Hello, thank you for joining me today for Give Him 15. And the title of today's post is God's

Secret Service Agents. 1-Peter 5-8, be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, the devil,

prowls around like a roaring lion lion seeking someone to devour.

Ephesion 618, with every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view,

be alert with all perseverance and every request for all the saints.

The King James Version uses the word watching instead of the phrase be alert in

Ephesion 618. Both translations are good. We are called to be alert in prayer, watching for our family, friends, leaders, cities, and nations.

Today and tomorrow, I want to talk about the concept of intercessary watchmen,

with tomorrow's post being a unique aspect of this important subject.

If ever there was a time when this understanding was necessary, today is one of them.

In scripture, the term watchman comes from the Old Testament and describes what we would today call sentries, guards, or lookouts.

These individuals were responsible for protecting vineyards or fields, in other words, the crops from thieves and animals, and cities from

invading forces. Those watching crops were stationed on rocks, buildings, or towers, to

provide a better range of vision.

Towers or outposts in the fields usually had sleeping quarters

because it was necessary to keep watch day and night during harvest.

The watchman would take shifts, one working, one sleeping, and thereby watched 24 hours a day.

Watchmen were posted on the city walls where they would function as centuries.

From the walls they watched for two things, messengers and enemies. They watched for messengers

in order to inform the gatekeepers when to open the city gates, more importantly, when not to.

In those days, runners were used to carry messages from city to city. And when a known runner or

messenger was approaching, the watchman would alert the gatekeepers that it was safe to open the gate.

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