Tag: God is Ever-Present

In The Presence of the Lord There Is Comfort

Featured Joy Bennett

Dear Lord, You are ever-present and Your Spirit comforts our souls. How we praise You! If only we could stay in Your Word all day. But Lord, let Your Word cling to our hearts and remind us of Your Truth as we go about our days so we can enjoy You all the more.

We pray for Your servants in schools to have Your comfort throughout their daily work.  Lord, You alone know the weariness or even dread teachers can experience as they are impacted by the immature or selfish actions of their students and others. Lift their souls to meditate on Your Word and Your goodness. Stay with us as we travel this rocky road so we may hear Your Word welling up in our souls.

We thank You, Lord, that we can dwell in Your presence. Make us realize Your present blessings as we seek You through our difficulties, for in Your presence there is joy. Give us a fresh experience of Your full circle of protection for Your people, laying Your hand of peace and guidance upon us, and filling our hearts beyond comprehension. Encourage us that the darkness of the world will never cover us because You are light and You’re always with us. Work mightily to shine Your light through us as we work with the souls before us. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen. Ps 21:6; Ps 139:1-12; Ps 140:12-13; Luk 24:29

Find Peace in God’s Loveliness

Featured Joy Bennett

Praise God Who is Ever Present, Our Peace, Advocate, Healer and Provider

Dear Lord, we come to You with praise for Your loveliness. We are captivated by Your moral perfection, goodness, holiness, and unsearchable glory. You are worthy of our worship for countless reasons. Thank You Lord for blessing us by sharing Your character: Your constant presence (Ps 46:1) and Your peace (Rom 5:1). Our hearts are blessed because You are our Great High Priest and Advocate (Heb 4:14; Rom 8:26,34). And we give You glory for being the Healer of our souls and bodies (Deut 32:39; Is 53:5), and for being our Provider who has already foreseen our every need and graciously provided for them (Rom 8:32; 2 Cor 9:8).

Prayer for Our Minds to Focus on His Loveliness

We pray for teachers everywhere to have a fresh perspective of Your praiseworthy and delightful character. Let Your people be captivated by Your glory as by the unsearchable glow of flames in a late-night campfire.  Every day we have opportunities and challenges within our schools and we desire Your peace. Place Your Word in our hearts to remind us of Your peace which comes by delighting in Your beauty. You are worth everything to us. Help us be the teachers, mentors, colleagues, and servants You can use to show the world Who You Are. Lord, cause our hearts to rejoice in Your forgiveness, longsuffering, mercy, kindness, goodness, grace, and indwelling Holy Spirit.  You are lovely beyond compare.  What do we find attractive in this world but the good You have worked here: creation; the image of God in humanity, and Your Word? Flood our hearts with Your Truth for Your beauty never ceases to please our souls. In Jesus’s Name, we pray. Amen.

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD of hosts!

My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she may lay her young,

at your altars, O LORD of hosts,

my King and my God.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,

ever singing your praise! Selah

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,

in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

As they go through the Valley of Baca

they make it a place of springs;

the early rain also covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength;

each one appears before God in Zion.

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;

give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah

Behold our shield, O God;

look on the face of your anointed!

For a day in your courts is better

than a thousand elsewhere.

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;

the LORD bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

O LORD of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you! (Ps 84)

Prayers for Staff and Volunteers

Featured Joy Bennett

Dear Lord, how we praise You that You are Lord over every human being and every spiritual force – all are under Your governing leadership. Lord, we praise You for Your power everywhere and especially on behalf of Your people (Genesis 2:1 Isaiah 45:12).  Lord, we are also humbled by Your ever-present goodness toward mankind and specifically toward Your people (Psalm 145:8, 9; 103:8; 1 John 4:8).

You have placed Your people to work in schools on mission with You. Let each one recognize Your good gifts to them, Your heart of mercy, pity, and compassion. Let them recognize how long-suffering You are, how patient, how gracious. Let each one feel the power of Your justice on their behalf and recognize that You are unchanging, infinitely wise, and that You exist in sovereign moral perfection.  

Lord, we pray for resource officers, kitchen staff, bus drivers, and detention supervisors. We pray for administrators, study hall teachers, janitors, and secretaries. We pray for student aids, classroom helpers, technology specialists, and those in facilities maintenance who care for our buildings, snow removal, grounds & lawn care. We pray for librarians, coaches, school nurses, and counselors. We pray for the myriads of others who similarly work with students in our schools.  Lord, let them be aware of Your goodness toward them and let them extend it to the students they work with. 

For each of these workers who are Christians, Lord, we pray they will uniquely shine Your light in their Christian witness, showing excellence in work and communication. Let them make beneficial relationships with students, established in kindness, as they work with a missions mindset: shining their light before men and planting seeds You, Lord, can use for growth in the gospel at the time of Your choosing. Guide them to pray well for those they work with, exercise forgiveness, and work with the joy of the Lord in their hearts. 

Finally, we know the workers are few, so we pray that You, Lord, raise a new generation of servants who will work in this mission field of schools. Meanwhile, we praise You that the existing harvest is ripe. Give Your people hearts for serving the lost and let them recognize the blessings they receive as they walk in what is pleasing to You (Luk 19:10; Neh 8:10b; Col 3:23-24, 4:3; Rom 2:4; Eph 4:32; Mat 5:16, 9:37).

Refuge in Adversity

Featured Joy Bennett

Dear Lord, as Christian teachers we face adversity and trials in our personal lives, as well as our school lives. Yet, You are most certainly our place of security. You are the Most High, Almighty, LORD, God – what affirming reminders of Your sufficiency as our refuge! Let us abide in you, for then we are secure. Let us experience the immovable, unshakeable assurance that our fellowship with You, our enjoyment of You, our meditation upon You, our living, breathing, and resting in You, are immovable and will not even be paused in the moment of our transition from mortality to immortality, from time to eternity.

Lord, because You are our refuge, let us confidently commit ourselves and our concerns to You in trust. We desire to rest in Your perfect care regarding all natural and spiritual dangers. Lord, we know that in You we have all that we need or could ever desire. Help us fix our eyes upon You and know You rightly so that we may have firm trust in what You allow in our lives, recognizing that Your will is nothing to fear because You have promised us Your love and protection from now through eternity. Help us also to remember that You have promised to judge sin and You will faithfully handle all of the adversity that surrounds us. You have placed us under Your powerful protection now and forever and Your care abounds in fatherly love and fierce defense.

We pray also regarding our frequent fears, that You satisfy us with faith in You, with deep trust and tranquil confidence in Your promises. You remind us in Your Word that the world harbors many matters of evil: accidents, destructive forces, secret and blatant misconduct, spiritual forces of darkness and temptation, and invisible works of disease, death, and destruction. However, in Your all-sufficient refuge, we have a most comforting shield and a place of divine rest. 

Lord, for Christian teachers throughout the world we pray that You build our faith in Your blessed strength and presence on our behalf. Let us rest in You and may our witness as Your people be evident as we cling to You in the process. In Jesus’s Name, we pray. Amen. (Ps 91:1-5)

Read More About When Trials Serve God’s People

Feeling Displaced and Uncertain

Joy Bennett

Dear Lord, we pray for Christian teachers who may feel displaced today. We pray against loneliness, uncertainty, and fear because You are our keeper (Ps 121:5), ever-present and ministering to our souls (Ps 139:7-10). 

For those who feel like they are strangers or suffer from Imposter Syndrome, let them be assured in their identity in Christ, remembering that they are no longer strangers and aliens with You, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Eph 2:19), called to their place of ministry (Eph 2:10) and empowered by You Who made heaven and earth (Jer 32:17;27).

For those who do not have fellowship with other believers because they are new to an area or because there is no local church to sustain them, let them find they have the ultimate fellowship with You which provides all they need (2 Cor 13:14; Phil 2:1). Build them up through Christian radio, theologically sound books and podcasts, and conversations with people of faith in other locations. In this time of suffering, encourage their hearts that this can cause them to cling to God as never before and result in spiritual growth (Rom 5:3-5) and deeper fellowship with You. Lord, minister to these believers, reminding them that they possess an immovable union with Christ, that they are led by Your Spirit and they have communion with You at all times (1 John 1:3; 1 Cor 6:17). During solitary meals or isolation in their classrooms, remind their hearts that they are at home in You and let them find rest for their souls in Your Word (Ps 62:5; 1 Pet 5:10; Ps 119:114,162).

Lord, in this time of isolation or uncertainty, we pray that You reveal to our displaced brothers and sisters that they are blessed by You because they will discover Your goodness and grow in their ability to trust in You (Pv 16:20b). Let our Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom You send us in Christ, remind them of everything You have said to them in Your Word, leading to a rich and rewarding peace from You alone (John 14:26-27). 

Finally, Lord, remind them of these ten blessings from Romans 5:1-5: (1) We stand before You in purity, just as if we had never sinned (2) You give us peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (3) You give us access by faith into this grace, helping us stand (4) You set our minds to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God to be displayed in our everyday circumstances (5) You let us rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance (6) You work endurance which produces character (7) You create character in us which produces hope in our daily walk (8) Your hope does not put us to shame here on earth (9) Your love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (10) The Holy Spirit has been given to us, indwelling us, marking us, preserving us, empowering us, setting us apart in holiness, and counseling us. 

Let each one rest in You through these great promises. Praise You, Lord. Amen.

Read More About Teacher Energy and Purpose

Read More About When Trials Serve God’s People

God’s Will in Schools

Joy Bennett

Dear Lord, we thank You that You are all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever-present. Thank You that Your love and mercy are never separate from the hard things that You allow in our lives and schools.

Lord, we lift every teacher, student, and administrator in our schools and ask that Your perfect will be accomplished in each of these areas. Lord, give teachers creative ideas for incorporating truth into their classrooms, thus softening their students’ hearts for preparation to receive the gospel when You present it to them. We ask for Your power to be magnified so that countless hearts turn to You in faith. 

We ask that You infuse Your people with wisdom in their interactions with unbelievers. Pour out Your favor on Your people and be exalted, Lord.

We ask that Your presence be such a divine comfort to Your servants in each role that they would have increased freedom to minister according to Your purposes in each school. Lord, let Your people be a city on a hill that cannot be hidden, shining brightly, illuminating sin for the sake of drawing people to repentance and salvation. Lord, open the eyes of Your people to see the needs of others they can pray for. And, let Your people find one another and build one another up in Your Word and in prayer for the mission field of education. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Amen. Josh 4:24; Prov 5:21; Ps 46:1; Jer 31:3; Lam 3:22-23; Mt 5:14

Read More About Teacher Energy and Purpose