The Power of Prayer

My new school year starts today, Tuesday, September 1st. I have been teaching ten years, and every year I start things the same way. I pray over my classroom before the school year starts – every chair, table, computer, doorway, and equipment. My friends in Tuscaloosa would pray with me the first eight years, and this year some friends joined in here as well. The first year I taught, it literally involved prayers of desperation on that day before school started. I had no working gear, no curriculum, no textbook, no teaching experience, and no students who actually wanted to be in the class. My friends Bob and Gail Kerstetter showed up, and we prayed.


That first year, I also happened to be part of a discipleship small group, studying various Christian books. One of the first books we studied was a new book at the time, “The Prayer of Jabez”. Before the book turned into a coffee mug, t-shirt, and overblown anthem for what many refer to as the prosperity gospel, my friends and I agreed to pray Jabez’ simple prayer over our lives and our careers.

“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free of pain.’ And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10

So, I prayed those four things over my new career as a teacher: 1) Bless me, 2) Enlarge my territory, 3) Be with me in all that I do, and 4) Keep me from evil and harm.

Take a look at just some of the results:
• Our program became the model for the state curriculum in Alabama in 2001, and in a new version that went into effect this year.
• Our students won more state and national awards than I can count for their work.
• We began serving one school with a closed-circuit, school video show, and ended up creating a television program for three high schools that today still airs on a local television station, watched by the schools and the community. There are now two classroom teachers. One of my former students is one of the teachers.
• State, regional, and national organizations honored my teaching strategies.
• A third of the students who complete our program chose their career path in some area of communications.
• The school schedule provided more time for volunteer youth ministry and impacting teens outside of school.
• God healed my own heart and developed a greater compassion for others through my time in the classroom.
• My career experiences brought me back to the West Coast where I was born, and I am now working in my favorite city in the country at a great charter art high school.

Blessings? Check. Enlarged Territory? Check. Presence in all I do? Check. Protection from Evil and Harm? Check.

I share these successes only as evidence that God answered my prayers, and continues to do that every day. There is truly no natural way a screw-up like me without any official training to be a teacher could have achieved so much in such a short period of time, and that’s the short list. My education career has been a huge team effort involving so many students and adults, with God as team captain, coach, manager, and owner.

One of my favorite worship songs right now is “Cannons,” by Phil Wickham. Some of the words in the song best summarize my feelings on this subject: “I’m so unworthy, but still you love me. Forever my heart will sing of how great You are. All glory, honor, power is yours amen.”