Heavenly Father, I ask for Your wisdom and enlightenment as I study for next week’s lesson.
Help me, Lord, to understand Your Word. I know that thousands of years separate us from when Your Word was written. The culture today is very different than those to whom Your Word was first written. Therefore, I pray for Your help as I seek to understand how the first hearers of scripture understood what You were saying to them and then bridge it to our context and culture today.
Father, I ask for wisdom in applying Your scripture. Help us not to use Your words as “proof texts” to create legalistic rules with which You are not pleased. Yet help us also to regard Your Word as authoritative, rather than merely “good suggestions” for living.
I pray also that You would give me creativity and passion in delivering this lesson. Help me to present it in such a way that my students are truly engaged with the topic and text. Help me to teach it with such passion that the students are not bored or might think that the text does not matter to their lives.
Thank You for the help You are sure to give. Amen.

Heavenly Father, I come to You again asking for Your blessing upon our class. I pray especially now for those who were absent from class this past weekend.
I pray for (list each absentee student by name) who missed class this week because (list the reason each student missed, if known).
Father, some of these who missed class this past Sunday could not avoid it because of sickness. We pray for healing for them. Encourage them in their walk with You. Help them, even though they had to miss, to study their lesson and hear Your Holy Spirit’s encouraging voice.
Some of our absentees are out of the area for various reasons - work, vacation, etc. Go with each one wherever they are. Keep them safe. Help them to worship You, even though they are out of their regular routine. Bring them back to us, encouraged in their faith, and on fire for God.
Some who missed did not come because the things of this world are more enticing to them than Your Word. Father, speak to them about their spiritual condition. Help them to see how their love for You is cooling. Convict them of this sin and reignite in them a passion for You, we pray.

Heavenly Father, I pray today for those who visited our class this past Sunday, and those who will come this next weekend.
Some of our visitors are Christians from out of the area who have come here for different reasons. Encourage them in the faith. Help them to feel welcome in our church, even though their visit may be brief. Work through them to encourage our class, that we might see in a new way how You are working around the world to build Your Church.
Other visitors are not Christians. We pray that their time in our Sunday school class will be enjoyable and profitable. We know that many of our traditions have become so ingrained in us that we do not even recognize how confusing they are to outsiders. Help us to know how best to ease new people into our religious patterns.
Help each visitor to our class to feel welcomed but not suffocated, accepted rather than isolated, and challenged instead of bored. Help our class to prepare ahead of time for guests so that we will welcome them appropriately when they come.
In Jesus’ name we ask all this. Amen.

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving me the privilege of teaching such a wonderful class. Thank You for how You are working in each of my students’ lives. Thank You for (state specific ways you see God working in the lives of your students). May You continue to bless each one, increase their faith, and deepen their love for You and one another.

Lord, I pray that You would enlighten my class’ understanding of Your Word. Help each one to see that the Bible is not an ancient, out-of-touch document, but instead that You are speaking to us through scripture and that in Your words we find abundant life.
I also pray that you would encourage my students to care for one another. Help us not to be a group of strangers meeting weekly, but a family who care for one another deeply. When one has a need, help us all to rally around in support. When one rejoices, may we join in the celebration, happy that You have poured blessings upon our fellow Christian.
Father, help our class to develop a passionate love and concern for lost people. May our passion move us to action, instead of allowing us to simply feel good while sitting on the sidelines. Use us to impact the world with Your love.

Heavenly Father, I come to you humbly asking for Your grace and mercy so that I can be the Sunday school teacher You want me to be.

I need Your wisdom. Help me to understand what You are teaching us in Your Word. Help me to know how to relate it to the life experiences of my students. Help me to share Your Truth in a way that is real and practical to their lives. Holy Spirit, work through the lesson and the words that I say to encourage, challenge, and convict.
Father, I need Your strength. Help me to immerse myself in Your Word so that I do not become spiritually empty and dry. Fill me with a hunger and passion for Your Truth. Make the Bible come alive to me in fresh new ways each time I read it. Help me to express that love to my students in a way that creates in them a fresh desire for Your Word.
Thank you for Your loving care. I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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During this Sunday School quarter, “Tips for Teachers” will have a different focus. If asked, we would probably all agree that prayer is essential, not just for every Christian, church, and Sunday school class, but also in the preparation of Sunday school lessons, etc.

The problem often is implementation. We say we believe in prayer and we know we should pray, but we don’t actually take time to do it. In an attempt to encourage his own prayer life, this writer has found it helpful to use a book of prayers as a prayer starter each day.
With that idea in mind, the “Tips for Teachers” in Lessons 2–12 of this quarter will be written as prayers that you could pray each day of the week for each particular lesson, or you could choose of these prayers, one or more to pray for each day of the week.
Heavenly Father, we pray for each teacher reading this text right now. Encourage them in their faith. Bless them in their teaching ministry. Help them to reflect You in everything they do, say, and think, so their students may find in them Christian role models to imitate, and thus grow in their faith. Amen.
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Heavenly Father, help us to worship You with our lives. May You be pleased with every expression of praise, we pray. Amen.