by Hermie Cantos
Among GSCC believers, Friday night is much anticipated. It is accountability night, so to speak. For on a Friday night believers gather together to account for what has happened to them during the week. Praise songs and an opening prayer precede praise reports from the attendees which are actually a litany of answered prayers ranging from routine to significant: of a son passing an examination, a sick child released from the hospital, a father jobless for so long getting hired, a mother’s laboratory exam yielding encouraging results, a family in danger of repatriation receiving green cards just on time, a wife suffering from a dreaded malady repeatedly delivered from life-threatening attacks, of members of a family long separated across the miles finally reunited. These are living testimonies that God indeed hears our prayers and love His children. The believers likewise see how God faithfully works in their daily lives as they thank Him for good health, for protection in daily commute to work, for keeping their jobs, for having food on the table, for adding another year in their life.
Evidently the believers have come to a point where they have adopted a life of prayer, entrusting themselves in the care of Divine Providence. As they gratefully account to Him what has transpired in their lives during the week, they ask for sustenance that they be able to face the week with strength and confidence as they wrestle with life’s daily concerns and challenges. It is a believer’s complete dependence on Christ: “ Lord, this is what happened to me during the week. Thank you for your divine protection. Lord, please give me the strength and grace to sustain me in the week that lies ahead.”
The attendees then voice out their prayers with solemn requests to God as they hold hands with prayer partners lifting each other to God’s unfathomable mercy and love. These prayer requests never fail to lift to the Father the GSCC and its leaders as well as its various ministries for deliverance and protection. Every Friday night, a member is pre-assigned either to share a personal testimony or interpret the word of God. Every testimony, every enlightening word is a source of inspiration and often brings tears to believers as they feel the Holy Spirit touch their hearts and realize how blessed they are.
Friday night attendance varies. Sometimes there are many; at times only a handful. Yet Evening Watch goes on no matter. As written in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” We look not at numbers but into the hearts of the believers. What is most inspiring is when we see new faces in the room or when a believer brings in a friend. Members, after all, should not come only to support my leadership in this ministry but because they want to meet with the Father, our master and king. Luke (17: 11-19) tells of 10 lepers who, upon seeing Jesus pass by, cried in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” The 10 were healed but only one – a Samaritan- returned to give thanks. Jesus asked “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except the foreigner?”
Certified believers, it is said, may be afflicted with spiritual deafness that outsiders are more responsive to God. Evening Watch offers us the opportunity to live a life of prayer and thanksgiving. If you find Evening Watch time consuming, if you cannot free yourself from daily mundane concerns, you may find yourself hard pressed to answer Jesus as he asks, “Where are the other nine?”
