This week we will continue our consideration of Ephesians 6:18:

Think for one moment how radically our lives would be transformed if all the time and energy we wasted on vain imaginations was turned into focused prayer? This is what the apostle is appealing for in this verse, and it should be a primary goal of every believer to pray in the Spirit at all times.

And Paul goes on to say, “with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance.” One of the designations of a prophet in the Old Testament was the “watchman.” It was the watchman’s job to be awake and discerning. It was also the job of the watchman to pray, as we see in such Scriptures as Isaiah 62:6-7:

When I was in the military, we had military police and others whose job it was to be on guard at all times. However, everyone had to stand watch at appointed times, regardless of what his job was. Everyone was trained to stand watch and knew that one of the worst offenses was to sleep while on watch. The lives of many people were depending on the watchmen to keep awake. In times of a war, a watchman who slept while on duty could jeopardize the entire nation. Therefore, the penalty for such neglect was most severe. We should take this calling to be watchmen for our times with the same seriousness.

There are some whose calling is to be a watchman on the walls of their church, ministry, or city. However, this is something that every believer should be trained in, and all should be engaged in the watch to some degree. Regardless of whether this is our primary calling in the Lord, or whether we are just called on to do it during rotations, it should be something we take with the utmost seriousness. We will not know until eternity how many of the devil’s attacks worked because those who were called to watch were sleeping.

Of course, God never sleeps, but the mature believer understands delegated authority—God has delegated authority to us, and He will not intervene unless asked. The devil cannot get a shot in while God is not looking, but God will let him hit us if we are being irresponsible. This is one of the ways the Lord matures us so He can trust us with more authority.

Because ministries have spheres of authority, to be an effective watchman we must know our realm of authority. If an infantryman in the army is called on to be a guard on a skirmish line in the trenches, but he keeps trying to see what was going on in the whole war, the enemy could most likely sneak up on him. I appreciate the United States military doctrine where they try to keep all of their men generally informed as to what is happening. However, it is not good for a corporal to be overly concerned about the big picture strategy of the war.

If the Lord has made us a watchman for a home group, we need to take this most seriously. It is good to have a general picture of what is going on throughout the church, and to pray for other things as well, but we must focus on our realm of authority if we are going to be properly on the alert for it. Those who are faithful on one level will probably get promoted to larger realms of authority. There is a point at which you are called to be a watchman for a movement, or even the whole church. At this point, you really cannot spend too much time praying for individuals without being kept from your main purpose.

In the verse we have been studying for the last two weeks, Paul exhorts us to pray at all times for all of the saints. This is an appropriate prayer for all believers. It is right that we should keep our vision for all of God’s people, and pray for them. However, there is another way that we should take this also. We are called to pray for people, not just places, events, programs, etc. We must never forget that one person in unity with God is the most powerful force on the earth. Therefore, we should always keep our prayers and our ministry, focused on people.