Are you ready for this coming Sunday? Is your lesson prepared? Have you chosen the worship songs? Is the Bible memory activity ready to go? Do you have that substitute small group leader lined up? But more importantly, have you prayed? Are you praying?
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
(John 15:4-5 ESV)
We can "do" and seemingly "accomplish" much without praying and asking Jesus to help us, but that would be an illusion. Apart from Christ we can do nothing. Fruitful teaching, worship leading, and mentoring are all dependent on Christ. How much better it is to acknowledge our need and dependency from the start, and to cry out to our gracious heavenly Father for His help in all our endeavors this coming Sunday.
Cry out for Him to...
- give the children attentive ears that listen to the Word of Truth.
- give spiritual understanding that takes root deep in the souls of the children.
- bring about regeneration in dead hearts that do not yet trust Him.
- pour out the Holy Spirit and cause His presence to be experienced throughout the morning.
- cause true praise and worship to be felt and expressed.
- make Jesus known, trusted, and treasured above all .
- by His grace, bring about heart-transformation evidenced by increasing conformity to Jesus.
But these kinds of prayers shouldn't end with our Sunday preparation. This prayerful dependency should also permeate our classroom time before, during, and after. For example,
- Before the children enter the classroom, gather with your team and have a time of prayer.
- Small group leaders and mentors, spend time praying for the children in your group before the lesson time, while they are listening to the lesson, and before they leave.
- Worship leaders,before you lead in song, lead in prayer or choose a child to lead in prayer.
- Teachers,before you teach lead in prayer, end the lesson with prayer, and pray for the children as they discuss the lesson in their small groups.
So let's be well prepared for this Sunday. "
Dear Heavenly Father..."
