The “Watchman” Saved Our Lives
The Bible speaks of “watching” in prayer. “Watchmen intercession” is one of the most vital aspects of prayer; I am often asked to teach on it. Our calling and responsibility as intercessors includes being alert for and praying against satan’s schemes and plans, as Holy Spirit reveals them to us. Ephesians 6:18 says, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” The King James version uses the word “watching” for the phrase “be on the alert.”
First Peter 5:8, in warning us about our enemy, says, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Again, other translations use the word “watchful.” The context of both verses is spiritual warfare. Each mentions our adversary and challenges us to alertness and watchfulness, both for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Another related verse is 2 Corinthians 2:11: “In order that no advantage be taken of us by satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” A good amplification of this verse, based upon the Greek text, would be: “To the degree that we are ignorant of the way our adversary thinks and operates – of his plans, plots, schemes and devices – to that degree he will make gains on us, prey on us, defraud us of what is ours and have or hold the greater portion.” Not good!
Here are four conclusions we can draw from the above three verses - Ephesians 6:18, 1 Peter 5:8, and 2 Corinthians 2:11:
Protection from demonic or satanic attacks - including for believers - is not automatic; we have a part to play. Though God is sovereign, this does not mean He is in control of everything that happens on earth. Satan is still allowed access to our world, and God has given much freedom and responsibility to humankind. If He were going to protect or safeguard believers from satan’s attacks, regardless of what we did, these verses would be totally irrelevant for Christians. Why be alert for satan’s attacks and pray against them, if simply being a believer automatically prohibits him from impacting us?
Since God says to be aware of satan’s tactics, He is obviously willing to reveal them to us. He wouldn’t ask us to do something that He wasn’t enabling us to accomplish.
We must remain alert, watchful, or we won’t pick up on God’s attempts to warn us of satan’s attacks and plans. If the devil’s attacks were always going to be obvious, alertness wouldn’t be necessary. Isaiah 56:10 speaks of blind watchmen. What a picture! I’m afraid it has been a fairly good description of many of us at times in our watching roles. We’re often like the disciples of old: We have eyes, but we do not see (see Mark 8:18). It’s time we do more than casually glance; we must watch alertly!
The final conclusion is that if we are not alert and watchful, if we are ignorant of satan’s schemes, he will take advantage of us. Contrary to popular belief, we can indeed be destroyed due to ignorance (see Hosea 4:6).
Two Greek New Testament words are used for “watching” or “being on the alert”: gregoreuo(1) and agrupneo.(2) Both mean essentially to stay awake, in the sense that a sentry must refrain from sleep. Below are a few verses where they’re used; every believer should familiarize themselves with them:
“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2)
And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.... Keep watching and praying, that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:34, 38)
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)
“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13)
“With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18.)
“But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:36)
The last two verses combine the words agrupneo and kairos(3) – strategic time – challenging us to be on the alert and pray accordingly. Perhaps the most remarkable example in my life of kairos-timed intercession happened on one of my journeys to Guatemala. I was one of 40 to 45 individuals traveling to a remote location on the Passión River in the Petén Jungle. Our mission was to build a combination clinic and missions outreach station on the river. We would help construct two buildings, as well as preach in nearby villages.
Prior to leaving for the jungle, we spent our first night (Friday) in Guatemala City. Months earlier, we had arranged for the Guatemalan airline to fly us into the jungle on the following day. Upon our arrival at the airport on Saturday afternoon, however, we were informed that our flight would be delayed until the next day.
Feeling an urgency to proceed as scheduled, due to the limited time we had to accomplish our mission, our leaders pressed the airline for three hours, asking them to honor their original agreement.
“No,” the manager said in his broken English, “we take you tomorrow.”
“But you agreed months ago to take us today,” we argued.
“We have no pilot available,” he countered.
“Find one,” we pleaded.
“What is your hurry? Enjoy the city,” he encouraged us.
And so it went for three hours, in and out of offices, meeting with one airline official, then another. Our leaders wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Finally, in exasperation, one of the airline officials threw up his hands and said, “Okay, we take you now!” And they did.
That night, a horrible earthquake occurred in Guatemala City and killed 30,000 people in 34 seconds! By God’s grace, we were already 250 miles away in the jungle. Had we stayed in the city one more night – as the airlines wanted us to–some of our team would have been killed and others injured. We know this for certain because, upon our return to the city a week later, we saw the building where we had stayed the night before the earthquake — and would have been staying again had we not left on Saturday — with huge beams lying across the beds.
When we were finally able to call home, we discovered that an intercessor from our home church in Ohio had received a strong burden to pray for us on the day of our scheduled flight to the jungle. For three hours, she was in intense intercession – yes, the same three hours that our leaders had negotiated with and pressed the airline officials.
We didn’t realize that our lives were in jeopardy, nor did this intercessor. But God did. This “watchman” only knew that, for some reason, she had a strong urgency to pray for us. She was alert, as Ephesians 6:18 instructs, discerned the kairos time, and prayed until she felt released by the Holy Spirit. That, my friend, is watchman intercession!
Pray with me:
Father, thank You for our Helper, the Holy Spirit, who leads us, guides us, and gives us discernment. We know that as we stay alert spiritually, He will show us how and when to pray, making us effective watchmen, protecting our family and nation. Remind us to be alert and heighten our spiritual senses to hear and see.
We pray for our leaders in Congress and for President Trump’s team as they negotiate America’s financial future. We know our nation has been very irresponsible. As the negotiations have stalled and we now have a government shutdown, give wisdom to these leaders as they navigate turbulent waters. Give them discipline and determination not to compromise and spend money inappropriately. For our fellow Americans who struggle financially because of this shutdown, please give them the help they need.
And we pray against the violence in our land. We stand in agreement that this will stop, and for the exposure of those who propagate and fund it. Dry up their finances, destroy their organizations. Give our leaders wisdom as they find and stop these evildoers; give our law enforcement agencies and National Guard success as they find and remove criminals, and please protect them.
All of this, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
We decree:
We declare that we are watching and praying as commanded, and will be faithful to listen to Holy Spirit’s alerts.
Today’s post was adapted from my book, Intercessory Prayer,(4) published by Baker Books.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
James Strong, The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990), ref. no. 1127.
Ibid., ref. no. 69.
Ibid., ref. no. 2540.
Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996).