In the 6th chapter of my book I discuss our hunger for communion with the Holy spirit in our time. It is a two-way communion, consisting of prayer as well as listening which calvin miller addresses. i begin with this excerpt from my book:

“it is the soul of man accessed through the human spirit that serves as the place of rendevous, of intimate, personal interaction with the holy spirit. we cannot escape the pain and pressures of life in our space-time, and we are yet fallen, but the holy spirit infuses our life with meaning, purpose and hope. we understand that the present is a preface to the ‘not yet’ eternal to come. the spiritual life wAS PROVED BY JESUS DURING HIS MINISTRY ON eARTH TO BOTH INDWELL AND EMPOWER HIS NATURAL LIFE AS IT SHOULD OUR OWN. MAN WAS CREATED TO BE RECEPTACLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. WE LONG AND WE THIRST TO BE FILLED WITH CHRIST’S INDWELLING.”

i INCLUDE A SECTION FROM CHAPTER 5 OF MY BOOK:

“in the word of god and the mind of man ronald nash explored the extent to which the human mind can receive and understAND DIVINE REVELATION OF TRUTH. THE HUMAN MIND IS UNIQUE IN PARTICIPATING INTERACTIVELY WITH THE ETERNAL lOGOS OF GOD, JESUS CHRIST. BY HIS RESURRECTION AND GLORIFICATION HE PROVIDES FOR THE INDWELLING AND COUNSELING OF REPENTANT PEOPLE AT THE LEVEL OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT AND SOUL’S MIND. NASH ASKED IF A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HUMAN MIND AND THE DIVINE MIND EXISTS THAT IS SUFFICIENT TO GROUND THE COMMUNICATION OF TRUTH FROM GOD TO HUMANS. HE CITED CARL F. H. HENRY WHO STATED THAT MAN WAS CREATED IN THE DIVINE IMAGE FOR AN INTELLIGIBLE, INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH GOD. HE FURTHER IDENTIFIED THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE REALITY OF INTERACTION BETWEEN THE MIND OF GOD AND THE MIND OF MAN, THE ETERNAL LOGOS, JESUS CHRIST. HE ‘MEDIATES ALL DIVINE REVELATION AND GROUNDS THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND HUMAN MINDS.’ THE CORRESPONDENCE ENABLES A HUMAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE DIVINE COMMUNICATION OF TRUTH. GOD CREATED MAN AS A RATIONAL CREATURE WHOSE FORMS OF THOUGHT CORRESPOND TO THE LAWS OF LOGIC SUBSISTING IN THE MIND OF GOD. THAT GOD ENDOWED HUMANS WITH HIS IMAGE INCLUDES A STRUCTURE OF REASON THAT REFLECTS GOD’S OWN REASON. FURTHERMORE, HUMAN BEINGS AS RATIONAL CREATURES POSSESS INNATELY AND UNIQUELY THE CAPACITY TO THINK CREATIVELY AND TO USE ADVANCED LANGUAGE. LANGUAGE IS A GIFT THAT FACILITATES THE PERSONAL AND COGNITIVE COMMUNION BETWEEN GOD AND HUMANS.”

“paul further taught that spiritual gifts are given to believers for the benefit of the whole church. these are supernatural, spirit-given abilities that are addressed in 1 corinthians 12:1-11. although there are a variety of gifts, they are given by one spirit for the common good, the spirit of jesus christ. these include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, the discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues, service, teaching, encouragement, sharing, leadership and showing mercy.”

i offer for consideration that god instantiates gifts as linguistic neural codes within memory accessed and applied by a believing, ‘sealed’ individual when following the leading of the holy spirit. this concept is derived through the research discussed in detail in both of my books. the proposal reflects concordance between applicable scripture and current findings of neuroscience.

“paul admonished believers to walk by the leading of the holy spirit. in doing so they manifest fruits of the spirit. these include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. the source of these effects is the character of jesus christ. the desire of the flesh reflects an attitude of defiance to god. but believers who live in obedience to the leading of the holy spirit are ‘sealed,’ signifying that god has ownership of them, that the lord is their shepherd as identified in psalm 23. the indwelling by the holy spirit is the first installment of all the coming benefits of eschatological salvation [already but not yet], and it functions as a guarantee that the benefits will come.”

in the fourth chapter of my book i include a discussion of the meaning of ‘heart’ in the bible:

“to what the word ‘heart’ refers can be confusing. it is a word used over 1000 times in the bible. . . . ‘heart’ refers to the center of emotional, intellectual and moral activity, of will and of reasoning. ‘the heart in scripture is variously used, sometimes for the mind and understanding, sometimes for the will, sometimes for the affections, sometimes for the conscience, sometimes for the whole soul. generally, it denotes the whole soul of man and all the faculties of it, not absolutely, but as they are all one principle of moral operations, as they all concur in our doing of good and evil.’. . . for the purposes of this book ‘heart’ will refer to the soul, which includes the mind, will and emotion, and the conscience interactive with the human spirit.”

In chapter 4 of my book i wrote the following:

“romans 8:11 states, ‘and if the spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit, who lives in you.’ . . . this verse shows that the holy spirit can live within a person. likewise, 1 corinthians 3:16 states, ‘don’t you know that you yourselves are god’s temple and that god’s spirit lives in you?’ this verse provides further confirmation that god does live in a believer.”

“‘the impression is everywhere in acts that the normal and expected condition of christians is that of being men and women under the spirit’s control.’ the holy spirit reveals god’s truth and will and speaks to and through people to guide them in their service to god.”

my research reveals that the indwelling of the holy spirit has been restored to repentant believers in our time by god’s grace through the sin sacrifice of the resurrected and living jesus christ. he is our counselor and helper.

“that the fulfillment of the kingdom will occur in the future is an ‘already but not yet’ concept developed by the princeton theologian gerhardus vos early in the 20th century. in the letter to the hebrews it is said, ‘yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. but we see jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of god he might taste death for everyone.’ the kingdom of god has ‘already’ been entered by the giving of the holy spirit to church believers. ‘but not yet’ refers to the kingdom to come described in 1 john 3:2-3, ‘dear friends, now we are children of god, and what we will be has not yet been made known. but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.’ we will be glorified.”

article 20 of the belgic confession states:

we believe that god - who is perfectly merciful and also very just - sent the son to assume the nature in which the disobedience had been committed, in order to bear in it the punishment of sin by his most bitter passion and death. so god made known his justice toward his son, who was charged with our sin, and he poured out his goodness and mercy on us, who are guilty and worthy of damnation, giving to us his son to die, by a most perfect love, and raising him to life for our justification, in order that by him we might have immortality and eternal life.

“oh, how boundless is our father’s love for us!”

“we look to athanasius (296-373 AD) to confirm the reality of salvation offered to fallen mankind through jesus christ. athanasius is regARDED AS THE FATHER OF CHRISTIAN ORTHODOXY, AND HE CHAMPIONED THE ‘VIEW THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS A FULLY DIVINE PERSON LIKE THE FATHER AND THE SON.’ ATHANASIUS ‘FOCUSED ON HOW THE IDENTITY OF CHRIST IN THE INCARNATION MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO ACCOMPLISH SALVATION. BEING BOTH GOD AND MAN HE COULD REPRESENT BOTH PARTIES AND RECONCILE THEM THROUGH REDEMPTION. . . . THE LOGIC OF NEW TESTAMENT DOCTRINE ON SALVATION ASSUMED A DIVINE-HUMAN CHRIST.’ HIS BIBLICAL ARGUMENT WAS THAT ONLY GOD CAN SAVE PEOPLE FROM THEIR SIN. JESUS CHRIST SAVES PEOPLE FROM THEIR SIN. THEREFORE, JESUS CHRIST IS GOD INCARNATE. NO HUMAN CREATURE CAN SAVE ANOTHER CREATURE; THUS IT WAS VITAL TO SALVATION THAT JESUS CHRIST WAS THE GOD-MAN.

“RESTITUTION OF AN INTIMATE, DIRECT, PERSONAL COMMUNION BETWEEN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT AND REPENTANT SOUL OF MAN HAS BEEN MADE AVAILABLE THROUGH THE LIVING JESUS CHRIST. MANKIND IS REDEEMED. SIN IS FORGIVEN. THE PENALTY HAS BEEN PAID.”