In the verse above we read this: “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn” (Mark 13:35). Now, we know that the Jewish day began at 6:00 am and finished at 6:00 pm The night watch began at 6:00 pm and ended at 6:00 a.m. In fact, the night watch was broken up into four time periods of three hours each:
• First Watch — the evening (6:00pm – 9:00 pm), read Mark 6:47-48.
• Second Watch — at midnight (9:00pm – midnight), see Luke 12:38, Proverbs 7:9.
• Third Watch — at the crowing of the rooster (midnight – 3:00), read Luke 12:38.
• Fourth Watch — the morning watch (3:00am – 6:00 am), read Matthew 14:25 or Mark 6:48.
My brother, my sister, we are living in a time when things are changing too quick and we need to know the time is expecting us to keep watch. The spiritual realm is real and most of the time we are sleeping when we are expected, by the Lord, to keep watch.
There are too many believers who only pray at the end of the day before they go to bed, and sometimes they even fall asleep while they are trying to pray. Prayer is not meant to be what we do with our leftover time. Prayer should be a crucial part of our daily life. Today, allow me to ask you: WHAT TIME DO YOU KEEP WATCH? Prayer is the key to remaining awake spiritually. Without it we fall into a slumber and then we fall to other things: temptation, doubts, backsliding, etc…
My friend, this morning as you examine your prayer life maybe you will realise that you have been living your life in a spiritual slumber because you have neglected to keep watch. Jesus gave us an indication that we should keep watch at least for an hour every day, during our watch time. It’s time to wake up, now is not the time to sleep. You have to be alert and realise that the devil is right around the corner waiting to tempt you or mess up your life. You can’t afford a false sense of security, just because you are in Christ.
Now, remember this: Peter, a close follower of Jesus, denied the Lord because of fear. Why? You know the story! But when he fell, then he remembered his conversation with Jesus and how he said that he would never deny him and that he would in fact die for him. Now, Peter went outside and wept bitterly. Why? Because when the temptation came Peter failed all because of what he did before the temptation came: he slept when he should have been praying. You see the key to overcoming temptation in our life is what you do before the temptation comes. Spiritually, Peter was in a slumber because he failed to pray as he should. You see, we face the same thing in our life. When we fall to the temptations around us, oftentimes, it’s simply because we fail to pray like we should. We fail to keep watch. My friend, you cannot be spiritually awake and have a weak prayer life. Choose a waking hour or ask the Spirit to reveal it to you and never miss this divine appointment that will allow you to live an awakened spiritual life. Stay blessed in Jesus’ name.