Spring 1988
The Need for Watchmen
Louise Flanders
Pastor, Former PC Staff

There is a present burden in the Spirit for the Lord to raise up watchmen within the Body of Christ.

The prophet Isaiah writes: "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night," Isaiah 62:1,6.These watchmen were there because of a burden on the heart of the Lord for His people.

During Biblical times, high walls were built around Palestinian cities. Upon these walls were towers from which a watchmen could see the horizon, where others were not able to see. If the watchman saw an invading army coming in the distance, he would sound the trumpet and warn the people, so they could prepare for battle, or hide themselves until the danger was past.

In this hour, it is extremely important that the Lord raise up watchmen in His Church. There is a need for these watchmen to be seated high up within the towers that are upon the walls; men and women raised up to heights in the Spirit in order to see and to behold that which is about to appear on the horizon.

These watchmen are the prophets of the Lord. God said to Ezekiel, "So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at My mouth, and warn them from Me" Ezekiel 33:7. One of the qualities of a watchman is hearing the Word at His mouth. This is the kind of hearing that was spoken of by Jesus. "And He said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" Mark 4:9. This is not just the hearing of the ear, but an inner spiritual hearing that transcends the hearing of the natural ear.

Today, there are many voices. The Lord would have us to hear beyond that which the natural ear is capable of hearing. If we are able to hear with the natural ear only, we will hear all kinds of conflicting voices. Rather, He would have us to hear His Word at His mouth.

This is a hearing in our spirit, a hearing that when His Word comes forth, we discern it from other voices. When the Lord speaks, we recognize Him, not because His word is illumined in a very obvious manner, but because we carry already within our heart and spirit a sense of what He is saying. Thus, when the Lord speaks, we recognize Him.

A watchman is raised up and set on high by the Lord. This calling as a watchman is a ministry that can not be pushed into, or attained through self effort. Rather, it is through the operation of His grace that the Lord chooses and raises up a watchman. David testified that he was "... the man who was raised up on high," 2 Samuel 23:1b. David was a prophet who was chosen and disciplined by the Lord for this place. Our part is to be willing to go through a time of preparation, and then to make ourselves available for this most needed ministry.

A promise was given to Jacob in Deuteronomy 32:12,13. "So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth," There was in Jacob's life a reduction, a separation, a dealing, and a forming, until the Lord alone did lead him. He came to the place where there was no strange god, no strange voice and no foreign element in his worship. Thus, the Lord made him to mount up with the wings of an eagle and rise into the high places in the Spirit where he could hear and discern the voice of the Lord.

The Lord is burdened for the bringing forth of a new thing. Today, it is as it was when the children of Israel came into Canaan. The tribe of Gad and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh asked Moses for their inheritance on the eastward side of the Jordan. Although they went across the river with the others to help take the land, they said, "Let us return unto the land on the other side of Jordan." But there were those whose hearts were as Joshua's, to wholly follow the Lord. These crossed over the Jordan and came into their full inheritance, which the Lord gave.

The Lord desires a people who will allow Him to bring forth within them a separation from their old ways, that they might move into the newness of that which He is about to do. We are not stay in our old ways simply because we are familiar with them. We must not hold to our idea that God will move in "such and such" a way simply because He did it that way in the past. At times, we are satisfied to move with the Spirit in a new way, but when it lifts, we go back to our old ways. The children of Israel resisted the new and clung to the old, "what Moses gave us." They looked back because it was "where there was land for our cattle; it was a land we were pleased to dwell in."

The Lord desires to separate us from the "good," regardless of how wonderful it may have been, that we might be brought to "His best." He is looking for those who have the hunger and the desire to follow our Joshua all the way into the land, to abide there. In the Lord's heart there is a desire and a burden to bring forth a new thing; something never seen or experienced before in the Church. We read of several verses concerning this new thing that God is desiring to bring forth.

"Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. This people have I formed for Myself; they shall shew forth My praise" Isaiah 42:9; 43:18-19,21.

This new thing that God is about to do is beyond our imagination. This people that He is presently forming will experience His workings, and shall see His glory. These understand what He said; "I am the Lord, that is My name, and My glory I will not give to another." He is producing a people who will behold His work and glory, and yet not touch it. Whatever way the Lord chooses to manifest Himself, we must stand aside and allow Him to move and work as He pleases. Our responsibility is to prepare our hearts to receive, and to move with Him.

God said to Ezekiel, "Hear the word at My mouth." There is more than just hearing the word, and then speaking it forth. The Lord would cause us to hear and see in such a way that what we have heard and seen will break into, and become a part of our life. This, in turn will break our heart and spirit, producing within us the brokenness of God. Then when the anointing comes and the time is right, that which was broken into our spirits will break forth through us as His word.

Consider Jeremiah. His was a hard word, a message of denunciation and judgment. This word was like a fire burning within him, and when he spoke, it came forth as fire. Yet at the same time, the burning of those words was quenched by the water of his own tears. For, within Jeremiah's heart was a great love, the love that he bore for his land, for his people, and for the Temple. He wept because he had to denounce the very things that he loved. In pronouncing judgment, his own heart suffered.

Thus, it is not enough to merely declare the word of the Lord. There must be a breaking within the messenger, so that the word is brought forth as the expression of the love and compassion of God toward His people. Though it may seem as a harsh word, yet it is not harsh because it is born of love and suffering.

It becomes a word that will bear the people up and not cast them down: lifting them out of the place where they are, and bringing them into God. Those whom the Lord seeks to apprehend today are the ones who will willingly hear the word at His mouth and then allow His word to break into their lives, first accomplishing its work within them before it is delivered to His people.

"Hear ye and give ear: be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken ... But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride," Jeremiah 13:15,17. In this verse we see the broken heart of Jeremiah. But we also see the source of the strength and power that sustained Jeremiah. He was often found in the "secret place" alone with the Lord. The Psalmist writes, "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."

Within this "secret place" of the Most High, we learn to discern the voice of the Lord and the moving of His Spirit. Here, the hearing ear and the hearing heart of the watchman are born. Then as we ascend with Him, we will come to know the satisfaction of being His watchman upon the wall.