PREPARED FOR PURPOSE
Empowered by the Spirit
By Trevor J. Partridge. Crusade for World Revival. 77 pages. £6.99
ISBN 978 1 853 455 674
This book is from the CWR Cover to Cover stable and is a Lent study guide; basically six studies on the Holy Spirit who sustained Jesus through his ‘lent’ in the desert and generally empowered his humanity. It is a glossy, colourful, quality booklet typical of CWR productions.
The format is also good, including icebreaker questions with visual aids, Bible readings, discussion starters and further readings from the Bible; designed to work in a small group setting.
I found it to be generally inspiringly biblical, but considerably shaped by a ‘charismatic’ agenda: page 27 seems to suggest that the inheritance, of which the Spirit is the deposit and guarantee (Ephesians 1.13,14), is here now in full; on page 42 the author presents a tripartite view of humanity as body, soul and spirit so that the Holy Spirit acts directly on the human spirit but only indirectly on the human soul and body; perhaps most significantly, John 20.31 is misused to make miracles now, not then, the (or ‘a’) basis for belief (p.57).
For all that, ‘whatever our view of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit or whatever experience we may have had of him in the past, we need to be full of the Holy Spirit today’ (p.23) — Lent or no Lent. To this we may all add a hearty Amen!
