09/05/2026
HOLY SPIRIT EMOTION
The Holy Spirit loves when His compassion flows from our hearts to help others. Anyone who wants to be used of God to see people healed and delivered will become very familiar with this “Holy Spirit emotion.”
I had my first experience with this Spirit-emotion when I was 19 years of age. I was in college in Springfield, Missouri, and a group of my friends and I drove to Kansas City for the day—we had a day of shopping in mind.
At this time in my life I knew Jesus as my Savior and I was strong in the Holy Spirit, but I had no idea I would ever be called into public ministry. I was in college to study English and get a teaching degree—something I could “fall
back on” until I was married one day. Public ministry was the farthest thing from my mind.
In the midst of shopping, I happened to walk into the public restroom of the huge Kansas City mall. There I saw an elderly woman standing at the sink trying to wash her hands. Her hands were trembling so badly she could hardly get soap out of the dispenser.
I went into the stall, and when I came out she was still at the sink. As I stood at the sink beside her I had the strongest, overwhelming urge to lay hands on her and command her to be healed in Jesus’ name. In my heart I knew if I laid hands on her she would be healed.
For the first time in my life I was sensing the compassion of the Holy Spirit prompting me to do His work right there in the public restroom!
But…I didn’t listen! I immediately panicked with fear; my mind raced with thoughts of rejection or being misunderstood; it was too public a place—I found a numberbof reasons not to do what the Holy Spirit had placed in my heart to do.
When I left the mall, I was so deeply convicted. I knew I had not only disobeyed the leading of the Holy Spirit, but I felt as though I had truly grieved Him.
A little time later, I was watching Johnny Carson’s late night show because Billy Graham was going to be interviewed. I was intrigued when Johnny asked Dr. Graham if he ever had the desire to pray for sick people.
I was even more stunned when I heard Dr. Graham say something like, “Yes, I have felt the urging of the Holy Spirit to lay my hands on people from time to time. I remember in particular meeting a blind woman and I just knew if I laid hands on her in the name of Jesus, she would have been healed. But I never did it because of fear and embarrassment.”
My spirit stirred because I knew Billy Graham had felt the same prompting of compassion I had. And he confessed to the same response. His openness helped me to understand God is a loving, compassionate Father who wants to see many people healed and well. He is just looking for people with childlike faith and the will to obey Him when He nudges us.
The Spirit-emotion we call compassion is and always has been a catalyst for the supernatural power of God to be expressed in healing and miracles. We can see it at work inbthe ministry of Jesus:
Compassion fed 5,000 hungry people: “Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for these people, they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away
hungry, or they may collapse on the way’” (Matthew 15:32 NIV).
Compassion healed many who were sick: “When Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick”
(Matthew 14:14).
Compassion performed outstanding miracles: “So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followedbHim” (Matthew 20:34).
Compassion raised the dead: “When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then He came and touched the open cofin, and
those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man,I say to you, arise” (Luke 7:13-14).
Compassion is often the motivator for a miracle.
Many Christians pray for greater anointing, but if the Holy Spirit lives inside us, the anointing already resides within us.
Others pray for greater miracles—not a bad prayer. But how many pray for greater compassion? How many desire to hurt for people and feel their pains and anguish? How
many desire to stand for hours to minister to those who are lost and hurting?
Compassion requires giving of one’s self—offering up one’s body as a living sacrifice—for the purpose of seeing the supernatural power of God released for healing,miracles, and raising the dead!
The Church is in dire need of the expressed gift of compassion; we all need a fresh dose of godly compassion operating through us.
My dad had compassion oozing out of his pores. He always took time for people. Many were the times I’d direct him off the platform because the length of the prayer lines was wearing him out physically.
I have seen God use Dad in extraordinary ways, through his heart of compassion. One long-time friend of mine,Elisabeth from Norway, was healed of Stage 4 lung cancerbwhen Dad embraced her as a father hugging his daughter.
This was the first time they met, but she felt a sensation like warm honey cover her—and she was healed that day.
Doctors had told Elisabeth and her husband, Alvaro, they would never have children because the chemo treatments had destroyed her reproductive organs. The doctors were
wrong because they hadn’t counted on the compassion of Jesus. Elisabeth was so very healed that God gave her two children, Samuel and Victoria, who are both serving God in
ministry today!
What could God do if every one of His people would begin to yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and love people to their healing and deliverance?
- Donna Schambach (Anointing For Miracles)
- Spiritual Notes
