Being watchful

praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints - Ephesians 6v18


There is a rather common saying that goes this way – “I’ve got your back.” I think it comes from a military concept of watching out for a fellow soldier as he moves forward. It means that he is safe, from behind at least, as he goes into battle.

There is something to be learned from this. As Christians we need to be sure that we have each other’s backs. As we move forward we need to know that someone is watching out for us. There are a lot of ways we can do that, but the greatest way is what Paul talks about here. In the context of prayer we read, “being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

There is a lot we could talk about here, but I want to focus on that word “watchful.” The word literally means to “not sleep, to be awake.” There is really only one way to truly “watch each other’s backs.” We can physically be there a lot of times for each other. It is nice to be able to literally be there when we need each other. I doubt there is any greater blessing to know that someone can be there for me when I need them.

But that is not always possible. There are times when we just can’t be there. But there is a way that we can always be watchful, there is a way that we can always have each other’s backs.

The one thing we can always do is pray, and the Bible says that prayer is the way that we can truly watch out for each other.

A true soldier would never let someone go into battle and not watch their backs. We can do no less.