A Prayer for Your Burdened Heart

This morning I was working through the Burdened Heart section of my 30 Personal Spiritual Warfare Prayers Journal again because, you know…

I guess God wants me to use the materials He lays on my heart to design so He can teach me more about what I thought I knew before.

Ha! 😂 God is SO good! And so very patient with me!

Or maybe it’s just because His Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12-13).

It’s also God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16).

So every time we open and read the Bible, we are reading and ingesting His living breath.

I kinda like that thought picture.

Anyway, back to the portion of the the 30 Personal Spiritual Warfare Prayer Journal...

I was in the section titled “A Prayer when Feeling Burdened”.

One of the Scriptures assigned to write out for that topic was Psalm 55:1-3.

“Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked;
for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger.”

Now, I’m sure this was David lamenting his predicament when Saul’s men were chasing him.

However, when I read this my thoughts went to our continual war with an eternal adversary.

Our Continual War

The enemy’s “voice” and “stares” are like yokes that burden, restrain, confine, confuse and pressure, “bringing down suffering” upon us, emotionally, physically, and mentally.

“The voice of the enemy” distraughts and distresses us. The “stares of the wicked” cause us much anguish.

With those two things the evil one reviles us.

Revile according to yourdictionary.com means “to criticize in an abusive or hostile way, or to spread negative information about.”

So to revile means there are verbal attacks meant to harm in some way.

Remember the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy; steal our innocence, kill our joy, destroy our peace, purpose and identity.

…you fill in the blank… the enemy wants to steal it, kill it, destroy it.

His goal is to get us so burdened and bogged down that we lose all hope. And so he uses the only weapons he has – his lying tongue and his wicked, mocking eyes.

His tongue whispers or screams lies to us about who we are and who we aren’t.

His eyes study us and tear us down in mockery.

And then he has the audacity to go before the Lord and accuse us of our sinfulness day and night. (Revelation 12:10)

That is ‘revile’ at its wickedest.

Makes me so mad. (in case you didn’t know… I hate the devil. You should too.)

Thank God we have Jesus on our side who stands up for us and intercedes for us before God.

However, I’m also here to admit, I have fallen for the lies the enemy has screamed or whispered at me. And I have buckled to his wicked manipulative stares.

In the past he has successfully shackled me to perfectionism, burdened me to the point of anxiety, I have been abrasive to those around me, suicidal thoughts and attempts are part of my story, and I’ve been coaxed to doing things I knew were wrong but I did them anyway.

King David cried out in Psalm 55:6-8, “Oh that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest- I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”

Most people understand this cry from a burdened heart at some point in our lives.

Oh to be far away from where we are, to be hidden from the heartbreak; harbored and secured far from the storms and sorrows.

Unburdened and free; unshackled and secure, are many of our cries.

Sadly I don’t have all the answers you might need today.

But praise God I know the One who does.

And so we go to Him with our hurt, our mess, our doubt and distress.

We battle the enemy of our soul, the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10)

But we hang onto the One who intercedes on our behalf and promises to give us life in abundance. (also John 10:10)

A Prayer for Your Burdened Heart

Father, rescue me from the burdens that are overwhelming me and dragging me away from hope. My thoughts are too much for me to process. I am distraught over the lies the enemy is speaking to me. I am weighted down by the attacks meant to make me stumble and falter in faith and hope. The evil ones seem to be staring me down, mocking me as they plan my demise.

But I declare my God is with me and for me. He is carrying my burdens and battling on my behalf. My God comes quickly to save me from fear and anguish. My Lord says to cast all my cares upon Him, and so I do.

I lift my hands to You, oh Lord, releasing my desires, plans, cares and heartbreaks to You. I trust You to not let me fall. You will sustain me in Your love. I accept Your invitation to come to You. Father, I willingly take Your yoke upon me. I choose to humble myself and place myself under Your mighty hand where You will lift my soul, encourage me, teach me of Your self, supply me with strength and satisfy me with Your rest.

Lord, You will not let me be burdened beyond what I can bear. I trust in Your unfailing love to make a way for me to escape and rise victorious. Your gentleness will revive me, Your love will renew me, and Your righteousness will restore me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

If you could use more Spiritual Warfare Prayers like this one, try our 30-Day Personal Spiritual Warfare Email Course! 👇

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