Purpose of the NightWatch
To Reclaim the Night For the Lord
The night is particularly filled with all sorts of unfruitful deeds of darkness; our cities are filled with murder, sorcery, theft and immorality (Revelation 9:21). We want the night to belong to the Lord. Fragrance is released as we give Him our love and our devotion in the night. This changes the spiritual atmosphere over our cities.
"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). Mary is a picture of extravagant devotion. While extravagant devotion is costly, the very mention of the cost is utterly despised (Song 8:7). The call to the NightWatch is a call to extravagant devotion. That is what is meant by, "Behold, bless the Lord" (Psalm 134).Devotion in the night can be costly because of the dynamics of the NightWatch lifestyle. It’s the Lord’s desire to raise up a people who will love Him in the night. He longs for a company of people who will adore Him and tarry with Him through the watches of the night. On the night of His betrayal, the hour of judgment and salvation, He found none; but in these final hours of history, in the final hours of the escalation of judgment and the release of salvation, who will tarry with Him through the night?
Prophetic Significance: A Prophetic Indicator
The NightWatch is a historic indicator of the coming of the Bridegroom to and for the Bride, the whole Body of Christ. The raising up of the NightWatch all over the globe is a prophetic signpost telling God’s people and those in Babylon to come out and to go out—to come out of Babylon and to go out to meet the Bridegroom at His coming. Babylon represents the influences of the world that hinder the journey of love with the Lord Jesus. The Lord helps His people by giving them historic indicators to help us discern what hour of history we are living in.
The NightWatch Lifestyle is a Form of Fasting
The NightWatch is a wilderness for forerunners (Matthew 25:6; Isaiah 40:3). The Holy Spirit is raising up a generation of forerunners all across the earth to prepare the globe for an unprecedented and historic release of divine activity. Just as the Lord led John the Baptist into the wilderness, we believe He will be leading a large company of people into the wilderness of intercession throughout the night. The NightWatch is not the only context in which forerunners will be raised up, but it will be a key component to raising up a voice. The Holy Spirit allures His people into the wilderness to encounter the Bridegroom and be transformed (Hosea 2:14–16). There are various types of circumstances in which the wilderness reality can exist. Some wilderness experiences take place in literal deserts. We see this in the lives of the saints of old like Moses, David, John the Baptist and Saint Anthony of Egypt. Some wilderness experiences don’t take place in the literal desert but they are considered wilderness experiences nonetheless. We can see examples of this in the life of Joseph, Job and others. In these cases the wilderness experience is a season of intense pressure.
The wilderness experience does not have to be any of the previously mentioned. The wilderness can be entered into by embracing the principles of voluntary weakness, like fasting, giving, prayer and solitude. Many people are allured into the wilderness and they enter in voluntarily, while others enter involuntarily (King David).
The basic principle of the wilderness life is the embracing of weakness in exchange for divine strength. Divine strength is that which sustains the yearning and the longings of the heart. Divine strength also means the grace or the anointing to accomplish more in the Kingdom with greater effectiveness and impact (authority in preaching, healing the sick, casting out demons, grace to lead God’s people). The Spirit of revelation on the life of a believer is also a form of divine strength.
The NightWatch calls for a lifestyle change that can make life uncomfortable; it is a social and physical fast. Many social dynamics and physical tiredness are hallmarks of doing the NightWatch. If we pay close attention to our bodies, we will notice that some of the same dynamics experienced during a food fast can be experienced during the NightWatch. We want to be people who embrace the NightWatch as a fast.
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Recommended reading on the wilderness:
The Way of the Heart, by Henri Nouwen
Writings from the Desert saints
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“Behold, bless the LORD…” is a call to the contemplative reality of spending our lives before the Lord (Psalm 134:1; Luke 10:42). By the contemplative reality, we mean deep communion with God. Just like everything else in the Kingdom, our first call in the NightWatch is to love the Lord. He is calling us to the “one thing”. The one thing needed means the primary thing; deep communion with God is to be our preoccupation in the night, whether in worship, intercession or service. There are three "one thing" passages in Scripture:
• Psalm 27:4 — desire defined: The one thing humanity desires is to see beauty, and the only beauty that will satisfy is the beauty of the Lord. We are created with a thirst for the eternal. One thing I desire…
• Luke 10:42 — desire satisfied: Desire is satisfied as we sit at His feet and let Him kiss us with the kisses of His Word and unfold the pleasure of His divine love to us (Song 1:2). One thing I need…
• Philippians 3:13 — the journey of desire: The journey of desire calls for the setting of a marathon pace. One thing I do…
How to Build the NightWatch
Having a monthly or weekly Friday night meeting is a great way to start. We suggest starting small and strong and allow it to gain momentum. Try meeting from 10PM–2AM with a view to eventually going until 6AM.
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