father who wants to give good gifts to His children. Sometimes I forget this truth and beg as though He needs convincing. It’s as ridiculous as if my kids thought they needed to beg me to hug them. It delights my heart to hug them.

There is a huge difference between believing what God has promised and praying for things you’d like to be true.

It really comes down to trust. Do you trust God that when He says no or “not in this way” to you, you still believe He is good and doing what is best?

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

Sometimes the sin we take on becomes such a part of us that it requires this same kind of ripping and tearing to free us. The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christlike, and this can be painful.

The purpose of prophecy is to encourage and build up the body of Christ. Like every other gift, if it is not done out of love, it is meaningless (1 Cor. 13:2, 8; 14:3, 31).

If there was in place a healthy system of communal accountability and a commitment to biblical integrity, then maybe we would be slower to quench the Spirit in this regard. We would be quicker to “hold on to the good” instead of throwing out the good and the bad in one fell swoop.

maybe that is cause and not symptom. If conservatives would embrace prophesy, they would be that voice of reason in the prophetic world. Can the eyes get by without the hands or feet? Not as well.

We need the Spirit in order to live faithfully. But we also need one another as we work out our faith.

Anyone who has children knows they could be doing this only by the Spirit’s power.

For anyone who thinks their own life or marriage is hopeless, remember Domingo and Irene. God loves to take people in the worst of situations and transform them by His Spirit.

This is not an excuse to stop seeking to know Him, but don’t limit Him to what you can learn about Him.

We can easily fall into the trap of fixating on these questions and miss the crux of Peter’s message.

Too often we disdain our bodies as the source of sin and our fallenness; yet they are precisely where God the Spirit chooses to dwell!

I don’t know about you, but I find the thought of the Spirit of God praying for me according to the will of God extremely comforting.

Amen!

The Spirit is grieved when there is a breach in relationship, whether it be relationship with God or relationship with other people.

My concern is that I’ve met many people whose pursuit of miracles is greater than their pursuit of God.

Scripture emphasizes that we should desire fruit, that we should concern ourselves with becoming more like His Son.

I honestly believe that most of us—while we might say we want to be led by the Spirit—are actually scared of this reality.

His purposes are not random or arbitrary. If you are still alive on this planet, it’s because He has something for you to do.

More intimacy with Christ. More love for people. More of God in my life.

“Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’

first time that it stood out to me that the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of the Son.