Teachers – Witkowski Blog

teacher-appreciation-blog As a kid, I hated school. I skipped out on homework. I viewed summer reading lists as optional. And, my preferred method of studying was reading the teacher’s guide. I suppose you could say, I was not the most delightful student one could have. Thankfully, my mom never gave up on me even during the dark days when I had to repeat second grade and review phonics for about the 10^th time. She proved to be a great teacher and home school mom. I am super thankful for her!

And as most of Dodge County and America in general gets ready to start back to school, I believe even the worst of kids has a reason to be thankful for their teachers.

Teachers make the salvation possible. No, I am not talking about teachers leading Bible studies or FCA events. No, I am not saying that every teacher is a spiritual leader or even a Christian. And no, I do not believe that the school system should take the place of the church.

So what do I mean? Teachers make the gospel accessible. Without teachers, we would not know how to read (At the very least, I would not.) We would struggle to understand, study, and apply the Scriptures to our lives. As the axiom goes, “Knowledge is power.” And knowledge is the key to spiritual power. As Paul writes, salvation comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom 10:17). And only those who can read and memorize the Bible can share the good news with the world. If we lacked basic literacy skills, we would struggle to access the power of the gospel. We would be left to look at stained glass windows and to trust priests to interpret things for us.

Thankfully that is not our world. Our kids get to go to school. They get to learn. They get to learn about subjects and verbs. They get to do arithmetic homework and memorize the periodic table. They get to acquire the skills needed to read the Bible and to understand the world God created. And all this is possible because men and women are willing to champion the banner of teaching!

Sure, we may not love every teacher our kid has. We may disagree with some methods. But we should be thankful that our kids have teachers that teach. Regardless of whether or not our kids go to public or go to private school, we should be thankful for those who teach our kids. And we should be thankful for the home school moms who faithful teach at home. As the Reformer Martin Luther remarked,

I know that next to that of preaching, this is the best, greatest, and most useful office there is."
 - "A Sermon on Keeping Children in School (1530)

And we should encourage our kids to be thankful. Because of their teachers, our kids will have the chance read God’s words and to grasp his beautiful universe. Teachers bring blessings to their students.

Who’s ready to approach this school with a thankful spirit?

Nothing in ministry happens by chance. God works. He builds his church. If we want to see our church grow, we must be humbly dependent on God. We must pray. Below, I our 5 great ways to pray for our church and ministries.

1. Pray For Unity:

Friends, unity is supernatural. Churches are made up of people like you and like me. old man praying I.e, Churches are made up of sinners. This means that every day we worship together, we teach Sunday school, and lead a bible study there is an opportunity for conflict. “Did you see what she was wearing; why didn’t Bob talk to me; do you think is upset about my Facebook post; how dare you correct my child?” It’s easy to let these thoughts fester. It’s easy to get offended and then to have fights in the church. It’s easy to destroy God’s house from within. This is why so much of the new testament is focused on relationships, on loving one another. We have to work at it. Notice what Paul says in Philippians 1:27

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”

When the gospel takes hold of our lives it should produce unity and peace. Pray for God to work. Pray for God to give us humble hearts that are quick to ask for forgiveness and that are quick to defer to others. Pray for God to give us unity.

2. Pray For your Pastor and leaders:

Hebrews 13:18 says, “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all thing.” Paul regularly asked for prayer. We need to pray for our leaders’ holiness, for their relationships with their families and for them to have opportunity to reach the lost.

3. Pray for Wisdom:

Psalm 119:18 says, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” To fully understand the word of the God, we have to apply it to our lives. Sure, we can understand the Bible on our by going to school and getting a degree. We can know what it says. But we can’t live it out on our own. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. We can’t be changed by ourselves. Pray for God to open our eyes to his word. To fully understand it and to apply it, we need God’s help.

4. Pray For Salvation:

John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” If we want to see someone “get saved,” then we need to invite God to work. We can’t save anybody. I don’t care how cool your games were, how fun your lock-ins are, or how techy your service will be. We will save no one. Rather, we need to apply to the God from whom nothing is impossible.

5. Pray For God To Work:

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,” (Eph. 3:20). The reason I get stressed when kids’ ministry workers quit, when events flop, and when new programs take forever to launch is that I miss this truth. I often think it’s up to me. For a ministry to grow, I have to be smart, creative, and cool. But that’s not the case. God’s working. He can do way more than we expect. God is not a little idol in a closet somewhere. He is the ruler of the universe. He moves planets and starts. And he can do more than all our tiny brains could ever imagine. I can’t tell you how many times God has provided, blessed events, and grown new programs simply through prayer. Time and time again, God has gone ahead of my phone calls and has already begun drawing people to teach, lead and serve. Let’s pray to the God of the universe. And then let’s expect him to work.