Do you feel lost in a difficult season, wondering, “GOD, WHERE ARE YOU?!” In this eye-opening plan, best-selling author John Bevere equips you with key biblical insights and profound stories that will help you navigate your dry or difficult seasons and step into all that God has for you.
John & Lisa Bevere (Messenger Int’l)
Day 1
Scriptures: Job 23:8-9, Jeremiah 29:13, Hebrews 11:6
Where Are You?
Have you ever had a time where it seemed like the Lord was so close that all you had to do was whisper His name and He was right there and answered right then?
But then the time came when you left Him one message after another, and He seemed to have totally disappeared from your life. Maybe that’s where you are now and your question, which you want to shout in the stillness, is the cry of many who find themselves in a dry and difficult place: “God, where are You?!”
I experienced my first wilderness season as a young believer while living in Dallas, Texas, during the early eighties. As I naïvely entered this barren season, I felt like I had been abandoned by God. Before this, all I had needed to do was cry out and the Lord would instantly respond. I remember Him quickly answering the most trivial of requests. His presence was so near, evident, and strong.
Now, I just could not figure out what was happening. I was on my knees, day after day, crying out, “God, what is going on? It seems like You are a million miles away!”
During this time, I kept reviewing my life and asking, “What terrible sin have I committed?”
Well, the truth was, of course, that like every person on the planet, I periodically slipped into sin, but I also was quickly repenting and asking for the forgiveness that Jesus offers. To my knowledge, there was not some persistent, willful sin in my life.
“God, why aren’t You talking to me anymore?” I asked on one dry day after another. As the heavens felt like brass, I found myself at a critical juncture—would I give up my pursuit of God, feeling rejected or forgotten? Or would I press through the resistance with a passionate pursuit of the lover of my soul?
I chose the latter and was not disappointed. The wilderness is where we will discover what we truly hunger for—God, or the things of this world? If we allow Him to, the wilderness is where God will strip away ungodly desires and will create in us a heart that desires Him above all else.
Day 2
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 3:1-2, Hebrews 5:12, Hebrews 5:8
Growing Pains
The Christian life has some parallels to how a child grows.
When I had entered my first spiritual wilderness experience, it was as a spiritual infant. At the time I had a great natural example in front of me—my son Addison, who was about eighteen months old.
Lisa was a great mother, so when Addison whimpered, she was right there to care for him. In a flash he would be in her arms, enjoying the sustenance and comfort as he breastfed.
But then Addison, as does every child, needed to grow toward maturity. With all our boys—we have four—the time came when they needed to feed themselves. Oh my, what a mess—I’m sure you know what I mean! They try to eat, and half the food is all over the high chair and the floor.
During this time, children become frustrated with their parents because they aren’t spoon-fed like in the past. They whine and cry as you try to be a responsible parent. When our sons were flinging the food around, we wanted to jump in and take over, yet we knew it would hinder their progress. We were allowing our boys to grow up. We certainly didn’t want to end up still spoon-feeding one of them when he was an adult.
As babies grow, the level of assistance they receive changes to encourage growth and development. God does a similar thing with us, so we can develop and mature spiritually. When we are newly born again and filled with His Spirit, for a season He manifests Himself at our every cry. But then after time passes—and hopefully we move beyond just wanting milk (Hebrews 5:12)—in order to help us grow up and mature, He allows us to go through times in which He does not respond instantly to our every call.
When the Lord helped me understand that growing in spiritual maturity was something like the process every person must experience from childhood to adulthood, I became more reflective and wondered, Have I been wrong? Is what I’m going through not some kind of punishment from the Lord? Is it possible that I’ve been led to the wilderness to learn something—to grow in some way that will make me better equipped to follow and serve Jesus?
The truth is, you’re not just going through a wilderness season; you’re growing through it.
Day 3
Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 10:5, Deuteronomy 8:2, Exodus 13:17-18
A Positive Perspective
A spiritual wilderness does not have to be a negative time if we are eager to obey God. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but the desert’s purpose is quite positive: to train, purify, strengthen, and prepare us for a new move of God’s Spirit, resulting in us becoming more fruitful.
Unknowingly, when entering the wilderness, many people panic and behave unwisely. Without understanding, they search for and do the wrong things. An example might be a radical change in career or changing from one church to another—any drastic move in their life that they think will bring instant happiness or restore what was normal. For a single person, it might be leaping toward a new relationship after the hurt of a painful breakup.
If you search for an escape route before understanding why God has you in a particularly dry situation, you unwittingly prolong your wilderness time. This may cause more hardship, frustration, and even defeat, because you don’t understand the season or the place to which God has led you.
This was the case with the children of Israel during their forty years in the wilderness. What was to be a one-year wilderness journey became a lifetime experience. Ouch! A lack of understanding of what was happening to them caused an entire generation to be unfit to inherit the Promised Land.
God’s purpose in leading the children of Israel into the wilderness was to test, train, and prepare them to be mighty warriors able to capture and occupy their divine promise—a new homeland. But instead, the children of Israel erroneously perceived the wilderness as punishment, so they murmured, complained, and lusted constantly.
How tragic! If we can learn to recognize when we have entered a wilderness experience, we can avoid complaining and be thankful that beyond this place is a “Promised Land” of new maturity, power, blessing, opportunity, and fulfilled promise.
How have you viewed your wilderness season?
Day 4
Scriptures: Malachi 3:3, Isaiah 48:10-11, Isaiah 1:25-26, 1 Peter 1:6-7
The Gold Standard
Several decades ago, when I was still a young man just beginning in ministry, the Lord showed me during a time of prayer that He was going to begin purifying my life. I got so excited, I told Lisa, “God is going to remove my impurities!” I proceeded to tell her all the undesirable things God would be removing. (She may have even added a few I had left off the list!)
Then, for the next three months, nothing happened. As a matter of fact, things worsened in my life, and I was even more in need of purification. I went to the Lord and asked, “Why are my bad habits getting worse, not better?”
“Son,” He responded. “I said that I was going to purify you. You have been trying to do it in your own strength. Now I will do it My way.” I had no idea that I was about to move into my first wilderness journey and that it would last eighteen months.
Please understand—God is not looking for an outward form of holiness. He wants an inward change of heart—for a pure heart will produce pure conduct. The wilderness is one of the crucibles God uses to purify our motives and intentions.
The process in which God purifies is likened to the process in which gold is refined. Gold has a beautiful yellow color, emitting a soft metallic glow. It is widely found in nature but always in small quantities and rarely in a pure state. When purified, gold is soft, pliable, and free from corrosion or other substances.
If gold is mixed with other metals (copper, iron, or nickel), it becomes harder, less pliable, and more corrosive. This mixture is called an alloy. The higher the percentage of another metal, the harder the gold becomes. Conversely, the lower the percentage of an alloy, the softer and more flexible it is.
Immediately, we see the parallel: A pure heart before God is like pure gold. A pure heart is soft, tender, and pliable. The book of Malachi shows how Jesus will refine His church from the influence of the world, just as a refiner purifies gold.
In the refining process, gold is ground into powder and then mixed with a substance called flux. The two are then placed in a furnace and melted by an intense fire. The alloys or impurities are drawn to the flux and rise to the surface. The gold, which is heavier, remains at the bottom. The impurities, or dross (such as copper, iron, and zinc, combined with flux), are then removed.
The fire God uses for refining is trials and tribulations. The heat of these challenges separates our impurities from the character of God in our lives—thus creating a pure vessel. Interestingly, another characteristic of gold in its purest state is its transparency. Once you are purified by the fiery trials, you become transparent! A transparent vessel brings no glory to itself, but it glorifies what it contains.
Once we are refined, the world again will see Jesus.
Day 5
Scriptures: James 1:2-4, James 1:13, Luke 4:1, 1 Peter 4:1
Spiritual Strength Training
Obedience through tests, trials, and temptations develops your spiritual strength in a similar way to how physical strength is developed from weight lifting. If you’re able to lift a 145-pound spiritual challenge, but God has a plan or position that requires the capacity to lift 185 pounds of opposition, persecution, temptation, and trials, He won’t permit it—you’re just not strong enough. Instead, He will allow the training process to commence. He will permit—He won’t author—perhaps a 155-pound trial that will further test but not overwhelm you.
For example, maybe somebody gossips about you and spreads a rumor. Instead of countering the attack by defending yourself and spreading gossip about that person, you, in obedience to God’s Word, choose to say nothing and bless instead. That’s great—you lifted the 155-pound test! Now it’s on to the next level—165 pounds.
If you continue to obey His Word through the permitted adversities, your training continues until you arrive at the 185-pound level. You are now prepared for this higher plan or new position in the kingdom. This is the end intended by the Lord.
But if you respond to the gossip by getting offended and lashing back at the person—you guessed it—the Lord weeps and says, “I’m sorry, but you need to go back and lift some more 145-pound challenges.” You’re still in the “gym” but not benefiting from it.
The training continues but at the same level. Next, He permits a financial trouble—another 155-pound test—to come against you. But instead of seeking God’s provision, you immediately say, “No problem! Our credit card isn’t maxed out!” With that, the extra weight comes off and God says, “Back to 145.”
If wilderness tests—the “weight training”—are continually failed, the time will eventually come when God needs you for that particular kingdom task or position that carries the 185 pounds of opposition. However, you’re not ready because you don’t have the spiritual muscle to lift the adversity in that situation or position. This is when He must find someone other than you to handle the task or take the position.
What an opportunity lost! This is why the trials we go through are spiritual strength training that help prepare us for even greater tests in the future. With this understanding, we can count it all joy whenever tests and challenges come our way, knowing that they are working for us, strengthening our spiritual muscles and capacity—if we remain obedient through them.
Are you developing your spiritual strength? Or are you fighting in your own strength?
Day 6
Scriptures: John 7:37-39, Numbers 21:16-17, Proverbs 18:4, Proverbs 10:11
Spring Up, O Well!
I recall several instances in dry seasons when I would try to pray and found it difficult to get a refreshing drink of living water. One such time, I took my tent to a state park for a time of prayer and fasting. That night I prayed, then I read, then I began to sing songs of praise. I spent approximately three hours doing these things, and it seemed that I was getting nowhere. Nothing seemed fresh—I was as dry as could be. Very disappointed, I finally crawled in my sleeping bag and tried to sleep.
During the night, it seemed as if all the demons were having a celebration—I didn’t sleep very well. I tossed and turned, wondering why God was not revealing Himself to me. The next morning, I went outdoors and began walking the paths of the state park, praying in the Spirit, but still feeling very dry. This went on for another hour and a half.
I finally looked up and said, “Lord, I guess I am in the wilderness.” My thoughts were, I might as well go home and quit seeking Him. He has me in this dry place, and things won’t change until He brings me out.
This was erroneous thinking! God does not bring us into these times to frustrate us and get us to give up until He sovereignly changes our conditions! The wilderness is not intended to be a place of failure, but of victory! All of a sudden, I heard a still small voice within me say, “Fight!”
That one small word was the spark of fire and life I needed. Immediately I began to say, “Stir up the gift of God in me! Come forth rivers of living water! Spring up, O well, into my soul!”
As I kept repeating these words found in Scripture, the prayer became more and more intense until I found myself pacing up and down that path, praying and speaking the Word of the Lord with great fervor. Everything became fresh, and I felt enlivened! His presence was with me in a strong way. Just minutes earlier, I had felt heavy and weak. But now I was gearing up for battle, ready to face any enemy with the Word of the Lord!
Rain is scarce in the desert. Water is not accessed easily there and if it is to be found at all, it must be drawn from wells or springs. When you’re in a dry season, instead of looking externally to be refreshed, dig deep internally—where you’ll draw from rivers of living water.
Day 7
Scriptures: Psalms 138:8, Psalms 31:14-15, Proverbs 3:5, Jeremiah 29:11-13
Victory in the Wilderness
The wilderness is a place we visit, not our ultimate destination. If handled correctly, you will experience victory in the wilderness.
As a youth pastor in the late 1980s, I’d been in my passion-drained wilderness for what seemed to me way too long. I was beginning to wonder if any change would come to my struggle.
Shortly before trouble began with my direct boss (who would try to discredit and fire me) and while I was in prayer one day, the Spirit of God revealed to me that change was coming. “You will be removed from being youth pastor,” He said, “and I will send you to churches and cities from the east coast to the west coast of America; from the Canadian border to the Mexican border; to Alaska and Hawaii . . .”
I told Lisa what I’d heard from the Spirit, and the two of us pondered all of this in our hearts. We didn’t share it with anyone else (except for a pastor in a different state). God had said He would do it, and I knew that if it was truly Him speaking, I wouldn’t have to “help Him” accomplish this dream.
But it didn’t happen the next day—or even that week! In fact, several months passed. Then one day, my pastor walked into a meeting and said that the Lord had shown him that one of his pastors (there were eleven of us on staff) would be traveling full-time soon and would no longer serve on our church’s staff. “John Bevere, that man is you,” he said.
More time passed—six months, to be exact—of pressing through an intense desert experience. Then, in a period of only three weeks, I received seven invitations to preach—one was an hour from the Canadian border, one was on the east coast of Florida, another was an hour from the Pacific Ocean, and one was on the Mexican border! I walked into my pastor’s office to ask him what to do about them. He laughed and said, “John, I told you the Lord had shown this to me; looks like your time has come.”
A short time later in January 1990, the pastor laid hands on Lisa and me during a dedication service, and we have been traveling full-time ever since! It’s safe to say that we have seen much (and I can’t overemphasize the word “much”) more fruit manifest by waiting on God’s timing than if we had launched ourselves years before, when I thought I was ready.
I long to see the same results for you in your life calling. Trust God through the process. Promotion is coming!