Phyllis Beveridge Nissila
THE NEED
Lately, the truth has been coming out by courageous nurses, doctors, scientists, and family members, about what is happening in many hospitals and other health care facilities regarding the multiple, some lethal, side effects of certain virus shots administered of late, and of health- and life-saving medicines (as per expert testimonies) being withheld or forbidden concerning the very virus the shots are supposed to address.
Several guest videos on this subject have been featured previously on this site and there are innumerable articles, reports, congressional presentations, white papers, and even patent applications available for review on un-censored news venues and even on government sites.
Today’s post is inspired by this unprecedented health care crisis along with a faith-building reminder of another kind of “perimeter” approach to both spiritual and strategic victory from the Old Testament, and a case from my personal knowledge illustrating a need for an uptick in the spiritual response department, as well.
THE FALL OF JERICHO
13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[a] have for his servant?”
15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
6 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in.
2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, continue reading…
Bible scholars teach that the man with the sword who shows up before the battle is the pre-incarnate Christ. He gave His specific–and a bit unusual–battle plan for back then, and, to my focus here, I believe He will do no less for prayer warriors today in our situation, although my suggestion is obviously quite different.
Besides the “customized” battle plan, you might call it, for our time, I chose this narrative because of the Commander’s answer as to whom he was there for: “Neither [side],” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” In other words, in praying about this situation, we are encouraged to be mindful of God’s grace, intervention, and redemption for people on all sides of this health care crisis.
To today’s perimeter prayer plan, of course, I think a much quieter approach, as it were, might be more appropriate due to all the new and highly unusual restrictions regarding who can enter these facilities, and why, and the instatement of security guards and other restrictive measures now in place to enforce the new “protocols”.
To that concern, I offer a case in point.
THE CASE IN POINT
Just a few days ago some good friends of mine–an older couple where he, a retired doctor, is also his wife’s caregiver, went to a non-virus-related clinic appointment and he was denied permission to assist his wife into the doctor’s exam room and, because of her particular health issues, to stay with her there for any other assistance she might need.
Why?
Because the receptionist insisted he had to produce some kind of “official documentation” regarding his caretaker status that not only had they never needed before but also they had never heard of before.
Not only did the receptionist forbid them to go into the exam room together, the husband was ushered outside by two clinic “security guards” for further “explanation”.
When the attending doctor finally heard of this, however, he approved the arrangement and the couple proceded–as per usual.
That said, they were shocked at this new “mandate” and the wife was traumatized, her blood pressure rising to near 200, systolic while they waited (she is an open-heart surgery survivor), not to mention the anger they both experienced at being treated so rudely.
That case ended up successfully, however, although the husband is considering addressing the situation through legal and/or other means*.
Many other cases, however, that we are beginning to hear about or have seen in one after the other poignant video about patients who are “not allowed” to have family members with them even as they lay dying, are not so successful.
This is not the health care system of two years ago.
And whoever thought it would be this way, ever, in the United States of America—particularly after the publication of the Nuremberg Code shortly after World War II that has supposedly guided certain patient health-care protocols ever since, not to mention the HIPPA laws around patient/doctor privacy?
Thus my invitation today.
THE PERIMETER PRAYING
As I drove by a local hospital the other day where a number of nurses and other staff were recently fired because they did not choose the shots for the virus (leaving the hospital short-staffed, by the way, thus many beds empty and far fewer people served), instead of getting mad at this travesty, I realized all of a sudden, here is an excellent opportunity for “praying the perimeter,” something I have done “around” my former place of work and my children’s schools when they were young.
It’s simple and highly individually customizable (if that’s a word) if you, or you and a friend or two, sense a leading to do the same.
THE PLAN
Choose a medical facility near you for prayer: clinic, urgent care, hospital, professional building, nursing home or assisted living facility, and walk outside or inside (if you work there or have a family member there, in short, “if you’re allowed”). Or simply, walk around the public accessways, sidewalks, for example, or even just drive by and park along the street, if necessary.
There’s always a way.
Of course praying at home or in another setting is just as powerful.
Should you choose perimeter praying, pray as the Lord leads you for the safety, health, appropriate and life-saving medical care of the patients there and justice for their families, and pray for courage and other needs such as for replacement of income for staff exercising their freedom of medical choice and being fired or forced out for it, and other needs of the “front line staff” on the inside who also oppose what is taking place.
And don’t forget prayers for staff who support the new health care rules and regulations, that God would give them a change of mind and heart because in our day, too, He is on everyone’s side for deliverance, healing, and redemption.
(And come to think of it, if you have children in K-12 grades, don’t forget the prayer opportunities there, too, for whatever issues of concern you have in your school district regarding this general issue and all the new mandates many parents and some faculty and administrators, too, oppose.)
But even if your prayers are silent as you stroll around the grounds or in the facilities, be assured: God still hears.
And answers.
We are here, after all, for such a time as this.
And the opposition is not likely going to give up certain aspects of their cause.
Remember: Don’t leave home without being “suited up” in “the armor of God”:
pnissila 