The Laws of the Spirit 383
purpose of calling him to work, to pray, or to preach. It is a burden
with purpose, with reason, and for spiritual profit. We must learn
how to distinguish the burden of the spirit from the weight on the
spirit.
Satan never burdens Christians with anything; he only encircles
their spirit and presses in with a heavy weight. Such a load binds
one’s spirit and throttles his mind from functioning. A person with a
burden or concern from God merely carries it; but the one who is
oppressed by Satan finds his total being bound. With the arrival of
the power of darkness, a believer instantaneously forfeits his
freedom. A God-given burden is quite the reverse. However weighty
it may be, God’s concern is never so heavy as to throttle him from
praying. The freedom of prayer will never be lost under any burden
from God: yet the enemy’s weight which forces itself upon one’s
spirit invariably denies one his freedom to pray. The burden imparted
by God is lifted once we have prayed, but the heaviness from the
enemy cannot be raised unless we fight and resist in prayer. The
weight on the spirit steals in unawares, whereas the concern of the
spirit results from God’s Spirit working in our spirit. The load upon
the spirit is most miserable and oppressive, while the burden of the
spirit is very joyous (naturally the flesh does not deem it so), for it
summons us to walk together with God (see Matt. 11.30). It turns
bitter only when opposed and its demand is not met,
All real works begin with burdens or concerns in the spirit. (Of
course, when the spirit lacks any concern we need to exercise our
minds.) When God desires us to labor or speak or pray, He first
implants a burden in our spirit. Now if we are acquainted with the
laws of the spirit we will not continue on carelessly with the work in
hand and allow the burden to accrue. Nor will we neglectfully
disregard the burden until it is no longer sensed. We should lay
everything aside immediately to ferret out the meaning of this
burden. Once we have discerned its import, we can act accordingly.
And when the work called for is done, the burden then leaves us.