Sympathy: The Counterfeit of Compassion
The New Testament teaches that Jesus was "moved with compassion" when He healed the sick. There is a compassion that gets downloaded into us when we take the step of faith to pray for the sick. The counterfeit of this compassion is sympathy. Sympathy steps into the sickness with the person and stays there. The compassion of Christ reaches into the sickness and pulls the person out!
Jesus saw the lame man being lowered into His meeting and spoke decisively to him, "Son your sins are forgiven. Take up your mat and walk." He didn't take time to get all the details of the medical report! You are a son of the kingdom, not a doctor. You don't need a half hour report on the history of the illness. You are there to pull them out it. You are there to preach good news to them.
The gospel is the power of God unto full salvation which includes healing Rom. 1:16. Jesus declared the good news to the man. "You are free from your sins. You are healed." Wow, what power is contained in that declaration! Then He gave the lame man something to do to act on his faith, "get up and walk."
I have seen this pattern work many times when a connection is made with the sick person. Look them in the eye. Declare to them the good news about what Jesus did for them. Tell them their sins are forgiven. Tell them the Lord has taken their sickness. Then tell them to act on it. Don't skip the last step. Be bold. Jesus always gave them something to do. "Go show yourself to the priest, go wash in the pool of Siloam, etc." As they follow your instructions they walk out of defeat and into victory.
Sympathetic friends and family members can unknowingly block the flow of the anointing. You must be aware of this as the one healing the sick. Bill Johnson tells about the parents of a teenager who came for prayer. They had been saturated with all the medical side of the sickness. They were holding on to the child and getting emotional. He knew faith would not flow this way. He asked the parents to quietly pray on the other side of the room while he ministered to the boy. The young man was instantly healed!
When Jesus raised the dead, He cleared the room. He wanted those with Him who could believe. But I am seeing now, He also wanted some space from those who were operating from human sympathy. Compassion is going somewhere. Sympathy is content to stay where it is. If you want to move the sick person out of their present circumstance, you will need some boldness to seperate them from what is not working. It may seem calloused to some, but it is simply the compassion of Christ.