Matthew 6:31-34 — Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

For our night-time devotion at the moment we’re reading a book on prayer by Charles Stanley (Dr. Stanley is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in northern Atlanta, Georgia and the founder and president of In Touch Ministries.) A few days ago we read a passage that talked about worries and payer burdens.
The passage from Matthew that I have included is perhaps the best known Biblical comment on worrying. It’s focus, of course, is on how worry is pointless, faithless and ungrateful. Pastor Stanley makes a different point, however. “Worry,”, he says “like a lot of other prayer, is essentially selfish — it’s focused on OUR circumstances and desires. A prayer burden is something else — it’s focused on God and his concerns.” When I read that, it seemed like what I call “a blinding flash of the obvious”! Of course I knew what he was saying, but I’d never thought about it that way before.
I’ve seen a definition of a prayer burden in a couple of places — I can’t find the source and so can’t honor it, but the definition is so good I really want to use it:

A prayer burden is the burden that God carries upon His own heart, which He offers to us so that we may be moved in our spirit to join His Son in prayer.

Perhaps the best known Biblical example of a prayer burden is in the book of Nehemiah where The Lord places a burden on Nehemiah’s heart for Jerusalem. The Lord has purposed to restore Jerusalem, and places it on Nehemiah’s heart that he is to be the instrument of restoration.
As I write this, I realize that to me, the word “burden” has an implication that might be misunderstood. To be asked to carry a burden by God is surely a great privilege. Imagine — God is showing me what is in a corner of His heart! He is inviting me to share the desires of His heart! He is inviting me to join His Son in prayer! Surely not everything we are asked to carry is a burden?
Don’t worry, carry!