This type of heartfelt praying only occurs with the enabling of the Holy Spirit. It normally begins with an impression to pray for a known need or, occasionally, an unknown need. A sense of heaviness overwhelms your spirit. Sometimes, there is a specific object, such as praying for revival. It may involve a specific location, region, nation, or time. Or it may manifest with an insatiable longing for an unbridled outpouring of the Spirit.
This inner pressure can be very strong, evoking tears with intense desire. It may manifest itself with sobbing, or it may come as an inner concentrated desire without any outward display of emotion. When a prayer burden descends, it is always a call to intercession, demanding immediate attention.
A prayer burden is when God shares His desire, His pain, His mind, and His will with you. This kind of intercession comes from a burdened heart. Many Christians have holy concerns, but prayer burdens are much stronger. A prayer burden is when God invites you into His heart, and the things nearest His heart begin to absorb you. The “weight” lies heavy upon your soul. At such times, God is entrusting you with a prayer project. His Spirit is moving and stirring in your soul.
Servants are often uninformed about what their masters are thinking and planning. But Jesus made an astounding announcement: “I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15). A prayer burden comes as a signal from heaven about what should happen on earth. Be on guard against a hard heart that prevents you from discerning the heart of God. We must have pliable hearts, informed by the Word and open to His Spirit, which is the source for all praying. It is here that “man willingly becomes the channel for the yearnings of God’s heart,” said R. Arthur Matthews.
I am speaking about a God-initiated burden, not something self-generated. We intercede only because He intercedes. Jesus does not speak from some remote and vague location. Since Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, He speaks into our hearts (our mind, will, and emotions) as we are yielded to Him. This bond is so close that it often seems like these ideas are our own. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him” (Psalm 25:14). Intercession happens based on heavenly communication—Jesus informing us of the Father’s intentions through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
True prayer burdens are not the result of manipulation. Neither are they mere emotional responses. When God entrusts you with a prayer burden, you may be able to articulate the object and circumstance. At other times, there may be an overwhelming burden without a clear focus. My observation is that every time a person stewards these prayer burdens appropriately, unusual things begin to happen. This is especially true in seasons of revival. Church history is filled with examples of burdened individuals who saw great spiritual outpourings preceded by the agony of the soul.
Intense yearning in the soul, forceful churning of the heart, and a deep burning within characterize these prayer burdens. As the intercessor labors under this weight, they are consumed. This is God’s way of getting His will done on earth as in heaven. The things on God’s heart become dominant in the heart of the intercessor. In seasons of renewal, the atmosphere of heaven is brought down to earth.
However, these supernatural outcomes only occur when these prayer assignments are faithfully executed. My limited experience has taught me that this is usually a personal, rather than group, activity. You may have a strong moving in your soul, only to discover that others around you do not sense anything. No one else feels what you are feeling. You are enamored with powerful eternal desires, while no one else feels them. Many of the well-known intercessors frequently prayed alone. E. M. Bounds, Praying Payson, Henry Martyn, Praying Hyde, and countless others often agonized unaccompanied in their closets.
But at other times, God may summon a “prayer band,” like the four young men at the Kells schoolhouse who prayed the Holy Spirit fire down on Northern Ireland. Perhaps you have been privileged to participate in prayer meetings where a group of people were deeply moved and called out in desperate prayer, where an intense cry was lifted heavenward as those present were caught up in a unified prayer burden.
It’s the Spirit’s prerogative to direct individuals and groups in prayer as He wills. We should not try to limit or dictate to the Lord how to do His work. He calls individual intercessors as well as bands of people to intercede for specific things. The main thing is to make ourselves continually available to Him for His purposes. …
Taken from NEXT LEVEL PRAYING by Harold Vaughan, chapter 10 – Anguished Prayer: Travailing. Get your copy TODAY by going to our Website and look in the book section of our shop.
