5 Back-to-School Prayers for Students

The school year is here. Students all over the country are counting down the days. Some students overflow with excitement as the school year promises new friendships, new responsibilities, and new beginnings. Some students are overcome with fear as past experiences haunt their mind.

Regardless of what emotions are flowing in our students’ minds, they need our prayers more than ever.

There is an enemy out there that seeks to devour them whole. There is an enemy that wants to steal, kill, and destroy God’s good creation.

Followers of Christ must wake up to the dangers that wait for our kids in the hallways.

What better time to pray for our students?

Here are five ways we can pray for our kids right now:

1) Salvation

Second Corinthians 6:2 tells us, “Today is the day of salvation.” I praise God there are no limits to God’s power. When he wants to save, He saves.

Oct. 14th, 1999, I was saved in the classroom of a public school.

It is ironic that the very place that God is not welcome, is the place He makes himself at home.

Pray for the salvation of our children. Pray that God’s word will find a resting place in their hearts. Pray that they will recognize their sinful nature, trust Christ and His sacrifice on their behalf, and be saved. The halls are ripe with students that are looking for answers. Pray that their questions lead them to Christ, the author and perfecter of faith (Heb.12:2).

I have seen lives forever changed in the halls of our schools. Our kids need Christ. He is their only hope.

2) Boldness

Young brothers and sisters in Christ around the country are about to be thrown to the lions. Their faith will be mocked by teachers and students alike. It is time to pray that the simple words of the song, “This little light of mine”, will be a daily testimony for followers of Christ in the schools today.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke about believers being a city on a hill, a light on a stand as opposed to one under a basket. Pray that our students will stand up for the truth and shine the light of Christ in the dark world. Even when they might be the only voice, pray that students will proclaim Christ, realizing that the cost of remaining silent could have eternal consequences, for how will they believe if no one is willing to share?

3) Love

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Our students would do well to hear these words of Christ loud and clear. Their classmates are watching. Their teachers are watching. Pray that if they are known for one thing in the hallways, it is that they love others.

Their reactions and responses will be put under a microscope. Pray that Christ will be seen all over our students and their interaction with others. Pray that they reach out to the outcast, lift up the downtrodden, and preach Jesus to the captives of sin.

This is how the world will know our students: They love one another.

Pray that the love of Christ will overflow into the classrooms and around the country.

4) Safety

The safest place our kids can be is in God’s will. Whether it is in a homeschool setting, a private school, or a public school, our kids need to be taught that safety is found in the Lord, not in a geographical location.

The enemy will seek to destroy our children by any means necessary. It is not just drugs, sex, and alcohol that seek to destroy our kids. We must pray for safety from the dangers of materialism, popularity, and living the best life they can on their own.

Any attempts to preserve life on their own will be futile.

Psalm 62:5 reminds us, “Our hope is in the Lord.” Pray for the Lord to protect our children from those that seek to do harm, but also from lies that have penetrated every human heart. Our kids need the safety only He can offer.

5) Repentant Heart

Our kids are going to mess up. How do we know this to be true? Our kids are cut from the same cloth as each one of us. They are sinners. They will fail daily, just like their parents.

Our final prayer is in response to how they will respond when they fall short of God’s perfect standard (Rom. 3:23).

We must pray that our children will walk in repentance daily. To Repent is not just feeling sorry for sin. It is not asking God to forgive, while planning the same confession the next night. To repent is to realize how grotesque your sin is to God. It is modeled by stopping, turning the other direction, and moving away from that sin in your life.

Pray that our kids will be convicted of the sin in their lives, and instead of hiding it, will turn away, and move the opposite direction. Pray that they will be slaves to Christ, not slaves to their sin. Pray that repentance will be modeled to the world where the idea of sin is becoming more and more cloudy.

God is moving in our schools today. Please lift up our children as they go behind enemy lines.
Be encouraged that they are not alone.
God hears our prayers.
Our kids are in good hands, His hands.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,

Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, NO, I’m gonna let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, NO, I’m gonna let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, NO, I’m gonna let it shine,

Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine.