Compassion Burn

On my recent trip to Australia with Bill Johnson I was quickly reminded that exposure to the sun will leave me with a sun burn. We rode a boat down the river into Sydney Harbor and I had to go inside because I could feel the sun making me into toast. Before we had boarded the boat we met a young man who was in a wheelchair due to being in a car accident many years earlier.When I first noticed him I knew that we would end up speaking to him. Within just a minute or two of being near him, he rolled over to our group and began speaking to us. Not much time had passed before he asked us if we were Christians and then we began to pray for him. Although he didn’t notice any change from our prayer, I knew that the encounter would have an impact on me. Little did I know just how profound it would be.

Later that day in a very busy part of the city I noticed a man who had a severe limp and also a shriveled arm. His attempt at walking through the crowd was like a game of Frogger - he just had to wait until it was clear and then make it as far as he could and hope that he wouldn’t get run over. I was paralyzed. I had sunglasses on, but all I could do was focus on his disability and how much he needed God. When I finally came to my senses and convinced myself to go after him to at least talk, he was out of my sight. People were everywhere. It was like loosing your parent as a kid in a busy store. I was then overwhelmed by the need presented by the people within a block of where I was standing who didn’t know that God loves them.

It was hard for me to enjoy my lunch that afternoon as I couldn’t help but think about that man who could barely walk. We then walked back to catch the train to where we had left our cars that morning. I felt God’s presence strongly at one of our stops underground and as we disembarked and continued to walk towards our cars I continued to just focus on God’s presence. Then something caught my eye. It was short, black, and had three wheels. I couldn’t figure out what it was until right as I was walking by it a man was lifted out of a car and put on it. This man had no legs. That was it for me. I was so stunned by what I had just caught a glimpse of that I couldn’t get myself to stop. I’ll admit, I was scared probably more in that instance than I have been in about 2 years. Why? Isn’t God the one who is the Healer? Isn’t He the one who nothing is impossible for? Yes and yes. Wasn’t I commissioned to heal the sick? Isn’t Jesus the same yesterday, today, and forever? Yes and yes again. I don’t know why I didn’t pray for this man. Maybe it was fear that nothing would happen. Maybe it was fear that something would happen and not knowing what to do next. Maybe I was overwhelmed with the feeling of not being ready to handle the situation. Whatever it was, I was getting so wrecked by God over the next 5 hours that someone could just mention the name Jesus and I would cry.

Just as I am prone to sun burn, I am also prone to compassion burn. When I have too much exposure to people who need to be touched by God yet I don’t act, I wind up a mess and need time to recover. Seeing those three men who needed Christ the Healer within just a few hours of each other spiked my desire to see God move in healing. A few days later we were off to another city which meant I had more time to read books about the life of William Branham, who was a prominent healing revivalist in the 1940s and 50s. The miracles Branham saw were so profound. My faith was again sparked that nothing is impossible with God and that all we must do is believe.

We were in our last meeting before coming back to Redding when I felt that there was a man in the back of the room on the right side who was deaf in the left ear. I thought it was 100% deaf, so I called that out but nobody responded to the word. Knowing that I was at least certain that there was someone back there I was to pray for I paid close attention while the rest of the team called out words of knowledge. Pastor Bill called out cancer and said that we need to be like David when he ran out to attack Goliath who had been taunting the armies of God. I noticed a man in the back on the right side whose face was severely disfigured raise his hand acknowledging that he had cancer. I all but ran back to him to find out his situation. I knew that he was the person I had gotten the word of knowledge for. It turns out that he is mostly deaf in his left ear, but not 100%. However, that wasn’t the reason why I tell this story. As I was listening to Bill preach it seemed like an angel pulled my right ear to look to the back of the auditorium right after I remembered the testimony of a man the night before who was 100% deaf in his left ear. It was as though God was drawing my attention to the one person who needed to be touched by Him, just as I had experienced out in the city a few days earlier. Yet instead of allowing the impossible to taunt me, I was reminded that our God invades the impossible and that David ran out to kill Goliath before he was made King. God had touched me in such a way that I quickly acted rather than allowing myself to be burned again. David also had that place with God that when he heard about the Philistines and Goliath he was moved to action while all those who should have been courageous were in fear. It doesn’t matter how well trained you are for battle if you don’t have the courage to fight. Having a burning love for God produces in you the compassion that will run out to defeat the enemy no matter how impossible the circumstance may seem.