7 Ways You Can Pray for Bible Colleges
Our accrediting agency, the Association for Biblical Higher Education, invited its member schools to participate in several days of prayer in 2021, the first of which was today, May 26th 2021. At the Institute for G.O.D. (Nashville, TN) campus, undergraduate and graduate students, board members, alumni, faculty, and staff gathered to lift up the Institute and other Bible colleges across the country. In this blog, we share 7 things we prayed for, and ask that you join us in praying for Bible colleges throughout the country!
Faculty member Brandon Galford facilitated our time of prayer today. He reflected on how amazing it is that whenever we simply invite God to join us, he responds. Every time! We don't have to enact special rituals or do anything other than ASK HIM to meet with us, he does, particularly as Jesus says, "where two or three are gathered in his name" (Matt. 18:19-20). We believe many of you would love to join us in prayer. I've included 5 ways you can pray with us for biblical education in America, based on our own prayer time this morning.
1. Thank God for the Gift of His Word.
Philippians 4 instructs us that all of our prayers should be accompanied by thanksgiving. Thank the Lord for giving you the gift of his Word. The Jews considered this his greatest gift. But then he outdoes himself by taking on human flesh and showing us how to live obediently to it. The Word of God became flesh and tabernacled amongst us (Jn. 1:14) and exegetes the Father's heart to us. We have been given the greatest gift in the life and teachings of the Bible. Take a moment and thank God for giving us the gift of truth!
2. Pray for the Lord's Guidance to Educational Institutions
Micah 4 imagines a day when many nations will seek to learn the ways of God so that they may walk in his paths. It is a vision of biblical education that Bible colleges have the privilege of helping carry out! This work does not happen magically or by accident. Leaders need to be sensitive to God's direction through their reading of the Bible, times of prayer, and consensus decision-making. Take a moment to pray for the leaders who carry out biblical education - whether at the Institute or another Christian institution. They need the Lord's help in the critical task of teaching God's Word and maintaining healthy campuses for the students they serve.
3. Pray for a Culture of Diligence in Study of the Scriptures
For more than two millennia, Christians have been known as "people of the book." Literacy and Christianity always go hand in hand. Yet, there is a real temptation to fill our minds with other things in an age of endless distractions. Deuteronomy 6 tells us that God's law must be taught to our children, be as symbols on our hands (attached to everything we DO), and bound on our foreheads (that the Scripture would be the authoritative lens through which we think and see the world). The next generation depends on our own biblical literacy. Pray that Bible colleges be characterized by serious study of the Scriptures.
4. Pray for God's Illumination of our hearts
Strong academics are not the sum total of what makes a vibrant Bible college. Spirituality is also required. The apostle Paul prays that "the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you" (Eph. 1:18). Studying the Scriptures is supposed to awaken a "spiritual wisdom" that helps us lead lives worthy of the Lord (Col. 1:10). Pray for the spirit of God to fill our classrooms! While it is teachers' responsibility to teach the Bible, we need God's spirit to awaken the hearts of the students who receive it. Pray for the spirituality of our students who are learning God's Word!
5. Pray for more disciples
Before people can get involved as laborers for the kingdom of God, they need proper training -- the task of discipleship. Jesus tells us, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." So we pray for the laborers who are 'understaffed.' We also pray for future laborers, which means present disciples. God, we know drawing them is your task (Jn. 6:44). We pray for their courage to respond!
6. Pray for our brothers and sisters in the faith internationally.
It is our great hope that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow ... and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Phil. 2:10-11). The Christian faith is spreading farther and faster in the third world than anywhere else on earth. Something that our brothers and sisters in third world nations desperately need is biblical education. The poor are rich in faith, but the biblical teaching that nourishes and strengthens their faith is often out of reach. Pray that God would continue to provide avenues and answers to reach the poor, not only with a knowledge of him but also with the Scriptures they need to grow in Christ.
7. Pray for a move of God in higher education institutions all over the country.
A friend of ours at God's Bible School in Cincinatti, Ohio told us, "Bible colleges always start because of a move of God." Join us in prayer that the same spirit that led to the formation of Bible colleges would continue to guide them in their current moment. Pray that God would raise up administrators, counselors, and teachers who are passionate about God and his Word. Pray that the Lord would inspire voices within those colleges to put their study into practice to reach a world in need. Pray as Paul did that students, staff, boards, and alum "may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit with every good work, growing in the knowledge of God" (Col. 1:10).
