THE SPIRIT WHO SPEAKS, God's Supernatural Intervention In Your Life, By Peter H. Lawrence

In the introductory portions of The Spirit Who Speaks Peter Lawrence establishes his belief that God can and does speak to his people. He does this by referencing some of the many times God spoke in the Bible. He begins with Genesis where, “In the beginning, God said, Let there be light…” He points out that God also spoke to Adam and Eve, Abel, Noah, Abraham all the way down through Moses and Malachi who began, “Thus says the Lord…” He also spoke to the world through Jesus and, on Pentecost, he spoke through the Holy Spirit. It is this Spirit that continued to speak through the Early Church era to Peter and the other Apostles, to Paul and Barnabus, Ananias, Phillip, the elders and other believers.

Okay, he’s made the point well. God is a God who spoke to all those people. That was then, but what about today? Does God still speak to his people? Lawrence insists he does and provides a multitude of examples from his own life to bolster his argument.

One of the things that I liked about the book is that Lawrence is honest enough to record the times when he thought God was speaking…only to find that apparently he wasn’t. Like the time he wandered aimlessly on a blustery beach desperately searching for the suicidal person God “spoke” to him about. The person, of course, was never there to begin with. He does this to illustrate the extreme danger of claiming the Holy Spirit spoke to you.

Not that he doesn’t believe that the Holy Spirit speaks, he does. However, he’s humble enough to acknowledge that while God is never wrong, man does not enjoy the same prerogative. To this end he reiterates over and over the need for discernment, even going so far as to provide mental checklists to help the reader determine whether they’re hearing the Holy Spirit, their own imagination and ego, or in the worst case scenario, a demonic force. This is what I most enjoyed about the book, Lawrence’s ability to point out and even chuckle at his foibles and flops.

Because Peter Lawrence was an Anglican Vicar, I expected a no-nonsense British approach to things. That isn’t what I found. Apparently the Church of England covers a wider range of religious expression than I gave it credit for…including the charismatic. In a final, poignant chapter Peter Lawrence addresses his impending death. (He died before the book was published.) There is also a comprehensive discussion/study guide included.

—E G Lewis

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (September 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1434765296
• ISBN-13: 978-1434765291