Prayer Guide for Teachers - (Col. 1:9-11)
Prayer Guide Teachers
Quote: William A. Ward has said, "The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
Progress Magazine, December 23, 1992.
Illustration: An item in "The Report Card" told of a study done in Colorado in which 3000 high school seniors were asked about their best teachers. From their responses this composite was drawn. The ideal teacher (1) is genuinely concerned and interested in students as individuals; (2) requires students to work; (3) is impartial in dealing with students; and (4) is obviously enthusiastic about teaching.
Today In The Word, Oct, 1989, p. 25.
Illustration: Teaching is the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the minds of the ignorant by the means of the incompetent...is the transfer of material from the teacher’s notes to the student’s notebook, without it going through either’s minds.
J. Dennis Miller, president of Church Youth Development states that a problem with educating young people in the church stems from a failure to understand how young people learn. He claims that adults learn in the following pattern: 1) acceptance of absolutes; 2) subordination of attitudes and actions to absolutes; 3) application of truth received to life experience. Knowing something as an adult is based primarily upon remembering information and intellectual learning.
Youth, Miller contends, learn in a different way: 1) evaluation of life experience; 2) discovery of attitudes and actions which validate their life experiences; 3) identifying truth based on their relevance to life experience; 4) acceptance of truths that prove reliable from life experience. Life experience is the main influence on the learning young mind.
Paul’s prayer for teachers :
Col. 1:9-11 – “For this reason we have not ceased to pray and make special request for you asking that you may be filled with the full (deep and clear) knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God) and in understanding and discernment of spiritual things so that you can walk in way that is pleasing to the Lord in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and steadily growing and increasing in the knowledge of God (with fuller, deeper and clearer insight, acquaintance and recognition. We pray that you will be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory (to exercise) every kind of endurance with patience (perseverance and forbearance) with joy.” (Amplified Version)
Song:
If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain,
And your soul is almost sinking in despair,
Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Refrain - Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail,
Don’t forget that God in heaven answers prayer;
He will make a way for you and will lead you safely through.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
The following is a alphabetic list of key points to help you learn how to pray for teachers. You might want to make a copy of the following and use it in your prayer notebook to pray over for yourself, your teachers and faithful people who will teach others also. (2 Tim. 2:2)
Quote: To pray in the Spirit is to pray according to the will of God by the word of God and with the powerful direction of the Holy Spirit.
A - Anointing - Ask God for the anointing that is empowering, filling, directing, controlling, fruit-producing, healing, restoring, refreshing, and maturing people so that they will operate in the Spirit’s power, truth and grace.
A – Accountability - Ask God to help the teacher remain accountable so that they teach with the fear of the Lord and complete submission to His will, way and word.
B - Boldness - Pray that the person speaks the word of God with boldness, confidence, & articulative cross-cultural effectiveness.
C - Comfort - Ask God for the comfort when one is discouraged, broken-hearted, or stressed out. Trust the Lord for the comfort of the Spirit’s song, strength, & succor.
C – Communication – Ask God to give the teacher all kinds of excellent communicative skills
C – Content – Pray that the teacher study and deliver good Biblical content so that they are approved of God handling accurately the word of truth.
C – Contextualization – Pray that the Lord helps one teach in a manner that is relevant, appropriate, suitable and effective to every hearer.
C – Conviction – Pray that God will convict those who are being taught. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins by pointing out areas in our life where we are not living up to Christ’s standards of commitment. Jesus said, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, but do not do the things that I say.
C – Cognitive Development – Pray that you be given higher levels of mental maturity by growing in knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluative competencies.
C – Contending – Pray that the teacher gains greater persistence, skill and emotional conviction about contending for the faith and the truth of God’s word by fighting the good fight of faith.
C – Creative – Pray that the teacher be given supernatural creativity in keeping the lessons innovative, fresh and new so that the teaching does not appear stale in any way.
C – Credibility – Pray the teacher gains greater academic, intellectual, social, moral and spiritual credibility so as to enhance the impact of the teaching.
D - Direction - Ask the Lord that the person will sense God’s specific direction in one’s personal life & ministry activities. Wisdom for discerning the best decision not just the one that is least objectional to everyone concerned.
D – Disciple-making – Ask God to help the teacher entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others also
E. - Encourage - Ask God to send someone to encourage the person & to allow the person to be a blessing to many. Trust the Lord for the renewing strength found in the joy of the Lord
E – Enlightenment – Ask God for greater enlightening of the minds, hearts and relationships of people. The Holy Spirit teaches us by enlightening the mind of the simple, ignorant and naive who are not fully aware of the gaps that exist between their professing ideals and their living realities.
E – Evangelistic – Pray that the teacher daily receives power from the Holy Spirit so that they can be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.
F – Facilitative – Pray that the teacher helps utilize all the spiritual gifts and talents in each audience so that the body of Christ is able to work with all of its members and not just with the speaking gifts
F – Family and Friends - Pray that the person will guide one’s family and friends in the way of the Lord’s will
F – Faithful – Pray that the teacher teaches faithfully, consistently and with great endurance
G - Glory to God - Pray that the person will live moment to glorify God in all respects
G – Guidance through the leading of the Spirit who will guide us in to all truth and bring to our rememberance all that He has taught us
G – Goal oriented in accordance with Paul’s goal of instruction as love from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith
G – Great Commission – Pray that the people will help fulfill Christ’s great commission where He commanded us to make disciples by teaching them to obey all things that He has commanded.
H – Harvesting – Pray that the teacher be led to the fields that are ripe for harvesting as with hearers who good soil and apt to bear fruit thirty, sixty and a hundred fold instead of with hard soil, rocky soil or with those who are distracted by the worries, riches and pleasures of this life.
H - Humility - Ask that the person will develop a sense of humility & reject pride.
H – Holy Spirit led - The Holy Spirit quickens the understanding of all aspects of a person’s mind, will and emotions enabling them to see how they can mature in Christ. Isaiah wrote, "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord
H – Holistic – Ask that the teaching is holistic as Jesus was able to say, “Every pupil when he is fully taught will be like his teacher.”
I - Insight - Ask the person will see people & things from God’s perspective.
I – Illustrative – Pray that the people will be able to illustrate the truth through contextual examples
J - Joy - Pray that the person will be full of joy of the Lord in all situations.
K - Knowledge - Pray that the person will desire knowledge of God’s word, His characteristics & apply the truth consistently. Trust in the Lord for wisdom, ideas, & insights into all problem areas.
K – Kingdom oriented – Pray that the teacher teaches according to God’s rule, reign and reasons allowing the King to bring about greater redemption, re-supplying and refining of people.
L - Love - Ask the person will labor from Godly motives, not to please other people or live hampered by a fear of men. Pray that this is an overflow of Christ’s love which is patient and kind, bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things and enduring all things.
M – Meditation – Pray that the person will meditate on scripture day and night so they can be careful to do according to all that is written in the Bible knowing that then they will make their ways prosperous and enjoy good success
M - Motivation - Pray that the person will be a vessel of God’s love to others realizing it is God who is at work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
M - Maturity – Pray that the Lord will help people speak the truth in love so they can grow up in all aspects in to Christ realizing that solid food is for the mature who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
M – Multiplication – Pray that the Lord will use the teaching to multiply His kingdom, truth, love and righteousness in greater quantitative and qualitative ways.
N - Needs - Pray that the person will realize that in Christ all needs will be met according to His riches in glory. Trust that the Lord will provide in all areas of life.
O - Open doors - Pray that the person will recognize opportunities to share the gospel.
O – Organization – Pray that the person does all things decently and in order.
O – Obedience – Pray that the teacher teaches as to the Lord and not to men knowing that from the Lord comes the reward
O – Observatory – Pray that the person learns how to study with deeper observations, interpretations, correlations, applications, evaluations and transformations
P – Power – Pray that the teacher teaches with power and love and understanding of all of God’s attributes and not like the Pharisees who did not know (have a personal experiential knowledge of the scripture) or the power of God
P - Prayer partners - Ask God to provide prayer partners who will intercede on a regular basis for this person. Trust God for a community of believers in each domain.
P – Preach - Pray that the person learns to preach the word when it is convenient and when it is not to correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction
P – Priorities – Pray that the teacher is able to teach according to Biblical priorities of God’s glory, His love and the fulfillment of His great commission.
Purity - Ask the Lord to purify your conscience enabling you to serve him with pure motives of love from a pure heart
Q - Quiet Time - Pray that nothing will keep the person’s life from experiencing daily and personal renewal & maturity in all dimensions of life through prayer and study of God’s word
R – Reflective – Pray that the teacher always remain reflective so that they remain doers of the word and not merely hearers who deceive themselves.
R - Revival - Ask God to work in the person’s life so they may experience personal revival in all things. Trust the Lord to help the person spend quality time in devotions
R – Rejoice – Pray that the teaching be done as an expression of obedience to rejoice always, pray without ceasing and in everything give thanks for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus
R – Resilience – Pray that the teacher be able to bounce back from mistakes, failures or lapses in judgment so that they do not give in to discouragement, frustration or difficulties.
R – Revelation – Pray that the Holy Spirit reveals truths to us when we pray and study the scriptures. Solomon wrote, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insights. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."
S - Servanthood - Pray that the person will do one’s work with a servant spirit as Christ came not to be serve but to serve. Trust for an attitude to serve God before men
S – Steadfastness – Pray that the Lord enables the teacher to be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that their labor is not in vain in the Lord.
S – Sufficiency – Pray that the people will learn to trust and obey Christ’s sufficiency in all things. The Holy Spirit is all sufficient for whatever known or unknown need we are facing. Jesus said, "But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you... All this I have told you so that you will not go astray."
S – Suffering – Pray that we remember that Jesus learned obedience through the things He suffered as should we
T - Thankful heart - Ask God to give the person a thankful heart, even in difficult situations. Pray that one would see the positive even in negative situations.
T – Tact – Pray that the Lord will give the teacher adroitness in dealing with others or with difficulties
U- Unsaved - Pray that the unsaved will develop a hunger & thirst for Jesus Christ in their lives and that the Lord will use certain people to bring many to Christ and see that many new churches are planted in unreached areas
U – Understanding - The Holy Spirit is the only one who is capable of giving people complete, broad and deep understanding of truth without any equivocation.
V - Victory - Pray that the person will know victory in spiritual warfare
W - Weariness - Pray that the person will not get bogged down in having too much to do and will remember the promises of God for strength, courage, & help in trouble.
W – Wisdom – Pray that the people will be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding so that they can walk in a way that pleases the Lord in all respects and bears fruit in every good work while increasing in the knowledge of God.
W – Word – Pray that the person uses the word of God as it is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness so that the man of God is equipped, furnished for all good works
X - X-Ray vision - Ask God that the person will have a discerning mind into the heart felt needs of people & be able to deal with root cause problems rather than superficial symptoms. Pray for an ability to analyze without being critical or judgmental or taking things too personally.
Y - Yieldedness - Pray that the person will be completely yielded to Christ & willing to die to self and take up their crosses, pains, & disappointments daily surrendered completely to Him in everyway, loving Him with all their being.
Z - Zeal - Pray the person will have a renewed zeal to share the gospel, truth and love.
Song: Charles Albert Tindley * near Berlin, Md Jul 7, 1851
+ Philadelphia, PA Jul 26, 1933
He was born a slave and became "the Father of Gospel Music"
Lyrics:
If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
And you have to get along with meager fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Refrain
Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain,
And your soul is almost sinking in despair,
Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Refrain
When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail,
Don’t forget that God in heaven answers prayer;
He will make a way for you and will lead you safely through.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Refrain
When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing on,
And your body bends beneath the weight of care;
He will never leave you then, He’ll go with you to the end.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
Illustration: By Brad Locke (Avoiding superficial teaching and learning)
December 12, 2003
I have attempted, in my rather cumbersome verse, to draw an analogy between the increasing mindlessness that pervades the sports culture -- in the form of highlight sequences, vapid on-line poll questions, and the evaporation of fundamentals by even our professional athletes -- and the even more dangerous advent of a self-glorifying, emotion-driven, soda-pop Christian faith.
Show me the highlights. Five-second clips.
Give me the Cliff’s Notes. Here, make it fit.
Make the world bite-sized. Sell it real cheap.
Don’t ask me questions. Sow, and I’ll reap.
Hit all the high points. Show me the drama!
Edit the mundane. Delete the commas.
Touchdowns and homers. That’s all that matters.
Tidbits of wisdom. They fill my platter.
Transient pictures, flit ’cross my eyes.
Ballers and dollars, fall from the sky.
Glittering wordsmiths, clever clichés.
They bring me comfort, thick’ning my haze.
Feed me the morsels, sweetest to taste.
Mind not the substance, it’s good as waste.
Basics and precepts dull my designs.
Glory is fleeting; no time for time.
