[nazerene] * WHY DON'T I ALWAYS FEEL THE HOLY SPIRIT ?
WHY DON'T I ALWAYS "FEEL" THE HOLY SPIRIT ? Dear brother bob, I am confused about God taking his Holy Spirit away. I can not feel HIM at certain times, especially if I have gone astray. This is very scary. Yet I am assured that He never leaves us or forsakes us. After I take my eyes off him and am in pain and regret, it takes a while to feel HIS love for me again. Yet I do know He is there, but I feel like he is further away... separated by my wall of sin. Praying for forgiveness and repenting does not instantly put me back in his loving arms. This is so confusing...please explain. Thanks. God bless you... F-- Dear F, Thanks for your question.. This is a really good one, because it cuts right to the heart of being a christian in everyday life, in all circumstances... In the New Testament scheme of things, after Christ breathed on His disciples and said "Receive ye the Holy Ghost"(John 20: 21-23), the Holy Spirit was given to live inside us. Before this time, "the Spirit was not yet given"up to this point..and it was not given" because Jesus was not yet glorified"(John 7:38-39). Up until then, the Holy Spirit only rested upon people, for various types of spiritual service to God. In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit "rested upon" people, and then they prophesied or did other supernatural things, like Samson"s great strength. And they were able to do the will of God with supernatural power as long as the Spirit rested upon them. In those times, a person's salvation was marked by God changing their name, the name being significant of a person's character, Gen 32:28 as an example. But their ability to do great things for God was connected to the Holy Spirit resting on them..and if they were disobedient to God or sinned, God took away the Holy Spirit from them. This removal of the Spirit, for example,caused Samson to bejust anordinaryman again, unable to do the powerful things that God was able to accomplish through him. Actually, it does not say that Samson all of a sudden became unsaved because of this, because he again seeks God's gift and help and God gives it to him again... showing that he still enjoyed God's favor and usefullness. Only his supernatural abilities were removed. In some ways, there is a certain consistency between this and the new testament way of doing things if we are not experiencing the filling of the Holy Spirit, we are not able to do great things in the power of God either. But there the similarity ends, because the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us, and takes up permanent residence in our hearts. He says He will never leave us or forsake us, (Heb 13:5) so He will not take His Spirit away from us, but we are just unable to enjoy the Spirit's blessings because of the convicting work of the Spirit as the result of our sin. As Paul says... I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.(Gal 2:20) Paul treats the indwelling of Christ as a present fact, and does not leave the door open to this being a temporary condition. Of course, committing a sin will temporarily disturb our Fellowship with God, we feel guilty, we feel that God no longer hears us, we feel we are worthless and get depressed and agitatedas it says... But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, such that he will not hear.(Isa 59:2) But still, the promise of God remains the same..WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.. And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.(1 John 5:11-13) Eternal life is a possession, and eternal life goes on forever, by the very definition of "eternal"...So how can you have eternal life one day, and lose it the next day, and then get it back that day after that??This would be temporary life dependent on our fallen nature to maintain.This is not Biblical, and no where can you findverses in the New Testament to support this. Of course there are people who"appear" to be saved, and then in times of difficulty may fall away or turn theirbacks on God and His salvation. Butit is doubtful if these were ever really saved, as Jesus describes in the Parable of the Sower and the Soils. But this is another whole study. If you have commited some sin, and the Holy Spirit is convicting you of it and you fell awful and like God has drawn away from you, the remedy is to confess that
[nazerene] *WHY DON'T I ALWAYS FEEL THE HOLY SPIRIT ?
WHY DON'T I ALWAYS "FEEL" THE HOLY SPIRIT ? Dear brother bob, I am confused about God taking his Holy Spirit away. I can not feel HIM at certain times, especially if I have gone astray. This is very scary. Yet I am assured that He never leaves us or forsakes us. After I take my eyes off him and am in pain and regret, it takes a while to feel HIS love for me again. Yet I do know He is there, but I feel like he is further away... separated by my wall of sin. Praying for forgiveness and repenting does not instantly put me back in his loving arms. This is so confusing...please explain. Thanks. God bless you... F-- Dear F, Thanks for your question.. This is a really good one, because it cuts right to the heart of being a christian in everyday life, in all circumstances... In the New Testament scheme of things, after Christ breathed on His disciples and said "Receive ye the Holy Ghost"(John 20: 21-23), the Holy Spirit was given to live inside us. Before this time, "the Spirit was not yet given"up to this point..and it was not given" because Jesus was not yet glorified"(John 7:38-39). Up until then, the Holy Spirit only rested upon people, for various types of spiritual service to God. In Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit "rested upon" people, and then they prophesied or did other supernatural things, like Samson"s great strength. And they were able to do the will of God with supernatural power as long as the Spirit rested upon them. In those times, a person's salvation was marked by God changing their name, the name being significant of a person's character, Gen 32:28 as an example. But their ability to do great things for God was connected to the Holy Spirit resting on them..and if they were disobedient to God or sinned, God took away the Holy Spirit from them. This removal of the Spirit, for example,caused Samson to bejust anordinaryman again, unable to do the powerful things that God was able to accomplish through him. Actually, it does not say that Samson all of a sudden became unsaved because of this, because he again seeks God's gift and help and God gives it to him again... showing that he still enjoyed God's favor and usefullness. Only his supernatural abilities were removed. In some ways, there is a certain consistency between this and the new testament way of doing things if we are not experiencing the filling of the Holy Spirit, we are not able to do great things in the power of God either. But there the similarity ends, because the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us, and takes up permanent residence in our hearts. He says He will never leave us or forsake us, (Heb 13:5) so He will not take His Spirit away from us, but we are just unable to enjoy the Spirit's blessings because of the convicting work of the Spirit as the result of our sin. As Paul says... I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.(Gal 2:20) Paul treats the indwelling of Christ as a present fact, and does not leave the door open to this being a temporary condition. Of course, committing a sin will temporarily disturb our Fellowship with God, we feel guilty, we feel that God no longer hears us, we feel we are worthless and get depressed and agitatedas it says... But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, such that he will not hear.(Isa 59:2) But still, the promise of God remains the same..WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.. And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.(1 John 5:11-13) Eternal life is a possession, and eternal life goes on forever, by the very definition of "eternal"...So how can you have eternal life one day, and lose it the next day, and then get it back that day after that??This would be temporary life dependent on our fallen nature to maintain.This is not Biblical, and no where can you findverses in the New Testament to support this. Of course there are people who"appear" to be saved, and then in times of difficulty may fall away or turn theirbacks on God and His salvation. Butit is doubtful if these were ever really saved, as Jesus describes in the Parable of the Sower and the Soils. But this is another whole study. If you have commited some sin, and the Holy Spirit is convicting you of it and you fell awful and like God has drawn away from you, the remedy is to confess that
