One thing is certain, we are spiritual beings and when we become a Christian God dwells within us. I want to point out the danger and error of thinking that this becomes a fusion, the same type of union Jesus had within himself. It wasn't the Spirit of God 'coming down like a dove' that made Jesus become both entities. It was his identity, his intrinsic person as the Son of God that made this occur in fullness. If we think that when God comes to live in us when we become Christians it is the same thing we could encounter dangerous errors that can lead to all kinds of misunderstandings. With Jesus, the Holy Spirit came upon him, not within him. He WAS God so already contained the Spirit - his Spirit. With us it is obviously different.
We get indwelled by God's Spirit when we truly get born again. When we are baptised in God's Spirit, that is when the Spirit comes upon us. If we make the mistake of thinking the indwelling Spirit fuses with ours then it is a short step to thinking that everything we think of is , by definition, of God. This is dangerous because as we reason this out, it follows that a person believing they have a fusion of God and their own spirit, they have no way to gauge where their own thinking stops, and God starts, and vice-verca.
I offer the following description of how the indwelling Spirit works with us:
1) We have a spirit inside us, this is your own spirit, created by God but not God. It's you!
2) God comes and dwells within us by His Spirit when we repent and are made clean
3) The Spirit of God's role is to challenge our behaviour/motives with the aim of transformation
4) We are also led by the indwelling Spirit and given choices to follow or resist
5) In no place in the Bible do we find the Spirit losing His own identity, or us becoming robots
If a person assumes that theirs and God's Spirit is fused or somehow combined then they are struggling to find this in scripture. Such a person also runs the risk of confusing what elements of their thinking, decisions, direction or invention are themselves or God. If they assume that their own existence is fused with God, then they can never be wrong! It means that their outworked plans are, by definition, God's work! End of!
If we live in a correct mindset about how the Spirit dwells in our being yet separate from our own spirit, we can begin to find how we work with God on earth. The bible tells us we need to be living according to the Spirit (Rom 8). This means in our thinking, decisions, direction or invention we are open to prompts, leading, nudges, commands or demands within our inner being. Assuming we are open to this we can, step by step do God's will in God's way. It also gives us the latitude to be mistaken or wilfully do our own thing. It is entirely possible then to have an idea of what God wants (to see people saved) but outwork it in our own way (go and take a church model that is in contra-distinction to the scriptures). If however, you believe God is your auto-pilot and what you feel led to do is God, then you are in error. God is our co-pilot. he assists us but we have the controls and we always have the choice to follow his direction. I also believe that sometimes God can take over the controls. I also believe he lets us crash sometimes! You remain you, and God remains God. As stated, I have no clue how this occurs within us! I just know it is my yielding to God that will see Him able to work through this life.
As with everything, I would welcome comments on this!
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