Agonizing prayer is the prayer that we pray that comes from a burden that we bear ... a burden, which the Lord alone fully understands. God burdens us for the things that burden Him. We are encouraged to bring our burdens to Christ.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28–30
Along the journey of life, we both bear our own load - but also come along side others.
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. Galatians 6:2–5
Charles Spurgeon writes that the first burden we bear is the burden of our brokenness …
the burden of original sin. The burden of our natural depravity, the burden of our fallen nature, the burden of our constitution, which is perverted by evil—these we shall, each one of us, have to carry for himself. *
We all bear the burden of a sin nature that we must daily crucify and fall upon the grace of Christ to be sustained in our sanctification. We each carry the burden of our brokenness on the journey of becoming whole. But we are not alone, for there is One we can come to who is the great burden-bearer …
“Every man shall bear his own burden.” It is not pleasant to be talked to all this long time about your being a burden-bearer, but, perhaps, these things will make it more pleasant. The first thing of which to remind ourselves is this, that it is quite consistent with the truth declared in our text, to remind you that Jesus Christ is the great burden-bearer for all his saints; that though, on the one hand, you will have to bear your own burdens, yet on the other hand Christ will bear all your burdens for you. Your burden of sin was laid upon him as the scape-goat for your soul. *
To be burdened is to also to put yourself in a place of experiencing great joy.
And, blessed be God, as we have our own burden, so we have our own joy. The most miserable and unhappy Christian in the world, when you come to get into his secrets, will tell you—he will let it out somehow—that he has a secret spring of joy which others have not. In fact, it is to be remarked that those who have deep griefs have generally proportionately deep joys. *
This is the blessing of carrying your burden to Christ. Because in the moment we discover a greater love, intimacy and joy as Jesus shares our burden. It began at the cross when He took your sin and mine upon Himself, drinking the cup of the wrath of God. Now we have forgiveness, a new heart and spirit, but we are still burdened with the reality of sin that we must take to Christ daily. We also, live with the burden for others in the same predicament and therefore we help carry their burdens, praying for salvation, forgiveness, growth, maturity and more.
Bring your burdens to Christ right now. Sit with Him and share all that is heavy upon you and then take up His burden and focus on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and watch what happens. I want the Lord God to so fill my life, our church, and our community that I am going to give myself to praying to that end … will you join me in praying for renewal, revival, and spiritual awakening in our city? Let’s not stop praying and seeking God … if nothing else, let’s ramp up the intentionality and intensity of our prayers in pre-prayer-ation for an outpouring of the Spirit of God.
-Pastor Jerry
*Spurgeon, C. H. (1913). Life’s Inevitable Burden. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 59, p. 242, 249, 250). Passmore & Alabaster.