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Let's Synchronize Watches
by
Bill Walker
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all
night they will never keep silent. You who remind the Lord, take no rest
for yourselves."
Isaiah 62:6
Recently I was given an opportunity through which the Lord reminded me
about aspects of intercessory prayer which I had forgotten. Perhaps you
have been in the place I was and can identify. I admit I am a slow
learner when it comes to spiritual matters and need repeated instruction
to get it to "sink in."
My spirit was unsettled about a sister in Christ and I was prompted to
pray for her. Nothing appeared to be wrong. I was not notified of any
pressing need for prayer. In fact, the thoughts that came to my mind
were those such as, "there's nothing wrong", "there are plenty of 'real'
things to pray about, so don't go looking for problems where there are
none", and mainly, "it's probably just your imagination".
Whenever someone comes to mind in this way, I usually get past these
objections by rationalizing, "Well, it never hurts to pray for
someone--for protection, for peace, or the like." To the Lord's credit,
He has taught me, in the midst of thoughts like these, to go ahead and
pray anyway. Sometimes He even causes me to realize that the voice I
hear telling me not to be concerned may not be my own feelings but could
be from another source--one who would like for me not to pray.
After thinking and praying awhile as I was prompted to do, there was a
still stronger feeling which led me to ask Chris to join me in praying.
After at first doubting there was any special need for intercession, my
spirit got so adamant about prayer that I could not help but tell
her--even amidst my doubts--and we prayed together.
Later that same day, my "need to know" if there actually was a need led
me to call and inquire. When we talked, there was a prayer need
expressed, but there was also the report that everything was generally
fine. Was I disappointed that my call to intercessory prayer had no
apparent need to meet? Not in the least. To the contrary, I was elated
to hear everything was okay. I felt blessed by the Lord for being
faithful to what I perceived was His call. I was happy that my friend
had not been taken through anything like what I was so vaguely sensing.
And, as I have said, a little extra prayer for someone is a good thing
no matter what their circumstances. Besides, there was the prayer
request which I would not have known about without my call.
Then my friend said something which she probably didn't realize would
take me further into a spiritual study. She suggested that my prompting
to pray could have been to prevent something that would have occurred
without it. In other words, my prayer might have been proactive instead
of reactive. I use those particular words because they come from the
place her comments unknowingly sent me: to a book, The Beginner's Guide
to Intercession by Dutch Sheets, which I was led to pick up again. When
I did, I opened the book immediately to a chapter titled Proactive
Intercession.
The author writes, "Too often we're reactionary where Satan is
concerned. The results? You guessed it: breaks, bruises, separations,
and various other spiritual casualties. We must learn to be proactive in
our intercession, not waiting for Satan's attacks and then reacting, but
proactively praying against the stealing, killing, and destroying of the
'thief' (see Jn 10:10)."
He includes the scripture reference from Isaiah, with which I began
above and describes this concept of prayer as "watchman intercession."
Sheets continues, "Two New Testament Scriptures also mention the
watching aspect of intercession. The first is Ephesians 6:18: '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.'"
"The second verse", he continues, "is 1 Peter 5:8, '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 or watchfulness,
both for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters in Christ."
In writing about how we often see times for intercessory prayer he says,
"Too often Christians have interpreted these verses as only reactive--in
other words, waiting for the attack and then going into damage control.
While intercession can certainly release God's redemption into
destructive situations, God is offering us much more than 'look-out
blocks' and damage control. He desires to warn us in advance of Satan's
attacks, so that we can pray for others and build the boundaries of
protection we spoke of in chapter seven. This is watchman intercession."
His use of the term "building boundaries" refers to this section from a
previous chapter: "In the context of intercessory prayer, paga is the
establishing of boundaries or walls of protection and the marking of a
territory as one's own, declaring, 'I will not permit intruders or
interlopers.' I love Psalm 91:1-4 from The Message: "You who sit down in
the High God's presence, spend the night in Shaddai's shadow, say this:
'God you're my refuge. I trust in you and I'm safe!' That's right--he
rescues you from hidden traps, shields you from deadly hazards. His huge
outstretched arms protect you--under them you're perfectly safe; his
arms fend off all harm."
Then Sheets writes, "Wow, what a promise!"
Sheets recognizes that we cannot say that all our difficulties and
troubles come directly from our enemy. He writes, "I do not mean to
imply that every negative thing that happens to people is a direct
result of Satan. I realize that our own carelessness, the carelessness
of others, the curse of sin on our fallen world, and other causes all
result in accidents, disease, and other destructive events. I believe
there is protection from both satanic attacks and otherwise-caused
adversity to be found through watchman intercession."
The essence of what the Lord told me is this: Contrary to what Cain said
when he was asked where Abel was, we ARE our brother's (and sister's)
keeper. As Sheets points out the words "preserve" and "maintain" are
related translations of "keep."
He says, "We can be keepers today. We can preserve lives, destinies,
health, ministries, and more through our intercession. When warnings are
heard and acted upon, the interloping serpent is kept from our gardens.
Security is maintained."
Finally, there is this prayer at the end of the chapter:
"Father, I accept your assignment in my life to keep the serpent out of
my garden. His schemes will not succeed against my home and my family. I
stand now as a door-keeper for my children [or whatever your garden may
be], and I say no compromise will come into their lives. No attempt to
harm them will succeed. I claim Your promise that they will be taught by
You and great will be their peace. I ask You to establish them in
righteousness and to keep them far from oppression and fear (Is
54:13,14). Holy Spirit, as I listen to You, help me to be sensitive to
Your voice. Alert me to Satan's schemes and plans. Don't allow the
serpent to take advantage of my family in any way. Thank you, Father,
for these things. I ask them in Jesus' name. Amen."
What a privilege we have as brothers and sisters in Jesus, as part of
the body of Christ, to lift each other up in prayer. How gracious it is
of Him to get our attention when another is in difficulty of any
magnitude to prompt us to pray for them. You can stand in the gap for me
and I can do the same for you.
Heavenly Father, there is so much for me to learn and review in order to
live the abundant life--the life in all its fullness that Your gave us
through Jesus. But the first thing to which I must give attention is in
the words preceding that gift. I must be aware that there is a thief
whose purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. I must watch for myself,
my family, and for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
And that is what I've learned in "school" this past week.
Love,
Brother Bill
About the Author:
Bill Walker (Brother Bill) is the creator and webmaster
of
www.sarcalogos.com. Sarcalogos was created to offer Christian
encouragement and inspiration, as well as resources for Christian
Ministry. Letters such as this, by Bill and by others, can be found
here. You can contact Bill at
billwalker@sarcalogos.com
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