For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Romans 8:5

A few years back Francis Chan, the well-known author of Crazy Love, wrote a book on the Holy Spirit. He called it Forgotten God, an intriguing title. His point was that the church in America has largely neglected the Holy Spirit.

Is that true? I think so. When you compare the numbers-driven, consumer-oriented church in America with the prayer-fueled, Spirit-empowered church in Acts that turned the Roman world upside down there is quite a difference. Something, or Someone, is missing. 1 Corinthians 4:20 says: "For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power." That is not so obvious of the church in America, where there is more talk than power.

Some struggle with the name, Holy Spirit. They get Jesus. They get the Father. But the Holy Spirit remains elusive for many. In fact, some think of the Spirit as a force or an energy.

But the Bible is emphatic, the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is a Person. The Holy Spirit is a He, not an it. The Holy Spirit is inside every Christian. If you know Jesus, the Holy Spirit indwells you. The Almighty, Sovereign God indwells you. Christian life is life in the Spirit, life by the Spirit, life from the Spirit. I suspect that for most of us, including me, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, God has more for us. Consider the ever-quotable A.W. Tozer's comment:

We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low. We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone ... [We] have imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost.

O Lord, fill me afresh, fill us afresh with your Spirit!