watch and pray
I just came back from teaching the series on Revelation entitled 'Church History & the Return of Christ'. We had a good time, well, at least I did. I still need to master how to pack 20 hours of teaching into 5 to 6 hours. Nonetheless, I found great grace among the saints there. And there was a passage left out due to time constraints that I would like to examine tonight. Would you do it with me?
Mk.13:35-37, "Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming - in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning - lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!"
Please notice that our Lord is warning all His disciples, in fact, anyone who will listen. When HE includes all, HE means it! We are to watch and pray. Watch means = to pay close attention, to be aware so as not to be caught by surprise, to be carefully alert. If you haven't figured this out, your life (and mine) is full of difficult surprises. Temptations & distractions abound. But there will never be a surprise like the one when Jesus returns & that will be particularly alarming to those who are not paying attention. There is a 'watching', an awareness needed in all our praying. We are to keep carefully alert for the Lord may come for us either in death or at His 2nd coming when we do not expect Him. WE MUST LIVE READY! It is vital to our health! Jesus strengthen us to walk with you everyday!
Pray means = to seek Him for His will, His glory, & His help in our lives and in the people that God has assigned us to pray for.
Jesus really needs to pour into our prayer lives for it is probably the least practiced spiritual discipline of them all. And if we are not praying than we are probably not watching. By the way, get to all your church prayer meetings. Make them TOP PRIORITY! It is often as we pray together that we learn to pray as we should in our closets (alone).
But there is something interesting here. Jesus tells us to watch in 4 different time periods. What did HE mean? The simple answer is that HE wanted us to be carefully alert at all times. But I want to take a few moments and examine each period.
Watch in the evening. This is the time when the day is done and we are planning the evening meal and hopefully a time of rest. Rest is great, but it is also dangerous, particularly when or if we rest from the Lord. We must rest 'IN THE LORD' rather than from the Lord. Rest, but keep alert. Be alert that you are LIVING READY so that should the Lord surprise you with a challenge, or a trial, or His 2nd coming, HE will find you faithful at your post. Please examine Math.24:45-51 for further clarity on this.
Watch at midnight. The times of Christ were not like our times.
That society was usually fast asleep by midnight. We, on the hand, are awake very late compared to them. But how does one stay carefully alert while being in heavy sleep? That is only done one way; we should not go to bed without a clear conscience. If we are aware of something in our life that is displeasing to God, we should confess that with every intention to take action the following morning or at the absolute earliest opportunity. Never put off a dealing from God. Paul lived with his conscience clean & I am trying to do the same. It is not always easy, I admit. Still, the other choice, to be surprised by the Lord with 'dirty underwear' sounds like real folly to me. WATCH for you do not know when your Lord is coming!
Watch when the rooster crows. As I lay sleeping while on a mission trip to Haiti, I was awakened at about 3:30 AM with a rooster crowing in the wee hours of the morning. And when one rooster crowed, he was followed by a chorus of roosters, all over the neighborhood. I must confess, I had 2 aggressive thoughts at that moment. First, I thought that arrogant chicken probably thinks his crowing brings on the dawn. Second, I thought maybe I would go out & wring his neck so we could have fried chicken for dinner that night. What was the Lord's meaning? We are to be ready at the LEAST LIKELY TIMES! I know the Bible plainly tells us that "no one will know the hour or the day" & I am not a betting man. But if I was forced to guess as to when the Lord would return, it would not be 10 minutes after the Sunday morning meeting at church had started. Most Christians would be there wearing our Sunday best & displaying our Sunday holy smiles as we sing 'Everyone Needs Compassion'. I really don't want anyone to be depressed but I think His warning was given for a reason. Watching = being carefully alert, was His plain statement. Be ready at all times. Also, it is the wee hours of the morning when the most mischief often occurs. People that sin do it often in the dark where they hope they will not be discovered. But the dark never hides anyone from the Lord. God help us but we have just got to LIVE READY! May Jesus give us such a sense of His near Presence that it will act as the GREAT DETERENT against sin and faithless living.
Finally, we are to watch in the morning. This is the time when we make preparations for the day. We fix our plans, attempting to achieve whatever responsibilities (or recreation) we are intending. When we plan, ought we not to plan to WATCH & PRAY? Planning to serve & seek the Lord some other day and instead do something else we feel is more important - what??? That is truly foolish. "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" "WATCH & PRAY" is another way of saying, 'LIVE READY'. To LIVE READY is to practice a diligent Christian life. Diligent means = planned consistency! I have to admit that sometimes I think that I am the least diligent person alive. Yet, there is a grace in God that will help me if I appeal to Him. "Everyone really does need compassion" from our Savior!
It really doesn't matter if we know the day & hour of His return because if we are watching & praying then we are LIVING READY. We may surprised at His coming for the Bible says HE will come in an hour when we do not expect Him. But it will be a pleasant surprise rather than a terrifying or regretful one for we will be watching & waiting with expectancy. Jesus, build in me this attitude & start today. God bless all of you. Trust in His keeping power. Help is always on the way for the seeking heart!
