One the saddest verses in the Bible concerns the strongest man in the Bible:  "But he didn't realize the Lord had left him" (Judges 16:20).  In our pursuit of the abundant/full/enjoyable/overflowing life Jesus promises us (John 10:10), we often run full speed along the wrong path, choosing to rely on our own strength and abiltities--like Samson did--rather than the Lord's.

You'll remember that when Samson was captured by the Philistines, he was tied up, his eyes were gouged out, and he was put to work grinding grain.  In other words, he lost his power, he lost his vision, and life for him was a grind.  Samson's condition describes how many of us feel as rely on our own power rather than the Lord's.  We stumble around, searching for the abundant life that seems to elude us.  We have no spiritual power, we have no spiritual vision, and our life is a grind.

The bottom line is that something's missing, and it's no small thing.  The "something" is the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus as the guarantee that he will give us the abundant life he promised (Ephesians 1:14).  A passionate Christian life will seem like a myth if we depend on our own strength.  By contrast, allowing the Holy Spirit to flourish in our lives will bring us vision, power, and purpose.

It's not that we've been totally ignorant of the Holy Spirit.  We know that the Holy Spirit indwells all believers who put their trust in Jesus.  And we know that in principle the Holy Spirit stays with us for good (Ephesians 1:13-14).  But we have gradually become indifferent to his power in our lives and instead have chosen to gut through the Christian faith experience on our own.  We've been depriving ourselves of the essence of what the Holy Spirit offers:  divine strength and guidance. 

The Holy Spiri may not "leave" us in the sense that we "lose" our salvation (although some may argue differently), but on a practical level, the effect is the same.  When we live the Christian life in our own strength, it's as if the Lord has left us.

We aren't lacking information about the Holy spirit; we are simply living without his input.  We are searching for spiritual meaning and purpose on our own, ignoring all the while that God is waiting patiently for us to rely on his Holy Spirit to guide us in the search and bring us into the passionate faith we so desperately desire.