Praying for Our Schools

Because schools across our nation will soon be opening, it is time to join will millions of Christians in prayer for our schools and our educational programs.   Prayer is the both the responsibility of believers and the greatest force of power for the education, safety and protection of our future.

Join in prayer for:

School boards:

Pray members are advocates for excellent education

Pray they choose the appropriate school curriculum and standards of education

Pray they provide equal opportunity for all students to expand their knowledge and skills

Pray they listen to what the community needs in a public-school system

Administrators

Pray they effectively communicate the needs of the school with parents and faculty

Pray they set a positive school climate and set expectations for all students to follow

Pray they walk in truth and integrity

All staff, both certified and classified

Pray they have a love for educating children

Pray they are engaging, motivating, and inspiring

Pray they communicate effectively and efficiently to students and parents

Pray they listen to the needs of their students and help them voice their opinion

Pray for their health

Pray they show compassion to students not performing well, and direct them accordingly

Pray they understand their relational boundaries with students

Pray they get enough funding to buy supplies for their classroom

Pray for their patience throughout the day

Pray they will see the potential in every child

Pray when unsafe situations arise they will be quick to think and react

Pray for extracurricular activities

Students:

Pray they enjoy going to school

Pray for their physical health

Pray for their mental health

Pray they know who to reach out to if they need help

Pray for their classmates and friends

Pray for their involvement in student led organizations

Pray they are motivated to excel

Pray for their eagerness to do homework

Pray for their safety within the school

Pray for their safety going to and departing from school

Pray for the special education students, that their needs are met

Pray they don’t pick up bad habits from peers

Pray they won’t be bullied for how they look or what they wear

Pray for their parents

(For Christian students:)

Pray they understand the truth and not doubt their faith

Pray they can stand up for their beliefs without feeling ashamed

Declare that our schools will be havens of learning.

(This list is a revision of “Fifty Items to Pray over Our Public Schools.)   http://www.mamaofthreeboys.com/pray-public-school/

Discerning God in His Creation

Discerning God in His Creation

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Genesis 1:3: “And the Spirit of God hovered, brooded over the face of the waters.  And God said, ‘Light be.’ And light was.”

Isn’t it interesting that first came sound, the voice of God, and then came light.

Scientists believe that the universe is in constant vibration, that sound always results from vibration and those sound waves hold the universe together. 

The following is taken from NASA's Exoplanet Exploration:

“We can’t hear it with our ears, but the stars in the sky are performing a concert, one that never stops. The biggest stars make the lowest, deepest sounds, like tubas and double basses. Small stars have high-pitched voices, like celestial flutes. These virtuosos don’t just play one "note" at a time, either — our own Sun has thousands of different sound waves bouncing around inside it at any given moment.”

Job 38:4-7:  God is speaking to Job, “Where you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

The stars sang during creation and those songs remain today. 

In the midst of the song, came the light. That Light is the Logos, the Word of God.

John 1:1-3: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 

Where and how did life begin?

John 1:4-5: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”

In his first epistle, John wrote to the church.  1 John 1:5. “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”

Genesis 1:4: “And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. And there was evening and morning and there was morning, day one.

Darkness does not have the power of light.  Darkness is not the opposite of light.  Darkness is the absence of light. Evil does not have the power of good. Evil is not the opposite of good. Evil is the absence of good.

Our salvation and our growth as Christians are dependent on our accepting that God is light and God is good.  Therefore, His way is the holy highway to an abundant life both here on earth and in eternity.  Therefore again, in Him, we can walk out of darkness and into the light of His glory.

Our God is an awesome God.

Freedom to Walk out of Our Past

Freedom to Walk out of Our Past

Galatians 5:1 For freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

Freedom is autonomy, independence and the power and authority to make wise choices that will lead us into an abundant life in Jesus Christ.  Freedom comes from knowing who God is and  from knowing who we are in Christ. Freedom also comes when we choose to walk out of the bondage of the past. 

The way our past determines our present and our future is determined by our response to it. In 2 Corinthians 5:17, the apostle Paul encourages, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

God has made all things new, but now we must walk into our newness without lugging the excess baggage of our past.  One of the first bits of baggage that we need to leave behind is blaming others for our mistakes.  When we own our failures, we can move past them.  When I understand that I am my worst enemy, I can begin my growth toward emotional and spiritual well being.  I learn from my failures and move past them.  When I acknowledge that I have missed the mark, I open the door to forgiveness.  When I accept the forgiveness of God, I can move on to forgiving myself. When I forgive myself, I can better forgive others.

Shame and unforgiveness are excess baggage that hinder our freedom in Christ. Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." 

When we walk according to the Spirit, we walk out of condemnation of both ourselves and others and into the freedom of who we were created to be.

         In Micah 7:18-19, the prophet encourages, "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
  
         God is omniscient. Yet He chooses to forget what He has forgiven.  To grow in the grace of newness, we, too, must choose to forget what God has forgiven whether it is our own sin or the sin of others.  God has cast our sins into the depths of the sea.  We don't have a license to fish them out again. 

When we rid our lives of the anguish and regret of the past, we are set free to learn from our experiences. In Romans 8:28, Paul writes, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

 God uses both the joys and the difficulties of our lives to teach us the peace of faithfulness, the power of His authority, the blessings of obedience, and His plans and purposes for our lives.

In that sense, it bodes well for us occasionally to revisit the past, but we must be careful not to pitch our tents there. God does not intend for us to dwell the in past.  He has called us to be present and future people.  When we have a healthy response to the past, we are more free to move into our destiny in Christ.