Hosanna Restoration Church

I looked up the definition of compassion because it seemed that Jesus’ compassion was instrumental in His ministry. I found that compassion means sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. That is like feeling it yourself and wanting it gone. Whether it is health or anything else that is lacking, it wants the situation fixed because it is a personal assault on us.

We can have all the faith in the world, but if we have no compassion how deep are our prayers. I think it is safe to say that compassion is a love-based emotion. This caused me to consider the way in which I have prayed for people. How often do I pray with compassion and how often do I just pray the right words. Of course I expect God to do what God has promised, but do I enter into their distress so much that it is as though their need were my own personal need. God forgive me for the times that I have failed to do those things you have called me to do with the love you have given me to do them.

It seems to me that compassion was a force that was flowing through Jesus. It was His desire to meet our need for salvation that caused Him to come from His glory in the first place. Everywhere He went He saw the needs of the people. In fact, He saw needs that they did not even know they had. He saw the life that they lacked without Him. He saw their emptiness without a relationship with God. More than that, He saw their eternity without God.

It is no wonder He was so driven to get the word of the Kingdom of God into every persons heart. His prayer for the disciples and for all who would believe in the future was one of great compassion. His declaration that we would do even greater things than He did was not only a promise but also a longing of His heart that we would catch the vision and do it with compassion.

After He healed the sick, His compassion for their spiritual emptiness drove Him to teach them and fill them with life. When the disciples came and wanted Him to send the people home to eat He told them they did not need to go away. Then He showed them that if they would only take what they had and mix it with faith and compassion they would always have what they need to meet the people’s need with extra left over.

Often times, when people feel sorry for people it moves them to help a little in order to make themselves feel better. But the compassion that God’s love creates moves heaven and earth to alleviate the need completely. Do you want to see people fed, healed, saved, and delivered? Jesus bore all of these for us, so when He prayed He felt the need He was meeting. He is prepared to meet all of our needs according to His riches in glory. We need for Him to meet the needs of all who are needy.