On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who put the LORD in remembrance, take no rest, and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes it a praise in the earth.

Isaiah 62:6-7

I hate to sound judgmental especially when it comes to prayer. After all, it is something we must to pursue privately. Yes! I agree that we are to stand in concerts of prayer or hold public prayer meeting  – the one held in the upper room and like the one, the apostles held when the place they stood shook after they got through praying.

Unfortunately, we are not seeing that passionate pursuit both from those sitting in the pew and those standing in the pulpit. The statistics are quite heart-breaking. Prayer is not high up on our priority list.  Because of our lack of prayer, we are not seeing the hand of God in and around us.

Here are a few things we miss out on:

The opportunity to cultivate an intimate relationship with the Lord – just being with Him

The opportunity to hear Him speak prophetically, or through revelation and insight, or dreams and visions… Etc…

The opportunity to see him at work miraculously or  be used by him to do great things

The opportunity to partner with the Lord in what He wants to do in our world

The opportunity to live in readiness and preparedness and alertness

Watching is state of being or remaining awake. It is also an act or practice of refraining from spiritual slumber for devotion, consecration, and prayer.

The Hebrews divided the night into three watches, the Greeks usually into four (sometimes five), the Romans (followed by the Jews in New Testament times) into 4 watches. Most of us don’t even have one.

The message is clear, watchmen are needed. Watchmen are important. God is looking for watchmen – those who would stand in the gap for the nation, for their city, for their church, and for their families.

We have abandoned our watch post. We have refused to station ourselves on the rampart. Our eyes are heavy and can not watch and pray. May The Lord, call us anew to a life of prayer. A life of tenacious and steadfast alertness.