Empty wells and dry places!

The prodigal lie makes puddles look like wells!

Many prodigal places of worship have been raised with puddles, but no wells. Check your well… How deep is the water? Are you at a well with water? Or have you settled at a puddle. There is a deception moving through this generation—a prodigal lie that makes puddles look like wells. Here today and gone tomorrow!

There are too many puddles that pretend to be wells. A puddle glistens for a moment after the rain. It reflects light beautifully. It appears refreshing and lasting. But it has no depth, no source, no endurance. The moment the heat rises, it disappears. Many have mistaken shallow puddles for living wells. Hoping from puddle to puddle.

I heard God say: “Test the waters you have settled beside. Are they deep enough to sustain you in drought? Are they connected to My river, or are they merely temporary reflections born from passing storms? Some people built their lives around what shimmered instead of what endured. They chased moments instead of foundations. They yielded to flattery and promises of grandeur. They pursued emotional highs, comfort, pleasure, success, influence, and experiences that looked alive but carried no eternal source. The prodigal spirit always leads people away from wells and into wastelands.

Like the prodigal son, many left the Father’s house believing there was greater fulfilment in a distant land. They traded inheritance for independence. They abandoned covenant wells for temporary puddles. But every man-made reservoir eventually cracks under pressure.”

I heard God say: For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and they have carved out their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. [Jeremiah 2:13]

The Lord says: “The false wells will be exposed. Before the next great down pour there will be a drought and a famine. A season is coming where drought will reveal what was truly built by God and what was sustained only by convenience, hype, emotion, or human effort. Many places appeared fruitful while the rain was falling, but they have no underground river and no well to hold it. They have no depth of prayer, no authentic presence of the Holy Spirit, no true kingdom assignment, and no enduring oil. The prodigal lie told them this is enough. Nothing more is needed. Good times will never end. But those lies have positioned many to fail under trouble and persecution.

Before great outpourings often come great shakings. Before the next downpour, there will be drought in places that abandoned God’s presence for performance and the appearance of God, but lacking the approval of God. There will be famine in places built on personality and manipulation instead of purity. Many gathered around shimmering reflections, but they never discovered the deep well of God Himself.

And when the drought comes, the symptoms will appear everywhere:

• People sleeping without rest

• Families falling apart

• Businesses losing strength

• Souls growing weary

• Churches losing oil

• Hearts feeling empty despite constant activity

Suddenly people will realize they were drinking from puddles all along.”

But hear this clearly: A dry season does not always mean God has abandoned you —it means He is trying to redirect you back home where the well is. Sometimes the wilderness is where God strips away every false source until you thirst for Him again. Sometimes the dry place is mercy giving you a chance to repent and go home.

I heard God say He will use the dry, quiet, and barren seasons to draw people closer and remind them to drink only from HIS wells of living water. He will use barren seasons to break dependence on broken cisterns. He will dry up counterfeit streams so His people will return to their ancient wells.

David understood this mystery: “O God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You. My soul thirsts for You in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.” [Psalm 63:1-2]

The wilderness reveals what truly sustains you. And in this hour, God is calling His people back to ancient wells. There are old apostolic storehouses still filled with unfulfilled prophetic promises and revival sparks. There are revival wells dug by faithful fathers and mothers of the faith that still carry living water beneath the surface. These were set aside for generations as an inheritance. Though generations abandoned them, Heaven never abandoned them. The enemy convinced many to leave ancient wells in search of “new things,” but many wandered so far from covenant inheritance that they no longer recognize what a real well looks like.

Yet the Spirit says: “Many who did not know they were prodigals will realize they fell for a prodigal lie and return home. I am calling My sons and daughters back to the wells of their fathers.”

There are wells of prayer, holiness, repentance, consecration, sound doctrine, deep worship, Holy Spirit fire and enduring covenant still full of water. Your ancient generational well still holds the water you need.

Like Isaac in the days of famine, a generation must rise and reopen the ancient wells that were stopped up by rebellion, rejection, hard hearts, distraction, false beliefs and spiritual Philistines assigned to divide and destroy prophetic words and God-ordained families.

“Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the time of his father Abraham.” [Genesis 26:18]

Notice this: Isaac prospered during famine because he returned to proven wells. While others panicked, he dug deeper. While others wandered, he stayed planted. While others searched for survival, he rediscovered inheritance.

The Lord says: “In the coming famine, those planted by My waters will not fear the heat. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord… He is like a tree planted by water… and does not fear when heat comes.” [Jeremiah 17:7-8] These hard times, droughts and famines will come, but they will not affect all the same way. There will be places with green fields, barns filled with plenty, and vats overflowing with wine. Many have abandoned the wells I gave them looking for new water in strange places, but they forget the promises I made to their fathers and their father’s fathers. They will come to pass.”

There will be a visible difference between puddles and wells in the days ahead.

Some places will dry up overnight.

Others will overflow in impossible conditions.

Some ministries will collapse under pressure.

Others will never buckle and always carry supernatural provision.

Some believers will drift from mirage to mirage.

Others will stand firm beside living water.

God is separating shallow waters from deep wells.

And He is calling prodigals home.

Just as Joseph prepared storehouses before famine, God has positioned spiritual fathers and mothers at strategic wells across the earth. They are waiting to bless children with their inheritance. There are storehouses of bread waiting for returning sons and daughters. There are places carrying preserved oil for the days ahead.

The invitation of the Father has not changed.

The well has not moved.

The inheritance remains.

You simply need to come home.

Perhaps you feel exhausted.

Perhaps your soul feels dry.

Perhaps you built beside a puddle that disappeared when life became difficult.

The Father is not mocking your thirst. He is summoning you back to the source.

• Come back to prayer.

• Come back to His presence.

• Come back to the Word.

• Come back to holiness.

• Come back to covenant.

• Come back to the ancient wells.

Stop chasing reflections that cannot survive the heat. Drink deeply again from the well that never runs dry. “Come home to threshing floors full of grain, and vats overflowing with new wine and oil.” [Joel 2:24]

Father, expose every empty well I have trusted in. Reveal every puddle I mistook for living water. Break my appetite for shallow things and restore my hunger for Your presence. Lead me back to ancient wells dug by faithful generations. Teach me to remain planted beside living water even when drought surrounds me.

Holy Spirit, awaken deep thirst within Your people again. Reopen the wells of revival, prayer, holiness, and truth. Call prodigals home. Restore inheritance. Let Your Church become a people who carry oil in famine and living water in dry places.

May we never trade eternal wells for temporary puddles again.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

BY NICO SMIT

‘EMPTY WELLS AND DRY PLACES!’ – Prophetic word released 18 May 2026. Find it and other teachings, encouragements, prophetic words and resources at: nicosmitblog.com

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