Biblical Teaching: The Third Watch

This biblical teaching is a production of The Walk Ministries with Pastor Jeno Shaw. You can watch the video below, and then read the teaching notes that follow.  

The Third Watch

What are these “Watches?”

The Bible sometimes talks about the third watch or the first watch. We don’t talk like that in today’s time, so here’s a table that explains the watches.                   

1st watch: You might ask, “Why is the first watch at 6pm, not at 6am?

Genesis 1:5 (KJV)
“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.”

To man, we see it as a day follows the pattern of day then night, but here we see God sets the pattern for the day as night THEN day! 

Why? No one knows exactly why, but let’s look how the universe started.

God in a timeless space had a problem. His problem was that He was surrounded by darkness. What did He do about it? He spoke! He said, “LET THERE BE LIGHT!” AND IT WAS! So if we are counting as things occur to put them in order, it would be dark first then light came. That’s the order. So that’s why we see in scripture it says evening and the morning were the first day.

Typically, the watches are used for times to pray certain types of prayers. Obviously, you don’t need to wait for a particular watch when you have a prayer need, so as to say this is not set in stone, but below is a guide to the watches:

1st Watch: A time to decompress the day’s events, unwind, and get rid of spiritual junk from the day. It’s also a time to renew your identity in Christ Jesus.

2nd Watch: A time to pray for protection, not only for you and your family, but your city and state and nations. A time for taking out demonic strongholds over governments, political and educational platforms, through deliverance to allow godly men and women to take their posts to take their appointed mountain. 1) Religion mountain 2) Government mountain 3) Media mountain 4) Business mountain 5) Arts/Entertainment mountain 6) Family mountain and 7) Education mountain. If godly men and women do not take their appointed leadership in their mountain of influence, the enemy will seize it.

3rd Watch: The enemy likes to operate at this time while people are asleep. If you are an intercessor, this is your watch! This is also a time of overcoming the enemy as apostles were released during this time from prison. The Hebrews were released from Egypt at this time as well.  The third watch is the time to pray to break off witchcraft – especially to take communion and enforce the blood of Jesus over your life and your loved ones ( See Annamarie’s prayer on breaking witchcraft and communion.)

4th Watch: This is a time to set and command the day. Call things forth that are not as if it were. Reaffirm God’s promises to you. It’s also a time of DELIVERANCE.  The 4th Watch is when the Red Sea parted, when Jesus walked on water, also the time when He calmed the storm, and it’s when the stone rolled away from the tomb and Jesus resurrected from the dead. (Check out Annamarie’s 4th watch deliverance prayers here.)

5th Watch: A time to acknowledge that this is the day the Lord has made. You woke up as evidence that you have a mission. Declare that you will complete all that God has written about you in the book of life. Praise Him and thank Him, worship Him.

6th Watch: A time to watch for God’s word being unveiled. God always is showing us signs but are we actively looking. God can speak through trucks, advertisements, traffic, junk mail, anything if you have the eyes to see!

7th Watch: A time to cancel any and all demonic arrows against you and your family. Also a time to be “boots on the ground” and let your light shine as bright as the noonday sun.

8th Watch: A time to announce your victory in Christ Jesus regardless of how you may “feel.” It is finished. Jesus did a complete work on the cross. Let your spirit man reflect on the gift that Jesus gave us on the cross.

The Hours

The Bible also will use the term in the third hour, which translates to  9am. Again, today we don’t use these terms, so here’s a table to get you started:

You get the idea now. Here’s an example.

Matthew 27:45 (KJV)
“Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.”

Now this may seem confusing unless you have the table above. So we know this verse translates to 12noon to 3pm there was darkness over all the land. The significance of this is that usually at the sixth hour it’s the brightest part of the day (but instead, here it was dark) which was a sign to everyone that, “Hey, this truly is the Son of God who you just sacrificed.”

So you see, it helps to translate the hours so you can see it in perspective.

That’s it.

I love you all, take care

Pastor/Coach Jeno Shaw