God meant for prayer to be the great power by which the church should do its work. The salvation of souls, sanctification of ourselves, our loved ones, the church body he put us in, and everything else the church would accomplish, are supernatural works that can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

The example of the personal prayer life of Jesus that we find in the gospel accounts of his life gives testimony to our own great need to pray! Jesus also often taught on the topic of prayer, giving us, for example, the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18, which speaks of a woman who gave the local judge in her town no rest until he finally gave her the justice that she repeatedly asked him for. In this parable, Jesus teaches us that we ought always to pray and to not lose heart, for God is better than that judge and delights in answering our prayers. In our passage today, the Lord calls us to be intercessors, or “watchmen,” who give him no rest but continue crying out for him to establish his people (his church), and make it a praise on the earth. 

Jesus is the hope for the lost and broken around us. He is the one who needs to come and “establish” or awaken the Church in our nation, so that we might shine with the light of his glory and draw many others to know him. He needs to make us into the great praying army of God who can effectively, by our prayers and our connection to him, fight back the darkness around us. This is not a quick process and it takes great perseverance and resolve. But we are told over and over in God’s word, that the Lord hears us when we pray, and that if we pray according to his will, he will answer. Can you imagine what he would do for a church that prays fervently and consistently for his kingdom to come? One that “gives him no rest?”