The Prophetic Gift & Burden Bearing

by Bill Frisbie, Elijah House Spiritual Advisor

 

Do you feel a lot of different emotions, and you don’t know where they’re coming from?

One amazing aspect of the prophetic gift is being able to sense what’s going on around us. We can feel things about other people, and we can even sense what’s going on in places.

Have you ever driven through a town and found yourself feeling a certain way? “Whoa—what’s going on here? This is a great place!”

Or maybe you felt something very different: “This place feels so HEAVY. I feel sad and tired right now, and I don’t know why.” 

The prophetic capacity to sense things is a blessing from God, but if we don’t realize what’s happening with our gift—or how to deal with what we’re sensing—these burdens can become weights that push us toward exhaustion.

If you’re prophetic at all, learn to understand how the gift of burden bearing works, so you can use it the way God intended and experience the glorious freedom He has for you as His child.

What Is Burden Bearing?

The Bible talks about burden bearing in Galatians 6:2:

Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. (NASB) 

What can burden bearing look like in an everyday setting?

Let’s say I’m talking with a friend, and I begin to sense that she feels a certain way. Maybe she’s frustrated with something or going through a hard time.

In these moments, something is happening in the spiritual realm. Her loving heavenly Father is lifting a small portion of her burden off of her and giving it to me to carry. That is, I become aware of it as I start to feel some of what she’s feeling.

For prophetic people, this can happen all the time! At the grocery store, at the park, at a concert—anywhere.

Burden bearing is a gift from God. But how could feeling someone else’s “stuff” be a good thing? 

Knowing Jesus in the Fellowship of His Sufferings

Philippians 3:10 says, “I want to know Christ! I want to know Him in the power of His resurrection—and in the fellowship of His sufferings.” When we bear someone else’s burden, we get to step closer to Jesus and know Him in a deeper way.

For a short time—via the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit—Jesus allows us to feel what someone else is feeling. This means we get to sense the weight of His heart for this person; we have fellowship with His sufferings.

But unfortunately, that’s where many prophetic people stop. We’re holding someone else’s burden, and it starts to weigh us down. And down. And down. 

We don’t realize we need to take a very important, very necessary next step. 

Give the Burden Back to God

In Romans 11:36 the apostle Paul writes about the pattern or cycle found in all spiritual matters:

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (NASB)

All things are FROM Him, go THROUGH Him, and RETURN to Him. Everything we experience with the prophetic gifting needs to go through this divine cycle.

Many of us sense the burden, take it in our arms, and never think to give it back to God. We don’t even know we need to do this! So burden after burden after burden loads up inside us—to the point where we just can’t take it anymore.

“Don’t make me be around people! I don’t want to be around anyone!”

As a prophetic person, you don’t have to be weighed down by the burdens all around you. The moment you realize what’s happening, you get to give the burden back to God.

“Lord, I pray for my sister. I pray for my brother. I release this burden back to You.”

In a certain light, the need to feel defines us as prophetic people. Knowing this, the enemy tries to “hook” us into carrying burden after burden—when the way of God is Romans 11:36: from Him, through Him, to Him.

The next time you start to feel the weight of someone else’s burden, pray for that person and lift them up. Then give the burden back to God and let it go.

Want to know more? Check out the following resources:

• Finding the Light and Easy Yoke by Andrea Sandford Bareither
• Sharing the Burden: The Gifting of Highly Sensitive Burden Bearers by Christa & Dirk Luling