THE POWER OF INTERCESSION

HospiVision September 2018

In This Issue:

1. What is the meaning of intercessors 2. Understand your authority as an intercessor 3. Foundations of intercession 4. The function of intercession 5. Livegivers Intercessors 6. Intercession is changing the physical atmosphere at Tygerberg Hospital 7. Visiting the chapel changed my life 8. Glory in the Mortuary

1. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE WORD

INTERCESSION?

By Annette de la Porte In Dick Eastman’s book (Love on its knees)four meanings are indicated: 1. “To go between”: stepping betweensomeone and his enemy in battle. 2. “Yields himself”: among those who areweak and need assistance. 3. “Moving in the direction of involvement”:regarding the needs and hurts of others. 4. “To pay the price of intervention”: Christdied on the cross to pay the price ofintervention for our sins. Mark 10:25 “Hegave His life as a ransom for many”. Just asChrist’s greatest gift to a lost world is Himself,our greatest gift to a lost world is ourintercession. Through that intercession, theworld will come to know their Christ.

3. FOUNDATIONS OF INTERCESSION:

It is a privilege to be an intercessor. Psalm 16:1 ”At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore”. We

serve with Jesus at the right hand of God’s throne and partner with Him in His supreme ministry of

reconciling all of humanity to God the Father. Heb 7:25 “Therefore He is also able to save to the

uttermost those who come to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them”.

Understand your position as an intercessor: This is

not about kneeling, sitting, lying on your face before God but about your spiritual position explained in

Ephesians 2:6 “God raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”. As people who fight battles on behalf of

others, we function from the place of being elevated with Christ to an invisible heavenly arena. We

receive permission to sit together with Jesus next to the Father's throne and partner with Jesus in the

administration/distribution of His authority. We are instructed by Christ to speak directly to mountains, commanding them to move. Mark 11: 22-24 “So Jesus answered and said to them “Have faith in God. For

assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain be removed and be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those

things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask

when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them”. As intercessors, we are not

beggars expressing personal desires, but “throne room commanders” receiving orders from our

Supreme Commander Jesus, who has permitted us to use His authority to order strongholds to fall. We

must understand our promise as intercessors. Our goal is to see God’s Kingdom fully established on

earth and Isaiah said it in Is 11:9 “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”. In Revelation John declare: Rev 11:15 “The

kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever

and ever”. Our prayers are never in vain. Rev 8:3-4 “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense

that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the

throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand”. After the prayers of all the saints are

combined with the praises of Gods people (symbolized by the incense) are the seven angels permitted by God to sound their trumpets. God promises us that our prayers make a difference:

James 5:16 “Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

In Revelation John declares: Rev 11:15 “The kingdoms of the world have become the

kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever”. Our prayers

are never in vain. Rev 8:3-4 “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and

stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the

prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand”.

After the prayers of all the saints are combined with the praises of Gods people (symbolized by the incense) are the seven

angels permitted by God to sound their trumpets. God promises us that our prayers make a difference: James 5:16 “Confess your

trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

2. Understand your authority as an

intercessor:

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”. Jesus called His disciples

together and said to them Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you”. Jesus promises us here that if we are

willing to become involved and war with Him and are willing to pay the price of intervention (effort, time, compassion verbalized in prayer)

we will have all the power necessary to confront demonic forces. When Moses

complains to God about all the burdens of leading the Israelites, I see something of a

positioning in compassion in the next verse: Numbers 11:12 “Did I conceive all these people?

Did I beget them that You should say to me: Carry them in your bosom as a guardian carries

a nursing child”.

4. THE FUNCTION OF INTERCESSION:

• Intercession is compassion in action = Suffer

with or hurts together with those experiencing pain. Compassion is more than just pity. It releases love and is a ministry of serving by

making yourself available to invest time in prayer. • Intersession is fighting, engaging in battle.

Notice that Jesus in the battle of intercession before he was caught in the garden of

Gethsemane, was praying so earnestly that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the

ground (Luke 22:44). Ephesians 6:10-13 “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the

power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the

wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole

armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”. In

Romans 15:30 Paul ask the believers: while you pray, engage in warfare against those forces that

would limit my effectiveness in spreading the Gospel.

• Intercession is identifying: a spirit of serving and a spirit of fighting are linked to the spirit of

identification. • Intercession is serving: to serve is to submit to

and assist others.

Samuel Dempies

5. LIFEGIVERS INTERCESSORS

At Tygerberg Hospital there is a group of dedicated Intercessors who “by a miracle” entered HospiVision’s offices 12 months ago to introduce themselves and to share their vision to start

interceding for Tygerberg hospital, its management, staff, patients, as well as HospiVision and other pastoral workers working in the wards.

Samuel Dempies, leader of Lifegivers Intercessors, tells how God has lead him to HospiVision.

“In 2012 I gave my heart to the Lord and then joined a prayer group, led by Pastor Dennis Francis of Radio Tygerberg. Within this group, I grew spiritually and over the next three years, I would experience God telling me on different occasions to start an intercession

ministry at Tygerberg Hospital. The third time it happened, I realised I have to start acting on this conviction and got three people together to come with me to Tygerberg Hospital to pray. This was during 2016. At that time we did not know anyone at the hospital and had no access

to the hospital, so we used the parking area of the hospital to do intercession – walking up and down in the parking area. During one of these visits, we stopped a person walking past us

and asked him if he knew of a place at the hospital where we can pray. This person told us about a prayer room available in the cancer block, also known as the Gene Louw Cancer Unit of Tygerberg Hospital. The staff at the cancer unit were extremely helpful and allowed us to use this room to pray. One month after we started praying at the cancer unit, someone came into the room and told us to visit the people on the 9th Floor of the Tygerberg Hospital main

building and see if they are not also ‘praying people’. These people turned out to be HospiVision. Through our relationship with HospiVision, we are now doing intercession and prayer services on a regular basis in the West Chapel of the hospital. We are following God’s direction to pray for spiritual breakthroughs within the hospital, and to stand in front of God

for hospital management, staff, and pastoral workers.”

The team is featured on the next page

7. VISITING THE CHAPEL HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!My name is Busisiwe Mbebe and I work at Tygerberg Oral

Health Centre. Going to the chapel to pray on lunch breaks was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made!

During one of my lunch hour breaks, I went down to the cafeteria and as I walked passed the Chapel I heard people

singing. I was so interested to go in as they were singing gospel songs and since I’m a born again believer I decided to

go in and see what is going on. Oh wow! When I went into the Chapel the singing of the

brethren was so awesome and there was so much of God’s presence filling the chapel. It is true that when the praises go

up, His glory comes down!

6. INTERCESSION IS CHANGING THE SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE OF TYGERBERG HOSPITAL

Wanda de Jager, HospiVision Office Coordinator at Tygerberg Hospital:

In the past 12 months since HospiVision has met Samuel Dempies and his team of intercessors have started interceding for Tygerberg Hospital, we are experiencing a huge change in the Chapel usage at Tygerberg Hospital. Where the West Chapel was seldom used and church

services on a Sunday had few attendees, the opposite is now starting to happen! Feedback from churches is that the Sunday services are now full to capacity, with many people staying after the

service for one-on-one prayer. Apart from the change we have seen at the Sunday services, the passion and dedication of the

Lifegivers Intercessor team of volunteers have led to the following new activities: • a Quiet Time service in the chapel every Wednesday morning. From 06:30-08:00 a “me time”

atmosphere is created through soft music in the chapel where staff, patients and families can come in and enjoy personal Quiet Time. Lifegivers Intercessors team of volunteers are on hand

for any one-one-one prayer requests. This is attended by a combination of staff and patients. • a Prayer Service on a Wednesday during lunchtime for hospital staff. Between 13:00 and 14:00

every Wednesday a prayer service is held for hospital staff lead by Lifegivers Intercessors. Nurses, doctors, security, maintenance and other staff members attend this service for a short teaching, praise & worship and prayer. This service has only been running since February 2018 and is already hugely popular. One-on-one prayer requests are done in the last 20 minutes of

the Prayer Service. • Medical students attending the prayer services have begun asking if similar prayer

opportunities can be created at the Stellenbosch Tygerberg Medical Campus. It is being investigated by Lifegivers Intercessors to expand to the medical campus.

Intercession means dedication. That is very apparent in the approach followed by Lifegivers Intercessors. Apart from the time given by their team of volunteers as set out above, they have a

training session for their members every Monday evening from 19:00-21:00. And every Wednesday morning from 04:00 am – 06:00 am (while most of us are either still sleeping or

only getting up!) they are in the West Chapel doing intercession for Tygerberg Hospital before the Wednesday activities begin.

Since that day I have made a decision that whenever I get time on my lunch breaks I will go to the chapel, give praises and

intercede to God. It is such a privilege that Tygerberg Hospital has a Chapel for staff members from different backgrounds to come together

and pray in one accord to the true Living God. This has changed my life. There were areas of my life that needed God to intervene and God did. I have so much joy. Human life has a lot of challenges but we can do all things

through Christ who strengthens us. I thank God that on that day He made me listen to His voice to

go into the chapel because today I am part of Lifegivers Intercessors’ volunteer group.

It is a blessing for me to be able to intercede for and to pray with others during my lunch times at the Tygerberg Hospital

Chapel.

8. GLORY IN THE MORTUARY

By Abigail Loubser

The mortuary, a place where the deceased are kept until loving family members come to collect them. But what

about the living? What about the devout employees who become keepers of these bodies that remain in their care

for a specific time period. These people who, wash, handle and take utmost care of the deceased with a sense

of respect that not even the living receive in their lifetime. These are the living amongst the dead who will

change your outlook not only on death but more importantly the outlook you may or may not have about

the relationship you have with God the Father.

HospiVision, with the encouragement of a devout Pastor, Pastor Sydney Mtsweni initiated the facilitation of a

support group for the employees of the mortuary. As Pastor Sydney will explain to you, “it was the prompting of the Holy Spirit that led me to the mortuary and made me aware of the support that they needed”. The reverse

side of this profound obedience was that the employees of the mortuary are prayer warriors themselves and had

been praying that God would send them a pastor or someone to come and pray for them and their working

environment. God provides, and he answered their prayers through the work of Pastor Sydney and myself. Children of God have their prayers answered as long as

we pray and pray without ceasing ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Through the support group, held and facilitated most Thursdays of every week, miracles that will make you leap for joy and bow down to our Almighty God have happened. This is not a

story about death, this is a story about how God brings life to those who love Him, follow Him and worship His name. God brings life to all things ( John 1:3-4). With the truth of God being

spoken into the lives of all those who have attended the support group, changes to the mortuary environment as well as the individuals themselves have been manifested greatly.

The support group members have not only benefited from the support group but have provided such a family bond and welcoming feeling to me, their facilitator that I not only teach

but am being taught by them and their implementation of family ties present amongst themselves.

Through the support group, we have prayed that the employees be provided with safety

conscious and reliable uniforms, which God provided at the beginning of the year, we had also prayed that the work area be repainted in order for it to be neater and more presentable for the

family members of the deceased as well as uplifting to the employees and God had sent painters two weeks ago to do this. These are two of the miracles God has performed for the

children of His Kingdom, and I have a feeling He is not done. All Glory to God and HIs Almighty hand that is forever at work. Healing cannot take place without God, so through

team building exercises that have provided better communication skills and understanding amongst the support group members, the presence of God is always acknowledged. What God

has done, not only in the members' lives but in my life as well through fellowship, team building, prayer and family relationships within this support group is overwhelming and

inspiring.

The support group is an implementation of team building exercises as well as debriefing techniques that allow the members to reflect and deconstruct what they have been exposed to

and what their issues are either at work, home or amongst themselves. This platform allows for new skills to be developed or improved, one of which is communication. Many working environments and relationships become strained, aggravated or non-existent due to poor

communication skills.

The support group uses exercises that allow each member to gain more knowledge about how a fellow colleague communicates either verbally or non-verbally. Body language,

communication styles and language barriers, as well as cultural differences and similarities, bring new light to how a person communicates. Providing the time and resources such as the

support group, allow the employees to discuss these issues in a non-bias and supportive setting where, I the facilitator, mediate and highlight certain aspects such as assumptions that

may occur amongst the members.

The support group, however, cannot function without the authority of God. This is therefore initiated through starting the support group with prayer and ending the support group with

prayer, another important aspect of communication. Therefore, in conclusion: support groups are there for exactly what the name suggests, “support”. It is a non-judgmental, non-bias and respectful platform for people to share their thoughts and opinions openly and freely without condemnation from fellow members, because what are human beings if we cannot help each

other

Coming Up!

Gauteng: Spiritual Care and Counselling

17-19 Sept Memory Work 15-17 Okt

Advanced Course 22-25 Oct

Cape Town: Spiritual Care and Counselling

18-20 Oct