Watch and Pray: Being on the Alert for the Maintaining of Our Prayer Life

There must be something about prayer that we need to watch with persistence in it, since both the Lord Jesus and Paul charges us to do so.

At the end of Colossians and Ephesians, Paul encourages us to persevere in prayer and pray at every time in spirit – watching unto this in all perseverance (Eph. 6:18)!

This means that for us to have the proper church life, the proper practical Body life, we need to continually pray and watch unto this in all perseverance. Also, for us to know Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy as revealed in Colossians, we need to persevere in prayer.

We need to pray all kinds of prayer – loud prayer, silent prayer, long prayers, short prayers, personal or corporate prayer, etc.

And we need to watch unto this – because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak (Matt. 26:41). Our spirit is willing to pray, but our flesh is weak and even impotent when it comes to prayer.

Our whole being is rather inclined toward sleep than prayer, so the Lord encourages us, Watch and Pray! We need to be awakened from any stupor, any sleep, and be watchful persons, praying at every time in spirit and watching unto this in all perseverance!

Lord Jesus, save us from any spiritual sleep! We come to You, Lord, to wake us up from ANY kind of sleep! May we not sleep spiritually, but rather have a living and active spirit! May we not sleep psychologically, but rather LOVE You, eat Your Word, and desire Your will! Lord, make us those who WATCH and PRAY!

Praying at Every Time in Spirit

Ephesians speaks about the glorious Body of Christ in all its organic aspects, in which all the members have a part and grow together with the growth of God unto the building up of the Body. The way for us to have the Body life, the church life, in reality and practicality, is through prayer.

The way for us to enjoy Christ as the Head of the Body, the firstborn from the dead, the centrality and universality of God’s economy (as revealed in Colossians) is for us to pray (Col. 4:2).

We need to persevere in prayer and not give up! Instead of giving up, we need to have all prayer – short and long prayers, loud and silent prayers, public and private prayers, personal or corporate prayers, all kinds of prayers!

We need to pray at all times in spirit, and watch unto this! Prayer requires our persistence, our insisting to the uttermost, because our natural man, the world, the flesh, Satan, and everything holds us down, holds us back, suppresses and oppresses us, depresses us, and does everything to hinder us from praying.

Let us not give up in prayer but rather pray at every time in spirit, insist, and persist in prayer!

We Need to Watch and Pray!

What does it mean to watch? On the one hand it means to intently look at something or someone, but on the other hand it means to be awake, survey, and keep surveillance by keeping your eyes open. Also, to watch means to be on the alert for any danger or emergency.

Spiritually speaking, to watch means to have the spiritual insight, to discern the stratagems of the devil and to expose his aims and the method of his work. Practically speaking, to watch means to wake up, not to sleep!

We need to watch unto prayer, watch and pray, so that we may not enter into temptation (Matt. 26:41). Our natural being likes to sleep, relax, and take it easy, but the Lord commands us to watch and be on the alert!

To be a person who prays unceasingly, we must be watchful persons, persons fully awakened, fighting against our sleeping nature and our sleeping being.

We may sleep spiritually by having our perception dormant, by not having fellowship with the Lord, and by not having a sensitive conscience.

We may sleep psychologically by being absent in our mind, attention, hearing, and realization, by not loving the Lord, and by having either a strong will apart from God or a weak will in choosing the Lord.

And, especially in the morning, many times we love our sleep, our physical sleep, more than than we love our prayer time with the Lord!

This is why Paul said in Eph. 5:14, Awake, sleeper! Isaiah also said, Arise and shine, and the Lord will shine on you (Isa. 60:1). When we wake up and touch the Lord through prayer, we will see Him and we will beam Him to others (Isa. 60:5).

Being On the Alert for Maintaining our Prayer Life

These last days we see clearly how Satan hates our prayer life. As soon as we come to our set time of prayer, Satan may rise up even the most strangest situation so that we may be distracted and our praying spirit would be affected. For this reason, we need to watch unto prayer, be on the alert for the maintaining of our prayer life.

On the one hand we need to make a vow before the Lord, telling Him that we are serious about our prayer life. On the other hand, we need to keep our set times of prayer and fight for our prayer life.

We need to pray more and more every day, until we will pray unceasingly, and we will pray at every time!

Pray by yourself in the morning, call a brother to pray a little later, pray as you’re on your way to work / school, pray during a 5-minute break time, and pray during your tea break! pray loudly when you walk on the street, pray quietly when you work in the office or when people are around.

Pray to touch the Lord; pray to intercede for the saints; pray for the church; petition to God concerning your prayer life, and pray that the Lord would keep you praying.

We will eventually become like the Lord who, in every situation, “He answered and said, I extol You, Father…” – He was in a continual prayer with the Father!

Lord, we give ourselves to You to be the praying ones. Make us those who watch and pray, those who watch unto prayer. Lord, wake us up from any stupor and from any sleep! We want to have an enriched prayer life and have all kinds of prayer. Lord, we petition You concerning our prayer life. May we be fully awake in our spirit, soul, and body, and watch unto prayer every day! Lord, strengthen us to watch and pray that we may not enter into temptation!

References and Further Reading

• Sharing inspired from brother Ed Marks’ sharing in this message, and portions in, Perfecting Training (ch. 14, by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Prayer and the Lord’s Move, week 4 (entitled, Persevering in Prayer).
• Further reading: The prayer ministry of the church (by Watchman Nee, chapter 5).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Stand till ends life’s little day, / Stand for Jesus, come what may, / Stand and fight and watch and pray; / Christian soldier, stand.
  # I hear the Savior say, / “Thy strength indeed is small, / Child of weakness, watch and pray, / Find in Me thine all in all.”
  # Watching with prayer and much self-denial, / I’ll triumph at last, with nothing between.
• Pictures source: with permission via, Inspiration Unlimited (Prayer and the Lord’s Move set).