First of all, let me tell you what a watchman is not.  Being a watchman is not a ministerial office or position.  It does not take a special calling or gifting to be a watchman.  All of us are watchmen.  To be a watchman is to take a position of humility and devotion in service to the King and the Kingdom of God.  I define a watchman as one who climbs to a high place so he can see far and is:

• Actively Attentive to all God is saying and doing
• Awake and Alert even in the darkest time of the night
• Aware of times and seasons
• sounding an Alarm to warn people of either an approaching enemy or the returning King

Actively Attentive

“The true watchman is someone who watches God, Who is the Chief Watchman–beholding Him in His awesome majestic glory, and what He is doing.”  –Tom Hess, founder; Jerusalem House of Prayer for All Nations

So, when we watch God, what is the amazing thing that we see?  That He Himself is watching! What is He watching?  He watches over His Word, and He watches over us.

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”  Jeremiah 1:12

“The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”  Psalm 121:8

If God is watching over His word, then we, as watchman, should study Scripture so that we know what He said that has been fulfilled, what is in the process of being fulfilled, and what is yet to be fulfilled.  We also need to be people of worship and prayer who dwell and abide in the presence of the Lord listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  We need both–knowledge of the Scripture and intimate knowledge of the leading of the Holy Spirit to remain balanced.  When we know His word, we can stand in agreement with Him, declaring and decreeing His precious promises and the desires of His heart until all are accomplished.

Knowing that God is watching over us and is fully acquainted with all our ways and all that is happening in our lives should give us tremendous comfort, as well as cause us to watch our lives to ensure that we are bringing Him honor, even during the times when we are alone.  When we are alone we display our true character, and it is God who rewards us for what we do in the secret place.  We also need to remember that people are watching us: our family, our friends, strangers, and especially our children.  Our children watch us, learn from us and imitate us.  The picture below is very precious to me.  My husband, Bruce, sitting at our kitchen table reading his Bible, and our three-year-old son, Aaron, got his Bible and joined his Daddy.