Can you get the Holy Spirit back? This is one of the most asked questions in the Christian circles and if you are such a person wondering the same, then this post is for you.
There are several opinions out there, of whether you can lose the Holy Spirit in your Christian life or not but not all of them are biblically accurate for sure.
This is why we need to look at what the bible says for us to get an accurate answer to the question, “can you get the Holy Spirit back,” especially if you have backslid and gone back into sin.
When you search the internet out there, you will find several answers to the above questions where some say yes you can lose the Holy Spirit while others seem to say no but which of these answers are biblically correct?
And this is what this post will answer today as we will attempt to look at what the scriptures say concerning the question,” can you get the Holy Spirit back when you have backslidden or gone back to sin?”.
Before answering this question, we will first need to know who the Holy Ghost is and what His attributes are and the several bible verses that will show us whether you can lose the Holy Spirit or not.
What Is The Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is simply the third personality in the Godhead which consists of the Father, The Son, Jesus Christ in this case and the Holy Ghost. These three witnesses all bear record in heaven as we see in 1 John 5:7.
Therefore, it follows that just like the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit has the same attributes as the former two have this means that He’s also personal, fully God, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and the Son.
So, it, therefore, follows that the doctrine of the trinity is indeed biblical as we see in the above bible verse and those who reject the trinity doctrine are in error and are called modernists.
I am sure you have come across preachers that deny the trinity doctrine due to their ignorance or lack of understanding of the scriptures. This is why you need to pray for discernment in the last days to avoid being led into error on simple doctrinal issues like these, dear saint.
Attributes Of the Holy Spirit.
There are several attributes of the Holy Spirit that can be seen both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament in the bible. One of the main divine attributes of the Holy Spirit is that He’s Holy just like the Father and the Son is.
Implying that He cannot dwell in the presence of sin just like God the Father and the Son can’t as they all three hate sin as sin is not compatible with their holy character. He’s also truth as well which is why He’s called the Spirit of truth in by the Lord Jesus Christ in John 16:13.
Another attribute of the Holy Ghost is that He’s eternal as we see in Hebrews 9:14 which means that He has no end or beginning just like Father and the Son are.
Additionally, The Holy Spirit is also God as we see in Acts 5:3, 4, which is why He’s referred to as God the Holy Spirit in the Godhead or trinity.
Can The Holy Spirit Leave You?
This is the question we need to answer first for us to correctly answer our main question of this post of whether you can get the Holy Spirit back.
When you look closely in the bible, it’s clear that the Holy Spirit can indeed leave you especially when you backslide and go back into sin as a result of your willful disobedience to God’s word and the promptings of His Spirit.
One such clear example where we see God’s Spirit leaving a person is in the Old Testament in the case of King Saul as we see in 1 Samuel 16:4 when He disobeyed the Lord.
From the above bible verse, it’s clear the Holy Spirit can leave you or any believer if you are disobedient to God’s word by living in willful sin even after several warnings from Him as God’s Spirit shall not always strive with the spirit of man (Genesis 6:3).
See Also: What Really Happens When The Holy Spirit Leaves You?
Sin Drives Away The Holy Spirit.
You must understand that God’s Spirit can’t dwell in the presence of sin which is why He will depart from any believer who chooses to go back into sin as the Holy Spirit just like the Father and the Son, Jesus Christ is simply too holy to dwell in the presence of sin.
People who say that the Holy Spirit cannot leave you are lying as the bible is very clear that the Holy Spirit will leave you when you chose to go back into sin or when you abandon your Christian faith even if you were a believer at some point in your life.
This is the reason the Psalmist David in Psalms 51:10 had to pray to the Lord that He creates a clean heart in him and to give him a right Spirit when he sinned by sleeping with Beersheba Uriah’s wife.
Kind David prayed like that because he realized that the Holy Spirit he once had was no longer in his life as he had defiled himself with sin even if he was a believer in the Lord before. So, you too if you condone sin, God’s Spirit will leave you as well, dear.
See Also. 10 Warning Signs The Holy Spirit Has Left You[ For Sure.]
Can You Get Back The Holy Spirit?
Now that we know that the Holy Spirit can indeed leave any true believer in Christ Jesus if they choose to go back into sin or lose their salvation, we can now answer the main question of this of whether you can get the Holy Spirit back if He left you due to sin.
The simple answer to that question is yes you can get back the Holy Spirit if you lost His presence or special anointing you had due to sin as we can see in Psalms 51:1-19 in the case of Kind David when he truly repented of his sins.
All you need is to return unto the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance so that He can forgive your sins and restore the lost fellowship of the Holy Spirit you earlier had.
Just as David was restored in the Old Testament, you as well can be fully restored and have the lost fellowship of the Holy Spirit you had before you backslid restored to you once again as well if you pray the prayer David prayed in the above bible verses from your heart of course.
See Also: How To Regain The Holy Spirit If You Backslid? [+ Sermon]
Conclusion.
I hope the above post on the question, “can you get the Holy Spirit back has thoroughly answered you and cleared any doubts you had concerning the above question.
If you are that person who has lost the fellowship of the Holy Spirit due to backsliding into sin, you can still repent today so that that lost fellowship of the Holy Spirit is restored to you.
In closing, if you found this post useful, kindly let me know in the comments below along with any questions you might have on what you have read. Be blessed and don’t forget to share.
Sharing is caring.
Further Reading.
- How To Be Born Again In 7 Simple Steps (+Video Sermon)
- How Soon After Death Do You Go To Heaven? [+Sermon]
- How To Stop Being A Lukewarm Christian [In 7 Steps]
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DLBC Christian ministry. Why do you ask? Thanks.
What about Hebrews 6:4-6 4 “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.”
Good question. That verse refers to those who have gone apostates and no longer want anything to do with God anymore and choose to remain stubborn in their backslidden sinful state despite several warnings from the Holy Spirit for them to repent. God bless.
Truth is the foundation upon which the Kingdom of God is built and what you shared is a Kingdom Message; it is truth! God gave Saul another heart and maybe we overlooked this. (1 Samuel 10:9) Saul did not only have God’s Spirit at one time, he also had another heart. Is it not written that God would give us a new heart and a new spirit so we could obey Him? (Ezekiel 36:26) Saul had both, but it seems to me that Saul did not always yield himself to the Spirit of God. And, if we are deluded to think that God can’t take away His Spirit we should think again. When we choose to reject God’s Word, God can reject us! God is God and He can do anything He pleases! (Psalm 115:3)
Thanks for your lovely input dear sweet sister in the Lord. Indeed what you have said is nothing but the truth most are unprepared to hear due to their itching ears. Indeed God’s Spirit will leave us if we entertain sin and reject the way of holiness and righteousness. God bless.
Thank you for your written message. I needed this today. I sinned the Holy Spirit and made a choice I regret. I am working toward gaining God’s trust back again as life is definitely not the same without his presence! I know he loves me. I need to work to show the same in return. ️
Glad you were blessed by this message. Indeed, it’s bad when God’s spirit leaves you but it’s not too late to repent and be restored if you mean it in your heart.
I agree that any born again believer can lose the Spirit as both the OT and NT make this clear. But I don’t believe David lost the Spirit nor see any biblical support it can be received back after the Spirit departs as that person would be condemned and forsaken by God. Davis prayed that God would not take His Spirit from him not to get it back. He prayed for a renewed heart and spirit because it had become corrupt and needed the Spirit to renew his mind and heart like all believers are commanded Io practice daily. David was living in sin and darkness and spiritually dying but the Spirit was still in him which we can see by the fact that he was convicted and broken when he was warned by the prophet. It seems evident that David still had God’s grace (Spirit) and a child of God in that we see God disciplining him and chastising him and rebuking him in sending a prophet to warn him and how David describes how he was miserable during that maybe year long period where he wasn’t confessing and repenting of his sin. David was a mature believer and understood God and what God desires and how someone can stray from God and be separated by sin and potentially lose the Spirit as he personally witnessed with Saul. I don’t think God would have removed His Spirit because David had unrepentant sin for 9-12 months. Could God do so? Of course. But God is very patient and knows all things and knew David would likely come to his senses and repent and be restored. Sin separates a believer from God and God is patient in His loving discipline. I think to lose the Spirit is to essentially develop a reprobate mind which is an any apostate and seems to be a permanent judgement from God that is irreversible. I don’t see any scripture in the NT that indicates someone can lose the Spirit/salvation and get it back as that would mean you can be saved/born again a second time, justified, sanctified, reconciled, adopted, etc. which only happen once when someone is converted and becomes a follower of Christ. If that could happen a second time that would be recrucifying Christ which Hebrews says is blasphemy and unforgiveable. The call to salvation seems to be a one time offer. If someone loses the Spirit, they do so with full knowledge and light and they willingly are rejecting God ans His word and Spirit and everything salvation brings (new life, freedom from sin, spiritual blessings/gifts, love, joy, peace, fellowship with Christ, eternal life, ruling and reigning with Christ, etc.) because they would rather be God and want sin and death more. The prodigal seems to be describing a backslider like David whose faith was dying because of habitual sin but the Spirit had not yet departed. God is patient and knows our hearts but sin is deceitful and has a hardening/blinding effect and will become harder and harder to confess and repent of the longer it is practiced. All of the warmings from Christ in the gospels and apostles show finality to someone losing the Spirit and rejecting Christ. They provide no escape clause showinf that repentance from unbelief to faith in God and to be born again being possible but rather becoming worse than before and receiving a worse punishment in Hell than someone who never knew Christ. The only example I have found in all of scripture that it is possible to lose the Spirit and get it back is Samson which would support your belief. But it also seems possible that when it said the Lord departed from Samson that it could be referring to his unique physical power given by the Holy Spirit because of his sin but that the Holy Spirit hadn’t yet departed and that the power of the Spirit returned when his hair grew back. Not everyone with the Spirit has the same gifts such as power so it could simply be referring to the Spirits power leaving. Other than Samson, I see no other biblical support a believer can lose the Spirit which would make them an unbeliever/apostate by the simple fact that the person had basically reverted back to living like an unbeliever and was rejecting Christ by their lifestyle and receive the Spirit back. Other than your interpretation of Psalm 51, what scripture is there to support your belief?
Thanks for your contribution. My question to you is are you Calvinist or believe in a false doctrine of eternal security? Thanks.
I was not a Calvinist when I was first born again, I just believed what scripture said and saw the same thread throughout the whole Bible that a believer had to remain faithful to Christ and flee from sin and walk in obedience or else the Spirit would leave. However, I became a Calvinist without testing that doctrine thoroughly as I trusted severely pastors and theologians that are believers. It can seem convincing depending on how you look at scripture and method of interpretation. It obviously is a comforting doctrine especially when you are walking close to Christ but it wasn’t good for me as I became spiritually lazy and drifted from the Lord without realizing it as I wasn’t vigilant during a lot of relational suffering in my marriage and stopped taking my thoughts captive and starting walking in the flesh and never confessed and repented of heart sin (thoughts/desires) bitterness, unforgiveness, jealously, etc and no longer feel the Spirit and my faith seems to have vanished along with all of the fruits and gifts of the Spirit. My whole inner man was transformed by Christ for 3 years and now all of those once new desires and affections for holiness and righteous and to love the Lord with all of my heart mind soul and strength and power of the Spirit are gone. It has been 2 years and feel spiritually dead and no fellowship with Christ and all prior spiritual illumination snd enlightenment is gone. Nonetheless, I would appreciate if you could answer my prior questions as I don’t have a lot of hope and see a difference between a backslider and apostate. Scripturally, a backslider seems like a belieber who still has the Spirit but is far from God and walking in the flesh and in danger of losing the Spirit but hasn’t. A backslider seems like David or the prodigal. That seems to me why David asked God not to take the Spirit away because it hadn’t yet left. I ask for the people reading your site who have lost the Spirit and want to know if there is biblical hope to get the Spirit back. If someone actually lost the Spirit, it seems like that would automatically make them a reprobate/apostate and disqualified from the kingdom of heaven.
Of course, one can still get the Holy Spirit back if they truly repent and one thing you need to remember is the Spirit won’t leave you immediately when you fall unless you stubbornly continue in your fallen sinful state, unwilling to amend your ways as it was in the case of King Saul who was rejected from being king of Israel. Hope this helps with your question. God bless.
No, I am not a Calvinist. I stayed in my reply I believe someone born again can lose the Spirit. I would greatly appreciate it though if you could address my prior questions though what scripture besides PS 51 and Samson shows a believer can lose the Spirit and get it back as it seems like to lose the Spirit would in and of itself indicate someone fell away (not backslid) is reprobate, an apostate and condemned by God. You reference the backslider as the person who can get the Spirit back and reference David but it appears in scripture a backslider is not someone who has yet lost the Spirit and is someone like David or the prodigal who has fallen back in walking in the flesh for a prolonged period and is dare from God and not going to have the fruits of the Spirit and feel miserable like David did but still has time to confess and turn back to God and be healed and renewed. I myself was born again and filled with the Spirit for 3 years but never matured as a believer and didn’t endure intense suffering while trial to reconcile with an unfaithful souse and fell back into a worldly mindset of.holding onto bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, resentment, etc and gave up in my heart in terms of not wanting to suffer anymore and haven’t felt the Spirit for 2 years and now feel like a slave to sin when I once had new life inside (illuminated/enlightened) with spiritual gifts and power over sin but now have no fellowship with Christ and live in despair and feel spiritually dead. I don’t see any hope for someone like myself or anyone else who has truly lost the Spirit based on scripture but want to know if you know of other passages or if you are only talking about a backslider who has not yet rejected Christ and lost the Spirit. My conversion experience matches up with Heb 6 and all of those spiritual gifts are gone now.
Answered your question in your previous comment just now. God bless.
No, I am not a Calvinist. I stayed in my reply I believe someone born again can lose the Spirit. I would greatly appreciate it though if you could address my prior questions though what scripture besides PS 51 and Samson shows a believer can lose the Spirit and get it back as it seems like to lose the Spirit would in and of itself indicate someone fell away (not backslid) is reprobate, an apostate and condemned by God. You reference the backslider as the person who can get the Spirit back and reference David but it appears in scripture a backslider is not someone who has yet lost the Spirit and is someone like David or the prodigal who has fallen back in walking in the flesh for a prolonged period and is dare from God and not going to have the fruits of the Spirit and feel miserable like David did but still has time to confess and turn back to God and be healed and renewed. I myself was born again and filled with the Spirit for 3 years but never matured as a believer and didn’t endure intense suffering while trial to reconcile with an unfaithful souse and fell back into a worldly mindset of.holding onto bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, resentment, etc and gave up in my heart in terms of not wanting to suffer anymore and haven’t felt the Spirit for 2 years and now feel like a slave to sin when I once had new life inside (illuminated/enlightened) with spiritual gifts and power over sin but now have no fellowship with Christ and live in despair and feel spiritually dead. I don’t see any hope for someone like myself or anyone else who has truly lost the Spirit based on scripture but want to know if you know of other passages or if you are only talking about a backslider who has not yet rejected Christ and lost the Spirit. My conversion experience matches up with Heb 6 and all of those spiritual gifts are gone now.
Good questions of course in reference to your questions, the Holy Spirit won’t leave you immediately you sin as He will convict you of your sins but if you remain stubborn and unrepentant, the He will leave you eventually. In the case of David and Samson, the Spirit didn’t leave immediately because they were repentant as you saw in those scriptures. If there were unrepentant of their sins, The Spirit would have eventually left them. Hope this answers your questions. Of course in your case there is still hope if your willing to return to the Lord and repent of all your backsliding since you haven’t fallen into apostacy yet. God bless.
Thanks for the reply. I guess I am a little confused as I thought your post had to do with biblical evidence that someone can get the Holy Spirit back which to me seems to imply that the person once lost the Spirit and got it back, right? Your post seemed to indicate David lost the Spirit but then it appears you clarified stating you don’t think he lost it but was in danger of losing it as any backslider would. So what exactly do you mean when you say a believer can get the Spirit back? After the person loses the Spirit or before the person loses the Spirit and they simply need to be renewed again and refilled with the Spirit after the person temporarily stops being currently filled and producing spiritual fruit and they become spiritually dry because of unrepentant sin but the Spirit hasn’t yet departed? You say I am not an apostate – I sure hope you are correct – but it sure feels like it on the inside and that my mind is reprobate. I don’t think at all the way I used to with my thoughts and desires being confirmed to God’s word and trusting in Him and walking in obedience. I don’t know how to trust Him and obey and renew my mind when I don’t feel hear His voice and see His Spirit changing my heart on the inside anymore. The regenerating work of the Spirit in changing my inner man.and all of the spiritual gifts and godly desires and mindset are completely gone. I remember shortly before this happened I could still feel the Spirit but the power was gone and I was spiritual bone dry and dying and losing my endurance and the illumination and enlightenment left and never came back. I could still hear Christ’s voice though in my mind and heart but it was very faint so my hearing was dull as scripture warns. Now I can’t hear Christ’s voice at all. If I had the Spirit still it seems like I should be able to hear Christ’s voice if I am still His child? He says His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. Hebrews warns to repent and press forward while you still hear His voice and He is near (still has His Spirit). And it refers to apostates as once being enlightened, tasting God’s word and kindness and salvation/Christ and the power of His Spirit as in the past tense, meaning they no longer do so. All of those spiritual realities I had are in the past for me meaning they stopped 2 years ago and never came back. Hebrews says someone like me who experienced all of those gifts after conversion and don’t experience them anymore cannot be renewed again to repentance which I would take to be because the Spirit left and leaving the person unable to get it back once it left. Lastly, have you or have you known any one to lose the Spirit and get it back? Thank you for your clarifying thoughts.
Of course a backslidden person who’s fallen back into sin can get the Spirit back provided if there are truly repentant. Also when a believer loses the Spirit and goes back to sin, that person is no longer a believer in Christ and has to repent for full restoration. Only then, can the Spirit return to the person once again. David was able to retain the Spirit as he was repentant and he did so immediately after falling into sin. Yes, he temporally lost the presence of God’s Spirit but He hadn’t completely departed from him which is why he prayed that God doesn’t completely take away His Spirit from him. Had he not repented, God’s spirit would have completely departed from him as it was the case of king Saul who never repented of his evil ways. Hope this answers your question.
So in Samsons case, I believe the word says the Lord departed from Him because of His rebellion/sin. Are we to take that as God’s Spirit depart/left Samson or just the power of the Spirit once his hair was cut off and just got God’s power back?
In the case of Samson, yes, the Lord departed from him for a while as he didn’t heed His warnings despite being warned several times until his hair was cut and eyes put out. Since he was repentant the Lord returned to him but sadly he was blind at this time while in prison which is a brutal price he paid for his disobedience and his lust for worldly women he was warned not to marry or associate with. Hope this answers your question.