We went with Brother Dan to a hospital that was a twenty minute walk away from where we were staying at to meet up with pastors, elders, and members from other churches. For the past several years, Pastor Alex has led a ministry of about 25 people from different churches in the community to visit that hospital and pray for the patients as well as provide counseling. What captured me about this group was the fact that they were united regardless of denominational differences. Brother Alex informed us that we will be visiting the ward in which there have been many deaths. They had been praying that morning (before 6am!) that the spirit of death would be lifted from that ward. In the past several years, they have seen many patients come to follow Jesus as well as get completely healed.
Each one of my teammates paired up with one of the regulars to the hospital. I was paired up with Brother Alex. We walked into a tiny room with four patients; they couldn�ft move and couldn�ft speak because they were so sick. One of the patient�fs eyes looked lifeless and empty while the other patients were shrouded underneath a thin blanket. We walked up to each person and prayed for each of them. I got to pray for Martin and I felt the Holy Spirit bubbling up inside of me. I knew that God heard my prayers. We went to visit several other wards including the maternity ward. There were women on the ground because of the labor pains. I got to touch one of the woman�fs belly and pray for her and her baby right before she gave birth! Unfortunately, one of the women lost her child. The children�fs ward was very much overcrowded with 3-5 children per bed. Right outside were rows of children and adults waiting in line to be admitted. There were patients begging us to purchase their medication for them because they couldn�ft afford it.
Brother Alex informed me that the members from the hospital visitation group have gone through training to counsel the sick. Often times, they discovered that unforgiveness was the root of illness. Many of them had unforgiveness towards family members and friends; the unforgiveness gave birth to bitterness and the poison in their souls soon became toxic to their bodies. What began as soul sickness manifested itself in the physical. Sure, AIDS is a killer, but so is unforgiveness. There have been several incidents where the patient became well again once they chose to forgive.
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