In just a few weeks educators will be heading back to the classroom. Now that teachers have had at least a month or two off from the rigors of teaching, and enjoying their time away from the classroom, they are beginning to think about the new school year. Some will have new teaching assignments to prepare for while others are looking to improve what they taught last year. While others will have new classrooms to set up.
One of the major activities that administrators look forward to is teacher orientation. It is an opportunity for training new staff and setting the direction for the new school year. There is so much that administrators want to share with staff and so little time to do so and still allow sufficient time for teachers to prepare their classrooms for the new year.
As administrators and teachers prepare for the new school year, I would like to add some content to your teacher orientation. This content is taken from our book Spirit-Directed Education: A New Approach to Education and presented during the National ORUEF/ICAA Conference, June 2021. I plan to share one or two new posts each week for the next several weeks. I trust you will check out every post.
Why Train the Spirit of a Student?
Most of what educators will do this coming school year is to teach and train the mind and body; very little attention is directed toward training the spirit of a student. Yet, the spirit is the most important part of every student. It is that part that will go into eternity, either to heaven with the Lord, or to hell with the adversary, the devil. In Spirit-Directed Education, the focus is on training the spirit of the student. Once the spirit is trained, the mind, will, emotions, and body will follow the spirit.
As students are trained to listen and to obey their recreated spirit, they will be prepared to receive and walk in the blessings of God. When the recreated spirit takes over a young person’s life, and they learn to walk in obedience to the “still small voice” or the “recreated spirit,” God said that He would withhold no good thing from them, as we read in Psalm 84:11: For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (KJV)
The role of the recreated spirit is to help your students walk “uprightly.” The added blessing of walking uprightly is found in Proverbs 2:7, “He stores up sound wisdom . . . .”(NKJV) So, if you want good things to come your way and the way for your students, in this new school year, Spirit-direction must take place.
Where Does Training Take Place?
So where does Spirit-directed training happen? It takes place in a Christian classroom and begins with a Spirit-directed teacher. This is a person who has made the following preparations 1) Professional training—The more training a person has, the greater is the likelihood of being successful. 2) Experience—This allows one to know what to do in certain situations they encounter. 3) Knowledge of methods and instructional techniques—helpful when a teacher needs a new approach. And 4) being a Christian. A majority of Christian schools have Christian educators who meet these first four teaching preparations.
Moreover, becoming a Spirit-directed teacher requires a person who goes beyond these first four preparations. It requires a teacher to be 5) filled with the Spirit. This is more than just the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life that takes place at the time a person is born again. Every Christian educator already has a measure of the Holy Spirit in their life. He is there, fostering the fruit of the spirit.
Being filled with the Spirit can be likened to the electrical service coming into a home. Most older homes only have a 60 amp service. Newer homes have at least 100 amp service, and many are rated at 200 amps or like mine, I have 300 amps, which provides all the electricity that a “plugged-in” family could want; plus it allows me to run several power tools in my workshop all at the same time without blowing a circuit.
So, the question is, “How many amps of service do you plan on bringing into your classroom? Having a fully functioning Spirit-directed classroom requires Christian educators to be full to overflowing with the Spirit as mentioned in Acts 2:4. This is like a 300-amp service that allows the teacher to accomplish so much more. If you want to know how to bring a 300 amp service into your life, I highly recommend downloading a YouTube video – Spirit Directed Education, Session 3, Part 3.
In addition to being filled with the Spirit, the teacher must 6) allow the Holy Spirit to work through them. This is a daily commitment. It means moving beyond being dedicated and consecrated, and to a place of being tuned in to the Holy Spirit, much like adjusting the antenna of a TV. It is the willingness of the teacher to allow the Holy Spirit to work through them and developing a sensitivity to His leading.
Having a Spirit-Directed classroom begins by employing a teacher who is willing to be directed by the Holy Spirit.
In our next post, we will begin to address the question, “How does a teacher create a Holy Spirit-directed classroom?
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