Leaders as Spiritual Watchmen for the Nations

UV 1440/10,000 Leaders as Spiritual Watchmen for the Nations
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Habakuk 2 v 1

The uni-verse de-romanticises the role of leadership. No great titles or high sounding epithets. We are just watchmen. The Lord has appointed us as watchmen for our respective nations and organisations. A leader is a watchman for the Lord. He watches happenings in this world and reports it faithfully to the Lord and He takes the message from the Lord and communicates it to the world. We are to watch all day and all night. We are expected to be vigilant and alert. We are to take a stand on virtually every aspect of life and be a witness in every area or domain of life. We are to examine and analyse the trends and reach a conclusion of what is the Lord’s will. We are to watch out for the souls of the people we are leading as a shepherd is concerned for his sheep. We are to be sensitive to what the Lord is speaking into our lives and be attentive to His Word. We are the Chief Spiritual Officers of our organisations and nations. Each of us has a specific jurisdiction or area to watch over. The Lord gives us the tools of the watchman- the flashlight of the Holy Spirit to search scripture and discover life-saving and life-enhancing truths, the cane or stick of authority, the whistle to raise the alarm and call the angels to our help, a notebook in which to record our observations, thoughts and feelings. Our lives are divided into different watch hours of the night. Our hope and joy increases as the dawn draws near and we are about to be called to make our final report before the Lord.

As spiritual watchmen we are responsible for the inner security and sense of well being of people. We must watch out for the attacks of the roaring lion and warn people of these risks and dangers. As watchmen, we are not to leave our posts or abdicate our responsibilities. We should be faithful and diligent. We ward off attacks by mounting the prayer tower and spending time in prayer. Prayer gives us strategic height to have a commanding view of what lies ahead of us, the nation and the world. Jesus described satan as a thief, robber and killer. As watchmen, our role is to reduce the extent of his thieving, robbery and killing. We can through our active prayer life and intercession focus on pre-empting him from stealing and robbing lives, peace, health, eternity from people. We can prevent him from killing the faith and souls of people.

A watchman should have a keen sense of vision. What he sees and hears, he needs to accurately and promptly report to the Lord. It is the Lord who acts on our prayer reports. Spiritual watchmen unlike the watchmen of the world report the positive and the praiseworthy. They send up prayer reports as well as praise reports. At times when the Lord is about to reproach or rebuke or punish, the watchman stands in the gap and intercedes for people. Abraham was a watchman for the world during his lifetime. He pleaded for lives of people living nearby. Moses was a watchman for Israel.

Prateep V Philip