“I was sick, and you visited Me”
One of the new ministries God’s added to my schedule recently is hospital visitation. I’m one of two Americans and one African who are banding together once a week to visit the sick and pray with them.
On our first day, Pastor Amos took us first directly to ICU, past sign after sign reading “No Visitors Allowed” and “Silence Please,” right up to the nurses’ station where he announced, “We are Christians come to pray with the sick,” and before anything could be said about visitors and silence, he continued, “Those in ICU are in the most critical condition, so they need our prayers the most. We need to come in and pray with them.” The staff all obliged, and in we went.
Throughout the hospital we saw people in various stages of undress due to the heat; we saw a boy who was skin and bones; we saw a baby who burst out crying at our approach and screamed at the top of his lungs for the duration of our visit; we saw vacant eyes and listless bodies and hopelessness. One man we visited said that he used to go to church, but had ceased for many years, and was sure God no longer cared for him. We assured him that such was not the case, and led him in a prayer to make his peace with God.
Our second visit was much more sobering. The hospital wards were twice as crowded to the extent that patients were in the hall lanes. The patients themselves seemed to be in much worse condition. There were recent amputees, children suffering extensive burns and that were involved in severe accidents. Our eyes can fool us, right?
The real threat to life for each patient was unseen; their dead spirit for those that don’t know and are known by our Lord Jesus Christ. So we prayed earnestly for spiritual life, physical healing, and protection from evil spirits. So many people here end up hurt or ill due to demonic activity instigated by others who hold a grudge or are envious.
Please pray for the sick and suffering in the hospital to make their peace with Jesus and to be healed both bodily and spirit in the days ahead! Pray for the doctors and nurses too: may they have the wisdom and resources to provide the right treatments.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 at 10:55 pm and is filed under Prayer Requests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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