John and Lisa Bevere are the cofounders of Messenger International, a ministry that exists to help individuals, families, churches, and nations realize and experience the transforming power of God’s Word. This realization will result in lives empowered, communities transformed, and a dynamic response to the injustices plaguing our world. For more information on Messenger International, visit MessengerInternational.org.

About the Author

Marked by boldness and passion, John Bevere delivers uncompromising truth through his award-winning curriculum and best-selling books (The Bait of Satan, Drawing Near, Driven by Eternity and others) now available in over sixty languages. He speaks internationally and is co-host of The Messenger TV program, which is broadcast worldwide. John enjoys living in Colorado Springs with his wife, Lisa, also a bestselling author and speaker, their four sons, daughter-in-law, and grandbabies.

Acknowledgments

My deepest appreciation to . . .

all those who labored with us in prayer, in project, and by financial support to bring this book to completion; to Steve and Sam for their constant encouragement and technical support; to Scott for his wise counsel and Amy and Annette for their many talents.

I want to thank my wife, Lisa, who continually encouraged me and selflessly helped with editing, but more important, for the godly wife she has been to me. A special thanks to my three oldest sons who sacrificed time with Daddy that this project could be completed.

Most important, my gratitude to my Lord Jesus for His grace and companionship during this project and the Holy Spirit’s faithful guidance throughout this work.

CHAPTER ONE

The Wilderness Season

In frustration, you remember the times when you merely whispered His name and His presence immediately manifested, but now in the stillness you want to shout, “God where are you?”

Look I go forward, but He is not there and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; when He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him. - Job 23:8-9 (NKJV)

Is this your heart’s cry? You long to hear from God but all you sense is silence. You pray—yet your prayers seem to fall flat. In frustration, you remember the time when you merely whispered the Lord’s name and His presence was immediately there, but now in the stillness you want to shout, “God, where are you?” Like Job, turning every way, you seek Him, yet you cannot perceive Him or His workings on your behalf.

Welcome to the wilderness! Know that you are not alone, but in good company. You walk where Moses walked…Moses, raised in Pharaoh’s court as a prince; Moses, with the vision of delivering his people out of bondage and slavery; Moses, who watched sheep on the back side of the desert for forty years.

You are alongside Joseph…Joseph, the highly favored of his father; Joseph, who had dreams of leadership and achievement; Joseph, thrown in a pit by his own brothers, then sold as a slave and later locked in prison.

You are sitting beside Job…Job, the man whom the Bible describes as “the greatest of all the men of the east” (Job 1:3); Job, who lost everything—possessions, children, health, the support of his wife.

Most importantly, you are accompanied by the Son of God— Jesus, who after receiving the public witness of God the Father and the Holy Spirit that He was, indeed, the Son of God, walked into the wilderness to face the forces of darkness.

The procession of wilderness travelers is long, for the wilderness is a necessary time, a season in the life of every child of God. We wish it could be bypassed; we look for a shortcut or detour, but there isn’t one. It’s the route to the promised land, and the promised land cannot be attained without passing through the wilderness. Our understanding of this time or season is imperative if we are to make it to the promised land.

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES

…The sons of Issachar…had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do;… I Chronicles 12:32 (NKJV)

Because they understood the timing of God, the sons of Issachar knew what Israel ought to do. Those who understand the times and seasons of the Spirit will know what God wants to accomplish and will respond wisely. Conversely, those without the understanding of God’s times and seasons will not know what He is trying to accomplish in their lives and will act unwisely. Explaining this, Jesus said in Luke 12:54-56:

Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, A shower is coming; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, There will be hot weather; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time? [emp. added] Luke 12: 54-56 (NKJV)

Can a farmer harvest during the season of planting? Obviously, the answer is “no.” If he does not plant in the season of sowing, he will not reap at the time of harvest. And planting at the correct time is crucial to his crop. If a farmer plants too early or too late, it will diminish his yield at harvest time. The seeds will not be in the proper position to receive what they need to flourish. The rain and heat, snow and cold will come before the seeds are ready. In order for his crop to benefit fully from God’s provision, a farmer must understand thoroughly his season of sowing. Presently in the Church, we are in the process of preparing for the coming harvest; in order for us to benefit fully from God’s pruning and care, we must recognize the season. We cry out for harvest, yet it is not the season of harvest, but of pruning and grafting.

Jesus rebuked the multitudes because they looked for the wrong thing at the wrong time. For:

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:… - Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NKJV)

In this book we hope to share understanding of a particular season with a crucial purpose…it is the wilderness season, a time of pruning and grafting. Its purpose — preparation.

The wilderness is not a negative time for those who obey God. Its purpose is very positive: to train and prepare us for a new move of His Spirit. Unknowingly, when entering the wilderness, many behave without wisdom. Without understanding, they search for and do the wrong things. If you search for an escape route before understanding why God has you in a particular situation, i.e., wilderness, you unwittingly will prolong your wilderness time. This can cause you to experience hardship, frustration, and even defeat, because you don’t understand the season or the place to which God has led you. This was the case with the children of Israel. Lack of understanding of their wilderness time caused an entire generation to be unfit to inherit the promised land. God’s purpose in leading them to the wilderness was to test, train, and prepare them to be sanctified warriors. But instead, the children of Israel erroneously perceived the wilderness as punishment, so they murmured, complained, and lusted constantly. When the time came for them to leave the wilderness and conquer and occupy the promised land, they heeded the evil report of murmurers and complainers. Given the choice between God’s promises and His ability and man’s perceptions and inability, they chose to believe man rather than God. They believed they were unable to receive their land flowing with milk and honey, so God said, “Okay, it will be as you believed.”

These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction,… - I Corinthians 10:11 (NKJV)

Their ignorance of God’s nature and character caused them to act wickedly, and what was to have been a brief wilderness journey became a lifetime experience.

Those with understanding of the wilderness will enter in with joy, knowing that beyond this place a “promised land” waits for them. This joy, from the vision set before them, will be the strength they need to finish the journey, that they might “Be perfect [mature] and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4, parenthetical added).

God is creating able vessels for His use, ready for the fresh move of His Spirit.

THE WILDERNESS — NOT A TIME OF PUNISHMENT OR DISAPPROVAL

This book will discuss what the wilderness is, and what it is not—its purpose, its benefits, and its judgment. It is my prayer that, by these examples, illustrations, and words of instruction which the Holy Spirit has compelled me to share, you will see how to walk wisely in this land and season of wilderness.

Let us begin with Jesus as an example of one who successfully completed the wilderness training.

In Luke 3:22, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in manifest form (a dove) and the voice of the Father proclaimed, “You are my beloved son; in You I am well pleased” [emp. added]. Not only did God proclaim Jesus as His Son, but He announced for all to hear that He approved of Him. Yet we find in Luke 4:1, “Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit…was led by the spirit into the wilderness.” This should make it clear to us that the reason for being led into the wilderness is not the disapproval or punishment of God. It is important that this is absolutely clear at the beginning of this book. It is imperative that this question is settled in our hearts!

Another point that must be understood clearly is that God didn’t bring you to the wilderness to abandon you to Satan’s devices and forget about you. God exhorted the second generation children of the exodus before entering into the promised land: “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness…” [emp. added] (Deuteronomy 8:2 NKJV). Don’t be misinformed—the Lord does not stop working in our lives just because we are in the wilderness. He leads us through it; without Him we could never make it through. Furthermore, it is not a place in which we are “put on a shelf” until He desires to use us. That is not the way our Father, who loves us, operates. On the contrary, it is a place and time during which He works mightily. You are familiar with the expression, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”; well, the wilderness is much the same — it is difficult to see God moving when you are in the midst of it.

The third point that must be clear is this: the wilderness is not a place of defeat, at least not to those who obey God. Jesus, weak from hunger, with no human in whom to confide or from whom to receive encouragement, and without physical comfort or supernatural manifestation for forty days, was attacked by the devil in the wilderness. Jesus defeated him with the Word of the Lord! The wilderness is not a time when God’s children are defeated. “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…” [emp. added] (II Corinthians 2:14).

While the people of Israel sojourned in the wilderness, they were harassed by the nations of that area. The Lord told Israel to fight back. The children of Israel defeated the Amorites (Numbers 21:21-25), the Midianites (Numbers 31:1-11), and the people of Bashan (Numbers 21:33-35). If God’s purpose was for them to experience defeat, He would not have told them to defend their position. However, though it wasn’t intended as a time of defeat, many died without entering the promised land. This was not the way God desired it to be, but the sad result of their disobedience.

I hope this settles in your heart that the reason behind the wilderness is not the disapproval or punishment of God. Nor is it a place in which God abandons and forgets about you. It will be a place of victory when we believe and obey God!