ABOUT THE NIGHT WATCH

I was asked the following question: 

“You wrote last week about the night watch.  Now you write about getting rhema in one night.   I heard someone on a CD mention the night watch too.  Is this all the same thing?  Or does night watch mean to watch over spiritually?

And do you dream rhema or are you so ‘awake’ in your spirit so that you sense it even while you are sleeping? 

And how do you remember all to write it down the next morning or do you get up at night to do it?

I used to have many dreams etc while I was sleeping and I tried to remember them to write them down the next morning.  These days however I am so tired, I barely stay awake until it is bedtime.  But the Lord really wants to tell me something, else I won’t encounter the same night watch topic three times in approx 1 week!”

RESPONSE FROM SANDY

God speaks most at night.  When I hear Him speak during the night, I call it the night watch. 

Ps 63:6 NKJV

When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night  watches.

Job 33:14-16 NKJV

For God may speak in one way, or in another, Yet man does not perceive it.  In a dream, in a vision of the night , When deep sleep falls upon men, While slumbering on their beds,  Then He opens the ears of men, And seals their instruction.   

This is a time when all the lingering distractions from yesterday are not remembered, and the distractions of the new day are not yet recalled.  It is a place in the spirit and soul and body that is at complete rest where all flesh is subdued.  This place can be where one is totally asleep, or where one is just about asleep, or just waking from sleep.  I have had years of daily practice of going into that place and it becomes easier through habit.  It has required sacrifice to keep that place of rest.

I am at a resting place in the Lord, through practice and habit,  where I can enter without going to sleep, and so it is easy to record it in my mini recorder.  If I am totally worn out and go to bed crashing, I dont hear Him as much.  I try to do what I can to get enough rest so that some of my night watch is awake and not knocked out. 

However when I receive dreams and trances, they are always asleep and then the Lord Himself wakes me up right afterwards so I can record them.

EXAMPLES THAT GOD SPOKE AT NIGHT

Genesis 31:24 NKJV

But God had come to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, "Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad."

Genesis 31:29 NKJV

It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, 'Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.'

Numbers 22:20 NKJV

And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you — that you shall do."

1 Samuel 15:16 NKJV

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak on."

Acts 18:9 NKJV

Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent.

12 PRACTICAL TIPS

In 1984, when the Lord first started talking to me, I found He was talking a lot and I was missing most of what He was saying.  Through out the years I have made adjustments to be able to continue hearing from Him and not lose ground.  It has been an uphill climb of overcoming, one step at a time of making tradeoffs and adjustments according to my priority.  Here is what I do to keep my spiritual well primed to hear and see in the night watch:

ASKING AND SEEKING

1. Asking for help to hear and see.  Without Him, I can do nothing. (John 15:5)
   
   I often ask Him to open my spiritual ears, eyes and understanding.   I ask Him to make me spiritually tuned in and aware of the many ways He speaks, because His world is spiritual and superimposed over our natural world.  Unless I ask Him for help, I miss the multidimensional life of living in His kingdom. 
   
    

2. Seeking and asking to send me His daily bread, because that is my scriptural promise.  (Matt 6:11)
   
   When I don’t hear from the Lord every day in some way, I feel deprived of what He promised.  I do whatever is necessary until we connect in a meaningful way.
   
   I have learned the secret of being a beggar (smile).  I get so hungry to hear from Him, I start pestering Him until I do.  When I was a child my Dad would come home from work and read his newspaper.  I would climb into his lap and start batting the paper until He gave me the attention I was crying out for. 
   
   I dont have to beg to the Lord very often any more, but I have discovered that when there is extra prayer needed, I am always rewarded extra good when the answers come. 
   
   
    

RECORDING AND KEEPING

3. Praying for help to record what I hear.  He promise is to bring what He has said into remembrance.  (John 14:26)
   
   I think God has a marvelous sense of humor and is very patient.  Sometimes my mind is wandering after I have heard something and all of a sudden I will hear a door bell ring, a knock, or the phone ring, or the phone busy signal.  Sometimes I will hear the same thing over and over again until I suddenly realize God is still talking to me!  Sometimes I will get a picture of me writing something I have heard down.  One time I even heard the beep in my mini microphone, and I laughed and apologized to the Lord for wandering when He was talking.  In all of these, He was reminding me to record what He was saying.
   
    

4. Using a mini voice recorder.  After recording, then later I harvest the rhema of what I heard and see and type it into the computer.  He tells us to write the vision and make it plain.  (Hab 2:2)
   
   For a few early years I had a pen light and wrote in notebooks underneath the covers, so I wouldn’t disturb my husband.  It finally became very hard to lay on one side to write and not toss and turn when he was trying to sleep.  He had strange night shift working hours and we both snored.  (smile)  I gradually moved into the guest bedroom for half nights to spend time with the Lord.  Now we sleep comfortably in different bedrooms and have actually done this for most of our married life. 

5.  Being faithful with what He gives me, so I will receive more.  (Matt 25:21)

If I have not used, honored, appreciated or kept what He has given to me, why should He give me more?  The physical, spiritual and emotional part of “keeping” His Word takes every part of me to not let go.  And I am faithful with what He gives me, He will build upon my portion and continue to give me more.

Luke 8:15 NKJV

But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, KEEP it and bear fruit with patience. 

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

6. Binding the demonic from stealing my hearing and seeing, and doing as much warfare as needed to keep them at bay.  (Matt 18:18)
   
   At first He allowed the opposition because He was teaching me how to use my weapons of war to overcome and climb the hill of the Lord.  (Ps 24:3)  Then later after I started breaking through regularly, things changed and I learned that one of the most powerful weapons of war is obedience to scripture.  When I was not obedient to His Word during the day, it opened demonic portholes at night and I would get slimed.  I still used my weapons but I had to work harder and longer and grow hungry, all a part of the discipline of the Lord.  Obedience is a matter of growing levels of maturity and suddenly seeing things in the Word where one’s heart or behavior does not reflect His image.
   
    

7. Guarding my eye and ear gates from carnal television, media.  The eye is the gateway to my body.  If I open myself to darkness, how great is that darkness.  (Matt 6:22;23)
   
   For me, this has been one of the hardest lessons to learn.  The Lord has been relentless with me through a balance of drawing me to Him and also negative feedback about my choices, until I have finally become so desperate that I allow my flesh to die, so He can live and be my fountain of life.  The closer I draw to Him, the more His holy fire burns.  One day I will have what I want from Him, and when that happens I know my flesh is finally on the cross.
   
    

8. Guarding my heart and level of fellowship when I am with unbelievers and not being unequally yoked as much as possible.  I guard my heart with all diligence for out of it are the well springs of life.  (Prov 4:23; 2 Cor 6:14) 
   
   I have found through out the years, especially in business relationships that in my loving nature, I would open myself up to soul ties or soul bonds of friendship with people, simply by spending time talking.  I discovered that these ties were opening up doors to their demons and I was having to overcome their snares.  It was a real eye opener when I started to understand this and how it was affecting my intimacy with the Lord.  When we join in alliances with others for a common purpose, we need to be wise about who we are joining with and not become snared by their idols, lifestyle or carnality.
   
    

9.  Avoiding any medications that cause me to have a slumbering spirit and be too sleepy to hear and record.   (Gal 5:20; Rev 18:23)
   
   The root word that we get the name pharmacy comes from a Greek word that means medication, sorcery or witchcraft. There are some medications that are wide open doors to the demonic world.  
   
    

FINDING REST AND PEACE

10. Taking naps when needed in order to spend night hours in silence with Him.  (Matt 11:28)
    
    I dont do this often, but I have noticed that when I take a nap for the express purpose to hear Him, I do often get rewarded.  I have found that it is helpful to be rested in body, soul and spirit so that I can come into that secret place with Him. 
    
     

11. Going to bed when I need to press into Him during the day about something specific.
    
    There have been times in my life where I am up working and feel so distraught over something, that I stop and go to bed just to hear Him and find peace.  Sometimes I am only in bed 5 minutes and then I pop out again very rested and my soul is at peace after having prayed it through.  Sometimes I do this numerous times a day when I am desperate and need to hear Him.  Scripture tells us that He exalted His Word even above His Name.  I have found that I am fainting in body, soul and spirit unless I daily hear His Word in some way or another. 
    
     

12.  Avoiding caffeine and anything that alters my natural sleep needs.   The Lord leads me beside His still waters to restore my soul.  (Ps 23) 
    
    Caffeine is something that I am sensitive to and it affects my ability to rest and not feel driven.