THE CALL TO STAND IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT
THE NIGHT BELONGS TO THE LORD – PSALM 134
I. GLOBAL TRANSITION ACCOMPANIED BY HOLY SPIRIT PRAYER MOVEMENT.
“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who
make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes
Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” Isaiah 62:6-7
A. The concept of night and day ministry to the Lord is born of divine initiative out of the holy heart of God. The global
prayer movement is the very activity of the Holy Spirit who is the One setting watchmen on the wall.
B. At the end of the age the Lord is raising up a global prayer movement. One of the realities that indicates the
beginning of this prayer movement is that there is a rapid increase and desire for worship, intercession and intimate
communion with the Holy Trinity like never before. (Luke 18:7-8; Matthew 21:13; Revelation 5:8; 8:3-5; 22:17, 20; Holy
Spirit (Romans 8:26; Revelation 22:17); Isaiah 62:6-7; 24:14-16; 25:9; 26:8-9; 27:2-5, 13; 30:18-19; 42:10-13; 43:26;
51:11; 52:8; Joel 2:12-17, 32; Zechariah 13:9d; John 17:21-26; Jeremiah 31:7; Micah 5:3-4; Zephaniah 2:1-3;
Deuteronomy 4:27-31).
“… and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem praise in the earth.” Isaiah 62:7
C. The global prayer movement is going to culminate with what I believe to be the return of Jesus to this planet to
establish Jerusalem as His global set of government during His 1000-year reign (Millennial Kingdom) on the earth.
“And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts
come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.” Revelation 22:17
D. The end-time prayer movement will result in the Church of Jesus in mature bridal identity and unity with the Spirit
crying out for the return of Jesus. (Revelation 22:17; Matthew 22:37; 25:8.)
E. The end-time prayer movement is about the cultivation of faith (vibrant and dynamic agreement) that Jesus will be
looking for during His return. Jesus is looking for a church full of faith (agreeing with the things on His heart) that will bring
her to maturity in power, character and wisdom. (Ephesians 4:13; 5:27; Matthew 16:18; 22:37; John 17:21-26;
Revelation 19:7; 12:11; 15:2 . The prayer movement will bring about a historic breakthrough in power and divine
information – Acts 2:17; Jeremiah 31:9; 23:20; 30:24; 5:4-5; Daniel 11:33-35; 12:3, 10; Isaiah 26:9; 29:24;
Revelation 11:3-6; 18:20; Matthew 17:11; Malachi 4:6; John 14:12. Great Harvest – Matthew 24:14; 28:19;
Revelation 7:9; 5:9; 14:6; 15:4; Daniel 7:14, 27.) Divine Judgment (Revelation 5:8, 6, 8-9, 15-16)
F. The transition at the end of the age, the generation is which the Lord is going to return, will be marked by prayer.
Jesus links the call to night and day prayer to the end of the age.
“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: “There was in a
certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came
to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said
within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge
her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And
shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell
you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes,(2nd Coming of Christ) will
He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8
II. CALL TO WASTE OUR LIVES ON JESUS. (PSALM 134:1)
“Behold, bless the LORD, All you servants of the LORD, Who by night stand in the house of the LORD.”
A. The night is filled with all sorts of unfruitful deeds of darkness; our cities are filled with murder, sorcery, theft and
immorality. We want the night to belong to the Lord. Fragrance is released as we give Him our love and our devotion in
the night. This changes the spiritual atmosphere.
B. It’s the Lord’s desire to raise up a people who will love Him in the night. He longs for a people who will adore Him
and let their hearts be kissed with the kisses of His Word. He longs for a company of people with will tarry with Him in the
night.
C. Behold, bless the Lord is a call to peer in the heart and the being of God. Just like everything else in the Kingdom,
our first call in the night watch is to love the Lord.
D. We bless the Lord by loving and adoring Him.
You have ravished my heart, My sister, My spouse; you have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes,
with one link of your necklace. Song of Songs 4:9
E. The premier mandate and exhortation to the night watch is to behold, to deliberately engage our mind to consider
and to gaze. It is a call to peer into the word and behold; to say yes to the invitation of the Lord receive the Divine Escort
to peer into the ways of God.
“My eyes are awake through the night watches that I may meditate on Your word.” Psalm 119:148
“I remember Your name in the night, O LORD, and I keep your law.” Psalm 119:55
“When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.” Psalm 63:6
F. “Behold, bless the LORD...” is a call into the contemplative reality. By the contemplative reality, I mean deep
communion with God. Deep communion with God is to be our preoccupation in the night, whether in worship, intercession ,
deep communion in and through the word of God.
III. OUR LOVE AND DEVOTION CHANGES THE SPIRITUAL ATMOSPHERE.
“Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped
His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” John 12:3
A. Mary is to us a picture of extravagant devotion. Extravagant devotion is costly but the very mention of the cost is
utterly despised (SOS 8:7). The call to the night watch is a call to extravagant devotion. That is what is meant by behold
bless the Lord. Devotion in the night can be costly or somewhat an inconvenience because of the dynamics of the night
watch lifestyle:
1. Physically it can be costly
2. Emotionally it can be costly
3. Socially it can be costly
4. Concerning time it can be costly
B. Mary pouring out the spikenard and the fragrance filling the entire house, I believe speaks of a spiritually reality
of our devotion releasing spiritual fragrances that can change a spiritual atmosphere in any context. As we behold and
bless the Lord, we are changing the spiritual atmosphere in the night. Our devotion releases a fragrance to the Lord.
It is a true spiritual reality. Our actions and our behaviors release fragrances
“How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, And
the scent of your perfumes than all spices.” SOS 4:10
C. David poured out his devotion to the Lord as he worshiped and Saul’s demonic torment ceased.
D. As we adore God in our cities and give Him our love, He will began to change the spiritual atmosphere over our
cities. Demonic strongholds will crumble as we adore God and come into agreement with His heart. (Daniel 10:12-21;
Revelation 12:7-12)
IV. BEHOLD, BLESS THE LORD IS AN INVITATION TO COME BEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD.
A. The heart of God is wide open and He beckons us to come before His throne. In the Night Watch He invites us to
cease the moment to come before Him and peer into the things of His heart.
B. There are mysteries that He longs to declare and make known to us. There are things hidden in His heart
ordained before the ages for our glory that He desires to make known us.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters
speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. Psalm 19:1-2
“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things
of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no
one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
1 Corinthians 2:10-12
V. CALL TO BECOMING AN ENGAGED COMMUNITY.
“...Bless the LORD, All your servants of the LORD, Who stand in the house of the LORD.”
“With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You
early; For when You judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn
righteousness.” Isaiah 26:9
A. Actively engaging our minds and hearts in the night. The night-time hours can lend themselves to idleness. There
is so much idle activity that takes place through the hours of the 24 hour cycle. There is not much productivity going on
during those hours. The night hours are the times when our minds and our bodies naturally rest and relax
B. The psalmist exhorts the night watchers to behold and bless the Lord. The Psalmist is stirring the priests who stand
by night to be vigilant and watchful.
C. He is calling for an engaged community in the night. There must be a conscious and a deliberate effort to gaze
and behold the Lord. “I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart, And my spirit makes diligent
search.” (or ponders diligently) Psalm 77:6. We must posture ourselves to behold and to gaze upon the Lord and resist
the temptation to be idle in our minds and actively fix our minds on the things above and not on the earth.
D. Because of the weariness of mind and body it is easy to have our thought wander. This is true at any time during the
day, but it is my conviction that this is especially true during the midnight hours because of the nature of that time. We
must in the grace of God have a fierce determination to gaze and behold the Lord.
VI. BLESS THE LORD: LOVE, ADORE AND MARVEL AT THE UNCREATED ONE
A. What will keep us from idle and vain practices is actively loving and adoring the Lord The charge is to actively
engage our hearts and to love Him.
B. Sometimes in beginning stages of building the night watch there are not many people in the room except for the
team, it is very easy just to go through the motion. Having a lot of people there can produce the same kind of atmosphere.
The night watch is a gift from the Lord to train us to live our lives before the audience of One. In that the peoples
attention who you want to get usually are not there.
C. The night watch is a call to be faithful in the “trenches”. It’s a call to extravagant worship when hardly any body is
watching. Just as there is much opportunity to engage into vain activities going through the motions, there is also equal
opportunity to go in deep .
D. It is easy to get a “spirit of entitlement” that says well I’m doing the night watch so I deserve ... or I need to get
recognized because... they I need the same care or more because ... they I have it hard because... This can give rise to
offense and an elite spirit. This can be a problem because the night watch can be by nature sacrificial.
E. I had a dream about Philippians 3:8 related to motivating the night watch with the beauty of the Lord.
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ.” Philippians 3:8
VII. THE NIGHT WATCH IS A PROPHETIC INDICATOR
A. The night watch is a historic indicator of the coming of the Bridegroom. The raising up of the night watch all over the
globe is a prophetic signpost, telling God’s people and those in involved in the spirit of the age to come out of it and go
out to meet the Bridegroom.
“And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” Matthew 25:6
B. The midnight hour is the hour in which the Lord returns. Night and day ministries in the earth serve as large
banners being raised in the earth across the globe. These banners are waving across the earth saying, “This is the hour.
The Bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet Him.”
C. The night watch is a prophetic signpost to those paying attention. As the Lord is raising up night watches across
the globe, He is saying, “Pay attention! My Son is coming.”
D. Throughout history, there have been night watches. In those generations, the coming of the Bridegroom was not
related to His second advent, but the establishing of a specific aspect of His kingdom in a particular generation. I believe
this is the generation of His second coming and the release of the fullness of the Holy Spirit power.
VIII. LOVE THE LORD YOU GOD WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH. (PSALM 134:2)
“Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the LORD.”
A. The lifting of our hands: Offering ourselves and our strength to Him. The Lifting up of the hands speaks of being
wholly engaged in ministering to the Lord. When we lift our hands to the Lord, we are saying Lord, we are availing
ourselves to the Lord. We uplifted hands we say, “Lord, we are yours, we belong to you even in the night, the night
belongs to you.”
B. We must be active in our serving of the Lord in the night. The lifting up of the hands, speak of being alert and
wide-awake. When we come to the night watch, we must come alert, physically and mentally awake. This calls for several
things that are to be embraced:
1. the lifestyle, sleep schedule, physiology of the night
2. the night watch is a fast (social)
C. The lifting up of our hands speak of being strong, full of vigor and readiness to minister to the Lord
D. If we are going to do the night watch long term with effectiveness we must embrace the night watch lifestyle. This
is important, because there are some different physiological differences during the night hours. Doing the night watch we
must go on a journey to discover what form of living produces to most mental and physical health.
E. Paying attention to our body rhythms, sleep patterns and working with our bodies become of utmost importance
if we are going to do the night watch long term with effectiveness.
1. www.shiftlag.com
2. www.nurseweek.com
3. www.sleepfoundation.org
4. www.shiftworker.com
5. www.principalhealthnews.com
IX. PSALM 134:3 THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD
“The LORD who made heaven and earth, Bless you from Zion.”
A. The LORD who made heaven.
B. The LORD who made earth.
1. Blessings in the natural.