Chuck Pierce at Glory of Zion, 2011
This is the first year of the Watchmen decade.
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Chuck Pierce over Bill Hamon & Christian International Ministries
Watchmen Conference 2008
“Now I will cause a mantle to rest here so you can see into a new dimension. Eyes and ears open to see the provision; a sacrificing people who will sacrifice in a new way. The mantle in this place has shifted, and what needs to be seen for the next seven years is now activated. I will re-direct their steps into places they could not get into, and from those places they will say, ‘Look around you.’ The mantle over the prophets is now shifting. I couldn’t do this in just any place. The new mantle for the watchman is coming into place. It’s not a mantle we have known fully. For the next eight years we must wear it.
God is looking for His watchmen prophets to arise and see into the dimension that will produce change for the future. An atmosphere filled with that anointing. It will cause people to come to this place. A new anointing is being activated. Heavenly alignment is taking place. The church structure of CI is beginning to change in new ways.”
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John Mark Pool: “Pressing toward God’s Goal!”
Jan 28, 2009
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians3:14(emphasis added)
Many have heard this familiar Scripture rightly used for encouragement for us to finish the race and get the prize in Heaven. However, the Apostle Paul used a word for “mark” that is worth reviewing. The Hebrew Word, skopos, is derived from the ancient languages, which interprets this word as meaning “watching skeptically and looking very carefully.”
Yes, skopos does incorporate the meaning of a “marker” or goal set before us, but together both meanings combined gives us a better understanding of what I feel Paul was offering us: “Watch and pray as you proceed to your goal!” We must now be observant in the spiritual realm as never before. That means we must abandon the “cerebral” (carnal mind) for the “spiritual,” pressing in to God’s heart.
If you want something you have never had in your walk with God, you will have to do something you have never done to get there!
Watch and Pray!
“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41 (emphasis added)
This is a Greek word, gregoreuo (pronounced: gray-gor-yoo’-o), which means to keep awake, to be vigilant, to be watchful, and to be alert. Although skopos and gregoreuo are two different words for “watch,” it carries the same connotation to be very wary, prepared and alert so you can “dig in” and let nothing come between you and the goal of the High Calling of God.
Consequently, the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 speaks about us being very watchful and prepared for a long night season! Oh yes, and remember that He is coming back for His spotless Bride, and no one knows the time, but we have equal time to be vigilant, sober, on guard and watching! Remember, Christ’s parable ended with: “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).
Also, Paul places a reminder that in watching, in pressing toward that goal, in praying to keep ourselves wary of the wiles of the enemy, we are becoming hyper-focused in order that we may be rewarded in the end with a prize for completing the high calling of God – through Jesus Christ! There is a key to watching and praying – Jesus Christ – the Author and the Finisher of our faith!
“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2 (emphasis added
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Paul Wilbur: ‘The Watchman’
Paul Wilbur says The Watchman is a destiny Word from the Lord that he walked into.
He had just finished recording three well received albums, and he was wondering where the direction for his next album was going to be. Paul felt like God was telling him to be faithful, and the fruit is Paul’s current album, The Watchman.
…The spirit of the watchman is explained by Paul as someone who “seems to see and hear from God, in what seems to be darkness, what others don’t see and hear.” They are preparing the way of the Lord.
God is raising up watchmen in churches, governments, cities, etc. God is raising up those in the prophetic ministry. Worship and intercession will be more prophetic as well so that people will see in the spirit what God is doing and wants to do.
God is preparing to release a flood, and we must learn to walk in this. The church needs to proclaim what is to come. We need to be a voice in government, which can change the course of nations. It’s time for the believer to stand up and declare that Jehovah God is Lord over heaven and earth. Paul says a wave of the Spirit will hit (it is the hour of the watchman). The prophetic word will hit, and the hour is late. Some people will take this word as rebuke, correction, or encouragement.
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Restoring the Watch of the Lord by James W. Goll
October 21, 2009 Elijah List
“I will restore the ancient tools of the Watch of the Lord that have been used and will be used again to change the expression of Christianity across the face of the earth.”June, 1991
This prophetic word came to me in the middle of the night on the Kansas plains. I had brought 30 people with me to that remote area for a prayer retreat at a country lodge. We were praying around the clock in prayer teams for “hour watches” or prayer periods, modeled after military sentry patterns. Our focus was not on fellowship or even a prayer list; we were there to seek God’s face. As usual, I had chosen the 2:00-to-3:00 a.m. time slot because the Lord had been waking me up at that time virtually two or three times a week for more than a decade.
As I waited on the Lord, I suddenly saw a picture of an old farm implement, the kind of plow that used to be drawn by horses. When I asked the Lord what it was, the Holy Spirit said, “These are the ancient tools.” When I asked what these were, the response was immediate: “The Watch of the Lord is the ancient tool.” Now that phrase went deep inside of me and stuck. As I continued to wait before the Lord in that quiet, far-removed place, I saw the tool again and the Lord said, “I will restore the ancient tool of the Watch of the Lord. It has been used and will be used again to change the expression of Christianity across the face of the earth.”
I was already familiar with the concept of “watching in prayer” in the Old and the New Testaments (sorry to say, it is sorely missing from the life of the Church at large). This clear word of the Lord given under the starry skies of Kansas lit a fire under me that ultimately propelled me into the borderland of ancient Saxony, the ancient site of the Moravian prayer watch at Herrnhut that lasted over 100 years non stop.
Few English-speaking people use the term, “Watch of the Lord,” in our day. Books on prayer seldom discuss it. Yet the importance of the Watch of the Lord, or of watching in prayer, is very important to the plans and order of God. Jesus commanded us to “watch” with Him in several gospel accounts, particularly in the time called “the last days.”
Much has been taught about “the last days” by teachers in Evangelical and Charismatic circles. But exceptionally little has been taught about the biblical response of God’s people to the last days. I made a comparative study of the verbs Jesus used in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, where He described how we should respond when we see earthquakes, famines, wars and rumors of wars, and so on. Here is a summary of these responses:
See Matthew 24:“Watch out that no one deceive you” (vS 4).“See to it that you are not alarmed” (vS 6).“Stand firm to the end” (vS 13). “Keep watch” (vS 42).
See Mark 13: “Watch out that no one deceives you” (vs 5).“Do not be alarmed” (vs 7).“Be on your guard” (vs 9). “Do not worry” (vs 11). “Stand firm” (vs 13). “Be on your guard” (vs 23). “Be on your guard. Be alert” (vs 33). “Keep watch” (vs 35). “Watch out” (vs 37).
See Luke 21: “Watch out that you are not deceived” (vs 8). “Do not be frightened” (vs 9). “Stand firm” (vs 19). “Stand up and lift up your heads” (vs 28). “Be careful” (vs 34). “Be always on the watch and pray” (vs 36).
All of these statements can be summarized in three main phrases: “Do not be afraid” (4 times), “Stand firm” (4 times), and “Watch.” Jesus used this key word, “watch,” 11 times—almost three times more than any other admonition! Once again, you can hear His voice saying to the Church, “The key I give you is `watch.’ ” In Matthew 18:19-20, He gave us the keys of the kingdom, and they have to do with prayer: Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst (Matthew 18:19-20). Jesus wants groups of two or three people to gather in His name and ask in symphony or harmony.
The Greek word for “watch” in these verses is gregoreuo, and it means “to be vigilant, wake, to be watchful.” A watchman on the wall does many things. He carefully watches what is happening and alerts the community when good ambassadors approach the city. The guardsman then will open the gates and lower the bridge so the ambassadors may enter. A watchman also warns the city far in advance when an enemy approaches. He sounds an alarm to awaken the people because he knows “to forewarn them is to alert and arm them.” Then they quickly can rally to take their stand on the wall against the enemy before he wrongfully tries to enter into the city.
Putting Out the Welcome Mat
We are to watch for the good things and good messengers God sends to His people. We are to watch for the gifted ones and the coming of the Lord’s Presence. We are to alert the people to roll out the welcome mat, saying, “Come, come, come, come! Angels of healing, you are welcome here. Spirit of the Lord, You are welcome here. Gifts of the Spirit, you are welcome here. Spirit of conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment come; you are welcome here. Come, come, come, come!” We are to roll out the red carpet to the name and the blood of Jesus, and say, “Come!”
We are to watch to see what the Lord is saying and doing. And we are to look at what the enemy’s plans could be. Paul warned us not to be ignorant concerning the devil’s schemes (see 2 Cor. 2:11). God wants to tip us off beforehand to cut off, postpone, delay, or even entirely dismantle the works of the enemy and frustrate his plans for evil.
But as watchers on the wall of the Lord, we go far beyond any dictionary definition. God wants us to look into the mirror of His great Word and discern those things that He has said that He wants to do. Then we are to remind Him of those things that He wants to do and is, at the same time, waiting for us to ask Him to do. Why? Because He has given us that little key called the “prayer of agreement.”
Little keys unlock big doors. The Moravians discovered a key of power in Leviticus 6:13, where the Lord says, “Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.” They believed the New Covenant fire on the altar was prayer, and they acted on God’s challenge. The Moravians actually managed to change the world with that little key and so can we in out day.
Through other extreme God encounters, I became convinced that the Lord was releasing grace for the house of prayer for all nations, and for the Watch of the Lord to be released first in 120 cities across the earth, and from there to 3,000 cities according to the pattern of Pentecost as found in Acts the second chapter. Yes, the ancient tool of the Watch of the Lord has been released anew on the earth by the winds of God.
Dear God, I want to be vigilant and awake in this hour. Wake me up if you have to! I want to be a practical part of the watch of the Lord for my city. Equip me and use me as one of your Last Day Watchers. Place me in your global prayer army and send mentors my way so I can be effective in this historic move of God! Bless you Lord for including me in Your growing prayer army! Praise the Lord!
Now Just Do It! Amen and Amen!
Blessings!