A Call to Prayer: Watchmen Giving Initiative
Dear Intercessors,
Happy June! Thanks to all who joined the historic 21-day prayer and fasting time in May with around 10 to 12 million participants. The Lord accomplished much in that time, including protecting Israel during a barrage of an estimated 1300 rockets launched into the nation. The Iron Dome worked wonders, as did the inauguration of ‘David’s Sling,’ an interceptor missile that took out rockets launched toward Tel Aviv. Yet, more than the IDF’s excellent machinery, there was an unseen, spiritual war waged empowered by a united global army of intercessors. There is power in united prayer and fasting.
Intercessor in Hebrew is ‘paga’ meaning one who reaches, encounters, and entreats with urgent petitions just as one reaches God with urgent requests. The Lord continues to search for intercessors, as in Isaiah 59:16, where He “wondered that there was no intercessor.” Ezekiel 22:30 says, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land.”
The word Watchman in Hebrew, used 80 times in Scripture, is ‘tsaphah.’ In the natural sense, watchmen were the king’s guards or those on the lookout positioned in a tower in the city wall. They sounded the trumpet alarm of any approaching danger. In other instances, this word was used as spiritual watchmen or prophets who kept watch and reported what the Lord said (Isaiah 52:8; Jeremiah 6:17; Ezekiel 3:17; 33:2-7).
The primary exhortation that Jesus gave while teaching on end times was to ‘watch and pray’ (Matthew 24:42-43; Mark 13:32; Revelation 3:2; 16:5). The combination of the Watchman and Intercessor is what the Lord is calling us to in this hour of human history. The ‘watch’ focuses on the mind to grow in understanding by watching the Biblical signs of the times unfold. In other words, to have anointed observation. He is also calling us to pray, which focuses on the heart as we encounter the Lord in the place of prayer, stand in the gap of intercession and experience the ‘arm’ of the Lord being moved. A.W. Tozer said, “Prayer moves the arm that moves the world."
In Isaiah 62, the Lord made a call that reverberates today “to the end of the world” (v. 11). He is setting prophetic watchmen for Israel and Jerusalem who will cry out day and night in a place of intercession until Jerusalem is a praise in the earth. It is a call to be the King of Kings’ guards, sounding an alarm and interceding on behalf of His firstborn. In all this, “His reward is with Him” (v. 11). In other words, He is the reward for obedience to the invitation of being a watchman intercessor for Israel and the Jewish people. May our zeal match God’s zeal for His land and His people!
Every Blessing,
Patricia Bootsma
P.S. Are you new to JH Israel’s Call to Prayer? Are you interested in learning more about our global prayer network? Click here to fill out a form to learn more about our prayer initiatives.
