Restoration of God's Hedge of Protection

[Sulidir]

I'm not entirely sure we ever had God's hedge of protection, but, we would like God's hedge of protection - whatever of it existed before, and, the fullness of it.
We read in the old testament that there was a hedge available that constituted complete protection from disease and miscarriage, that provided a sound mind, fullness of days - and then we read that the new covenant is even better than the old covenant, that it should have peace, joy, the fruits of the spirit, blessed homes, blessed marriages, blessed relationships, and an abundance of God's love and presence, and such immunity from the devil that he doesn't even know the location of the believer. I feel that we have sunk to a place where somehow, we've lost that hedge. I assume this is through sin, unbelief, un-forgiveness, bitterness, or just wrong living in general. Our home and relationships are in constant chaos, and it seems everyone we know, though professing Christians, all have homes in chaos too. There remains a few people we know who could be truly said to be experiencing lives like this, but they are not in our lives: it is as though God has removed them and kept them separate from us, and we constantly are meeting cursed Christians like ourselves - Christians whose homes are full of death, suffering, disease, broken relationships, and all who are on worldly medicines and medications. We tried changing to the most conservative church we could find, that ardently tries to separate from the world, and to keep clean from worldly entertainments, but even in this new group, there are people losing children, with children with ADHD, with rebellious children, with broken marriages, with seemingly "all" the plagues of Egypt. We somehow cannot seem to get back to the group where nobody is suffering from preventable evil. Furthermore we are told that such protection doesn't even exist, that we need to keep a "simple faith" that doesn't have any such available protection in the end.

I believe this sort of life is happening for some people, and with right repentance, we should be able to be in that group. I pray that God gives each member of our family a heart right to make the necessary changes that would bring that sort of blessing from God to our home.

7 years ago I know I broke the hedge by doing a psychedelic drug and channeling and seeking God incorrectly. Perhaps before then we also denied him. I struggle with respecting my husband and my parents, and I think that perhaps brings a curse of disrespect to our home. My husband seemingly can only see my faults, and we struggle with his passivity in spiritual matters and his lack of involvement with the children. The children are suffering for our sins and failures, and that is horrific to see.

7 years ago things were not perfect, but they were at least much better. It could not be said that the enemy did not attack our home - we did have many attacks on the health and welfare of our home - from job losses, to health problems - leading our neighbors to say we were the most cursed people that she ever saw. But, compared to where we are now, we were sort of blessed. Now I have a constant state of derealization, depression, ahedonia, anxiety, and there is always contention in our home. Time seems to race by on top of the inability to enjoy it, and all my relationships are fractured. My son is continually injuring himself, even while I am listening to videos how Christians should be protected from accidents. My husband says he prays, but it is often, I think, only 5 minutes a day - and he only prays that God heal me, not that He give him the strength to rightly steward our home in ways more pleasing to God. I don't have confidence to rely on the church, though it is full of nice people, because to some degree people don't seem blessed in this way - this complete way - in our church either.

The church that did have people blessed this way only had a FEW people blessed this way. They were all elders in the church. The vast majority of that church is sick and not living in a way that is attractive to us. That small group of people that is blessed in this way, it seems we can never get with those people, and even if we did, they do not seem to be able to lead us in such a way that we could obtain the same blessings that is on them.

It feels like we have no way out, that God has shut a door that nobody can open, that we are sealed alive in this sort of godless hell whereby we cannot seemingly, irrespective of any of our efforts or attempts to get right with Him, actually enter into this suffering-free hedge. It is comprehensive, it is not really about one or two issues - it is an entire protected way of life that we seem to be missing out on.

I just want God to make it crystal clear and to give us the motivation to do whatever is necessary to actually really and truly experience that hedge, and all of its benefits. I both believe that it exists for believers, and that there must be some way of repentance into it. I want God to give us all the motivation to get into it, to lead all our actions in repentance to obtain it, to bless our children with it, and to bring people into our lives to pray for it into existence.

If that requires moving us to another reality that would also be fine by me.

Needing comprehensive help. Please no responses saying "that doesn't exist in this world." It does. I would like it for our family too.

 

[Articles]

We understand your deep desire for God's hedge of protection and the struggles you've faced. Let's turn to God's Word and seek His will together in Jesus' name.

Firstly, let's affirm that God's protection and blessings are indeed available to His children. In Psalm 91:1-2, 9-10 (WEB) we read, "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of Yahweh, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust.' ... Because you have made Yahweh your refuge, and the Most High your dwelling place, no evil shall overtake you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling."

However, it's crucial to examine our lives and ensure we're aligned with God's will. You've mentioned past sins and current struggles, such as disrespect towards your husband and parents, which can hinder God's blessings. As it's written in Ephesians 6:2-3 (WEB), "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with a promise, "that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth."

It's also important to address the lack of spiritual leadership and involvement from your husband. As the spiritual head of the household, he should be actively seeking God and leading your family in righteousness. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 (WEB), we read, "But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." Encourage him to take up this role, and you both should pray fervently for his spiritual growth.

Moreover, it's concerning that you've not mentioned Jesus Christ explicitly in your request. Remember, it's only through Jesus that we have access to God and His blessings. As it's written in John 14:6 (WEB), "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.'"

Let's pray together:

Dear Heavenly Father,

We come before You in the name of Jesus Christ, acknowledging that we need Your divine protection and blessings. We confess our past sins and ask for Your forgiveness. Help us to honor and respect our spouse and parents, as Your Word commands.

Lord, we pray for Sulidir's husband, that You stir up in him a desire to be the spiritual leader of their home, seeking Your face daily. Help them to grow together in Your love and righteousness.

Father, we claim Your promises of protection and blessings over Sulidir's family. Surround them with Your favor as with a shield. Heal their land, their home, and their relationships.

All this we ask in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Keep trusting in the Lord, seek His face, and strive to live according to His Word. God's blessings and protection are available to those who diligently seek Him.

 

[hostadmin]

We hear your cry for restoration, dear friend. We've been where you are, feeling like God's hedge of protection has been removed, or perhaps never fully existent. But remember, even when we can't see it, God is still on the throne, and His promises remain steadfast.

Let's meditate on Psalm 91 together. It says, "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'" (Psalm 91:1-2, NIV)

We serve a God who is near, who desires to protect and bless us. But we must also acknowledge that our actions and attitudes can affect His blessings in our lives. Unforgiveness, bitterness, and wrong living can hinder God's hand of protection. Let's examine our hearts and lives, seeking to align ourselves with God's will.

We've found that when we've walked in obedience and faith, God has been faithful to protect and bless us. It's not always been perfect, but it's been far better than where we are now. We've seen homes where no one is suffering from preventable evil, where children are blessed, and marriages are strong. It exists, and it's for us too.

Let's pray together:

Dear Heavenly Father,

We come before You today, acknowledging our need for Your divine protection and blessings. We confess our sins, especially unforgiveness and disrespect towards our spouse and parents. Help us to honor and respect them, as Your Word commands.

Lord, we pray for our spouse. Stir up in them a desire to be the spiritual leader of our home, seeking Your face daily. Help us to grow together in Your love and righteousness.

Father, we claim Your promises of protection and blessings over our family. Surround us with Your favor as with a shield. Heal our land, our home, and our relationships.

All this we ask in the precious name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Keep trusting in the Lord, seek His face, and strive to live according to His Word. God's blessings and protection are available to those who diligently seek Him.

 

[Sadthy]

Praying for this request in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Sulidir]

Wow, thank you for the fast reply, I was not expecting anyone to reply this quickly.
I wanted to clarify that yes, I meant Jesus as the Son of God, I guess I just use the terms interchangeably.

I guess I am struggling with the disrespect and forgiveness and wanted to explain a more complete picture of what is going on in those relationships, so these specific aspects can be prayed for and so I can accurately discern God's will for how exactly to implement that forgiveness and respect.

My parents are not people who honor God, though my grandparents were. They came from a Communist country where Christianity was decimated under the Communist dictatorship. Maybe as a byproduct of that upbringing, or out of being in a competitive pressure cooker, they have severe personality problems, though they did many things right. They always provided for us, managed to put us in a very nice neighborhood through their hard work and effort, tried to protect us nutritionally, and in our earlier years were encouraging and even present and active parents. Slowly, over time, there was increasing emotional abuse that sort of overwhelmed these otherwise good contributions that they made - because they slipped into what is basically textbook narcissism, and with it came a lot of emotional abuse. The verbal abuse was sort of severe and escalated, and they have never really actually repented for most of it, saying that they are perfect, have done everything perfect, and that "I don't need this" expletive, if I say that I did not feel loved, because of the constant criticism and harshness, and the mockery and jesting and whole mindset. I do believe it's beyond their capacity to truly love, because they themselves are like drowning people, but sadly with the extreme negative comments "I hope satan breaks every bone of your body on the way to hell" and "you are the dirt between the stepping stones of life that nobody wants to touch" and "you are a broken horse" and "they even hold prostitutes when they sleep with them" and a whole variety of other negative comments, along with no respect of boundaries (burying meat in our lego room, and planting their preferred dietary foods around our house, and even breaking into our house to leave their cooking instead of our own) - a strange sense of having to compete with us for our children - well...these negative comments and behaviors don't actually stop, and so I am trying to figure out what forgiveness means in this case. Other Christian people in my life have said that it is okay to go no contact with my parents, but to forgive them from a distance. I don't feel comfortable with them around because there is no real repentance, they have openly said that they don't believe in God and will not even read any of our godly books to the kids, and they openly mock the things of God in our private communications - what does respect look like in this case? Will God only lift these curses on us if my parents have actual sustained contact with our children, or can we forgive them and honor their good efforts, while ignoring the bad, but live lives of no contact? I feel that every contact is just them trying to patiently wait for the opportunity to stir up negative feelings in me so they can proclaim, as they love to that "see, your faith is fake!" after doing things to purposefully overstep boundaries and provoke defensive reactions. I know my reactions need to be better, but I wish God would make me whole and also change them before bringing us back together. Is this a reasonable request?

With my husband the matter is more hopeful, and I can more clearly see where I am in the wrong, but, the situation still feels overwhelming.
He has lately been blessed by God with providing for us, and I am grateful for his financial provision; previously, he used to be a very kind and caring person, and I am grateful for the times that he was there in this capacity for us. More recently, he has gotten into states where he says he "does not feel" and he struggles with ADHD, which seems to have worsened with time. His own father was not emotionally present and neglected him, and so he doesn't have the framework for what truly involved parenting and a relationship should look like. This may be some sort of familial curse, as his mother wrote songs, before passing an untimely death, about how she longed for "time and affection" from her husband, who was preoccupied with the dog and hunting, and not emotionally available for her. At the beginning of our relationship my husband explained that he "hyperfocused" on me, but then lost interest once he understood me. After experiencing several layoffs and job losses, for a period of time he became addicted to video games. The video games were demonic in origin, and these he put the kids on, which wound up in our being in constant contention, because I wanted their removal from our home, for the spiritual safety of our children. Sadly, the fights were probably as destructive as the things themselves. The children have been traumatized by our constant arguments - and my husband has gotten into the dynamic of "siding" with our eldest son against me, even going as far as telling him that I am crazy, and openly saying I am a bad wife and mother. Part of this was motivated by insistence that the demonic legos also leave our home - my husband for whatever reason really likes these lego figures that feature wizards and witches and grotesque animal heads. He does not seem to have spiritual discernment and has said it's just acceptable fantasy. I have previously asked him to read the Bible and bible based books to our kids, or to pray with them; he sometimes prays with them (if I ask) for 5 minutes. He tossed the bible based stories back to me saying they were "boring" and instead put disturbing and horrible "jesting" literature in the children's hands, further defiling their innocence. He also refers to the Bible as that "2,000 year old book", asks me to stop talking about Paul, and resents me for not joining him in his love of AI and robotics, which he seems to love far more than he loves anything of Jesus, from what I can discern, though he insists he follows Jesus' teachings, and sometimes he says he believes in the Ressurection. He does take the children to church, but just like he sleeps separately with the eldest child, similarly, he goes to our "old church" which allows the video-gaming and demonic legos, and which is a more "modern" church than the one I chose, because my eldest son wants to remain in his sinful literature (fantasy) - and because my son found other companionship that lives in this lax sort of lifestyle there. So to a large degree my husband and son are living in some sort of strange, independent existence, and it is hard to defer to his leadership. In general it is hard to defer to his leadership because he likes books like "Second Coming of Gluttony" and many such literature which actually mock God. He has relationship killing obsessions with technology and robotics and woodworking where he goes and literally spends almost all of his time alone, and he says he is autistic and cannot help this and he is always following that Elon Musk guy. He does not value traditional housewives and even if I make dinner, he has once said why am I even doing that, we can all eat separately, there's no reason to cook dinner, have a traditional dinner, and he liked it much better when I was a working engineering wife, rather than a stay at home wife. So for whatever reason he doesn't seem to have the same values as the other people at our church. The blessed people we earlier knew assessed the situation as my sort of being a "single Mom" of sorts, which, was not really happy for me.

I have been horrible in my response to all of this as well. I have not been graceful and when hurt I have lashed out at my husband, sometimes in front of the kids, and I have approached the issue with anger, which I regret. I eventually moved past my needs as a wife for her husband and just sort of learned to live without positive approval and encouragement from my husband, telling myself he is just not capable of this at this time. I know it is not personal perhaps because he sometimes forgets very critical things, like for 2 years he let the dog go to the bathroom in the basement, and if I didn't walk it 2 miles a day he was fine with it going to the bathroom in our basement, he forgets to water the plants, and all of his things are in disorder and he cannot maintain any level of cleanliness, and gets angry if I clean up his tools. So it is not really that he is not wanting to invest in our relationship, it is that his mental state at this point is so bad that he cannot manage to live in any sense of order. At the beginning of our relationship this was OK because I felt I was strong enough to create that order for him, and to lovingly meet him in this weakness, and encourage him to overcome it but - this has become more difficult with the children taking after him. The situation has gotten so bad that none of the children even flush the toilets after themselves...and, I can sometimes manage to go around and clean up everyone's mess and things but, this is the disorder our home is in and, to some extent I can handle this sort of living and compensate for it, if I really focus on it, and sometimes it makes me proud and happy to be helping everyone, but, then it is hard when, because of this demonic stronghold, no appreciation is shown, and then worse, the disrespect and fights come. I did sink to slapping my husband when he said, on top of all of this, that I was a bad wife and mother in front of my eldest son who had been rebelling against me. I know that was not right and I am sorry for it and for every instance I have responded with anger and violence, including when I destroyed the TV trying to keep the kids from the horrible video games. I wish I had somehow followed God in a more graceful way.

I really want God to help this situation in both of us, and also in the children. My eldest son has learned from all this that I am the enemy, and when he gets mad he is very vicious towards me. But I see that he is under horrible stress and trauma from our failure.

Literally everything of real value has collapsed in our life. 7 years ago the child was precocious and 2 years ahead, and I was lovingly and sanely homeschooling all of them. That has fallen apart and now we drive 40 minutes to get to a church school. My husband does not feel the same drive as other people do to put their kids in a good school district, so I had to take the initiative to do this and I make the drive every day, but the reason we got to this point is because the kids no longer respect me enough to do work with me at home, and from this and the de-realization that I suffer from, I am not able to teach them adequately. I used to teach them very well and with a godly pride in teaching them well, and to a high level of detail, and now I am sad to see how much they have lost and are struggling, compared to where they could have been. Our children also have adopted an attitude of disrespect and the tenderness and peace that ought to be in our home is completely gone. Relation ally, it's like a continual nightmare.

I have wondered why God didn't just let me die rather than putting me through this destruction of all our relationships - why He has allowed me to continue living only to behold this, and, I figure it must be part of some horrible punishment associated with lifting the hedge of protection. I am not sure how to get Him to put it back.

If it depends on my husband reaching out to him, I was hoping He would help him do that, or if there is something that I can do I want to do that.

I don't know how to defer to my husband in this state, because he seems bound and blind at the moment. I can respect that he is working to provide for us, even though he struggles often with working in general (my son had angrily pointed out that he works harder in school than my husband does at work because sometimes he will not get out of bed till 10 AM saying that this is acceptable with the new way things are working at work). I used to work at the same company and I feel strongly that it is more profitable to wake up and go in to work at 6-8, and to show oneself more assertive and interested in work things but he explains how he's so intelligent that they only care about his doing the work intelligently, not time-wise, like fools like me used to work. I also helped him get through college and he doesn't attribute his job to this, but rather to his independent reading on AI and robotics, and he seems exceedingly prideful about all this reading, which has been hours of him isolating himself on the toilet with his cellphone while all of us wondered when he would come out. He does not do pornography, thank God, but his addiction took him there, and he then tries to act as though this recreational tech reading was actually vital to his career. This complete given overness to technology makes it difficult for our marriage, and he also resents me for not taking an active interest in sharing his interests - which are squarely these hobbies. I have tried having conversations with him before and he would sit and stare blankly at me saying "well, now that you have my attention, what do you want to talk about?" The burden is always on me to talk about something, and if I don't talk to his interests, and especially if I bore him with the Bible, he either falls asleep or zones out. He does not seem to want to have an emotional relationship, though he wants intimacy. He has once told me that I am like a lamp or a dog or, I can't remember exactly what he said - he wants me in the room, but not necessarily interacting with me. He just wants me "there" but not....actively.

As far as our personal relationship, I am OK with lowering my expectations for intimacy to this level, but, I feel sad when he adopts the same attitude with the kids / ignores them and more recently puts them down. They wanted to do a little stand outside to sell sandwiches and we had the extra bread. He explained to them that there was too much liability, and that it would be a total loss, and what if they got someone sick, and he discouraged them so badly that I just could not believe it was happening. He called it a "complete waste of time" and explained that it would just waste money, and I don't know. I felt that I didn't recognize him at all when that was going on. I don't know if I did a good thing or not in the end helping him through engineering school.

I don't know how to go from our inverted relationship to one that is actually healthy. I know I am not doing a great job either...I am not sure how to respond to this better. I should be more loving and supportive, never angry, even if I am in a sort of single-Mom situation spiritually, I should be more graceful. I should be thinking of the best interest of everyone else. I feel like my own capacity to love is dying.

I basically need God to do a miracle in our home in terms of all of our relationships, all the curses on us mental health wise, and all the curses in our extended family. I know I am also part of the problem but when you say that I need to have the forgiveness and respect first....to get the healing, I am hoping that God can do the reverse...somehow...change all of us, so that we can all respect and forgive each other better, but not just put that all on one person while leaving everyone else unchanged. I know God is big enough to change us all in tandem and that is what I am hoping and praying for and I want Him to pray for us all to change all together, so it works seemlessly and not so one person has to suffer while the other people don't change.

 

[The Encourager]

May God in Jesus' name answer your prayer request according to God's perfect love, wisdom, will, timing, grace, and mercy. Thank You Jesus!!!

Psalm 37:4: Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Matthew 6:33: But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. Bless me to know You in truth, fall in love with You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and never fall out of love with You. Bless me to have an ever growing closer stronger, more intimate relationship with You. Bless me with the love, desire, strength, and the spirit of obedience to always delight myself in You, seek first Your kingdom, and Your righteousness. Help and strengthen me God to always respect and obey You. Bless me to trust You with all my heart, acknowledge You in all my ways, and lean not to my own understanding.

God heal me. Deliver and cleansed me of everything in my life that doesn't honor You. God bless me to prosper, walk in excellent health, and never stop growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus. Transform and renew my mind. Bless me with love, power, and a sound mind. Let the mind that is in Christ Jesus be in me. Bless me to have and operate with a God solution focused heart, mind, spirit, and attitude. Bless me to have a God Kingdom Culture Mentality. God be with me as a mighty warrior. Let no weapon formed against me prosper. Protect me from all the plans of my enemies and the plans of the enemy of my soul. God, all that I have asked of You, in this prayer, please do the same for the writer of the prayer, all those who love and care about me, and all those I love and care about. God, please forever honor this prayer over each of our lives. God Thank You. Amen, so be it by faith, and by faith, it is so. Prayer written by Encourager Linda Flagg, M.A., Board Certified Professional Christian Life Coach.

 

[usha rani]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[hostadmin]

Thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf. We are glad that that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer. If your request was answered, please post a praise report and let us all know. If your request does not seem to have been answered, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer. We all hope that our prayers are answered in the way that we want. Sometimes we believe that God is not answering our prayers because we do not see what we expect. In these cases, we should persist in prayer and determine how God is answering our prayer. May God bless you as you continue to seek him through his son, Jesus Christ.