28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)
This is probably one of the most comforting, scriptures in the entire Bible. Come to me. Those carrying heavy burdens can come. Those laboring endlessly can come. Those exhausted and overwhelmed can come. There is hope. There is rest waiting for you with the Lord Jesus. Oh, how our weary souls need solace, peace, and true rest. It often feels the weight of the world is seemingly resting on our shoulders. The burdens of financial pressures, parenting woes, unreasonable supervisors, gossiping neighbors, and health concerns can be overwhelming. The exhaustion of having to do it all, while having the perfect work-life balance, is ever-present in most of our lives. The very idea of sitting at the feet of Jesus, not focused on my own problems or worries or concerns, sends chills down my spine and an unexplainable peace over me, as I think of it. But that type of peace and rest is, in fact, available to us as Believers, every single day. So, how do we simply pray and leave the burdens down at Jesus' feet?
It was some years ago when I was struggling during a particularly overwhelming period of time in my life that I was praying about this very thing. I would pray, “Lord, I know your yoke is easy, but how do I let these burdens go and not keep picking them back up?” This immediate vision came to me. I was walking along a dirt road, and I was carrying heavy bags of some sort. They appeared as trash bags in my vision. Every few minutes, I would pick up another heavy bag until I was at the point of barely being able to move. Bag after bag after bag. Then, a man came driving by with a truck and shouted, “Need a lift?” And I responded, “No, I’ve got it.” He drove away, shaking his head. It was as if the Lord was showing me that His promises of rest and easy yokes are available every day, and yet, I choose not to give my cares to Him. "I've got it," I often say to my Savior through my behavior and actions.
What Does the Bible Say?
In a practical sense, there are 4 things the Bible teaches on how to lay down the burdens of life.
Take a look at Philippians 4:67 (NLT). “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then, you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ, Jesus.”
How to Pray
There are four steps in these verses that give us clear direction on how to experience this precious peace and light burden that Jesus promised.
1. Don’t worry about anything. The Scripture does not say not to worry about anything, except if you have cancer, a really difficult life, a broken heart, legal trouble, a death in the family, financial challenges, or any number of other things. It says not to worry about anything. Now, this one is hard. Most of us have been conditioned to worry since we were small children. You likely heard your parents say things that exhibited worry and fret. It’s the way of the world and certainly what we’ve been conditioned to do. But the Holy Spirit gives us self-control. We can control our thought-life. When worry enters your mind, commit to training your thought-life to immediately respond, “Nope, this is not how I have been created. I am not a creature of worry. I am a creature of faith.” It must be your constant prayer.
2. Pray about everything. In Philippians 4:6, it begins with “instead.” In other words, in lieu of. Instead of choosing to worry about things, choose to pray about everything. Detail the nuances of your life before your Father. Tell Him about the challenges you face. Tell Him about the fears that keep resurfacing. He cares about the things that concern you. Bring them before Him. Pray about everything and then give it to Him in trust that He’ll handle it. Stop talking about it to others. Stop obsessing over it. Stop letting it consume your days, thought life, and peace. Mom, we can’t handle it. We aren’t big enough, smart enough, or powerful enough. But oh, how our Heavenly Father is!
3. Tell God what you need. Be specific. Father, I need money for rent this month. I’ve been working faithfully, and the medical bills have mounted. Help me to see Your hand in this. Move a mountain. Tell Him and then have the faith to see Him do it. Be consistent, persistent, and insistent. You have access to the very throne of God. You are the head and not the tail. You are a city on a hill. Your Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Is anything too hard for Him? Of course not. Keep talking. Keep seeking. Keep praying.
4. Thank Him for all He’s done. Begin to praise the past provision. Thank Him for His faithfulness, His sustaining power, His grace, and His death on the cross. Begin with the details of your life. Thank Him for your car, housing, children, friends, church, and safety. Thank Him for your health, your spouse, your family, and your job. The list of gratitude should be endless. Fill your spirit with that of thanksgiving and praise. Begin to worship Him in all His goodness. Despite the problems you face, He is good and faithful. Despite the heartache you fill, He is still the healer, the peace-giver, and the sustainer of all things. Despite your weakness and feelings of being unable to move on, He is strength. Keep thanking Him.
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And do you know what the Bible says after all that? “Then you will experience God’s peace.” It is after those 4 steps that you experience that peace that exceeds anything we can understand. As we condition our hearts and minds to fully surrender to these four steps, we begin to see God’s hand at work in those difficult areas of our lives. Now, I don’t pretend to tell you that building this habit is an easy one, particularly if you’ve had decades to practice worry! But it is an attainable one.
As Believers, we have hope that the world doesn’t have. We have peace gifted to us through Jesus. If we are bundled on a floor somewhere like a woman with no hope every time challenges come, then what makes us different than the unbelievers?! We have the treasure trove of goodness before us! This world is hard, messy, and sometimes heavy. But the promise that as we continue to seek God’s will and His Kingdom, we will have special rest is truth for our lives. Begin to pray about this even now that God would give you the self-control to stop the worrying, the patience to wait on a solution to the problem, and the faith to continue pressing in and believing, even when everything around you seems to scream otherwise.
Be reminded that He, who promises, is faithful. Be reminded that the same God who rescued you from THAT thing – that thing in your past that was hard and heavy – will, in fact, rescue you from THIS thing. It won’t be in your timing or your way, but it will be perfect. And the best part? The end result is always beauty for the ashes of hurt, pain, and disappointment. The end result is always better than we could’ve orchestrated.
