calling

Stay In Your Lane

Growth & Development, Life Balance, Overcoming / By

Years ago I was invited to a meeting with a couple of Christian leaders in our city with the purpose of exploring a cooperative ministry effort. I knew each of the men and was familiar with the intensity and dedication with which each led their well established and successful ministries. As I was making the thirty minute drive across town on the freeway I decided to take the time to pray for the meeting. Almost immediately I heard these words, whispered by the Holy Spirit “Stay in your lane!” At that moment traffic was fairly heavy on the four lane stretch of road that I was on and my first impulse was to warily check the lanes on either side of me.

Assured that everything was alright, I figured I would stay in the lane in which I was driving until I needed to exit and turned my attention to what the Lord really intended with the words “stay in your lane.” I knew it was a word of wisdom for me as it related to the meeting. The lane I was being warned to stay in was my lane and focus of ministry. God was reminding me of the importance of fixing my heart clearly on His calling and purpose for my life, and not being drawn or forced out of that lane into the lane of another. Having this quickened in my spirit brought a sense of peace with the realization that there was sure to be pressure in the meeting to change ministry lanes.

4 Things Every Watchman Must Do

9 Comments / Overcoming, Prayer / By

The ministry of a watchman is a form of prayer that is focused on praying for God’s purposes and protection over a specific people, geographical area and/or nation. It requires dedication, focus, consistency and perseverance. The watchman’s passion is to discern the will of God and pray it into existence. Simply put, the watchman is called to watch and pray. (See the blog post The Watchman Calling.)

While everyone is commanded in the Scriptures to be sober, vigilant and watchful for the purpose of prayer not everyone has a specific calling and gifting to be a watchman.

Those with a watchman calling could be likened to the person standing next to a wall who is gifted with sufficient stature to simply look over the wall for prolonged views of the other side. For those without such stature extra effort is required, with a leap or a ladder for even a limited view.

However, regardless of anyone’s calling, it is beneficial for all of us, watchmen and non-watchmen alike, to consider how to grow and function more effectively in the watching and praying ministry.

Here then, from a Biblical overview, are the four essential functions of the prayer ministry of the watchman. An effective watchman is engaged in . . .

The Watchman Calling

2 Comments / Prayer / By

“Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:40-41 ESV

Watching and praying or what the Bible refers to as being a spiritual “watchman” may be the most critically important aspect of prayer that there is. The very nature of being a watchman requires staying awake, alert and vigilant to perceive what is happening. It also demands taking the appropriate steps of obedience of faith to either stop it, avoid it, or prepare to endure it. Jesus’ challenge to His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane to “watch and pray” illustrates this truth like none other. His agony expressed in prayer was directly linked to His watching to see what His Father was showing Him and His obedient response. Tragically, His disciples were sleeping instead of watching and praying. As a result they found themselves unprepared for what was about to unfold. Unfortunately, it is an all too familiar portrait of the condition of most churches today with regard to watchful prayer.

A Disciple’s First Calling

Relationship with God / By

He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Mark 3:14

The order in which Mark, the author of this gospel, describes Jesus calling of His disciples is critically significant. Jesus’ intention was that first they were to “be with” Him, to spend time in His presence, hang out together with Him and get to know Him and His ways. Then and only then, when they had become immersed in His presence and shaped to faithfully represent His name and nature, would He sent them out to preach. Although the task of going forth as His ambassadors was His ultimate purpose Jesus first calling to His disciples was that they might simply be with Him.

It reflects the priority Jesus placed throughout His earthly ministry on being preceding doing and the necessity of doing then flowing out of being. The spiritual journey of every disciple who is seeking to follow Jesus must always follow this pattern.

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