Overcoming the Don Quixote Spirit in Education
By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe
For over 50 years we have been titling at the windmill of
prayer in schools. The real battle began
long before prayer in schools was ruled unconstitutional. In reality, the banning of prayer in our
schools was the inevitable result of what has been taking place from the
beginning—from the fall of man.
The battle for the education of our children must be fought
on two fronts. First, we must recognize
that the home is the place where values and love of learning must first be
fostered. The second front is becoming
creative in praying for and praying in our schools.
A difficult fact is that many Christians had already removed
prayer from their homes before it was removed from their schools. If we are not praying with our children in
our homes, what right to we have to expect prayer in our schools?
Remembering that the freedom of religion is the freedom to
practice any and all religions on an
equal basis, we should be declaring, “Thank you, Lord, that we no longer have
organized prayer in our schools. Thank
You, Lord, for protecting our children from adverse forms of spirituality.”
God calls on families to fulfill the important role of
instilling biblical values in children. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God,
the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all
your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you
today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy
6:4-7 NKJV).
To win the battle for our children’s biblical mindset, the
foundation must be laid in the home and in the church. Our children must know who they are in Jesus
Christ.
Each child should be able to declare with conviction:
▪ I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm
139:14)
▪ I know that my life has meaning and purpose. (Jeremiah
29:11)
▪ I know that God desires the best for me. (John10:10).
▪ I know that before the foundation of the world, God chose
that His only begotten Son would go to the cross for me. (Revelation 13:8)
▪ Because God is my Creator, I have hope.
We want our children to be creative, inventive, skilled and
ready to impact every facet of society with the power, deliverance and peace of
the Kingdom of God. That type of mindset
should be instilled before a child
enters the public school system.
Throughout the generations, we have cursed learning and our
schools, our teachers and our students.
We have, with our words, created a negative spiritual atmosphere over
our educational system and, therefore, over our future. Today we are reaping
the harvest of that cursing.
We begin the process of recapturing our educational system by
blessing the good that has existed and continues to exist. Christians must step into the calling that
God has placed over families to diligently teach our children to love God and
to walk in His ways. We must just as
diligently encourage Christian students, teachers and other staff to pray
silently if necessary and openly when possible in and for their schools. We all must pray for the safety and
protection of our schools, staffs and students.
We must pray for and demonstrate a love of learning and encourage our
children to participate in leadership roles.
As Christians, our greatest witness is as representatives of
the authority and gifting that the Lord has placed within each of us. We are in more than a political or cultural
battle; we are in a spiritual one. We must demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit
in our lives. That fruit will then produce
fruit and impact our culture for the Kingdom of God.
