"And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude,

And was moved with compassion toward them,

And he healed their sick."

                                                                              Matthew 14:14

            Everything about the ministry of Christ was an expression of the love of God. There wasn't anything he did that wasn't motivated by compassion. The very heart of God moved him and compelled him to care for the needs of those he came in contact with. If we are ever to follow in his steps then our purpose in life should lead us to be moved with the same compassion he walked in, expressing this love to those we meet, who are in need of a touch from heaven.

            I remember reading after John G. Lake and learning how the power of compassion affected his life so tremendously. Lake grew up as one of sixteen children and spent the greater part of his early life attending the funerals of his own siblings. By the time he was a young man, eight brothers and sisters had died from physical sickness and diseases. When you see such things as this it changes your outlook on life. The very things that drove Lake centered on his deep desire to see the afflicted free from pain and anguish. In his book on "Spiritual Hunger - the God-Men", he writes: "Once in South Africa we were praying for a sick lady for a time without results. Then I said, "I will take my sister and go pray for her." We prayed again, and there was no victory. A day or two afterwards my sister and I were in the city in one of the large department stores. As we stood there the Spirit of the Lord said to me, "Go to her now." I said to my sister, "As soon as you are through, we will go over and pray for that sick lady." We went, and I watched her writhe in pain and agony until I put my arms about her and cuddled her head close to my heart. Soon something broke loose in my soul, and then in one moment (I hadn't even started to pray yet) she was lifted out of her agony and suffering. A divine flood moved her, and I knew she was healed. I laid her down on the bed, took my sister's arm, and we went away praising God."

            I can't tell you the times when I have felt something welling up in me with such compassion that I thought I was about to burst within. There is something very supernatural about letting God's love pour through you. Paul wrote to the church of Corinth and said, "For the love of Christ constraineth us..." (2 Cor. 5:14). Weymouth says, "The love of Christ overmasters us..." Twentieth Century says, "...it compels us." One of my favorites is the Wuest translation on this: "For the love which Christ has [for me] presses on me from all sides, holding me to one end and prohibiting me from considering any other, wrapping itself around me in tenderness, giving me an impelling motive..." It is so important that we understand that to love like God, we must first be acquainted with the reality that we are loved by God.  Some people struggle with that revelation.  But the more founded you become in knowing how much God loves you, the greater your chances are of letting that love flow through you. I believe the miracle power of God is tied to this divine compassion. I believe there is healing virtue embedded in the love of God, not just to cleanse away sin, but to heal and deliver. When the love of Christ takes you over it will change you into a different person. You will do things you would never allow yourself to do with your natural mind. It will take you to places you wouldn't go. It will make you give of yourself beyond your natural means. It will even bring you into a level of power that will literally drive out the works of darkness.

            Paul wrote to Timothy and warned him saying, "that in the last days perilous times shall come...for men shall be...lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof" (v. 4-5). The word "deny" means to refuse something, to restrict it, to disown or disallow. If you crimp the end of a water hose, you will restrict the flow of water. When people deny the love of God from flowing through them, they restrict the power. That is why religion without the compassion of Jesus Christ is so destructive, and why the Church (as a whole) is so powerless.

            If we are going to do the works that Jesus did, if we are going to see a healing wave sweep through the nations of the world, then we have to embrace the compassion of Jesus like we have never embraced it before. It is time for the Church to believe for a supernatural awakening to the healing of compassion - it is the dinner bell that will call the lost to Christ!

*    *    *    *