In praying for students, revival history provides some encouraging lessons. The Second Great Awakening in America owed some of its beginning to students’ prayer groups. Though, at the time, college campuses were intensely anti-Christian.

Small groups of students began to gather in prayer for a move of God. In some churches, godly pastors and parents were gathering to pray for spiritual awakening in their youth. Consequently, in the late 1700s, God’s Spirit swept college campuses and ultimately the entire nation. Just when it seemed most hopeless, God has often sent the mightiest moves of His Spirit. Thus, in personal quiet times and united prayer, it matters that we pray! Let us not be overwhelmed by the darkness.

Powerful prayer for students and teachers

As we move into a new school year, it has never been more crucial to bathe students and teachers in powerful, biblical prayer. Several years ago, a speaker at a Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma staff day shared something that made an indelible impression on us all. He showed part of a movie where American troops were in the steel flat boats approaching the shores at Normandy Beach.

As the ship doors dropped down, many young soldiers were cut down instantly as they walked into a hail of German machine gun fire. In vivid detail, the movie showed vast numbers being killed as soon as they stepped off the boat. As we watched this heart-wrenching scene, the presenter suddenly stopped the film and made the following sobering statement.

“This is a picture of what happens to many of your children (spiritually) when they walk into most schools and colleges in America.”  Yet, while the forces that assail our children are indeed great, our God is greater still.

Though we are all aware that our students are hit by unprecedented evil influences, as Christian parents and grandparents, we are not without a powerful defense. That defense is the spiritual weapons of our warfare (2 Cor. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-18).

For today’s students, the peer pressure and secular influence at many schools is truly the frontline of battle. For this reason, parents must be especially diligent to pray strategically as their children enter new semesters at schools and colleges. We must also remember to pray for today’s teachers who have such a crucial role in the lives of our young. Teachers certainly deserve our prayers and support. It is our hope the following prayers will be a help to God’s people.

Strategic biblical prayers for students and teachers

  1. Pray that Christian teachers will have great grace and strength to be a witness in ways appropriate for their settings.
  2. Pray for teachers to be protected from discouragement, temptation and attacks on their families.
  3. Pray for non-Christian teachers to find Christ and be fair toward biblical values.
  4. Pray for your child to sense God’s continual presence and have a strong desire to know and walk with Christ.
  5. Pray for God to open your child’s eyes to the harm of beliefs and values that contradict God’s commands.
  6. Pray for God to protect your child from wrong relationships and draw them toward relationships that are healthy, positive and lasting.
  7. Pray for your child to have courage to be a witness and stand strong for Godly values.
  8. Pray for your child to be protected from physical, mental, spiritual and emotional harm.
  9. Pray for your child to have a focused mind and strong motivation to be diligent in their studies.
  10. Pray for your child to sense God’s direction and to decide right paths for life.