3. Watching & Praying
The Bario churches have a one and half hour morning watch daily from 5:30 to 7 am before they go to the fields.
I sense that the morning watches kept by the Bario churches are indeed the back-bone of the spiritual revival and they continue to sustain the revival for the past 40 years until today.
Pause for a moment to absorb this truth - for the past 40 years, the Bario believers have been waking up at 5:30 am daily to pray for their community!
For our church in Ampang, Pastor has been at the morning watches for the past 16 years. As for me, I have only been coming to the prayer watches for the past 2 months!
Not only is the morning watch held in one church but in several churches scattered all over Bario! The way they call the people to the watches is also unique. A drum is beaten at 5:30 am in the morning as a sign that it was time to awake, arise and to pray.
Currently there are about 15 churches scattered all over Bario, a town of about 1,000 people.
This does not include the morning watches in the primary and the secondary schools (the latter being the place where the revival first started).
Think about this for a moment - will there not be a great revival in Ampang if several churches in Ampang build the morning watches on a daily basis? Not just one watch but several churches.....
How can a place like Bario not experience a revival with this kind of fervent, sacrificial and sincere praying.
How can God not move in to answer the prayers of such a prayerful and watchful community.
However it is not just praying alone but also watching and praying.
Both are integral to the prayer life of the Kelabit people.
They watched and prayed over the following:
1. The Kelabit diaspora all over the world. Little wonder that the Kelabit people are doing very well in their respective vocations whether it be in politics, business or education.
2. They watched over the church, the nation and the nations of the world. They watched over their community, praying against forces that try to convert them to another faith.
Recently one of the leaders shared a wonderful testimony about a group of pagans who wanted to come to Bario for this very purpose. However their efforts were thwarted when their flight had to be cancelled due to turbulent weather!
I am reminded of Exodus 14:24, a scripture that the Lord had given to me about the morning watch in our church. When the Lord looked down in the morning watch and saw the pillar of cloud and fire that His people had built in the morning watches, He "troubled the Egyptians" on our behalf!
At the morning watch, God "looks down" from heaven. What does this mean? It means a time of His favor. The moment the face of God is drawn to us and He sees us, we are assured of His deliverance and answers to our prayers!
Who are the Egyptians? Anything and anyone that try to stop us from worshiping the living God!
The Lord has been speaking to me about the importance of the morning watches since our church started the 6 to 7 am watches after the 40-day prayer & fasting.
I believe that there are many benefits from waking up early not just to pray but to watch and pray.
To watch is to be alert, be awake, be aware, be attentive, be active in praying (5 As I call it) over the events happening in our community, region, nation and in the nations of the world.
It is also to hear/see the events in the future that God will graciously reveal to us in His time. A watchman is actually standing in a prophetic end-time function - seeing, hearing, declaring and preparing God's people for the things to come!
Initially it was tough to keep awake (and on certain days it still is especially when I have had a late night the day before) but the benefits far outweigh the physical discomforts!
The 5 purposes (SSSSS) of the morning watches are as follows:
1. Spiritual strength to overcome the works of the flesh
Jesus actually put a period of time for "watching & praying" for his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The best period of time for watching and praying is one hour as advocated by the Lord which seems to be the optimal and best time for one to gain victory over the flesh!
Matt 26:40 "Then he came to His disciples and found them sleeping; and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with me one hour?"
Matt 26:41 "Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak"
Look at the scriptures closely again.
Jesus did not actually tell His core team the testing that was about to come upon them. He wanted them to be prepared to face it on their own but with the help of spiritual strength gained through prayer!
If they had known perhaps they would not have fallen asleep while praying. Jesus saw the details of what He was going to go through at the Garden of Gethsemene and He gained the strength to go through it. If our Lord and God needed to pray that one hour to gain the strength to resist temptation, even so the more we need that one hour in prayer.
I believe that if Peter and the disciples had prayed that one hour with the Lord at Gethsemene, the Gospel would have a different story to tell us.
Nevertheless all things are written as a lesson to us!
2. Spiritual stamina for the long-haul not only for ourselves but also for others
Eph 6:18 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints"
For the believers in Bario, the watching and praying is for the Kelabit diaspora all over the world!
3. Seriousness in prayer, not 'play, play'!
We show the Lord that we are serious in praying when:
- we are awake when praying, not sleeping
- we are aware of national and world events, not ignorant of what is happening to God's people in other parts of the world
- we are attentive to the problems being faced by our members, not distanced from them
- we are alert to any spiritual attacks and deception against our members, not dulled or lulled ourselves by the same deception
- we are to be active in upholding the events happening in our nation in prayer unto the Lord, not having an attitude that it has nothing to do with me
1 Peter 4:7 "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers"
1 Thess 5:6 "Therefore let us not sleep as others do but let us watch and be sober"
4. Sensitive to the signs of the Lord's return
I believe that those who have been watching and praying will know the signs of the Lord's return more acutely than others as the time draws near.
They will know it more sharply and more accurately than others who have not been watching and praying. Recall that Daniel was given many visions of the end-time when he was watching, praying and fasting......
They will be more sensitive to the signs than those who are not watching and praying!
Rev 3:3 "Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you"
Jesus said "if you will not watch" then the day of the Lord will come upon us like a thief in the night.
Does this mean that if we will watch, the day of the Lord will not come upon us like a thief in the night?
The answer is a resounding YES if we remember the parable of the 10 virgins!
5. Standing with our pastor in prayer
In my recent post, I highlighted that Jesus said to his core team "will you not watch with me" at the Garden of Gethsemene.
He did not ask them to "watch for him". If he had done so, they might as well go home to pray!
Why bring them to the Garden of Gethsemene on the night that He was going to be betrayed unless it was to get them to pray together with Him?
I have never had the chance to pray daily with my pastor until the past 2 months during the morning watches.
For the first time, I really sense that I was fulfilling my call as the prayer leader of the church.
For such was the role I have been appointed to, for such is the work that God has called me to do....
LORD JESUS GIVE US GREAT GRACE TO CONTINUE WATCHING AND PRAYING & BUILDING THE MORNING WATCHES. AMEN
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