“Seeking God with a Compassionate Heart”
Opening Comments: What is key here in this study is being men and women consumed with God’s Love and Compassion for a lost and hurting world.
Devotional Study:
We have a perfect example of a compassionate heart through our Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Father loved us so much that He made provision for us by sending Jesus who took our place and went to Calvary’s Cross and paid the penalty for our sins. Because of Christ’s Shed Blood on Calvary’s Cross we have been washed and cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb. God’s compassion prevailed.
God’s compassion would not leave us to ourselves. If it were not for our Heavenly Father’s compassion we would still be dead in our sins with no hope, headed for an eternity forever separated from the Love of the Father. Now that is the ultimate compassion, a pure love & compassion that can never be equaled by anyone else.
Lamentations 3:22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
Over and over again we have seen how Scripture repeats itself telling us that God had compassion on His people, He often repented from the thing He intended to do. God often spared the people because He looked on them with a heart of compassion. Often after the people prayed and poured out their heart before God in repentance He demonstrated a heart of compassion to His people.
Many times God brought blessing down on the people rather than judgment.
That same compassion can fill us and be a reservoir that will overflow from us to the people and the nations we are praying for.
Psalm 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Indeed we serve a God who is full of compassion. He truly cares about His people. As we seek the face of God and ask the Lord to change us and give us a heart that is filled with compassion we will set the stage for revival to take place in our lives and in those who we come in contact with. God can change the hearts of the people giving them a heart after God. He can give us hearts that are softened and full of compassion for the nation and its people we are praying for.
2 Chronicles 7:14 says: If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
A B Simpson one of the great revivalist of our time came to know Christ in 1858. It wasn’t long after that his heart was stirred by the power of God, He quickly had a desire to attend Bible College. Soon after he became a Pastor and served in that capacity until 1873 at Knox Church in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He was a man of great faith who spent much time in prayer seeking the face of God. He desired to see lives transformed and drawn to the Lord. During the time Simpson served as Pastor in Hamilton the Lord began to stir his heart and gave him a compassion for souls. He surrendered his life completely and died daily to self committing himself to the Work of God.
God gave him a deep desire to “evangelize” which caused his whole life to be consumed praying for the lost. During that time he also wrote a hymn called A Missionary’s Cry.
A hundred thousand souls a day,
Are passing one by one away, in
Christ less guilt and gloom.
Without one ray of hope or light,
With future dark as endless night,
They’re passing to their doom,
They’re passing to their doom.
Just as A B Simpson’s life was transformed and filled with a compassion for the lost, we too can have a heart that is truly seeking after God. We can be vessels that are filled with compassion one for another. Our communities and nations will be impacted for the Kingdom of God. Once the people begin to seek the face of God and pray for a revival to sweep over their land we will see a mighty outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit flowing over the hearts of God’s people.
As individuals and churches are renewed and filled with God’s compassion they will prepare the way for revival to happen in their communities and in their countries. Lives will be transformed, many souls will be won to Christ, healings and deliverance’s will take place. Many will be delivered from drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Communities, Nations and individual lives will forever be transformed to the Glory of God.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
God gave Simpson a vision for a city wide revival in Louisville. As he waited on God in prayer revival broke out in the city. Simpson was used of God and hundreds of people were converted, many were received in to the churches. Lives were delivered, healed and gloriously saved by the Power of God. Simpson lived a consecrated life devoted to reaching souls for Christ. He remained devoted to serving Jesus and was known as a man of Vision and of Faith.
We can follow after Simpson’s footsteps and be men and women of Faith and have a Vision for the Lost. As we wait on God, seek the Lord in Prayer and seek to surrender all to Jesus we too can hear the Still Small Voice of God and be Men and Women after God’s Own Heart. We too can make a difference in our own communities, in our work places, and in our neighborhoods, touching lives and impacting souls for the Kingdom of God.
Canada & the USA are ripe and ready for harvest. We can impact our nation by joining our prayers with others. We as fellow believers can pray that both Canada & the United States of America will be restored and be drawn back to its First Love.
We can learn from Simpson and be men and women who inspire others to live a live that is committed to serving Jesus and one that is committed to serving others. As we seek to hear from God and fulfill our calling there is no telling what God may do with a life that is totally surrendered. A life that is fully surrendered to Jesus can be a life that will do great exploits for God. Indeed Revival begins in the hearts of the people. As our hearts are changed, as we are filled with compassion for the lost, we will impact lives for the Kingdom of God.
Let us be challenged today with A B Simpson’s life, as he was a man of Prayer, Faith and Vision, let us also be Men and Women who are filled with God’s Compassion winning a harvest of souls for the Kingdom of God. Let us be Men and Women who are impacting our Communities & Nations for the Glory of God.
A Servant's Heart 