The Holy Ghost, being God's Spirit, is given by God to all who are His children. And here I'm talking about those who truly belong to Him - not just Church-goers, doing all the right things to please God, or even coming God's Way but actually still in love with the World.
Just to state who this true Christian is: he/she is one who has become convicted of his sins & realizes that his efforts can't save him - only God can through the death & resurrection of His Son. When the sinner repents (which is done under the influence & presence of the Holy Spirit), that sinner is forgiven based on what Jesus has done on his behalf. That is, Christ's taking your sin's & crucifying them on the Cross meant that He took your place in death, so that you won't remain spiritually dead in sins, but made spiritually alive in Christ & also acceptable to God. So we say that the sinner, once condemned for his sins, is now forgiven, redeemed & made a new person through this Work of God, i.e. he is born again in his spirit.
So, if one is born again by God, he is in the family of God, with the many others who have come the same way: through the Cross. If then in God's family, God sets His Seal in him, marking Him as one of His children. And that seal is that of the Holy Spirit who lives within the child of God, marking him as one & also receiving the full ministry of God to him: of teaching, comfort, strengthening, conviction of any sin, wisdom & power to live correctly, & many more. The Spirit never leaves, even as Jesus has promised, which means that even though we might fail God at times, we will always repent & be restored - that's God's Promise. The 'Christian' who turns back & rejects God, is one that has not come to salvation God's Way, but his own way.
If someone seeks this mighty presence of God in his life by coming any other way, then he will be disappointed: his sins remain, his life will be the unchanged & he will appear as a religious person but without God.
Just to state who this true Christian is: he/she is one who has become convicted of his sins & realizes that his efforts can't save him - only God can through the death & resurrection of His Son. When the sinner repents (which is done under the influence & presence of the Holy Spirit), that sinner is forgiven based on what Jesus has done on his behalf. That is, Christ's taking your sin's & crucifying them on the Cross meant that He took your place in death, so that you won't remain spiritually dead in sins, but made spiritually alive in Christ & also acceptable to God. So we say that the sinner, once condemned for his sins, is now forgiven, redeemed & made a new person through this Work of God, i.e. he is born again in his spirit.
So, if one is born again by God, he is in the family of God, with the many others who have come the same way: through the Cross. If then in God's family, God sets His Seal in him, marking Him as one of His children. And that seal is that of the Holy Spirit who lives within the child of God, marking him as one & also receiving the full ministry of God to him: of teaching, comfort, strengthening, conviction of any sin, wisdom & power to live correctly, & many more. The Spirit never leaves, even as Jesus has promised, which means that even though we might fail God at times, we will always repent & be restored - that's God's Promise. The 'Christian' who turns back & rejects God, is one that has not come to salvation God's Way, but his own way.
If someone seeks this mighty presence of God in his life by coming any other way, then he will be disappointed: his sins remain, his life will be the unchanged & he will appear as a religious person but without God.
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