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| Garden of Gethsemene |
It is interesting to note that when Jesus asked His core team to watch with Him for one hour in Matt 26:40 i.e. "Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?", the Lord did not use the word "pray with me" but He specifically used the word "watch with me".
The word "watch" was used not just once but three times.
Matt 26:38
"Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me"
Matt 26:40
"...Could you not watch with Me one hour?"
The third time the Lord used the word "watch" He used it with the word "pray" for a potent combination.
Matt 26:41
"Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak"
What is the meaning of this word "watch"?
I realize that it carries a meaning that is much deeper than "pray". Prayer is necessary but so is watching. Combined with prayer, watching is able to help us to see ahead the things that will happen.
I think it is possible to watch without praying (like a security guard or a sentry on a wall) and it is possible to pray without watching (if we keep on asking without pausing to the listen to the Lord).
Watching involves times of waiting and tuning in to listen to the Lord in His word or His still small voice.
In a sense to "watch" is to be prophetic! It is seeing into the future the events which are to come.
Together with prayer it becomes a potent combination of gaining strength to overcome the flesh (pray) and seeing ahead what is going to happen to the disciples (watch).
In this posting, I will write a little bit more about the fascinating word "watch" and in the next posting about the word "watchman".
The word "watch" used by Jesus 3 times in Matt 26 means in Hebrew "gregoreo" which actually means the 5 As:
1. Stay Awake
2. Be Aware
3. Be Active
4. Be Alert
5. Pay Attention
Just like the energizer battery that has lasting power, to be "watching" is to stay in a position of constant awareness and alertness. In fact it is more powerful than the battery cos it's power is 5 As in the power of the Holy Spirit and not in human strength or ability!
I can really learn something wonderful about effective "watching and praying" from the verses in Matt 26:
1. Watching and praying with each other together in one place strengthens one another. (Matt 26:8)
Jesus asked His disciples to stay in a particular place and to watch with Him. He did not ask them "to watch for Him". If the Lord had meant for Peter, James and John to watch for Him, He would not have taken them aside to accompany Him in the Garden of Gethsemene. It was indeed the desire of the Lord for His core team to be with Him at such a critical moment because He needed them to encourage and support Him!
2. Watching and praying for an extended period of time is necessary to build spiritual strength to overcome the works of the flesh. (Matt 26:40)
Jesus has given a prescribed time period for the "watch and pray"! One hour. I am glad that our morning watches are an hour at a time divided into two hour watches from 6 to 8 am. Which means that we would have prayed 12 hours a week when Saturday comes! (2 hours x 6 = 12 hours).
3. Watching and praying overcomes all the works of the flesh. (Matt 26:41)
Jesus was saying to His disciples that although their spirit was willing their flesh was weak.
Why did He say that? I believe that the Lord knew the testings that would come upon them and that they would surely fail if they did not spend the hour watching and praying with Him!
If our Lord being God Himself needed to spend that one hour watching and praying in order to fight the works of the flesh, how much more us!
If the disciples had obeyed the Lord to watch and pray for one hour with Him as commanded, they could have seen a vision of what will happen to them i.e. the testings that are to come!
I also believe that they could have heard clearly from God the Father what to expect and how to react. They would also have the mental and moral strength to stand firm for Christ!
LORD JESUS give me the AAAAA of watching and praying even as I make a commitment to be in church at 6 am on weekdays for the morning watch. Amen.
This is yet another amazing truth about regular praying what is manifested in the life of Jesus.
In Luke 6:12-13, the Lord had been all night in prayer and when morning came, He called the disciples to Him and chose twelve of whom He also designated apostles.
Now this is not just a morning watch but a morning watch that had been preceded by all night prayer!
During the time of all night extended prayer, the Lord had heard from the Father on the selection of the apostles. This selection must have been something so critical and important that the Lord Himself had to spend all night praying over it. Indeed the selection of the right leaders as apostles shook the world as can be seen in the book of Acts!
I often wondered about this.
I know that the Lord Jesus is God and He knows all things. He also knows the heart of man. I am sure He would have no problem choosing the right candidates. Why is it that He still had to seek the Father over such matters...or would I say "trivial matters"? After all the Lord had been with His disciples for some time now, surely He would have known them inside out, outside in.....
I believe that the Lord just wants to teach us a simple and clear truth. If He had to pray for an extended period time to seek the Father over such matters as the selection of leaders, even so the more we should do the same!
I believe that the prayer-principle that the Lord is teaching us is the same.
Regularity and faithfulness in prayer will lead us to such close communion with the Father that we will reach such a stage of seeing what the Father is doing IN HEAVEN and doing it!
In a healing incident which clearly demonstrates this "seeing what the Father is doing and doing it" can be seen clearly in the healing of the paralysed man at the pool of Bethesda.
When questioned by the pharisees about the healing, Jesus answered them in John 15:19:
"Thus Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do, for whatever He does the Son also does in like manner"
In fact preceding this, the Lord Jesus said "My Father has been working until now and I have been working".
Amazing!
What is happening is that Father God was already working things out for the paralysed man in heaven! It was already a DONE DEAL in heaven!
What an awesome and mind-boggling truth. No wonder one of the Lord's prayer is "Your kingdom come, Your will be done ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN"!
Now I understand.
The healing of the paralytic has already been sealed by the Father in heaven.
The Lord Jesus had seen the healing of this man while in communion with the Father and He was only executing what He had seen the Father do!
I guess this particular scripture has answered some of my questions regarding healing. I often wondered why some people in a healing line are healed and some are not healed. Could it be because it was not their time yet?
As our church embarks on the community projects in the coming months, we really need to see what the Father is doing in order for us to carry out His commands!
I pray that through the regular morning watches we can have God-vision and be totally God-directed so that as we gaze intently into His beauty and His glory we will be able to download the entire spiritual blue-print and master-plan for Ampang so that we will be fruitful in all that the Father has entrusted us to do!
Amen.
Angels are on assignment in this end-time revival!
Whenever there is a regularity in the prayer watches in a particular place, I realized that there will always be a building up of armies of angelic hosts.
Much like the an army base, angels also have their own 'army base'. They will begin amassing in large numbers when certain conditions are fulfilled.
Reading the story of Hezekiah, I realized that surely one of the conditions for angelic hosts to encamp in a place is the certainty and regularity of prayer being made in a particular place.
It is interesting to read the story of Hezekiah and how he strengthened himself in 2 Chron 31:2:
"Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites according to their divisions, each man according to his service, the priests and the Levites for burnt offerings and peace offerings, to serve, to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of the Lord"
Hezekiah appointed prayer/worship leaders to pray, worship, give thanks on a regular basis!
He also appointed them to praise and worship at a particular place - the gates of the camp of the Lord!
Hezekiah also appointed "full time" people into the prayer and the Word ministry!
2 Chron 31:4
"Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to contribute support for the priests and the Levites, that they might devote themselves to the Law of the Lord"
Another condition for the building up of angels in a particular place is the heart condition of godly leadership.
2 Chron 31:20
"Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered"
However as with all godly leadership, they had to be tested and Hezekiah was no exception. We read of Hezekiah's testing in 2 Chron 32:1.
"After these deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah..."
What was Sennacharib's intention? Sennacharib wanted to capture the fortified cities of Judah for himself.
What did Hezekiah do with this threat?
He did what he could possibly do within his power.
He went about repairing the broken walls, raising up the towers, repairing the landfill and making weapons and shields in abundance. Then he gathered his leaders and encouraged them.
2 Chron 32:7
"Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles..."
Who is the "the more that are with us" that Hezekiah is speaking about? Hezekiah was speaking about the angelic hosts that have been building up through the daily watches!
Sennacharib did not give up. He sent his people to taunt Hezekiah and to revile the Lord God of Israel. They spoke in Hebrew to frighten them and to trouble them and to make them give up.
Guess what....Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah began calling out to heaven!
2 Chron 32:20
"Now because of this, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven"
God heard and sent his angel to cut down every mighty man of valor, leader and captain of the king of Assyria!
2 Chron 32:21
"Then the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader and captain the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned shamefaced to his own land...."
When there is a building up of angelic hosts in a particular place through the regularity of prayer, it is easy to pray in any situation or testing and the answers will come speedily!
This message came to me even as I considered God's prompting and call to go to church for the 6 am watch. I have been going to church every morning at 6 am to pray before I go to work.
Will anything exciting come out of it?
I believe God's word!
There is something ground-breaking about praying with others in a certain place for an extended period of time.
My pastor has prayed in the morning watches for the past 16 years! Wow! God has blessed him and will continue to do so.
The first purpose is to build up the pillar of fire and cloud in a particular place.
Exodus 14:24 "Now it came to pass in the morning watch that the Lord looked down on the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and He troubled the Egyptians"
Note the words "Now it came to pass" thus indicating that a period of time has to pass before the pillar of fire and cloud can be activated.
The words "Now it came to pass" appears 71 times in the Bible. Each time it appears, 2 things are obvious:
- a period of time has to be passed
- the certainty of the things that will surely come to pass after the period of time has passed.
It will take some time for the pillar of fire and cloud to build up but it will certainly come to pass that there will be a pillar of cloud and fire in our church that will continually be burning in power and intensity.
Cloud and fire are symbols of God.
To have the cloud in our midst is to have the glory of God.
2 Chron 5:14 "...so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God"
Again it took some time for the cloud to fill the house. I can imagine a small cloud that slowly expands in volume to fill the whole house.
But it came only after the singers and the musicians became as one in the spirit.
I pray that even as we keep the morning watches, the whole church will eventually be filled with the cloud of the glory of God.
To have the fire in our midst is to have the Holy Spirit.
Heb 12:29 "Our God is a consuming fire"
In the NT, the fire comes when the Holy Spirit comes upon us.
Matt 3:11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire"
Acts 2:3 "Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire"
Again in the book of Acts, the fire of God took sometime to fall upon them. There was a time of praying together and waiting upon God in the upper room.
What does the fire of God do for us?
It breaks up hardened hearts and defeats the enemies of our souls.
Jer 23:29 "Is not my word like fire" says the Lord"
Ps 97:3 "A fire goes before Him and burns up His enemies round about"
LORD JESUS may you grant us the grace, patience and tenacity to continue the morning watches day by day. Amen.
18 Sept 2014
I saw something wonderful even as I read today's devotion - Psalm 136.
After every sentence, the Psalmist punctuates this Psalm with "For His mercy endures forever"
"Mercy" in Hebrew is "chesed" meaning lovingkindness, unfailing love, steadfast covenant of love and is similar to the NT word "grace".
This means that no matter what kind of evil things happen to us, God's love and mercy toward us remain unchanging and constant and because of this we can be assured that He will work out everything for our good!
Its not just because we love Him and are called according to His purpose that God will work all things out for good but it is also because of His covenantal love and mercy toward us. He will always love us no matter what we are going through!
Situations in which we can declare that His mercy endures forever:
1. The greatness of God's creation
Verses 1 - 9 speaks of the goodness of God, the wondrous works done by Him, the wisdom by which heavens were made, the great lights sun, moon and stars.
When we speak of such wonderful things done by God, it is easy to declare "For His mercy endures forever"
2. The greatness of God's deliverance
Verses 10 - 15 speaks of God's great deliverance for His nation. Egypt's firstborn was struck, Israel was brought out of Egypt, the Red Sea was divided and Pharaoh and army overthrown into the sea.
Was it easy for the children of Israel to declare when facing all these things "For His mercy endures forever".
I don't think so.
Remembering how the children of Israel complained against Moses while at the shores of the Red Sea, I think they were an utterly angry and ungrateful group of people. They scolded Moses and Aaron for bringing them out of Egypt to die!
A most unlikely lot to declare at the edge of one of the greatest event in history "For His mercy endures forever".
Yet God declared that He did this all out of His great mercy and out of His covenantal love for Israel!
How easy it is for us to complain when we face troubles. Perhaps it is time to declare when we are facing problems, "For His mercy endures forever" in the situation that I am going through rather than complain and grumble "Why Lord?"
Surely our great deliverance is coming because of the enduring love of our God!
3. The reason for the wilderness in our lives
Verses 16 - God led His children into the wilderness. What did they do in the wilderness? Were they happy with Him?
On the contrary! They complained non-stop, no water to drink, no meat to eat, no leeks, no melons, no onions, no new clothes to wear.....blah...blah...non-stop complaining.
What do we say when facing the testing or the wilderness of our lives? Do we say His mercy endures forever or do we complain "Lord take us out of here" or question God "Why Lord why?"
I guess when facing my osteoarthritis I must learn not to complain but to say this "For His mercy endures forever". This affliction will work out for good! Surely it will work out for good because He loves me!
4. The assurance of victory against the enemies of our soul
Verses 17-22 speaks of God defeating the following enemies of Israel i.e.Sihon, Og and great kings in the wilderness.
I recall how the children of Israel complained before even going into the promised land. They were not prepared to fight the giants let alone visualize defeating the kings in the wilderness.
Did they declare "For His mercy endures forever" at that point in time? Certainly not.
They complained and asked Moses why they were led out to the wilderness to face the giants. They looked to themselves and felt that they were grasshoppers compared to the giants in the land!
Finally God proved them wrong and gave them
"their land as a heritage". This is the reason why God said "For His mercy endures forever"!
5. The hope of deliverance and help from God when we are facing tough times
Verses 23-26. Despite being in a low estate, despite being under bondage of their enemies, despite not having food to eat, the Psalmist saw all this happening for a purpose. The purpose was for God to demonstrate His mercy and His covenantal love towards His people though answered prayers!
This morning (21 Sept) I also read the same scripture in 2 Chron 20:21. When Jehoshaphat was facing a great army of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, he consulted the people, he declared a fast and rallied his people to seek the Lord and he appointed the singers to lead the nation into battle.
What did the singers do? All they did was just "sing to the Lord and who should praise the beauty of holiness".
However unlike the children of Israel, Jehoshaphat had trained his people to confess God's word and not to complain about the situation or the problem.
They declared "Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever".
Can you see this? A different scenario a different group of people, yet their confession was different. They looked to the mercy and love of God rather than complained against their leaders. Jehoshaphat had taught his people well!
I can certainly learn something precious about this Psalm and the story of Jehoshaphat that I can apply in my life. If bad and sad things happen to me, I am assured by God's word that God's love will endure forever towards me even in the midst of the bad things happening. To have such an assurance is sufficient for me!
In His time, God will work out His mighty deliverance!
