Intercessors are discerners. We are spiritually sensitive to the atmospheres around us. This is a blessing, as the Lord can show us how to pray. But if we’re honest, it can feel like a curse sometimes. Our spiritual antennae pick up things that don’t belong to us. There are many reasons to praise God, yet wherever we look, there is much to intercede about. We have an enemy who hates us because we are the watchmen who sound the alarm and foil his plans. The Bible says that as the Body of Christ, we belong to one another; we are connected. When one of us is feeling something, it is likely your fellow intercessor, brother, and sister in Christ is too. Take heart, and be encouraged. As long as we have Jesus, we have hope.
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One thing is becoming obvious as I talk to more and more believers, faithful people of prayer.
The intercessors are worn out. They are exhausted; mentally, physically, emotionally, spent. Praying people are still ordinary people. We hold the line in intercession; however, we have spouses, families, careers, and jobs, not to mention problems like anyone else. A collective sense of heaviness is affecting us mentally. You are finding it difficult to pray as you normally would. You think something is wrong with you; it isn’t you. This is an invitation to draw near to the Lord. Sometimes it is spiritual warfare, but other times it is us refusing to let go; every intercessor must learn this principle of knowing when to release to God.
- Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).
Listen to Jesus’ words as He invites you to come closer. That is the first step: come to Jesus. Intercession is a labor of love, but a labor, nonetheless. The battle is long; we spend much of our time, tears, and hours in prayer without seeing the physical answer many times. Or it does not go as we expected. There will never be a shortage of things that need our commitment to pray. If you have been sensing the heaviness, it means you are still carrying something that needs to be laid down. Jesus invites you to come to him and lay down your anxiety, fear, grief, stress, and prayer burden. You exchange your burden, and in turn, he gives you refreshing comfort.
- 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 (Matthew 11:29).
Jesus is inviting you to exchange your yoke for his. Yokes joined animals to share the workload. Placing it on both of their necks evenly distributed the weight, because it would have been too heavy for one. Take the yoke of Jesus; it’s not heavy like the weight of what you have been carrying; it’s light. He’s inviting you into rest. Psalm 23 reminds us that He is our Shepherd who restores our souls. Gentle, kind, humble, He is for you, not against you. That is why he invites us to come near to him. He cares about you and what you are carrying. It does not belong to you. Remember that yokes join two things together. If Jesus is asking you to take his, it means he wants to carry what is too heavy for you. It also means He is right beside you. You are not alone.
- For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:30).
Jesus invites you to give Him your burden. Yes, this includes our cares and troubles, but it’s more than that. This is crucial because intercession involves burden-bearing. We sense the weight of the assignment when God calls us to pray for someone or something. We may call ourselves intercessors, but Christ is the Intercessor; when we align and pray, we are co-laboring with him. We may be familiar with the burden-bearing as intercessors, but Jesus is the Burden-Bearer. Anytime we carry a prayer assignment longer than we should, we wear ourselves out. We do not keep the burdens; our role is to pray and obey what God asks us to do. When we have done what he asked, we release it to Jesus. This is also what I have been sensing. The intercessors are carrying assignments they should have laid down from a past season. Is there something you are still holding onto that you need to let go? Jesus is offering you a great exchange. Your yoke for his.
Identify It
Take time to identify your burden. Are you exhausted by the never-ending list of issues and things to do, and has it affected your prayer time? Is it a mental heaviness, depression, anxiety, or grief that is clouding your mind as you try to pray? In Isaiah 10:27, God’s people were being oppressed, but He promised an appointed time that the burden would be lifted from their shoulders, and the yoke on their neck would be broken. The verse then says, “the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing.” That is a work of the Holy Spirit. Whatever it is, it is not greater than our God.
Casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully] (1 Peter 5:7 AMP).
Release It
Are you still praying over something that you were supposed to lay down? You will know when to stop praying when the burden lifts; that is a release. You will no longer have the same grace to pray over it, because he is calling you to pray into something new. Are you picking up someone else’s burden? I say this because we are discerners. You may feel perfectly fine and enter another place, and immediately you are overcome with anxiety or hopelessness when you felt fine five minutes ago. You are not going crazy. You are discerning what is around you, and that is for intercession. You can and should pray into what you are sensing, but ultimately, it is not yours to carry. We can feel the weight. We can intercede. But the burdens are to be released to the Burden Bearer, Jesus. Otherwise, we will keep being crushed by the weight that only Jesus can carry.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22).
Exchange It
Matthew 10:28-30 is for the weary, over-burdened; come and lay it down. Come to Jesus and find rest. Let Him lighten the load. You don’t have to go another minute feeling the way you have. Isaiah 61 describes the beautiful ministry of the coming Messiah: a great exchange of healing for the broken-hearted—liberty to the captives, freedom for the oppressed, and beauty for ashes. In Isaiah 61:3, he offers garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Get your worship and your praise back. Trade your worry for worship and panic for peace. Come into the Presence of the Lord where you will find rest. Exchange your yoke for His.
If you have been sensing this as many of us have, let’s pray:
Father,
We come into Your Presence with thanksgiving in our hearts and into Your courts with praise. Lord, we can never thank You enough for the greatest exchange of all time that happened on the cross. Even if You never answered another prayer, the cross would more than suffice. Yet, you invite the burdened, the exhausted, the broken-hearted to come and find rest. You are the Burden Bearer, and You invite us to bear one another’s burdens. So, we lift the broken, the weary, those carrying great needs. We lift their arms through our intercession like Aaron and Hur did for Moses, and we release them to You.
Give the intercessors discernment when it’s time to lay something down, or a change in direction or strategy. Show us how to pray with insight. Let Your anointing break yokes of oppression—liberty for the oppressed, freedom for captives, songs of praise for the heavy-hearted. I lay down my regret, fears, anxieties, and exchange them for peace. I lay down my questions and confusion and exchange them for the mind of Christ. I lay down anything that I am still carrying that is not mine to bear. I release the burdens to You of past assignments, and loose myself from unnecessary burdens. I take Your yoke and choose rest for my soul. I love You, Lord, and I thank You for every promise in Your word. Especially the promise that if I come close to You, you come close to me, in Jesus ‘ name, amen.
Have you felt overwhelmed? You aren’t alone. Encourage one another in the comments.
IFA contributing writer Gloria Robles is a passionate intercessor with a prophetic voice for today. For more from Gloria, go to Spotify or Anchor and listen to her podcast, Something To Share.
