In January 1995 we invited about 20 people to spend the following Friday from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. on Saturday keeping the “night watch,” fasting sleep for spiritual reasons. We gathered to wait on God in worship and prayer and share in communion through Jesus’ body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.
Every Friday since, we have done the same. We have celebrated the watch with as many as a thousand watchmen present. And now there are watches throughout the United States and abroad. We find ourselves in the midst of a renewed visitation that is manifesting the glory of the Lord!
??The sure promise of God through Scripture is this: “If you pray, I will answer.” The delivering power of God that came to Israel was through the blood and flesh of the slain Lamb! All Israel who looked for deliverance through the Lamb that was slain watched all night after partaking of the Passover meal.
In Luke 6:12 we find that it was Jesus’ habit to spend all night in prayer to God. It was out of this lifestyle that He asked His slumbering disciples, “Could you not watch with Me even one hour?” (Matt. 26:40, emphasis added).??Today we look to the same deliverer, Jesus Christ the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world. We answer His call to watch and pray, and we are seeing Him come to deliver.
The commission and call of every Christian is to be fully awake as prophetic watchmen in this hour. Like Ezekiel of old who stood before a valley of dry bones as God asked His watchman, “Can these bones live?” he replied, “O Lord, only you know.” God revealed His will to His watchman and then said, “Prophesy!”
This is our place as His watchmen—spiritual people who will give voice to God’s will in our prayer, intercession and proclamation in this hour.
?Join us and take your place on the wall in keeping the Watch of the Lord for deliverance and revival for the people and nations around the world.
Today our watch focus is Libya. Pray for Libya. After 30 years of despotic rule, the nation of Libya is in turmoil. The dictator, Muammar al-Qadhafi, has had hundreds of innocents killed while trying to keep his hold over the people. Pray for this nation. May God show mercy on the people. May this madman’s despotic rule come to an end. May the Libyans choose the path of liberty and religious freedom.
As many Arab nations go through turmoil, may the Spirit of God show mercy and restore peace, and may His grace protect the innocents. Pray that God’s shield over Israel remains strong.
“For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere” (Eph. 6:12, AMP).
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17).
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified” (Is. 61:1,3).
“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, ‘Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.’ He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, ‘As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.’ I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Ps. 2:1-12).
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:1-2).
Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda lead a worldwide apostolic ministry, Chavda Ministries International (chavdaministries.org). During their three decades of ministry, the Chavdas have led more than 1 million people to Christ while witnessing thousands of healings that have included documented recoveries from terminal diseases such as AIDS. They are the co-founders and senior pastors of All Nations Church (allnationschurch.us) in Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, and authors of numerous books.
