Day 220: Bearing One's Another's Burden: Prayer
Read: Nehemiah 1:1 - 2:5
Following yesterdays devotional effort, 'baring and bearing one another's burden', the Lord placed upon my heart for our mutual and shared consideration a singular burden of immeasurable significance, a burden of immeasurable responsibility
that we know as Prayer. As Christians we are called to prayer. Sometimes
God places someone on your heart and you pray. That’s a prayer burden
that’s not difficult to recognize. We are approached by family, friends,
co-workers, complete strangers and we're given a
prayer concern -
please pray for such and such. In Church, we are exposed to many
opportunities to pray for much a wider array of concerns specifically on
their hearts. We pray in a circle, we go home.
Yes, prayer is a great privilege. You and God, Holding Hands and Sharing Hearts - an awesome moment but one that is probably of short duration. However, for
this time of devotion, I am placing prayer before you as a burden. I am
placing before you the hard words of Nehemiah Prayer Burden. (4-6)'I
sat down and wept, and mourned for many days.… And I said: “I pray, Lord
God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and
mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let
Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer
of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night.” Wow! Takes your breath away!
"I mourned for many days ..." "... let Your ears be attentive and Your Eyes open, that You may hear ..." Nehemiah prays before You now, day and night." Let that sink in for a while! If we don’t discern the call to pray, if we are going through
our own trial and tribulation, if we are not as sensitive to the leading
of the Holy Spirit as we should be or could be, we think it’s us and we
dismiss or minimize the moment. So what do we do? We focus on ourselves
rather than pressing into intercession. We will suffer in our own souls
rather than helping another soul in need. However, Nehemiah's spirit
was hammered, hammered hard by the deplorable news of his brethren back
home. God's Spirit was definitely working overtime!
Sometimes, our spirits get hammered, even sledge hammered too. When we realize the full extent of what has figuratively and physically brought us to our knees, we are literally, figuratively, physically and spiritually overcome like
Nehemiah. A burden of prayer is marked usually by a sense of spiritual
weight—a heaviness of heart, a drag on one's emotions, a spirit of
mourning, or a growing feeling of restlessness that just arises because
we cannot seem to shift ourselves away from a problem or need that has
come to our attention. I ask you to recall a specific time or intensely
personal moment in life when you have experienced a prayer burden. Feel
free to share it in confidence - I will pray for you too!
Let Us Pray: Personalize Psalms 16:5 - 11 and Psalms 84
http://www.youtube.com/
Read: Nehemiah 1:1 - 2:5
Following yesterdays devotional effort, 'baring and bearing one another's burden', the Lord placed upon my heart for our mutual and shared consideration a singular burden of immeasurable significance, a burden of immeasurable responsibility that we know as Prayer. As Christians we are called to prayer. Sometimes God places someone on your heart and you pray. That’s a prayer burden that’s not difficult to recognize. We are approached by family, friends, co-workers, complete strangers and we're given a
prayer concern - please pray for such and such. In Church, we are exposed to many opportunities to pray for much a wider array of concerns specifically on their hearts. We pray in a circle, we go home.
Yes, prayer is a great privilege. You and God, Holding Hands and Sharing Hearts - an awesome moment but one that is probably of short duration. However, for this time of devotion, I am placing prayer before you as a burden. I am placing before you the hard words of Nehemiah Prayer Burden. (4-6)'I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days.… And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night.” Wow! Takes your breath away!
"I mourned for many days ..." "... let Your ears be attentive and Your Eyes open, that You may hear ..." Nehemiah prays before You now, day and night." Let that sink in for a while! If we don’t discern the call to pray, if we are going through our own trial and tribulation, if we are not as sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as we should be or could be, we think it’s us and we dismiss or minimize the moment. So what do we do? We focus on ourselves rather than pressing into intercession. We will suffer in our own souls rather than helping another soul in need. However, Nehemiah's spirit was hammered, hammered hard by the deplorable news of his brethren back home. God's Spirit was definitely working overtime!
Sometimes, our spirits get hammered, even sledge hammered too. When we realize the full extent of what has figuratively and physically brought us to our knees, we are literally, figuratively, physically and spiritually overcome like Nehemiah. A burden of prayer is marked usually by a sense of spiritual weight—a heaviness of heart, a drag on one's emotions, a spirit of mourning, or a growing feeling of restlessness that just arises because we cannot seem to shift ourselves away from a problem or need that has come to our attention. I ask you to recall a specific time or intensely personal moment in life when you have experienced a prayer burden. Feel free to share it in confidence - I will pray for you too!
Let Us Pray: Personalize Psalms 16:5 - 11 and Psalms 84
http://www.youtube.com/
Casting Crowns - What if His People Prayed Lyrics
www.youtube.com
Casting Crown's song What if His People Prayed lyrics (: Photos are all taken by me, and I do not
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