Is There a Watchman Pt. 1

0:00 I am so excited about this. I want to welcome you to the Purpose Project podcast. During our time together, I will teach you how to pray, how to intentionally develop intimacy with your Creator, and challenge you to discover and embrace your God-ordained purposes. I am your host, Margie Flarrant. My prayer for you today is that you will be empowered and strengthened in the Word of God to move forward into your destiny. At the time when my message is, is there a watchman in the house? With that in mind, I'm going to ask you to open up to the book of Psalms.

0:50 127. Is there a watchman where? In the church? In the city? In the nation? No. We're going to hone right in on where we are. We're going to begin right where we are. Is there a watchman in the house? Is there a watchman in your family? Is there someone who is watching out for the hearts and the future of your children? The fact that you are a parent is by divine destiny and by divine appointment. We're called to watch over them. We're called to train them. We have to make sure they go to school.

1:32 We have to make sure they get good grades. We give them as much wisdom as we possibly can, because how many of you know that when you have a baby, you'll live and you'll learn as you go? How many of you know that to be true? And then with each stage is more learning. So we're called to do all these things for them in the natural, but that calling doesn't just end there to raise them in the natural to be successful human beings on this earth, because like we heard this weekend, we are not citizens of this earth. We have to navigate our way in this world system, but we are citizens of heaven.

2:12 And so as parents, we need to realize and understand that we are watchmen in our own house. We are called not just to train our children in the natural and to make sure they're successful in the natural, but we are called to watch over them in prayer. We are called to help them and undergird them and strengthen them and keep things off of them through the avenue of prayer. And prayer, as you know, opens up the door for God to work. Are you listening? We have not because we ask now, but the beauty of a praying parent is the effectual fervent prayers of especially a praying parent avail much. How many of you, and I hate to use this word.

3:04 It's kind of a harsh word. I'll put it to you like this. How many of you would die for your children? How many of you would cut off your left arm for your children? Well, you know, the greatest act of love that you and I could do for our children is to lay down our lives for them, not just by feeding them, not just by going to work for them and providing for them financially, not just by driving them all over what I call God's creation, not just by sitting in parking lots where they have voice lessons and hockey and baseball and football. The greatest act of love we can truly do in the spirit is to lay down our lives for them as their primary intercessor.

3:53 Are you listening? So we're going to talk about Watchmen in the House. Now this message could actually not just be for our own children as mothers and fathers, but this message could be for our aunts and our uncles and all the people that are in our family's spirit of influence. As a matter of fact, I don't really know too much about it yet, but I heard it's really fun. I also am talking to those of you who are grandparents. You have those kids, you raise them, and then you get to be a grandparent, and I heard that it's really fun. Is there any grandparents in here today?

4:34 You know, you get those grandbabies and you get to love them and you get to spoil them and you get to buy things for them, and then they go home. Then you don't have to be up with them all night. So we're talking about Watchmen in our own homes, Watchmen over our own families. And let's look here at the scripture Psalms 127. Beginning with verse 3. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward like arrows in the hand of a warrior. Parents, you are God's chosen warriors.

5:23 So are the children of one's youth. We're just going to go ahead and read verse 5 and I'll tell you why in a minute. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies at the gate. I was about 30-something years old. I don't remember the exact time because I didn't write it down. Do you know why I like to write things down in my journals? Because I know one day I'm going to leave this earth and I'm going to leave a legacy for my children.

6:08 I know in my heart that when I go to be with Jesus, the first thing my children are going to do is they're going to go into my library and they're going to see all my journals all lined up. And I have them numbered. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. I have them all numbered and they're all in chronological order in divine order. And I know that my children are going to read those journals. Do you know? I want my legacy to go on. How about you? We want to leave a legacy.

6:48 That's why as parents you should write things down. As a matter of fact, I also have books or things, prophetically, that through the years since the kids were babies, that I have written down about them and dated. I don't tell them everything. How many of you know it's wisdom? You know, Mary knew some things, but what does the scripture say? You know the Bible. Mary hid those things in her heart. I think sometimes if we tell our children everything or a part of what we know about their destiny and about their future, if we told them it would scare them and it would push them the other way.

7:30 So I have a book of prophecies and not prophecies and scripture that I have from my kids and I have given them that notebook, but I haven't told them everything. So when I was about 30-something years old, 30-something, I wish I knew the exact date. I don't know how Kenneth E. Hagen did that. He had something we didn't have. See, I liked his ministry. He was normal. He was stable. He was a prophet. He flowed in the spirit. Nobody really could really touch him. Did you ever notice that? He was like Jesus. He would just walk through crowds and nobody could touch him. Why? Because he had clean hands and a pure heart.

8:11 He walked in integrity. He had nothing to hide. And he could have said like Jesus said, There is nothing in me, Satan, that belongs to you. I want to be like Kenneth E. Hagen. I believe there would have been something written in the New Testament about Kenneth E. Hagen. I believe he left the legacy. But when I was about 30-something years old, I'm sitting in my home church at the time, and I heard the Spirit say to me, the Holy Spirit, because New Agers talk about the Spirit. It's not the Holy Spirit. It's a counterfeit.

8:52 And I heard the Holy Spirit say to me, You have a fertility problem. But fear not, you're going to conceive. And your firstborn will be a son. And told me what to name him. Told me to name him John. I named him Jonathan. Is that okay? People still call him John. And told me some things about his life and his destiny and his future. Well, Margie, you heard that because you're a minister. No. I heard that because I'm a mom.

9:33 I heard that because I'm a watchman in my own house. I heard that because I have the Spirit of Truth abiding in me, and he leads me and he guides me into all truth, and he shows me things to come. I have the same Holy Spirit in me that you have in you. Are you listening? God is no respecter of persons. And when he speaks things to me, oh, he can definitely speak things to you. So he said, fear not, you're going to have a fertility problem, and your firstborn is going to be a son, and this is what you're going to name him. Now, what did you do with that? I really didn't do anything with it, because we weren't really ready to have children.

10:14 As a matter of fact, the Bible says, prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. And you know, I didn't try to, I didn't freak out or try to make that happen or whatever. I just put it on a shelf, and lo and behold, we tried to get pregnant for about a year, and I wasn't getting pregnant. And you know, my friends, prophecy is given that you can war a good warfare. Right? And I remembered what the Lord said, and at the time we had a friend who was a fertility specialist, and I ended up in his office, and to make a very long story short, I had a situation, we did surgery, but I was still not getting pregnant, and so what he advised was, he advised that I do a round of what's called in vitro fertilization.

11:10 Now, I can remember as a little girl, maybe 11 years old, I don't know the exact time, but I remember watching the news and they talked about the first test tube baby. I don't know how old I was. Maybe somebody could look it up on the internet and we could find out when they had the first test tube baby. And in my mind, I thought a baby in a test tube growing. How many of you know what I'm talking about? I just had no idea. But I remember that. And so basically, that's what in vitro fertilization is. They take the woman's egg, the man's sperm, they put it into a petri dish, and we have a embryo.

12:03 So this is what we did. And as we were going through the process, I was upset. Wouldn't you be upset? Well, the Bible says, you know, Lord, the Bible says, you know, that none shall lose their young by miscarriage or be barren in the land. That's what your word says, Lord. Your word says that. Your word says that. Why do I have to go this route? I actually really don't know why. How many of you have the answers to all the questions? I just know that it was God's will and God's plan for me to go this route for whatever reason. I don't know everything. Sometimes we try to reason things and we reason things out and we don't get the petitions that we desire of Him because we may not be at the level of faith to receive the fullness of what God has.

12:54 So God has to use doctors and He has to sometimes use therapists to help us and He has to sometimes just go other routes. As long as we get the end result, isn't that really all that matters? So I remember pulling in my garage and I was really upset and I said, I just don't get why I have to go this route. And the Lord said, I heard the Spirit of God say to me, just like He talks to you, I pull into the garage and He said to me, you're going to have twins in your first pregnancy and a singleton in your second. And in your second pregnancy, you're going to get pregnant on your own. So I said, all right, wrote it down, prove all things.

13:34 Hold fast to that which is good. Put it on the shelf. Put it in my journal, just a little yellow piece of paper. So to make a very long story short, we got pregnant the first shot. And if anybody knows anything about in vitro fertilization, they can take two sessions, three, four, five, ten, some people just never conceive. We got pregnant with twins on the first shot. Are you listening? So about 26 weeks into the pregnancy, I started to go into preterm labor. Preterm labor. None shall lose their young by miscarriage or be barren in the lands.

14:16 The children are the heritage of the Lord and it is the fruit of the womb that is the reward. So I started going into preterm labor and about five weeks, 26 weeks into the pregnancy, I went on complete and total bed rest. And they came out to find some medicine and I just laid there and laid there and laid there and laid there and laid there and laid there and laid there and laid there. And about 30 weeks, three days, actually the day of my shower. I told them actually not to have the shower. They should have had it sooner. They didn't tell them. They didn't listen to me because your spirit knows things, your head doesn't know.

14:59 And my heart told me that those babies are coming early. And so there we were, the day of my shower. Everybody's going to my sister-in-law's house and I'm on my way to the hospital. And I'm in the hospital and they tried to stop the babies from coming but they had to perform what's called an emergency C-section. And that's when I realized that I was in a war. That's when I realized that I am warring over the destiny of my children. That's when I realized that I was called not to just give birth to them in the natural, but to give birth to them in the spirit.

15:43 That's when I realized I was in a war. That before God ever formed these babies in my womb, He knew them and ordained them to be planted in the earth for such a time as this. The first baby that was supposed to come out was Danielle. Because she was the baby that if we had had the babies regular, she would have been born first. But because we had a C-section, baby A was Jonathan. So he was born first according to the pattern that God had in mind. Because God knows the beginning and God knows the end.

16:25 He is the Alpha, he is the Omega, he is the author, and he is the finisher of the lives and the futures of our children. And so that's when I realized right in the OR that I was called to be a watchman in my own house. I was called not to just give birth to them in the natural, but I was called to go to war for them, to pray for them, and to stand for them. And those babies, my friends, went into incubators. They were 3 pounds and 3.5. Danielle's lowest weight was 2 pounds 11. Jonathan's lowest weight was 3 pounds.

17:07 I stayed at the hospital. I am not going home. That's what parents do. I am not going home. I am going to stand and I'm going to pray and I'm going to believe. And then God gave me scripture for my children. You know, God will give you scripture. Those scriptures that He gives you for your children are warring scriptures. You can use those scriptures to war over your children. The Bible says, parents, He teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight. He will give you scriptures to fight over the destiny and the future of your children.

17:49 Specific scriptures. How many of you parents have specific scriptures for your children? I put those scriptures up on that incubators, both incubators. And I am telling you, they were hooked up to everything imaginable. And it was just not fun and it was not easy, but I had Jesus. How many of you have Jesus? How many of you parents have Jesus as Lord over your lives? So that's when I realized that I was called to fight for my children. To just make another long story short before we get into the continuation of our message today.

18:31 Seven months after my twins were born. Interesting because I didn't get it. How did it happen? I found out I was a full five months pregnant. Can you imagine? This little baby moving around, kicking, hollering. Me, I was like, I'm pregnant. You're not pregnant. I'm pregnant. You're not pregnant. I think I'm pregnant. I'm sick. I'm not sleeping. I'm losing weight. I'm pregnant.

19:13 Something's moving. How many of you have ever done denial? I went, took the twins. They were like full term babies by then. To my fertility doctor, to share the twins with them now that we had them out of the hospital. And they were off of everything. And it was going to be okay, an easy ride so to speak. And I took the babies to him and I just said, Dr. Cooper, could you just do me a favor? Could you just do a little pregnancy test on me? And I'm telling you that pregnancy test. You know how they look. Came out bright blue with a big cross.

19:56 And he looked at me and he said, you're pregnant. I said, you're just joking. I'm not pregnant. He said, you're pregnant. We did an ultrasound. I never tell this story. This is the first time I've ever told this story publicly. I felt led to tell this story. I went into the doctor. He did an ultrasound. I was a full, five, 20 weeks. I mean, 20 weeks pregnant. I had that baby 19 weeks later. It was girl. She was born on Christmas Eve. Just exactly the way God said. And I didn't realize that I was raising and training this next generation.

20:37 I didn't realize it was part of my calling to be a mother. Not just a calling, which is a wonderful thing to be a mother. But I realized I was called to be a Deborah to this next generation. Just like you, you are called as mothers. And there was trouble in the land until Deborah arose as a mother in Israel. And I'm speaking to mothers and fathers and I'm telling you today there is trouble in the land. There is persecution. There's all kinds of distractions on our kids. And what we have to do is we have to arise as Deborah arose with the prophetic mental on us as parents.

21:22 And we need to fight for the future and the destiny of our children. And we talked about it over the weekend. We found out that these children, young adults, they are a chosen generation. They have been handpicked and they have been called before God ever formed them in their mother's womb. God knew them and ordained them to live in this time. I remember when the 9-11 came and the Twin Towers came down and I had a speaking engagement about three weeks after that. And it was a women's conference and I walked into that women's conference and you could just feel the fear.

22:04 You could feel the women worried about their children. What else do we really think about? Can I be honest? All this is wonderful. But where are our hearts at? Our hearts are as parents to protect the lives and the destinies of our children. Amen? You know they say, if mama ain't happy, nobody's happy. That's not how it is in my house. Right, dads? If the kids aren't doing good and the kids are in sin or the kids are doing things they're not supposed to, or if the kids are struggling, mama and daddy ain't happy. Mommy and daddy are worried. Mommy and daddy are thinking about it.

22:47 Mommy and daddy are praying. It's just the way it is because that's how God created us as parents. It kind of gives us some insight into how God feels about us as his children. Are you listening? And so these kids are called and ordained with a purpose to live in this time. And we went into this women's conference and you could just feel the fear. And I found myself preaching prophetically and I found myself saying, it was the first time I ever said it out of my mouth, I found myself saying that the generation, these children, that those who he calls he's equipped, yeah they've seen the Twin Towers come down, yeah there are distractions, yes they're on the internet, yes they have cell phones, yes they're BBM, and they, I am, they have to look at pictures with Photoshop and think they have perfect bodies.

23:42 There's all these things that they're dealing with, my friends, that you and I did not deal with. Let's face it, we dealt with Kennedy being assassinated and it was devastating for us. How many of you still remember that? Can you remember what the hearts of our children are dealing with? Shooting in the schools, shooting in the colleges, shooting on campuses, young people like these kids having to deal with the trauma of these last days? The Bible says in the last days men's hearts will fail for fear. That's why we have to be strong and that when I went into that meeting the Spirit said through me, those who I call I equipped.

24:28 I have equipped this generation to live in a time such as this. I have given them the ingredients that they need to be strong in me. So they have something in their DNA that you and I didn't have and literally didn't need. But I'm going to tell you something, this is what we have to remember because this is strategy as parents. We have something that they need. We have wisdom, we have revelation, we have the Word of God like no other generation. That's what I'm going to tell you, some of you come to church and you're bored.

25:08 You know why you're bored? Because instead of you, you have, you want, you need to be teaching others what you know. You're bored because God is calling you to reach out into your communities and start teaching what you know. We have something they don't have. They need, we have the wisdom, we have the revelation, we understand who we are in Christ, we understand the power of the name of Jesus. Do you understand the power of the name of Jesus, right? We understand all these things, we understand the Holy Spirit, we understand tongues, we understand all these things in the Bible. We have libraries filled with tapes, filled with books, knowledge has increased. We have it. Are you listening?

25:49 This generation needs to be taught. This generation needs to be trained. This generation needs to be raised up. And I'm going to tell you, it is going to be a quick work. There's, there's, there's going to be a performance of those things that have been told about this generation. And it's going to be said of this generation, like it was said of the early church. They that have turned the world upside down have come here also. But these kids are depending on us. They're depending on us to teach them and to train them in the ways that they should go according to the Scriptures. But we also need to undergird them in prayer.

26:29 We have let our guard down and we have laid our mantles down. It's time for us to arise. It's time for us to pick up the mantle of the power of prayer. And it is time for us to set our faces like a flint and say, we are going to stand in the gap on the behalf of this next generation and support them in these last days. They need our prayer support. Thank you for listening to the Purpose Project podcast. For more content, video and teachings like this, visit margieflurant.org.