by Louie Giglio
You have what He says you have.
You can be and do what He says you can be and do.
You are not a victim.
You are in Christ’s victorious procession.
You walk side by side with the King.
You are a loved daughter of the King.
You are a loved son of the Most High.
You are a trophy of His grace.
You are His light shinning like a city on a hill, bringing Him glory as you grow up to be like Him.
Acknowledgments
I am so humbled to be surrounded by an amazing team of people who make it possible for you to be holding this book in your hands. I’ve shared its contents for decades in a series of messages called Seeing God as a Perfect Father and consider it a life-message. But the premise did not originate with me.
Everything we are, we are as a result of the influence of others. The heartbeat of this book started with the teaching of one of my early mentors, Dan DeHaan. Dan modeled a passion for God that was contagious. Being around him made me want to know God more. Dan was the first person who helped me see that the Almighty was someone I could know intimately. And it was Dan who helped me realize that the God of the universe was also my Father. I’ve referenced Dan’s book The God You Can Know in these pages with the hope that you’ll read it for yourself. If you do, you will find the seeds of many of my core teachings and the genesis of the message in Not Forsaken .
Marcus Brotherton took my messages and shaped the original manuscript, staying involved throughout the writing process offering his invaluable writer’s insight and skill. An accomplished author, Marcus helped translate my speaking voice to the written page as a co-collaborator, encourager, and friend. This book would not have come to be without his contribution.
Our team at Passion Publishing is the best. Under the leadership and care of Kevin Marks, they support and extend the vision of the Passion Movement and of projects like this one. Kevin’s willingness to partner with me is a huge reason why the message of Not Forsaken is making it’s way to readers around the globe. Along with Kevin, Hoke Bryan and Sawyer Nell have been exquisite in the creation and execution of our plans on the sales and marketing side of the equation. This book would not be possible without them.
I’m thankful for Devin Maddox and our new partners at B&H. I’m humbled by their belief in this book and the ways Devin and his team helped shape the final product.
The incomparable Leighton Ching collaborated with the B&H design team to help achieve the beautiful cover.
My team of Sue Graddy, Anna Butel, and Brittni Adams not only make my day-to-day life possible from a logistics point of view, they add much more in the way of wisdom, insight, and perspective to projects like this one. Their fingerprints are on this book and everything God has called me to do in this season.
Shelley and I do life together. She has been such a big encourager of this message over the years and brings the tenacity, wisdom, and discernment that make every project I undertake better. She has so much insight and leadership gold to share with the world, yet she willingly champions me and my messages in a way that is stunning and impactful. She is the most beautiful gift God has given to me.
Notes
1 . Peggy Drexler, “Daughters and Dad’s Approval,” Psychology Today , June 27, 2011, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-gender-ourselves/201106/daughters-and-dads-approval .
2 . Frank Pittman, “Fathers and Sons,” Psychology Today , September 1, 1993, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/199309/fathers-and-sons
3 . A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York: HarperCollins, 1978), 4.
4 . Ibid.
5 . Eric Smille, “Hubble Captures Farthest Galaxy Ever Seen, 13.4 Billion Light Years Away,” Newsweek , March 4, 2016, https://www.newsweek.com/hubble-farthest-galaxy-photo-video-433802 .
6 . Statistic according to the Census Bureau, https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic.
7 . “Funeral Service Transcript,” The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association , March 2, 2018, https://memorial.billygraham.org/funeral-service-transcript/ .
8 . https://neurosciencenews.com/name-face-memory-10194 .
About the Author
Louie Giglio is Pastor of Passion City Church and Original Visionary of the Passion movement, which exists to call a generation to leverage their lives for the fame of Jesus.
Since 1997, Passion has gathered collegiate-aged young people in events across the US and around the world, and continues to see eighteen- to twenty-five-year-olds fill venues across the nation in pursuit of lives lived for God’s glory. Most recently, Passion hosted forty thousand college students and their leaders in four venues linked together across three cities at Passion 2019.
In addition to the collegiate gatherings of Passion Conferences, Louie and his wife Shelley lead the teams at Passion City Church, sixstepsrecords and the Passion Global Institute.
Louie is the national bestselling author Goliath Must Fall , The Comeback , The Air I Breathe , I Am Not But I Know I Am , and Indescribable: 100 Devotions about God & Science . As a communicator, Louie speaks at events throughout the US and across the globe. He is widely known for messages like “Indescribable” and “How Great is Our God.”
An Atlanta native and graduate of Georgia State University, Louie has done post-graduate work at Baylor University and holds a master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Louie and Shelley make their home in Atlanta.