Dry Spells — David Wilkerson

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The Reality of Spiritual Dry Spells

My message this morning, dry spells. Anybody know what I'm talking about? I was unsure about this. I thought maybe I'm one of those rare people that get them. Before service, I started asking, do you get dry spells?

Do you get dry spells? Oh, yes, yes. So I was encouraged to go on. Lord, you're trying to teach us things about your nature and about those things that we endure here in our time on Earth. And we thank you, Holy Spirit, for your faithfulness.

We thank you, Holy Spirit, that you always have something for us. And I pray, Lord, that you speak to hearts. I don't know those who've come in for the first time. And I pray that you would speak to everyone that's come into this house, whether they make Times Square Church their home or their first visit here.

Lord, when the Holy Spirit comes, there's conviction, but there's comfort. There's a word, Lord, that we can take into our lives and it can change us and heal our spirits. For those that are downcast today, those are going through this dry spell, I pray that you would give them an understanding of what is happening and why it happens so that we can come forth out of these times to exceeding great joy.

In Christ's name, touch us, I pray. Amen. Now, this is a unique experience common to all those who seek after God. And it's this terrible plunge from a high blessing. It always, almost always follows a mountaintop experience.

It follows a time of great blessing and a high place in the Lord where you have just been blessed by God. You are free to pray and minister, and there's a flow of the Holy Spirit. And then suddenly you wake up one morning and there is a dryness.

There is an emptiness. And this is common all through the Bible to men and women of God. It is not a strange thing. It is common. I'm going to take you through the scripture, and I'm going to give you examples for you to consider this morning.

So that you know that you, as you sit here this morning, are not uniquely and strangely affected. That this is common to all those who love Christ. And it's even more common to those who walk closest to the Lord.

This is common. For example, take as an example Elijah. You see him on Mount Carmel. He calls fire down out of heaven. It consumes not only the sacrifice, but 12 barrels of water he threw on it. You see God bringing down the powers of Baal and consuming the sacrifice.

And God's people, the children of Israel, on their face repenting. And you talk about a manifestation of the glory of God. Manifestation of his power. This was a most incredible scene. And then all the prophets of Baal were slain.

And Elijah, in his prayer, opens the heavens. It hadn't rained because he had shut the heavens. And now he prays and he opens the heavens. And he outruns Ahab's chariot into the city. And he runs. He outruns the chariot.

Now that's supernatural strength. That's the power of the Holy Spirit. He's dwelling in a very elevated spiritual climate right now. But what happens to this man at this hour of blessing, this hour of revelation?

You find him in the next scene running from Jezebel in fear. And you hear him say, Lord, what's the purpose of life? I have failed in my mission. And you see him going into this empty, dry spell, running from God in fear.

And he's down. And this just happens at the peak, the very peak of his blessing. Followed. What follows it? It's this terrible plunge into depression. In one day, he goes from this high place to this very, very low place.

Israel’s Dry Spell After the Red Sea

Israel at the Red Sea. You remember, this had to be one of the most incredible manifestations of the power of God ever seen on earth to that time. In fact, in all of history, there's been nothing as glorious as this.

And God takes them through the Red Sea. And on the other side, as they're lined up on the victory side of the Red Sea, headed toward the promised land, Miriam and the women are dancing and playing their tambourines.

And all of the men are shouting, God is victorious. And all the enemies are laying dead on the side of the sea. A wonderful time, shouting and praising. Three days later, thirsty, murmuring, complaining, depression, down, dry, empty.

Saying, where is our God? Because they come to water, to a place called Mara, and there's a pool of water there. And they fall beside it and lapping it up and it's bitter and they're spitting it out. And they're down in a dry spell.

It comes after the greatest victories. My dad was a preacher and my granddad and great granddad. And I was told, and I listened to preachers talk that evangelists and missionaries that would visit our home.

And I'd hear them say this, watch out after these great victories. The enemy is always there to try to bring you down and take away your blessing. You find it also in David's life. God tells him, I'm going to establish your kingdom as an everlasting kingdom.

And the very words he said, your house and kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. Now that's an amazing revelation from God's throne. God said to David, I'm going to use you and you're going to have a seed.

And he knew that that meant Messiah, meant the coming Messiah. And David cannot be any higher on any higher mountain. He cannot be any more blessed than he's blessed at this time. He runs to the temple.

He runs to the house of God and he falls on his face saying, who am I to be so blessed? What follows? He comes to a place of great victory. He secures all his borders. He wins battle after battle and said everywhere David went, he was blessed.

Everything he touched was blessed. It was a time when he could pray and he wrote wonderful hymns and he wrote wonderful music. And this was a high time. It was a wonderful time. But in one night, in one night, he falls into temptation and he is down.

And in that next year is the most vicious dry spell David ever experienced. And it's in this time he said, you remember his confession. I preached about it recently from this pulpit. The cry of a godly man, the private battle of a godly man and the battle he describes of his dryness.

And I'm in the wilderness. My bones ache. I can't sleep. I'm lonely. And he's down. And he said, I don't understand it. I was so blessed. You find this all through the scripture. You'll find it with Daniel.

Daniel sets his heart to seek God. Daniel fast and Daniel praise. Daniel sees visions. He intercedes. He's a man of the word, a man of faith. And he has just spent weeks fasting and he is seeing visions and dreams and he's prophesying.

But then you hear in the midst of all of this, he falls into some kind of battle in his human flesh. And he says, I have no strength left. He said, I mourn and I have no more tears left. And this follows all of the blessings of God in this man's life.

He ends up in the lion's den after praying three times a day and seeking the face of God. You find him in the lion's den. Paul, the apostle, is taken into what he called the third heaven. And he sees things and he hears things that no man has ever seen or heard before.

He has glimpsed the glory of God and he has stepped into another realm. He comes down out of that experience. He comes out of that high place. And what does he face? He faces a messenger of Satan to buffet him.

He faces a thorn in the flesh. You listen to Paul and you listen to the heart cry of this man. You find him in prison. You find him jailed. You find the friends forsaking him. You find this dry spell, one dry spell after another hitting Paul.

One moment you hear the great victory and each time there's a new revelation that comes out of Paul's heart. Every dry spell has produced a new epistle. Jesus goes down into baptism of water. John just pulls him out of the water and he's standing there.

And suddenly a voice comes from heaven and a dove floats down, flutters down and sits upon him, the Holy Spirit. And you hear God's validation of his own son. This is my beloved son. Hear him. And what happens?

What's the next thing you read? And he was led in the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. He comes from this validation. He comes from this place of such closeness to his father and a commitment to do nothing and say nothing except led by his father.

And suddenly you find him in a dry place, a wilderness where there's no water and there's no food. I want to share a personal experience. It was 1979, Dallas, Texas. And I was leafing through some of my old sermons.

A Personal Experience of Spiritual Dryness

1979 and I had left some writings. I was in a convention and I just finished the message on the suffering of Christ. There were many, many hundreds of people. And at the end of the message, I began to just, I raised my hands and began to praise the Lord with three words, glory, honor, praise.

I lifted my hands and I, the spirit of the Lord came on me, just, just worshiping these three words, glory, honor, praise over and over. And suddenly I was caught up in a river of praise and worship I'd never before experienced in my life.

It was like I was lifted out of the auditorium. And in about five minutes or so, I fell on my back and I began to worship. And suddenly at the top of my voice, these words are coming out. And I felt like I was part of the heavenly choir.

I was not in heaven, but I was in a place where the light grew lighter. It was a diffusion of light, diffusion of light all over. And I was in some kind of a heavenly atmosphere. At that time, I wasn't looking for mansions.

I didn't want to meet Moses. I didn't want to meet any of the disciples. And that statement, will we know anybody in heaven? Well, I'm so anxious to get there that I want to see my mother and my father and all that.

That didn't enter my mind because Christ was everything. Jesus was everything. He filled everything. Nothing else mattered. Streets of gold, that's nothing. Mansions, no. It's the glory of Christ that abides in him.

And I was caught up and I thought I was singing with angels. I thought I was singing with the heavenly choir and all the hosts of heaven. And it was not. And I knew there was awareness. It was not any holiness in me because often I'd failed the Lord.

It wasn't that. It was there was a hunger in my heart to know Christ. And I'd been praying for more of the revelation and drawing to him. And he drew me in the spirit. The Lord was taking me in a river.

And I began to realize that when we in the church of Jesus Christ truly praise him, we lift our hands and we worship. We're a part of a heavenly choir. Some of them are singing the same time. And we are caught up in this praise.

We're caught up in that worship. I was in high praises. I don't know how long I was out. Finally came out of that, those high praises, that heavenly place. My wife was glad I got up. She didn't know whether it was a heart attack or what, but she could hear those praises.

But I couldn't speak. There was something had come over me. I could not talk to anybody. I walked out. Gwen assisted me. I took her by the arm. And even when we got into the car, I couldn't. It was unspeakable.

And, you know, that night before I went to bed, I think this is the most glorious high. This is the most incredible experience I've ever had. From now on, I'm going to be able to pray like Elijah. From now on, the flesh is defeated.

From now on, revelation after revelation is going to flow. I'll never be the same. A week later, I entered the most dry six weeks of my ministry. I entered within a week. And, of course, when I shared that with a pastor friend, he said, well, that's just God showing you.

You can't depend on your feelings. But nobody could take away that experience from me. I knew the high praises of almighty God. And folks, when you get along with God and when you begin to seek him, you begin to praise him.

If all you do is say hallelujah from your heart over and over again and just let yourself go into his presence, he'll carry you away by his spirit and you will know what I'm talking about. Some of you know that experience.

But don't expect to pitch a tent there. God will tear it down. Because he says, no, this is not the highest place. You haven't seen anything yet. So I'm not going to just sit here and pride yourself, get a big head over it.

But you see, now God was not hiding from me because he promised to never leave me nor to forsake me. T. Austin Sparks was a great English preacher from London. He's now with the Lord. And he's one of my favorite preachers.

I have most of his books. His wife died about 15 years ago. She was 95 and she gave me permission to publish one of his books, School of Christ. And T. Austin Sparks was such a man of God. Watchman Knee trained under him.

People from all over the world would sell their homes and go to Honour Oak in London to sit under his teaching. And one woman from the United States who sold everything and went there to live just to sit under T. Austin Sparks wrote me a letter during that time.

It was near this very time. She told of being there when T. Austin Sparks, this great man of God, who knew Christ as so few knew him, and such revelation of the majesty and the glory of Christ and our justification and our walking with God.

And she told of the hour. He had a small Bible school, a training Bible school. And she told of him getting up one morning and making a confession to those students. And this is what he said and he added in his book called His Great Love.

This is what this great man of God said. After wonderful truths are shown to us, it's a painful thing to realize that we've not reached the summit. In order to go on further stages of truth, to further revelation, something has to happen to us.

Before God reveals more, he's saying, before you go any further, God has to do something. We go through new experiences of dying to the flesh, desolation, emptiness, hopelessness. In order to come into something further on and deeper in divine revelation.

We thought we'd come into the fullness of God's thoughts. We thought we were growing and we were seeing. And then suddenly everything is though it's nothing. And he said my experience is that it's through this history of God.

A history of repeated dry places and emptiness after wonderful revelations. And then suddenly one is brought up again into something deeper and fuller out of that dry place. Folks, I don't want this to be just another Sunday morning sermon.

I want us to learn and understand. I want to learn and understand these dry places. The apostle Peter and his disciples were meeting behind a closed door. They were afraid for their lives. You know, their savior had just been killed, crucified, buried.

And now they've seen an empty tomb and they've heard that Jesus was alive. And suddenly into that room he appears walking through the locked door. And he said, be not afraid, it is I, your Lord. Fear not.

Now, if you had been there that day in that room, that locked room, and suddenly you see God in flesh. You are allowed to touch him. And he embraces you. And it dawns on you that your confession is that he's the son of God.

That he is God in flesh. He's not only God in flesh now, he is God in resurrected body. And Thomas is putting his finger in the nail marks in his side. You would think that this great revelation, this incredible God moment would so change their lives.

And they were then, listen to this commandment, go into all the world now and preach the gospel. Heal the sick and cast out devils and baptize and teach all men the things that you've heard. And I'm going to go with you.

If you'd been there, don't you think that would affect your life? Don't you think that you would be walking out of there saying, now I'm going to have a miracle ministry. I'm going to do the very thing he said.

What happens? What's the very next chapter say? What's it say after Jesus vanishes? Peter said, I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. Jesus had warned them. He said, look, I'm going to be resurrected from the dead.

I'm going to be raised. You're going to see me in my resurrected body. And I want that to be faith producing in you. But God, Jesus had warned them. He said, you're going to enter into great suffering.

Why are six disciples following Peter down to the lake and getting in the fishing boats? It was overwhelming. It was something beyond them. He's leaving us. No more give and take communication. No more hearing his voice.

No more sweet, close communion. He's leaving. He talks about the Holy Spirit coming, but we don't know him. We don't know what that's all about. And they come from this great mountaintop experience down into grief and sorrow.

Trusting God When Faith Feels Dry

Let me ask you a question. You've heard my confession and my testimony. You've heard these witnesses here. And from Peter and the disciples. What about you? Have you ever come to the place where you set your heart to seek God?

You said, I'm going to go deeper in the Lord. I'm not going to be nonchalant about my Bible reading anymore. And I'm going to lay hold of God and I'm going to pray for the sick. And I'm going to be more disciplined in the things of God.

And I'm going to set my heart. Because you go to church or you read the word and you're fired up. Something happens. You hear a word or God's Spirit's moving on you and say, I'm going to go deeper and further.

I haven't been seeking God as I should. There's a bit of lukewarmness. I don't feel my ministry is moving as it should. I don't have the touch that I need. And you get serious with God. And God begins to answer.

God begins to move. Their prayers are being answered. And for a while, the zeal of the Lord is increasing. And in the midst of it, you wake up one morning and you are down. You are dry and you are empty.

Does anybody... Is that why it's so quiet here suddenly? Oh, I know this kind of plunge from the mountain to the lowest pit. I've been there and I know what it's like. I took some notes out of my six weeks of dryness and emptiness.

Here's what I wrote, just some excerpts. This is my dry spell. Is it a result of depending too much on my feelings? Is it a result of not being yielded enough to Christ? Could it be He's angry with me?

I know this is more than just feeling the blues. I don't doubt His love for me. But there's a sense that I'm not hearing His voice as I should. But somehow I know He's going to bring me out of this dryness.

I know that He'll fulfill the promises He's made to me. He will turn my dryness into a river of life. That came out of that six weeks. But T. Austin Sparks, in his dryness, learned something very glorious, something wonderful.

He said, there are times the Lord lets us feel that we're left all alone. When He seems to close the heavens and there's no to and fro communication. Everything we look for, everything we expected seems to have come to an end.

It's broken down and it all seems to be in ruins now. All the promises seem to be gone and unable to hear the voice of God. And you read the Bible and the words run together and there's a dryness. And you start beating up yourself.

You start thinking, what is wrong? What did I do? And we try to evaluate our lives and see how we have failed God. We go through this, folks, and God allows it. Because God is after something. I don't know how many of them walked in this church this morning.

And you're going through a battle. You're going through a testing time. You've known the highs. You've known the blessings. But right now, and sometimes I've known people that go through one, two, even three or more years of this kind of wilderness experience.

But I've got a word from heaven for you. I've got a word to hope that this will explain to you what God is after. Now, when great men of God and folks, God has privileged me to be partners with great men of God, like Leonard Ravenhill, who worked with me for six years here in New York City years ago when I first came to establish Teen Challenge drug program.

He was in my next office and we'd sit and talk for hours and hours. He would talk about those moments. I would hear Canadian men who had written books and two prophets of God, righteous men that nobody knows about but God, and their books, they're known for their writings.

And when I was a young preacher and I would hear these men talk about those dry spells, I wasn't having them at that time because I was riding on youthful zeal. And everything was glory. And boy, I got thinking, you get dry, something wrong with you.

You're not praying right. You're not seeking God. There's something wrong with their sin. I'd hear great prophets say, Pastor Dave. I was young and they were older men and say, pray for me, lay hands on me.

One man came to one of my conferences. Man, I so loved and endured. I've been reading his books. At the end of the service, everybody's shouting and singing. He came up shaking. He said, Brother Dave, a horrible temptation just come over me and I've been so dry and I need a touch.

Would you put your arm around me? Pray for me. And I'm backing away like I don't want to touch you. What's wrong with you? Oh, what stupidity. What ignorance. No, no, no, no. I want to show you something.

Dry Ground as the Path to God’s Victory

I said, Lord, I want to understand this. If you're on dry ground. You're on your way to a greater miracle. I want you to see it in the spirit. When God took Israel, he led them right to the border of the Red Sea.

And if you go into Exodus at that time, in that period, God says you're going to go through. But you're going through on dry ground. He says it four times. You're going over on dry ground. In other words, dry ground is a path.

You're going somewhere. You're not going backwards. You're going toward the promised land. You're going to a new revelation. You're going to a new victory in Christ. And God said, you're going to go on dry ground.

And it's dry ground where the enemy is defeated. Not you, but the enemy, because it was on dry ground. The dry ground that belonged to Israel. The dry ground that is your dry ground. The enemy will always chase you and try to get you when you're on dry ground.

But that's where the wheels of the chariot of the devil come off. That's when all the enemies are lined up along the beach and on the side. Because in dry ground, Jesus reveals himself. I wish I knew this years ago.

Could have saved me so much trouble. But now when the dry spell comes and I can't seem to hear it. And sometimes God hides his voice. Sometimes he just backs off. He's there. He'll never leave nor forsake.

But he's saying, I don't want you to go just on voices. I want you to understand that I want you to believe me and trust me. When you can't hear, when you can't see, when you feel blind and you're down.

I want you to stand still. You're on dry ground. But I'm taking you somewhere. I'm showing you something. You're going to be changed. I want you to go to Isaiah 41. I want to show you something. If you want to shout in dry ground, you might just get off dry ground.

Into the new revelation. 41st chapter of Isaiah. God has promised that out of dry places, new life is going to spring up. Did you hear what I said? In your dry place, he's made an ironclad promise. That you're going to see a harvest like you have never seen in your lifetime.

Start at verse 17. When the poor and the needy seek water and there is none and their tongue fails for thirst. I'd say that's dry ground. I, the Lord will hear them. I, the God of Israel will not forsake them.

And all he does is hear a cry. All he hears is the heart crying out. The Lord will hear them. I, the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places. And fountains in the midst of the valley.

I will make the wilderness a pool of water. And the dry land springs of water. Are you dry? The Lord said you just call out to me. You just trust me. Don't panic. Nothing, nothing bad is happening to you.

Nothing evil is happening to you. God says I've allowed this. You're right where I want you. Now stand still and see what I do. And this is what he said. Fountains in the midst of the valley. Wilderness a pool of water.

Dry land spring up of water. And what happens? I will plant in your wilderness the cedar, the cedar tree, the myrtle, the oil tree. And I will set in the desert fir tree, pine, box tree together. What are you seeing folks?

You're seeing a harvest. You're seeing God do new things. Everywhere you look now you see fruit. You see things springing up. Life is springing up. That they may see, verse 20, that they may see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord has done this.

And the Holy One of Israel has created. Oh glory be to God. That ought to put a shout in your heart. God did it. God brought me to this dry place. Stand up please and thank God. Just raise your hands and thank God.

Lord we thank you. This is the hand of God. This is the doing of our Savior. Out of dry places wells of living water shall spring up. And what I never saw before I will see now. What I've never known before I will know now.

Hallelujah. Never thought I'd ever thank God for my dry spells. But now I know whose hand is behind it. He allows it. And there are occasions when he caused it here in the scripture. I don't have time to go into it all.

Prayer for Those in Spiritual Dryness

But thank God. I'm interested in praying this morning for those in this auditorium and those in the annex who know what I'm talking about. You truly know what you're experiencing. The very thing that I've dealt with this morning.

Some of you, if you shared what you're going through and how low you have been brought and how low you feel and the experience you're going, it would probably bring many of us to tears. We couldn't handle it all.

But he can. He can and he will. This is a praying church. And when anybody in any service steps out to the front here for prayer, this whole church prays for everyone. And I'd like to pray for those that say, Pastor Dave, I am in that place and my faith has been challenged.

My faith has really been challenged. And I just need a touch. I need the Lord to renew my mind. I can't leave here until I receive it. You can come even while I'm talking. Just step out of your seat. Wherever you are, up in the balcony, go to the stairs on either side.

And in the annex, just go between the screens. I'll pray for you there. And this church will pray. And all those around you will pray for you. And, boy, that's a lot of prayer going up on your behalf.

If you don't know Christ, if you've drifted from Christ, get along in this river that are coming, of people coming. Just get in this river, be a part of this, and let the Lord change your life. Let you go out of here free.

Move in close, if you will, please, and make room for those that are coming. He gives power to the faint, to them that have no might. He increases strength. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles, shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Fear not, for I'm with you. Don't be dismayed, for I'm your God. I'm going to strengthen you. I will help you.

Yea, I will uphold you with the right hand in my righteousness. And everyone that's angry at you, against you, shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be as nothing. And they that strive with you shall perish.

They that war against you shall be as nothing, as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord, thy God, will hold your right hand and say, Fear not, I'm with you, and I'm going to help you. That's God's Word. That is God's Word.

A Prayer of Faith and Perseverance

I don't know what else to do but have you pray a prayer that I pray. And God hears the prayer even if someone asks you to repeat it, if it comes from your heart. As long as it comes from your heart and represents what your heart is saying and believing.

Would you just pray this with me? Everyone who came forward and those in the congregation who need the prayer, God hears. He knows how to go through. He knows how to decipher and interpret every word we say.

Pray this with me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for your mercy. I thank you that I know that you love me. You're not angry with me. You have promised to help me, strengthen me, keep me from the power of my enemies.

Now, Holy Spirit, come now and help me to believe that the promises I've been given will be fulfilled. I confess my sins and all my weaknesses and I bring it to the cross. And I ask for the shedding of the blood, or the sprinkling of the shed blood.

Now, in Jesus' name, I believe what God said. I believe the word of God. Thank you, Jesus, for my dry times. Let me never again be afraid. Because in that time, you're showing me and leading me to a higher place in Jesus Christ.

Now, raise your hands and thank him. Lord, I give you praise. I give you thanks. This is the conclusion of the message.