Forgotten God

I have started reading 'Forgotten God' as part of a small group that a couple of my friends started. So far I've gotten through the introduction, which I recommend reading, as well as the first 2 chapters.

Last night we held the first small group since we've gotten the books. I must say, God is awesome. The bible says we are to confess our sins with our mouths. Too often, I feel like I have no one to really confess to. In the church, I think, we all too often feel we have to live up to an image or standard and to share what we are truly struggling with, for many, just leaves us more vulnerable than we are ready to be. It is making a commitment to fully surrender a part of ourselves to someone, not knowing if we can trust them. The same can be said of our circle of friends. We know they have problems and struggles and stuff too. I have friends I've been friends with for years. Even though I've never been shy about sharing my faith and beliefs with these friends, or they with me, I don't pray with them. Why? It feels awkward. It is opening a side of my self, my life, that I should be able to with people I truly call my friends, and yet I find it to be so unappealing. Too easy to be hurt by. God knows how hungry I've been to find friends that I can truly have a spiritual relationship with. It's, in my opinion, one of the deepest, most intimate, and personal relationships I can have with others. Which may be why I'm so choosey and so cautious about having them. Last night, God showed me, I do. This is a great group of people. They've accepted me as a person, but are also not afraid to be there for me as spiritual accountability partners. To pray and seek God with me and not just say "Oh, I'll pray for you about that!" or "I'll keep you in my prayers" and then probably never pray for me, because they don't actually pray that often. I say that, because I've done that!

Last night as we began to discuss the book, the Holy Spirit began to move. Not only were confessions made, but I know my eyes were opened to things that I hadn't thought about before. How can others see that God is in me? Am I like a caterpillar who has an amazing metamorphosis and it's quite obvious there has been a change, or do I still look and act just like the rest of the world? Am I quenching God's Spirit, or am I letting the Spirit move freely within me? In all honesty, I do have fears. Fear of what others think of me and how they might perceive me if the Holy Spirit did move in me in a powerful and boisterous way. Having attended more than enough televangelist/traveling ministry things that came through town, I have become skeptical and critical of the dramatic ways in which these people behave and what they say. It is true, also, that I am the typical creature of habit, comfort, and sheltering. But God calls us to come out of our hiding places, to step out of our comfort zones, and to do things that don't always make sense to us from a human perspective. In these ways, I quench the Holy Spirit. I stifle the Holy Ghost. I reject the Spirit of God. But I don't usually think about that.

Forgotten God is about rediscovering the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the counselor, and re-evaluating how we allow the Spirit to move in and through us or maybe we don't. What is our relationship with the Holy Ghost? What should it be? What does the bible actually say about the Holy Spirit and His importance?

I'm looking forward to continuing this journey of rediscovering and re-evaluating as I read Forgotten God and share with the small group. As we pray together and allow ourselves to really let go and let God. I believe the Holy Spirit is extremely important in our spiritual life and I want more of Him in my life. I want to be like the caterpillar who becomes a butterfly.