"COMPASSION - THE JESUS RESPONSE"
by Catherine Brown
Gatekeepers
www.gatekeepers.org.uk 
[email protected]

COMPASSION - THE JESUS RESPONSE

"The Lord is gracious and full of compassion." Psalm 111:4

NEW TESTAMENT COMPASSION

4697 - splagchnizomai - splangkh-nid-zom-ahee mid voice from 4698; to have the bowels yearn; ie. Fig feel sympathy, to pity - have (be moved with) compassion

4698 - splagchnon - splangkh-non probl. Strengthened from spen (the spleen); an intenstine (plure); fig pity or sympathy - bowels, inward affection + tender mercy

I believe with all my heart that Christ's compassion is a key to unlock the end-time harvest! The Lord is releasing His compassion to His Bride and through His Bride, from which many powerful miracles will flow to the glory of His name. But just what is compassion? Is it love? Yes, it is love but one can love a person or group of people, without necessarily taking any action on their behalf. Compassion is God's love in action on behalf of the poor, the suffering, the weak, and the afflicted.

COMPASSION - WHAT IS IT?

Compassion may be described as God's deepest yearnings for the poor and the afflicted and, flowing from these yearnings, compassion is the release of God's power to transform lives and situations that look otherwise impossible to change. God's compassion is love and truth in action. Passivity has no place in compassion. Compassion gives all for the sake of another. It has no thought of self-interest, but is completely servant-hearted. Compassion is stronger than sympathy (a feeling of pity or sorrow for others) and more enduring than empathy (a deeper place of identification, where we share and understand the feelings and/or pain of another person).

As we engage our hearts with the needs of others, Jesus marries us to His heartbeat, and our human sympathetic and empathetic responses to the poor and afflicted prepare a landing strip in our hearts for God's compassion to flow. Yet, when we flow in God's compassion, it is much more than an emotional response. If we were to respond to situations only in our emotions, we would quickly become overwhelmed and exhausted. Rather God calls us to a deeper place of identification and asks us to choose to open our hearts and engage in His compassion, which breaks the chains of injustice and bondage. God's compassion is unending.

COMPASSION IS A SPIRITUAL REALITY THAT FLOWS FROM THE FATHER HEART OF GOD

Jesus said that streams of living water will flow within us (John 7:37-39). In like manner, compassion is an eternal, never-ending flow from Father. We don't need to strive to produce compassion, we simply flow in it by faith. Whilst compassion is not firstly an intellectual response, the Lord will increasingly use the intellect of many Kingdom market place entrepreneurs and philanthropists and anoint them with His compassion to release strategy and resource in, to, and through compassion-based ministries.


ENDURANCE - GETHSEMANE'S GIFT TO JESUS FROM FATHER

It would be wrong not to acknowledge the costliness of compassion. When we look upon heart breaking circumstances, we cannot sustain ourselves in such situations without the gift of endurance from Father. When Jesus faced Gethsemane, Father God released a most beautiful gift to enable his son to be obedient, even unto death. Father released the gift of endurance, which enabled Jesus to go to the Cross and which, today, enables us to be obedient through Grace to God's will. Endurance enables us to show stamina in the face of adversity and resolve in the midst of difficult trials. If we are to move in compassion, we need to ask Father for the gift of endurance. Compassion and endurance are two most exquisite strands of God's destiny tapestry for His bride.

Jesus calls us to identify with His heart for the poor and afflicted and to pour our lives out as a love offering on their behalf. Surely, this is a precious part of the destiny of every child of God - to walk in the footsteps of our beloved Messiah, who showed compassion continually to the multitudes.