For this week’s intention of Teachers Who Pray, we ask for the Lord’s guidance on better disciplinarian mindsets. This is not only for the Dean of Students but most especially for novice educators and student teachers who are just starting their careers.

—

Listen to the podcast here

Prayercast: Teachers Who Pray Weekly Intention: More Enlightened Disciplinarian Mindsets

Adoration. Gracious Lord and Heavenly Father, we are here because we adore you. We are truly in awe of you and have done all that you are doing and all that you will do because of the promises that you and your son, our savior, Jesus Christ, made to the world. Praise the Lord, owe our soul and all that is within us. Praise His holy name. We praise the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on our lips.

We will glory in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with us. Let us exalt His name together. Our creator, which is in heaven, praise, glory, and honor be in the name of God. Lord, we surrender to your will on Earth and within our schools. For the Lord is good and God’s love toward us educators endure forever. God’s faithfulness continues through all the generations of students within the school buildings.

Lord, we bow down and worship you. The Lord, the compassionate and glorious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining a love for thousands of students, teachers, administrators, and school staff and forgiving our wickedness, rebellion, and sin. We love you, Lord, our strength. The Lord is our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our God in whom we take refuge, our shield and the horn of our salvation, our stronghold.

God, your leadership and guidance in our teaching practice are perfect. The Lord’s word is flawless and shields all who take refuge in Him. There is no God like you in heaven above or on the Earth below. You who keep your covenant of love with your servants, teachers who are seeking your divine will, and who continue wholeheartedly to follow your directions. There is no one like you Lord and there is no God but you.

Blessed be your glorious name. You give life to everything. God, you perform wonders daily in the classroom that cannot be phantom. Miracles that cannot be counted, providing educators with language and activities that are able to reach all of the varying learning abilities and styles of our students. To you, God, belong the greatness, the mighty, glory, victory, majesty, and splendor. Riches and glory come from you. You are the ruler overall. You hold strength and power in the palm of your hand to build up and strengthen all institutions of learning to be places of excellence.

Our soul glorifies the Lord. Our spirit rejoices in God our savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. Lord God almighty, we adore you because you are the only one powerful enough to quiet the storms of our lives. It is so easy to get overwhelmed when we are struck by difficult circumstances but we don’t have to fear anything as children of God. All power belongs to you. Thank you, Lord, for your mighty power at work in our lives. Thank you also for your Holy Spirit who provides power within us to do the things you called us to do, to educate. We will never forget where our source of power comes from. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

We pray a confession from Proverbs 28:13. Lord, you say whoever conceals their sins does not prosper but the one who confesses and renounces them binds mercy. Jesus, you are our reconciler and mediator. Our transgressions daily against others and ultimately Lord against you are so many and so we confess them silently during this time. Thank you, Lord Jesus, our deliverer, for taking every sin upon yourself so that by your wounds we are healed, forgiven, and set free.

Thank you, firstborn of all creation, for forgiving us when we judge other teachers as they work. When we start our day with a worldly self-centered mindset, focusing only on our comforts and benefits, Lord, forgive us. Forgive us, Son of God, when we fail to offer help to students and colleagues, and we sit back and take enjoyment in their failure. Great shepherd, forgive us for disciplining students out of our desire to be right and not with mercy and love.

Holy one, forgive us for not living out the knowledge that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All are justified freely by your grace, Lord. Through redemption, you great redeemer bought us with your very life and we confess together. Jesus, you are Lord and we believe in our hearts that God raised you, Jesus, from the dead and therefore, we are saved. Amen.

Prayer of thanksgiving. Father, we come to you entering your gates with thanksgiving and into your courts with praise. We are thankful to you and we bless your name. We offer you our sacrifice of thanksgiving. For you alone are the highest God who fulfills all your promises. You supply seeds to the sower and bread for food. You supply and increase the amount of seed and enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You are generous and because of your generosity, we are thankful.

Lord, we thank you for our teaching positions, allocations, teachers, and paraprofessionals. We thank you for administrators. We thank you for the families you have placed in our districts and ultimately in our buildings. We thank you for instructional coaches, central office department heads, and support staff members. We thank you for school boards and elected officials who have authority in our educational systems.

We thank you for renewed contracts, building union reps, healthcare, and retirement plans. We thank you that you have allowed us to serve children and young people as instructors, mentors, coaches, counselors, and service providers. We thank you for our colleagues and our collaborators. We will rejoice always. We will pray continually. We will give thanks in all circumstances for this is your will for us, Father, and your son, Christ Jesus.

Thanks be to you, God, because you give us victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. We thank you that you are our strength and our shield and in you, our heart’s trust. We are helped by you all our days and with our mouths, we will give thanks to you. Let’s come before you with thanks. Let’s shout songs of joy to you, our Lord and King. You, Lord, are our great God, the mighty king over all creation.

We give thanks to you Lord, for you are good and your love endures forever. We will not be anxious for anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present our request to you Lord, and your perfect peace which transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. We will praise your name, God, with an exaltation and magnify you with thanksgiving. Amen.

Prayer of supplication. Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God and a peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7. Father God, we come to you lifting this prayer of supplication. We thank you too as we speak what we desire to see. You have already begun your good work in these areas. We come boldly to your throne.

Father God, we thank you in advance for working in each of these areas. Father God, we come to lifting deans of students and disciplinarians. We know, God, that is not an easy job and it is a job many of us may admit that we do not want because along with that promotion and that title comes an increase of responsibility.

We thank you, Father God, for placing people in these positions who have a heart towards you. They want to serve you and help set these children in the right direction. We pray that you remove anyone who is not in your will to be in this position and that you change any misled hearts and mindsets of those in these positions.

We pray a fresh wave of anointing, peace, joy, and prosperity in all fruits of the Spirit released over them in the name of your son, Jesus. Father God, we thank you for helping us to not focus on the things that we have placed in your hands. We ask you to continue to strengthen us and stop picking up things that you have led us to put down and things that we know we should let go of.

As we speak these words, knowing that the power of life and death lies in our tongue, we speak only what you’ll have us to speak. We know that once your word comes out of your mouth, it cannot come back void. We say over and over again that you are faithful, Father God. We see it with our eyes, hear with our ears, and read it in your word. We see in 1 Kings 8:15, “Then he said, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with His own hand, has fulfilled what He promised with His own mouth to my father, David.’”

We read in Isaiah 55:11, “So is my word that comes out of my mouth. It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” We thank you in advance for these prayers being answered. We thank you, God, for going with us and helping us with our mindsets. It is very easy to become focused on the things that we’re not supposed to be focused on and become tired, frustrated, and even jaded.

God, we thank you for the fresh and renewed mindsets that you have put forward in the name of Jesus. We thank you that we’re open to that, even seeking that, even seeking to see ways that you have changed us and are continuing to change us. We pray for student teachers and those who have the desire to go into the classroom. God, I pray that you give them strength in the name of your son, Jesus, to continue to do what you have called them to do and place mentors in their lives to help them.

We easily become focused on things we are not supposed to focus on. We thank God for constantly giving us a fresh and renewed mindset. Click To Tweet

Those who are frustrated or worrying about it but have been called to do this, God, I pray a fresh wave of peace over them, also joy and excitement about the future in education. God, I pray that when people are telling them not to go into education, they are seeking you, seeking your will, and doing what you have called them to do. Let no word come out of someone’s mouth to turn them away from what you have called them to do. Instead, let them use that to push them further into what you have called them to do.

I pray for novice teachers, God, and those who have come into these situations, knowing schooling is nothing like it used to be, God. Learning new things, technologies, and programs. I pray that you give them peace and patience, and mentors as well in the mind of Jesus. I pray that you use the experienced teachers to help the new teachers and the new teachers to help the experienced teachers. Let everyone know that we’re fighting for the same thing and going towards the same goal to help these students.

I continue to lift these things to you. I thank you in advance for working all of these things out in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen. The benediction scripture is Ephesians 1:18 through 19. “I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe.” Amen.