If I say I will not mention Him or speak anymore in His name, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I’m weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
– Jeremiah 20:9
Wow. What a verse.
So, at the beginning of this chapter, Verse 2 says Pashur beat Jeremiah, the prophet, put him in the stocks. They were in the Upper Benjamin Gate of the House of the Lord, Jeremiah imprisoned and beaten for proclaiming God’s Word. And then, seven verses later, he said, “If I even think about or say I’m not going to mention God or speak anymore in his name,” Jeremiah says, “it would be like in my heart there is a burning fire like it’s shut up in my bones.” What a phrase. “And I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” This is God’s Word in Jeremiah. It’s a fire in his bones, in his heart. And what exhausts Jeremiah is the thought of holding it in. He says, “I cannot. I must speak God’s Word.”
Jeremiah 20:9 encourages us to pray for an inner compulsion to share the gospel.
And I just want to say this is a picture of the Holy Spirit of God in each one of our hearts as followers of Jesus. The same Spirit that was upon Jeremiah to speak, in an even greater way is in us, dwelling inside of us, the Spirit of God with the Gospel of God. We have even greater revelation than Jeremiah had.
We know Jesus has died on the cross for our sins and risen from the dead. So how much more so should the Gospel of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, be like a fire in our bones that we cannot hold in? I just want to pray for this kind of inner compulsion, Spirit-driven desire to share the gospel, to consume our hearts and our bones and our lives in such a way that we just can’t keep it to ourselves. Let’s pray for this.
Jeremiah 20:9 urges us to not stay silent with the gospel.
God, we confess that we are prone to keep quiet with the gospel. We are prone to hold it in and not share the good news of Jesus. And we just confess that, we pray that you’d forgive us. We know that’s not the fruit of your Spirit. That’s the fruit of our flesh. And so, God, we pray for Jeremiah 20:9, and even greater ways that we know are possible through the New Testament.
We pray for this kind of burning fire in our hearts and our bones to share the gospel. God, do this supernatural work inside of us that leads to us speaking the gospel to people around us today… To somebody around us today. God, please help us with boldness and compassion in our bones to share the gospel with somebody today. Make us people who would be exhausted to hold it in.
Prayer for the Behara People
And God, we pray this for your church around the world as we pray for the Behara people of Bangladesh today. 88,000 of them, no known followers of Jesus among them. God, please cause your church to do whatever is needed to get the gospel to the Behara… And thousands of other people groups like them. God, we pray you make us weary of holding it in… That you would put a burning fire in our hearts and our bones to get the gospel… The good news of your love in Jesus, no matter what it costs, to people who’ve never heard it. We pray all this in light of your Word in Jeremiah 20:9. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
