Third, we pray for our students.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 NIV I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— (2) for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (3) This is good, and pleases God our Savior, (4) who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Here we are told that God desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth, and it is clear that He wants us to pray for all people; so the conclusion that we can draw is that God uses our prayers in the saving of His people (as well as their freedom, sanctification, etc.). When we pray for them, earnestly, God hears and answers our prayer and works in the hearts of the people for whom we are praying (see James 5:17-20).
Ephesians 6:18 NIV And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.
Notice that the instruction to “be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” is given in Ephesians chapter 6, which is the “spiritual warfare” chapter. When we pray for our students we are engaging in spiritual warfare for them and are interceding for them even as Jesus intercedes for us (Hebrews 7:25).
In order to pray well for our students we must listen well to our students. We learn to ask probing (but not invasive) questions and listen to what they say and how they answer. We try to get to the motives of their hearts, going deep with them and really listening well and wisely to them. Then we can pray rightly for them.
We are to do as Moses did when he went up on the hill and interceded for the soldiers fighting the battle below. May we never weary of raising our hands to the Lord in prayer for these dear people who come. May we always uphold each other in prayer! This is most important in mentoring.
When it comes to mentoring students, we should pray that God would work in their hearts, that He would open their spiritual eyes so that they can see the cross of Jesus Christ and all its benefits, that He would show them the power of Christ’s resurrection, and that He would help them apply the truths that they are learning here at Setting Captives Free. Sometimes we might spend more time in prayer for a student than we do in actually responding to them. In other words, sometimes we talk to God more about the student than we talk to the student about God.
You can write out your prayer to God right in the lesson, or several times during the lesson, however God leads you. As you are "Walking by the Spirit", He will lead you how to respond to others. It's amazing, really!
I like to use the "Final Feedback" form as a place to pray the Scriptures for my students. It's very effective to pray God's Word back to Him, according to John 15:7 which says:
John 15:7 (NIV) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.