Watch and pray!

Many believers engage in the discipline of prayer, but I am beginning to find out that prayer alone is not enough in the realm of the spirit. Jesus taught and instructed us to pray quite alright, but He also enjoined us to watch and pray. If we really understand what He meant by those words, we would appreciate that this is a "do both" admonition and not just a use of interchangeable words. Watching is a spiritual activity and so is prayer. We need to actively do both to enjoy victory in this life.

When we pray to God but do no take happenings in the spirit realm into consideration, we set ourselves up for catastrophe. The dreams we have in the night, the words God speaks in the ears of our heart, the impressions that grab our attention, the circumstances that require a spiritual interpretation, all these are as important as the prayers we say. Again, our prayers will not be effective if our heart, the place from where the wellspring of life flows, is unguarded against all sorts of offences and bitterness. These and more are part of the watching dimension of our prayer lives.

At the final analysis, true prayer is not done with the mouth only, but also with the eyes, ears, spiritual insight and understanding. God will help us all!

(There's surely more that I will be writing about this Watch and Pray command!)