My spiritual father shared a story with us. There’s a time they visited their friends. While the hosts got the delicious meal ready for a pleasant feast, my spiritual mother began to pray in the Spirit. A burden had suddenly gripped her spirit. They did not have a choice but to join her in the prayers. It lasted for hours. They could no longer eat the food. They responded to a prayer burden.
Friend, prayer is a burden, and God gives prayer burdens (Jeremiah 20:9). There are times you pray because you have to pray, there are times you pray because you need to pray, and there are times you pray because you must pray. You need to differentiate between these kinds of prayers. Prayer burden is a must. This is when God specifically puts a strong need in you to pray (Job 32:18-20).
Prayer burdens often signal an emergency that needs immediate attention (Matthew 26:38-39). At such times, there is a dimension of the will and purpose of God that is at stake. If you don’t pray at such times, such may not come to pass or may be affected in ways you may never know. Prayer burdens are also given to stop the plans and purposes of the devil from coming to pass (Luke 22:31-32). Failure to pray is to let the devil have his way.
Some prayer burdens are for you, but most prayer burdens are not for you. They are for a person, a people, a place, or a generation (Genesis 18:17-33). This is why prayer burdens are for selfless people. They are for people who would allow God to inconvenience them so that lives may be helped. God would demand your time, attention, comfort, sleep, and pleasure in order to advance His kingdom (Matthew 6:10).
Receiving prayer burdens from God is a privilege and a blessing. It means that God trusts you enough to route His plans and purpose through you (Genesis 18:17-19). It means that you are important to the economy of heaven. This is why you must not trivialise it. God can do without you. The fact that God comes to you in the midst of several others must be truly humbling (1 Kings 19:18).
Whereas God gives prayer burdens as He deems fit. But you also need to constantly pray for prayer burdens (Zechariah 12:10). You need to pray that God would enlist you into His army of kingdom change agents. Those whom heaven depends on to fulfil God’s eternal counsels. When prayer becomes a burden, other things do not matter (Acts 10:9-20). Food can wait. Movies can wait. Sleep can wait. Your comfort gives way for God’s purpose. Amen.
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria