 Dear Christian educators, Some of you are on Spring Break now or in a few weeks. Others will have your break during Easter. What a great time to get into Psalm 51. This incredible Psalm by David will bring strength and joy for the last quarter of the year. From verses 10-12: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." Consider praying this whole Psalm for your wholeness for the rest of the school year. 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 10 Psalm 51:12 English Standard Version (ESV) Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. In our school environments, we don't see enough joy. Younger children exude a more natural joy as they play and laugh. Jesus taught us that we must be like little children if we are to enter the kingdom. How can we intentionally be more joyful? Joy comes from within and is shown on our persona. Others on our campus are drawn to us when we are joyful. As a Fruit of the Spirit, joy is from God. When we know Him, desire Him, talk to Him, sing praises to Him we have His joy. If your environment needs more joy, sing more, praise more, give thanks more and serve more. Joy is not for us, but to bless those we have contact with each day at school. May the Lord restore the joy of your salvation. Take a trip down to a kindergarten class during planning one day to experience some joy!  Dear Lord, Forgive us Lord in those times when we don't display joy. Restore to us the joy of our salvation. There is no greater gift than the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Thank You Lord. Bring His gift to our remembrance when we are feeling low or anxious. Uphold us with Your willing spirit that we may live a life of joy, especially on the tough days, particularly during the sicknesses we or our loved ones experience. Help us Lord to display the Fruit of the Spirit because we are unable on our own. Send Your willing spirit today. We love you and petition You for joy in the Gracious Name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
0 Comments
 Dear Christian educators, We are looking at the Fruit of the Spirit during Lent, my friends and have examined 8 days of love. Let's try JOY for the next five days. Joy is truly spiritual. It's not the same as happiness, but joy often exudes happiness. Our joy comes from the Lord and we see it with each new day. A new sunrise, a new start, and new set of ideas and dreams. He is truly gracious to us and we need to remember and praise Him with great joy. 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 9 Psalm 30:5 English Standard Version (ESV) For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. What does joy like like in the classroom? I wrote a blog post, "Joy in the Classroom," almost 7 years ago if you care to read it. Here is an excerpt: As I looked up joy in the Word, I was delighted to see hundreds of times this powerful word was used, but was most impressed with the shouts of joy given by God’s people for what He had done for them. Let us be teachers of the Book and have shouts of joy in our hearts for His incredible gift of becoming a educator. Be encouraged to purposefully plan how you can give joy this year and displaying this powerful fruit in your life. These are a few of my favorite verses of joy. Psalm 16:11 - You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. John 15:11 - I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Romans 12:12 - Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Psalm 30:5 - For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.  Dear Lord, Psalm 30:5 is a beautiful reminder of Your love for us. We don't often talk about Your anger, but we do know that sin is the cause. We are so grateful that You anger is but for a moment and Your favor is for a lifetime. Thank You for your favor Lord! In those difficult times, we may cry ourselves to sleep, but joy comes in the morning when you grant us a new day, refresh us, bless us with solutions, and show us the way. Thank You for each new day Lord. It is a gift. We praise You in the mighty Name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, In our profession of educating young minds, we know we have great influence and great responsibility. Christian educators in the public schools do well to know their religious freedoms and guidelines. If you do not know where you boundaries are in the public schools, know this: you do not leave your rights are the schoolhouse door. You ALWAYS want to be graceful and legal in how you conduct yourself and be a blessing to others. Loving God with your whole mind also includes learning. To learn more about your religious guidelines and freedoms while serving as a public school servant, please visit the Christian Educators website at www.ceai.org Love is the greatest of all gifts we can give to others and knowing how to love with our whole mind is very important. 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 8 Luke 10:27 English Standard Version (ESV) And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Educators are always learning. There are new strategies, curriculum, methods and technology to keep our minds fully engaged. Learning about our students' learning styles, exceptionalities and personalities also keeps us on our toes. The greatest gift we can give ourselves as learners is to read, meditate, memorize and apply Gods' Word. Knowing the Word is one thing, but living the Word requires our whole mind. Did you know you can have a Bible on your desk as an inspiration to read when you are on your own time? Try to read God's Word during your private times on your campus because loving the Lord with your whole heart, soul, strength and mind is an investment. May you be blessed mighty for investing in His Word.  Dear Lord,
Thank you for giving us creative minds. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be creative at school. As we use our minds, we are glorifying You when we exude the Fruit of the Spirit. Thank You Lord for teaching us to drink in more of Your Word. It seems, Lord, that the more we read the more we want. Why is it Lord, that there are times that we read Scripture that we have read before and it seems that we are reading it for the first time? You are amazing. Lord, I pray that my brothers and sisters grow in the their love for You in mind, body and soul. We love You and ask for Your mercy and grace each school day. Thank You in the Holy Name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, One week ago was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. This season is an optional form of sacrifice for many, but we are trying to take a proactive approach to Lent diving into the Fruit of the Spirt. Today's verse comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself when He was challenged to tell the most important commandment. Loving the Lord with all our heart, and all our soul and all our mind and all our strength is ALL of us. I am so thankful for a relationship with the One Who loves me and helps me to love Him with ALL my being each new day. Why not tell Him you love when you arrive at school and when you leave school 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 7 Mark 12:30 English Standard Version (ESV) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ God has bless you with a high calling and though it is not always possible to say you love teaching with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength, He gives you the ability to experience glimpses of that kind of love. Who in the world works 50+ hours a week, taking more work home than what actually can be completed? That's some kind of love. Who in the world gives a student lunch money or their own lunch when a little one is hungry? That's some kind of love. Who in the world shows mercy to the unmerciful and grace to the unlikeable? That's some kind of love. You have a high calling, dear Christian educator, fueled by the God Who gives you purpose. Let's love Him with ALL we have in school and out of school.  Dear Lord,
Do we really understand what it means to love You with all our heart? Sometimes Lord, our hearts are so full because of Your majesty displayed in the beauty of the earth. Other times You convict us to help those in need, particularly our students. Any act of kindness is simply our hot-hearted love for You being displayed for others to see You. May You receive all the glory. Lord, teach us to love LARGE with all we have. Help us also Lord to love our students and colleagues with ALL we've got. It's impossible for us on our own, but with You everything is possible. We come before in the confidence of our merciful Lord Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, The steadfast love of the Lord extends to the heavens! What a mighty and merciful God we serve. Isn't it incredible that He loves us. Be empowered Christian educator to love your students and colleagues because He loved us first. It's a miracle, isn't it? During Lent, it's marvelous to reflect and to praise Him. David certainly knew how to do that. What a model for us. When grades are due and it seems overwhelming, praise Him. When students are not working and we don't know what to do, praise Him. When it doesn't seem possible to get it all done, praise Him because with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. 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 6 Psalm 36:5-7 English Standard Version (ESV) 5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. 6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord.  What does the steadfast love of the Lord have to do with the classroom or our school communities? When we are mindful of His love, faithfulness and righteousness, we get our minds off our worries and are better able to serve our students and colleagues. In the busyness of the day, it's next to impossible to think of anything else but what is at hand, but in those times of joy and exasperation, it is wonderful to pause and meditate on His steadfast love. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He is always with you even when the pressures are mounting. Call upon Him for help. Invite Him into your situation at school and taste and see that the Lord is good. There truly is a peace that passes all understanding in the steadfast love of the Lord.
Dear Lord, We bless you Lord for Your steadfast love. Help us to understand Your love more. David said that Your love extends to the heavens and Your faithfulness to the clouds. Help us to look up Lord to be reminded of You when we are overwhelmed. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains. What could be more majestic? Our momentary fears and troubles pale in comparison to the eternity You have place in our hearts. Thank You Awesome God. Your judgments are like the the great deep, unfathomable to us, yet we trust You Lord for You want us to succeed. You save man and beast! Precious Lord, thank You for being with every educator and every student this day. Help them to look up to be reminded of Your never ending steadfast love. We thank You and pray in the excellent name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, I love the Lord! I love to tell Him I love Him, too. This is my favorite Scripture to pray when I am outside in my prayer garden. As I close out my prayers I recite this verse to Him. It really helps me to know His strength and power. He is my strength, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock, my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, my EVERYTHING! Do you want to magnify your love for Him. Memorize this one and sing/say it to Him daily. 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 5 Psalm 18:1-3 - English Standard Version (ESV)The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. In our school communities, praising the Lord in the classroom with students present has been disallowed, however starting your day (before contract time) with praise and worship in Your room can never be disallowed. When you pull your car into the parking lot, begin your day with a 1st step prayer. With the first step towards the entrance to the last step you take into the school, praise Him. It's a lot more joyful that worrying about all the things you have to do. When you enter your classroom, praise Him. Give Him the day. Place it in His hands and say this Psalm to Him. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. (John Piper). Have a praise-filled day.  Dear Lord,
Thank you for the heart of David who was always seeking after You. Let us be an educator with a hot-heart for You. I love You, O Lord, my strength. You help me with all weakness. You are my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer. You have rescued me from a life of sin and have place a hedge of protection over my salvation because of what Jesus has done. My God, my Rock, in Whom I take refuge, where else would I go? You have the words of eternal life! My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my Stronghold. What do I fear? When You are near I am at peace no matter what the enemy throws my way for He Who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. I call upon You Lord, because You are worthy to be praised. Thank You for saving me from my enemies. I ask for this in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, Who is your neighbor? Naturally, they can be the people in your neighborhood, but who do you spent more time with? Your school community - whether it is your students or colleagues, we spend the greatest part of our day in school. As we interact with so many image-bearers, this commandment applies. Since love has been the focus of our last three days, let's specifically look at loving our colleagues today. 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 4 Matthew 22:39 English Standard Version (ESV) And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. How do we love our colleagues (neighbors)? At times, it is simple because we have learned to work together much better since PLC (Professional Learning Communities - or whatever the most popular term is today). However, that never erases the natural ebb and flow of being human, being flesh and blood. Without a doubt, we will rub someone the wrong way whether it is intentional or not, by commission or omission. When we know we have offended, may the Holy Spirit convict us quickly and go to the person one-on-one to make amends. When we don't even realize we have offended our neighbor (colleague), be prayerful each day for awareness of other's feelings. If someone seems distant, be the first to be friendly. As Christian educators we have the call to love our neighbor as ourself.  Dear Lord, This command is hard. I'm not sure why. We want to please You with obedience to the 1st command by loving You with our whole heart, our whole soul and all our might, but then You added the 2nd one: love your neighbor as yourself. Our colleagues should know us by our love and when they don't, we are not able to give You the glory. Create in us a clean heart, O Lord, that we may love our neighbors, our colleagues, with intention. Help to always go to them first face-to-face to resolve any issues that we may win them over with our conduct. To You be all glory as You help us, Gracious Lord. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, This is our high calling, dear friends. We need to be known for our love on our school campuses. We love because He loved us first. Don't worry if you haven't loved the way you should. None of us have, but we serve the God of Love, Who will enable us to love more deeply as we cry out to Him. During Lent, let's pray for more love, particularly for the unlovables. You know who they are! Can you imagine if we started loving on them instead of being annoyed by them? It would change everything! May God give you His power to do just that. 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 3 John 15:12-17 English Standard Version (ESV) “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another. What does loving the unlovable look like? Whenever that student begins to show his/her ways, deal with them in private. Bring them in the hall for a moment (while you still have your eye on the others, of course). Make the attempt to let them know you are not his/her enemy and in fact are their advocate. Try a phone call home with good news. They may have never received one before. Being proactive with an unlovable, may mean a smile before class, an unrelated inquiry to their day having nothing to do with school. It may even be a small sincere note to just them. It's hard to do, but if you ask God for creative ways to love them, there is no doubt you will get help. After all it says, "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." That's when we know we are praying in His will.  Dear Lord,
Why is loving others hard? It shouldn't be. It should come naturally, yet sometimes people just know how to push our buttons. Will you help us Lord to come up with creative ways to love those who seem unlovable? We know that You love them. Please shine the light on what You see and how we can be more observant. Help us to practice looking as them as fearfully and wonderfully made. Lord, please grant us Your ways that we may be pleasing in Your sight and a blessing to all - yes, even the unlovables. Lord, Your commandment is to love one another as You have loved us. You even call us friends if we love like You do. That's incredible. Thank You for choosing us and help us to bear fruit that Your fruit may abide on our campuses. We ask because You said whatever you ask in My Father's Name, He will give it to us. Help us to love one another! Prayerfully yours, Karen and the CIPE Team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, For the next few days we will go a little deeper with the first Fruit of the Spirit. Love is mentioned over 300 times (131 in the Old Testament and 179 in the New Testament KJV) so it would be very lengthy to try to examine all of them during Lent. I have instead chosen 7 verses to share about love for Days 2-8. 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 2 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 English Standard Version (ESV) - Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. What if we applied only the first sentence in our classrooms? Just being reminded of the need to be patient and kind is huge. Patience is not natural but it is a fruit. Kindness is probably more tangible because we can teach the students kindness. They LOVE participating in a "Random Acts of Kindness" initiative. I love how Paul also explains what love is NOT! It is not arrogant or rude, nor insists on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful nor rejoices at wrongdoing. Oh my, it is much easier to NOT love than to love (without the Lord, of course). May God grant you the supernatural ability to be like Him and display LOVE to your students and colleagues. Over 3 years ago, I wrote a blog post, "Love in the Classroom" if you care to check it out it may help with some ideas.  Dear Lord,
Help us! We want to love. We want to be like You, but we fall so short. Lord, why? It is the desire of our hearts to be patient and kind and to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things. You are the Waymaker Who can show us the way. You are the Chainbreaker that can break the chains of our stony hearts. You are the Paintaker, Who can remove all pain when we loved deeply and lost. Oh Lord, bless us with a loving heart towards those we see each day. Open our hearts wide for Your kind of love. It is in great expectation that we ask in the Holy Name of Jesus. Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and The CIPE team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.  Dear Christian educators, Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of the Lenten season. You can "give up" something or you can be an intentional blessing to others or do both. One way to bless others is to walk the Fruit of the Spirit and pray our way through the Bible. When you pray the Bible, you know you are in God's will. 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:
Day 1 Galatians 5:22-23 English Standard Version (ESV)But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Did you know you can hang a poster in your classroom with the Fruit of the Spirit? Just use the words as an encouragement, not the actual verse. Don't you love that we are reassured in the verse itself that against such things there is no law. What school wouldn't want teachers and students that display love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Compass, a ministry of Grace Church in MN has excellent resources for Christian educators including a poster of the Fruit of the Spirit for younger students. You can search for other examples of posters like the one I found from Society 6. More importantly, is how we walk our walk with the children and our colleagues displaying the Fruit in our lives. It's not easy, but all things are possible with God.  Dear Lord, Please bless the students through us. We know that we are ambassadors for You and when we let You live through us the Fruit of the Spirit is natural. Let love, joy and peace exude from us this Lenten season. Please help us to be purposeful about our walk by being good, kind and gentle to those we encounter on our campuses each day. We thank You Father for Your incredible patience with us. Will You give us a double portion of patience today? Oh Lord, self-control is really an oxymoron for us. Will you take control that we may be like You? Finally, we want to thank You for Your faithfulness to us each day and for Your steadfast love. Help us to be faithful to our school community, our students, colleagues and parents. We love You and look to You for the ability to display Your Fruit legally and gracefully today. The Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; against such things there is no law. Thank you for that Lord! We ask in the beautiful Name of Jesus, Amen. Prayerfully yours, Karen and The CIPE team 2 Timothy 3:16 -17- All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. |
CIPE Team
Archives
April 2021
|
RSS Feed
