The Whole Armor Of God - "Watching"

"Above All; Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints:" Eph 6:18. I have been praying about how God would have me share this without seeming overly concerned for not only my own life, but for the modern day church. This word "Watching" is something that is lacking in so many of our lives and our churches today. Think about this for just a moment; If there was one thing you could do differently, one thing you could have done more of throughout your life in Christ thus far; one thing you could have done more of while raising your children in the Lord; if there was one thing that could take place more in our churches; that one thing would be "Watching". Try to follow me here as we see: Application; Application; Application; and apply watching to not only our prayer life, but to all of our life. Remember that we are seated in Christ, that we walk in Christ, and that we are able to stand in Christ; now by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be watching in Christ. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He took Peter, James and John aside and asked them saying, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death; tarry ye here, and watch." And then He went a little ways off to pray; and when He came back over to them, they were asleep; and He said to Peter, "Simon, sleepest thou? Could not you watch one hour? Watch you and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak." (Mark 14:32-38) It is not surprising that He called out Peter, even though they were all three sleeping; after all it was Peter who had just assured Him, "Although all shall offended, yet will not I." (Mark 14:29) In Luke 22:33 the words of Peter are depicted as a little more committed to the cause of Christ; "I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death." So you can see why Jesus called out Peter in this situation; Peter was the one boasting about his commitment to the Lord. And what is really interesting, is that Jesus had just finished telling them some really detailed information about how He would be betrayed that night, and how He would be taken away to be crucified, and that they would be scattered; and to top that off, He tells them, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death". You would think that this would really be a time of watching; earnestly watching; knowing that the Lord has just told them that people were coming to where they were, right at that hour, and going to arrest their Lord, and take Him away to be crucified. What could cause them to fall asleep? Or better yet, what would allow them to fall asleep? What causes us to fall asleep when we should be watching? Jesus speaking to His disciples about the end times in Luke 21:34-36 said, "And take heed to yourselves, least at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and with drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." Here Jesus depicts drunkenness and the cares of the life as something that would cause us not to watch. Paul expands this thought in Ephesians 5:14-18, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;". The word 'Awake' is pretty much key here in this portion of scripture. Many times, others might want to focus on the drunk part of this text; but that kind of limits the scope of the discussion. It is the word 'Awake' that brings a whole new dynamic to what can cause us not to be watching; like sluggishness and lethargy. Here are some words that go beyond just being drunk with wine; because some can think that just laying off the wine is all it really takes; not! Let's look at the definitions of sluggish and lethargy for just a moment: Sluggish; lazy, dull, idle; slow, having little motion, inactive; Lethargy; dullness, inaction; unnatural sleepiness. This makes things a little more rounded out, to include more that just those that are drunk. These are very evil times that we are living in, and we must connect the dots (so to speak), and know that the enemy will use every means possible to cause us to stumble; to cause us to not pay attention to what we allow in our homes, are families and our churches. It is easy to be distracted by the cares of this life; God knows that, and that is why He has provided to us the Holy Spirit; and that we would continually be filled with the Spirit, walking in the Light and being ever so watchful of the upcoming attacks. Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaming lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour;" When we are praying with all prayer and supplication, we must be also asking God to show the things in our lives that the enemy can use to weaken our walk; our families and as we shall see later, our churches........ 'Having Done All To Stand; Therefore Stand' (next, "Perseverance")