I want to speak on the to topic of burden. Having the right burden will activate your faith, allow you to find purpose, bring you into your destiny and create your future. Without a true burden from God you will go through life and ministry aimlessly wandering.
Jesus was burdened for what would become the church. Paul was burdened for the church. A burden is not pity or feeling sorry for someone. A burden for the Lord is an extension from heaven. When you have Gods burden you will give yourself to it, both like Christ and Paul.
2 Corinthians 11:28 (KJV 1900) — 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
Paul said daily this burden was present. The words come upon is associated with pressure, anxiety and comes from a word describing the force a riotous crowd carries. Without a burden for something you don’t have the perspective to speak into it. Paul was burdened for the church so he could address the issues. Today we move out of need-based perception and seldom burden focus. We have a lot of good suggestions but little change. Burdens from the Lord are catalyst for change.
For myself I am burdened to see Gods people in fullness, I am burdened to see stronger leadership come forth. I am burdened to see those who are disillusioned about God, be shifted. I am burdened to see us live at a higher spiritual life. You see the message you carry, the way you minister, the things that drive you all come from the true Burden of the Lord you’re stewarding.
Paul was also burdened for his family, and especially his fellow Roman kinsmen. Romans 9:1–5. He also was burdened for Israel to find salvation. Because of these burdens his teaching reflected upon it and also his energy in travel. Romans 10:1–4. His burden influenced his prayer life. Romans 1:8–12 . And even caused internal conflicts with himself. Colossians 2:1–5. But those burdens would active him into great faith, passion, and spiritual determination. Maybe today what we lack is not more teaching but a real God given burden we are to accomplish with our lives.
Your burden will cause a motivation in your faith to occur. It is actually where true ministry occurs and how new ministries are to be birthed. Burdens from the Lord have the Love from the Lord within them. Without the love behind it there is no sacrifice. Without love there is not willingness to suffer. But with love you will to do extreme faith things.
The burden and the love within it are what forms vision. A vision that has no burden is a religious structure. I feel today we have a lot of structures based around ideas or seeing needs but no real burden. We may have compassion, or sympathy but that is not the burden I’m talking about. The burden is the why you do things and defines the motivations behind actions.
Answering the call is really answering the Burden. A calling without a Burden has no destination. But when burden is acted on it will also release Grace … the ability of God to create change. Think of how many times a burden in prayer receives an answer. It’s because Grace was released. The fullness of grace is present were burden is being nurtured. This is why some do exploits and others don’t. Colossians 4:12–13, 1 Thessalonians 3:10. Burden is a pure form of activating grace!
Burdens will cause us to come out of complacency. We will come into new depths. We will study to find answers to the burden. We will take action, whiles others don’t. We will bring new truth to open ears. We may even find those of like faith, which is really finding faith that is active in the same burden we carry. Burdens always create and build for longevity. The burden of the Lord takes us on a fantastic journey! A journey of apostolic building.
Part 2 we will cover how to acquire the Apostolic Burden of the Lord.