John Bevere - Do You Feel Spiritually Stuck?
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Welcome to the Wilderness course! I have some great friends sitting around me today, and we’re going to discuss this very important aspect of our Christian walk. First, let me introduce our guests with me. First, we have Choice over here to my left. Choice, it’s great to have you; thank you so much! He’s one of our interns at Messenger International. We also have a long-time friend and manager of our warehouse. Some of you receive our resources shipped to your homes or sent overseas. This is Daryl; he’s the manager of our warehouse and a really close friend. Daryl, it’s great to have you; thank you! It’s nice to have somebody close to my age. I’ve been waiting for that. I won’t make you as old as me! And then we’ve got Jessica, another intern at Messenger International. It’s great to have you, Jessica. I’m so excited to be here. You’re from Pennsylvania, right? Yes. And then we have my son, Arden Christopher, our baby of the family, who towers over me! This is a life message for me. First of all, I can’t tell you how excited I am that you have decided to enroll in the Wilderness course. I spent years in pure frustration not understanding what I was going through. This is going to help you immensely. The excitement we all hold is huge.
I want to mention that last year, Lisa and I did a podcast in our Convos podcast. We have never in the history of our podcast had more responses and comments than when we delivered two brief and basic messages on the Wilderness. That’s when we began to pray, and the team decided we needed a course on this. If you want to be close to God and fulfill what He has called you to do, then you are listening to the right course right now. If you don’t want to be close to God and you don’t want to fulfill what He has called you to do, stop right now because you really don’t need to hear anything else I’m going to say. I’m glad we got that decision made.
To open up, I want to look at the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter 3, verse 1. We have the famous scripture that says, «To everything, there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.» This tells us that there are seasons in our life. Here’s the important thing I want you to write down: every season has a purpose. It is extremely important to know the purpose of the season we’re in and to discern it. I want you to picture this: we live in Colorado, and everybody likes to snowboard or ski here, right? So, imagine a guy at Breckenridge. He’s going up a lift, and he has his parka on, gloves, goggles, and snowboard. The lift gets to the top, and he jumps off, only to fall flat on his face because there’s no snow on the ground.
Now, the guy right behind him is coming up with a Trek bicycle. He jumps off and goes down the mountain, while the other guy is rolling down because he can’t get his snowboard to work. What has happened here? One guy correctly discerned the season, while the other did not. In Luke chapter 12, Jesus looks at the people and says, «If you see a cloud rising up in the West, you know there’s a storm coming. If a south wind blows, you know it’s going to be warm weather.» He calls them hypocrites and says they can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but they can’t discern the present time. So, what may be correct behavior in one season may be utterly incorrect in another season. Are you with me?
Let’s look at First Chronicles. I love this scripture, though I don’t hear people talk about it much because it’s mixed in with genealogies and tribes. The scripture says, «The sons of Issachar had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.» These men knew the right behavior at the right time. So, it does take understanding our times to know the appropriate behavior.
It’s important for two things: number one, we need to discern the season we’re in, and number two, we need to learn the appropriate behavior, and that’s why we’re taking this course. To make it specific for this course, here’s what we have: number one, this course is going to teach us how to discern the Wilderness season. Number two, it will show us from scripture the appropriate behavior in the wilderness, and number three, you’ll discover the benefits of the Wilderness. Yes, there are benefits to the Wilderness season, and you will learn that as we go along.
Let’s start out by asking, what is the Wilderness? Three things to point out about what the Wilderness is: First, the raw definition of the Wilderness: it’s a lack of the tangible presence of God. The Bible speaks of two presences of God. I want to make this clear. There’s the omnipresence of God. That’s where David said, «Where shall I flee from Your presence? If I go to the highest mountain, You’re there; if I make my bed in the lowest valley, You’re there.» That’s the presence of the Lord that says, «I will never leave you nor forsake you.» The second presence the Bible speaks about is in John chapter 14, where Jesus talks about the manifest presence. «Manifest» means to bring from the unseen into the seen, from the unknown into the known. It’s when God reveals Himself to our senses. The Wilderness season is when we lack that tangible presence of God.
Secondly, it is the season when the promises that He’s made to us personally seem far off, and it seems like we’re actually moving away from the promises rather than toward them. It’s important to understand this. Have you ever thought or even screamed out in your prayer closet, «God, where are You?»
Now, I want to show you a video that illustrates this. [Video Content]
What we’re seeing here is a testament of true love. Love is allowing someone to see their true worth and beauty. I used to think my dreams were over. I thought I’d never run again, and even though I can’t see my dad, I know he’s guiding me the entire way.
This is a moving short video, isn’t it? But it explains exactly the reason for the Wilderness. Look at what Job says when he’s in his desert: «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 I turn to the right hand, I cannot see Him.»
Now, notice I put that in blue—He is working—just like that father was helping his daughter. When he turns to the right hand, he cannot see Him, but Job knew the way he took. That father knew everything his daughter was doing, but he was trying to get her to a place where she could handle her situation.
In many aspects, doesn’t this tell us about our lives? The things in the spirit world are not physically visible. In reality, we are physically blind to what’s happening in the spirit world. Here’s our Father trying to get us to mature so we can handle the forces of darkness that try to hinder us. This is a beautiful illustration of what God does in the Wilderness.
Number two, the Wilderness can be a time—and most of the time it is—of temptation. What are the two major temptations of the Wilderness that the enemy tries to get us with? Number one, he wants us to quit; he wants us to give up on our faith. Number two, he wants us to willfully sin. It’s important that we understand this.
Number three, the Wilderness is when God gives you what you need rather than what you want. Let me clarify this—it’s a big difference between our needs and wants in America. Because we live in such an affluent society, many times we think our wants are actually needs, but they’re not. So, God will, in this Wilderness season, only give you what you need.
Let’s look at Deuteronomy 8. There’s a beautiful example of this. «You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the Wilderness to humble you and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna.»
Whoa! Stop right there! That sounds like a contradiction. He caused you to hunger but then fed you. Didn’t He feed them every day with manna? Now, didn’t this manna come down every single morning and, on the Sabbath, He gave them enough for that day? They never went to bed with empty stomachs, right? So what does He mean He caused you to hunger?
Let me give you an illustration. Back when I was a youth pastor in the 1980s, I took 56 kids down to Trinidad. We went house to house, and it was a great week; a lot of good fruit came out of it. The church we worked with in Trinidad fed us lunch and dinner. I have never in my life had so much chicken! Every lunch and every dinner was chicken. Ten days of chicken, okay? So, we fly back, and one of the 14-year-old boys in my youth group is met by his mother. He goes, «Mom, what’s for dinner tonight?» She goes, «Chicken.» And he screamed, «Will you please take me to McDonald’s?»
Can you imagine eating even though this bread? Elijah ate two cakes of it and went 40 days and 40 nights. Sometimes I wish I had protein bars like that myself, but this is the best food any man has ever put in his mouth. But can you imagine hearing, «What’s for dinner tonight, honey?» «Bread.» Okay, that’s great. Now, ten days later, «What’s for dinner?» «Bread.» Can you imagine three years later? «What’s for dinner tonight?» «Bread?»
So, we brag about how in the Wilderness their clothes didn’t wear out and their shoes didn’t wear out. Can you imagine wearing the same outfit for 40 years? There are no shopping malls, no H&M, no Zara, no Lululemon, no Athleta! I mean, you’ve got the same outfit on for 40 years!
He caused them to hunger that way by giving them what they needed—not what they wanted. «Man shall not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.» What He’s creating is a hunger in us for what we really need, which is the Word of God.
Look at their landscape! Can you imagine if all you saw every day was bullrush, barren ground, and cactuses with no rivers? That’s why He promises, «When I bring you into this place with rich valleys and fruitful fields,» and their mouths are watering because they’ve been in the desert.
Now, some of you are probably thinking, «Hey dude, they’re in that Wilderness because they disobeyed God.» No, if you read your Bible carefully, you’ll find it was God’s intention to bring them into that Wilderness for one year. It was when they messed up and exhibited inappropriate behavior at the end of that year that it extended into a lifetime of Wilderness.
Let me tell you this; you cannot shorten the Wilderness experience that God has designed for you, but you certainly can lengthen it. I’ve met people who have been in the Wilderness for years—years! Because of inappropriate behavior in the Wilderness. They’ve been circling around the mountain in the desert for 30 years, and it’s heartbreaking because I know God has so much more, but they got stuck by not understanding the purpose of it. That’s why I’m thrilled you’re taking this course.
The benefit is that you will come to understand the proper behavior in the Wilderness so you don’t extend your stay. You’re in good company here. Joseph receives a dream of great leadership, then goes into a pit, slavery, and the dungeon. By the way, «pit» stands for «preachers in training» if you didn’t know that. Moses knows he has a call of God on his life. At 40, he has authority, power, and ability to deliver his kinsmen. But he tries and fails miserably, ending up on the backside of the desert for 40 years.
David gets anointed by the top prophet of the nation—he’s going to be the next king. But he spends the next 14 years of his life in caves, Wildernesses, and deserts. The Wilderness is a necessary time for every child of God, and you’ll ultimately find out in this course it’s for God’s protection over your life.
So remember, the Wilderness is God ultimately protecting you. For the people I just named, it was a physical location. For us, it’s when God seems like He’s a million miles away and His promises are even further.
Now, what the Wilderness is not—I want to close this session with this because it’s so important: number one, the Wilderness is not God’s punishment or disapproval of your life. Please remember that. That’s the first thing that went through my mind during my first Wilderness experience—"God, what have I done wrong?» That’s where everybody’s mind goes first.
Number two, it’s not His abandonment. He has promised you, «I will never leave you nor forsake you.» Number three, it’s not being put on a shelf until He’s ready to use you. That’s ridiculous! God never wastes time. He tells us in Ephesians to redeem the time. He never wastes a moment of our life.
Write this down: God never wastes a moment of your life.
Number four, the Wilderness is not defeat. God intends for us to have victory in the Wilderness. Some people say, «Well, this is just God trying to teach me something. He’s put this sickness, disease, or poverty on me, and I can’t pay my bills.»
Listen, God would never put something on you that Jesus took on Himself to free us. Some might think we’re supposed to give thanks for everything. I heard a minister say he was giving thanks for his wife’s breast cancer. I wanted to scream when I heard that! It doesn’t say, «For everything, give thanks.» It says, «In everything, give thanks.» That means if you’re in the desert, in the trial, you’re to thank God that He is God; He’s our source, our healer, our deliverer.
Now that we’ve looked at what the Wilderness is and what it is not, we want to find out what the purpose of it is. We’ll do that in the next lesson. We’ll see you then!