Behind the Scalpel: The Prayer Posse

I wrote a piece entitled, Be Steadfast in Prayer, back in 2007 to exhort our stateside friends to wrestle in the prayer realm before, during, and after our Scalpel teams in the Amazon face warfare being waged in the spirit realm. My aim was to encourage what has come to be known as Scalpel’s ‘Prayer Posse’ to covet to pray over the plethora of needs of this young, humble ministry. The vignette I shared was as follows:

Our medical team was 6 days into our mission, when I sensed, in a very graphic manner, the reality of spiritual darkness working at odds against our efforts to bring hope & healing to the Peruvian people. Little did I know that on the exact day that our team faced some relatively tense moments with the tribal council of one of the Indian villages we were setting up a medical clinic in, a beloved friend & prayer warrior in the Lord (some 1500 miles away in MN) had awoken early that particular morning to pray. She describes herself as having been moved, the entire day, to continually lift us before the Throne of Grace & call upon the Lord’s name that He might enfold us with His “hedge of protective mercy.” The riveting of her spirit for a day’s time sent her on a prayer trajectory for a 12-15 hour period. I profoundly believe that these pleadings (that we might be surrounded by a bulwark of defense) also served to rescue us that same evening from a potentially serious explosion with our mission base camp gas stove.

How gracious of our Lord to hear the appeals of His saint in MN in the very moment we needed such specific intercession for safety in the remote parts of Peru. How God moved our friend & stirred her heart keenly to pray fervently for such a time as that is but a marvelous testimony to His sovereignty in & through & over all things. Brushes with harm–yes; evil fingers laid upon us–no! A striving to interrupt our mission focus during that short-term trip & thus keep the Bible from being known & believed–yes; anxiety that the enemy was stronger than our Jesus–absolutely not!!

Thank you, Jesus, for being a God of rescue who always serves as our ever-present portion & strength. Thank you, ‘Prayer Posse,’ for bending the knee on behalf of our Scalpel initiatives, blanketing us with generous prayer cover, & moving the heart of God in a Colossians 1:17 sort of way. “He is before all things, & in Him ALL things hold together.”