Ten Things to Pray for Teachers, Schools, and Leaders

If 2020 has taught us anything, it should be pretty obvious that we don’t have as much control over our lives as we once thought we did. So many things we used to rely on are vulnerable (our health), confusing (our media and government), or unpredictable (well, most everything). It’s a sweet relief to remember that God has not been surprised by any of this chaos. Still, trusting Him is hard work for us fallen human beings, and we want to be able to do something in the midst of our circumstances. 

With that in mind, we’d like to invite the Rooted community to pray together this week. Each day we will post a list of prayers, drawing from the deep well of God’s Word to nourish our souls as we cry out to Him together with one voice. 

And because it’s our 10th anniversary here at Rooted, we’ve got the number 10 on the brain! We’ll pray 10 prayers each day for Parents; Students; Youth Pastors; Teachers, Schools and Leaders; and Churches and Ministries. We hope you will join us in lifting each other up to our good God.

Today we pray for teachers, schools, and leaders. 

1. Wisdom/discernment — Father, before the school year even starts, we know that our teachers and school leaders are already worn out with the strain of making weighty decisions. You promise that when we ask for wisdom, you will give it. Today we pray that our leaders will wisely seek your wisdom for the welfare of our students, community, and schools. We pray they will serve you with trembling, looking not to please man but to follow you. We humbly ask you to forgive our sin and to heal our land from this virus. (James 1:5-8, Psalms 2:10-11, 2 Chronicles 7:14). 
2. Endurance — Father, as this pandemic wears on, would you give our leaders a supernatural strength to persevere in the face of constant pressure and change. You have called our nation’s teachers to teach; help them to rest in you, knowing that you have given them everything they need to carry out the work. Help them to take one day at a time, waiting on you to renew their strength each morning — not worrying about tomorrow, but seeking your kingdom in their work each and every day.
3. Creativity — Lord, this is a time for innovation in our schools and classrooms. Our teachers need your creativity for educating in a pandemic. Please give our leaders and educators fun new ways of connecting with our children, especially those who have learning differences. Please help educators see new ways to use the tools they already have to teach their students.
4. Encouragement — Father, we ask that you encourage the hearts of educators. Remind them that you have called them to serve you by leading and teaching children. Help them to sense your steadfast love, to see your new mercies daily, to be satisfied with the good you give them, and to be renewed by your redemptive love. (Psalm 103: 2-5).
5. Health — Lord, we ask that you protect the health of the teachers, janitors, cafeteria workers, school nurses — anyone who might be exposed during the course of working with children. We ask that you protect each person in each school. Please guard the families of the teachers and staff, so that they remain healthy. 
6. Provision/protection for their own families — Father, many of the teachers and educators in our schools have their own children and families, and they are concerned for the health, education, and well-being of their own kids. We ask that you meet their needs according to your riches in glory. Our teachers may come to school burdened with concern for their own loved ones; we pray that they will be able to cast their cares on you and to come to work ready and able to focus because they trust in you. (1 Peter 5:7)
7. Good boundaries — Father God, given how complicated everything is right now, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. We pray to you on behalf of those who are working hard to serve our children, that they will follow you obediently while also realizing this battle is yours to fight. Please help our teachers, who care so deeply, not to be overcome by all that they cannot do and cannot solve for the children they love. Strengthen them to be faithful, and help them trust you with the results. 
8. Justice — Father, our nation is coming to a painful and long-overdue confrontation with inequality and injustice. We pray that children be protected from further injustice, Lord, and that you would grant us leadership in classrooms, cities, states, and that our nation would begin to right these wrongs. We pray that our children’s eyes would be opened to see your image in each other, and that they would truly, genuinely love their neighbors, regardless of outward differences. We pray that all places where children are educated — home, church, and school — would be places of grace, mercy, safety, and healing for every single child. 
9. Support from the people they serve — Lord, in the face of so many divisions and so many opinions about this pandemic, make us generous and kind people. Help us to be thankful for and gracious to the officials and teachers who have worked so hard to develop plans for the good of our children. 
10. Gratitude — Father, we take this time on the front end to give you thanks for the men and women who are now being asked to put themselves at risk in order to educate our children. We know this is not what they signed up for when they dreamed of teaching young people. But we thank you for their courage, their wisdom, their perseverance, and their willingness to go above and beyond what they ever dreamed of being asked to do as part of their job descriptions. That throughout the year, you would continue to imbue us as parents with this sense of thanks for the teachers of our children, and that we would pour forth those sentiments with abandon.
11. Government Leaders — Whether we agree or disagree with our government authorities, Lord, you have called us to respect them and pray for them. Our leaders desperately need your guidance at this moment in time. We ask that you grant them your wisdom, endurance for the road ahead, a willingness to work together, and a profound desire to seek your will for the good of our city, state, and nation. Jesus tells us that whomever would lead must be willing to serve. We ask that you (re)awaken in our leaders a desire to serve, that they would be able to set aside their own ambitions and pursue the good of all. Grant our leaders the unity of a common goal- to seek the thriving of every human being. Through it all, our trust remains in you, Father, not in people, so we do not expect human beings to solve all the problems this pandemic presents. (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Conclusion

Though we can get tired in the waiting, Father, we know that your Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before you. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for you is worked into something good. May we live our lives absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and your love because of the way that Jesus has embraced us. We love you Father. Amen. (Romans 8:26-28, 38 MSG)

To conclude prayer week, we are hosting a prayer call via Zoom, and we would like to invite you to join us. On Friday at 11:00 CST, Rooted steering committee, staff, board members and friends will meet to pray boldly for all of our communities. To register for the zoom prayer call, please click here. We hope to “see” you there.