PRAYER WATCHES

Matthew 26:38-41
• We are commanded to watch and pray.
• It is easy to pray without watching, and to watch without praying. But we need both.
• The ministry of the watchman and woman has become increasingly relevant in the
current phase of God’s move in the cities and nations.
• To every church, leader, minister, there is a call to become God’s watchman and
woman.
• The return of the Bridegroom is at hand; the Bride has to be made ready; the sleeping
virgins, both wise and foolish, must be awakened out of slumber.

Qualities of A Watchman

1. He must have a very good sight (Is. 56:9-12). Spiritual blindness should not be
characteristic of watchmen.
2. He must be well positioned. His position must be spiritually higher than that of other
people within that territory so that he is able to see ahead of them (2 Sam 18:24-28).
3. He must have been made by God to be a watchman. God’s watchmen are schooled by
men, but made by God (Ez. 3:17, Mat. 4:19).
4. He must live a holy life (2 Cor. 7:1; Zech 3:1-3).
5. He must be a man or woman of integrity (Ps. 78:72). Integrity means being who you
say you are.
6. He must be a highly sensitive person. He must be sensitive to God and His angels, to
man and his environment, and to satan and his demonic forces (Is. 56:9-12; Eph. 1:17-
18)
7. He must bear a burden (Is. 62:6-7).
8. He must live a life of prayer (Eph. 6:12).
9. He must have a listening ear (Lev. 8:22-24).
10. He must be a man of knowledge (Prov. 8:10-11; Hos. 4:6; Col. 1:9-11).
i) Knowledge of the Word of God
ii) Knowledge of the Will of God for the people we watch over
iii) Knowledge of the environment where we operate

Prayer Watches

Watch Activity
The First Watch • It is referred to as the gateway watch. It closes the day watch and
18H00-21H00 opens to us the windows of the night.
• We need to build an altar unto the Lord.
• We must offer unto God quality sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving
for the victory He has accomplished for us during the day (Ps. 136).
• It was at this watch that Jesus was buried (Mat. 27:57-60). We need to
bury all the failures of the day, all the defeats, offences and, at the
 same time, lay before God all our accomplishments and victories of
the day. We are not expected to carry any offence up to this point.
Ibhayibhile ithi lingatshoni ilanga uqumbile.
• The burial of Jesus at this watch was the foundation for judging the
prince demons of the earth. It began another journey to the redemption
of the first fruits (setting the captives free (Abraham, David, Moses,
Deborah, etc.). Our prayers must be focussed towards these areas.

Second Watch • This prayer watch focuses on the lives of children. We should arise,
21H00-24H00 and cry out in the night as the watches of the night begin (Lam. 2:18-
19).
• This is the watch that will effect a change in the destinies of our
children.
• It is not just a time for “little” praying, but also a time to pour out our
hearts to God for the lives of our off springs.
• Life is determined at spirit realm. Prayer at this watch determines how
our children will grow; it will determine the kind of friends they will
keep; it will help form in them a godly character.
• Appreciate our children in prayer (Ps. 127:3-5).
• We need to cry out in petition to God against satan’s strange children.
unless God deals with this category of people in our society, many
things will not move forward. When we deal with this category, “our
sons and daughters will grow as plants grown up in their youth”.
• Watchmen must engage themselves in spiritual warfare to crush the
strength, networks and strategies of these strange children in our
cities.
• This watch is a time of favour with God.
• It is a time of provision.
• It is a time to secure provision for yourself and your children.
• A time to secure God’s blessings upon your life and children (Gen.
20:17-18; Ps. 115:14).
• A time of protection from evil plots (acts 23:23-24).
Third Watch • This is one of the most difficult watches to observe. The enemy is
24H00-03H00 keenly interested in this watch during which he seeks to accomplish so
much.
• This is the time enemy takes counsel, as it were, over the earth. He
also releases spirit of wickedness, death, witchcraft, violence, etc.
over the family, Church, and the nations.
• This is the time that occult men involved in soul travel actually move
out of their bodies.
• It is medically proven that sicknesses worsen during this watch.
Ironically, this is the time men are given to deep sleep (Matt 13:24-
26).
• We must catch the enemy, by watching at this time.
• There is much proof that God accomplishes great things when we
keep the third watch of the night.
• It is judgement time for the wicked (Ex. 12:12-14, 29-30).
• It is judgement time for the powers of darkness.
 • It is a time of freedom from slavery. Israelites were released from
slavery during this watch. Jesus went out to take away the keys of
Hell and Hades during this watch.
• It is a time of deliverance (Acts 16:25). It is time of intense spiritual
warfare; we must wake up and confront the enemies whilst they are in
the midst of their activities.
• It is time when activities of the kingdom of darkness are at their peak.
• It is time of marriage (Mat. 25:5-7). In biblical times marriages were
conducted in the night. The bridegroom showed in the night to receive
his bride. Jacob received his wife at night. Ruth went to Boaz at night
(Ruth 3:8-18). We need to awake to remain married to the Lord.
The Fourth Watch • This is a time of total deliverance.
03H00-06H00 • Jesus came to His disciples at this watch and saved them from
drowning in the sea (Matt. 14:25).
• We need to come to God at this watch and negotiate the
deliverance of many who are in one form of bondage or the other.
• God sent His angels at this watch to deliver Lot and his family
from Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:15). We need to come to a
new level of priesthood in our cities to effect the deliverance of
our people from bondage.
• The Lord Jesus prayed a lot during this watch (Mk 1:34-35).
• Our Lord established His ministering during the day through His
night watches (Luk. 6:12).
• This is time of resurrection (Mat. 28:1-4). We should pray
resurrection of people’s lives, families lives, and nations destinies
that have been buried by the enemy.
The Fifth Watch • It is called the morning watch.
06H00-09H00 • In prayer we should command the morning (Job 38:12-13).
• One way of commanding the morning is by programming its events
during the night watch. We need to command the morning to take
hold of the ends of the earth.
• As a watchman you have to be capable of shaking out the wicked
from the earth (vs 13). The wicked in your locality have continued to
exist simply because the watchmen have allowed them.
• As a watchmen Ezekiel was given the power to deal with the wicked
men and women of his time (Ez. 11:1-13).
• The morning watch brings the freshness of a new day. We need to ask
God for the day spring from on high to take hold of the earth (Ps.
30:5).
• The “Dayspring” refers to John the Baptist; this time not as a child but
to a prophetic assignment. This was a divine intervention –to let the
dayspring from on high visit our churches, cities, and nations in Jesus
Name.
• Divine intervention brings us diverse blessings from God. It comes
with deliverance to deliver us from the works of the devil (Dan. 6:18-
23).
• We need to earnestly ask God for His mercy during this watch (Lam
3:22-24; Jn 8:2-12).
 The Sixth Watch • Our Lord Jesus was crucified at this watch (Mk 15:21-26). At this
09H00-12H00 watch we must come with a clear appreciation of His accomplishment
for us. We must remind God of what Jesus did on the Cross.
• We must confront the enemy on the basis of our Saviour’s death on
the cross
• Claim all the benefits of the new birth.
• We must challenge the powers of darkness and their activities during
the day by the Blood of Jesus.
• We need to renew our covenant with God, that covenant made on the
cross for the whole humanity (Heb 8:8-13)
• We must negotiate the redemption of men and women from all
manner of prison houses. We must pray for the release of our youths
from spiritual prisons and the setting free of families from satanic
bondage (Zech 9:11-12). We must also negotiate for restoration.
• We must remember during this watch to negotiate for: equipping for
service; the anointing for empowerment; the release of the keys for
transformation; supernatural encounter (Acts 2:1-4, 14-15).
• We should pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit for revival in the
land (Is. 32:15-18).
The Seventh Watch • This watch is the fullness of the day. It begins at the sixth hour. The
12H00-15H00 Lord Jesus observed this watch on the cross.
• The enemy has buried many treasures meant for God’s kingdom deep
inside spiritual graves. The destinies of numerous men and women
have been buried inside satanic graves. Certain things meant for you
may also have been buried inside one of these graves. This is the time
to command whatever those may be to come out of their graves. We
need to command by the power of His resurrection for these buried
potentials to come to life.
The Eighth Watch • This watch begins at the ninth hour of the day. It was referred to as
15H00-18H00 the hour of prayer (Acts 3:1).
• It may not be possible for you to observe all the watches. But you can
choose your watch and observe it faithfully.
• Cornelius had one of his ceaseless prayers during this watch (Acts
10:1-3).

PREPARED BY ZE GUNYA