Oh, To Be A Watchman!
This post is not for everyone. It’s important for you to take this back to the Lord and confirm with Him that this is for you. Not every word is meant to be applied to your life in the immediate moment. If you are receiving this in season it should not be the first time you are hearing about it. If the Lord has not been speaking to you about this already, take the wisdom and knowledge as a form of learning the ways of the Lord that you might choose to walk in them. If this is for you it should serve as confirmation and give you understanding. Glory be to God!
The first time I was called as a watchman was in the middle of my sanctification. I had rededicated my life to the Lord and surrendered to His leading. He had successfully delivered me from evil but I had not yet been made pure or completely rinsed of every worldly mindset nor had I explored the pieces of my identity that had been built on lies planted by the enemy through my life experience. I had not fully known God and so I was in the wilderness. My process was still ongoing. Apart from Christ I am still impure and far from righteous but in Him, I am and always will be a new creation. Remember that last sentence because it is true for you too and it will help you when you need to remember. You will need to remember. (2 Corinthians 5:17) At this time I am grateful for the privilege and authority to help others who are being invited in to a watchman position by sharing some of the things the Hoy Spirit shared with me during my initial training season and throughout the last four years of maturing in the spirit.
In the freshman year of what I would like to call the “Watchman’s Academy” the Lord gave me a very personal small group of His sons and daughters to watch over. At this time I had been seeking the Lord for a specific promise He had briefly and prophetically spoken to me about within the deepest desires of my heart and by accepting the watchman position— He was able to teach me what it truly means to empty myself out in selflessness. He called me to surrender my newfound gifts of the spirit (i.e. dreams, visions, interpretations, powerful faith, encouragement) back to Him to be used for something much bigger than myself and what I wanted. I learned in this moment there is a crucial agreement to being walked into the prophetic realm that needs to be established from the beginning. Your gifts are given for the purpose of the Lord and never for selfish gain; as you are being tested, the same God that gave them to you is checking your heart to determine whether you will keep and grow those gifts or have them taken away as quick as you received them. The first round of training and refinement in this position requires your heart to be tested against divination and selfish motives. Using your gifts to try to peek into the future and manipulate the spiritual realm is not of God. Anyone teaching you that your authority in Christ gives you the power to control or shift the order of things is teaching you improperly. We have been given authority to walk, witness, cast out demons, heal, and much more but all of that comes IN CHRIST, by His leading, on His command, and at His appointed time. You can not change the will of God. Manipulation is a trait of Jezebel. Surrender is the heart of Christ. How you respond to God calling you to watch over others and be of use in His Kingdom for His purpose will determine whether or not He can trust you with big things in the future. (Luke 16:10-12) First, He asks you to put yourself last for the greater good and in this way He taught me what He meant in the parable in Matthew 20, “the first will be last and the last will be first.” My flesh wanted to tend to my own garden in my own way but for the purpose of the Lord, the work I was meant to do at that time was for others and I had to understand that what I learn and develop in the process would make sure that those that come after me would receive the same pay. I would not receive more than another. We were all loved the same and the work did not reflect my worth. I was no better than anyone and those that come after wouldn’t need to do the same amount of labor. My heart needed to know that. It needed to be willing to make a sacrifice to see others prosper. Christ-like. This is why “many are called and few are chosen.” Throughout this entire process your heart is being tested and your mind is being renewed. I never asked for this, He chose me— but first I was called.
That brings me to the next thing the Lord rinsed out of me. Idolatry. In my first season of being a watchman I observed many people openly claim to be prophets and glorify their gifts. At this time I had been told not to speak but to watch. What I learned during that time is that anyone who places their identity in their gifts or position, will lose themselves or end up being in ungodly conflict. The Lord used people as public examples of how not to be a watchman by allowing them to openly humiliate themselves, bickering back and forth accusing each other and trying to prove the validity of their gifts, words, and positions. One thing that will never change is that there is only ONE truth. The Holy Spirit exposes lies and confirms His word by His Spirit. Anyone sent on behalf of the Lord wouldn’t need to defend themselves. The ears of those meant to hear will hear, and those who heard and don’t agree will be corrected BY HIS SPIRIT. The Lord is our defender. Every time someone is seen fighting publicly and defending themselves they are misrepresenting God and operating in a position prematurely. Jesus teaches us to turn the other cheek, He lets us know the meek shall inherit the earth. To defend ourselves is to take on the role of God. I’m sure there may be special circumstances but the presence of any defense that isn’t Jesus himself advocating for you by whatever means He chooses— is a sign of the presence of idolatry. You can say its because of your gifts, position, status, or spiritual ranking that you are validated but if the Holy Spirit isn’t confirming any of those things to His children— you have made your call, your god. The Holy Spirit will always confirm or deny a word. He will always give you something smaller to be tested and trained by before He gives you more. Beware of people who impulsively start speaking about the things of the spirit without having been refined in them. God can use anyone but none of us are Jesus which means gifted or not, we all NEED sanctification.
Throughout my training I made many mistakes. I spoke before understanding, opened myself up to the wrong people, misheard a word, led with my flesh, went before God and in more ways than one I misrepresented the Lord. He used these moments to teach me, never to condemn me. Learning the difference between condemnation and conviction was so important. I received a lot of correction, direction and most importantly— GRACE. He poured out grace in abundance as I walked through training. He never expected me to be perfect and knew exactly who I was when He called me. What Jesus did on the cross covered me every single time that I lost my footing. Everything always led back to Him which is why He is meant to be the foundation. In receiving this grace I was able to extend it to others, meaning I was able to forgive those who had made mistakes in how they handled me as I was exploring. You can’t move forward properly until you do that. Forgive them. It sounds like common sense but I had to learn how to forgive myself and others. There were things in my heart that I had picked up in my upbringing that needed to be broken down and rebuilt on a foundation of Christ. I had to learn how to reflect and reject lies through moments of injustice. I had to learn how to to seek truth in a world that pushes the devils agenda. I had to learn how to crucify my flesh and carry my cross. I had to learn how to let things go and leave room for the Lord. It all seemed like common sense until I learned that “common sense” is also a gift from God and until you receive it through His Holy Spirit, you never knew it was gone. This is why He says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hoseas 4:6) because many times we think we know more than we truly do. We reject knowledge because we know it all. We push away the training because we refuse to admit stupidity and ignorance. Who likes to admit they know nothing? No one. It is, however, necessary. Jesus loved me through the realization of many hard truths while turning it all around for my good. The Holy Spirit brought powerful revelation that connected many dots. Please, don’t allow the enemy to shame you through a process that is meant to grow you.
To close out this word I am going to leave you with a few of the things the Lord gave me in the now. First, a dream from two nights ago:
I remember being hired in an office and I got off a phone call with a supervisor it was a woman’s voice that was teaching me all of the buttons on the phone— how to transfer calls and place people on holds. I was annoyed, rolling my eyes at this phone call because I felt like I didn’t need training for something so simple so I told them the phone was ringing on the other line but it wasn’t. I hung up the phone and they called again. This time when I answered they were testing my knowledge of how to answer the call and transfer to the other phone. I answered the call wrong and accidentally hung up on them instead of put them on hold. I knew in that moment I needed that training they tried to give me. In the back of my mind I wondered if there would be consequences for not answering or properly handling the call I had with the girl that I knew was a test. I knew I was being tested or observed when she called the office. Shortly after, another person called and was so angry. It was a mans voice. They were yelling at me about the service at the place I was answering the calls for; I jumped at how loud his anger was and I just completely took the yelling myself; I didn’t know who to transfer the call to. I found the guys file and dealt with that but if I would have listened to the training I would have known where to properly transfer and that anger never would have been placed on me.
Let’s leave that there for a minute so I can bring you the Bible He gave me with it.
— There are multiple times that a watchman is called for in the Bible. The prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah were both called as watchman for different reasons at different times. Ezekiel was called to watch over Israel during their call to repentance as the Lord poured out His anger on them because of their wickedness. He was called as a watchman to give warnings from the mouth of the Lord, to the Lords people. Isaiah was called as a watchman as Babylon fell. He was called to watch over Israel as they were set free from captivity after a season of being handed over to their enemies. He was commanded to appoint watchmen to oversee the warfare and confirm the validity of the completion of deliverance. These are vastly different. One was relaying words of warning and the other salvation.— You can find these sections in Isaiah 21, 56 and 62 (please read in context to discover different ways the Lord positioned watchman and the way they were used for why and what season) as well as Ezekiel 3, and 33. I am going to site a few verses below to give you understanding of the dream and how it is completed by the word but it is wise for anyone who is being called to study the Word to show yourself approved. You SHOULD read the entire books of Isaiah and Ezekiel when the Holy Spirit calls you to do so. If you are already reading your Scripture by the leading of the Holy Spirit do not change your direction on account of my post. His leading is more important than mine every time. (2 Timothy 2:15 for anyone who is thinking that they don’t need to be in Scripture to properly answer a call.) —
Let’s start with Ezekiel:
“After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from me, warn people immediately. If I warn the wicked saying, “You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me. If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too.” Ezekiel 3:16-21
Stay with me. In this section we see that Ezekiel is APPOINTED. Before He was appointed, though, he was called and commissioned. Do you get it. In chapters 1-3 Ezekiel was given visions and dreams, prepared and tested in His heart. He was prepared for what He was walking in to AND THEN he was appointed. After his training he was given rules for his position. Now let’s circle back to that dream. Why was I on the phone dealing with the anger of someone who was upset about the service in this place? He wasn’t angry at me but his anger was poured out on me because I didn’t know where to transfer the call. This is the same principle. I did not take the time to be trained for my position so when I was called to warn someone of the anger of the man on the phone, I was taking the punishment for not doing what I was meant to do. You are called and trained for your position to receive wisdom, knowledge and understanding before you are appointed. Do not skip your training and end up having the Lords anger pour out on you for lack of knowledge.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me; and since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” Hosea 4:6
Now going over some more of the ways God will call us as a watchman as well as receive some wisdom on how to shift your lifestyle choices to suit the call we are going to explore some of Isaiah.
“Meanwhile the Lord said to me, ‘Put a watchman on the city wall. Let Him shout out what he sees. He should look for chariots drawn by horses, and for riders on donkeys and camels. Let the watchman be fully alert. Then the watchman called out, ‘Day after day I stood on the watchtower, my lord. Night after night I have remained at my post. Now at last— look! Here comes a man in a chariot with a pair of horses. Then the watchman said, ‘Babylon is fallen, fallen! All the idols broken on the ground!’ Oh my people, threshed and winnowed, I have told you everything the Lord of Heavens Armies has said, everything the God of Israel has told me.” Isaiah 21:6-10
Before we get started I need to make something clear. Isaiah is not my lord. Jesus is. But through Isaiah we can learn how Jesus assigns watchmen. Notice Isaiah was commanded by the Lord to assign a watchman to keep watch in waiting for a victory. If this is where you’re at you will know. There is a difference in the ways we are called to watch and sometimes we are watching in the spirit for one reality to break down so that another can be built. The conversation between this watchman stayed between them, and their lord. For us, on this end of things— we would be watching and reporting back to who? Jesus. Do you see why in your training it is important to know the tone of the voice that you are hearing? If God is having you watch to warn or watch to report back to Him? In those verses we can learn so much. The Lord told Isaiah to choose a watchman who was “fully alert”. Meaning without distraction. In your training you will learn how to be free from distractions and can discern WHO to report to. The call of a watchman requires you— going back to the dream— to understand how to transfer calls so that the messages go where they need to go. Surrender to the training.
“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)
Finally, continuing in Isaiah, I want to give you eyes on how to respond to the person that you are watching over if you are watching for victory and have been assigned to someone specific.
“This message came to me concerning Edom: Someone from Edomite keeps calling to me, ‘Watchman how much longer until morning? When will the night be over? The watchman replies, ‘Morning is coming, but night will soon return. If you wish to ask again, then come back and ask.” (Isaiah 21:11-12)
When you have been given to someone as a gift of a watchman, they are probably eager for a victory. They will most likely seek to know what’s going on in the spirit. You are not to give more than you know. We aren’t called to add anything else to what God has said. If He has not called you to deliver wisdom or given you a word behind what you have seen, then you respond with grace. Imagine being able to see what someone else can’t as it pertains to them. We all have the right to hear directly from the Lord but sometimes our flesh prevents us from being able to see properly. So, Jesus will give us a watchman to help us see through the lense of the spirit. The same grace you receive, you give. His yoke is light and we are gifts given to each other. Nini, if you are reading this. Thank you for being my watchman in times where my flesh is weak. There have been others and I am equally grateful but only you, me, and God know what He showed you and how He saved me in that season. Let this be a lesson to love each other above anything else. Give each other grace.
Until next time,
Ari
