Greetings!

Time management is a phrase that produces an emotional response in teachers. We struggle with feelings of guilt and wrestle with tension between our work and personal lives.

Can we really manage time? Let’s face it, time moves on no matter what we do. We can’t make it slow down, go faster, or stop.

At the beginning of the school year, we look ahead and think that we have all the time we need to accomplish great things with our students. In the spring, we see that time is of the essence and we are running out of this valuable resource. We ask ourselves if we have done enough. We wonder if we have impacted our students in a way that will make a difference.

Instead of worrying about what we did or did not do, we can find comfort if we know that all of our work was done as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:17, 23). We have no choice but to offer our best work if we are dedicating our work to Christ. It may not be perfect, but even with our best efforts, it’s God who makes our work effective (1 Corinthians 3:6). (O Heart, Vigilant and Sincere: A Prayer Guide Written for Teachers, by Teachers Volume 1, Teachers Who Pray, Inc.)

Please join Teachers Who Pray TWP as we continue to pray intentional prayers for teachers.

Using the Adoration Confession Thanksgiving Supplication (ACTS) Prayer Model, this week’s Supplication prayer will focus on report card conferences and discussions about student retention going well.

Please join Teachers Who Pray in implementing our Prayer Power for 15 minutes (1% of your daily minutes) for teachers on the Weekly Monday Evening Prayer Call 7-7:15 pm, CT.

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Listen to the podcast here

 

Prayercast: Report Card Conferences And Student Retention

Prayer Of Adoration

We will start with our Prayer of Adoration. Father God, we come into your presence today with humble adoration, not just of what you have done, but of who you are. You are Alpha and Omega beginning and end. You are the great I Am. You are holy, powerful, all-knowing, and all-present. Right now, we just take 30 seconds worth of time to acknowledge who you are, who you have been, and who you will continue to be in our lives, Father God.

We thank you for being our provider, God. We thank you for doing this spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. You don’t just provide us with our finances, but you provide seed. You give us purpose. You give us wisdom. You give us love. You provide us with your forgiveness. You provide us with self-control, grace, joy, and all good things through your Holy Spirit. You provide us with the Holy Spirit, with the opportunity to know you, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, to speak in tongues, and to pray, to come boldly to your throne.

Often God, I take these things for granted, but you didn’t have to do it and you still choose to. We give you all of the glory, honor, and praise for always thinking of us, always watching over us, and covering us in the mighty name of Jesus. Father God, you hear us when we cry. Many hearts are aching and they don’t know that we can always turn to you. You want to hear from us. You want us to cast our cares on you because you do care for us.

Father, thank you for being the one that we can run to. We never have to worry or fear because we know that you love us. We thank You for Your word and for helping us to focus on Your word so that we can live the lives that You have for us, walking in purpose and obedience to You. Thank you for showing us your unfailing mercy, but also correcting us when we are wrong. I thank you for your Holy Spirit, for Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, and his resurrection three days later.

He walks in the power and that same power now lives in us as your children. I praise you for trusting and equipping us to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. We praise you for the armor of God, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, the word of God so that we can stand against the plans of the enemy. We praise you in your name right now in the mighty name of your son, Jesus. Amen.

Prayer Of Confession

The Prayer of Confession. Hallelujah, thank you, Lord. Praise your name, God. You have done amazing things. Glory and honor unto you, Lord. We confess that Jesus is Lord, and we believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, and by faith we are saved. Have mercy on us, God, according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion, blot out our transgressions. Wash away all our immorality and cleanse us from our sins. Forgive us for our conscious and unconscious wrongdoing.

Lord, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. We confess to God Almighty before our brothers and sisters that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, and pray to God Almighty to have mercy on us and to forgive us. In humbleness and faith, we confess our sins to you, God. We come to you, Lord, confessing openly what we have done. Please take 30 seconds and silently confess your sins to God.

People who conceal their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. Click To Tweet

Thank you, Lord, for your forgiveness. Lord, we have been anxious and troubled about many things and have neglected the things that are part of the peace we receive from you. We confess that we often don’t surrender our entire selves. We hold back portions of our lives that we would rather control instead of releasing them to your loving care. We confess we do not focus on you with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Gracious God, you called us to draw near, but we keep our distance. We are afraid of your direction and discipline, so we avoid honesty and confession. Father, help us trust in your goodness and your grace, believing that your correction brings life and joy. May we live in the light of your love so that others might see and draw near to you. Lord, we confess that we may not have shown humility toward others.

We recommit to representing ourselves to be long-suffering, and patient in spirit, demonstrating the fruit of the spirit and gentleness and meekness with our students, parents, administration, and co-workers during challenging times and always. Lord, we confess that we have not always stood on our faith and trusted in the knowledge that all things work together for our good. We reaffirm to trust that you, God, have allowed each challenge in our lives for a reason.

Lord, you are wiser than we are and we choose your will to be done, trusting that you will use each opportunity or conflict we encounter during the school day to work in and through us for your glory. Lord, we confess that we have not always sought the wisdom of God to handle the day-to-day events that occur in our school buildings. Right now, Father God, reaffirm godly wisdom to lead our classroom. We reaffirm godly wisdom to make the correct instructional decisions.

We reaffirm godly wisdom to plan our lessons effectively. Lord, we reaffirm that we are capable and competent teachers. Lord, we confess to falling astray and allowing ourselves to conform to the culture of the world, to think and feel negatively about our teaching jobs. We reaffirm our mind’s attention is fixed on you God, and we align ourselves with your word. Lord, we reaffirm we are a light for Jesus in our classrooms and we do teach to the best of our ability, not just for a paycheck or for the praise of people, but to and for the glory of God. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Prayer Of Thanksgiving

Prayer of Thanksgiving. Dear heavenly Father, we come to you to give you thanks. This is the day that you have made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Father, we enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise. We give thanks to you and we bless your name. Lord, you are good. Your steadfast love endures forever. Your faithfulness lasts for generations. Our heart desires to be able to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks, because that is your will for us in Christ Jesus.

We give thanks to you, Lord, for you are good and your loving kindness is everlasting. We will praise you, Lord, for you have lifted us up. Lord, our God, we cry to you for help and you healed us. Oh Lord, you have brought up our souls from the depths of the earth. You have kept us alive. We sing praises to the Lord and give thanks to your holy name. For your anger is but for a moment and your favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. You have turned our morning into dancing.

You have exchanged our sackcloth for garments of gladness. Our souls sing praise to you and we will not be silent. Oh Lord our God, we will give thanks to you forever. Blessed are you, oh Lord, because you have heard the cries of our supplication. You are our strength and our shield. We trust in you and we are helped. Therefore our hearts exult in you and with our songs of praise, we will thank you, oh Lord our God.

We thank you for your faithfulness to us throughout this school year. We thank you because you have loved us. We thank you because you have protected us. We thank you because you have led us. We thank you because you have encouraged us. We thank you because you have provided for us. We thank you because you have healed us. We thank you because you have worked through us.

We thank you because you have inspired us. We thank you because you have helped us forgive others. We thank You that you are equipping us, those you have called to be educators, who are your saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. We thank you that you are showing us how to speak the truth and love. Lord, we thank you. Amen.

Prayer Of Supplication

Prayer of Supplication. Oh risen Savior, how wonderful is the love you displayed for us on the cross and we long to have more opportunities to share your good news story in our schools. Help us to remember that you tore the curtain that divided us from you. Now there is no separation between us. Hallelujah, Jesus, thank you.

Lord God, help us to be truth tellers in our school and encouragers. We want to only tell the truth, not just in words, Lord but we want to look to your truth in every situation. Father, as teachers are meeting with parents at the close of the school year for conferences, as they’re meeting caregivers, aunts and uncles, and grandparents, Lord God, help teachers’ words about their students be spoken in truth and love, showing mercy and compassion.

May teachers become truth tellers in their schools and encourage students to only tell the truth. Click To Tweet

Give us teachers, we ask, the wisdom about how to share student growth, potential areas of strength, and places where improvement needs to happen. Lord, we ask that You soften the hearts of parents to be able to hear the truth about their children and allow them to be open and willing to be co-workers with teachers to bring their children to the full potential that you have planned for them.

That of all comfort, we trust you with our students who need remediation. We know that you have made each of our children uniquely and you have been growing and maturing them in your time. Give these children exactly what they need and Lord, we ask that you take the conversations with their parents and fill them with love, Lord.

Use teachers to encourage parents, Lord during these sensitive conversations about having to repeat grades, Lord, or go to summer school. Dear Savior, we desire to be able to share the good news with every parent and to be able to tell parents that You have a plan for their children, that You created them wonderfully and fearfully, and that You know them by name.

Lord, tonight, we are asking boldly that you provide opportunities for us to pray with their parents. We’re asking for opportunities to build them up and share our faith with them. Lord God, we are coming boldly to your throne of grace tonight to ask you to use us to bring families to faith in you. Through our witness, we long for them to ask us where the joy we have for teaching comes from so that we can say with boldness, that our joy comes from you, Oh Lord, our risen King, hallelujah and amen.

Scriptural Reading And Closing

In closing, we read from Ephesians 1, 18-19, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which he has called you the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” Amen.