PROLONGED DRY SEASON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

Living in the Spirit :

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Every believer will eventually pass through seasons when God seems silent, prayers appear unanswered, and spiritual joy gives way to weariness. These are the wilderness experiences of the Christian life — times when faith is tested, hope is stretched, and endurance is refined. During such seasons, many assume God has abandoned them or that they have somehow failed.

Yet Scripture reveals a different picture. God often accomplishes His deepest work when His voice seems quiet. The wilderness is not evidence of His absence but the classroom where faith matures, character is formed, and intimacy with Him is deepened. The believer's victory in these seasons is not found in escaping them quickly, but in learning to walk faithfully through them with the Holy Spirit.

The greatest danger in a dry season is not the suffering itself — it is losing faith while waiting. The believer who continues to seek God's voice, speak His Word, obey His Spirit, and trust His promises will discover that the wilderness is often God's workshop, preparing them for greater fruitfulness and a deeper revelation of Christ.

**God's Presence Is Covenant, Not Emotion**

God's presence in the believer's life is established by His promise, not by our feelings. The Holy Spirit does not move in and out of us according to changing moods — He permanently dwells in everyone who has been born again. His presence is a covenant reality, not an emotional experience. That is the truth of the new covenant: He is with us, and He is in us.

**Deep Calling Unto Deep**

One reason believers become confused during dry seasons is that they fix their attention on the *duration* of the season rather than its *purpose*. Scripture describes this experience as "deep calling unto deep" (Psalm 42:7).

The psalmist was not merely describing being overwhelmed. He was describing an invitation. One depth calls out to another depth — the depth of the trial is summoning the believer to a deeper place in their own spirit. The prolonged nature of the trouble is not what God wants us fixated on; the depth being called for is the point. Shallow praying is not appropriate at such times. The deep waters are calling the believer past the noise of the circumstance and into the intuition of the spirit, where the voice of God can actually be heard.

Troubles are opportunities to call upon God and experience His faithfulness. He said, *"Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me"* (Psalm 50:15). For the new creation, this is the time to seek the mind of God and know His thoughts concerning the matter — because everything begins and ends with Him.

**Two Biblical Examples**

Jeremiah is one such example. When the captivity in exile stretched beyond the promised seventy years, he did not simply endure the captivity, waiting passively for change. He sought to know God's thoughts and plans, because the appointed time had already been exceeded and something needed to be understood, not merely endured.

The famine in Samaria offers another example. The king threatened to cut off the head of the prophet Elisha. Why such anger? Because under the old covenant, it was the prophet's responsibility to hear the voice of God on behalf of the people — and in that moment of national crisis, the voice was not being sought or given. The famine grew so severe that mothers resorted to eating their own children — yet nobody was seeking God to hear His side of the story. But when the word was finally heard, relief came in twenty-four hours. The famine did not have to stretch that far. It stretched because the voice of God was not being sought.

The lesson for believers is this: never go silent in a prolonged trial and simply imagine that the situation will go away on its own. Press in — not only to continue in prayer, but with the goal of hearing what the Spirit of God is saying to your spirit, declaring the word of God over the situation — for it is the power of God given to believers to change every situation and make it align with God's plan and purpose for our lives. You don't say you are waiting for God in a situation that keeps prolonging. Often, God is waiting for you to come and wait on Him. Many believers keep enduring a difficult season saying they are "waiting for God," while God is waiting for them, prolonging the season instead.

** What the Wilderness Produces**

God often performs His deepest work within us before He changes anything around us. Dry seasons strengthen our patience, humility, dependence, perseverance, obedience, and love for Him — producing a steadfast trust no longer controlled by what we see or feel, but by what God has said.

When worship continues without emotional payoff, it becomes an act of love. When prayer continues without immediate answers, faith develops endurance. When obedience continues despite difficulty, Christlike character is formed. The believer gradually becomes rooted in God Himself rather than in experiences, emotions, or circumstances.

Waiting is never wasted in God's kingdom. Before promotion comes preparation; before fruit comes rooting. Joseph waited before ruling Egypt. David waited before wearing the crown. Jesus spent thirty hidden years before three years of public ministry. If the Son of God embraced hidden preparation, we should not despise our own.

The wilderness is God's workshop. The waiting room is often the training ground of the Spirit.

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*Living in the Spirit — Hassan Thomas Nenger* *Author, "My Divine Identity as the Righteousness of God"*