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Watch and Pray When Jesus was about ready to die on the cross, He left some final words, warnings, and encouragement to His disciples. Many of His words concerned the day in the future in which He would come back to earth again to take up residence. For those who will be found prepared and waiting for Him, this will be a glorious time! For those who were not prepared or ready, this will be a time of disaster. Concerning His return again to earth Jesus said, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come." (Matthew 24:42) And again in the parable about the 10 virgins awaiting His coming Jesus said, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." (Matthew 25:13) It's apparent that we need to be doing more than just passively waiting for His return. We must "watch"! If we don't, we won't be ready--and disaster will be awaiting us. So what does it mean to "watch"? I believe Jesus was borrowing from the cultural example of watchmen watching a city. Psalm 127:1 says, "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain." Watchmen had posts that they had to stand guard at. Their main purpose was to protect the city from enemies, and accurately identify allies to allow them entrance into the walled cities. Watchmen had to have great focus, discipline, and diligence to stay focused on their task at hand. There is another kind of watching mentioned in the Bible (a spiritual watching). The prophet Habakkuk was witnessing treacherous people destroying people everywhere. So he went to the Lord in prayer, and Habakkuk poured out his complaint to God. After finishing his complaint, Habakkuk 2:1 says, "I [Habakkuk] will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint." Here he was spiritually watching to see what God's reply would be to his prayers. I believe this is an important part of what the watching is that Jesus told us to do. It has to do with maintaining constant communication with Him. We petition Him and voice our prayers--and then wait quietly for His response. This is a key! To watch effectively, we need to be quiet at times and wait until we hear His reply to us. We station ourselves in our "prayer closets", and wait for Him to speak. So watching involves a state of spiritual alertness. It involves actively and resolutely looking to God to help us protect ourselves and others. It involves prayer and worship, and waiting for God's response back to us. His response may be in encouraging words, warnings, instructions, and the like. Whatever form it may take, it is highly valuable. God truly is our treasure, and when He responds to us, we truly experience some of that treasure. So let's be ready for Jesus' return to the earth! If you are not even a Christian, and you want to know how, click on the link Christian basics to find out. |
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