Many of the prophets in the Old Testament referred to “the burden of the Lord.” We briefly addressed last week how prophetic impressions can come to us when we feel something in our body that is actually wrong with another person. For example, if we’re talking to a person and our left knee starts hurting, it could be because the person we’re talking to has a problem with their left knee. A reason that the Holy Spirit moves this way is because the Lord feels the infirmities of people, and He shares this with those who are being used as members of His body.
Of course, the purpose for getting such a word of knowledge, which is beyond our ability to know in the natural, is to pray for the person with the ailment so that they can be healed. When the person who has the ailment is told about it by the one receiving the word of knowledge, it can help impart the faith required for healing.
The Lord can also share His burden for other things with those He wants to use prophetically. This could be something general like having a burden for those suffering from a specific disease or who are dealing with a problem like unemployment. The proper response to this burden of the Lord is to start interceding for it, asking for healing, victories, or breakthroughs. Some have done this for years, even decades before getting the victory, but when it takes this long and is this hard, the victory is usually significant. Some burdens like this may last a very short time and are for just one person or breakthrough. Whether the Lord decides to take a long or short time is up to Him.
The point is that when we feel a burden from the Lord, it is to help us identify with what is on His heart and bring us into unity with Him about it. All authority has been given to Him, and our authority over anything is dependent in us coming into unity with Him.
John Wimber once told me that he prayed for about a thousand people to be healed before he saw his first healing. He believed in healing because he believed the Word of God, and he felt a burden to see healing released again to the body of Christ like it was in the first century. However, it took great perseverance for him to experience his first breakthrough. That is because God wanted to use him in such a great way in healing, not only being used to heal thousands himself, but he had one of the greatest ministries ever in releasing others into authentic healing ministries.
A basic principle I’ve learned is that anything which happens too fast or too easily is usually insignificant. Study the significant ministries in Scripture and most had to go through a hard and long preparation for their callings. One common factor you see with those who walk in great callings is that they do not give up. I don’t know of anyone else who prayed for a thousand people to be healed, enduring a thousand disappointments, but not giving up, except for John Wimber. You may also not find another person in history who released so much healing into the body of Christ in their time.
Likewise, the great revivals in history were almost always ignited by a person or group who got such a burden for their nation, or city, or church, that their heart would nearly break, driving them to intercession until there was a breakthrough. In the classics, you read a lot about “persevering prayer,” and “contending” for long periods of time. This kind of “burden” is almost always found at the root of all great ministries.
When on vacation a couple of years ago, I got a burden concerning the dangers of the proposed healthcare legislation. I could not sleep at night and was so grieved in my spirit that I had to write a Special Bulletin about it before I could have peace and relax on my vacation. When I finished it and sent it off, I felt a huge relief, and the Bulletin immediately went viral with 4th generation copies being passed around in the first day. So many went to their town hall meetings with the Bulletin that I was accused of being the one giving the talking points for those meetings that were overflowing with citizens like possibly never before. I don’t think my Bulletin was the only thing contributing to this, and it may not have been nearly as big a part as some supposed, but even if it was just a spark, sometimes it’s all that is needed to start a fire.
Even though I had some relief after finishing the Bulletin, in many ways this burden that borders on grief still comes over me at times. I still consider this healthcare legislation to be an open door to unimaginable tragedy and oppression if not overturned. I won’t quit praying about or studying this legislation.
Recently, I have had this same kind of burden about a book I just finished. There was a burden on me for this book that I have learned is the burden of the Lord, and some who have read it have said it could be my most important book yet. It is hard for me to judge that, but I do know I have rarely felt such a burden to do something or such relief when it was finished.
This is just a brief coverage of one way the Lord speaks to and leads His people, and we have a number yet to cover. The main purpose of this is the increasing need that the body of Christ has for clear guidance from the Lord.
