The word for “watch” occurs 23 times in the New Testament. It is about being watchful and on guard. It also can refer to not sleeping or being spiritually slow. Rarely would it mean to just look with your natural eyes.

Matthew 26:40 says, “And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?”

The disciples were asleep but more so than that, they were being spiritually slow; dare I say “lazy”.

It is interesting that “watching” and “praying” go hand in hand. How do we usually pray? How are we taught in church to pray? With our eyes closed. I grew up being taught to pray with my eyes closed.

The idea behind closing our eyes when praying is said to be about making sure we aren’t distracted by the things around us.

But what if the real distraction comes when our eyes are closed?

What if our own minds are busy distracting us from what God is doing all around us when we are praying.

There is a time to sleep and there is a time to pray and we should not confuse the two.

If you want to pray with your eyes closed, I won’t tell you the at you’re wrong, as I do it sometimes as well. I just want us to consider that being watchful in prayer is not just referring to spiritual awareness, but also to something tangible that we might miss when our eyes are closed.

After “watch ye”, it says to “Stand fast in the faith”. Watch can also mean to rise up or stand. Seeing that in the Greek, the word “watch” is active and present tense, also pointing to having been already standing, we are being told to stand continually over a period of time.

When watchful people would drink from the river, they would keep their eyes up as they drank, using their hands to bring the water to their mouth. The foolish would look down as they drank or even put their mouth down to the water, exposing themselves to the risk of attack.

So as we stand continually, we must keep our eyes up and fixed on Him.

Remember also Peter, who sank in the waves when he took his eyes off Jesus.

Several times we see “lifted up eyes” mentioned in scripture. In Acts‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ it says, “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.”

‭‭This scripture is particularly interesting to me because we see the apostles specifically fastening their eyes on the lame man and then asking him to look at them as well.

They were being watchful. Being watchful is not just about using your eyes. It is also about listening to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

In Mark 13:37, the scripture ends with “Watch” being capitalized. While this certainly could have been because of grammar or because it was being emphasized by Jesus as a command. However, I also believe that it emphasized here that we need to be watchful in the Holy Spirit with our spiritual eyes being opened and alert.

“Standing fast” in the faith is not just about continually believing and not giving up. It is also about not losing ground and standing firm in place. Every time we entertain unbelief we lose ground in believing God’s Word. Our feet must be planted in God’s Word with deep roots.

Grass that has deep roots has been watered thoroughly and it can withstand longer periods of drought than grass that only gets small amounts of water less often. It is sometimes easy to not feel God’s presence or to forget what He has done in our lives, and if we have not watered our roots in God’s Word with God’s Word, we won’t be able to stand fast.

I’ll say it again: We water our roots in God’s Word WITH God’s Word. We meditate on His Word and renew our minds each day so we can develop strong roots.

The King James Version of the Bible uses a phrase I was’t familiar with.

When it says “quit you like men”, I thought it meant to “quit”, or “give up”. It also reminded me of how we might tell someone to leave us alone.

It actually means neither of those things.

When the scripture says “quit like men”, it means to “be like men”. This wasn’t necessarily a criticism of the masculinity of the intended audience at that time; rather, it was a call to action. Men are called of God to be strong and yes, to be stronger than women. Just as God is our fortress and our high tower, God has called men to be the fortress and high tower for our families. If you don’t have a family then maybe God has called you to be a fortress and a high tower for others.

We must be strong like men are supposed to be strong. We must be strong in our resolve, strong in our integrity, strong in our faith and strong in our love.

It is interesting that strength and love go hand in hand. It is actually weakness to fail to show love.

When we show love, we are strengthened by God’s love working through us. Think about that. In giving love, we receive strength.

What happens when we give anger instead of love? We lose strength. Our strength is taken from us. Our peace is taken from us.

Anger and hate take from us, but in giving love we obtain strength.

So when the scripture says “let all things be done in love”, it is directly tied to the previous scripture that tells us to be like men and be strong, so we can then do all things in love.

If you are strong in anger you cannot be strong in love.

If you are not a man, don’t lose heart. This scripture is still for you. Yet I believe it is definitely a call to action for men. Men these days are increasingly losing what it means to be men. We are losing what it means to be strong and so we are losing what it means to love.

Be strong in faith by renewing your mind to what God says about you, choose love with every opportunity that comes your way and see how God can transform your life and the lives of those around you.