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COMPASSION OF GOD SERIES
THE SPLANKNA OF CHRIST
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Matthew 14: 14 And Jesus
went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion towards
them and He healed their sick.
It looks as if
Jesus was touched in the heart before He healed. But it we examine the
scriptures very carefully, it is more than just being
touched. There was something moving and stirring like a life force within Him.
It was as if there was an explosion of God’s love flowing in Him and causing
the healing to come forth.
The Compassion that Feeds
Matthew 15: 32f Then
Jesus called His disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude,
because they have been with Me for three days, and
have nothing to eat, and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint on
the way. (cf also Mark 8: 2ff)
Earlier it was a
healing miracle. Now it is a feeding miracle. Before every feeding miracle,
there was a compassion that Jesus had for His people. You could copy everything
Jesus did, say everything Jesus said and try all the right things but if you do
not have compassion, there is a huge power gap and vacuum. The compassion that
Jesus had drew on the miracle working power of God. The people ate from the
compassion of Jesus.
The multiplication
of the bread and fishes was a creative miracle. The key to creative miracles
and the key to all miracles is the compassion that needs to flow in our lives
for that miracle to work.
The Compassion that Heals
Mark 1: 40-42 And
there came up a leper up to Him, beseeching Him, and kneeling down to Him, and
saying to Him, “If You will, You can make me clean. And Jesus moved with
compassion, put forth His hand, and touched him, and said to him, I will; be
thou clean. And as soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from
him, and he was cleansed.
Matthew 15: 30-32 And
great multitudes came unto Him, having with them those who were lame, blind,
dumb, maimed and many others, and put them down at Jesus’ feet; and He healed
them. Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak,
the maimed to be well, the lame to walk, and the blind to see; and they
glorified the God of Israel. Then Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said,
“I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with Me three days
now..
When Jesus saw the sick, there was a
stirring within His spirit. Compassion rose up in His heart, and it is in His
compassion that the people could get their miracle. But the miracle came from
His spirit first.
We see creative
miracles of the leper and maimed being made whole – these are creative
miracles. I believe that before the outpouring in this planet earth, a great
revival that God is going to bring forth, we will see a stirring of compassion.
Compassion must flow in our hearts before we can see creative miracles.
The Compassion that Labors
Matthew 9: 36-38 But
when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they
were faint, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then He
said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are
few. Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth
laborers into His harvest.
When He saw the multitudes, He was
moved with compassion for them because they were weary and scattered like sheep
having no shepherd. And He talked to them about laborers that need to go out.
That implies that the laborers that go forth must have the same compassion that
Jesus had.
Qualities of Compassion
Compassion as a Life Force
The word compassion
comes from the Greek word splankna. Splankna has a long Greek
history. Originally that word splankna came to be used to refer to the
inward parts of an animal sacrifice, the entrails, kidneys, liver, lung, which
are the best parts. Later it came to mean the total sacrifice of the animal
inside and outside. It was the inward part of the inward being. Later it was
translated to creative form, a life-giving womb.
The word
compassion is a mysterious word. It is not mercy (eleeo) or sympathy
(simpatheo, or suffering with) or pity (pathos). It is much deeper than mercy
or sympathy or pity.
Compassion as Flow of Affection
Phil 1: 8 For
God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the tender mercies
(bowels or splankna) of Jesus Christ.
Compassion is just not an attitude.
It is not deep feelings or affections. Compassion is a commodity. It is a life
force, tangible force, not a state of being but it is a substance of being.
Compassion is the spark to dynamite, to the power of God that is going to be
released. It is the power inherent in the womb of Jesus that can release the
power and creative force of God.
Philemon 7 For we have great joy and consolation in your
love, because the hearts (bowels – splankna) of the saints are refreshed
by you, brother.
We can refresh and impart a fresh
anointing to a fellow Christian by a show of affection. Splankna like a
commodity can be freshened up or be made stale with Christian fellowship or bad
companionship respectively.
Sometimes when you are conversing with fellow Christians about
works of mercy and outreaches, there may be some who may be critical or cynical
and end up running down the workers or people coming for help. Be careful. Such
people may seriously damage your splankna so that slowly you don’t feel
compassion anymore for people in need. On the other hand, coming in contact
with Christians who do street rescue work or reading the lives of great men and
women of God who do much charity work may stir up your splankna to want
to do the same. Your splankna can be refreshed or can be hardened. A hardened splankna is useless to the
Lord, and the Lord cannot anymore release the creative miracle-working power
out of your splankna.
Philemon 12 Whom I have sent again,
you, therefore, receive him, that is, my own heart (bowels – splankna)
Individual persons can be the object
of our splankna or compassion. We can be so filled with splankna for
a person that that person becomes as if a son or daughter. Onesimus was Paul’s splankna,
his own implantation, the embodiment of Paul himself. What was Paul saying?
Onesimus was a slave who ran away from his master. Rather than sending him back
straightaway to his master, Paul kept him and trained him and taught him the
ways of God. Not only that, but Paul poured his whole heart and soul into
molding him, praying for him, interceding for him. His splankna was
literally exercised in much tears and compassion and intercession for Onesimus
until Onesimus became a useful Christian for his master. Thus Paul wrote to
Philemon to accept Onesimus back, who has been transformed by Paul’s splankna.
You may be training up Christians at home or in school or in a Bible College,
but your work is not completely done until you exercise your splankna in
interceding for them and covering them with much secret tears of prayers and
intercession.
Philemon 20 Yes, brother, let me
have your joy in the Lord; refresh my heart (bowels – splankna) in the
Lord.
The word heart means the
essence of the matter, and comes from the word cardia. The word splankna
also have that meaning but it has a deeper strength and power. Cardia
says I would like that. Splankna says, “I want it.” They may have the
same thoughts, but they carry different strengths. The phrase, “He is bold”
speaks of cardia. “He has guts,” speaks of splankna. Splankna
includes aspects of the heart but the heart doesn’t exclude some aspects of splankna.
Splankna is something powerful; it is raw power.
Compassion as Feelings of the Spirit
The body has feelings. The mind has
consciousness. The spirit has splankna. There are three realms of
consciousness – body, soul and spirit consciousness. Splankna is the
consciousness of the spirit man.
A normal body has feelings;
otherwise it is paralyzed. The mind can think, analyze, reason, visualize
otherwise it is retarded. When you are born again, your spirit has
consciousness of splankna, it has consciousness of things in the spirit
world. It can be there 24 hours if you develop it in God.
Sometimes we move into the body
realm to do physical things; sometimes we go into the soul realm to do mental
things. Sometimes we go into the spiritual realm to do spiritual things. The
conscious state of the spirit is the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes when you pray, you enter
into the splankna but not all the time. Sometimes when you come to church, you
feel the feeling of emotions, you know something
deeper is rising in you. You may be the type who don’t
cry but when you worship the Lord, something stirs up inside you and you begin
to weep. As you weep and cry you feel His love, and you also feel His love for
other people. It is more than empathy or sympathy but you feel it. Then when
you go back to your daily duties, you feel less of it. But when you go back to
your prayer closet you reach that stage again, that state of splankna.
You feel the love and affection Jesus felt for the world. You feel the love of
God for the world,
When we enter into
the state of splankna, our spirit man begins to vibrate with the same
resonance as God. We begin to feel the same heart as God has for His people. It
is a vibrating, feeling, fire burning with His love for His people. It is a
life giving force within you. Unless we can feel, know and experience splankna,
we cannot move in the power of God.
For example, in
leading praise and worship, you can practice your vocal cords and guitar chords
and be conscious of the music, background noise, your
efforts in playing, be conscious of what people think. You may have so many
conscious states in that one act of playing. As you begin to play, you not only
prepare yourself in the natural but also in the spirit to enter into the splankna.
As you enter into that state, you just do not see the people,
you also see their needs, the pains and the hurts. You feel a vibrating force
and love that comes from the spirit man. With each word you utter or sing, you are giving a dosage of love to the people with your
whole being. The people cannot define it but they can sense something
different. In preaching, you can prepare all you want to give a good speech or
good talk but it is different when the splankna burns within you. When
you speak, people can feel the pulsating love coming from you to them. It is a
state and a substance. That’s splankna, the compassion of Jesus Christ.
When some worship leaders first begin
to lead in praise and worship for a church service, they would spend the whole
week practicing and praying and preparing themselves
for the Sunday service. They do so, so that they may be channels of God’s grace
and anointing during the service. They are exercising their splankna. But after
many months and even years of leading in worship, they prepare themselves less
and less until they come to a point that it is just another routine, another
job to do. They have lost the tenderness of their splankna as they had in the
early days. Be careful of coming to this stage where even doing a service for
God can come from a cold or lukewarm heart.
The same goes for
preachers. Young preachers just starting out in the ministry would often spend
much time studying and praying and preparing themselves for the service. They
too are exercising their splankna as they feel the vibrations of God’s
love for the church and pouring many hours in weeping and intercession. But as
time goes along, because of their experience and years of delivering so many
messages that they are able to speak at a moment’s notice, they settle down to
another routine, another job to do, and another chore. There are no more the
secret tears; the weeping over lost souls, the feeling of God’s love. They have
become established in their own reputation and self-glory but knows not that the glory has departed from them. There is no
more splankna in their messages.
Compassion can be Increase or Decreased
1 John 3: 17 But
whosoever has this world’s good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up
his compassions (splankna) from him, how will the love of God dwell in him?
It is possible to suppress your splankna.
When a tuning fork is struck, it will send out vibrations and begin to resonant
another tuning fork of the same note. Likewise, God’s Spirit is full of
compassion, and will send out vibrations to our spirit man when we are in
synchrony with Him. We will enter into the same state of compassion that God
has.
How we move with splankna depends
on how we walk with God’s heart. How we move with God’s hand depends on how we
synchronize with God’s heart. God’s heart represents His compassion, God’s hand
His power. How much of God’s hand we tap on depends on how much we tap on His
heart.
When we move into
this state of compassion, this splankna cannot keep still. You cannot
say that you have compassion, and not do anything for the plight of people and
the suffering you see. When you have compassion, you are moved. Jesus was moved
with compassion. Compassion has a strong compelling moving force that will
drive you to do something and not let you rest until you see it is done. When
you see a brother in need, compassion will begin to rise up. But I John 3: 17
indicates that you can shut up your compassion or splankna. It is
possible to keep suppressing that splankna to rise up from within you
whenever you see a brother in need. When you do so, you are effectively cutting
off the love of God from dwelling in you. Paul says that if I do not have love,
I am nothing. The more you suppress your splankna from operating, the
more you are making yourself nothing in the eyes of God. The more you exercise
your splankna, the more you are making yourself something in the eyes of
God. So you have the world’s goods – so what? – you
are nothing if you don’t move with compassion and help your brother in need.
It is just not mercy. If it is mercy, it
is just like a judge on a judgment seat. All the trials are completed, the
sentence given but the judge on the judgment throne says that you are pardoned.
But splankna is when you get off the judgment throne, walk down to the
pardoned person, embrace him and help him walk the new life. That’s the
difference between eleeo and splankna.
When you have splankna
in your spirit, it will affect your soul, your mind and thoughts. Your mind
filled with thoughts of anger and resentment will turn to love and compassion
for people. You cannot come into God’s presence and be so touched by His love
and compassion and then come out and hate people. Cannot! You are so touched
that you are melted in your heart like ice in the heat. You have been so
touched and loved by God that you feel His love over and over again and when
you come out you feel that love coming out to people again.
Splankna
moves you to act, to do something, to perform something. Moving, vibrating with
love like an overcharged generator. The moment you touch it, sparks come out.
So much splankna and power is stored up in Jesus Christ.
The
reason why Kathryn Kuhlman witnessed such powerful miracles in her meetings
constantly is because she keeps on exercising her splankna. After a
night’s meeting when there were so many miracles taking place, you would have
thought that she would be happy and contented. No, instead, when she goes home,
she would not think of those miracles only but she would think of the many who did not receive any miracle, or healing or touch from
the Lord. She would weep and pray and intercede for them. She would keep
asking, “Why was this person not healed? Why is that person not touched?” and
then she would weep for them. That was how her splankna grew. As her splankna
grew, creative and powerful miracles continue to flow from her spirit. How
often she would say when she sees a person suffering from some painful disease
that she wished that disease would come on her that the person may walk away
free and healed of that sickness. You can see her heart that is filled with
pulsating, vibrating splankna.
Compassion has Degrees
2 Cor 6: 11-13 O
you Corinthians, our speech to you is candid, our heart is wide open. On our
part there is no constraint, but there is constrain in your affections
(splankna). In fair exchange (I speak as unto my children) open wide your
hearts (splankna) to us.
Paul’s splankna has grown to
such a degree that there were no more restrictions. However the Corinthians’ splankna
towards Paul was still restricted and was degrees less than Paul’s. We can
either continue to grow in splankna, or stifle the splankna or decrease
the splankna.
Paul felt how much
he loved the Jews. Agape is God’s love. Splankna is God’s love
actualized and experienced in your spirit and soul and body and touches every
part of your being. Paul said that if it were possible, he would have gone to
hell that the Jews may go to heaven. Paul felt a compulsive love for the Jews.
When you feel the splankna, the needs and the life of people, you bring
about the power of God in meetings.
Matthew 18: 27 Then
the master of that servant was moved with compassion (splankna), and loosed
him, and forgave him the debt.
Matthew 18: 33 Should
you not also have compassion (eleeo) on your fellow servant, even as I had pity
on you?
Splankna
involves eleeo and pathos. If you cannot reach the stage where
you have splankna, why don’t you have at least eleeo? Before you
can have splankna, you must have eleeo.
People have a
natural pity. You feel a sense of pity for people even before you were born
again. When you are born again, you feel mercy for people, loving your enemy
but that is not splankna. When you move in splankna you feel the
vibrating force of God’s love. In mercy, love is imparted. In splankna
love is flooding. You talk of the force of love in splankna. You talk of
forgiveness of sins in mercy. Mercy renders the forgiveness. Splankna
renders the force.
Bro Dhinakaran, an
evangelist from
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