Preparation for the New School Year – Part 6: Team Up With the Holy Spirit
Last week, we talked about the importance of making prayer a priority and taking authority over a lack of understanding. The focus in this post is teaming up with the Holy Spirit. Consider Him as your team teacher and take advantage of His presence.
There is nothing more rewarding than having some help in the classroom. Research also shows that team teaching enhances the teaching and learning experiences of students. As a team teacher, the Holy Spirit is committed to at least forty-three actions. Since the Holy Spirit is already in your classroom, why not ask him to team up with you? Consider the following team actions He wants to become involved in.
1. Getting God's creative ability to flow (Gal. 5:22‑25).
2. Quickening understanding (1 Cor. 2:9‑15; Isa. 11:3).
3. Causing old things to pass away (1 Cor. 5:17).
4. Working His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).
5. Facilitating teaching and making learning happen (1 John 2:20‑27).
6. Transmitting the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:30).
7. Receiving thoughts of God (Col. 2:3; 1 Cor. 2:10).
8. Revealing hidden secrets (Col. 1:27).
9. Teaching all things (John 14:26).
10. Guiding into all truth (John 16:13).
11. Doing abundant things (Eph. 5:10).
12. Restoring joy (Ps. 51:12).
13. Encouraging us to exercise power over rulers of darkness (Eph. 6:12).
14. Convicting of righteousness and judgment (John 16:8).
15. Helping us overcome reproach (1 Peter 4:14).
16. Reinforcing freedom from bondage (Rom. 8:5).
17. Directing or forbidding actions (Acts 13:2; 16:7).
18. Giving the grace to succeed (2 Cor. 1:12).
19. Protecting and strengthening (Isa. 41:10‑11).
20. Helping us pray when we just can't (Rom. 8:26).
(For a complete list, see Spirit-Directed Education: A New Approach to Education.)
Since the Holy Spirit is already in your classroom, why not ask him to team up with you? Why do you have to ask? Because the Holy Spirit will not do anything until you ask in faith! Ask Him to help you teach “all things.” All things mean “all things.”
The Spirit of Wisdom is already present in your class; put Him to work on your team. Try it for a week and see what happens. The work of the Holy Spirit will become clear.
As you work together as a team, place your dependence on Him, not just your professional preparation. His work in the classroom and the life of the teacher is directly related to how much the teacher allows the power of the Holy Spirit to function. It is simply a matter of choice!
Much of the time, the Holy Spirit’s availability is simply ignored or not acknowledged. When this happens, the teacher must place her dependence solely on her or his professional training and experience. Place your dependence on Him, rather than just your degree. Allow Him to bring out your full potential. When you do this, your planning and presentation of the content will become more purposeful, and you will have more success.
In our next post, we will address the seventh strategy—releasing the anointing.