Ps. 55:22 Cast your burden on the Lord...He shall sustain you.
Phil. 4:6 In everything...let your requests be made known unto God.
I Pet.5:7 Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Job 1:5 Job rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings for all of them.
Unpacked Baggage
We cannot properly intercede for others until we have cleared away the baggage
of personal concerns, needs, and cares. We must find a resting place where we
can lay down our burdens, in order to bear other’s burdens in prayer. Hearts
that are "overloaded" with care will be distracted in prayer and made
ineffective in their intercession.
In Luke 21:34, Jesus warned his disciples to beware of the danger of three
distracting pitfalls:
- Over-abundance (surfeiting, over-spending, over-charging, too many possessions)
- Over-indulgence (drunkenness, lover of pleasures, over-eating, over-playing)
- Over-load (cares, burdens, worries, fears of this life)
Take Your Burden To The Lord
The most deceptive and innocent looking is the "overload...with cares of this
life." We cannot escape the cares of normal living, but we can UNLOAD the
OVERLOAD. Jesus concludes the issue in verse 36 by saying, "Therefore watch
and pray always..."
Leave It There!
The solution to overloaded cares is to pray. That means to bring those excess
burdens, cares, concerns, problems, worries, fears, anxieties, and troubles TO
THE LORD and leave them there! Too often we take these concerns to the Lord, and
walk away just as burdened as before we prayed. There is no "leaving it there."
Cast, Roll, Dump It!
David used an interesting word for "leaving it there." "Cast thy burden on the
Lord." Psalm 55:22 The word "CAST" is the key. It literally means... ROLL...
DUMP... UNLOAD... as one who is carrying a backpack of heavy equipment allows it
to slide from his shoulders to another who is stronger, more able to carry the
load.
You cannot carry your own burdens and the burdens of others!
Burdens are lifted as we roll them onto the Lord
Practical Disciplines Workbook
Pray for yourself Pray for your family
· Your troubles · Each member by name and need
· Your aches & pains · Salvation of children
· Your faith & faithfulness · Spouse's needs
· Your courage to witness · Spiritual growth of each
· Your heart’s secret goals · Health and safety
· Your needs, provisions · Protection from evil
· Your finances, funds · Deliverance from temptation
· Your enemies
Pray for your Future Pray for your faults
· Your plans · Your struggles
· Your goals · Your worries
· Your ministries · Your temptations
· Your vision · Your wants & wishes
· Your heartaches
· Your failures
Exercise (10 minutes max)
Confession is already past but "to one another" is not.
It is also time to "bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ."
No one can help you to bear a burden if they do not know what it is.
Share your key burdens, worries and fears with your prayer partners as you are able.
Discipline Yourself
There will be no time after this point in your intercession to go back to self
petitions. This is the time to lay them fully before God so as to NOT take them
up again.
Dumping on God is one thing. It is quite another to dump in faith knowing that
you are doing it at his invitation because "HE CARES FOR YOU." So thank him for
hearing, being touched with the feeling of your infirmities."
Sing Songs:
Burdens Are Lifted At Calvary / Jesus Knows Just What I Need / No One
Understands Like Jesus / What a Friend We Have in Jesus / Take Your Burden to
the Lord and Leave It There / I Cast All My Cares Upon You.
Cast your burden on the Lord...He shall sustain you. – Ps. 55:22
Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. – I Pet.5:7