Burdens

Lately God has been impressing on my heart how important it is for us to pray for each other. One of my friends was travelling recently and was stuck for two days due to plane issues. Then he reached out to a group of us to ask for prayer, and within hours he was finally heading home.

I had already been praying for this friend, but didn’t know what the need was. Once he shared the need, I was able to pray more specifically and, because he shared it with a group, he had many people praying for the situation.

I find that so often people do not share their prayer needs with others. They don’t want to bother others with their problems, or they think that they should be able to handle things on their own with God. But the Apostle Paul wrote to the Galatian Christians to tell them to bear one another’s burdens.

Physically speaking, if many people are lifting something heavy together, the burden is not too much on one person. Even a heavy piece of furniture can feel light if you have enough people lifting it together. But when people have some kind of burden in their lives, they often think, “This is my cross to bear.” Or they may think others are too busy, or it’s not that important anyway.

But we need each other, and all the more as the days grow darker! When we don’t share our burdens, we get isolated. I believe that is what Satan wants. He is happy when we are weighed down trying to carry the burden by ourselves. We can become ineffective if we are so busy carrying our own burden that we don’t have time to look out for each other, or to do the things God is calling us to do.

I want to encourage you today, not to whine and complain about your situation, but to be open and vulnerable with those God has placed next to you. Share your needs with them. Let them pray for you. You will feel much lighter and be able to also help the others around you with their burdens.