Compassion and Travail
“I had a Bible outline type study on my site on Compassion, but I had not expounded on it or taken the time to writing on it much.
But after listening to Jill Austin talk about the experience of someone else who could SEE with her eyes a place God was taking her in the spirit realm, then realizing HE had brought me there without seeing, but only experiencing it, I thought perhaps I need to expound on this.
She talked of a woman who was asked to come, and taken through a very dark area, into a dark room, and there in the chair sitting, looking out a window was The LORD.
She looked to see what He was looking at, and He was watching children being beaten, abused, starving and neglected, and numerous situations around the world involving children hurting that broke His heart, and as she did look, she began to feel His heart and weep and cry.
This is what He called The Crying Room. There was a door that led out, but you had to be small to go there she said.
You couldn’t have too much pride, or be too great in your own estimation, and if you got smaller you could go there and you would receive strategies.
I know that one of the great lacks in the Church has been compassion. Compassion is NOT sympathy.
Sympathy is what the world gives, or what I would call the worldly counterfeit of compassion, and is short lived for the most part.
There is no empathy to it. Empathos is one of the Greek words for compassion, and it has to do with experiencing what others feel.
There is another word in the Greek for this called splanchnizomai which has to do with a gripping in your innards. Another biblical word would be TRAVAIL.
During the renewal, I was soaking in the presence of The LORD many nights a week at Church and in my home, and going through a lot of physical pain and suffering myself so when I would sometimes take the hand of another in greeting, I would suddenly be catapulted into a place of travail in my spirit for the woundedness of that individual.
This was a new experience for me, and I would hide it till I got away and then begin to pray for them in the fullness of what I knew God wanted me to do. It was hard to get quickly to a place where I would not be embarrassed by my tears.
This is not the kind of ministry that people crave or want to receive, or ask for , at least for the most part that is true. But I have asked over and over and over again for HIS HEART so He has given me a portion of that.
While at a women’s conference a years ago, Michelle Rizzo had a prophetic word and she said, “I have called you to pray for the Muslims, and the Hindu’s. They are killing each other”
That ‘s the part I remember, because suddenly I was gripped in my stomach/ gut, and screaming at the top of my lungs, like an Italian mother who had just found out her son had been killed!
I couldn’t stop it — it just sprang forth from my spirit along with the gripping in my gut. For months a couple months after that, nothing, then suddenly every time I would worship, I would start out and the Holy Spirit would hit me, and I would be screaming.
I honestly did not understand. I had experienced the crying room, but not to this depth.
I remember that when I went to India it manifested in a couple situations.
One was a pastor’s wife who I am very fond of, as they are a worshipping Church and when you enter it, you know it. And it was a pastor’s conference, and I was ministering prophetically to them and praying for them in couples.
As I went to pray for her I suddenly was gripped the same and began to scream. She suddenly fell back under the power, when this happened.
Two months later, the mother I think of the pastor died and I was told. It’s as if The LORD knew what was coming, and I was travailing for that time, that they would be comforted by The LORD and go through. At least that is the sense I got from The LORD.
Before the Iraqi war, that was all I was doing in my prayer time. I would worship as I normally do to enter in, and suddenly the screaming would start.
Tears, tears, and tears. Death was coming. God knew, and I felt it. I was weeping for it. This is not to brag, this is because during this time, some good intentioned people found fault and told me I needed healing and I began navel gazing thinking it was NOT The LORD, and was a demon.
So by doing that I gave place to something demonic. It was so confusing then, and I shy’d away from going to the place of weeping.
I didn’t want to worship, because then I would weep and scream. It seemed everyone in Churches thought I was just so demonized, that I needed deliverance, so I began to entertain those thoughts too !
The thing is you are NOT supposed to focus on demons. You are NOT supposed to entertain them at all. And they were getting a lot of pleasure from this torment.
No one had an explanation for me it seemed, and my intimacy with God was stolen out of it obviously not good fruit. I would put on the music, but I could not dance. I would put on the worship and just lay there.
I would try to pray, but couldn’t form words, so I would just pray in tongues. I would try to read my bible, but it was not alive to me.
I didn’t realize, though I’d experienced it before, I was under condemnation and a religious spirit from those who had judged me.
So THIS is why I am writing.
This is just too amazing, that I barely had time to go to the conference, but the one thing I got to hear in the car was Jill Austin talking about this I had repented before for avoiding the worship, but now everything made sense of my experience and I was weeping because I had left HIS side.
So I repented for that, and refuse to give place to the gutless, mindless misunderstanding anymore. I just don’t care anymore about being thought a fool. I refuse to apologize about such a precious gift He has given me anymore.
I long to see others gain HIS heart.
Compassion is the essence of POWER in the heart of God.
Unless a prophet is stirred by HIS compassion and sense of JUSTICE, then they are not yet a true prophet.
~ Priscilla Van Sutphin
PRISCILLA VAN SUTPHIN is the founder of Upstream Ministries, California, online at www.upstreamca.org and blogtalkradio.com/ Upstream. Donate to Upstream: via secure Paypal by sending as gift to upstream.ca @me.com or send to: Upstream, PMB 545, 14311 Newport Blvd, Suite G, Tustin, CA 92780, USA.
Yessssss, this is phenomenal. Magnificent. Just awesome. Thank you so much my dear sister.
Praise God for the deliverance from Other Voices. He reminded me yesterday to say, “I heal the Voice of the Good Shepherd not the voice of strangers”.
Thanks for sharing, I appreciate it.
So glad you got it back. I believe envy and jealousy and lack of knowledge cause that also. Blessings and Love.
may He revive the promise in you,
His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not ours, yet He gives us the mind of Christ,, may He
comfort you and restore your yearning to be in
His most Holy place.
He lifts up the humble, amen
Romans 8:26 New International Version (NIV).
…….the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.