Keeping Watch

As I write this it is 3:06 a.m. God has bid me get up to take my watch on the walls of Paradise again. There is much at stake. While we slumber the enemy works overtime to steal, kill, and destroy. [Jn 10:10] Even as I write this the enemy is at work undermining marriages, leading students astray, and trapping the multitudes in the vice of sin they will spend years trying to be freed from.

Our only hope is keep watch on the walls of the city pleading with God for miraculous intervention. I know of a group of ladies who have been praying for decades for this city. They gather once a week, quote scripture and then cry out to God on behalf of family, friends, and the community. In the town of Seminole I know of a group of ladies who gather every morning and have been for the past one year and a half to stand in the gap for their city and church. In Lubbock, TX there is a church where several hundred people gather weekly to keep watch on the walls of Lubbock. I have read of a church in Brooklyn, NY where hundreds gather on Tuesday nights to interceded for the lost and to ask God for transformation of their city. In Seoul, Korea I have read of a church where thousands gather to pray each morning at 5:00 a.m. and all night on Friday nights. They keep watch not only for their city and country but also for the whole world.

"Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen on your walls; they will never be silent, day or night. You, who remind the Lord, no rest for you! Do not give Him rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem the praise of the earth." [Is 62:6-7]

This is a challenging passage. Several things jump out at me. First, God appoints the watchmen on the walls. I have lived far too long to know how each of us can make an emotional decision about prayer only to have the commitment fade over time. To really be a watchmen that stands on the walls of your city you have to be called and appointed by God to this task. It is not easy. When it comes to prayer most of us are like the disciples that Jesus asked to keep watch with Him but they fell asleep. Rightly did Jesus say the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

God appoints the watchmen for each community. I feel God has called me to be such a person for Paradise, TX. I know I am not the only one. But I have a watch and this morning it started earlier than most. I know there are others. I may not know their names or see their faces but I know a remnant of people pray over communities all over the world. It is humbling and exciting to be a part of this ministry.

In our Isaiah 62 passage another point jumps out. To be a watchman means to be a person who perseveres in prayer. These prayer warriors will never be silent come day or night. The answers to their prayers may be delayed but they keep praying and believing anyway. They keep pounding on the doors of Heaven asking God for miracles of salvation, revival, and spiritual awakening. They stay at their posts day in and day out, week after week, month after month, year after year, and decade after decade. When they reach their last days their prayers live on in the ears and mind of God. When they die God appoints someone else to take their place on the walls as watchman and their prayers outlive them.

I am also reminded in this passage that standing in the gap for the city is a tiring work. Watchmen stand ready day or night to cry out in prayer for their cities asking God to do such a work that the world hears about it and gives glory to God. Watchmen are challenged to take no rest for themselves. Even as I write this I am comforted with the thoughts of tens of thousands of watchmen praying and keeping watch at this very hour. The enemy is seeking to advance and scheming every perverted and wicked plan possible to defeat the armies of the living God but our great King has watchmen watching in prayer to protect the people and to detect the advances of the enemy.

Every hour of every day somebody is keeping watch somewhere in this world. We are challenged to give God no rest but here is the comforting thought. He needs no rest. He never tires or never slumbers Isaiah reminds us in [Is 40:28]. Keep reminding the Lord watchmen of His promises and the needs of your cities. Keep watch for the enemy goes about like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. [I Pet 5:8]

Are you one of those God is appointing to keep watch on the walls of your community? I talked with a lady yesterday who feels God has called her. She is actively seeking to simply her life so she can devote more time on the walls of her city crying out to God. She is an inspiration to me. She is a watchman who keeps watch and I am so grateful I am the beneficiary of her prayers. To God be the glory for the men and women who keep watch over their cities.