The Hedge of Faith

UV 1381/10,000 The Hedge of Faith
He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.
Ecclesiastes 10 v 8

If one digs a pit or a trap for others, he or she would fall into it. He or she will be ensnared by his or her own designs. If one rolls a stone to harm another, it will roll back eventually on him. There is no escape from the judgement of God. However, when we pray a hedge of protection around people, when the enemy tries to break in, he would be defeated. Job had a hedge of protection around him on account of the favour or grace of God resting upon him and his household. When satan got permission from the Lord God to penetrate the hedge, Job suffered many afflictions over which he had no control. What happens to us is not what is vital but how we pray over what happens to us. We need to pray to restore the hedge if it is broken by something we did nor did not do. We need to pray that the Lord does not give permission to satan to afflict us in a variety of ways.

We need to tap into the power of prophylactic and pre-emptive prayer. Once we pray with faith to the Lord to place a hedge over our lives in respect of various diseases, accidents, deceitful scams and scamsters, temptations, disasters, risks to reputation and testimony, the cunning serpent that satan is – will not dare to penetrate the hedge. His head will be crushed under Jacob’s heel, the heel of the man of faith. When we pray like Jabez, “ do not let any evil overtake or harm me”, we are entering into a personal covenant with the Lord in respect of that which we prayed for. Instead of going for an injection of anti-venom serum or prayer after the mishap, it is far better to keep the serpent from entering our lives.

Instead of digging pits for others, we need to get busy building hedges of faith around us and our families. A hedge needs constant trimming, some minimum amount of watering and maintenance. So also we need to trim our faith life, water it and maintain it. If we are spiritually careless, the garden of our lives will soon be overrun with weeds- careless words and curses we have brought upon ourselves, giving permissions to the enemy to enter our lives through the front door that we have left open for him to enter. He uses our own inner weaknesses, our fears and wrong beliefs, thoughts, words and actions as entrances into our lives. He will naturally loot and rampage being a deceiver, a thief, a liar and killer. When we were very young, a former servant became a thief, broke into the house and hid in a corner of our house. While I was praying, a cousin chanced upon him and raised an alarm. The labourers in the nearby building came rushing to our rescue, caught and bound him up. Jesus said, “ A stronger one has to come up to tie the strong intruder.” We need to involve Jesus and the Holy Spirit to discern the gaps in our hedge and close it with prayer and claiming the promises of God.

Prateep V Philip