We give praise to you God for you hold our lives in your hands. You cause the sun to rise and you call us from our sleep so that we might spend our working hours teaching others to follow you. We are thankful for our work here and within your greater kingdom. May our eyes look to you for guidance as we work from class period to class period.
As we work today to prepare our hearts and minds for a time of prayer for our students, we are reminded of Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Matthew 6, and our hope is to put those words into action and in service to you.
When we pray for our students, may we go into our offices and our classrooms and shut the door and pray in secret, just as your son taught us.
May we not babble on and on, thinking that our words carry strength, but may we listen for your quiet voice and spirit urging us to act in the lives of our students. Give us the strength whe need to respond.
May our students know that you are holy, and may we model this in our teaching and in our actions with one another.
May our students come to serve you in your kingdom, and give their total allegiance to you above all things. Protect them from other callings and other voices that don’t align with this call.
May our students know your will for their lives, and live on earth as it already is in heaven. Help our students to respect us as their teachers, and may we respect them, and teach them to love each other, as well as their enemies.
Sustain our students with love and compassion and joy. Those who are in homes and families where this is in short supply, or where parents are just too busy, we pray that we might provide some of the love they need to grow and serve you and others. Give us the wisdom to see what our students need and give us strength to provide it.
May we forgive our students when they disrespect us. Help us to love them when they are unloveable. And help us to use these moments to teach our students what it means to truly love and care for another.
We thank you for the saving grace of Jesus’ blood. May all of our students claim him as Lord and savior of their lives and come to know him in their minds, hearts and hands and feet.
Lord, help us to be a forgiving people. Help us to be united in service to you at this school.
By the grace of Jesus’ name we pray,
Amen.
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