I'm trying to understand Mark 9. I have been examining every word spoken by the disciples and our Lord. We know that the disciples wanted with everything that was in them to be able to deliver the boy. Why else would they later risk criticism and His strong rebuke to ask why they had failed. We know that the Lord wanted them to be able to do the miracle because of the rebuke. So what went wrong? Why a prayer and no miracle.

I've been praying for the answer to that. I have always thought that if I prayed enough or fasted enough, the prayer would be answered. If I could somehow earn enough points by fasting, then a miracle was sure to come. But then I read IS 58. Here we find that it's not the fact that you are fasting, but rather the intent or purpose for which you are fasting. And so I have been praying and fasting with Isa 58 in my heart and mind. Lord help me to fast for the right reasons, to provoke Love.

Beyond Isa 58 though, I have found what I believe is a key to what I am searching for. "Compassion"

When I read the account of Mark 9, I was looking at what the Lord said. How could we not hear Him. "O faithless and Perverse generation, how long shall I suffer you?" Then I was looking at what the disciples asked when they desired to know why they had failed. But what I had totally overlooked was what the little boy's father said to the Lord. Did you get it? "If thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us"!

COMPASSION

As a father, I have felt that man's compassion. I have held my sick children up to the Lord with tears of compassion for a sick baby. So, I think I understand the pleading and hunger he had in his heart when he asked the Lord to have compassion on them. When I read that I began a search on the word compassion.

It is in the Bible 41 times in 39 verses. The Old Testament is full of verses which tell how the Lord is "Full of Compassion".

• Mat 9:36 Compassion on the multitude...of lost people.
• Mat 14:14 Compassion caused Him to heal the sick of the multitude there.
• Mat 15:32 Compassion caused Him to feed the multitude with a few loaves and fishes.
• Mat 18:27 It was the lack of compassion which caused the servant to be given to the tormentors.
• Mat 20:34 Compassion caused Him to heal blinded eyes.
• Mat 1:41 Compassion moved Him to heal the Leper.
• Luke 7:13 Compassion made Him raise the widow's son.
• Luke 15:20 With compassion the father received the prodigal son.
• COMPASSION!

Lord help me to have compassion on people! I believe that you cannot truly love someone until you have had compassion on them.

• Compassion will cause you to pray for someone.
• It will drive you to fast for them!
• It will bring about a change in your priorities to the point that nothing else matters to you but meeting the need in that person's life!

The Lord asked me the other day, "When have I answered your prayers for the sick?" Now folks, I have seen God raise people up off of death beds on several occasions. I have seen him heal all kinds of sicknesses. He has opened closed ears. You name it I have seen God do it through prayer. However, there was one ingredient that was present with every one of those answered prayers. And it was not there in the unanswered prayers, no matter how much I claimed it, pled the Blood, or called on His name. It was Compassion!

• Yes I loved the other people that I prayed for, but never saw them healed. Or at least I thought I loved them. I wanted to, but I really cannot say that for sure. But when I prayed for people with compassion in my heart and a sincere desperation for their need, God always met that need. Every Time! Every Single Time!

Study that word Compassion. It will blow your mind how important it was throughout the Bible. Every time you see the word Compassion, a miracle took place. It was even Compassion which preserved the baby Moses in his day of death.

So then, how do I get compassion for people? That's what I am after right now. Because I suppose there are some people along the way that I find it hard to have compassion for. Come on admit it, You're the same way!

Whenever I am asked to speak at another church where I do not know someone, often times the Pastor will ask me to help him pray for a sick person. In the 20 seconds I am praying for them, I barely have time to say all the spiritual mumbo jumbo that I am used to saying. Much less, just stand there and try to feel the pain or hurt the person I am praying for feels.

Is it possible to effectively pray for someone without compassion? No matter what our relationship is with them, I'm not sure we can touch Heaven until we have Compassion working in our heart for them. Real Compassion!

• The kind of Compassion that would cause a father to run into a burning building for his children.
• The kind of Compassion that would cause someone to jump into a flooded river to save someone's life.
• The kind of compassion that will cause us to set everything aside and Pray and Fast until God meets the need in someone's life.

God give me that kind of Compassion for people!

About Pastor James Smith

Pastor James Smith, Valparaiso, Indiana – Founder of PreachIt.org, OpportunityHope.org, and PastoralHelps.com.

He equips pastors worldwide with sermons, leadership tools, and encouragement, while also caring for orphaned and at-risk children in West Bengal, India through OpportunityHope. Beyond the orphanage and school, OpportunityHope provides clean water wells, livestock, and other humanitarian helps to families and villages in need. Additional books, leadership training, and mentoring resources are available through PastoralHelps.com.