Building a Hedge of Thorns
In the time of the Old Testament, wild animals were much more prevalent in the Middle East than they are today. The Bible mentions lions (Judges 14:5), wolves (Jeremiah 5:6), bears (1 Samuel 17:34), leopards (Hosea 13:7), and hyenas (Isaiah 13:22). Although stone walls could keep predators away from living areas and livestock, the walls would have to be very tall and would take a long time to make. Wood was not plentiful enough to waste on a fence. Instead, a hedge of thorn bushes could be induced to grow around a living compound. Thorn bushes would be too dense to crawl through, too sharp to chew through, and too deep for all but the most determined leopard to jump over. A hedge would also be a deterrent to sheep and goats seeking to escape their pen. As Satan is compared to a “lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8), a thorn hedge is an appropriate metaphor for the protection God gives His followers.
Is this OK with God
Is it wrong to ask God for a hedge of protection around yourself or someone else? Absolutely not. In addition to putting on the armor God gives us in (Ephesians 6:13-17), there is nothing wrong with asking for God’s protection. As seen with Job, a hedge is an apt illustration for what God’s protection looks like. As God our Father He fulfills the duties of a father to Provide and Protect.
By praying a hedge, three things will begin to happen around your partner:
1. He / She will become confused and lose direction”…I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she/he shall not find her paths” (Hosea 2:6)
2. Any other “lovers” will lose interest and leave.”…She / He shall follow after her/his lovers, but she/he shall not overtake them; and she/he shall seek them, but she/he shall not find them…. (Hosea 2:7a)
3. Troubles will motivate your partner to return. (amen) “…Then shall she/he say, I will go and return to my first husband/wife; for then was it better with me than now.” Hosea 2:7b
Do This:
1. Be Joyful (if only in the Lord)
2. Recommit your life to Jesus Christ by confessing all your sins and receiving forgiveness
3. Make Him the center of your life
4. Walk in His ways
5. Speak gently and lovingly
6. Do your responsibilities in the household to your utmost
7. Submit to your husband per the scriptures directions
8. Rebuild a friendship with him
Pray this:
Heavenly Father,
1. I rebuke and bind the works of Satan in my husband’s life. I do this in the name and through the blood of my Lord Jesus Christ.
2. I build a ‘hedge of thorns’ around my partner, so that anyone with wrong influence will lose interest in him (or her) and leave. I do this also by the authority given me by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
3. I base this prayer on the command of Your Word which states, ‘What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder’.
Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer, I ask in Jesus mighty name I pray. Amen!
From hear-on-in your husband is in God’s hands,
Do not:
1. Beat him over the head with “Christian” words, strategically placed scriptural notes, etc. etc.
2. Preach to him.
3. Be praising him with scriptural adoration
He will not receive any of these and if you try to “help God”. You will only interfere with what He is doing and possibly drive him away further.
Instead Do this:
1. Stand back as see the work of the Lord. (Get out of the picture)
2. Get into the Word daily for instruction.
3. Ask God to give you a scripture(s) for this situation and stand on it (them) daily
4. Let Him direct your footsteps and don’t turn away from Him in this hour.
5. Submit to your husband (for wives) per Ephesians. 5:22 and Col 3:18
Supporting Scriptures:
I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge…that I should not destroy… (Ezekiel. 22:30)
Read about Hosea and Gomer and the Hedge that was built.
“But I will fence her in with thorn bushes. I will block the road to make her lose her way. When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch up with them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think “I might as well return to my husband because I was better off with him than I am now.” (Hosea 2: 6-7)
“Does Job fear God for nothing?…Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” (Job 1:9)
“If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.” (Psalms 91:9-11)
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (woman) accomplishes much. (James 5:16)
Note:
Hedges can be built around many things: Other People, Families, Houses and Property, Your church, your Pastor, the President, our Leadership, etc. Find the Scripture that fits, and pray fervently per (James 5:16).
Enough said.
Thy Words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15:16)
