Early on Friday mornings, we go into our local high school to pray with teachers and students. As part of the prayer time, we distribute printed copies of bible readings with a prayer for the school.
Thank you for meeting our needs this week.
School prayer
If we are anxious, may we find your rest.
We pray that the young people and staff will know your peace.
We pray that you will renew our strength.
And that you will guide us along right paths
Draw close to us to protect and comfort us.
May we know your goodness and blessing in our lives.
In the last few weeks, the senior leadership team, who meet in a room opposite have called us over to share a word of encouragement and pray for them.
The other week the reading was from Isaiah 40: 29–31, where we shared about finding renewed strength from God.
He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.
Isaiah 40:29–31
Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
Under pressure
In times of high pressure, we are inclined to get in a flap and maybe over-react or even despair. Certainly, in a secular school in a deprived area of the city with 1,500 young people and staff crammed into a very small space, the requirement for staff to always remain calm is incredibly challenging, especially when overworked and weary.
These familiar verses from the bible describe how, in times of weariness, those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength and rise up like eagles.
Flapping or soaring
The word for ‘wait’ is the same as we shared previously, literally meaning to ‘bind’ ourselves to the Lord like the strands of a rope twisted together.
In the school, we all had a laugh together as we mimicked the difference between the manic flapping of a heavy bird trying to get off the ground with an eagle using the thermals to rise majestically with the minimum of effort.
For me the thermals speak of the power of the Holy Spirit working through those who are waiting on God to lift them out of weariness and into new strength.
Where does our strength come from?
These times of waiting on God are beneficial because they show us where our strength is to come from. They also build faith in us as we bind ourselves in trust to God and experience the power of God in our weakness.
In the advent season, I am reminded of Simeon who had waited to see his people rescued from their enemies. He was described as righteous and devout, showing us that how we wait enables us to recognise the season of breakthrough when it comes. This meant that that Simeon was able to embrace the day of salvation, not in the form of a military uprising against the enemy but as he took the baby Jesus into his arms.
Jesus would bring salvation not through human force but through love, healing and forgiveness and would overcome the enemy through his death and resurrection. This enabled Simeon to see that even the gentile nations could be included in God’s plan.
At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people“
Luke 2:25–32
If you are weary and struggling to see a breakthrough in your life, let me encourage you to find a place to wait on God. You will know the strength of God replacing your weakness and begin to rise above your circumstance, see things from God’s perspective and even start running with fresh vision and strength.