“let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants…” Nehemiah 1:6
In Hawaiian it is ohana. In Thai it is khrxbkhrạw. In Greek it is oikogéneia. If you haven’t guessed it yet, all words for family. Everyone on this planet has some kind of family, like it or not. For most, family is a great sense of pride, a group of people that infiltrate your heart and stay deeply rooted there until you pass into eternity. Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, grandparents, cousins, all knit together by the DNA that courses through the veins. But if you have, in faith, called upon Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, did you know that you have another family? If you are a part of local body of Christ, you are more than likely already well aware of this fact. In fact, a quick bit of research showed over 100 different Bible verses that describe fellow believers in Jesus as "brothers and sisters." A family. A family of believers because they all have the same Heavenly Father. But a big part of being an earthly family is sharing each other’s burdens. If something happens to my earthly parents, I will shoulder their burden. When I endured multiple surgeries last year, I could feel my burden being displaced upon the varied shoulders of my family as they prayed for me and supported me. With family comes shared responsibility. And in the first chapter of Nehemiah, we see an example of this that will break your heart. Nehemiah is cupbearer to the king in Babylon but even though his physical body is in Babylon, his heart and Spirit are back in Jerusalem. He is always seeking news of back home and as he hears that the walls of Jerusalem are still piles of rubble upon the ground, his heart breaks for his Godly ohana. His heart is burdened for his brethren in Christ. But before Nehemiah does a mighty work for God, God does a mighty work in Nehemiah. He sits with God for months, praying, fasting, and seeking Him for why his heart is breaking for people that he has never met. Folks, there is a message here that will never expire. Regardless of whether you know the brother or sister or not, God does. Does your heart break for your brothers and sisters in Christ today? Do you feel a burden for you brethren? You see, those that allow their hearts to ache for their brothers and sisters in Christ, will be used greatly by God. Nehemiah was a layman, he didn’t have seminary training, he wasn’t a pastor, he wasn’t a Bible scholar or philosopher. He was simply a man that had a burden for his brethren. And God used him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But even beyond a burden for the brethren, do you have a burden for those that don’t know Jesus? Is your heart tender for not only your brothers and sisters but also for those that have not heard the power of the gospel? If your heart also breaks for those that deserve to hear the gospel of Christ, then the same promise rings true…God can and will use your heart. Whether it be going across Africa, going across America or going across your own street, God will use the heart that has a burden to see His gospel fan out across the world. Today, go to God in prayer like Nehemiah did. Pray that prayer for others. Pray for your brothers and sisters that are fighting the good fight to see the kingdom of God advanced all over this world. Allow you heart to ache for their trials. Shoulder their burdens when they can’t. Also pour your heart out to God as you show Him your desire to see Him affect every life on this planet that will listen to the name of Jesus. For in this time of sharing other’s burdens in prayer, God will do mighty things. For it is in this time that God will do a mighty work in your heart. For before you can do mighty things for God, God must do mighty things in you.
“Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
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