The Watchman Role: Building and Guarding the Gates

BY LARRY NAULT, BKC President & Chief Strategist

🔷 Series Intro

At Building a Kingdom Company (BKC), we believe reformers are not just entrepreneurs or executives, they are Kingdom builders entrusted with Heaven’s blueprint. In this series of teachings, we’re exploring what it means to cultivate good soil for growth, guard the harvest, and lead as fathers. Each principle builds on the last, equipping you to move from Interested / Engaged to Equipped in your leadership and company.

 🔷 Introduction: When Builders Become Watchmen

Every reformer begins as a builder, receiving a vision from Heaven and laboring to see it made manifest on earth. But once the walls are raised and the house is taking shape, the leader’s role shifts. You must now guard what you’ve built.

​Every reformer begins as a builder, receiving a vision from Heaven and laboring to see it made manifest on earth. But once the walls are raised and the house is taking shape, the leader’s role shifts. You must now guard what you’ve built.

This is where Nehemiah’s story speaks so powerfully to Kingdom CEOs:

“Those who built… worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other.” (Nehemiah 4:17)

The mature leader is both builder and watchman, one who not only constructs according to Heaven’s blueprint but also guards the integrity, atmosphere, and purpose of what has been built.

1. The Dual Mandate: Build and Guard

When Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls, he faced relentless opposition. His strategy was not to stop building, but to build differently. Every worker carried a sword.

This is the dual mandate of reformation:

• To build what Heaven shows you (strategy, structure, systems).
• To guard what Heaven entrusts to you (presence, purity, and people).

Kingdom companies thrive when their leaders understand both assignments. Expansion without watchfulness invites erosion. But watchfulness without progress breeds fear. Reformer CEOs must learn to build and guard simultaneously.

“Those who built… with one hand worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon.” (Nehemiah 4:17)
 
2. Watchmen Stand on Walls

Walls in Scripture symbolize identity and boundaries. They define what belongs and what doesn’t. Watchmen stand on those walls, where perspective is clear and vision is elevated.

Habakkuk understood this when he said:

“I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me.” (Habakkuk 2:1)

Watchmen are prophetic leaders. They don’t just manage the visible, they discern the invisible. They watch to see what God is saying.

For reformer CEOs, this means learning to perceive shifts in culture, timing, partnerships, and purpose. It means discerning spiritual undercurrents before they become natural challenges.

At BKC, we teach that watchfulness is a posture of prayer and perception. Builders use blueprints; watchmen use revelation.
 
3. Guarding the Gates

Gates are places of access, where things enter and exit a city. In the ancient world, the gates were where trade, governance, and judgment occurred. Whoever controlled the gates controlled the city.

“I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

In Kingdom business, the “gates” are the access points to your company and culture:

• Vision: What enters your imagination and purpose.
• People: Who you hire, partner with, or empower.
• Values: What your company tolerates or celebrates.
• Presence: Whether God remains central in every decision.

Guarding the gates means discerning what enters your atmosphere. It’s the difference between expansion and compromise, between growth and drift.

Nehemiah stationed families at specific gates because watchmen guard best where they have personal ownership. In the same way, Kingdom CEOs assign watchmen, leaders of prayer, intercession, and accountability, over every domain of their organization.

4. The Posture of Watchmen: Intercession and Authority

Watchmen are intercessors. They stand between Heaven and Earth, seeing what others miss, and declaring what God intends.

Isaiah 62:6–7 gives us this divine picture:

“On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent. You who call on the Lord, give Him no rest until He establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth.”

This is the call to govern through prayer.
Watchmen CEOs don’t rely solely on performance metrics; they rely on prophetic intercession. They don’t just ask “What’s working?” They ask, “What is Heaven saying?”

When watchmen pray, they create alignment between Heaven’s blueprint and Earth’s operation. Intercession becomes governance; prayer becomes strategy.

5. The Lord, the Chief Watchman

Psalm 127:1 reminds us:

“Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

The best watchmen understand that they are not the ultimate guardians, God is. This revelation replaces anxiety with trust. You don’t guard in fear; you guard in faith. You don’t watch in exhaustion; you watch in partnership.

When the Lord is your Chief Watchman, you build and guard from rest, not striving.

🔷 Prophetic Encouragement

The Lord is raising up builders who watch and watchmen who build.
He’s calling reformer CEOs to govern with discernment, lead with intercession, and build with Heaven’s authority.

You are not merely overseeing an organization; you are stewarding a Kingdom gate of influence. Stay on the wall. Listen for His voice. Guard what He’s given you.

“For the Lord has set watchmen on your walls… they shall never be silent.” (Isaiah 62:6)
 
🔷 BKC Connection
 
In Phase 4 of our Reformation Process, Implementation & Expansion (The Watchman Role), we help leaders move beyond building to governing.

To lead as a watchman is to lead from Heaven’s perspective. We help you:

• Identify where the gates of influence are in your company.
• Discern what God is establishing and what must be protected.
• Equip your team to carry both the trowel and the sword to build strategically while governing spiritually.

Every Kingdom company needs watchmen at its walls, leaders who can both see and build.

🔷 Series Outro

Each of these teachings is part of a larger journey: learning to build with God’s Presence and Power at the center, multiplying fruit that lasts, and raising sons and daughters who carry the mission forward. This is the heart of reformation, and the path from being Interested / Engaged to becoming Equipped.

🔷 Call to Action — From Engaged to Equipped

Have you been building without guarding, or guarding without building? The Lord is calling reformer CEOs to both.

At BKC, we equip you to discern Heaven’s blueprints and establish gates of governance in your company so you can expand without losing your foundation.
​
🔷 Take the Next Step: Become Equipped:
 
👉 Schedule a Discovery Call
👉 The BKC Reformation Process - Detail
👉 BKC's Kingdom Advancement Team 
👉 Catch Up on Our Reformation Newsletter Series
👉 Review BKC's New Website