“…for this day is holy unto the Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10b

Schools are filled with unexpected and delightful moments of joy. Authentically share the Gospel of Christ with others by embodying joyfulness. Joy flourishes in classrooms when witnessed, celebrated, and nurtured. Embrace the giving and receiving of joyful moments during the holidays and anticipate the overflow of joy that will fill your heart.

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Prayercast: Creativity And Strategies For Bringing Christmas Into Classrooms; Sharing The Gospel Of Christ; Wisdom For Detecting Holiday Fatigue; Demonstrating Integrity As Christian Teachers 

A Prayer Of Gratitude For Jesus’ Sacrifice

Dear Heavenly Father, I come before you with a heart overflowing with gratitude for the immeasurable gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who willingly laid down His life to save me from my sins. I’m humbled and in awe of the sacrifice that He made on the cross, and I’m eternally thankful for His boundless love and grace. Thank you, dear Lord, for sending Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice for my sins. Through His death and resurrection, I have been redeemed and set free from the chains of sin and death. His blood has washed away my transgressions, and I stand before You forgiven and made new. As of His death, burial, and resurrection, I have accepted Him as my Savior and look forward to spending eternity with Him. As it says in Your Scripture, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

I am grateful, Jesus, for the depth of Your love that compelled You to endure unimaginable pain and suffering on my behalf. You willingly took upon Yourself the weight of my sins, bearing the punishment that I deserved. Your selflessness and compassion are beyond measure, and I will forever be indebted to You. Thank You, Lord, for the victory You obtained through Your death and resurrection. By conquering sin and death, You have granted me eternal life and restored my relationship with You, my Heavenly Father.

I rejoice in the hope and assurance that I have through You, Lord Jesus. I thank You for the transformation You have worked in my life. Your sacrifice has saved me from the penalty of sin and empowered me to live a life of righteousness and holiness. You have given me the Holy Spirit as a guide, comforter, and source of strength, enabling me to walk in obedience and grow in intimacy with You.

Help me, Lord, live a life reflecting my gratitude for Your sacrifice. May I surrender myself fully to You, seeking to honor You in everything I do and say. Let Your love and forgiveness flow through me, reaching others and drawing them closer to You. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the gift of eternal life. May my life be a living testimony of Your amazing grace and love. In Your precious and holy name, I pray these things. Amen.

Prayer of Confession. Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”. Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Psalm 32:5, “Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity.” I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Confessing Our Sins And Seeking Forgiveness

Father God, we come boldly to Your throne room with this prayer of confession. Father, we confess that we don’t always do the things that we should do. At times we make smart remarks, sneer, joke, or laugh at others. We lose our patience over trivial things. We don’t always respond in love. We don’t always seek Your kingdom first. We don’t always turn away from participating in, whether speaking or listening to, gossip and slander. We don’t always treat our bodies as what they are, the temples of the Holy Spirit. We don’t always present ourselves as a living sacrifice to You.

We are not always obedient, Father God. We confess that at times we do not speak life, do not honor others, and do not humbly think of and love others. We don’t submit ourselves to Your way, Word, and will. We often take for granted the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross by choosing to be disobedient and not walk in Your Word.

We sometimes give in to the flesh, don’t cast down negative thoughts, and don’t seek what is good, lovely, pure, admirable, beautiful, and righteous. We do not always seek You and spend time with You as we know we should. We get so bogged down with the cares and worries of this life things that we should be casting on You that we don’t make our relationship with You our top priority and we know we shouldn’t be doing this. Father God, we take the next 30 seconds confessing any other areas where we have sinned, known or unknown.

Father God, we ask for Your forgiveness. We ask for You to help us with repentance so that the renewal of our minds may transform us. We pray that we may seek You and be found by You, and we shall not want. We will desire to think and sow to the Spirit more and sow to the flesh less. Help us to honor You in our thoughts, words, actions, and even our facial expressions. Let us be who You have called us to be as we continue to confess our sins and move toward being the completed masterpieces that You’ve already begun the work in us to be. This we pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer of thanksgiving. Dear Lord God, thanks be to you for giving us the victory through Jesus. We come with grateful hearts for the extra time away from the challenges of our schools last week, a time filled with extra rest and thanksgiving, a time to reflect on the ways you, God, continually provide for our every need. Thank you, heavenly Father. We thank you also for being able to return to our jobs, the places you have called us to be in service and love of your most vulnerable and precious children. Thank you.

Giving Thanks For Rest, Work, And God’s Provision

We thank you also for the structure and the schedule that our work in schools provides for us and our students, and we praise you, Lord, that even amid the busiest and most predictable days in our classrooms, you show up and surprise us with aha moments when students finally come to an understanding of what we are teaching them, or they make us laugh with their spontaneous wit and humor, or the times we are awed by the beauty of their creativity and innovative thinking.

We know that all of this is you, God, at work in our schools. Thank you for protecting our students and teachers and giving us resilience and healing after traumatic events. Thank you, God, for administering compassion and kindness to Christians who do not count it a loss to stay late, arrive early, and share their personal money and possessions to help families and colleagues at their schools.

Thank you, Lord, for all the families that you are calling to yourself. We know that a relationship with you, Jesus, is absolutely the best thing that any human can have. We praise you for all the ways you are at work, beckoning those in our schools to love, trust, and surrender to you. Now, Lord, silently, for a few seconds, we name in our hearts those students and staff members who do not fully know you.

A relationship with Jesus is absolutely the best thing that any human can have. Share on X

We thank you in advance for the work you are doing to soften their hearts in submission to you. King, thank you for the saints who have gone before us in our schools as faithful servants working for your glory and the good of the students. Lord, help us to be prayerfully dependent on you, and we pray all this in your grace, your love, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Praying For Opportunities To Share The Gospel In Schools

Prayer of supplication. Father, we thank you that we can come to you and pray for the creativity and the strategies to bring Christmas into the classroom and schools this Christmas season. We pray that you give us opportunities to share the good news, the gospel, when our schools ask us to participate in holidays around the world, celebrations or winter festivals. Give us ways to highlight and accentuate the most important and glorious event in the entire world, which we celebrate during this time of year, the birth of your son, Jesus. Unto us, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Give us ways to highlight the most important event in the entire world: the birth of Your son, Jesus. Share on X

We pray that when children and coworkers are anxious, afraid, or stressed out, we will be able to say, “Don’t be afraid, because I can tell you about some good news of great joy, which is for everyone to experience, not a select few that in the city of Bethlehem, a place where we can watch on live streaming cameras, a newborn baby changed all of history. He came to save us from our sins. He lived a sacrificial life, died to save us, and conquered death when he rose from the grave.” Help us learn how to study to show ourselves approved by you, Lord, that we will not be ashamed and that we will be able to rightly divide the word of truth. We will not be ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

Father, we lift up the area of holiday fatigue. We are faced with so many opportunities to cook, entertain, purchase gifts, celebrate, decorate, congregate, delegate, and, last but not least, educate. You know what each of our schedules looks like, and we pray that you give us wisdom to know when to accept and when to decline invitations. We pray that you give us wisdom to know when to volunteer to do a task and when to say, “Thank you for considering me, but I will have to pass at this time.”

We pray that you help us turn to you. When we detect the first hint of being overwhelmed and fatigued by the season, we pray that we will not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Then we will be able to test and approve what God’s will is for us, what is your good and pleasing and perfect will.

Father, finally, we ask you to help us in the area of demonstrating integrity in teaching and doing our jobs when it comes to taking time off. Lord, we want to trust you and represent you in a way that is honorable and true. Help us think about the repercussions of taking sick leave or time off when we are not sick, when we do not have medical appointments, or when we are taking time off to escape our responsibilities or to have me time.

Help us to trust You and represent You in an honorable and true way. Share on X

Lord, help us see how doing this negatively affects our students, our colleagues, our administrators, and our entire school community. Help us see that when we are only thinking about ourselves, it is not a good representation of Christ. Your word says in Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you’ll receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Father, we pray as we learn to trust you and soldier on each day that we will experience what your word says in 1 Peter 1:8, “Though you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” We pray that our inexpressible and glorious joy will be contagious as we trust you and report to work day in and day out to serve the children and young people you have placed in our lives.

In closing, I will read and pray Numbers 6:22-26 and 2 Corinthians 13:14, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord makes his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace.’” “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Amen.