National Christian Teachers Summit, 2018.

Day 3 – 4th August 2018

Morning Devotion 2

Deut 6:6-9; Neh 8:1-6

Deu 6:7  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Even though God is primarily speaking to parents here, this is also very important for teachers. We are expected to teach the commandments and lessons to our children. Teachers are supposed to talk about it every time. Whether you’re in class, or walking on the streets, or sitting in the cafe, it is our responsibility to teach them to our students. Whenever we see a society of lawless youths, it is a result of our failure as teachers. If teachers do their assignment and teach students, we would have a more responsible society.

Deu 6:8-9  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

We also saw from the scripture in Deuteronomy that God asks teachers to use Instructional Materials. The bible says we must show it by symbols, by binding on foreheads and hanging on doorposts. We saw that students only remember 20% of what they hear and almost 90% of what they hear, see and do. Hence, the use of instructional materials. Even God commanded that thee should be used in our calling of teaching to the young ones.

It is important to study hard the discipline you’re teaching in. Whether it was for Ezra or for Joshua, they had to study. These men knew they had to study well so that they can perform better in their calling. It is not worth it that as a teacher, students are failing your subject. More especially as Christian teachers, we are supposed to be excellent in all we do and to prosper doing it. This makes it important for us to diligently study so as to fulfil our calling.

A Christian teacher must pray for his students regularly.

Ezra 8:21
Ezra knew it was his responsibility to lead the children of Israel but then they had several challenges along the way. But then, Ezra prayed and fasted. He spent time praying for them until they all could arrive at the destination. A Christian teacher must also pray for his/her students. There is no reason why a teacher should spend time preparing lesson notes, preparing content and doing all the labor and then the students are failing. We must add the dimension of praying so that we can see the result we need. Praying for the understanding of the students, praying for the atmosphere of the class, praying for all you’ll use in the class etc.

As a Christian teacher, your labor is a spiritual labor. You must be ready to pray, fast and be as simple as you can so that you can fulfill your mandate that God has given you. Looking at John the Baptist in Matt 3, he was in the wilderness, praying and going through seemingly hard times just to be trained to teach his ‘students’. As he prayed, the people came to him there in the wilderness. As we pray as well (as teachers), we will see our students come to us. We will see corruption among students stop. We shall see God arise for our sake and help the children on our behalf.