Drawing-near, conversational-prayer is when we vigilantly-watch for answers from God

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Proseuche conversational-prayer that perserchomai draws near to the Lord is where we watch for the Lord for the answer, just like watchmen (a) on the walls of Jerusalem or the temple (b) during the “watches of the night” (c), and watching the gates into the city (d), looking intensely for enemies approaching (e).  All the people were also to “watch Moses until he had gone into the tent” where the Lord met face-to-face with Moses (f). Passover was to be “a night of watching kept to the Lord” (g).  It is also speaks of the shepherd keeping watch over their flocks at night to keep them safe from wolves (h), or as the Church’s shepherds that should keep watch over their flock’s souls (i).  <Notes> a) 1 Samuel 14:16; 2 Samuel 18:24-27; 2 Kings 9:17-20, b) 2 Kings 11:18; 1 Chronicles 9:27; 2 Chronicles 23:18; Isaiah 62:6; Jeremiah 6:17, c) Matthew 14:24; Mark 6:48; Luke 12:38, d) Nehemiah 11:19, e) 2 Samuel 13:34, f) Exodus 33:8, g) Exodus 12:42, h) Luke 2:8, i) Hebrews 13:17.

Ezekiel was a type of Christ, a “Son of Man” Watchman giving warning to His people (a).  Likewise Daniel talks of “a Watcher, a Holy One, coming down-from/according-to heaven” (b).  So the psalmist says: “Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake [against possibility of invasion] in vain” (c).  God told Solomon who to watch for:  “Blessed is the one who shama/eisakouo ‘deeply/intentionally listens/hears-to-understand/know toward-and-reaching-the-goal-of’ Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting beside My doors” (d).  The psalmist understands:  “I remember You upon my bed, and meditate on You in the watches of the night” (e), and “My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on Your promise” (f).  Isaiah speaks not only of their religion’s blindness but of the time of Christ when the bible-study expert scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees would also be blind watchmen:  “God’s watchmen are blind; they are all without experiential, relational yada/ginosko knowing” (g). <Notes> a) Ezekiel 3:17, 33:7, b) Daniel 4:13, c) Psalms 127:1, d) Proverbs 8:34, e) Psalms 63:6, f) Psalms 119:148, g) Isaiah 56:10, cf. Matthew 15:14, 23:16-19, 24, 26; Luke 6:39; John 9:40-41, 12:40; but God’s intention is Romans 2:19.

Jesus often strongly urged His disciples to horao ‘watch, be alert, be attentive’ or gregoreo ‘vigilantly watch’ or prosecho ‘set and hold a course toward’ (a), especially gregoreo ‘vigilantly watching’ in proseuche conversational-prayer (b) but especially to keep from falling into peirasmos ‘testing/trying-to-prove-genuineness or temptation’ (c).  Jesus “diastello ‘sent through division by expressly charging’ His disciples, routinely saying, ‘[I strongly urge you to] presently/ongoingly horao ‘watch, be alert, be attentive’!  [I strongly urge you to] blepo ‘physically see or be watchfully observant’ of the leaven of the Pharisees and/coupled/also of the leaven of Herod” (d). <Notes> a) Matthew 16:6, 25:13; Mark 8:15; Luke 21:34, b) Matthew 26:38, 40; Mark 14:34, 37, c) Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38, d) Mark 8:15.

Paul told Christians to skopeo ‘attentively observe/watch, contemplate, or take heed with scrutiny’ for the false teachers who often cause divisions (a), blepo ‘physically seeing or being watchfully observant’ that divisions among them don’t consume one another (b), but instead “gregoreo ‘vigilantly watch’ that you stand firm in The Trusting-Relying-Faith (c).  In helping to gently restore a brother from sin, Paul advised “routinely being skopeo ‘attentively observant/watchful by contemplating or taking heed with scrutiny’ lest you also be peirasmos ‘tested/tried-to-prove-genuineness or tempted’ (d).  He strongly-urged Timothy, his pastor-in-training, “to presently/ongoingly epecho ‘attentively hold forth to observe’ himself and his teaching (e), but also strongly-urges Christians to “be presently/ongoingly proskartereo persistently-relationally-devoted [in/by/with] proseuche conversational-prayer, routinely gregoreo ‘vigilantly watching’ in this in/by/with eucharistia thanksgiving” (f) – shouldn’t that be reason enough to make it a habit? <Notes> a) Romans 16:17, cf. Titus 3:10; Jude 1:19, b) Galatians 5:15, c) 1 Corinthians 16:13, d) Galatians 6:1, e) 1 Timothy 4:16, f) Colossians 4:2.

1 Peter 5:8 says: “[I strongly urge you to] definitively/wholly be sober-minded.  [I strongly urge you to] definitively/wholly gregoreo ‘vigilantly watching,’ for the adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 2 John 1:8 warns Christians to “[I strongly urge you to] presently/ongoingly blepo ‘physically see or be watchfully observant of’ yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.”

But in order to ‘see’ God’s answer we find in the desires and prayers of Jesus, Paul, and the other NT writers that we must humbly realize that we are blind and deaf, despite all our human efforts to acquire “wisdom and understanding” as the zealous Jewish bible-students failed at, and to realize we also need Jesus’s prayers to “open our eyes and ears wide” by the enabling-power of the Holy Spirit, so we can also:  1) recognize Jesus for who He really is and not miss Him, 2) be healed of our spiritual blindness and deafness, and even possibly from our own physical illnesses, 3) be able to have “eyes and ears wide open” to receive “wisdom and revelations” through visions, dreams, and directly-spoken/heard prophetic rhema words of prophecy from God directly by His Spirit to directly guide and teach us every single thing we need for life, godliness, and ministry.  This isn’t just for the prophets and apostles, but for us NOW in order to also experientially, relationally ginosko know the Lord, 4) especially to understand the secrets of the kingdom as true disciple-followers instead of only getting parables as the masses did, 5) to have the ability to turn from the darkness of sin to the light of sanctification/holiness, 6) to be equipped to naturally evangelize instead of forced out of obligation, and 7) be empowered in other ways to serve the Lord.

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