What does it mean to watch and pray?

Watching in prayer carries the picture of a night guard on duty. In Old Testament times the night was divided into watches, periods when a sentinel stayed alert and did not fall asleep on his post. Scripture describes standing "upon my watch" and setting oneself "upon the tower" to see what the Lord will say, which pictures the posture of an intercessor who prays and then stays alert, expecting an actual answer rather than simply speaking words into the air. Habakkuk did not just make his request and walk away; he watched to see what God would say back to him, and God did answer him. This is the heart of watching: praying with the confident expectation that God is listening and will respond, not offering vain or repetitious prayers that never really expect anything back.

Watching also means staying spiritually awake so that you are not caught off guard by the enemy or by your own drifting heart. The watchman on the wall who sees the sword coming and fails to sound the warning is held responsible for what happens to the people; the same principle applies to watching in prayer, being alert to what the enemy is attempting and what God is doing, and interceding accordingly. This is why prayer is joined with watching in passages that instruct believers to pray "always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." Watching adds spiritual alertness to prayer; it is not enough to pray words, one must also pay attention, stay awake, and keep interceding without growing weary or giving up.

Because we now live under a covenant where we are told to "pray without ceasing," watching and praying is meant to become a lifestyle rather than an occasional act tied only to fixed hours. Just as God met His people in the Old Covenant within the watch hours, He continues to meet His people in whatever hours are set aside to watch and pray, but the deeper aim is that prayer becomes the atmosphere in which a believer constantly lives, staying alert in heart toward God throughout the day rather than waiting only for a designated prayer time. This kind of watching guards against remissiveness and indolence, the very failure Jesus warned His disciples about when He told them to "watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation," since the flesh is weak even when the spirit is willing.

Watching and praying together, then, mean staying alert like a guard on duty, praying with real expectation that God will answer and speak, interceding persistently without fainting or giving up, and letting that alertness shape a continual lifestyle of communion with God rather than a routine confined to a set hour.