I have the utmost respect for schoolteachers. It’s tough being a schoolteacher, especially an elementary school teacher. Recently I come across a humorous list of seven ways to know if you’re an elementary school teacher. You might be an elementary schoolteacher if:
1. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
2. You can tell if it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.
3. You believe the teachers’ staff room should be equipped with a Valium salt lick.
4. You laugh hysterically when someone calls the teachers’ staff room a “lounge.”
5. You want to strangle the next person who says, “Must be nice to work 8 to 3:00 and have summers free.”
6. You believe “Shallow gene pool” should have its own box in the report card.
7. You would approve the aerial spraying of Prozac.
All joking aside, you’re probably a schoolteacher if you love children and love a challenge! We should pray for all of our schoolteachers and administrators. If you can read your Bible, hug a teacher!
Here in this passage of scripture, Job was a righteous man and was doing quite well in life. Indeed, when God can call your name to the devil for an example of a man God approves you know he had to be quite a fellow. Of course, that ticked the devil off and he accused the Lord of buying him. He said God hedged him in from all the trials and tribulations of life so no wonder Job loved God. Tear down that hedge and see what happens, said the devil.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Nevertheless God allowed the devil to go after Job. If God did not have a hedge around Job before He did now. He placed a small one around him so that Satan could not touch his life. That was a good hedge to have and it was unconquerable since God placed it there.
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
It would be nice to think God builds a hedge of protection around everyone, but the truth is He is looking for people who have surrendered their lives to Him to become His servant. Do you want to have a divine hedge in your life? Then your goal should be to become a servant of God. When you hear the word “hedge,” what you think of? Most people think of a hedge made of plants. You may have a set of hedge clippers somewhere in your garage that you use to trim plants. But the word “hedge” in the Bible describes something more substantial than a bush. The Hebrew word really means “wall.” A hedge was a defensive wall often built around a city. The bottom part might be comprised of stones or hard packed dirt, and there might be thorny plants on the top of it.
BUILDING THE HEDGE AROUND YOU AND YOUR FAMILY BY:
I. THE POWER OF PRAYER
A. I cannot imagine my life without prayer. I know when I pray there is something powerful that begins to happen in the heavens. Jesus said to pray, thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Whatever is in Heaven, God desires for us to have it here on this earth with us now. There is no sickness in Heaven, pray thy will be done to heal us on earth. God is not broke in heaven, we should have what they have in heaven, supply every need according to his riches in Christ Jesus. If you want the Hedge around you, you will have to pray it around your life and believe God it is SO.
Psa 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Psa 91:4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge. His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
B. If God said that we are able to move mountains through praying, don't you believe that you can pray a hedge or wall of protection around you and your children. Come on church, prayer is what is going to make a difference in the times we are living. There is a call of prayer being given, STOP FEARING THE UNSEEN and Start Believing for the Unseen that God is able to bring to those who will BELIEVE.
2Ch 7:14 If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
ILLUSTRATION: Let me give you an example of this. I shared this story once on a Wednesday night. John Pollock and his wife, who were missionaries, went to the New Hebrides Islands in the South Pacific. When they arrived, they were the first Europeans the natives had ever seen. The tribal magician feared these white intruders, so he convinced the members of his tribe these strangers had come to kill the children of the tribe. On that first evening, the natives surrounded the hut John and his wife were in, planning to attack and kill them. Expecting to be attacked at any moment, the Pollocks stayed on their knees praying for safety all through the night. The night passed and the native warriors never attacked.
Gradually, the Pollocks learned the local language and won the trust of the people. Many of them came to know Christ. After the chief of the tribe became a Christian, John said to him, “We have always been curious about the first night we were here. Your tribe surrounded us with your spears, but you didn’t attack. Why not?” The chief replied, “Because of all your guards. Where did you get all those men?” John said, “It was only my wife and me.” The chief responded, “Oh, no. All that evening we saw large men with swords in their hands surrounding your hut. We were afraid so we never attacked.” It’s great to know God can dispatch angels to provide a protective hedge around his servants.
C. You can pray for a hedge of protection around those you love. Parents and grandparents you should pray for a hedge of protection around your children and grandchildren. Husbands and wives, you can pray for God to put a hedge around your mate so they will stay faithful to you.Hosea’s wife, Gomer, was an adulteress. When she wandered away from her husband God put up a hedge to keep her from being unfaithful.
Hos 2:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
Hos 2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
II. SPEAKING THE WORD OF GOD
A. Everyone one of us needs God’s hedge of protection. God’s hedge of protection around His servants is part of God’s promise. This hedge can only be removed by God’s permission. The Word of God is the promises of God in which we are to speak and believe. So as we are reading, speaking the Word of God, the power of God's Word is building our faith in believing for the hedge of God's protection.
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a tiny mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, 'Remove from here,' and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you.
Rom 4:17 (Exactly as it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations.") before God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not as though they are;
Rom 4:18 And who against hope believed in hope, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, "So shall your seed be."
B. Let's just look at what Jesus did whenever Satan came after Him in the wilderness to tempt Him while He was fasting and praying for forty days in the wilderness. He spoke the word of God and Satan did not bother or get to Him. The reason is He went in the wilderness with the power of the Spirit and He came out of the wilderness with the power of the Spirit of God, because He spoke the Word of truth in which Satan could not press beyond.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
III. PLEADING THE BLOOD OF JESUS
A. I believe that America’s hedges are being torn down due to our sin and turning from God and at this late stage in timeline of man there may not be any return or redemption for the country. Individually, all we can do is come before Him and to be sure that we are in a place in our relationship that He does not have to take down our hedge and allow Satan to destroy to get us to return to Him. Worse yet, we want to be sure that He does not have to turn our body over to Satan allowing him to take our life though our soul will be saved. Sometimes God looks and expects to find some of us to be used as a protective hedge and He can’t find any.
Gen 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;
Gen 18:21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
Gen 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
Gen 18:33 And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
B. Abraham was hoping for enough souls to be present to be a hedge for Sodom and Gomorrah and had he gone down to one righteous person they would have been spared. He stopped and there were not that many there so God took out four but ended up with three. Could this be why God had to remove Lot and His family. Could this be that the Rapture of the Church could take place to usher us out of the wicked and violent world we live in today
2Th 2:2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
C. We must as the Church today began to Plead the Blood of Jesus, because His blood is still that shield of protection around us. It was in the Old Testament with the Children of Israel in Egypt that God was trying to deliver them and Pharaoh would not let them go. So the Lord brought His plagues upon them and it came to destroying or bringing death to every house of the first born son and animal would die if they did not have the blood over the door post of the house.
Exo 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
