Can you lose the Holy Spirit?
Dear Mike,
Can the Holy Spirit leave a Christian and if so, under what circumstances?
In the Old Testament the Spirit would come upon various prophets or kings or judges for various times to enable them to serve in various ways on behalf of God's people. Here are some sources:
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit fell upon certain people, giving them extraordinary power to perform specific tasks for God. This is described in several places, including:
Judges
The Spirit of the Lord fell upon Othniel (Judges 3:10), Gideon (Judges 6:34), Jephthah (Judges 11:29), and Samson (Judges 13:25; Judges 14:6; Judges 15:14). The judges were often empowered by the Spirit to defeat Israel's enemies.
I Samuel
The Spirit of God fell upon Saul (I Samuel 10:9-10), giving him power to join in the prophesying of a procession of prophets. However, the Spirit later departed from Saul, and he was terrorized by an evil spirit.
Numbers
The Spirit came upon Joshua (Numbers 27:18).
Of course their possession of the Spirit was temporary and limited to God's specific purpose. The great promise of the prophets concerning the coming of the Messiah was that when He would come, everyone great and small would possess the Holy Spirit and have Him continually. This is why Peter quotes the prophet, Joel, in Acts 2:16-21. On the day of Pentecost Peter preaches the gospel and ends in Acts 2:38 by encouraging the people to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and the reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit (Indwelling).
Now, unlike the Old Testament there is no mention of the Spirit leaving a believer, however there is a cautioning that unchristian behavior limits the capacity of the Spirit to work within us (I Thessalonians 5:19-22). The idea is that continual willful sin (and apostasy is one of these) quenches or extinguishes the fire or zeal of the Spirit. It's not so much that He leaves us but rather that we extinguish His effect on us by our continual willful sin or unfaithfulness.