Watch (keep awake; be vigilant) ye and pray (to pray to God; supplicate; worship), that ye enter not into temptation (a test; solicitation; adversity): the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.  (Matthew 26:41)   Jesus was talking to Peter and John because they were falling asleep instead of waiting and watching while Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane.  If those disciples walking with Him everyday were admonished to stay awake and be vigilant because their flesh is weak, should we not also discipline ourselves to wake up earlier or stay up later in order to spend time in prayer?

Watch (Keep awake; be vigilant) therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.  But know this, that if the goodman (the head of a family) of that house had known in what watch (guarding/guard, place, condition, time) the thief would come, he would have watched (kept awake; been vigilant), and would not have suffered (permitted; allowed) his house to be broken up (penetrated).   (Matthew 24:  42-43).   Who does Jesus hold responsible for the house being penetrated or broken up?  He holds the goodman or head of the family responsible for not watching – keeping awake; being vigilant.  Because he did not keep watch – it says that he permitted his house to be broken up.  If we only look at this scripture, we could blame the men for the problems in our homes.  However, the next scripture clears things up.

Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe (writer; secretary) which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is an householder (head of a family), which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.  (Matthew 13: 52).  What is a scribe?  A scribe is a writer or secretary which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven.  The family member who spends time before the Lord, praying and journaling – studying to show themselves approved unto God is the scribe of the family.  Sometimes both the husband and the wife do this, but in my experience, there is usually one that researches and goes deep unto deep.  Jesus says that the scribe is lie a man that is a householder (head of a family), and therefore, the scribe is also the watchman.  He/she brings forth out of his treasure things new and old – the WORD stored in his/her heart that has kept him/her from sin and the new fresh WORD for each day, sitting at the feet of Jesus.  

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober (Keep sound minded; self-restrained, and alert) and watch (keep awake)  unto prayer (prayer to God; supplication; worship).   (1 Peter 4: 7).  Now, we hear from Peter.  When speaking of the end days, he warns us to be sound-minded, self-restrained, and alert – keeping awake and praying.  What priority is prayer in your life?  Is it first?  It needs to be. 

Even after Paul admonishes us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might and to put on the whole armor of God…(Ephesians 6: 10-17), he emphatically states the purpose of the armor is in order to stand and pray…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching (Keeping awake; being sleepless) thereunto with all perseverance (persistency) and supplication (petition) for the saints (innocent; blameless; clean; sacred; consecrated; perfect). (verse 18). 

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch (Keeping awake; being sleepless) over their flock by night (Luke 2:8).   In the Old Testament, the Lord refers to us as the sheep of His pasture and He said Woe to the shepherds…and I am against the shepherds…who don’t feed the sheep.  He also told Peter to feed His sheep…and lambs.  It is very clear that Jesus expects spiritual leaders – pastors, ministers, teachers, etc., to live (abide) among the sheep and keep watch over them – praying, declaring, teaching, protecting, the sheep.

I have set watchmen (to peer into the distance; to observe; await) upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace (hush; keep quiet) day nor night: ye that make mention of (to mark so as to be recognized; remember) the Lord, keep not silence (do not attend to quiet).  (Isaiah 62: 6).  The Church of today has acted like they are separate, individual people and that everyone should mind their own business, keeping their opinions to themselves.  However, the WORD admonishes us learn to observe all things that the Lord has commanded us to do and to go ye therefore and teach what we’ve learned.  We have teachers today see their sheep – class members – only on Sunday, with an occasional or even monthly time to socialize.  Busy and privacy seem to be buzz words.  The  WORD tells us that when one of us is hurting, the whole body is hurting – that we are one workmanship, one body, one Spirit, and of one baptism.  We have the same adversary, but we often fight him separately instead of united.  The young and weak need to be on the inside with the strongest warriors encircled on the wall – armed and loudly shouting when they see trouble coming. 

Be watchful (Keep awake; be vigilant), and strengthen (set fast; turn resolutely in a certain direction; confirm) the things which remain (ones that remain) that are ready (expectant; intend; be about; purpose; duty; necessity; probability; possibility) to die (die off): for I have not found thy works (toil; acts) perfect (finished; replete; satisfied; coinciding with a prediction) before God.  Remember (exercise memory; recollect) therefore how thou hast received (taken hold of; seized) and heard, and hold fast (hold down fast), and repent (think differently; reconsider).  If therefore thou shalt not watch (Keep awake; be vigilant), I will come (arrive; be present) on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour (instant; day) I will come (arrive; be present) upon thee.  (Revelation 3:3)   The Lord, in talking to the Church in Revelation through John, warns us to watch – keep awake and be vigilant – to strengthen the remaining ones and things that are ready to die – that our work is not finished (complete, perfect).  He tells us to remember what we’ve received and hold it down fast and to repent (change our thinking).  Jesus warns us that if we don’t watch, He will come on us as a thief – that we won’t know the day because we’re not watching.

Paul confirms what John says in Revelation in 1 Thessalonians.  But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.  For when they shall say, Peace (peace; prosperity) and safety (security); then sudden (unexpected) destruction (death; punishment) cometh (arriveth) upon them, as travail (pang; throe; especially in childbirth) upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (flee out).  But ye, brethren (a brother; the womb), are not in darkness (shadiness; obscurity), that that day should overtake (take eagerly; seize; possess) you as a thief.  Ye are all the children of light (to shine or make manifest; luminousness in the widest application), and the children of the day (time space between dawn and dark):  we are not of the night (night), nor of darkness (shadiness; obscurity).  Therefore let us not sleep (fall asleep; lie down to rest), as do others; but let us watch (keep awake; be vigilant) and be sober (keep alert; clear minded;  abstain from much wine).  For they that sleep (fall asleep; lie down to rest) sleep (fall asleep; lie down to rest) in the night; and they that be drunken (drink to intoxication) are drunken (intoxicated) in the night.  But let us, who are of the day, be sober (be alert; clear minded; not intoxicated), putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.  For God hath not appointed us (placed us in a passive or horizontal position) to wrath (a reaching forth of violent passion; justifiable obhorrence; punishment), but to obtain salvation (rescue; safety) by our Lord Jesus Christ.  1 Thess. 5: 1-9.  He says that he need not write to the Church about the times or seasons of the Lord’s return because we know perfectly well that He will come as a thief in the night to those who are of the night and darkness.  However, he says that we brethren (of the same womb) are of the day and light and will not be overtaken – seized or possessed – by the day of the Lord as a thief.  There are those who will be taken by surprise, and there are those who won’t.  If we don’t keep awake and watch over our tents, the day will take us by surprise, and we won’t escape the wrath (punishment) for which we have not been appointed. 

Watch (Keep awake; be sleepless) ye therefore, and pray (to beg as binding oneself; petition) always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape (to flee out) all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21: 36).  Praying always or as Paul said without ceasing is to pray uninterruptedly at all times and seasons.  Our promise is that we will stand before the son of man, escaping the day of trouble – sudden destruction – that  will come upon the whole earth, because we are watching and waiting in the secret place of the most high.   In the besieging stronghold we are in, 1,000 may fall by our side and 10,000 by our right hand, but it shall not come night us.

If when he (the watchman) seeth (to see) the sword (cutting instrument from its destructive effect like a knife, sword, or other sharp implement; destruction; death) come (arrive) upon the land (earth), he blow (to clatter, slap the hands together, or clang an instrument; to drive as a nail; to become bondsman by hand clasping) the trumpet (a cornet; as giving a clear sound), and warn (to gleam; to enlighten by caution) the people (a congregated unit such as a tribe; troops; attendants; a flock); Then whosoever heareth (to hear intelligently with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; caus. to tell) the sound (a voice or sound; to call aloud) of the trumpet (cornet, as giving a clear sound), and taketh  not warning (to gleam; cautioned enlightenment); if the sword (sharp implement; destruction; death) come, and take him away (turn off; depart), his blood shall be upon his own head.  He heard (heard intelligently) the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning (did not heed heed warning); his blood shall be upon him.  But he that taketh warning shall deliver (to escape as if by slipperiness; to release; to rescue) his soul (vitality; a breathing creature).  But if the watchman (one peering off into the distance; observing; awaiting) see the sword (destruction; death) come, and blow (clatter; clang) not the trumpet (cornet as giving a clear sound), and the people (nation; tribe; flock) be not warned (cautioned with enlightenment); if the sword (destruction; death) come, and take any person from among (near; with; among) them, he is taken away in his iniquity (perversity; evil); but his blood will I require (ask; seek) at the watchman’s hand (indicating power, means, direction).  So thou, O son of man, I have set (put; made) thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth (speech), and warn (caution with enlightenment) them of me.  Ezekiel 33: 3-6   The watchman must warn the people when he/she sees the sword coming upon the land (earth, nation, community, church, family – where the people are located).  If he/she warns – shouts loudly with clear sound, cautioning with enlightenment – the people that heed the warning will escape and the ones who do not will not.  However, if the watchman fails to warn the people, though they be taken away in their iniquity, the blood of the people will be required at the watchman’s hand.  This was enough for me to know that I did not want to be responsible for the ones I did not tell.

 It’s been about 26 years since Ezekiel 33  first gripped my heart.  I felt the call of the Lord to be a watchman because there was so much at stake – my home, my church, my community, my nation, my world!  Since that time, I’ve spent an ever-increasing amount of time before the Lord, praying and writing down my thoughts and His plans for me.  Right this moment, as I write unto you, I have never felt such an urgency to call upon the Lord – to spend more time with Him.

As I’ve pulled up these scriptures these last three days, I’ve meditated on them day and night.  I am to see my tent – all those the Lord has given me to pray for throughout my Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth – as my flock.  The Lord is coming much the same way again as He did the first time.  Who did God announce His coming to?  It was the shepherds who were watching over their flock by night.  The shepherds on watch today will see the coming of the Lord clearly.  The following promise is for us!

Thy watchmen (ones observing; awaiting) shall lift up the voice (cry aloud); with the voice (cry) together (united) shall they sing (shout); for they shall see eye (the eye) to eye, when the Lord shall bring again (return with) Zion (permanent capital).                        Isaiah 52: 8.  This is now a promise that I declare daily!  In Deuteronomy 38, God tells us to choose life not death –the blessing not the cursing.  In 1 Corinthians 15, it says that we will not all sleep (be dead in Christ), but we will all be changed.  In Psalm 1l8: 17, David declares I shall live and not die and declare the works of the Lord.  Psalm 91 says that I am safe in the secret place of the most high.

            Rise up watchmen!  We are children of the day and not the night – the light not the darkness.  The day of the Lord will not take us by surprise because we will watch over – keep awake and be vigilant over our tent – our flock – our families, churches, businesses, communities, ministries, counties, cities, states, nation, and the world.  We choose life and blessing not death and cursing.  We will live and not die and declare the works of God.  We will major on the major and not on the minor!  We seek the kingdom first – everything else will be added.  We love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind which allows us to love our neighbor.  We cry aloud – we do not keep quiet – both to the Lord in behalf of our tent – and in warning to them of Him and His holiness.  We will lift our voices and shout together for we will see the Lord return with Zion!  Hallelujah!