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  SPIRITUAL BURDENS AND WORRY WEIGHTS
  by A.W. Tozer
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Summary: A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between
spiritual burdens and personal irritations while calling Christians to
be spiritually sensitive and prayerful in their lives.

Topics: "Spiritual Burdens", "Christian Testimony"
Scripture References: Psalm 42:3, Jeremiah 9:1, Matthew 6:25

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A.W. Tozer emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between spiritual
burdens and mere irritations that can arise in the life of a Christian.
He warns that Christians must be vigilant and prayerful to avoid
allowing stress and strain to lead to an irritable spirit, which can
tarnish their testimony. Tozer highlights the need for spiritually
sensitive individuals who can recognize the faults within the church and
call it back to righteousness, drawing parallels to the deep burdens
carried by biblical prophets for God's people. He notes that true
burdens stem from a genuine concern for God's honor and the souls of
men, rather than personal grievances or irritations.

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CONTENT
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It was not to the unregenerate that the words "Do not fret" were spoken,
but to God-fearing persons capable of understanding spiritual things. We
Christians need to watch and pray lest we fall into this temptation and
spoil our Christian testimony by an irritable spirit under the stress
and strain of life.

It requires great care and a true knowledge of ourselves to distinguish
a spiritual burden from religious irritation. We cannot close our minds
to everything that is happening around us. We dare not rest at ease in
Zion when the church is so desperately in need of spiritually sensitive
men and women who can see her faults and try to call her back to the
path of righteousness. The prophets and apostles of Bible times carried
in their hearts such crushing burdens for God's wayward people that they
could say, "My tears have been my food day and night" (Psalm 42:3), and
"Oh that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears!
I would weep day and night for the slain of my people" (Jeremiah 9:1).
These men were heavy with a true burden. What they felt was not vexation
but acute concern for the honor of God and the souls of men.

By nature some persons fret easily. They have difficulty separating
their personal antipathies from the burden of the Spirit. When they are
grieved they can hardly say whether it is a pure and charitable thing or
merely irritation set up by other Christians having opinions different
from their own.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/aw-tozer/spiritual-burdens-and-worry-weights/
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