Being Burdened: A Kingdom Building Call from God
Have you noticed how the meanings of words may change over time? For example, I was watching a basketball game with my grandchildren, and a player made an incredible shot. My grandson reacted and said, “Man, that was sick!” I responded, “Sick, no. That was a good shot.” He then informed me, “Poppop, sick means good.”
Today, the word burden is often used negatively, meaning downcast or feeling overwhelmed by life’s difficulties. However, an older use of the word meant a vision given by God that stirred one’s heart, dramatically changing life’s course or direction.
In our modern churches, ministries, and nonprofits, the word burden is rarely used. The words that have replaced it are mission, vision, or a five-year plan. Churches have borrowed the corporate strategy, posting, “Here’s our mission statement…this is our vision…” Now, all these things are good. It’s important to have a clear vision for your church, ministry, family, or personal life. However, a stronger word for vision or mission is a burden.
When my father started Times Square Church in New York City, he asked me to help with the launch of the church. At the time, I was pastoring in Colorado and had been studying mission and vision statements and the how-to of organizing a church. When I went to New York City and witnessed how he was managing things, I said, “Hey Dad, this is not how you run a church. You have no mission or vision statement. There are no small groups, and there is no five-year plan.” He responded, “All I have is Jesus. And one more thing, I also have a burden.”
In my father’s sixty years of ministry, never once did I hear him say, “Our vision is…our mission is…” Yet repeatedly, I heard him say, “The Lord has put a burden on my heart. It vibrates through my bones, courses through my blood, and wakes me up in the morning. It gives me hope and joy. And it gives me anticipation for what God’s going to do—it’s called a burden!”
No ministry associated with World Challenge was developed as part of a five-year plan. Yes, we have goals associated with a mission and vision statement, but this ministry was initially born out of a burden that the Holy Spirit put on our hearts.
Do you have an overwhelming, passionate burden in your heart? Is there something that gives you energy or clarity about giving up your life for other people? No matter your age, station in life, education, theological training, background, or lack thereof, God uses the simple things. He can give you a thrilling, life-giving burden for something that is on his heart.
The question to ask regarding a burden is this: what is it that breaks God’s heart that also breaks your heart?
Clarity of Life’s Purpose
In the book of Nehemiah, some visitors approached Nehemiah from Jerusalem. He was a cupbearer who was likely wealthy with a good job and a comfortable life. However, something unexpected happened when the visitors approached him. That’s often how a burden begins.
A burden began when Life magazine featured a photo of seven young men who were charged with killing a polio victim in New York City; and eventually, Teen Challenge was founded. A burden began after a couple’s marriage was restored after a long season of problems, and now they have a heart and a ministry to help other marriages. God uses the things that touch our hearts.
This was what happened with Nehemiah. Some men approached him, saying, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire” (Nehemiah 1:3, ESV). Nehemiah heard this story of burning embers at the gates, where the enemy could come in at any time, and he said, “I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4).
When was the last time you had a burden that caused you to fall on your knees and cry out to God and weep? When have you read the news, fallen on your face before a holy God, and said, “God, you have to do something!”
Nehemiah could have continued to live a comfortable life, but he took on a burden. When you get a burden, there’s clarity, and everything changes. The trajectory of Nehemiah’s life changed. He began to take risks, such as asking the king if he could travel to Jerusalem to take care of the matter. He had a sacred encounter, and it changed him. Sacred encounters will move us in the direction that God has for us.
A Defining Moment of Clarity
Last year, I had this type of encounter at our World Challenge board meeting. It was an incredible, life-changing meeting. Pastor Carter Conlon, a board member, remarked, “I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t know what World Challenge does. If someone asked me, I would need about ten to fifteen minutes to explain it.” When he said that, it didn’t evoke any negative emotions in me. It challenged me. It was a defining moment of clarity. Pastor Tim Dilena then followed with, “We have so many things we are doing, but we lack clarity of the burden and clarity of the mission.”
I went home that night, and I was excited because I knew God was putting a fresh and new burden on my heart. I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me to get a yellow notepad and write down all the different ministries of World Challenge. I wrote, podcast, pastor conferences, Love Heals conference, writing and publishing books, preaching sermons at churches, international conferences, feeding programs, a ministry to the unreached people groups around the world, and a ministry to orphans and widows. By the time I was done, I had listed about fifteen ministries.
It’s challenging to have fifteen different burdens. I felt the Holy Spirit directing me to remove from the list the ministries that were good but not my burden or primary calling. When I finally whittled down the list to three, I prayed, “Lord, please stop at these three.” But the Lord said, “No, don’t stop.” I pleaded, “What about our reaching out to the unreached people groups? They are too important.”
The Lord reminded me that we didn’t have to stop at three because we had a man in our midst, Mark Renfroe, who is one of the greatest experts in reaching Muslim people. We would do what World Challenge has done for decades: start ministries and then give them over to new leadership. I asked Mark to start a whole new ministry. We would help fund it, but he would carry the burden and passion to reach into the unreached people groups of the world who have never heard the gospel.
Then there were two ministries left on the list. I knew we would still preach the gospel, but the last one was caring for the orphans and widows. “Lord, you put that burden on my heart since I was a child. You’ve even given me James 1:27 as a life verse.” It was like the last man standing on my list, and I decided it was the hill to die on—pure religion, undefiled, in caring and providing for those in desperate need. It is my passion and burden.
A One Thing People
What is your burden? For many, it may be difficult to clarify. Is your burden for the drug addict? Is it for the unreached? Is it to minister to married couples? It can be confusing in our oversaturated culture to find that one thing. But I believe God has called us to be a one-thing people. He has given me this life-changing clarity and direction.
Faith is diffused when it is needed in too many different areas. It’s like having one twelve-volt battery connected to ten cars. It minimizes the power because each car receives less. Many of us are overworked, overstressed, and overcommitted, saying yes to everything. We are missing the one thing God has called us to.
Nehemiah was clear about his burden to rebuild the walls. I find Nehemiah’s story fascinating because if God gave me a burden for the walls, I’d probably ask him to give me a burden for the whole city too or to rebuild the temple. But God called Nehemiah to build the walls. He knew what his one thing was.
I believe the church today is losing its power and authority because it’s not driven by the one thing—the burden—God has given it.
Nehemiah was clear about his burden. He found his clarity of purpose. A burden chooses what you are willing to risk your life for. If you don’t have this burden today, I pray God will give you clarity. Don’t be hindered by the fear of being too young, too old, or not being the kind of person worthy of the burden God has given to you.
God’s vision and burden for you will always be bigger than what you have for yourself; otherwise, he wouldn’t call you to a life of faith. You don’t need faith if you are doing something in your own strength. You need faith to do the impossible. “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).
We all have different burdens with one singular thing in common: building up God’s kingdom for the benefit and good of other people.
What is the single, primary burden God has placed on your heart? It might be your marriage, your family, or a ministry. God wants to lay upon your heart a deep stirring for what is in his heart. When you identify that clear calling, it becomes easier to give yourself fully and undistracted to that cause. Paul said, “It is good to be zealous in a good thing always” (Galatians 4:18, NKJV). Be stirred in a good cause and go after it with all your heart and strength. Amen.