172 GOOD MORNING, HOLY SPIRIT
It is the person who speaks against the Holy Ghost who
has made a decision to blaspheme. It is the one who says,
"I'm going to blaspheme, and I don't care what God thinks!"
Saul blasphemed the Holy Ghost when he rejected the
word of God. Demas, one of Paul's companions,
blasphemed when he turned his back on the gospel and
returned to the lusts of the flesh. Paul wrote, "... Demas
has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has
departed for Thessalonica" (2 Tim. 4:10).
Don't Let Him Leave
You say, "You have been telling us that we can't
blaspheme. What about Saul and Demas?" The point I am
making is that you can't blaspheme as long as you decide to
live for Jesus and stick with it.
The road to eternity is littered with people who start out
with Christ and end up with Satan. There are those who
walk an aisle and shake a preacher's hand as some kind of
an insurance policy on a mansion in heaven. But their
hearts did not follow their actions. Soon you find those
same people falling in love with lust or money or the glitter
of the world. And they say, "God, I'm leaving."
You may wonder, "How do I know that the Holy Spirit
is still with me? And how will I know when and if He has
departed?"
It is a device of Satan to attack you and fill your mind
with the words, "The Holy Spirit has left you. He's gone
forever. You'll never have Him back!"
But don't accept that. Here's how you can know that the
Spirit is still with you. This has been a great help to me and
I believe it will be to you. First, the Scriptures tell us the
Holy Spirit abides with every believer as counselor and
source of peace. Second, are you aware of the presence of