“But let no one come into the house of the Lord except the priests and those of the Levites who serve. They may go in, for they are holy; but all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 23:6).
One of the great distortions in some teaching on the subject of prayer is that only a small group of uniquely gifted people are called to be intercessors. True, some may feel they have a specific calling to give many hours daily or weekly to intercession, and some may feel it is a “full-time” calling. But all believers who take time to pray for others are intercessors. There really should be no follower of Jesus who fails to take time on a regular basis to pray for others. Intercession is not a calling but a discipline.
Note the above passage from 2 Chronicles. The opening part of the verse makes it clear that some leaders do have a special calling.
This is true in the Church today. Some are pastors, some teachers, some worship leaders and the like. In ancient Israel there were special classes of temple leadership like the priests and the Levites. But notice how the verse ends: “But all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord!”
You may not be a great Bible teacher or a gifted musician or even an elder, deacon, or usher in a church. Yet, you can be a “watchman of the Lord.” Indeed, as the passage concludes—“all the people shall keep the watch of the Lord!”
When the Apostle Paul was concluding his first letter to Thessalonian believers he wrote: “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6).
Sadly there appear to be two classes of believers in the world: sleepers and watchers. The fact that you are reading these words indicates you desire to be a watcher.