SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES AND THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT
I. GLOBAL SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES
12 “ Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with
mourning.” 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will
turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him — a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your
God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly…” Joel 2:12-15
A. Prophetic dream in 2005 – call to raise up prayer to buy time before the cannons are loosed.
B. The purpose of solemn assemblies is to gather corporately and contend for the “perhaps of God” by turning our
hearts back to the Lord. Solemn assemblies are times when the people of God step out of the status quo to seek God
because times are desperate and desperate measure are required to more fully turn our hearts to the Lord that He
might release His glory in the midst of crisis.
C. The 24-hour house of prayer reality is a perpetual solemn assembly. The Lord in this hour is calling this nation
to a focused lifestyle in the grace of God. The lifestyle is a lifestyle of fasting and prayer and wholeheartedness (Joel 2:12).
D. The book of Joel is a book that we are to become familiar with in this hour in that the contents have profound relevance
to us and this nation in this hour, in particular Joel 1-2.
E. Joel 1:1-2:11 addresses the reality of the coming crisis The crisis and the glory of Joel’s day is going to be
significantly increased on a global dimension and all the nations will encounter this dilemma. Joel 2:12-17 gives the
prescribed divine remedy for the coming crisis and Joel 2:18-31 gives us the breakthrough of God in response to the
solemn assemblies.
"At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince (archangel) who stands watch over the sons of your people
(Israel); And THERE SHALL BE A TIME OF TROUBLE, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered…(Daniel 12:1)
F. There is coming the greatest global crisis the earth has ever witnessed. At the center stage of the coming global
crisis will be a demonized world leader called the Antichrist (1 John 2:18) who develops and then rules over a worldwide
system including government, finances, religion and military (Joel 2:2, Revelation 13:1-10). This period is called the
great tribulation in which we will see a breakthrough of the Holy Spirit as well as a series of violent events that will bring
about the most severe crisis to the earth.
G. The purpose of the Great Tribulation is to bring in the harvest (including the salvation of Israel), vindicate the
saints and righteousness, expose false believers within the Church, demonstrate God’s power in protecting the saints,
punish sin, and to purge the earth from the defilement of sin.
11 The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the
day of the LORD is great (glory) and very terrible (crisis of the great tribulation); who can endure it? Joel 2:11
H. The whole planet’s worst days and best days are yet ahead. The prophetic future of the earth before the Lord
returns will be filled with glory and crisis of historic proportions. As a spiritual family we are called to embrace this
message and the lifestyle that comes along with it.
I. One of the primary mandates of the IHOP-Missions base is to proclaim the reality of the coming crisis, glory and
the divine remedy of wholeheartedness before the Lord individually and corporately (one-day solemn assemblies,
perpetual solemn assemblies and stadium Christianity)
J. Solemn Assemblies – Joel 2:12-14-17
1. 2:12 - establishing the 1st Commandment in the lives of a people
2. 2:13 – repentance and the fuel for confidence before the Lord in seeking Him
3. 2:14 – the perhaps of God breaking into a geographical area
4. 2:15 – the prophetic call and declaration of solemn assemblies
5. 2:16 – corporate gathering of the people and the leadership taking extreme measures
6. 2:17 – the intercessors cry for mercy
II. NIGHT WATCH COMMUNITIES: PERPETUAL GLOBAL SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES
13 “Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; wail, you who minister before the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, you who
minister to my God…” Joel 1:13
A. In September 1982 the Lord spoke in Cairo Egypt concerning the mandate of this spiritual family and the invitation
that we have before the Lord. The word of the Lord is that God is going to change the understanding and expression of
Christianity in the whole earth in one generation. Along with this promise and invitation the Lord gave us four heart
standards of which the first one, night and day prayer, necessitates the establishing of the night watch reality, community
and lifestyle.
B. I believe that before the Lord returns there will be millions of men and women, young and old, married and single,
with children and without children, intercessors who will stand by night in the house of the Lord. I believe that there will
be thousands who will participate in the local expression of this reality here in our city.
C. To see raised up a company of intercessors, teachers, worship leaders, singers and musicians, prophetic
messengers who embrace the wilderness lifestyle of the night watch, become an engaged servant community and see
the fire of God released in the night and create a context for Jesus to come and release corporate visitations (Exodus 24:9-10).
D. The Holy Spirit is raising up a community in the watches of the night across the nations of the earth and in this
city who will –
1. Contend for the mercy of God in light of the coming crisis - Joel 1:13
2. Contend for the realm of prophetic revelation to break in (changing the dream life of a region) - Psalm 19:2
3. Raise up a prophetic end-time banner declaring the return of the Bridegroom - Matt 25:6
III. CALL TO STAND IN THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT - PSALM 134
A. 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. It is believed that Psalm 134 was a Psalm of exhortation from the day watch to the night
watch to stay focused and keep the charge.
B. Psalm 134 was strategically place in the word of God by the Lord as
1. a mandate for the night watch community
2. an exhortation to strengthen the night watch community
3. a blueprint of how to build the night watch community
C. Psalm 134 –
1. The mandate and vision - 134:1
2. Necessary lifestyle to economize strength - 134:2
3. The life flow of God to the individual and community of the night - 134:3
D. The night is filled with all sorts of unfruitful deeds of darkness; our cities are filled with murder, sorcery, theft
and immorality. The night watch is a critical component to the divine strategy to transform the cities of the earth.
E. Behold, bless the Lord is a call to peer into the heart and the being of God, standing before Him with loving
adoration. Just like everything else in the Kingdom, our first call in the night watch is to love the Lord.
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
F. 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
G. 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:
“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
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
H. 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
I. Giving oneself to the Psalm 134 mandate is critical in that it is important for the survival of the night watch
community and reality. The conditions of the night watch lifestyle are such that losing focus from this mandate lends
itself to
1. idleness
2. susceptibility to temptations
3. emotional instability due to the idles of the evening/night culture
4. loss of inner focus
J. The above-mentioned realities are not unique but they are heightened by the night watch reality. I have found
in my personal life that the negative impact due to loss of focus is experienced much more rapidly and with greater
cumulating intensity.
IV. LOVE THE LORD YOU GOD WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH - PSALM 134:2
A. Actively engaging our minds and hearts in the night (1 Pet 1:13) is what Psalm 134 calls us to. The nighttime hours
can lend themselves to idleness. 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 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.
C. We must be active in our serving of the Lord in the night. The lifting up of the hands speaks of being alert and
wide-awake with strength, vigor and readiness of body and soul. 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: lifestyle, sleep schedule,
physiology, and the reality of the night watch as a fast.
D. If we are going to do the night watch long term with effectiveness we must embrace the night watch lifestyle. In
doing the night watch we must go on a journey to discover what form of living produces most mental and physical health.
V. THE BLESSINGS OF THE LORD - PSALM 134:3
“The LORD who made heaven and earth, Bless you from Zion.”
A. The LORD who made heaven.
1. Spiritual blessings.
B. The LORD who made earth.
1. Blessings in the natural.