God Where Are You by John Bevere
God Where Are You by John Bevere
God Where Are You by John Bevere
For the L comforts Zion; He comforts all her waste places and makes her
wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the L ; joy and gladness will
be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
—Isaiah 51:3 ESV
GOOD COMPANY
As Christians face storms of adversity, they may rise with more beauty. They are like
trees that grow on mountain ridges—battered by winds, yet trees in which we find the
strongest wood.
—Billy Graham
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit . . . was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness.
—Luke 4:1 (NKJV)
W
elcome to the wilderness! Are you surprised by such a cheerful
greeting? Normally, we don’t expect that spending some time in a
spiritual desert is a good thing, but you need to know that our
beloved Father has a high regard for such places and you are now in good
company.
If you think the wilderness might be a good site not to visit on your
journey of faith, I urge you to reconsider! The truth is that in the wilderness
we find the footprints of countless saints—even the Son of God—who have
spent significant time on visits here.
In other words—when we go to the wilderness, we are in good company .
. . and not alone.
Please don’t accuse me of name-dropping, but the list of wilderness
dwellers is pretty impressive.
Of course I’ve already mentioned Job, the man whom the Bible describes
as “the greatest of all the people of the East” (Job 1:3 NKJV). He lost
everything—his possessions, children, health, the support of his wife. A
splendid, righteous man, Job was also accused of secret sins by close
friends. Job was so despondent in his wilderness that he said it would have
been better if he’d never been born.
In the wilderness you walk where Abraham, a wealthy man from Ur who
was settled in comfort, was asked by God to leave everything behind and
begin a journey to find a new promised land. And Sarah was right there
with him step by step! Much of their journey was spent in deserts.
Moses was very familiar with the wilderness. He had been raised in
Pharaoh’s court as a prince, but after killing an Egyptian, he found himself
on the backside of the desert, watching sheep for forty years, which is
where Moses was when God revealed Himself in the burning bush:
One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the
priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to
Sinai, the mountain of God. There the angel of the L appeared
to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in
amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn
up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush
burning up? I must go see it.” When the L saw Moses coming to
take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush,
“Moses! Moses!” “Here I am!” Moses replied. (Exodus 3:1–4)
Then, as we know, Moses went back to Egypt and led his people out of
Egypt into—why of course—the wilderness!
In the wilderness you encounter Joseph, the highly favored son of his
father who was thrown in a pit by his own brothers, then sold as a slave and
trafficked to Egypt. Later he was put in prison, after being framed for a
crime he didn’t commit. There, in Pharaoh’s dungeon, God revealed
Himself to Joseph and he began to interpret the dreams of the baker and the
butler. It unknowingly prepared him to interpret the dream of Pharaoh
himself.
And then there’s King David. Samuel prophesied that he would be the
next king, yet shortly afterward, David found himself preparing for the
throne by dwelling in caves and wandering in the wilderness. There, God
revealed Himself to David as his Shepherd, his Strength, his Shield, his
Fortress.
John the Baptist was called to be a great prophet—his dad had told him of
the vision that revealed this. Yet it was in the wilderness, not in a Bible
school, that the Lord revealed Himself to John, who ended up living in the
deserts of Judea, wearing animal skins and eating insects. Luke 3:2–3 says,
“. . . the Word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the
wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the
baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (KJV).
It was in the wilderness of Arabia that God revealed the mysteries of what
would become much of the New Testament to the apostle Paul, who writes
that it was God’s purpose “to reveal His Son to me so that I would proclaim
the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not
rush out to consult with any human being. Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to
consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away
into Arabia . . . .” ( Galatians 1:16–17).
Where was John the apostle when he received The Revelation of Jesus
Christ ?
I, John, am your brother and your partner in suffering and in God’s
Kingdom and in the patient endurance to which Jesus calls us. I was
exiled to the island of Patmos for preaching the Word of God and for
my testimony about Jesus. (Revelation 1:9)
Patmos was a deserted island—a perfect spot for a wilderness experience.
Most importantly, you are accompanied by Jesus, who after receiving the
blessing in public of His Father and the Holy Spirit, was divinely sent into
the wilderness to face Satan’s temptations.
I have observed that this is often the pattern: God shows us great things
that He intends to do through us in the future, and then He leads us straight
into a wilderness to prepare us.
If the wilderness was required for great saints and our Lord Jesus, then I
can grasp the idea that it will be good for me to spend some time in the
desert, although I may certainly wish there were an easier path. The
wilderness is the place where God tests, humbles, strengthens, and refines
us. This is where He molds godly character in us. It is the preparation
ground for future fruitful work in His kingdom.
The most exciting thing about the wilderness is that it is the place where
God reveals Himself in fresh new ways! The prophet Isaiah writes:
For the L shall comfort Zion: He will comfort all her waste places;
and He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the
garden of the L ; joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. (Isaiah 51:3 KJV)
The Garden of Eden was where God revealed Himself to Adam and they
had fellowship there.
In the wilderness you become hungry and thirsty for the Lord. Therefore,
when God gets ready to reveal Himself, in your deprived and more-focused
state, you can more easily turn away from the things of this life and turn
toward Him. If we are to respond to God’s call for us, our experience will
be like this. It’s in the wilderness that the Lord reveals Himself to us in a
fresh way. Isaiah 45:15 says, “Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O
God of Israel, the Savior!” (NKJV) For those who deeply desire Him, He
does this to create a greater hunger for the ecstasy of intimate fellowship.
The Lord also hides Himself from those who are not hungry for Him. He
will not be taken for granted. He will never be regarded as ordinary.
THE NECESSARY
WILDERNESS
Soar back through all your own experiences. Think of how the Lord has led you in the
wilderness and has fed and clothed you every day. How God has borne with your ill
manners, and put up with all your murmurings and all your longings after the “sensual
pleasures of Egypt”! Think of how the Lord’s grace has been sufficient for you in all
your troubles.
—Charles H. Spurgeon
The L your God led you . . . in the wilderness, to humble you and to test you, to
know what was in your heart . . .
—Deuteronomy 8:2 (NKJV)
F
or me, that first visit to the wilderness was a complete shock. Honestly,
my first couple of years as a follower of Christ were like an extended
honeymoon. Lisa and I had settled in Dallas, Texas, and after some
time working as an engineer, I took a ministry position with our church. I
was given the “job” of serving my pastor and his wife and helping host the
guest speakers at our large church. What a joy! I thought I was in heaven. I
was taking care of the greatest ministers of the gospel on the planet,
because our church was one of the most well-known in America.
As these great national and international leaders arrived at the airport, I
was there to pick them up and drive them to the church or to where they
were staying. During their visits, I always drove them where they needed to
go and shared meals with them. I got to spend hours and hours with some of
the greatest people in ministry of our generation. My first years in this
position were fantastic—full of life.
But then things started getting tough. Really, really tough. I didn’t know it
at the time, because God hadn’t revealed it to me, but I was entering a
wilderness. This is where God trains us. This is where our character is
developed and our faith is strengthened. A necessary wilderness.
Picture this: You are an Israelite, recently freed after a lifetime of slavery.
You just experienced the frightening, yet exhilarating, walk between two
walls of swirling, angry waters to come out safe and dry on the other side.
You turned to watch as those same walls that gave protection to you closed
in on your enemies. Your tormentors were destroyed, forever gone! You
joyously celebrated and danced at God’s victorious deliverance! You feel
invincible, knowing that God is on your side. You will never doubt His
might or faithfulness again!
But now the scene is different: it is a few days later—you are tired, thirsty,
and hot. You are not at the threshold of the “promised” land; instead, you
are wandering aimlessly in a desert filled with serpents and scorpions. You
are no longer dancing and singing to the Lord about the horse and its rider
thrown into the sea, but complaining to your leader saying, “Why have you
brought us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with
thirst?”
Now, let’s look at you . . . do you believe God mightily delivered you
from the power of the enemy only to leave you wandering aimlessly and
indefinitely through a desert of confusion and silence? Was this His
purpose? Of course not—this is just a necessary place to visit on your way
to a promised place.
Just as the Lord led the children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness,
so He leads you. The devil did not lead you here, God did. And there is a
purpose—a divine plan—for this dry time. First, He humbles us, then He
tests us. He does this so we can know the true nature of our hearts.
How does He humble? “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and
fed you with manna” (Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV). He humbled the Israelites
by allowing them to hunger. But His next statement declares He fed them
with manna. It sounds contradictory. How could He cause them to hunger
while feeding them manna?
Now, manna is the best food you can eat—it is on the menu of the angels!
Elijah was strengthened for a forty-day journey on just two cakes of it. And
the Israelites had an abundance of it. They received a fresh shipment from
heaven six mornings a week, and on this sixth morning the manna
miraculously lasted through the seventh day. They never missed a meal
from the day God first gave them manna until they camped on the shores of
the Promised Land.
So why did God say, “I caused you to hunger?” What hunger is He
speaking of? To understand, consider their situation. Let’s say all you had
for breakfast was a loaf of bread, and every evening all you had for dinner
was a loaf of bread. No butter, no peanut butter, no jelly, no cold cuts, no
tuna fish, just bread . Now, we’re not just talking about a few days or
weeks, but forty years of this diet!
When I was a youth pastor, we took fifty-six young people to the nation of
Trinidad for an eight-day mission trip. The church in Trinidad prepared our
meals, and our hosts were most gracious. But every day we ate chicken.
They prepared it many different ways and served it with rice and
vegetables, but it was always chicken .
After eight days of chicken, we hungered for something else. Upon
returning home, one of the young men in our group asked his mother what
was for dinner, and she replied, “Chicken!” He cried out and then begged
her to take him for a hamburger.
In Trinidad we were privately whining after only eight days; can you
imagine forty years? Not four years but forty years of the exact same food!
We now see how God caused them to hunger. He didn’t give them the
things their appetite wanted but what they really needed to stay alive and
healthy.
What else about their circumstances caused them to hunger, to long for
what they didn’t have? When we read this story we might think it’s quite
remarkable that their clothes and shoes didn’t wear out—what a savings to
the family budget. Well, how would you like to wear the same wardrobe for
forty years? How boring! No trips to a shopping mall or checking out new
styles online. The same pair of brown sandals for forty years!
Yes, they had their basic needs provided for—protection from heat and
cold—but so much of what they wanted was missing.
And think of the monotony of the same scenery, day after day—not for a
few weeks, but for forty years. How would we like to see the same cactus,
bulrushes, parched ground—no peaceful streams, lush forests, scenic
vineyards, or beautiful lakes—just desert day after day?
They had what they needed but not what they wanted. In light of this, let’s
reexamine this verse:
So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna
. . . that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread
alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of
the L . (Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV)
God created hunger by removing anything that would have satisfied the
desires and wants of their flesh, while still meeting their fundamental needs.
And the hunger provided this test: God wanted them to see if they would
desire Him instead of what they had left behind. Would they seek Him or
what their flesh craved? Would they hunger and thirst for righteousness or
for comfort and pleasure? Sadly, for the Israelites, their hearts weren’t set
on the only One who can satisfy, so they flunked the test:
Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began
to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also
began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. “We
remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all
the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now
our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!” (Numbers
11:4–6)
They remembered what they had left behind in Egypt, where even a life in
oppressive slavery now appeared preferable to the dry place where God had
led them. They began to complain and murmur, crying out for meat. God
heard their cry:
And He gave them their request, so they ate [meat—quail] and were
well filled, for He gave them their own desire. They were not
deprived of their craving; But [He] sent leanness into their soul.
(Psalms 106:15; 78:29–30 NKJV)
They got what they wanted, but at a high price. With this meat came
leanness of the soul. This leanness made them unfit to endure, unable to
pass the test and, ultimately, they never entered His Promised Land! The sin
wasn’t the request for meat, but rather, what that request represented. It
revealed the dissatisfaction of their heart with God and His method of
leading and providing. It also revealed their intense desire for the life left
behind in Egypt, which they now remembered as pleasant, forgetting they
had lived in slavery back there.
This is a sobering lesson for all of us: If we seek only the benefits of the
promise and not the Promiser Himself, we will not have the strength needed
for the desert moments of our life. Inevitably we will recall the good ol’
days which, if viewed with a true perspective, were not good at all, but
actually days of bondage.
It is one thing to seek the Lord for what He can give you or do for you . It
is quite another to seek the Lord for who He is . The first option is for your
benefit and your selfish motive will result, at best, in an immature
relationship with God. But seeking the Lord for who and what He is will
build the intimate and strong relationship we all desire.
SANCTIFIED SCARCITY
As we might expect, living in a barren wilderness involves scarcity of
resources—a time when you get what you need emotionally, physically, or
materially, rather than what you want. God has promised to take care of our
basic needs, so in the wilderness He provides daily bread, not an abundance
of things.
When times are good in America, we may say we are living high on the
hog. In the wilderness there isn’t even a single hog to be found! And the
experience can involve different types of deprivation. It is a time when you
experience what you need socially, not what you want. In the wilderness
God knows what you need spiritually, and it may not be what you think you
need! He meets our needs in this time—not necessarily our wants.
The purpose of the wilderness is to purify and strengthen us. Our pursuit
is to be His heart , not His provision . Then when we come into abundant
times, we won’t forget that it is the Lord, our God, who gives us abundance
in order to establish His covenant (Deuteronomy 8:2–18).
The fundamental problem is that our definition of needs and wants differs
from reality. We call our wants “needs” when this is not so! Perhaps too
many of us have yet to learn what Paul means:
Not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have
learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not
disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am. I know how to be
abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also
how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and
all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well-fed
or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going
without and being in want. I have strength for all things in Christ Who
empowers me. (Philippians 4:11–13 AMPC)
Paul learned through the strength of Christ that he could be as content in
dry times as he was in abundance. We appear not to have learned
contentment in the Western church either where, sadly, many with
abundance are no more content than those who lack. If we do not possess
all we feel is rightly ours, we think we are deprived. We judge men’s faith
and measure their spirituality by their possessions, how successful they are,
or their social status when instead what we should value is their character
and faith.
The children of Israel left Egypt with great possessions plundered from
the Egyptians—articles of silver and gold and fine apparel. But they used
the precious metals to build idols in the desert, then adorned themselves in
fine apparel and danced before them. Clearly these possessions did not
indicate godliness—in fact, the opposite was true. Only two of the original
members of the exodus had the character to enter and possess the Promised
Land. Only Joshua and Caleb entered, because they had a different spirit—
they followed God fully (Numbers 14:24).
Our value system is warped if we measure one another by the standard of
what we have and not who we are.
On the other hand, many times when a Christian comes into financial
abundance, or perhaps into a position of leadership or influence, they view
it as God’s permission to do as they wish! They buy whatever they want,
spending the money on their own desires, or use their position of influence
to their benefit. Those who behave this way are most often those who
mishandled the dry times. In actuality, financial blessing and greater
authority should bring greater dependence on God for His purpose and
leading.
Consider the attitude of Jesus in His ministry. He was not selfishly
motivated. He took upon Himself our sin, sickness, and the death penalty.
He valued our welfare as more important than His own, even though He
was innocent of any sin. His purpose for life and ministry was not self-
serving, but self-giving! Through denying Himself, He gave the greatest
gift of all—eternal life.
Such maturity of character is developed in us by God when we are in the
wilderness. The wilderness is where the fruit of the Spirit is cultivated.
Watered by the intense desire to know Him, we learn to walk as He walks.
A RELATIONSHIP
It is astonishing, how many difficulties clear up without any effort when the inner life
gets straightened out.
—A.W. Tozer
“If you love Me, you will obey My commandments.”
—John 14:15 (NET)
W
hat is God seeking for Himself when He arranges a wilderness trek
for us? We’ve touched on some of our benefits and will continue to
uncover more—but is there something in it for God as well? Yes,
there is. He desires to strengthen the level of our relationship. He longs for
us to be intimate with Him. Sadly, many of us seem prone to take advantage
of our relationship with our Lord—allowing our passions to ebb.
When I was engaged to Lisa, I was head over heels in love with her. I
thought of her constantly. I’d do whatever was necessary to spend as much
time with her as possible. If she needed something, no matter what I was
doing, I would jump in my car and get it for her.
I remember one time she and I spent close to five hours together at her
parents’ home. I reluctantly left. Almost as soon as I got to my place, my
phone rang. It was Lisa and with a sweet, alluring voice she said, “Honey,
you left your jacket at my house.”
It was music to my ears. Without hesitation I excitedly responded, “Well
then, I’ll just have to come back over and pick it up.”
I did and we spent another three to four hours together. It was a great day.
In those days if she would have called me in the middle of the night and
said, “Honey, I’d love an ice cream cone,” I would have happily responded,
“I’ll be there in the next ten minutes! What flavor do you want?” I would
hunt for time and reasons to be with her. Because of my intense love for her,
it was a joy for me to do whatever she wished. I didn’t do these things to
prove I loved her; I did them because I loved her.
I didn’t have to force myself to talk to people about her . . . I sang her
praises to anyone who would listen. If there was a lull in a conversation
with someone, without any effort I would steer us to talk about Lisa and our
upcoming marriage. I was in love!
Just a few short years into our marriage, though, I had turned my attention
to other things, such as sports, activities with friends and, especially, the
work of the ministry. It was now bothersome to spend quality time or do
something for her. Lisa was not in my thoughts as much. Gifts for her came
only on Christmas, anniversaries, and birthdays, and even that was a bit of a
nuisance. In fact, one Valentine’s Day I forgot to get her a present. She was
heartbroken. I had no recourse but to apologize. The saddest reality was my
immaturity to see the signs of our marriage season. Our union was strained;
my first love was dying!
I’m so grateful that eventually God got my attention and turned my heart.
He let me see how selfish I had become. Graciously, He rekindled the
flames of our love and healed our marriage.
Something like this can occur in our relationship with God. Many
followers of Christ reach a comfort zone or plateau where they begin to
maintain rather than pursue. They’re no longer chasing after God. They set
their personal spiritual standards by comparing themselves to others or by
what they feel is adequate. At this point, they stop seeking to know God
deeply as a person. Daily tasks, the pursuit of success, the cares of this life
become the focus. Now God is sought for His blessings, rather than to know
Him. They begin to err in their hearts, turning from God to self. They may
continue to develop “Christian” friendships and build their status or
position in the church, but they no longer yearn for the One who gives them
life.
When we spend time seeking God’s benefits and blessings, rather than
desiring an intimate relationship with Him, we are easily misled. Let’s be
honest, we pat ourselves on the back for spending the time in prayer, but if
we could see it from His vantage point, we’d realize we’re attempting to
use Him. He is reduced to a source of help in our time of need. But He
loves us too much to leave us deceived. He will do for us what He did for
these multitudes who were seeking Jesus:
On the following day, when the people . . . saw that Jesus was not
there, nor His disciples, they also got into boats and came to
Capernaum, seeking Jesus. And when they found Him on the other
side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”
Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you
seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the
loaves and were filled.” (John 6:22–26 NKJV)
Jesus knows the true motivation behind our actions. When the multitudes
of people came seeking Him , He discerned that they were more interested
in another blessing (free meal) than in seeing and understanding the signs.
A sign gives direction or information—it doesn’t point to itself. Jesus knew
the crowds really weren’t following Him because of the signs that revealed
Who He is, but only so their stomachs would be filled.
Do you know a person who only contacts you when they need or want
something from you? Or even worse, have you ever had someone seem to
want to be your friend, only to find out later that they just wanted to get
something—influence, money, material goods—from you? There was no
genuine concern or love for you, but for a time you served their purpose. To
be used like this is painful !
This selfish attitude has permeated society, as well as the body of Christ.
Many in the church are discontented; their love for Jesus has chilled. They
serve the Lord for personal benefit, not out of passionate love for who He
is. So, as long as God provides for their wants , they are happy and excited
about Him. But when trouble comes and life gets hard, the motive of their
heart is revealed.
Any time the focus is self , complaining will be inevitable. Why? Because
trouble or difficulty will eventually come. Once it does, the complaining,
fueled by selfishness, will begin. As the difficulty continues, so will the
complaining. This pattern is illustrated once again by the children of Israel.
When the Lord delivered them from the horrors of life in Egypt under
Pharaoh, the people rejoiced:
Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in
her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with
dances. And Miriam answered them: Sing to the L , for He has
triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the
sea! (Exodus 15:20–21 NKJV)
The people could not have been happier. They were overwhelmed by
God’s greatness, miraculous power, and goodness in delivering them from
their captors. Yet only three days later, when they encountered the bitter
waters in the wilderness of Shur, the complaining began: “What are we
going to drink?” they asked Moses (Exodus 15:24). This didn’t make much
sense. Couldn’t the same God who had just parted the Red Sea provide safe
drinking water? Wasn’t Moses the same heroic leader he’d been three days
earlier?
God did, indeed, change the “bitter waters to sweet.” But the memory of
that miracle faded quickly too. A few days later, the people continued
complaining—this time about the food. They murmured, “It was better for
us before God delivered us.” Really? Making bricks with guards beating
your back with a whip is better?
Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel
said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the L in Egypt,
when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full!”
(Exodus 16:2–3 NKJV)
In the hard, dry times when the complaining begins, it is usually directed
at leaders, family members, friends, enemies—even the government. Most
of us (out of fear) would never name God as the source of our troubles. So,
likewise, the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron, but no doubt
what they were really thinking was, It’s the Lord who has let us down !
Moses saw through it and called them on the carpet: “‘Your complaints are
not against us but against the L ’” (Exodus 16:8 NKJV).
The wilderness reveals the motives of our heart—whether they are selfish
or selfless . Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what’s really going on in your
heart; what is driving you? What attitudes or behaviors are keeping you
enslaved in your “Egypt” or causing you to complain in your wilderness?
It’s so vital to the health of your future to be honest and open to His loving
correction.
The good news for each of us is that nothing is stopping us from repenting
and changing the condition of our heart! In an instant we can stop the
murmuring and begin seeking a relationship with God, instead of only using
Him as a resource.
Out of love, then, God may send us to the wilderness.
NEW WINE
“May we be vessels for Thy new Wine that renews all things.”
—Ephrem the Syrian
“ Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will
even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
—Isaiah 43:18–19 (NKJV)
I
n order to know God more intimately, we must welcome change. And
there’s no better locale than the wilderness to experience it. Here, in
what may seem a most barren, forsaken place, we will witness a fresh
move of His Spirit.
The question many wrestle with is: Why does it take difficult or dry times
to bring change? Our discussion in this chapter will offer perspective.
Some time ago, after I had been through a difficult eighteen-month
wilderness sojourn, I was chosen to lead a youth ministry (yes, it was quite
a few years ago!). At the time, this church in Florida was one of the fastest
growing in the United States, so I was a bit overwhelmed because I had no
previous youth pastor experience. But I knew God had sent me, and if I
diligently sought Him, all would be well.
This youth ministry was built on a traditional model of giving the kids a
lot of cool activities. Sadly, many of these teenagers were not growing
spiritually. Many were living loose lifestyles. So, when I took over, I sensed
the Holy Spirit telling me, “Your message is to be on repentance, holiness,
obedience, and lordship.” So that’s what I taught and preached, and in time
the mood of the group changed dramatically.
The results were amazing. The youth group tripled in size within a matter
of just months. Gang members, cult members, and young adults who were
away from God were coming to know Jesus at a rapid rate. A lot of the
backslidden youth of the previous group were catching fire. All of us were
loving the rich presence of God and growing more in love with Him. God
was blessing us and our efforts tremendously.
I assumed I was through with any kind of wilderness season since I had
just come out of my first one in Dallas. I was now in my calling to preach
the gospel. I figured since Jesus only went through one desert, it would be
the same for me. How wrong I was. There was still a lot in store for me
regarding purifying and strengthening, and more to learn about the desert
season. And the wilderness I would eventually sojourn through next would
make the previous eighteen months look like child’s play.
The Holy Spirit was giving our leadership team so many innovative ideas.
This is what happens when new wine from heaven is given, when we are
“sent by God” after a season of desert preparation. He shows us how to be
effective and fruitful, like Moses, David, Joseph, and others.
The growth we were experiencing with our youth was truly supernatural.
Yet in the midst of all this success, I felt a strong burden for more than our
local group. I felt we were to reach out to all the youth throughout central
Florida. So, in prayer the idea arose, What if we put the youth service on
television? Back then—the mid-1980s—that was the best way to reach
people. There was no Internet, social media, YouTube, smartphones—
nothing. I found out that one of the local, high-power TV stations had a
potential viewing audience of four million people. Amazingly, this station
had a 10 p.m. slot open on Saturday night. I knew this would be a good time
to “catch” teenagers.
I ran the idea past our senior pastor, and he said we had no budget for this.
So I asked him if I could challenge our young people to help raise money to
fund a TV program. He gave us the go-ahead, so I presented a vision to the
kids of how we could reach young people throughout central Florida who
were strung out on drugs, alcohol, or facing other problems. The kids in the
youth group caught the vision and with their earnings from newspaper
routes, fast food jobs, retail positions, and other part-time employment, we
raised enough money in pledges to go on that television station every
Saturday night.
Our senior pastor was amazed and recognized that God was at work. This
was the outcome of the new wine—who’d ever heard of a church youth
group going on TV at 10 p.m. on Saturday night? But it worked. Soon we
were seeing a rich harvest of souls who would not have heard the gospel if
we’d not accepted the “new wine.” For many years after leaving the youth
pastor position, I heard testimonies of lives changed from the television
program we called Youth Aflame.
CHANGE IS GOOD
We’ll get back to the youth group shortly. But first, let’s identify what new
wine is and why it’s important.
Change that God nudges us toward is often not easy, but it’s always good
and fruitful. Often we resist change because it affects our comfort level. We
certainly are creatures of habit. Once these patterns are established, it is
uncomfortable to adjust them. But to be more effective in building His
kingdom, we must be open to change.
If we were raised in a godly family, our faith practices, methods, and
traditions were formed early and run deep. Not all traditions are wrong, of
course, but when people respond merely from tradition and not from their
heart, then faith expressions can be lifeless routines.
In fact, such routines can even become a religious stronghold. A person
who has regressed to being religious is one who has an outward form of
godliness, holding fast to what God did , while resisting what God is
presently doing .
The Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus’s day showed this type
of behavior. They boasted that they were Abraham’s children, sons of the
covenant, and disciples of Moses. Holding fast to what God had done, they
resisted the Son of God standing in their midst. They were zealous for their
traditions and manner of worship, so they struggled when Jesus came,
challenging every area of their comfort and stability. Jesus made it clear that
God wasn’t going to fit into their box . . . they would have to fit into His.
They resisted this change and clung to their traditions.
One who is merely religious will breed an elitist attitude—“God will
operate only through us and within our parameters”—which will result in
prejudice and, eventually, hatred and betrayal if it is not checked. This is
exactly what happened in Jesus’s time and has happened throughout church
history.
In order to change and make the transition from one level of faith and
glory to the next, we must be willing to leave our comfort zone and pursue
the way that God’s Spirit leads us. This path will often take us through a
wilderness where God causes new life to spring forth.
This pattern was apparent in the life of John the Baptist. His father was a
priest—a high priest at one time. John’s career path was to become a priest
like his father. He was to go to school in Jerusalem and study to become a
priest under the instruction of a famous teacher, Gamaliel. But one day the
Spirit of the Lord began to call John to the wilderness. The more John
prayed, the stronger was his inward urge to go to the wilderness. I’m sure a
conflict arose within him and he may have had thoughts like these:
All my friends I’ve grown up with are going to “Bible school.” They will
get diplomas and be recognized as leaders.
They will be ordained and have the ability to preach in every synagogue
in the country. What will they think of me? How will I ever fulfill my destiny
if I don’t go to “Bible School”?
I know there is a call on my life. My dad told me a high-ranking angel
announced my birth and told him I would be a minister. But if I go out to
this wilderness, nobody will ever know who I am. I’ll never get invited to
preach.
However, in his burning call to the wilderness, John overrode the
questions bombarding his mind and decided to follow the Spirit to the
desert. We read of him, “ The child grew and became strong in spirit, and
was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80
NKJV). It’s interesting to note that John started his desert training as a child
and spent years of preparation for a ministry that was only six months long.
Yet Jesus said he was the greatest prophet ever “born of a woman.”
Scripture is silent about the length of time, the number of deserts, and the
grueling circumstances John faced. Luke 3:2 reads, “While Annas and
Caiaphas were high priests, the Word of God came unto John the son of
Zacharias in the wilderness” (NKJV). It’s interesting to note that while
Annas and Caiaphas were operating under what had become an out-of-sync
religious system, a new vessel was being formed in the rough and dry
places. This is where the new wine would be revealed.
God prepared John in the wilderness, not in the accepted “Bible school”
of his day! Huge crowds of people from throughout Judea and Jerusalem
came to hear the Word of the Lord spoken by John in the desert. A fresh
move of the Spirit was beginning to blow—new wine was being released,
but in the desert , not in the religious places . Those who were fed up with
the religious hypocrisy and traditions went out to John with hearts willing
to change in preparation for the appearing of God’s Son.
Soon after this, Jesus came to be baptized by John in the Jordan River.
Even though John felt unworthy to baptize Him, Jesus insisted on it. It was
necessary for Jesus’s ministry to come forth from what the Spirit of God
was doing at that time on the earth. Jesus was then filled with the Spirit and
immediately led into the wilderness.
The Bible is very clear that when Jesus was led into the wilderness, He
was filled with the Spirit, but after the forty days of testing and temptation,
He returned from the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. Now He was
equipped for the ministry for which He’d come to earth. After only a few
months of John the Baptist’s ministry, another new thing had sprung forth
from the wilderness—the ministry of Jesus Christ.
NEW WINESKINS
Not long after Jesus began His ministry, we read, “One day some people
said to Jesus, ‘John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do
the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and and
drinking?’” (Luke 5:33). The first question we must ask is “who are the
‘some people’?” We find the answer in Matthew’s Gospel: “One day the
disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked . . .” (9:14). For years
I thought it was the Pharisees, but the day I discovered it was the disciples
of John the Baptist, it opened up this portion of Scripture in a totally new
light! These men were annoyed because they often fasted from food and
prayed long hours, but Jesus’s disciples didn’t operate this way. John’s
followers were doing all the sacrificing, yet Jesus’s disciples were getting
all the attention.
One of the ways the Spirit of God was moving in John’s day was through
much fasting. However, these disciples of John had not made the transition
or change from the ministry pattern of John to what the Spirit of God was
doing now . They believed their method of ministry and worship was what
had brought the fruit. They had paid a great price to follow John the Baptist,
leaving their families behind to live in the desert and eat insects, yet now
their leader was in prison. This new Man had disciples with Him who were
not playing by their rules. John’s team was offended and in danger of
developing a religious spirit.
Remember, religious spirits will always hold on to what God did , while
resisting what He is doing. It is possible that John’s followers had become
more concerned about their loyalty to their leader and how his followers
should behave than with what God was saying and doing now . Their focus
was no longer the heart of God. The method , which at one time may have
led to God’s heart, was now their focus.
Pride and offense began to dominate. Those with John had invested time
and, possibly, money into the ministry. Now all they had done, stood for, or
obtained was threatened. So they dug in and resisted change, even though
their leader had declared about Jesus, “He must become greater and greater,
and I must become less and less” (John 3:30).
Look at how Jesus answers them: “‘Do wedding guests fast while
celebrating with the groom? Of course not’” (Luke 5:34). He exposes their
religious ways by saying, “Why would they need to go on a fast when the
Son of God is standing in their midst? All they need to do if they need
something from God is come to Me” (paraphrased)! Religious thinking
caused them to believe they had to earn God’s favor through fasting and
other religious activities. They saw fasting as a means of access to God,
which they felt raised them above others who did not fast (or use their other
methods). Thus, pride settled in. The method became more important than
its original fruit.
Though there is benefit to fasting from food, it is not a way to manipulate
God but instead to bring you into a position to better hear what God is
saying. So why did the disciples need to fast to hear God’s voice when He
was right there with them? Look again at Luke 5:34–35: “ Jesus
responded, ‘Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of
course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then
they will fast.’”
He does not say that they might fast in those days. He says they will fast.
These men were talking about only fasting from food, but Jesus talks to
them about a different fast. Notice this fast will be in the days that the
Bridegroom is taken away. He is talking about a fast of His manifest
presence, not only a fast from food. We know this because He goes on to
explain it in the parable He is about to tell them. Remember that one of the
definitions of the wilderness is the absence of the tangible presence of God.
Now look at the parable He gives to explain what He is saying:
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine
would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. ”
(Luke 5:37)
In the Bible, wine is a symbol of God’s presence. Paul says in Ephesians
5:18, “And do not be drunk with wine in which is dissipation; but be filled
with the Spirit” (NKJV).
We are to be filled with wine, God’s presence! New wine is a fresh move
of His Spirit.
Let me briefly bring up this important question again. Do you remember
how wonderful it was when you were first filled with the Spirit? God’s
presence was sweet and strong. Every time you would pray, His presence
immediately would manifest itself, and you would sense His nearness all
day long. At times in church you would just sit and cry because He was so
close.
Then one day much later, you noticed that you didn’t sense His presence
quite so easily. You were still praying like you used to, but now you began
to wonder, God, where are You?! You’d arrived at a wilderness!
There is a reason for that wilderness or fast of God’s presence. God is
preparing you to be a new wineskin. You can’t put new wine, which is a
fresh move of God’s spirit, into old wineskins.
The wineskins used in Jesus’s day were containers made of sheepskin.
When the wine was first put in, the skins were flexible and pliable. They
stretched easily and would yield without resistance as the wine expanded.
However, as the years went by, the Middle Eastern atmosphere would dry
out the wineskin, leaving it brittle and hard. Now if the wine was poured
out and new wine poured in, the skin could handle neither the weight of the
new wine nor any fermentation because it was rigid and brittle and would
crack or tear easily. To correct this problem, the old wineskins would be
soaked in water for several days and then rubbed with olive oil. That
restored the wineskin’s flexibility and pliableness.
This is symbolic of what happens to us, for we are the wineskin of the
spiritual new wine. We are called to be carriers of God’s presence. The
atmosphere we reside in can draw out our tenderness to God’s ways. We are
not in heaven; we live in a corruptible environment called the world. Our
minds therefore need to be renewed. To keep our wineskin pliable—ready
always for the fresh wine—we must be soaked in the Word of God. Paul
writes in Ephesians 5:26, “That He (Jesus) might sanctify and cleanse her
(the church) with the washing of water by the Word” (NKJV). The rubbing
of the wineskin with olive oil for us is like spending time seeking God in
prayer. As we spend time with God, both in His Word and in prayer, our
minds become renewed and we are no longer rigid in our ways and
methods.
But in order to rejuvenate the old wineskin, you first have to pour out the
old wine! That means no wine in the vessel—no tangible presence of God!
That means a fast of the tangible presence of God, or as we have been
saying continually, that means a dry time! In such a season you are
preparing for change !
Why does God remove His tangible presence? To get you frustrated? No,
even though that will occur! Is it because He wants to put you on the shelf
until He has need of you? No! The reason He withdraws His presence is to
cause you to seek and search for Him even more diligently. Seeking makes
you flexible and pliable again. People who become rigid and inflexible are
people who have stopped seeking God. They become set in their methods.
They are set in the formulas that they themselves have devised from
previous genuine experiences.
That was the condition of these men following John the Baptist. They
attached to him because they could see the Lord was working mightily
through him. However, instead of continuing to press on to the heavenly
prize of knowing God intimately, they became rigid in their beliefs and
methods.
In every move of God there is fresh teaching that comes forth. Teaching
and sound doctrine are a means of bringing us to the heart of God.
However, if we get stuck on our focus of the teaching or doctrine itself, then
it will eventually bring us into religious bondage or legalism or error—or
all of these.
You cannot know God through a rigid method of worship, and many
Christians unknowingly succumb to this lifestyle. They establish their set
patterns, steps, and routines of worship. Then, when they finally have the
knowledge to be the model Christian, they stop seeking and settle down into
the patterns or traditions they have developed. Yet, somehow they feel
empty, even though, for them, they are living the complete gospel.
Jeremiah 29:12–13 says:
“‘Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen
to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me
with all your heart.’” (NKJV)
Praying by itself is not enough to find Him. There are many who are
bound by religious formulas who pray faithfully. God says that in your
prayer there must be a diligent seeking of Him . He clearly states here that
there will be searching, and that takes more than routine effort. It takes
passionate desire and searching out His heart. That is why God says in
Hebrews 11:6, “ Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that [He]
exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him.”
Now let’s look again at what Jesus says:
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine
will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be
ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are
preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires
new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’” (Luke 5:37–39 NKJV)
No man who is used to the old wine will immediately desire the new
wine. The key word here is “immediately,” because we are human beings
with habits and patterns. God must break those comfort zones by emptying
the old wine and allowing us to go through a dry time of preparation with
no wine in order that we might become thirsty for the new wine . When you
are thirsty and there is nothing at all to drink, you won’t complain, “I don’t
want this new wine, I want the old.” If you are longing for the presence and
power of God, you will be open to the fresh move of God’s Spirit in your
life. You will be like David, who said in his wilderness time:
O God, You are my God; I earnestly search for You. My soul
thirsts for You; my whole body longs for You in this parched and
weary land where there is no water. I have seen You in Your
sanctuary and gazed upon Your power and glory. (Psalm 63:1–2)
David was thirsty for the power and presence of God. As a result, when he
came into the work for which he was called, he was flexible to what the
Lord desired—unlike King Saul who did things his own way and not God’s
way.
I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the
wilderness long ago. . . . God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies
were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened as a warning to us, so that
we would not crave evil things as they did. (1 Corinthians 10:1, 5–6)
The Israelites paid a great price, so let’s learn from their example.
My friend, in the wilderness you can find God’s ways and even His heart, but you have
to be persistent and in your heart firmly say, “God, I believe You’re good and that You
love me, even when I don’t feel Your goodness and love.”
7
Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,“Clear the way through the wilderness
for the L !Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God!”
— Isaiah 40:3
S
urprising as it may seem, the wilderness is where God has located a
super highway! This is where His way is prepared, the road to the high
or exalted life of how God lives and thinks.
In all of history, few have followed this highway. Yet now, God is
preparing many to journey upon it. We find this described in Isaiah 35:6, 8:
For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the
desert . . . . A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be
called the Highway of Holiness. (NKJV)
God’s highway in the wilderness does not have an iconic number like I-95
or Route 66. It is simply called holiness.
One of the definitions of holiness is “the state of being pure.” Jesus says, “
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God” (Matthew
5:8). Jesus will not return for an unholy or impure church; He is coming for
a church without a spot or wrinkle.
Several decades ago, when I was still a young man just beginning in
ministry, the Lord showed me while praying one day that He was going to
begin purifying my life. I got so excited, I told Lisa, “God is going to
remove my impurities,” and 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 found myself 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.
BUILD WELL
No stars gleam as brightly as those which glisten in the polar sky. No water tastes so
sweet as that which springs amid the desert sand. And no faith is so precious as that
which lives and triumphs through adversity. Tested faith brings experience. You would
never have believed your own weakness had you not needed to pass through trials.
And you would never have known God’s strength had His strength not been needed
to carry you through.
—Charles H. Spurgeon
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but
those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
—Romans 8:5 (NKJV)
I
t is character that makes a man or woman of God, not anointing. And it’s
in the wilderness, when the pressure comes, when the disappointments
mount, when the dreams seem to be unattainable, that necessary refining
—character shaping—takes place.
I recall a time in the wilderness when I was struggling to overcome a lot
of anger. I shared this in the first chapter. So I asked God, “Why am I so
angry at everyone? What do I need to bind or cast out of my life?”
He responded, “Son, you can’t bind or cast out flesh, you crucify it.”
Now, even more frustrated, I asked, “Well then, where is this anger
coming from? I’ve never experienced this before, not even before I was
saved!”
“It’s been in you for years,” He answered, “but it’s invisible, just as the
impurities in your gold ring—before it’s melted in the furnace—are
invisible. But when you put it in the furnace, the impurities come to the
surface. Now I’ve made your anger visible to you by bringing you into this
furnace of affliction.”
I wasn’t quite sure what to make of what God was saying to me. So He
added more detail: “You can blame your wife, blame your co-workers,
blame your friends, blame the pressure of having a newborn child, blame
your circumstances. If you do, the anger will remain and when the heat
lessens, it will go right back down in you, and the process will need to start
all over again. Or you can repent by praying, ‘God, I’m so sorry, take this
anger out of me.’ If you do this, then I’ll take My big ladle and scoop it
right out of you.”
So that’s what I did. As the pressure of the fiery wilderness exposed my
anger, I confessed my sin, repented, and asked Him to take it away.
This is one reason the wilderness—as tough as it can be—is so valuable
and, ultimately, even leads to great joy:
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must
endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your
faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—
though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your
faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise
and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the
whole world. (1 Peter 1:6–7)
The wilderness is where we are refined and character is developed within
us. It is in this furnace of affliction and persecution that the truly godly
person is made. Romans 5:3–4 says, “ We can rejoice, too, when we run
into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.
And endurance develops strength of character.”
God’s approval on David’s life was because he was a man after the heart
of God, not a man after a kingdom! King Saul never went through a
purifying wilderness; therefore, he remained unrefined and insecure. David,
however, was purified in the wilderness, and God even used Saul to send
him there!
God’s ways may be mysterious, but His plans are always good!
A DREAM DEFERRED?
Refining can be painful, though. I won’t mislead you—the wilderness is not
a trip to Disneyland. Suffering is suffering—and it sometimes hits us in
very painful ways.
God may have shown you dreams and visions of what He has called you
to do. He may have spoken to you of the plans that He has for you. In the
wilderness, however, it often seems that the more you seek the Lord and
obey His Word, the further you get from the dream He has put in your heart.
Consider Joseph: He was given a dream of leadership—even his brothers
and family would be under his authority. What came next? He was hurled
into a pit by those who were supposed to protect him—his older brothers—
and, shortly afterward, sold into slavery in a foreign land. Can you imagine
the shock, disappointment, and pain?
It’s almost certain he imagined that God would perform a miraculous
intervention to free him quickly. These hopes would eventually fade
because his slavery didn’t last a few months or even a few years, but
spanned more than ten years. That’s a long time! All the while, he knew
that those who had instigated his pain were living in freedom and enjoying
the prosperity of their very wealthy father.
What did Joseph do? What was his response in his desert season? He kept
his faith, served, and didn’t forget God’s promise. He was faithful, wise,
diligent and, as a result, experienced a blessed success.
However, his conditions would again suddenly change and become far
worse. His boss’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph. She sought to entice
him into adultery, not just once or twice, but on multiple occasions. Even
so, Joseph obeyed God and fled from sexual immorality every time. Finally,
the woman became so aggressive that Joseph literally had to run away from
her clutches. She, now scorned, falsely accused him of the very thing he
didn’t do. He was unfairly “convicted” and hurled into a dungeon.
(Typically, a foreign slave attempting to rape a king’s officer’s wife would
never see the light of day again.)
A person in prison gets a lot of time to reflect. Can you imagine the
thoughts Joseph had to fight off? I’ve served God faithfully all my life, and
what has that gotten me? It turns out, by no fault of my own, I’m in this
dungeon to rot away. My life is over! My wicked brothers are free and most
likely enjoying great abundance. What have I done wrong? All I did was
share my supposed “God-given” dream with my brothers and look what it
got me! What good is it that I’ve served God?! It seems the more I obey
Him, the worse life gets for me.
Who could fault Joseph for having these thoughts? They seem like sound
logic, right?
Then one day in the dungeon, Joseph faced his greatest wilderness test.
God brought two men to him, a butler and a baker, who each had a dream
that left him confused and seeking an interpretation. If Joseph would have
lost faith in God and His promise, it would have been quite easy to be self-
focused and blow them off. He could have said, “You had dreams last
night? Hah, I once had a dream, too. I also thought the dream came from
God. But here’s the truth—dreams don’t come to pass. Dreams are useless,
vain, and misleading. So, would you please just leave me alone?!”
If Joseph had done this, he would have remained in his wilderness for
many more years or, perhaps, even the rest of his life. He would have
bypassed his ticket to freedom (the butler later told the king of Joseph’s
ability to interpret dreams, which led to Joseph’s release from prison and a
promotion). If he had a self-pitying attitude, Joseph would have eventually
died in that dungeon a bitter, cynical, and hopeless man—expressing in
various ways, “God isn’t faithful; He doesn’t keep His promises!”
But this is not what Joseph did. He fought off the thoughts and logic that
were contrary to his personal promise from God and chose to serve the
butler and baker. He stayed consistent in his obedience to God. And the
outcome? Eventually he went free and was promoted in one day to become
second in command to Pharaoh!
Nine years after Joseph’s promotion to leadership, the circumstances of a
severe famine resulted in his brothers coming to Egypt and standing before
him. Joseph’s course of action wasn’t revenge, as most would have chosen.
He now had the character of a true kingdom leader. He did good to those
who did him evil. He was not a bitter man, but a man full of faith, love, and
forgiveness for the ones who had betrayed him. The Psalmist writes about
Joseph:
He [God] sent a man before them—Joseph—who was sold as a slave.
They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. Until the time that
His Word came to pass, the Word of the L tested him. (Psalm
105:17–19 NKJV)
Only God knew the set time that His personal promise to Joseph would
come to pass (over twenty years after the dream). The wilderness forged in
him the character that would build his life, family, and leadership position
well. The key to all his success was his reverential fear of the Lord. No
matter his conditions, Joseph would speak, act, and obey God’s Word.
Now, what about you? As previously pointed out, God may have shown
you dreams and visions of what He has called you to do. He may have
spoken to you of the plans that He has for you. But just as with Joseph, you
are in a wilderness and it seems that the more you seek the Lord and obey
His Word, the further you get from the dream He put in your heart.
You may have watched others, even those who’ve been adversarial to
your cause, be promoted in ministry (or any other arena of life), while you
seem to be going in the opposite direction of your God-given dream. You
may be doing everything you know to do, but the vision is not becoming
reality.
There may even be others around you who are carnal and not seeking the
Lord, but they are being promoted and appear to be prospering. They are
the ones receiving the financial and social “blessings.” There may be people
who are advancing because of their own flattery or manipulation. There
may be people who are doing things dishonestly, achieving success by lying
and cheating, yet still it appears they are “blessed,” while you are like
Joseph, in chains in Pharaoh’s dungeon.
What are you doing about it? Are you complaining? Look what God says:
“You have said terrible things about Me,” says the L . “But you
say, ‘What do you mean? What have we said against you?’ “You have
said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying
His commands or by trying to show the L of Heaven’s Armies that
we are sorry for our sins? From now on we will call the arrogant
(wicked) blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare
God to punish them suffer no harm.’” (Malachi 3:13–15)
What are the complainers saying here? They’re saying, “What profit is it
that we’ve obeyed God, because we’re going nowhere. It is the wicked—
the carnal, the impostors—not us, who are promoted, blessed, and prosper”
(this is the “Bevere Paraphrase”). God calls this terrible or harsh talk, and
He views it as being directed against Him. More plainly put, it is
murmuring and complaining.
Complaining kept the children of Israel from their promised land. Why is
complaining an affront to God, and why did it meet a stern judgment? It
indirectly says to God, “I don’t like what You are doing in my life and if I
were You, I would do it differently.” It is a complete lack of reverence for
Him.
God is finding out who is going to pursue Him and who is going to pursue
the benefits. The former are resolute in their pursuit; the latter will complain
when things aren’t right in their eyes. What some call blessings and what
really are blessings are two different things. Some blessings may not last if
your attitude (heart) is not right. To those with selfish motives who
complain, look what the Lord says He will do to them, as well as to their
blessings:
“Listen, you priests [complaining believers]—this command is for you!
Listen to Me and make up your minds to honor My Name,” says
the L of Heaven’s Armies, “or I will bring a terrible curse against
you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already
cursed them, because you have not taken My warning to heart.”
(Malachi 2:1–2)
Our reward or inheritance does not consist of things or positions. Our
inheritance is the Lord!
Ezekiel 44:28 says, “ It shall be, in regard to their inheritance, that I
am their inheritance . . . I am their possession” (NKJV).
Many Christians today have gotten their eyes off of the true inheritance
and instead focus on things or positions—perhaps even good things that
were given by God. But it is like the son who is more interested in what his
father gives him than in a relationship with his father. I have four sons, and
I love to give to them. However, it would break my heart if the only reason
they gave attention to me was to get from me what they wanted from me.
Look at what Malachi goes on to say:
Then those who feared the L spoke with each other, and
the L listened to what they said. In His presence, a scroll of
remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared
Him and always thought about the honor of His Name. (Malachi
3:16)
These are the ones who are going through the same wilderness conditions
as the “complainers,” but this group’s priority is not position, recognition,
or things. They seek the heart of God! The desire to know Him burns in
them. You can talk to them about social things or business things, but their
heart burns when you talk to them about the Lord or what He is saying.
These are the ones about whom Luke says, “ They said to each other,
‘Didn’t our hearts burn within us as He talked with us on the road and
explained the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:32). Their desires are set on the
things of the Spirit. They are saying, “I just want to know God; I want to
please Him; I hunger and thirst for the Word of the Lord; I want Him to take
joy in me for He is the source of my joy.” That’s what matters most. Their
first love is Jesus, not position, status, or possessions.
Their behavior is not altered by whether they are in the middle of the
desert or preaching to millions.
For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s
building. According to the grace of God which was given me, as a
wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on
it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. (1 Corinthians 3:9–
10 NKJV)
We need to pay careful attention to how we build our lives! In Scripture,
the building of a house symbolizes the building of our life and service to the
kingdom. We belong to God, for we are His building:
. . . Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as
Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been
counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built
the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by
someone, but He who built all things is God. (Hebrews 3:1–4 NKJV)
Notice who builds the house—the Lord. It is not the strength of our flesh.
Whatever God builds remains; what we build will not . “Unless the L
builds the house, they labor in vain who build it ” (Psalm 127:1 NKJV).
What man builds apart from God—whether it is his life, home, or even a
ministry—it will not endure.
In Genesis 11:4 we see an example of this: “Come, let us build ourselves a
city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for
ourselves” (NKJV).
What was the motive of those who built the tower of Babel? They wanted
to achieve their self-seeking dreams, to raise their edifice for their own
glory. They wanted to be like God, but totally independent of Him. That
pursuit fulfilled their desires and their will, but not God’s. Building apart
from God never works out, because no matter how noble our intent, without
God it is an exercise in futility. This is why we are warned:
But let each one take heed how he builds on it. . . . Now if anyone
builds on this foundation [which is Christ Jesus] with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become
clear; for the Day [“who can endure the day of His coming?”] will
declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test
each one’s work, of what sort it is. (1 Corinthians 3:10–13 NKJV)
Gold, silver, and precious stones represent construction God’s way. Wood,
hay, and straw represent our own methods of construction by the blueprint
of the world. Are these verses talking only about judgment in heaven? No!
The verses describe when He comes to His temple (Malachi 3:16–4:1 and 1
Corinthians 3:16–17). He will come as fire, which will either consume
wood, hay, and straw or refine gold and silver. That is why He goes on to
say, “If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be
saved, yet so as through fire” ( verse 15 NKJV).
If you build your life, business, or ministry with bricks of your own
making, such as the strength of your personality or by worldly programs or
techniques . . . if you build by manipulating or controlling people through
intimidation . . . if you flatter and ride the coattails of others to gain position
. . . if when building you tear down others through criticism or gossip . . .
then everything gained by these methods will be burned up and lost.
Many promote themselves, using deceptive techniques or even bold lying
to gain advantage. This, too, will be burned! “Let no one deceive himself. If
anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that
he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with
God” (1 Corinthians 3:18–19 NKJV).
In God’s eyes, any area of your life in which your motive is self-seeking,
is considered wood, hay, or straw. Regardless of how much it appears to
help others or operates in the name of the Lord or is time sacrificed, it all
burns.
The focus of this world’s wisdom is self. “But if you have bitter envy and
self-seeking in your hearts . . . . This wisdom does not descend from above,
but is earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:14–15 NKJV). Envy begets
competition and suspicion. In order to keep our domain safe, we may begin
to play power games, which may cost us friends and our integrity or, most
importantly, damage our relationship with God. Even pastors or others in
ministry may become driven by the concerns of position, title, or salary at
the expense of living close to God’s heart.
For others who genuinely seek God’s heart, it may seem like the more
they seek Him, the more they move away. In frustration they cry out:
“God, the more I seek You, the more I go down, not up.”
But God answers, “Dig deeper!”
“Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I
will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house,
who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. . . .” (Luke 6:47–
48 NKJV)
When our family lived in Dallas, I would watch builders erect
skyscrapers. At first the progress was slow, as months were devoted to
breaking rock and digging for the foundation. The bigger the building, the
deeper the hole and the more extensive the building’s foundation. From
above the ground, it seemed the builders were moving slowly and making
little headway. Then, all of a sudden, the tall building would go up rapidly.
Its progress would seem to occur almost overnight compared to the
preparation process.
The upward progression was nothing when compared with the downward
preparation .
I believe there are many in the body of Christ in the process of downward
preparation—especially, perhaps, among the younger generation. I praise
God for that! They may have a call to ministry or some other dream given
by the Lord, but are presently in serving positions. Things don’t appear to
be moving very quickly, but I believe they are under God’s careful
preparation in the wilderness. The foundation is being laid; the character of
Christ is being formed. This character will undergird all who will serve
Christ and His kingdom with fervor in the years to come.
Others who are not dwelling in the wilderness appear to be moving
swiftly upward through politics or some type of self-promotion. Our
wilderness sojourners may feel they are at a standstill and may even be
tempted to take the quick and easy route out themselves. But knowing that
such a route yields no enduring character and that it compromises the
existing character they already have attained, they decide the risk is too
great. By waiting on God, they allow the Master Builder to lay a solid
foundation on the Rock.
Presently, there are pastors diligently seeking God, but again it appears
very little to even nothing is happening. They are in a dry place or time.
They watch as others promote themselves and their ministries successfully
through the use of secular marketing techniques. They create illusions of
happiness and success on social media. Yet God will not allow these desert
sojourners to build through these methods, because He is preparing their
solid, lasting foundation.
Then there are those whom God has not yet shown a particular position or
place, but He has given them a dream. They are wondering how it will ever
come to pass, and its possible fulfillment appears to be slipping away.
In this dry or wilderness time, God separates those who will wait on Him
in obedience from those who will build with the tools of deception or
calculated self-promoting behavior or manipulation. True God-ordained
promotion—and an exit from the wilderness—will come to those who are
watching and waiting for God to come to His temple. He says:
“When I choose the proper time, I will judge uprightly.” . . . For
exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the
south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another.”
(Psalm 75:2–7 NKJV)
STRENGTH TRAINING
The Lord gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.
—Charles H. Spurgeon
So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of
his manifestation to Israel.
—Luke 1:80 (NKJV)
S
ome years ago, I endured a different type of challenge that illustrates
how, as followers of Christ, we need times of preparation that stretch
us and strengthen our faith. Believe it or not, this trial took place not in
some dry, barren desert, but in gyms and health clubs.
When I was thirty-five years old, after preaching my heart out at a church
in Atlanta, Georgia, I almost fainted on the platform. I realized that I was
not in good physical shape and knew I needed to get stronger if I was to
forge ahead faithfully in ministry.
I returned home from Georgia and told Lisa what had happened. I then
declared, “I’m going to the gym.”
To my surprise, her answer was, “Thank God. I’ve been praying for you
to go to the gym!” It’s really wonderful to have a wife who knows how to
pray for her husband!
We were living in Florida at the time, and two houses down from us was a
WWF wrestler named Kip. Our families had become close, as our children
were approximately the same age. He had offered a number of times to take
me to the gym and train me, but I’d always said, “No, I’m too busy. I don’t
have time.” I was busy, but also a bit intimidated—would you want to train
with a professional wrestler?
Kip was a massive guy, six feet four inches, 240 pounds, six percent body
fat. His chest was a perfect V and he had an eight pack. Frequently, he, our
kids, and I played driveway basketball or street hockey. If I ran into him, he
didn’t even budge, and I would go flying five or six feet back!
After that Atlanta trip, I walked down to his house and said, “Kip, I need
to go to the gym. You’ve been saying you would train me—would you still
like to do that?”
He quickly answered, “Sure, I’ll take you to the gym.” I should have paid
more attention to his sadistic smile. I had no idea what was in store for me!
The next morning, we both went to a sweatbox of a gym. Immediately, I
knew that only the serious people trained at this place. The atmosphere was
surging with testosterone and the body odor was overpowering. One of the
things I learned at the gym on that first day was that you don’t build muscle
by putting a light weight on the bar and pushing it up twenty or thirty times.
Instead, you put a lot of weight on the bar so that you can only push it up
three or four times.
It’s on that third or fourth rep all the good things start happening to your
muscles. This is when everything in you says, “I can’t lift it anymore!” But
with all the guys around your bench screaming, “Push, push, explode!”
something else inside causes you to give it all you’ve got and lift the weight
up that fourth or fifth time. To make a very complex matter simply
understood, that’s when real muscle is developed.
Well, I’m embarrassed to say that all I could bench press that first day was
95 pounds. I’m sure Kip knew then that his neighbor had a long way to go!
After a couple of weeks at the gym, I made it to 105 pounds. More weeks
passed and I lifted 115. Then I arrived at 125 pounds. When I finally got up
to 135, I was so proud that I could now put a plate—a standard 45-pound
weight—on each side of the bar. I didn’t lift in shame any longer.
There’s more to this story that I’ll share later in the chapter, but my
process of slowly gaining physical strength is a good analogy to what
happens when the Lord takes us to His “gym” in the wilderness and helps
us gain spiritual muscle.
It’s in the wilderness where our spirit becomes strong, because it’s a place
—not only of dryness and crying out, “God, where are You?!”—but also a
place of profound trial and temptation. The good news is that although the
wilderness is tough and challenging, we must remember who is pulling for
us to lift the weight during our spiritual strength training:
If God is for us, who can ever be against us? (Romans 8:31)
Not only is He for us and pulling for us, but He makes us a firm promise:
You can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than
you can stand. (1 Corinthians 10:13 NCV)
So, no matter what test you’re facing, whatever bleak, dry place you are
walking through, God promises us that we will never be in a temptation that
we don’t have the strength to get through successfully. It’s quite amazing
when you think about it.
As you face trials, never forget who you are. As a beloved child of God,
Jesus says, “Behold, I give you the authority . . . over all the power of the
enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you” ( Luke 10:19 NKJV).
And so, we realize that no matter what the enemy throws at us, we can
overcome it. If not, God wouldn’t permit it!
However, this is where the problem also lies. Many people do not grow in
their ability to handle greater challenges. They avoid the gym, so to speak,
or whine and complain once there. Yet Paul illustrates a totally different
attitude. He writes:
“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to
believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” (Philippians 1:29
NKJV)
Does it make you scratch your head a little when you read that suffering
has been “granted” to you? What does this really mean? When somebody
says to me, “It has been granted,” that sounds like a blessing is coming my
way. Expectantly I think—just what am I going to receive?
How can “granted” and “suffering” be in the same sentence? That’s like
saying to somebody, “For to you it is granted on your birthday to go to the
dentist for a root canal!” Really? Thanks, but no thanks. This just doesn’t
make sense, because the life we desire in a modern country like the United
States is one of comfort and relative ease. So being granted “suffering” can
mess with your mind. Most people when they encounter adversity say
things like,
“I can’t believe this is happening to me.”
“Why me?”
“Why do I have to go through this?”
“I hate this.”
“No one can relate to what I’m going through!”
“Why can’t I just have a normal life?”
“God, please take this away!”
“Why bother? Giving up would be easier . . .”
At times, I’m certain all of us have either thought or expressed attitudes
like these when facing adversity. Sad to say, too often we just don’t
understand the purpose of trials and suffering (the wilderness).
But, as always, God knows what we need—and what strength we need in
order to build up to have greater effectiveness for His kingdom’s efforts. So,
this is why Paul informs us of God’s promise that some strategic suffering
to increase our faith muscles is “going to be granted.”
LOSS OF PASSION
I believe I’ve made clear in this book that the wilderness is a metaphor for a
huge array of circumstances. The common denominator is that we find
ourselves in situations experiencing some type of deprivation or dryness.
Often, a signal of a wilderness is the decline or total disappearance of our
enthusiasm and passion for our calling or even for our relationship with
God.
Let me briefly review my second significant wilderness experience while
serving as a youth pastor.
The first nine months at the church in Florida were just fantastic—the
ministry was expanding and the group was growing. I was excited and full
of energy and passion. But then, seemingly out of the blue, the plug got
pulled and all my passion and drive drained away.
I was spending more time in prayer than I had before and still it seemed I
was getting nowhere. Not only that, the vision I had for the youth group
seemed to be fading (the old wine was being poured out). The more I
prayed, the more the vision dwindled. Nothing had changed outwardly, but
inwardly something was changing.
On top of it all, in the midst of all this, we went through external trials like
we had never experienced before. The biggest trial? My direct overseer was
building a case to get me fired. His son was in our group and came to my
wife one night after youth service and said, “Mrs. Lisa, how can I live the
life John is preaching when my parents are doing . . . at home?” (There’s no
need to mention their specific behavior, other than to say it was not good.)
She was shocked and wisely counseled, “You stay true to the Word of
God and leave the care of your parents with God.” From that day forward,
my boss set out to destroy my reputation and get rid of me. He launched a
subtle, but all-out attack. He successfully drove a wedge between our lead
pastor and me. I went sixteen weeks without having any communication or
a meeting with my pastor.
After months of this man’s scheming, the senior pastor made the decision
to fire me. He made the announcement on a Sunday morning service that
there would be significant changes in the youth group. The pastor’s two
brothers told me I would be fired on Monday.
God moved miraculously, and our lead pastor changed his mind. God
spoke to him somewhere between that announcement during Sunday
morning service and our scheduled meeting Monday morning. When we
met together he said, “John, God sent you to us and you will not leave until
He says it is time for you to go.”
Six months after this, my boss’s behavior was exposed, and he was
instantly released from the church team. What he was involved with was
much more severe than most of us had imagined.
During this season, not only was I navigating this and other external
battles, but also many internal battles like I’d never faced before. Again, I
wondered if there was something wrong with me, so I began to confess
every sin I could recall that I might have committed, but there was no relief
from the attacks or my dryness.
One day in the midst of trying to figure out exactly what sin it was that I
had committed, the Lord said to me, “You are not in this desert because you
have sinned; I’m preparing you for the change that is coming.” This was the
“new wine” I described in Chapter 5.
After I had spent almost a year going through this desert, the Lord
impressed on me to go on a food fast. After several days of fasting, a prayer
came from my lips that my ears heard after my mouth said it. The cry from
my heart had bypassed my mind. I passionately cried aloud, “Lord, it
doesn’t matter if I am in the middle of the desert where there is no one or if
I am preaching to millions, I’ll do the same thing in both places. I will
pursue Your heart!”
All of a sudden, bells sounded off inside and I saw what He was doing!
“God, that is exactly what You have been doing in me,” I said. “You have
brought me to the place where I see You as my inheritance and my first
love, not the ministry or anything else. So when the change comes, I won’t
make an idol out of it. I won’t leave You as my first love and love the
ministry instead of You. My heart will stay right.”
Then I remembered what God said about David:
But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about
whom God said, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My
own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.” (Acts 13:22)
Let me restate this important fact—King Saul never went through a
wilderness experience. He seemed humble in the beginning—hiding in the
baggage from the prophet when he was named king. But after a few rounds
of success, his impurities began to surface. He won a huge battle, but he’d
done it his way and disobeyed God’s orders. If that wasn’t enough, he then
built a monument to himself. This was only the beginning of the plethora of
ungodly behavior that would surface. He eventually was destroyed by the
impurities that were never addressed.
There are two conditions that will expose what’s inside of you. Refining
fire, as already discussed, is one. The other is success. However, success
exposes the impurities to everyone around you, but you may still be blind to
them. In their early days, many ministers would not permit the refining fire
to purify them. Yet, not unlike King Saul, they are called and eventually
enter a position of ministry. Sadly, however, they never had the proper
preparation. So, when success causes their impurities to surface, this
success eventually leads to the demise of what they were called to do.
Saul loved his “ministry” to the point of killing in order to keep it. David
was not a man after a throne; he was a man after the heart of God. While in
the wilderness, David found his true source of joy; it was none other than
God Himself. Twice, David had a chance to kill Saul to get the throne, and
he was encouraged to do so by the men with him. If David’s motives had
been the same as Saul’s, he would have killed for what was promised to him
by God through the prophet Samuel.
There are men and women today who will slander, gossip, or lie to get
what God has promised them—think of the irony of that! They are like
Saul, willing to do almost anything to get or keep their inheritance. God is
looking for the “Davids” who have a heart after Him, not a position,
influence, money, or fame. The reworking of the old wineskin is the
deepening of the character of God within you and me. It is the character of
God that can contain the pressure of the new wine of the Spirit (His
anointing and presence). Character is developed by seeking the One we
desire to follow.
“So, how long will it take?” you may ask.
Here’s my answer: “The time required shouldn’t matter to you; just keep
digging until the water flows.” There will be many times when the answer
is not found in one session of prayer. You will have to pick up again in the
next prayer time—and, perhaps many prayer times after that.
When I lived in Dallas and was serving as an assistant to the head pastor
and his wife, a dear friend of mine—he was an assistant pastor on the
church team—and I used to pray together nearly every morning. We would
come into that room at 7:00 a.m. and pray, and could often sense God’s
presence and His moving on our behalf. But there were many times when
8:30 a.m. would arrive (when the work day started), and we would have to
leave and go to our office. We would almost feel frustrated, because there
had been absolutely no breakthrough . . . no waters of refreshing. The wells
were not yet opened!
The next morning, we would come in and pick up almost exactly where
we’d left off. This would go on sometimes for two days, other times three
days, and one time I remember it taking a week for us to receive any water!
However, when the breakthrough came, the power and refreshing were
ours.
As I travel to churches across America, I encounter many Christians who
have allowed their wells to be plugged up and have settled comfortably into
that state. The alarming fact is that I sense it is the majority—not the
minority—who are in this condition. What would happen if these people
stirred up the heavenly gift in them and allowed it to be released? Lives
would be changed, families would be changed, churches would be changed
—America would be changed!
The gift of God is lying untapped in too many. But even if the wells seem
plugged, the Spirit is waiting.
Keep digging! You will find fresh water in the wilderness!
Survival Tips for Your Journey
#10 The Secret Joy Medicine
When you’re in a wilderness time, it’s very easy to get your eyes locked in on your
circumstances. I want to let you in on a little secret—seriously, this has helped me
survive and thrive in desert times. I call it my Secret Joy Medicine.
When there’s not a lot to be excited about on my outside, when it just seems like
nothing’s happening, maybe I’ve been praying and praying but not seeing any results, I
go back to thinking about what Jesus did. I remember that He literally saved me out of a
hell where the fire never stops burning and the sulfur odor never stops smelling. The
torment there never ends. That hell wasn’t created for me, but for the devil. But the devil
tricked mankind and is bringing mankind there with him. Yet Jesus gave His life—my
Creator gave His life to save me from that.
When I do this, when I get my eyes on Him, when I move into this perspective that is
based on gratitude, when I look at life with this eternal view, all of a sudden my
particular situation does not seem so significant. That’s my Secret Joy Medicine—
reviewing all the things I have to be thankful for and keeping my eyes on Jesus.
11
“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself. He does only what He sees
the Father doing.”
—John 5:19
T
he desert, or wilderness, is the place where the way of the Lord is
prepared, the place where every mountain is made low and every
valley exalted. Isaiah describes this in such a memorable fashion in
this well-known passage:
Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through
the wilderness for the L ! Make a straight highway through the
wasteland for our God! Fill in the valleys, and level the
mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the
rough places. Then the glory of the L will be revealed, and all
people will see it together. The L has spoken!”
A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?”
“Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly
as the flowers in a field. The grass withers and the flowers fade
beneath the breath of the L . And so it is with people. The
grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands
forever.” (Isaiah 40:3–8)
What does this mean exactly to those of us who may be in a wilderness
season now?
In the body of Christ, we all have responsibilities that the Lord has
assigned to us. But before God can release us to accomplish them, we are in
need of some testing and training in the wilderness where our flesh is
crucified. There, too, we learn to wait on the Lord, to be still until we hear
His voice and understand what He is doing, so we can obediently
accomplish His will.
I want to share more of my personal story to illustrate how the journey
through the wilderness may involve less than a direct route from departure
to destination, including some puzzling detours and unplanned rest stops.
In 1979, as a college student at Purdue University, I was born again in my
college fraternity. Four months later, I was filled with the Holy Spirit, and
God began to prompt me concerning the ministry. Believe me, ministry was
nowhere on my radar—I wanted nothing to do with it. All the ministers I
had met growing up were not men I desired to become like. I know it was
judgmental, but I viewed them as kind of “out of it,” having weird kids and
living in deteriorating houses. I learned later, of course, that my impressions
were warped—in fact, there were many sharp ministers who had great kids
and lived in decent homes! But, as a young believer, I thought that in order
to be a minister meant suffering an odd life or ending up in Africa living in
a hut and not wearing shoes.
I grew up in a small town of 3,000 people. The only ministers I knew
there were my Catholic priest (that wasn’t an option for me, because they
can’t get married), and another pastor of a small church. He had two kids
my age who were weird, and when I’d go to their house, something about it
smelled terrible! One time I went there and the odor was so awful, I held
my breath as much as I could until I made an excuse to leave! So you can
understand why I wasn’t very interested in the ministry. I didn’t want to be
a priest and didn’t want weird kids and a smelly house. I also did not want
to go to Africa as a missionary and end up in a shack.
My plans at the time were to complete my studies of mechanical
engineering at Purdue, and then get an MBA from Harvard. After that, I
would enter corporate America and rise up the executive ladder, make a lot
of money, and give offerings to my church to support the ministry. These
were my plans, and I avoided God’s whispers to me concerning the
ministry. (There would’ve been nothing wrong with this plan, but it wasn’t
God’s plan for my life.)
Four months later on a Sunday morning, I was in church listening to the
pastor’s sermon when the Spirit of God delivered a sterner message to me:
“I have called you to preach! What are you going to do about it?”
This time I heard clearly and responded, “Lord, even if I end up shoeless
in Africa in a grass hut, I will preach, I will obey You!” (God has His way
of getting our attention. I had already been counting the cost in previous
months during His smaller nudges.) Now fully aware of what I was saying
“yes” to, I was prepared to please Him no matter the cost!
The Lord began preparing me. The fire inside me began to burn; I began
telling my fraternity brothers about Jesus and many got saved. About a year
and a half later, I started a Bible study in the fraternity, and students came
from all over the campus. Every week, new people were giving their lives
to Christ, getting healed, and finding freedom.
I had totally flipped my priorities! Now my desire to preach was so strong
that I wanted to quit my mechanical engineering major at Purdue and go to
Bible school. My reasoning? Why study calculus and physics when I am
called to preach, and people are dying and going to hell? Jesus could return
soon, so I must go to the harvest fields as soon as possible.
One night, as I was doing the homework that I now despised, I looked
from my engineering book to the Bible on the shelf. I’d had it! I threw my
thermal dynamics textbook against the wall. I’d made up my mind—I
wasn’t going to wait any longer! I would quit school and go to Bible
college.
I called a man who was discipling me—he was a Purdue researcher and a
very close friend. I boldly stated, “Don, I’m leaving and going to Bible
school!”
He wisely answered, “Why don’t we go for a walk tonight and pray about
it?” We did and God spoke to me, “In My appointed time you will minister.
. . . Finish your studies in engineering.”
At a later time, as I was struggling to figure out how the Lord could ever
send a small-town boy to the nations of the world, I heard Him say, “Who
designed and ordained this ministry you are called to, you or Me?”
“You,” I said.
“Don’t you think I am more concerned about this ministry coming forth
than even you?” That statement got my attention.
So, I calmed down and finished my engineering degree. Upon graduating,
I was hired by Rockwell International as a mechanical engineer on a U.S.
Navy project. I settled into my new job and found a great church. A year
later, Lisa and I were married.
I had joined the church as a single man and had served in any capacity of
need. This continued after we were married. I ushered, was a part of our
prison ministry, taught the pastor’s children tennis, and helped in many
other areas. The church also had a Bible school, so I attended night
sessions.
Two years later, the church hired me to assist the senior pastor and his
family. I told the pastor and other leaders that I only could commit to one
year because I was called to preach. My job was to wash and fill their cars
with gas, shine the pastor’s shoes, run errands, pick up their children from
school, give swimming lessons to their two preschoolers, take care of
visiting ministers, and many other tasks. I ended up staying for four-and-a-
half years, not just one.
Seven years now had elapsed since I’d said “yes” to the call of God. In
college, watching all those students being saved, healed, and delivered, I
had thought that full-time ministry was just days away. I had no idea about
the process God would put me through.
During this period when I served the church, I tried unsuccessfully three
times to get into full-time preaching. As I flew back to Dallas from Asia
(after the third try to see if that was where God wanted me), I was reading
the Gospel of John when I came to a verse that jumped right off the page: “
God sent a man, John the Baptist” (John 1:6). I heard God say to me, “Do
you want to be sent by John Bevere or do you want to be sent by Me?”
“I want to be sent by You.”
And the Lord said, “Good, because if you are sent by John Bevere, you’ll
go in John’s authority, but if you are sent by Me, you will go in My
authority!”
After this, I settled down and focused on where God had placed me.
However, after some time, the unrest returned. The wilderness training
wasn’t complete for that season; rather, it was still in process.
Had God put me on a shelf for those seven years until some position
opened up? No! A thousand times no! I had been brought to that wilderness
in order to develop godly character . . . that His way might be prepared . My
character needed maturing so that I might function well in the ministry
position I was called to. I would eventually learn that with every spiritual
promotion, first must come the preparation for that level.
If you’re reading this book along with The Wilderness study or course
(which is a great idea!), I recommend that you watch each week’s video
lesson and unpack the corresponding discussion questions as a group. The
video lessons will parallel and amplify major themes from this book, so it’s
ideal for all participants to both watch the lessons and read the book.
Enjoy!
Lesson 1
Read Chapter 1
1. What is the difference between the omnipresence and manifest presence
of God? Why is it helpful for us to understand the difference?
2. Why is it so important to be able to discern the season we are in and
know whether we are in a wilderness season or not?
3. Why do you think Satan uses wilderness seasons to tempt us to willfully
sin or give up on our faith?
4. Why would God allow us to extend a wilderness season?
Lesson 2
Read Chapters 2 and 3
1. The wilderness has several purposes. From the seven purposes
mentioned in this lesson, which one resonates with you the most and
why?
2. Why do you think obedience to God in the wilderness produces spiritual
growth?
3. The wilderness is a time of self-discovery. What are some of the things
you’ve learned in the wilderness about yourself and your walk with
God?
4. How have you learned to find your strength in God during this time of
humbling?
Lesson 3
Read Chapter 4
1. Between a promise and its fulfillment, there is always a process. Why
do you think this process is important?
2. How have you seen the process of the promise working in your life?
3. Why do you think God gives you a promise before you experience a
process?
4. Why is it important to have a promise from God for your life rather than
just a five-year plan?
Lesson 4
Read Chapters 5 and 6
1. How does comparing the lives of Saul and David help us understand the
importance of God refining us through the wilderness?
2. Refining gold makes it more flexible, and God’s refining of us makes us
more tender to Him. Describe what it means to be more tender toward
God.
3. When God’s refining process reveals hidden sin or weakness, what
should our response be?
4. How does the refining process position us to reveal Jesus more clearly?
Lesson 5
Read Chapter 7
1. Why does God hate complaining? What does complaining currently
look like in your life?
2. What is the difference between the complainers in Malachi and the
complaining of Jeremiah? Why was God upset with one group, yet
answered Jeremiah’s complaints?
3. Judgment means decision, not condemnation. When judgment begins in
the house of God, He is deciding who is worthy of His service. What do
you think God looks for when making this decision?
4. God is looking for vessels fit for service. How would you describe the
difference between being called and being chosen?
Lesson 6
Read Chapter 8
1. What was your initial response when you heard that suffering is a gift?
How did your perspective change by the end of the lesson?
2. God will not allow you to be tested beyond what you can handle. How
does this encourage you?
3. God will not leave you at your current strength. What does this teach
you about God’s plan for your life?
4. God allows us to enter trials today that will simulate the pressures we’ll
face tomorrow. What has God spoken to you about your future that helps
you make sense of the pressures you feel in your trials now?
Lesson 7
Read Chapter 9
1. Following God doesn’t always make sense. Why is it difficult to trust
God when He “violates” the traditional ways of doing things?
2. How do you feel when God doesn’t act according to your timetable?
What pressures and temptations do you feel when God’s promise seems
delayed?
3. How have you seen this truth evident in your life: Whatever is birthed
in the flesh must be sustained by the flesh ? How does this differ from
what God births through you?
4. What gives you an assurance that you are following God’s path for your
life?
Lesson 8
Read Chapter 10
1. The wilderness is a place where God reveals Himself. Why then does
God also seem distant in this season?
2. What does it look like to pursue God first, rather than His blessings?
3. Why is it dangerous when your promise or calling becomes more
important to you than God Himself?
4. When you see the pattern of how God revealed Himself to the heroes in
Scripture, how does it change what you expect to receive from your
wilderness season?
Lesson 9
Read Chapter 11
1. Why is it important for us to be mindful of where we go for comfort,
especially during spiritually dry times?
2. When we dig deeper in prayer and Scripture, especially when we don’t
feel like it, how does this strengthen our spiritual roots?
3. How are you encouraged knowing that the greatest attack against your
harvest comes immediately before the harvest manifests?
4. Why does meditating on God’s faithfulness transform a wilderness
season?
Lesson 10
Read Chapter 12
1. How has a wilderness prepared you for a change of season?
2. Why is change difficult? What is often your biggest hurdle adjusting to
change?
3. What stood out to you the most from the process of renewing a
wineskin? Why did this stand out to you?
4. To lay hold of the new, we must let go of the old. What are things you
need to let go of in order to embrace the new?
APPENDIX
Salvation, Available to All
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God
raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that
you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are
saved.
—Romans 10:9–10
God wants you to experience life in its fullness. He’s passionate about you
and the plan He has for your life. But there’s only one way to start the
journey to your destiny: by receiving salvation through God’s Son, Jesus
Christ.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God made a way for you to
enter His kingdom as a beloved son or daughter. The sacrifice of Jesus on
the Cross made eternal and abundant life freely available to you. Salvation
is God’s gift to you; you cannot do anything to earn or deserve it.
To receive this precious gift, first acknowledge your sin of living
independently of your Creator, for this is the root of all the sins you have
committed. This repentance is a vital part of receiving salvation. Peter made
this clear on the day that five thousand were saved in the Book of Acts:
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out”
(Acts 3:19 NKJV). Scripture declares that each of us is born a slave to sin.
This slavery is rooted in the sin of Adam, who began the pattern of willful
disobedience. Repentance is a choice to walk away from obedience to
yourself and Satan, the father of lies, and to turn in obedience to your new
Master, Jesus Christ—the One who gave His life for you.
You must give Jesus the lordship of your life. To make Jesus “Lord”
means you give Him ownership of your life (spirit, soul, and body)—
everything you are and have. His authority over your life becomes absolute.
The moment you do this, God delivers you from darkness and transfers you
to the light and glory of His kingdom. You simply go from death to life—
you become His child!
If you want to receive salvation through Jesus, pray these words:
God in Heaven, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and have fallen
short of Your righteous standard. I deserve to be judged for eternity
for my sin. Thank You for not leaving me in this state, for I believe You
sent Jesus Christ, Your only begotten Son, who was born of the Virgin
Mary, to die for me and carry my judgment on the Cross. I believe He
was raised again on the third day and is now seated at Your right hand
as my Lord and Savior. So on this day, I repent of my independence
from You and give my life entirely to the lordship of Jesus.
Jesus, I confess you as my Lord and Savior. Come into my life
through Your Spirit and change me into a child of God. I renounce
the things of darkness which I once held on to, and from this day
forward I will no longer live for myself. But by Your grace, I will live
for You who gave Yourself for me that I may live forever.
Thank You, Lord; my life is now completely in Your hands, and
according to Your Word, I shall never be ashamed. In Jesus’s name,
Amen.
Welcome to the family of God! I encourage you to share your exciting
news with another believer. It’s also important that you join a Bible-
believing local church and connect with others who can encourage you in
your new faith. Feel free to contact our ministry (visit
MessengerInternational.org) for help finding a church in your area.
You have just embarked on the most remarkable journey. May you grow
in revelation, grace, and friendship with God every day!