Bring on a burden!

It seems that so many of our prayers are requests for our lives to be easier. Prayers for material things, prayers for better jobs, prayers for our health, prayers for people in our life to be happy. Basically we want to make our little corner of the world as comfortable as we possibly can. I’m not going to get into whether these are the things we should be praying for today, although I have an opinion. My point is actually to consider praying for something entirely different. I was really challenged with this thought when I read Craig Groeschel’s book Weird.

I have begun praying for a burden. Not like so many prayers I have had in the past to have God remove some kind of burden. Instead, I am asking him to give me a burden! How crazy is that??

Here is what my man Craig says...

“Most of us feel good when we avoid burdens, after all isn’t life hard enough? Why ask God for more trials, trauma, and tears? It’s normal to want to avoid pain - human even. But God didn’t put us here on earth just to feel good and enjoy ourselves. He doesn’t give us our lives so we can master techniques in avoiding pain. He puts us here to make an eternal difference. He puts us here to show everyone around us how much he loves them. He puts us here to be his hands and feet, his body and his heart.”

He then goes on to have you ponder some questions. What breaks your heart? What makes you angry? What do you care about more than most people?

I care that people don’t know God and will eventually be eternally separated from Him. But “care” is not always enough to drive me to action. To the questions above... I am praying that my heart is broken for people who are not saved. I want to get fired up that people don’t know the truth and no one is telling them! And I want to care SO, SO deeply that I have no choice but to respond and take action.

Basically I want to tip the scales. On one side is my absolute faith and knowledge that God is real and awesome and Jesus is the only way to God. On the other side of the scale are all my fears and insecurites...the parts of me that stay quiet because people might think less of me if I share my faith. Too often the scales lean the wrong direction and my weaknesses win out. But I believe that through prayer and an ever increasing love for God, the scales will pull the other direction. I think a burden will be the difference.

I want to see people the way God sees them. With such love that I can’t bear the thought of them going through this life as an enemy of God, and eventually eternity in hell. I can say that I agree with these words, but maybe if I truly believed them and had an actual burden, I would get out there, open my mouth, and just maybe make a difference.