Intercessory Prayer Warrior | God Burdens Your Heart for What Burdens His

Is your heart burdened for what burdens God’s? Nehemiah was burdened for his people and began praying for them. He knew that God made a covenant promise to the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people. 

The Lord does the same today. God burdens your heart for what burdens His.

Nehemiah humbled himself and prayed. God burdened His heart, but that was where the power of the supernatural came from. 

When we humble ourselves, get on our knees, surrender our plans and agendas to His, and decree and proclaim the Word, we start to see breakthroughs. 

Join Rabbi Curt Landry as he explains how breakthroughs come when we begin to pray for the things on God’s heart and according to His will. The power of the Holy Spirit is released where the burden is. When we are moved with compassion, just like Jesus, we are awakened to the new thing God is doing. 

Want to be a part of the new thing the Lord is doing in this hour? Listen to this podcast and ask God to burden your heart for what burdens His.

Transcription from Podcast (Revised for Readability)

The power of intercessory prayer, breakthrough to break out. 

If you’re going to break through and break out, you will have to do it with prayer and intercession. 

Our Journey to Los Angeles Reminded Me of Nehemiah

Christy and I went out to Los Angeles, my hometown. It’s where I grew up for the first 18 years of my life. I felt like the prophet Nehemiah. I went out there, and saw the condition of post-pandemic Los Angeles. I met with the Believers, donors of Curt Landry Ministries, and talked and visited with them. 

Coming from Oklahoma, where I’m in a small rural area, I have not had the experience they’ve gone through. We don’t have the metroplex and the millions of people. 

But go with me into Nehemiah chapter 1:2-4, that’s basically what happened to me.

Nehemiah | A Cupbearer Burdened for His People

Nehemiah was the king’s cupbearer. His whole job and responsibility were small but important. His job in that season–until he had the revelation of somebody else’s pain and condition–was to pour wine, take a sip of it, make sure he didn’t die, and then give it to the king. He’s just a taster. 

Yet, in Nehemiah 1:2-4, it says, “… I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who survived the captivity and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, ‘The survivors who were left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach.” 

• And I can tell you that’s what I ran into in Los Angeles. There were great distress and reproach.

And it says, “The walls of Jerusalem were broken down and its gates are burning with fire. So it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and I mourned, for many days I was fasting and praying before the Lord God of heaven.”

As a cupbearer, Nehemiah had to be cheerful and of good continence and attitude and behavior around the king. In fact, some commentaries say that being sad around the king could’ve resulted in the penalty of death. 

• So I don’t know if all that’s right, but I do know this: The king wants a cupbearer that won’t depress him. He wants one he can trust so that he knows that what he’s drinking is not going to have poison in it. 

So Nehemiah was heavily burdened, and probably looked like he had been weeping. The king asked him, “What’s the matter with you?” Hhe was honest. He said, “Listen, I’m very burdened because of what I saw in the condition of my people.”

Nehemiah ended up being promoted because he was fasting and praying and doing intercession for somebody else, for his people in his nation. He was, so to say, praying for the peace of Jerusalem, and the Lord promoted him.

It’s no different than Joseph. 

• He was in prison waiting, and he told people there, “Listen, don’t forget me in prison because I interpret dreams. I’ve got a gift.” 

So here’s Nehemiah. He’s burdened for somebody other than himself, even to the point that if it’s misunderstood, the king could kill him. But that’s not what happens. The king writes him a purchase order. 

The King Basically Says…

“Here, you can have my credit card, so to say. And you can go and rebuild Jerusalem and get all the supplies and everything you need. In fact, here are some papers to even pass through because there will still be people who will not want you to come back and rebuild this city and its gates. But here I’m writing you permission because I am… Listen, you have obviously been so sincere with the God in Heaven and the Courts of Heaven. It is now giving favor to the king on earth to release you to do what God wants to get done.”

This Is Intercession!

And that’s what intercession does. Sometimes the action steps in intercession are to ask the Lord, not for something emotional. But ask the Lord to burden your heart for what burdens His. This takes time, but ask the lord to give you the burden He wants you to carry in your heart, like Nehemiah.

I know that when I went into Nicaragua, the group of people that sponsored us and arranged for the outreaches that we did in Managua were apostolic and prophetic leaders and pastors who have a tremendous burden for Central America and particularly Nicaragua. 

The connection is that the believers in Nicaragua have a tremendous burden for Israel and the Jewish people. So they asked me to come and to minister and it was amazing, because there we were in the plaza to Biblia where Ortega speaks, and they wanted to honor Israel.

So they allowed me to speak in that actual pulpit where the president speaks. The churches all came together. There were 35,000 people in that outside venue there in the field. And they had Davidic dancing. They wore blue and white dresses and waved Israeli flags. It was a tremendous honor. But the burden that came was through those who were burdened for the souls in Nicaragua and in Honduras in that region. Those intercessors and those apostolic leaders did that. 

But they also knew that that was their primary burden and their call. But they also knew there was a tremendous heart of the Lord to connect them to the Jewish roots of their faith and to bless Israel.

So sometimes you have to be able to ask the Lord for a burden, but then He’ll partner you with other burdens to do collective work to build the kingdom. 

Beware of Emotional Burdens

But it starts in that intercessory prayer closet where you say, “Father God, I ask that you give me the burden of Your heart for my heart.” And then don’t get distracted with soulish emotional things because emotional praying sometimes and emotional burdens actually are the ones that wear you out. 

So what happened with Nehemiah that he actually… I think if I remember right, I think he finished the repairs of the wall in around nine months. So he was supernaturally empowered, and yet his biggest distractions came from two of the Jewish leaders that didn’t want him to finish it. And that was Sanballat and Tobiah.

They kept trying to meet with him, slow him down, and discourage him and he just ignored them and said, “I don’t have time for you.” And it was because they were there to distract. They had no burden for what God had a burden for. They had their own agenda. But when you ask the Lord to burden you in intercessory prayer, “Lord, give me a burden for my call, my purpose and my identity,”–then those of like-kind burden will actually come, and that’s how God brings strong apostolic teams. 

So start praying for the Holy Spirit to release within you and release within your churches and your ministries. And ask Him to send the fire of God with the burden. I would say this to every pastor that would be listening and every elder, ask the Lord to give you a very concise burden for what you’re called to do in your church.

I know for us (I’m the senior leader, and founding leader of House of David in Fairland, Oklahoma, the One New Man Embassy) we’ve had a burden for more than 20 years to stand with the nation of Israel. 

• We take care of over 450 Holocaust survivors. 
• We take care of thousands of children. 
• We take care of Ukrainian orphans.
• We take care of thousands of Lone Soldiers. 
• We have meals delivered every week in Jerusalem and Beit She’an.
• We have Safe Houses there for children. 
• We plant all of trees, over 50,000, in the desert of Israel according to Amos 9:11-15. 

So we’re very focused that we are called to be an advocate. We are One New Man congregation, where Jew and Gentile come together as one new man demonstrating the end time prophetic prophecy of that’s what the church would look like when we come together, Jew and Gentile. That we’re not replacing each other, but we’re both grafted in.

So I’m very focused on that. We have a very strong outreach to the First Nations, to the Indians. Pastor Tim is my associate. He’s been with us for more than 20 years and he’s a First Nations born-again, spirit-filled man. 

Pray for the Power of the Holy Spirit to Breakthrough

So we need to pray for our churches to be positioned… And our ministries and our businesses to be positioned where God has burdened us, so that the power of His resurrection in this season will break through. The power of resurrection, power of the Holy Spirit comes where the burden is because see, Jesus said, “I was moved with compassion.”

And that’s one of the reasons that it’s so absolutely powerful to understand the power of intercession because intercession, praying in the spirit, praying in tongues, is where these burdens are released. See, Nehemiah knew in himself and recognized that God had made a come covenant promise to the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people.

And so he humbled himself, and he prayed, and the Lord, through intercessions, started giving him a burden for what God was burdened for. And that’s where the power of the supernatural comes, because when the burden comes, and the humbling comes, then we recognize when we get on our knees. As I spoke about in the last podcast, when we get off our feet or walk off our authority, or walk in our own ways and our own plans, when we go to our knees, then we can proclaim what God is saying. And when we surrender to what He wants to do and decree and proclaim what He wants to do through His Word, then we can ask anything according to His will. And guess what? He’ll do it. But we need to pray when we intercede that God opens our eyes to the situation of the people.

And that’s what happened to me when I went to Los Angeles because it was interesting we landed at the airport, rented the car, and our media crew wanted to go to my old neighborhood, which is only a few miles from the airport. And we went to the house I grew up in 18 years, where I was born out of wedlock in a hospital in Skid Row as an orphan. And then, I was adopted at six months, and I was brought to this house. And I was raised in a time where in this neighborhood where it was a wonderful time. Even though it was only 850 square feet, it was a beautiful time to be raised in Southern California. We didn’t lock doors, and we went in between interactions with people, and we walked to school, and rode our bikes all over the place. When the street lights came on, it was time to get home. It was a very different time.

But to see the condition that it is now, it is not necessarily the safest place. I was there and saw the stress and oppression on the people, and the fear and all the things that were coming.

Intercede for Spiritual Revival

It was interesting because right after I landed there, my Facebook page came up… And I know for me it was a miracle or supernatural because they showed a tent in Los Angeles, and they’re saying, this is the anniversary of this tent. Over 70 years ago, Reverend Billy Graham came to Los Angeles, commissioned and had over 1000 prayer groups praying, and set up a tent. And over 350,000 people came in attendance, not at once, but over a multiple-week period of time. And the city was visited with the spirit of revival.

And I recognize the need for that needed to happen again. There needs to be an awakening. There needs to be empowerment in that city and many other cities. But what happened to me is, listen, we had a wonderful meeting, and many of our donors from Los Angeles may even be listening to this podcast. And I thank you for your prayers and support. And your prayer and support are so generous to this ministry and to the nation of Israel. And we thank you because we can’t do what we do without you. You’re the heroes. But the real hero in this was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit literally touched Christy and I to see the damage that has been done in this post-pandemic time in a metroplex. And the need for an awakening, and the need really for a reset, and I knew it was time to pray.

And the Lord has given us a burden to pray and ask, “How do we reach these metroplexes? How do we reach Los Angeles? How do we reach Chicago? How do we reach New York City? How do we reach Houston, and Dallas, and Albuquerque and Phoenix? How do we reach this? On this trip, we went to Oakland. How do we reach Oakland and San Francisco? How do we reach Seattle? How do we reach Portland?”

 The Fiery Darts of Word Curses

And one of the things that really hit me strongly when I was in Los Angeles and in Oakland was the fiery darts of all the cursing that has come because there are people that don’t like the political positioning of what’s happening there. And cursing the state and cursing these cities, and I could feel it. And the Lord says, “The intercessors are going to have to repent and cleanse these places from these word curses.”

And a lot of them are even coming from Christians. And we have to learn to have a value system where we can hold two opinions. And it’s not just one opinion and one value system, and then if you don’t agree with me, then you’re wrong, and I’m right, and I’ll shut you out. 

That’s what’s happening on the left and the right, particularly on far left and far right. It’s like “I hate you, you hate me.” And we’re not going to get anywhere with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by doing that. There’s going to have to be some intercession and some prayer that actually covers the faults that are on all sides of this because all have sin and fallen short. But there has to be a place where we ask the Lord to awaken these places, particularly the ones that have been taken over with value systems and government systems that are contrary to foundational biblical values and are causing the people to perish.

And so we can’t get so tied up in all the politics and all the things that are going on. We need to get caught up in the cries of the people. That’s what happened with Nehemiah. Nehemiah humbled himself before the Lord, and he realized that God had made a covenant with these people and that covenant was not being fulfilled. 

God bascially said,

• “Listen Nehemiah, I’m going to take you from being a cupbearer and I’m going to turn you into an apostolic reformer, and you’re going to build back this city. I’m actually going to have the king write the checks and the purchase orders for you. He’s also going to give you all the permits and all the finances and everything that you need to be able to put this place back together the way I want. Ignore that Sanballat and Tobiah, ignore the people who are against you. Stay very focused and recognize that if you’ll lead the people in prayer and repentance and they stay focused on what God has, then that you’ll have great victory.” And, of course, that’s what he did, and it was done.

In Conclusion…

So I just want to encourage you today to consider intercessory prayer. Consider that you have maybe never said, well, I’m not an intercessor. If you’re born again, you have the Holy Spirit in you, and there’s some boldness and some intercessory prayer that’s in you. 

So ask the Lord this day, ask the Lord as Nehemiah did, and petition the Lord and ask Him to lay a burden on your heart. Now therefore, you’re the servants, you’re the people whom you have redeemed by a great power and by a strong hand. 

“Oh Lord, I pray please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name. And let Your servant prosper this day, I pray. And grant him mercy in the sight of this man in Yeshua’s name.”

Nehemiah prayed it and was empowered. You’ve prayed it and you’re empowered and it’s time to favor the intercessors is now. God bless you, and we’ll see you next time.

Bio

Curt Landry, founder of Curt Landry Ministries, and his wife, Christie, travel extensively, preaching and teaching about the Jewish roots of the Christian faith. Together, their passion is to empower families to live and leave Kingdom legacies and understand their own personal heritage.