Prayer for a Hedge of Thorns Around Your Enemies

Do you have enemies who keep attacking you and attacking you; who just won’t seem to go away? Or, is there someone in your life who continually does inappropriate things, and you need them to STOP? If so, pray this prayer for a hedge of thorns! It really works.

This prayer for a hedge of thorns is based on Hosea 2:6, which says this:

“Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths” (Hosea 2:6 NKJV).

In this verse, God is talking about the Israel of ancient times. Israel was in a phase where they were committing horrible idolatry; they had gotten deeply involved in pagan religion, which was cheating on their covenant with God.

But, God still loved His people. And He’s a good Father. So, He responded by talking about how He was disciplining them, and would discipline them, in order to correct their behavior and bring them back to Him.

One of the things God said He would do to discipline Israel and correct their behavior was to “hedge up [her] way with thorns, and wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths.”

That meant that God was going to put a proverbial “hedge of thorns” in front of and around Israel, so that every time God’s people tried to cheat on Him by worshiping idols, they would hit up against impenetrable obstacles and barriers–that hedge of thorns–and wouldn’t be able to move forward. That way, they wouldn’t be able to get out of God’s will.

I just noticed this verse recently, but Holy Spirit taught me to pray about the hedge of thorns years ago.

Here’s my backstory on the prayer for a hedge of thorns:

Once upon a time, I was part of a certain group of people. The people were all wonderful. But, when we met together, there were one or two people who would say and do strange and inappropriate things. And although even those people were wonderful, those strange and inappropriate things that a couple people would do really disrupted the flow of the group.

I didn’t know what to do about it. But, I was in leadership, so I needed to handle it somehow. I prayed about what to do. And as I prayed, the Lord put it in my heart to pray for a hedge of thorns to surround these people.

The point of the hedge of thorns was that, if a person even tried to say or do anything that wasn’t God’s perfect will for them, they would hit up against that hedge of thorns and not be able to continue. Basically, the hedge of thorns kept them INSIDE the perfect will of God.

So I prayed and asked God to put a hedge of thorns around them. And what do you know? He answered.

Whenever I remembered to pray for a hedge of thorns around these people, they behaved properly in the group: not hurting anyone, not offending anyone, not disrupting anything. But when I forgot to pray for that hedge of thorns, weird and irrational things would happen.

Now, in those situations, those people were not my enemies. They weren’t anybody’s enemies. We were all friends, and those people were great people. They just did strange things that negatively impacted the gathering of friends.

But here’s how this prayer for a hedge of thorns applies to praying for your enemies as well:

• Maybe you have people who have just decided to hate you, and for no good reason.
• Maybe there are people in your life for whom gossiping about you, backbiting you, stabbing you in the back, and slandering you has just become their hobby.
• Maybe there are people who even claim to be Christians, but they aren’t obeying God’s Word, and they’re just persecuting you day after day after day–and they seem to get a sick pleasure from how evil they can be, all the while claiming to be justified in the name of Christ?

Do you know anybody like that? People who just won’t stop, won’t acknowledge the sin of their actions, and have turned crucifying you into their favorite hobby?

If so, you can pray for a hedge of thorns to surround those people–and God will put a stop to it.

Here’s how to pray from a correct heart attitude:

• Before you pray, be sure to forgive those who have hurt you–and forgive from your heart, by casting it on Jesus, pouring your heart out to Him, and blessing your enemies. Here’s a sample prayer for forgiveness and soul healing to pray first, if you aren’t in that heart position yet.
• Then, be sure you are praying in sympathy with the heart of Jesus. We want to pray that all sin will stop so that Jesus stops being crucified again. We are praying for God’s Kingdom to come, and for His will to be done. We are not praying out of anger at people.
• By praying this prayer, know that you are praying for your enemies to be right with God and BLESSED–and that is a good and holy thing.

We pray for a hedge of thorns so that people can stay in God’s perfect will and experience the best that He has for them.

It is NOT God’s best for anyone to step out of His perfect will and into sin. Yet, that’s exactly what people are doing when they persecute, badmouth, malign, lie, hurt others, gossip, and slander. It’s all sin.

Therefore, praying for a hedge of thorns to surround them is a prayer for their protection, not a prayer for their punishment.

Are you ready to pray?

Pray this prayer for a hedge of thorns to surround your enemies and hem them in on every side:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus’ name.

Father God, I enter into Your gates with thanksgiving and into Your courts with praise today. Thank You for always taking care of me.

Thank You also for intervening on my behalf, and for protecting me from all the attacks of the devil. Thank You for covering me with the blood of Your Son Jesus, and for hiding me in Him. I praise You for that, for You are good, and Your mercy endures forever.

Abba Father, You see that I have enemies–and You see what they are doing.

Lord God, You see that they just won’t leave me alone. Their lies and their slander comes at me constantly, and they seem to delight in finding new ways to persecute me, even though I’ve never done anything to hurt them.

Father, I still love these people–but it needs to stop. The things they are doing are wrong and unjustified. You know that all I have done is love them, bless them, and take care of them, Father, serving them in every way I could–and serving them with my whole heart.

But, Lord, they have chosen to hate me … and their choices are sin.

Lord, these people’s sins grieve you.

Their sins are wrong, and they hurt Your Son Jesus. They hurt Your heart and they grieve Your Holy Spirit. And although these people feel justified in their actions, none of their actions line up with Your Word.

Therefore, we know that they are wrong, and that they are NOT acting within Your perfect will for their lives.

So Abba Father, in Jesus’ name, I humbly ask that You would surround all these people who persecute me with a hedge of thorns.

In Jesus’ name, I ask You to put a hedge of thorns around these people on every side, and even above them and beneath them. I ask You to do this both for the people I know are persecuting me, and also for even the people whom I do not know are persecuting me.

And, Father, if any of these people are even tempted to act out and commit a sin–especially a sin that has to do with persecuting me–then I ask in Jesus’ name that they would hit up against that hedge and not be able to move forward.

Father, I ask in Jesus’ name that You would keep all my enemies in Your perfect will:

• Let Your Holy Spirit convict them of all the sins they have committed against You and against me.
• Send someone like You sent the prophet Nathan to King David, after David sinned, to bring a message that will convict them and show them the error of their ways!
• Let true and godly repentance wash over them and inside them, as Your Holy Spirit shows them that they are in the wrong, and that the things they have been doing are WRONG, for they go against Your holy Word!

Lord, I forgive these people. I love them so much, one and all. I have poured out my heart for them in the past, and I will continue to do so in prayer.

Lord God of Heaven and earth, please have mercy on these people and stop them in their tracks!

Abba Father, Your Word says that their persecution of me and others is sin. And with so many actions that are NOT Your perfect will for their lives, they are on a path of destruction and hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another!

So in Jesus’ name, Father, I humbly implore you to help them. Intervene rapidly to stop these attacks against me and others. PLEASE help these precious people, Lord Jesus. Please pour out Your Spirit upon them and hedge them in behind and before, laying Your hand upon them.

O Abba Father. We have all sinned and fallen short of Your glory.

Have mercy on us, Lord. Please keep through Your name these people whom You have committed to Jesus. Please bring them to repentance, and unite both their hearts and their actions to fear Your name and glorify You in Spirit and in truth.

Thank You, Holy Father. It is in Jesus’ mighty and precious name I pray, amen and amen.”

Beloved, God can and will put a hedge of thorns around your enemies. Did you pray the prayer?

If you did, just be sure you prayed it with a right heart. Be sure you forgive your enemies from your heart. And every time they do something again, forgive them again.

But, if you will pray this prayer and keep on praying it, the Lord will intervene and put up barriers of thorns around these people, stopping them in their tracks and correcting their behavior for His name’s sake.

Did this prayer for a hedge of thorns speak to you and help you today? If so, leave a comment below!