Prayer requests

 

Have you ever heard the expression "a hedge around you" or "a hedge of thorns"? Growing up in the church, I often would hear an older member or two who would mention the phrase. It was usually in the context of praying for someone - praying on behalf of a person who might be wandering off the path, or who might be influenced by things or people not good for them.

The Bible gives us an example of a hedge of thorns - this one is built by God:

Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. 
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
    for then I was better off than now.’ (Hosea 2:6-7)

Hosea's wife, Gomer, was being unfaithful to him. The hedge of thorns mentioned here can work two ways: it can block the person from following the wrong path, and it can block another person from reaching the sinner we are praying for. In Hosea, Gomer was a picture of the Jewish people, who had been unfaithful in their relationship with God. In today's world, we can pray and ask God to intervene and save a marriage.

The same type of prayer can be prayed for any of our loved ones or friends to separate them from the wrong kinds of influence. It can be helpful when a person has ungodly friends. According to the Bible, engaging with "bad company" can corrupt us:

or you may learn their ways
    and get yourself ensnared. (Proverbs 22:25)

A hedge of thorns might be prayed around someone who needed help in overcoming temptation. Praying for an obstacle to hinder the pursuit of harmful things like alcohol, gambling, pornography, and more can be a positive influence in the lives of our friends.

Lastly, a "hedge" prayer might be prayed to give a loved one or friend protection against the attacks of Satan and his demons. Prowling about this world and seeking to devour believers, Satan cannot prevail over us permanently:

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. (I John 5:18)

How do we pray a hedge of thorns? We ask God to build it. We pray and ask Him to hedge the person all around so that ungodly or wrong influences lose interest and walk away. To put up those thorns so that Satan cannot attack their mind, their emotions, or their will. To protect their mind and help them take "every thought captive" and make all obedient to Christ. To influence them instead to seek God, not the dangerous and wrong influences of the world. 

Is there someone in our lives about whom we are concerned? Are there forces in their lives that would corrupt them, hold them captive, influence them in ungodly ways? Let's determine today to pray a hedge of thorns around them. Let's ask God to intervene and keep them safe.

Let's pray.