Table of Contents
The Holy Spirit and the HIV Patient
The Holy Spirit will never leave anyone based on a disease or illness. The only condition the Bible depicts the holy spirit leaving is if an individual continues down the path of sin and chooses to no longer listen to the Holy Spirit (1 Samuel 16:14). However, if a person truly repents of their sins, God does forgive. The Lord promised, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The Lord is always ready to forgive the repentant sinner. Faithfulness is one of God’s great qualities (1 Corinthians 1:9; 10:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Timothy 2:13). How often peace is lost to the one who doubts God’s faithfulness! The devil does his evil work to destroy faith in the Lord’s love for His children.
Justification
Confessed sins are atoned for by the Lamb of God (John 1:29). The gracious love of God accepts the repentant sinner, the confessed sin is taken away from him, and the sinner stands before the Lord covered with the perfect life of Christ (Colossians 3:3, 9, 10). The sin has gone, and the sinner is a new man in Christ Jesus. This first step when the sinner turns from his sin and accepts Christ as his personal Savior by faith and receives forgiveness for all past sins, is instant. It is called justification (Romans 5:1).
Sanctification
The second step is that God not only forgives the sinner, but He cleanses him and gives him victory over his weakness. When confessing his great sin David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalms 51:10). God requires moral perfection of His children (Matthew 5:48) and He has made provision so that every sin may be successfully resisted and overcome (Romans 8:1–4).
This is a day-by-day cleansing process that takes place when the Christian daily connects himself to the Lord through the study of His Word and prayer. This process is called sanctification (Romans 6:19). The work of sanctification needs careful watching unto prayer to prohibit the old habits from entering life again (Romans 6:11–13; 1 Corinthians 9:27). The role of the will is very important, but the will is weak until the Holy Spirit has cleansed and strengthened it.
We need to always remind ourselves of the divine strength that will keep us from falling (Jude 24), and if we do fall because we failed to use that power, we should repent immediately and go to Christ for grace and pardon (Hebrews 4:16; 1 John 2:1). Therefore, the answer to the above question depends on the person’s willingness to forsake his sin and walk with the Lord through His enabling grace.