Hedge Prayers

by John Stallings


…..I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, & stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it: but I found none.---Ezekiel 22:30


Over the years I’ve preached in all kinds of churches in all the states but two, & in dozens of foreign countries.

We’ve ministered in small humble churches at the end of dusty country roads, some with as few as twenty or thirty in attendance. The people were friendly but after you’d been there a few nights you knew who to expect because no new ones ever came in. We’d stay for a while, sing & preach our hearts out & leave with sadness because there was no weeping for the lost & unless someone got a prayer burden & started standing in the gap for the unsaved, nothing was going to happen there.

We’ve been to large churches occupying beautifully landscaped property with big impressive driveways & were amazed at the vastness & physical beauty of the facilities.

The auditorium was massive, the stage well appointed & the sound system & acoustics as good as any major recording studio. Sadly there weren’t enough people to fill a third of the seats & they sat scattered all over the sanctuary. They made us feel welcome, were generous in their giving, & we were treated like royalty but we’d leave with a heavy heart knowing that until they started praying for souls they’d pretty much reached a stalemate.

We’ve been to churches that were filled to overflowing who knew all about promotion & every meeting was well attended. But there was no move of God in the place. The worship was stiff & formal & the people seemed to be there mostly for social reasons. No one would ever linger at the alter. The folk enjoyed fellowship with each other but their eyes were dry. We would leave knowing the church wouldn’t make much progress until someone started praying for a revival.

But by God’s grace over the years we’ve often been able to make a contribution in spiritually dry places & see things turned around. Indeed this was the purpose of our being there.

Many other places we went were brimming over with enthusiasm & Holy Ghost fire & we just worshipped with them, enjoying the spirit that already prevailed in the church. Prayer warriors had already paid the price to see God move in all His marvelous power. These churches we’d leave refreshed & reinvigorated.

We’ve concluded It makes little difference if a church is large or small, has a great location or a poor one, its people are educated or uneducated, belongs to a denomination or is as independent as a yard dog; if there are no broken hearts, if no one is “standing in the gap & making up the hedge,” & praying to see souls born into the kingdom, they won’t see revival.

Most people agree we are living in desperate times but regrettably the church isn’t desperate before God in prayer.

If you came from my generation or anywhere near it you’ll remember “hedge praying” because it used to be done frequently. We prayed a wall of protection around people who were traveling, (they used to call it traveling mercies) going under a surgeons knife, & protection when hurricanes were coming. We prayed for folk with flat feet & fallen arches. If you got around those old timers with a problem, you’d better keep it to yourself or they’d oil you up, lay hands on you, & get you set free.

Somewhere along the line the concept of hedge praying fell by the wayside & as a result our nation is now in a mess. Divorces are up, millions of innocent babies killed & prayer has been taken out of our schools. As of this week, in one state, we have eleven year old school girls being put on birth control pills without parental consent. Need I go on?

I have written in other blogs about how I rebelled as a teenager & my mother “hedged me in from all sides” with prayer that her son wouldn’t go into sin & lose his soul. I know from first hand experience what it means to be prayed into the kingdom of God.

Here’s an encouraging fact; there is nothing, absolutely nothing that can’t be accomplished by prayer.

The 21st century church is supposed to be a model of the first century church but it’s painful to admit there isn’t that much resemblance. The first century church i.e. the church in the book of Acts was founded in prayer & was totally dependent on God. They prayed with unity, they prayed with authority, they prayed in one accord, they prayed with thanksgiving, they prayed with expectation, they prayed in faith & they prayed continually. They saw jails burst open, the sick & afflicted healed, they prayed down Pentecostal power in Acts chapter two & that power catapulted Christianity around the world. Even as the first martyr Stephen was being stoned, he was praying.

History reveals when Christians aren’t praying they’re straying. Leonard Ravenhill said, “The fires of our alters are burning very low. The prayer meeting is dead or dying. By our lack of prayer are we telling God that what was begun in the Spirit we can finish in the flesh?”

When Satan confronted God concerning Job, his complaint was that he was unable to touch Job because God had placed a hedge about him.

Hast not thou made an hedge about him & about his house & about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands & his substance is increased in the land.”---Job 2:6

God agreed to lift the hedge but only to a degree, so Satan was permitted to take away his possessions, his sons, and his health, but not his life.

I’ve had folk ask me--  "if God has a hedge around me, why do they have so many problems?" My answer is, were it not for God’s protection, Satan would kill us all at the moment of our conversion to Christ.

In Ezekiel 22:30 God said, And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge & stand in the gap before me for the land that I should destroy it but I found none.

Over the years I’ve observed that there are countless people who will “point out the gap,” but few who will step into the gap. We have an excess of “gap-pointers” these days. They know all the weaknesses of the church but they won’t do much to fix them.

When I was a kid, my father taught me not to criticize until I could “show how.” He’d say, “Try doing what you’re criticizing. If you know so much about something & you’re constantly criticizing, why don’t you get in there & give a demonstration. The world is waiting.”

I remember once when I was a kid chopping wood. My dad came up & told me what I was doing wrong. He said I was “just wearing myself out swinging the ax wrong.” I stopped & handed the ax to him & asked him to by all means teach me to chop better.

With a grin on his face he took the ax & began to drop the blade on the log, with almost effortless swings. But when the ax hit wood, huge chunks flew off. With one lesson he showed me that there was an effectual way to use an ax. He didn’t just criticize, he showed me how. I learned to use a hammer & other tools the same way.

When I was in Junior High school I played baseball on a Kiwanis team. Even with young guys pitching, the ball crossed the plate so fast it looked like an aspirin tablet. I learned early that it’s not easy to hit a fastball & if you’ve tried it you know I’m right. Yet you can go to games & hear people cursing at the hitters, chiding them for not hitting. Having stood there as a batter myself you won’t hear me screaming at batters. My advice to these critical yee-haws is; — “try doing what you’re criticizing.”

I had an acquaintance that once sat on a piano bench & critiqued all my songs. He knew a little music & he'd yammer on & on. The one question I was too polite to ask him was, “where are your hit songs?As a matter of fact, where are any songs you've written?"

Moses stood in the gap for his people after they built the golden calf. God was threatening to kill them all & start over again.

Psalms 106:23 says, --Therefore He said that He would destroy them had not Moses His chosen stood before them in the breach, to turn away His wrath lest He should destroy them.

Abraham stood in the gap for Sodom & but ten righteous men couldn’t be found so God destroyed that wicked city.

If you have a loved one or friend on the wrong path & being influenced by ungodly friends, I believe praying a hedge around them will change their life. They have a God-given free- will but God knows how to influence people to cause a change of heart & mind.

Some people say that God will never force people to do anything they don’t want to do. They haven’t read the Bible. In general a person must exercise their free will & obey God from a willing heart, but it doesn’t always happen that way, especially when they’re targeted by hedge prayers.

Do you remember the New Testament Saul? God knew he wasn’t going down easy so He knocked him down & blinded him on the Damascus Turnpike. Then God said, (and this is the SIV—Stallings International Version) “Saul, you can either do what I tell you & get ready to preach my gospel or here’s a seeing-eye dog & a tin-cup & main street is two blocks south.”

The wonderful thing about a hedge prayer or any kind of intercessory prayer for that matter is that people are helpless to stop it. They might close & lock their doors & refuse to let you in, but prayer will go right through that locked door & gain entry into the inner-sanctuary of their hearts.

Keep in mind that Satan can petition God for access to us, just as he did Job. Sometimes when tragedy strikes us, it’s not God punishing us it’s because Satan has asked for temporary permission to test us. When this happens we should do as Job did & endure it with patience.

Jesus, foretelling the destruction of Judea, used the hedge example. He knew that the Jews knew what He meant when He said,

A certain man planted a vineyard & set an hedge about it & digged a place for the wine vat, & built a tower & let it out to the husbandmen & went into a far country.

And at the season he sent to the husbandman a servant that he might receive from the husbandman of the fruit of the vineyard.

And they caught him & beat him & sent him away empty.

And again he sent unto another servant and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.

And again he sent another and him they killed and many others beating some & killing some.

Having yet therefore one son His well beloved son He sent Him also last unto them saying, they will reverence my son.

But these husbandmen said among themselves, this is the heir come let us kill him & the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him & killed him & cast him out of the vineyard.

What shall therefore the Lord of the vineyard do? He will come & destroy the husbandman & will give the vineyard unto others.

And have ye not read this scripture this is the Lords doing & it is marvelous in our eyes? And they sought to lay hold on him but feared the people…..Mark 12:1-12

This story tells how God set up Jerusalem & Judea as a vineyard with people to tend the land asking only for their praise & worship in return but they rebelled so He sent the prophets & they either stoned them or mistreated them.

God finally sent His Son Jesus whom they killed. History shows as a result God in His fury removed the hedge, (the nightly news reveals this) destroyed the husbandman, (gardeners) & gave the land to others.

Jesus stood in the gap for Israel as well as the world & died as a result.

America is at the crossroads. What happens in the next few months will see us go to another level & experience the rich blessings of God, or take a step downward. God stands with outstretched arms & says,

If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves & pray & seek my face & turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven & will forgive their sin & will heal their land.—2 Chronicles 7:14

Jesus said, -Lift up your eyes & behold the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His field.

God wants to see us loving & praying for the lost. It pleases Him to see His children seeking to add to His kingdom, & not seeking for self.

In the Bible from Genesis to Revelation you find that prayer was the practice of Patriarchs, Prophets & Apostles. Men would pray & lion’s mouths would be locked; oceans & rivers would split down the middle. Joshua prayed & the Sun stood still.

Jesus was perfect but He frequently prayed. His disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” They saw His many miracles but never asked Him to teach them to do miracles, or to preach or to teach. They looked behind all of those things & knew prayer was His secret; so they cried, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

God’s Word says, -- As soon as Zion prevailed she brought forth her children.

We need to ask God to break our hearts for a dying world & become intercessors for friends, loved ones & lost people all around us.

We need only to ask the Holy Ghost to guide us in the endeavor.--HE WILL!


Blessings,

John