Its that time of year again. The season of the big yellow bus coming to whisk our children away to the land of 
public school education. A place where for many a student (truthfully, this is most students, very few are excited about the academics of education) this journey is not about education at all. It becomes about peer relationships, searching for and finding identity, value and self worth. It is a place of popularity contests, bullying and jockeying for status. Yes there will be education in the midst of this and yes your student will learn. As we return to this season of back to school here are some things you can be praying for your students as they head into these waters of school life.
- Pray for their identity to be rooted and grounded in Christ. Often the peer world of our children’s education years is a struggle for kiddo’s to find their value, their identity. Every human being has inside them a longing to “know and to be known”. To be found to have value intrinsic to themselves and have that value validated. In this season our children are too often drawn to try to find their value in popularity, academic or athletic achievements or social status through group affiliations. These idealizations are not in and of themselves wrong, but if they come forth from a lack of true identity they can become replacements for the identity that matters most, their identity in Christ and in your family. Pray Ephesians 1 That God would give them a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Who He has made them to be. That they would be rooted and grounded in their identity in Christ as a child of the King.
- That they would be confident in their identity in your family, their belonging and position is unwavering to them no matter what. Kids are navigating way more than Math, English and Science in their school days, their whole worldview is being shaped. They need to have confidence that their identity as your child and their position in your family are unchanging. Kids will make choices and have behaviors that we may not like or agree with. Behavior is not identity and heart matters more than right behavior. Pray that your son or daughter will always know who they are in relationship with you as mom and dad and have confidence in the foundation of home. Pray that they would always see home and family as a safe place to discuss things being presented in the school and peer worlds. That you could be a rock solid foundation that they can push against and build upon as they navigate these new dynamics.
- Pray for a God sized vision for their lives. The world of our students becomes very small in school. Narrow views of social acceptance and academic or athletic achievements become the weightiest things in your child’s lives. And yet often times for us as parents we are praying school success that propels them into worldly success. In my book Josiah Generation Revival I discuss some of this topic: “We pray God will help them get good grades. We tell them they can go so much farther than we ever did. We “call” them to be corporate executives, and business leaders around the world. These are not bad things, they are wonderful ambitions for your children. But… are they God’s plan for your child? I know my parents never would have spoken pastoral ministry over me. They would have never desired for me to move all over the country, away from them, unable to visit as often as they would like. Parents don’t pray for their child to become the next Billy Graham or the next Mother Teresa. The truth is God is calling our children to go to Africa, Uganda, or even Iraq. God is calling our children to be Pastors and teachers and evangelists. God is calling our children to be business men and women who work for the corporate world, but live for the Kingdom of God.” Pray that your sons and daughters would have a God sized vision for their lives and their days at school. What does God have for them in this season? God knows and He wants us to intercede for them for revelation.
- Pray for their innocence and purity to be guarded. When I went to public school there were no discussions of LGBTQ and Gender Dysphoria. Today at earlier and earlier ages the myths of sexual freedom, anything goes and “if it feels good do it” are bombarding our kids. Beyond conversations in safe home environments on these topics we must be praying that God would strengthen them in purity and confidence in His plan for sexuality. This is a topic that simply doesn’t need a lot of words from me in this blog, it needs lots of prayer. Lots and lots of prayer. Sex and sexual activity is not a topic you want to leave open to interpretation based on a public school world view. We must bath it in prayer and we must talk openly about it with our children at age appropriate levels and content. If you want help on this topic I recommend Dr. Jim Burns books, “God Made Your Body” for younger children and his book “Teaching Your Children Healthy Sexuality”. You can check out Jim’s books here: https://www.amazon.com/Jim-Burns/e/B001ILFO10
- Pray that they would cast their cares on the Lord. Believe it or not this season for many students is not fun. The anxiety of tests, grades, social relationships, boyfriends and girlfriends, looks, pimples and popularity and all that stuff is a huge stress on a child. The weight of performance and success and acceptance can be a major cause of depression and anxiety. We need to pray for our children a Philippians 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:7 lifestyle, that they would be anxious for nothing and would lay it all at the feet of Jesus and trust Him with it.
Moms and Dads, as your filled with lists to prepare to send your children off to school; getting clothes, school supplies, registering and all that fun stuff, don’t neglect to put praying for your kiddos at the top of the list. Pray, and pray often. It truly is the most important thing you can do for your kiddos is talk to the Father about them.