Pray and Be Watchful
…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful… – Ephasians 6:18
To pray and not to watch, is presumption. You pretend to trust in God, and yet you are throwing yourself into danger, as the devil would have had Christ do, when he tempted Him to cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. If you pray to be kept, then be watchful. Prayer without watchfulness is hypocrisy. A man prays to be kept from sin, and then goes into temptation; his prayer is evidently a mere piece of mockery; for he does not carry it out in his practice.
Sometimes, however, ignorance may lead to prayer without watching. There are other things which ought not to be omitted. Let me tell you a simple story: There was a little school-girl who often did not know her lessons, and there was another girl, who sat near her, who always said her lessons correctly. Her companions said to her, “Jane, how is it that you always know your lessons?” Jane replied, “I pray to God to help me, and so I know them.” The next day, the other little girl stood up, but she did not know her lesson; and afterward she said to her friend, “I prayed to God about my lesson, but I did not know it any better than I did yesterday.” Jane said, “But did you try to learn the lesson?” “No,” she said; “I prayed about it, and I thought that was sufficient.” Of course she did not know her lesson without learning it. In the same manner, you must watch as well as pray. There must be the daily guard put upon tongue, and thought, and hand; or else prayer will be in vain. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2254.cfm
Beware The Foes Within
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day… – Ephesians 6:13
People who are beginning the Christian life should seek to know where their weak points are. I should not wonder, dear friend, if your weak point lies where you think that you are strong. Where you think, “Oh, I shall never go wrong there!”-that is the very place where you are likely to fall. Set a watch wherever any weakness has appeared; and if you have, in the past of your Christian life, grieved the Holy Spirit by anything wrong, set a double watch there. Where you have tripped once, you may trip again; for you are the same man. Set a watch, also, dear friend, whenever you feel quite secure. Whenever you feel certain that you cannot be tempted in a particular direction, that proves that you are already as proud as Lucifer. Set a watch, set a watch, set a watch. Avoid every occasion of sin. If any course of conduct would lead you into sin, do not go in that direction. I heard a man say, as an excuse for drinking, “You see, if ever I take a glass of beer, I seem to lose myself, and I must have two or three more.” Well, then, if that is the case with you, do not take a glass of beer. “But,” says one, “if I get into company, I forget myself.” Do not go where you are likely to be tempted. “Well,” says one, “but my business calls me into the midst of temptation.” I grant you that your business may compel you to go where there are ungodly men; for how could some live at all, if they had not to come into contact with the ungodly?-they would have to go out of the world. Well, then, if that is your case, put on the whole armour of God, and do not go without being prepared to fight the good fight of faith. Set a watch, set a watch, set a watch. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2254.cfm
Our Own Personal Adversaries
…and set a watch… – Nehemiah 4:9
You and I, dear friends, have need to set a watch against the enemies of our holy faith… A night-watchman’s place is not an easy berth; but I am willing to take that post for my blessed Master’s sake. Those professed servants of Christ who enter into an unholy alliance with men who deny the faith will have to answer for it at the last great day. As for us, brethren, when our Lord comes, let Him find us watching as well as praying.
But, dear friends, to come home to ourselves, we must set a watch against our own personal adversaries. I hope that, in one sense, you have no personal enemies; that you own nobody a grudge; but that you live in peace and love towards all mankind. But there are Christian people here, who will go to homes where everybody in the house is against them. Many a godly woman goes from the sanctuary to a drunken husband; many children, converted to God, see anything but what they like to see in their homes. What are they to do in such circumstances? Set a watch. Dear woman, how do you know but that you shall be the means of saving your unconverted husband? If so, you must set a watch; do not give him a bit of your mind; you will not convert him that way. And you, dear children, who have come to Christ, and joined the church, mind that you are dutiful and obedient, for otherwise you will destroy all hope of bringing your parents to the Saviour. Set a watch. “Oh!” say you, “if I do a little wrong, they magnify it.” I know they do; therefore, set a watch; be more careful. Set a watch over your temper, set a watch over your tongue, set a watch over your actions. Be patient, be gentle, be loving. May the Spirit of God work all this in you! ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2254.cfm
Day and Night Watchfulness
“…we set a watch against them day and night…” – Nehemoah 4:9
Nehemiah says, “we set a watch against them day and night.” What! Is there to be someone sitting up all night? Of course there is. If Sanballat had told them when he meant to attack them, they might have gone to sleep at other times; but as he did not give them that information, they had to set a watch “day and night.” The devil will not give you notice when he is going to tempt you; he likes to take men by surprise; therefore, set a watch day and night.
It was a work quickened by knowledge. they knew that Sanballat would come if he could, so they set a watch. The more you know of the plague of your own heart, the more you will set a watch against it. The more you know of the temptations that are in the world through lust, the more you should set a watch. The older you are, the more you should watch. “Oh!” says an aged friend, “you should not say that; it is the young people who go wrong.” Is it? In the Old Testament or in the New, have you an instance of a young believer who went astray? The Bible tells us of many old men who were tripped up by Satan when they were not watching; so you have need to set a watch even when your hair turns grey, for you will not be out of gunshot of the devil until you have passed through the gate of pearl into the golden streets of the New Jerusalem. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2254.cfm
Set a Watch
“We set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” – Nehemiah 4:9
“We set a watch.” Brethren, if we are to watch over ourselves, and we must do so, we must do it with a definite purpose. We must not say, “I must try to be watchful.” No, no; you must be watchful; and your watchfulness must be as distinct and definite an act as your prayer. “We set a watch.” Some of you have seen the guards changed in the barracks; there is a special time for each company to mount guard. When you go to bed at night, pray the Lord to guard you during the darkness. In the morning, set a watch when you go to your business. Set a watch when you go to the dinner-table; set a watch when you return home. Oh, how soon we may be betrayed into evil unless we set a watch!
It was a work carefully done; for Nehemiah says, “We set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” Those three last words would be better rendered, “over against them”; that is, wherever there was an enemy, there he set a watch. They are likely to come up this way. Very well, set a watch there. Perhaps they may shift about, and come up this way. Very well, set a watch there. Possibly they may come climbing over the wall in front here. “Well, set a watch there. “We set a watch over against them.” One brother has a very hot temper. Brother, set a watch there. Another is very morose at home, critical, picking holes in other people’s coats. Brother, set a watch there. One friend has a tendency to pride, another to unbelief. Set a watch wherever the foe is likely to come. “We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch over against them.” ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2254.cfm
Prayer Must Go to Our God
…we made our prayer unto our God… – Nehemiah 4:9
It is a very commonplace remark to make, that prayer must go to God if it to be of any avail; but it is very necessary to make it. When prayer does not go to God, what is the good of it? When you come out of your closet, and feel that you have only gone through a form, how much are you benefited? Make your prayers unto your God. Speak in His ear, knowing that He is there; and come away knowing that He has replied to you, that He has lifted up the light of His countenance upon you. That is the kind of prayer we need for our protection against our enemies both day and night.
I gather from the words before me that it was a prayer saturated with faith. “We made our prayer unto God”? No, “unto our God.” They had taken Jehovah to be their God, and they prayed to Him as their God. They had a full assurance that, though He was the God of the whole earth, yet He was specially their God; and so they made their prayer unto the God who had given Himself to them, and to whom they belonged by covenant relationship. “We made our prayers unto our God.” Those two little words carry a vast weight of meaning. The door of prayer seems to turn on those two golden hinges: “our God.” If you and I are to be delivered from the evil that is in the world, if we are to be kept building the church of God, we must have for our first guard, mighty, believing prayer, such as Nehemiah and his Jewish friends presented unto the Lord. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/sermons/2254.cfm
He Hath Said 