[Mad Dawg]

"'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear
And Grace that fear relieved."

So shall we say the Holy Spirit was not there when the heart feared but the fears were not yet relieved? Not me. Where is the Holy Spirit NOT present? "If I go down into the pit, you are there."

Whether the Spirit actually vacates permanently the person,...

I think language fails us here, but if I were to accept, so that we could have a conversation, your manner of saying it, I would move to make it "permanently and/or entirely".

[jo kus]

So shall we say the Holy Spirit was not there when the heart feared but the fears were not yet relieved? Not me. Where is the Holy Spirit NOT present? "If I go down into the pit, you are there."

That is why I carefully nuanced my reply. I said that God, a spiritual being, is present wherever He has an effect. Since God maintains being in existence, technically speaking, He never fully leaves a person. However, His "effect" is drastically limited when we turn away from Him and refuse to repent. Didn't Jesus make that clear to the Pharisees???

Regards