Dear Christian educators, As we draw close to the celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate because of the Father's steadfast love that extends to the heavens and His faithfulness to the clouds! Only a gracious God can give life and life more abundantly. We love Him because He loved us first. I am so grateful for His deep, deep love and desire to save us. Aren't you? Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 37 Psalm 36:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. I have no idea how an educator can have such steadfast love that it reaches to the heavens or such faithfulness that it reaches to the clouds. However, this I know: Christian educators have a supernatural ability to love with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. What school would not benefit from Christian educators on campus who purposely live their lives through the Fruit of the Spirit? What school wouldn't want educators who love, have joy and peace, show goodness, kindness and gentleness, maintain patience, self-control and faithfulness? You see against these things there is no law. We are commissioned to display the Fruit of the Spirit because He lives in us. Dear Lord, You alone, O Lord are over the entire universe! Your steadfast love extends to the heavens and Your faithfulness to the clouds. That is greater and more wonderful than humankind can grasp. Yet we know Your love is everything. We celebrate the Resurrection on Sunday because of Your steadfast love and desire to save us through Your Only Son, Jesus Christ. May this Sunday's celebration be a tribute to Your glory and Your steadfast love and faithfulness all over the world. I pray in the faithful Name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team
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Dear Christian educators, Work is worship! When we work hard, we mirror our Lord's hard work. His work is always done in faithfulness. Every time we come to school when we don't feel like it, we are faithful. Every time we get to a meeting on time, we are faithful. When we participate in learning communities and do what we are asked, we are working in faithfulness. When we are faithful, He is glorified. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 36 Psalm 33:4 English Standard Version (ESV) 4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. How can we display faithfulness in the classroom? Do we dress professionally? When you select your clothes, why not pray about it? Ask God how you would represent Him best. To some it may seem silly to pray about what to wear, but that focus of dedicating your day to Him, makes decisions about appearance simpler. We all know that our students notice everything we wear and often have plenty to say about it. Being faithful to your appearance as an ambassador of Christ is noteworthy. As you drive to school and process all the things that have to be gathered and organized, be faithful to guarding your tongue. Another great prayer is to ask God to help you prepare the words you will say and that you may be a blessing to your students. Being faithful to using words of encouragement, kindness and gentleness to our students does not always come easy, but that’s why we pray! Be faithful to the integrity of the content you have been charged to teach. Being compliant to the standards and rules set out by your district and principal are a sign of your faithfulness and help your administrators to see you as someone they can always rely on. As a Christian educator, your expectations are higher since you work first for the Lord and then for your district. Faithfulness to prayer, your appearance, the words you say, and obedience to authority are signposts of an educator who understands their high calling. Being faithful is not always easy, but it is always rewarding. 3 John 1:3 - It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. Dear Lord,
Your Word is upright. It is the Lamp unto my feet and the Light unto my path. There's something in the Word for every one of our human conditions. Guide us Lord to the Word for solutions to our problems. Help us to drink in Your promises and to really believe them. Lord, Your work is done in faithfulness. Its manifold witness is shown throughout the heavens and in the beauty of the earth. Lord help us to display work as worship that we may be a great example of hard work to our students and colleagues. May You receive all the glory in our work for You. We ask in the upright name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team Dear Christian educators, What an analogy! Just picture what a city broken into and left without walls would be like in ancient times. Walls protected the people from invaders, wild animals and much more. Without walls, there would likely be no city. In our lives, no self-control is the sign of a broken life. Self-control affords us boundaries to keep us safe. Remember that it is a Fruit of the Spirit for which we can ask for help. It's not easy to have self-control, but so worth it for a life well-lived. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 35 Proverbs 25:28 English Standard Version (ESV) 28 A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls. As a Christian educator, we must demonstrate self-control in the classroom. We are a constant example to our students because they are always watching us. Being out of control is not an option in the classroom for the sake of the students. When a young student is out of control, it is very difficult to deal with them because they really don't know their boundaries. Modeling self-control and being merciful graces the students with hope. Students that are out of control are like the analogy in this Proverb - a city broken into without walls. May the Lord help us all to have self-control at school at all times. Dear Lord, Thank You for the Proverbs. The wisdom of Your Word never ceases to amaze me. Like a city broken into and left without walls is our lives without self-control. Lord, help me in the areas where I am weak and let the walls down. Send a double portion of self-control through Your Holy Spirit so that I may serve others more and they may see You in me. To You be all the glory because You are truly the only One with unlimited self-control. Thank You for Your gracious help. I ask for this in the tender name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team Dear Christian educators, I never thought of supplementing my faith, but when I think about it, I take supplements for my health, why not have supplements for my spiritual health? This verse admonishes us to supplement our faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness and steadfastness with godliness. That's a big order! If we take baby steps, we begin our walk with virtue - always being truthful no matter what. As we add supplements we look for knowledge which comes from the Word of God. As the Word of God dwells in us through the Holy Spirit, self-control is desired. This self-control leads to steadfastness - being ever faithful to our Lord and this steadfastness leads to godliness. May it be so. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 34 2 Peter 1:5-6 English Standard Version (ESV) 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, This verse would make the perfect poster in school! We would have to leave off the address and the godliness but perhaps it could look something like this: A Recipe for Success this Year Supplement your studies with virtue. With virtue add knowledge of your studies. With the knowledge, sprinkle self-control. Self-control will lead to steadfastness which will lead to success. Needs a little work, but has potential. We need someone like Carol Ann McGuire to make it look great. Dear Lord,
This is a big order for us, yet we know it's what we need to live a life for You. Abide in us so that we supplement our faith with virtue leading to the knowledge of Your Word which then leads to self-control through Your Holy Spirit showing us steadfastness through Your love and leading to a life of godliness. Lord, this is what we want as we represent You. We are asking because You said through James that we have not because we ask not. We are asking Lord and waiting expectantly. Thank You gracious God. We ask for this in the steadfast name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team Dear Christian educators, Self-control is really not "self" control but Spirit control. When we attempt to control ourselves (like our tongues!) we fail. It is no wonder there is so much frustration. It's like Paul explained: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do." We need help! The good news is that when we believe in Jesus, He gives us another Advocate, the Holy Spirit who will guide us in all things. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 33 2 Timothy 1:7 English Standard Version (ESV) 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Self-control, to me, is an oxymoron. Can we really control ourselves? Without the help of the Holy Spirit, unequivocally – no! However, with the gracious goodness of our God, we can learn to ask for His quick conviction. As long as we are human, we will sin, but as a Christian we must repent and change immediately. Self-control in the classroom covers our mistakes, our foolish comments that we never meant to say and the areas we need to overcome. Our students should not be the recipients of our issues. We must make a conscious effort to present ourselves as an educator of excellence for their sake. In Dictionary.com, self-control is defined as: self-con·trol [self-kuhn-trohl, self-] noun, control or restraint of oneself or one's actions, feelings, etc. In the classroom, self-control encompasses every fruit of the Spirit, every emotions and feeling, and everything we do. Being in control of oneself, is being on time, being an example of faithfulness to our students and colleagues, using words that are kind and good and being aware of our influence. All teachers are change agents, but not all change is positive influence. With God’s help and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, Christian educators can walk out their high calling with grace and confidence while always being lawful. Some probing questions that may help with self-control in the classroom are:
Dear Lord,
You gave us a spirit not of fear! Instead, You gave us a spirit of power and love and self-control. Only Your Spirit can make that possible in us O Lord. Thank You for the daily encouragement of Your Word for it is living and active, sharper than a two-edged sword, rightly dividing soul and spirt, bone and marrow and discerning the intentions of the heart. Create in me a clean heart O Lord, that I may have the spirit of self-control. Thank You for this bold promise. I ask in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team Dear Christian educators, I just watched soccer practice this evening as ten 7-9 year old ran around in what seemed like an unorganized mess. I observed one little player disobey, disregard and ignore his coach. For anyone else, this child may have caused them to lose control, but this coach was so patient with him, yet did not let him get away with his shenanigans without consequence. I would definitely count that patience as a model of our Lord's patience. He's so good to us. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 32 2 Peter 3:15 English Standard Version (ESV) 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, Patience in the classroom takes a lot of conscious work. I wrote a blog entry about patience in the classroom. This is an excerpt: With first things first, pray for patience. Be specific. Ask God to help you with that particular child that knows how to push all those buttons. Ask for intervention when you are unable. Sometimes “we have not because we ask not.” Ask! Next, practice. Be purposeful about addressing those things that wear your patience down and then practice having a different reaction. For instance, if the way the students enter your classroom in unruly and unorganized, instead of getting heated and getting on them for being so noisy, laugh about it. Add a little humor and then practice, practice, practice until they please you and then praise them. Too often, the management chaos in our classrooms is our fault for not setting routines and expectations and then keeping up with them. When things become too familiar, we get sloppy (the students and us!) Change it up. If a routine is not effective any more, make a new one and practice, practice, practice. Going home exhausted by a chaotic day does no one any good. Bring patience to your classroom with practiced and purposed management. What about the student who makes the little hairs on your neck stand up when they enter the room? We’ve all had them, but the difference between being stressed and being patient is how it is handled. When “that” student begins to move your patience meter down, pray immediately for wisdom and guard your mouth. Be especially careful, not to say what is in your head and heart at the moment. He/she is an image bearer, don’t forget. Next, begin targeted prayer for the child. Sit in their desk before school starts and pray for his/her family and home life. Ask for help with communication with the parents before you call home. Ask for private time with the student to discuss goals for success in your particular class setting. Pray for patience. There is no easy method for solving the stress of having students who are disrespectful or unruly, but praying for them changes the situation and us. Dear Lord,
Thank Your for Your patience which leads to salvation. Lord, how do You do it? How do you wait on Your people to return to You throughout the generations. Please forgive our stony hearts and wayward ways. Help us to be whole-hearted for You because of Your great patience and love. Thank You for Paul, our beloved brother who wrote so much of the New Testament for us. Help us Lord to look to Your Word for guidance, wisdom, knowledge and reproof. Lord, we love You and ask for Your guiding hand in the patient name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team Dear Christian educators, It's all about Him. The more I come to know Him, the more I love Him. I am so grateful for His perfect patience that has forgiven me and given me eternal life in Him. We all have received mercy so that we may display His perfect patience to win others over. Do you know Him yet? He is love and He is waiting for You as He gently calls. Come and see. Taste and see what the Lord has done. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 31 1 Timothy 1:16 English Standard Version (ESV) 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. As Christians in the public schools, we have been blessed to be Christ followers. With much blessing comes much responsibility. Because of His great mercy, we are charged with displaying His perfect patience as an example to those who do not believe yet, that they too may have eternal life through Him. Now how in the world can you do that in the public schools? You walk the walk without talking the talk. We will never have perfect patience. That's reserved for our Lord, but we can ask for His patience as we deal with the numerous unsettling issues that can happen on any given school day. Pray this scripture aloud and ask Him to help you with patience. We know it's in His will because it's in His word. Dear Lord,
I am thankful for Your servant Paul who teaches us to pray. Thank you Lord that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. We hate sin, Lord, but You saved us. Thank you for Your mercy that in me, a saved sinner, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in Him for eternal life. Lord, You hold the words of eternal life. Where else would we go? Thank You for your patience and love. We ask for this in the saving name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team Dear Christian educators, Whoever said it would be easy to be a Christian in the public schools? I doubt anyone would claim that. Easy is not what we are looking for but instead God's transforming power. This verse admonishes us to "put on" compassionate hearts, kindness, humility meekness and patience. The putting on of these attributes are gifts of the Spirit. We are God's chosen ones and He has chosen to place us in service to the public schools. Let's go to God for the ability to "put on" these humanly impossible gifts for the sake of our students. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 30 Colossians 3:12 English Standard Version (ESV) 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, Patience is one of those attributes of God that calls for the intervention of the Holy Spirit, for sure. In this verse, however, we are told to "put on" patience. What does that mean? Are we to muster up patience on our own? I'm not sure that's even possible. When we "put on" patience, it is with prayer. If there is a particular situation at school, that requires patience and you know you will need help, pray in the morning before you leave your home, pray the moment your arrive on campus and then pray in your classroom or office before the students arrive. He is able! If it's a situation that happens on the spot, before uttering a word, utter a short silent prayer using this verse that might go something like this: Dear Lord, help me to put on patience Your way please! Dear Lord,
Thank You for Your mercy. Thank You for calling us Your chosen ones. What a blessing. Help us to be a blessing to our students, colleagues, administrators and parents by putting on compassion hearts. When a student is hurting, be compassionate through us Lord. Help us to put on kindness. When a colleague of ours seems so discouraged, be kind to them through us Lord. When we feel overlooked or undervalued at school, help us to put on humility, dear King. Instead of always having to get our way, help us to put on meekness by Your Spirit. When the days are long and the work comes home in our book bags Lord, grace us with Your patience. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team Dear Christian educators, Are you patient? Is it just a personality trait? There is no doubt that some people are more patient that others naturally, yet the promise of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit means that we will produce the Fruit of the Spirit. I remember a very wise principal once pointed out that the "Fruit" is singular and that we don't cherry-pick the ones we are more prone towards displaying. The Holy Spirit will display all fruit when we get out of the way and let Him. Oh that it was that simple on a day-to-day basis. Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 29 Romans 8:25 English Standard Version (ESV) 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. What are some of the things we hope for in school and wait patiently for? Students who do not understand our content and suddenly the light goes on. Patience paid off. Colleagues who seem to be against what we stand for, come to us in a crisis. Patience paid off. Administrators that seem to unfairly evaluate us give us a glowing evaluation. Patience paid off. Naturally in any scenario in school, patience is undergirded with prayer. Ask others to pray for you when you are hoping for something that you just don't see happening. Patience will pay off when you issue is solved or may no longer even matter. Dear Lord,
Thank you for teaching us to wait. Waiting on You is always beneficial because when we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Help us with patience Lord, especially in this time of the year when there are plans being made for next year already. Lord, help us to wait on you for the right position, right class, the right assignment because You place us where we need to be when we wait on You. Help us when we are impatient to catch ourselves. O Lord, we love You for so many things! What a gracious God You are. We ask for patience in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE team Dear Christian educators, We are the Lord's servants. Our duty is to not be quarrelsome and to be kind to everyone. We must also be able to teach while patiently enduring evil and correcting our opponents with gentleness. That's a big charge! However, the payoff is eternal because if we do these things, perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of truth. Isn't that our hope especially for the students we serve and the colleagues we serve with? Each day during this season of Lent, I will post one verse and pray it with you. Consider saying the verse in your quiet time and praying it also. You may use the same prayer or try your own. Each day until Easter (except Sundays) there will be a new post that contains: a verse, a small reflection, a prayer using the Scripture and an image. Feel free to share the images because I made them with the Bible Lens app and took all the pictures. What a creative God we serve! Day 28 2 Timothy 2:24-25 English Standard Version (ESV) 24 And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, This verse makes me think of the grievance system between the unions and administration. When things are not going the way we think they should, we have the right to grieve the situation. Sometimes it becomes a helpful tool to bring issues to solution, but too often it's used as a weapon. What if every Christian educator modeled this verse? Would it mean that nothing evil would come our way? On the contrary, it's almost a guarantee that evil will be experienced, but if we answered our opponents with gentleness, not being quarrelsome, while being kind, there may be quite a different outcome. No doubt, it's hard to do, but this is one of the ways transformation can happen with God's love and truth. Dear Lord,
We are so grateful to Your wisdom and grace. How can we show gentleness when are opponents are accusing us? You teach us in Your Word not to be quarrelsome. You will need to help us Lord. We always want to let them know our point of view. Your way is always so different and surprising. Help us Lord to be kind to everyone (including our opponents) with gentleness so that You may perhaps grant them the repentance that leads to a knowledge of Your Truth. What a gift Lord. Have mercy on us. We ask this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team |
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