“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Teachers get two “new years”: the start of the school year and the new calendar year. To recapture the new school year’s optimism for the calendar new year, reflect on lessons learned from your students and what they revealed about yourself and God. Celebrate accomplishments, but don’t dwell on past hurts or disappointments. In Christ, we are renewed daily. Learn from the past and face each new year and day with hope, anticipation, and faith.
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Prayercast: God Dependent; Be Like Sons Of Issachar; Wisdom In Changing Habits; Spiritual Renewal
Prayer Of Adoration
Adoration. Oh Lord, we adore You, for You are holy. In the book of Revelation, the four living creatures say without rest, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come,” and Lord, tonight we lift up our voice and say how awesome You are. You are holy. The Lord God Almighty, You are not like anything You have created. We are all creatures, Lord, but You are the Creator. You are not like none other. You are completely unique and separate from all the things that You have created and all the ones that You have created. We thank You, Lord, for we get to see and experience Your holiness in this lifetime not perfectly how we do more and more, and we, Lord, get to know this through the impartation of the Holy Spirit, this truth in Heaven and forever, Lord.
Thank You, Lord. Oh Lord, You are infinitely unchanging, eternally glorious, and we adore You. For You are glory. You are beautiful. Lord, even the heavens, it says in Psalm 19, declare the glory of God, that the skies proclaim the work of Your hands, Lord. Lord, You said that in Habakkuk, in chapter three, that Your radiance is like the sunlight, that You have rays flashing from Your hand, that there is the hiding, Lord, of Your power.
Oh Lord, thank You. Your radiance and beauty emanate from all that You are and all that You do. Lord, You say in Romans 1, for since the creation of the world, Your invisible qualities, Your eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that all people are without excuse, Lord.
Lord, we see it. We see Your invisible qualities in the very nature, in the snowflakes. Lord, we thank You for the one the man who has even, Lord, invented the clever invention, has been able to, Lord, study each snowflake and has been able to, Lord, make photographs, and they are all unique. How great You are. As science delves into each cell and molecule, they see Your wondrous, glorious nature and how You have made each and every even cell in our bodies, in all the other creatures, the flowers, trees. Oh Lord, we thank You.
Oh God, You said that You are immutable, that You never change, and I thank You for that. In Malachi 3, You say, “I, the Lord, do not change, so you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” Thank You. You don’t change. You are the same from before the beginning of time into all eternity, and therefore, Your immutable character, Lord, doesn’t change. That means Your plans don’t change. Your promise doesn’t change. Therefore, oh Lord our God, You are completely dependable. Our trust is in You. Therefore, Lord, in this confident trust, we know that Your promises are true, and truly they are Amen in Christ Jesus, because Your word of the Lord says, though.
Your purposes are failing, Lord, and thank You, because You, oh Lord, are immutable. Those of us who have been born again or adopted into Your eternal family, we may rest in the eternal promise that nothing, not trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword shall separate us from the love of Christ.
Lord, our glory to God, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, that neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor even powers, height, depth, or anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Lord, we stand, Lord, in that in the truth of who You are. We adore You. We thank You for tonight. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
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Prayer Of Confession
Prayer of Confession. We come boldly to Your throne room with this prayer of confession. We know that confession and repentance are important parts of our relationship with You. We know that You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. We are confident in Your love for us and in Your power to forgive. We can rest with a sound mind, and when we confess our sins. You are faithful to forgive.
Right now, we spend the next 30 seconds confessing our sins to You. Father, we confess that at times, we focus on religion and not a relationship with You. We focus on doing everything perfectly instead of trusting You because Your strength is made perfect in our weakness. We confess that at times, we are shallow and think of ourselves as being better than others. We desire for You to cleanse our hearts and our minds. Humble us, Lord, as we seek after You with hearts full of repentance and minds that are set on You.
Father, we don’t always do as we are told. We mess up when we seek our will and our plans over Yours. You, in Your infinite wisdom, know far better than we ever could. We seek to commune with You and turn from sinful ways. We seek to be led by Your Holy Spirit. Father, we don’t always seek things that are pleasing to Your ears. We become so frustrated by the cares of this world that we don’t always remember or acknowledge that Jesus has already overcome the world for us. We spend time listening to complaints and worrying about never-ending to-do lists when our main concern should be seeking first Your kingdom and its righteousness. We seek selfish gains and desires. Help us to be more obedient to You and have a heart to serve, please, and love You, Lord.
Father, we confess that at times, we unknowingly make things our idols. We do not always mean to, but we, at times, put other things above You. They may not necessarily be things that are bad, but they are not our gods. Help us to lay these things down and pick up our cross and follow Christ instead, making Him our Savior and our Lord. Finally, Father God, we ask all of these things in the mighty and master name of Jesus. Amen.
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Prayer Of Thanksgiving
Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you. Holy heavenly Father, as we gather in this moment to give thanks to you, we are in awe that you will call us to serve you as teachers. We are in awe that you will think of us and give us this grace and this mercy or the minds to study, to prepare, to accomplish great exploits in teaching, Oh Lord. Hallelujah. Be it home, school, private school, public schools. Oh God, Father God, Christian education. Oh Lord, those little small storefront areas, oh God.
You called us because each and every one of us is significant in your sight from the least to the greatest, and you place this desire in our hearts, oh God. Hallelujah. Some of us, oh God, Associate’s degrees, Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees, PhDs, oh God, and some the strong desire, oh God, to serve you, and you called us teachers, and we give you thanks. We know there’s a special place in your heart, oh God, to choose us for such a great and almighty, oh God, amazing, passionate, loving, oh God, position.
It is written in your words. You find no greater joy than this, to see that your children are being taught, the truth, are being led, oh God, empowered, strengthened, oh God, that you have commissioned us, oh God, to visit the widows, the orphan, your children, and to teach them your ways, to show up as your ambassadors.
In all things, give thanks. Even in those rough moments, those hard moments, those moments of frustration and helplessness—yes, Lord, we give thanks. Share on XAbba, Father, we give thanks, hallelujah, for giving us the mind and the strength that no matter what’s going on in our personal lives, your Holy Spirit graces us with the ability to show up every day to pour out and give, hallelujah, to the little ones, hallelujah. Those that are going through trauma, oh God, those that are so, Father God, innocent and beautiful and naive. Oh God, from rich to poor, Black and White, God, it doesn’t matter to you.
Your children, created in thy image, where you say it is good, and yet, in this fallen society, we are so grateful and thankful that you will choose us to administer your truth, to love, to be an example of you, that you will choose us to be your hands, oh God, your instruments, oh God, your chosen, Holy One, your ambassadors. For that child, oh God, that is having nightmares and that child, oh God, that is seeing the whole beauty of the future ahead of them. It doesn’t matter, oh God, the position, the posture, oh God, the age, Lord, the background, the culture, the nationality, your children all belong to you, as we are your children.
You said in all things to give thanks, oh God, even in those rough moments, those hard moments, those frustrated moments, those moments of frustration, oh God, helplessness, and yes, Lord, we give thanks. All those moments, oh God, when a child smiles, oh Lord, those moments when a mother or father, oh God, a loved one tells us that, “You made my child’s day, you don’t understand.”
In those times when we want to throw in the towel, we give thanks because you are causing all things to work together for our good, the good of those that love you, whom you have purposed and called to teach, to share, to serve, to educate your children, and we are grateful and thankful. Hallelujah. It is an honor to gather together as teachers who pray, to give thanks, to do this work that is special in your sight as we are apples of your eye, and every child that we touch, from that senior child.
Whether it’s teaching a 90-year-old, hallelujah, your child, to walk again, whether it’s teaching a 67-year-old to read, hallelujah, or the little itty-bitty ones to be still and trust you, we are grateful. Hallelujah. The long suffering, and sometimes sorrows that set before us, can’t compare to the joy that follows when we accomplish the task at hand. In those moments, it means everything. We thank you, Heavenly Father
Bless us to remember the goodness of you in the rough moments. Hallelujah. When we see the smile spring forth or that cute little thank you. It’s all worth it because you gave your only begotten Son, hallelujah, for us that we can come and gather together and go and teach and give thanks to You. In Jesus Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
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Prayer Of Supplication
Prayer of Supplication. Father in heaven, thank you for hearing us as we come humbly to you to offer our prayers of supplication. Lord, you know us. You created us. You know that apart from you, we can do nothing. Help us figure out how to quickly realize when we are leaning on our own understanding. Help us become more and more accustomed to acknowledging you in all of our ways. We want to be like the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times. We want to be in a ready position to watch and pray, lest we enter into temptation.
Help us hear your voice when you are telling us to change the way we spend our time, when you are telling us to change the way we eat, when you are telling us to change the way we speak, when you are telling us to change the way we react in certain situations or react to things that trigger us, when you are telling us to change the way that we do those things that we naturally do.
Lord, we want a spiritual renewal in our lives. As educators, around this time of year, we often see our students’ metaphorical light bulbs begin to glimmer as they start to apply so many of the new things that they have learned this school year. We pray that we would see that phenomenon happen in our lives as we apply the new things you have been teaching us about our relationship with you throughout this school year.
Father, we ask that you help us approach all aspects of our lives with the wisdom that comes from you. We pray that we use proper judgment and exercise prudence as we represent you at our jobs, in our homes, and in the marketplace. We pray that you give us knowledge and discretion as we strive to represent you and your kingdom. Each day, we pray that you show us how to love and seek wisdom above the things that this world has to offer.
Father, we ask you to increase our faith. We ask you to help us boldly tell others how you have transformed our lives. We ask you to help us stand on your word more and more each moment. We ask you to help us find trusting you so essential that it will become something that is evident to people around us, even strangers.
Finally, Father, we ask that you help us comprehend that you continuously supply us with supernatural provision and protection. We can take courage in the fact that you told your disciples to go to minister without a money bag, a lunchbox, an extra pair of sandals, and when they returned, you asked them if they lacked anything, and they all answered, they lacked nothing.
Lord, now, as your believers who have been given the comforter, the Holy Spirit, let us be more and more confident that you have supplied all that we need no matter what. In closing, I will pray. Number 6:22-26 and Corinthians 2:13-14. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and to his son, saying, ‘Thus, you shall bless your sons, 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 continence on you and give you peace.'” The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.