Thoughts on "Forgotten God"

I just finished Forgotten God by Francis Chan . . . and I loved it. Can you believe after my experience with the last Francis Chan book I read that I would enjoy a subsequent one so much?? [Sidenote: I didn't really hate Crazy Love that much. It just terrified me. But it was actually a good thing. It was that book that has spurred me to study and search so much since then.]

Anyway, I started reading through the New Testament a while ago as an attempt to fall more in love with Jesus. I got to Acts a few months ago and have just been stuck. I'm dumbfounded by the way the Spirit worked in the first believers, and don't understand why we don't experience Him that way anymore. (At least I don't!) When I heard about Forgotten God, I knew I wanted to read it.

I was telling Niki that I think she should read this book because it addresses so many of our questions. She asked if it gave any answers. Haha. Really, I'm not sure it does. But it was reassuring to have someone else express the questions I have.

I could write a blog for every chapter in this book, but right now I want to touch on the overarching theme that is something I think God is really trying to teach me.

Sunday night, Justin was using the computer and I was bored, so I went in my quiet bedroom and sat down to read chapter 6 of Forgotten God. It's easily my favorite chapter of the book. It answered so many of my questions, gave me so much to think about, and just made so much sense. The last part of the chapter is about making ourselves so powerless that anything we achieve is obviously from God. It really resonated with me, because that morning in church Pastor Chris had preached on essentially the same thing. He talked about how Abraham was just an ordinary man who got a calling from God and obeyed it. He continued to be a sinful, ordinary man after his calling. (Lied about Sarah being his sister, had an affair with Hagar, etc.) And Pastor Chris admonished us not to avoid obeying God's calling because we think we're too ordinary.

So I was mulling over all that on Monday when I sat down to do my Bible Study lesson. We're studying Radical. You know I've already read it, but I've forgotten a lot. So imagine my surprise, when I turned to chapter 3 and read almost exactly the same thing I had read the night before - about letting myself be powerless so God can work mightily through me.

And the final chapter of Forgotten God that I read tonight continued on that theme. Hmmm. I think God's trying to tell me something. Of course, the practical side of me starts asking, "What do you want me to do, God?" I start wracking my brain for ideas: sponsor another child, become a Compassion Advocate, march into Alpha Women's Center and ask for a volunteer position, sell all my belongings and give to the homeless in downtown Grand Rapids.

Toward the end of the last chapter, Chan talks about how we as Christians try so hard to achieve the fruits of the Spirit on our own.

Instead of mustering up more willpower, let's focus our energies and time on asking for help from the One who has the power to change us. Let's take the time to ask God to put the fruit of His Spirit into our lives. And let's spend time with the One we want to be more like. (pg. 148)

He talks again, later, about how we are always striving for something, always doing something. This is exactly my problem. I love to read all these books, but I don't understand how to practically carry out their principles in my life. Chan's argument is that our first priority should be prayer. Instead of running off doing a bunch of good things, we need to be praying. (The next book I read is going to need to be about prayer!)

And in the meantime, we don't just sit around twiddling our thumbs. Another part of chapter 6 that I loved was when Chan said to quit looking for God's will in your life. This is going to be a long quote, but it's a good one:

God wants us to listen to His Spirit on a daily basis, and even throughout the day, as difficult and stretching moments arise, and in the midst of the mundane. My hope is that instead of searching for "God's will for my life," each of us would learn to seek hard after "the Spirit's leading in my life today." May we learn to pray for an open and willing heart, to surrender to the Spirit's leading with that friend, child, spouse, circumstance, or decision in our lives right now. (pgs. 120-121)

 I don't feel like I'm expressing myself very eloquently - which is why you should read the book for yourself. :-) The biggest thing I've taken from it is that God has a plan for me that is more than going to work, making dinner, and watching TV. He's not going to reveal his entire plan at once, so I need to be in a close enough relationship with him that I recognize his calling each step of the way. I'm really going to start praying that the Spirit will reveal what he wants me to do and give me the courage to do it - and not just in a grand sense. Maybe God is calling me to start some kind of ministry, but like that last quote, I also need his leading in my every day circumstances. I need him to permeate my life in such a way that when people look at me, they see him.

I'm scared to death, but believe that he can overcome my fear. :-)