Praying for Students and Teachers Before School Starts
Prayer is understood as direct address to God, an intercourse of the soul with the divine, which can be oral or mental, occasional or constant [5]. The Bible records instances of prayer, such as Jesus' disciples asking him to eat [2] and the instruction to "pray without ceasing" [11]. Jesus himself taught his disciples to pray, providing what is commonly known as the Lord's Prayer, which is seen as embodying a "whole world of spiritual requirements" in a simple, condensed form [3, 4].
The practice of prayer extends to specific needs and groups. The apostle Paul, for instance, requested prayers for himself and his fellow ministers, indicating that ministers need the prayers of the people they serve [10]. This suggests a reciprocal relationship where the community prays for those who teach them, expecting to benefit more from their ministry [10]. Similarly, Augustine of Hippo emphasized the importance of prayer for Christian teachers and orators. He stated that a Christian orator, before speaking, "ought to pray for himself, and for those he is about to address," recognizing that success in teaching comes more from piety in prayer than from oratorical gifts [6].
Early Christian writings also reflect prayers specifically for those receiving instruction. One prayer for catechumens asks God to "look down upon Thy servants, who are receiving instruction in the Gospel of Thy Christ, and 'give them a new heart, and renew a right spirit in their inward parts,' that they may both know and do Thy will" [9]. This highlights a tradition of praying for students to receive spiritual understanding and to live according to God's will. Clement of Alexandria also offers a prayer to the "Instructor" (Paedagogus), asking for grace for children and for those who obey precepts to "perfect the likeness of the image" and know God [7, 12].
The act of praying for teachers and students before they embark on their educational journey aligns with biblical principles of seeking God's guidance and blessing in all endeavors. The Apostle Paul exhorted Timothy to pay attention to "reading, to exhortation, and to teaching" [1], underscoring the importance of these activities. John Gill, a Baptist commentator, notes that prayer is a principal part of public worship alongside the ministry of the word [8]. Therefore, praying for those involved in education is a continuation of this established practice of seeking divine assistance for those who teach and those who learn.
Sources
- 1 Timothy “Until I come, pay attention to reading, to exhortation, and to teaching. -- 1 Timothy 4:13”
- King James Version “[KJV] John 4:31 — In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Lords Prayer — the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples. (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4) "In this prayer our Lord shows his disciples how an infinite variety of wants and requests can be compressed into a few humble petitions. It embodies every possible desire of a praying heart, a whole world of spiritual requirements; yet all in the most simple, condensed and humble form, resembling, in this respect, a pearl on which the light of heaven plays."--Lange. "This prayer contains four great general sentiments, which constitute the very soul of religion,--sentiments which”
- Luke “When he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” -- Luke 11:1”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or formal. It is a "beseeching the Lord" (Ex. 32:11); "pouring out the soul before the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:15); "praying and crying to heaven" (2 Chr. 32:20); "seeking unto God and making supplication" (Job 8:5); "drawing near to God" (Ps. 73:28); "bowing the knees" (Eph. 3:14). Prayer presupposes a belief in the personality of God, his ability and willingness to hold inter”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 15.--THE CHRISTIAN TEACHER SHOULD: PRAY BEFORE PREACHING. 32. And so our Christian orator, while he says what is just, and holy, and good (and he ought never to say anything else), does all he can to be heard with intelligence, with pleasure, and with obedience; and he need 585 and so far as he succeeds, he will succeed more by piety in prayer than by gifts of oratory; and so he ought to pray for himself, and for those he is about to address, before he attempts to speak. And when the hour is come that he must speak, he ought, bef”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — PRAYER TO THE PAEDAGOGUS.: Be gracious, O Instructor, to us Thy children, Father, Charioteer of Israel, Son and Father, both in One, O Lord. Grant to us who obey Thy precepts, that we may perfect the likeness of the image, and with all our power know Him who is the good God and not a harsh judge. And do Thou Thyself cause that all of us who have our conversation in Thy peace, who have been translated into Thy commonwealth, having sailed tranquilly over the billows of sin, may be wafted in calm by Thy Holy Spirit, by th”
- 1 Timothy (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 Timothy 2:1: I exhort therefore, that first of all,.... The two principal parts of public worship, being the ministry of the word and prayer; and the apostle having insisted on the former, in the preceding chapter, in which he orders Timothy to charge some that they teach no other doctrine than that of the Gospel, gives an account of his own ministry, and call to it, and of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to his trust, and stirs up Timothy to the faithful and diligent discharge of his work and office; now proceeds to the latter, to prayer, and exhorts”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 7: Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius — PRAYER FOR THE CATECHUMENS. (part 2): of the whole world; who by Christ didst appoint Thy disciples to be teachers for the teaching of piety; do Thou now also look down upon Thy servants, who are receiving instruction in the Gospel of Thy Christ, and "give them a new heart, and renew a right spirit in their inward parts,[7] that they may both know and do Thy will with full purpose of heart, and with a willing soul. Vouchsafe them an holy admission, and unite them to Thy holy Church, and make them partakers of Thy divine myster”
- Hebrews (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Hebrews 13:18: Here, I. The apostle recommends himself, and his fellow-sufferers, to the prayers of the Hebrew believers (Heb 13:18): "Pray for us; for me and Timothy" (mentioned Heb 13:23), "and for all those of us who labour in the ministry of the gospel." 1. This is one part of the duty which people owe to their ministers. Ministers need the prayers of the people; and the more earnestly the people pray for their ministers the more benefit they may expect to reap from their ministry. They should pray that God would teach those who are to teach them, that he would make them v”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 1: Clement, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus — CHAP. X.--EXHORTATIONS TO PRAYER, HUMILITY, ETC. (part 1): And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men. For there is in them hope of repentance that they And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For "cannot he that falls arise again, and he 54 may attain to God. See,[2] then, that they be instructed by your works, if in no other way. Be ye meek in response to their wrath, humble in opposition to their boasting: to their blasphem”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 2: Hermas, Tatian, Theophilus, Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria — TO THE PAEDAGOGUS.: Teacher, to Thee a chaplet I present, Woven of words culled from the spotless mead, Where Thou dost feed Thy flocks; like to the bee, That skilful worker, which from many a flower Gathers its treasures, that she may convey A luscious offering to the master's hand. Though but the least, I am Thy servant still, (Seemly is praise to Thee for Thy behests). O King, great Giver of good gifts to men, Lord of the good, Father, of all the Maker, Who heaven and heaven's adornment, by Thy word Divine fitly dis”