The proper title for this article should be ‘Why prayer should be allowed in school but it won’t’. I am a believer in our Lord Jesus Christ and I am writing this article from my heart.
Why Prayer should be allowed in School
The Origin
It is sad that we have gotten to the point where we debate whether prayer should be allowed in schools or not. As the Bible puts it in Ecclesiastes 7:29; this only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.
When God set out to create man, He had good intentions. But man went in search of many schemes. The schemes started with eating the forbidden fruit. Since that time up to now, the downward trend continues.
When man sinned, God separated Himself from him. God is Holy and could not be in close proximity with man because of sin.
However, God introduced man to prayer. Despite God being hidden from man, He still desired to commune with man. Prayer was God’s solution to the distance problem.
Through prayer, God expected man to communicate with Him as He works out a redemption plan.
Over time, the state of man has become worse to the point that prayer itself is questioned.
When the debate of prayer in school is brought up, it is not a surprise rather it is a new level of our fallen nature as men.
God has nothing to lose. Out of the love He has for us, He has given us prayer to help us get closer to Him. But when we ban prayer in schools, we are literally telling God to leave us alone.
And while some may not see it as a problem, remember that God is the maker of the heavens and the earth. All knowledge springs from Him. Why mock someone who has the power to destroy you?
God gets angry but He conceals His anger from us. However, this will not always be the case. At some point, that anger will be released.
The Bible has narrated to us what happened in the past to those who mocked God. Remember the generation of Noah that perished in the flood? Remember Sodom and Gomorrah that were engulfed in flames?
Well, God is still powerful to cause that level of destruction and even more.
Prayer should be allowed in School for our own good
Allowing prayer in school is for our own good. When we pray, the salvation we receive benefits us. Banning prayer from school will only hurt us more.
A prayerful person automatically acquires good behavior. When we ban prayers in schools, we give freedom to lawlessness. I believe it is safer to have students praying in school than to have students shooting each other in school.
If we choose to ban prayer in school, then we should not complain when lawlessness becomes rampant. The person who bans prayer in school should also be ready to account for the bloodshed that occurs afterwards.
We are human beings and sometimes we underestimate the magnitude of our actions. God is a righteous judge and nobody can escape His judgment.
Personal Responsibility in Allowing Prayer in School
We are in a downward spiral. Wickedness in the world is bound to increase and banning prayer in schools is only a step further in the wrong direction.
But despite the hopeless nature of the situation, there are a few things you can do as an individual…
1. Pray that you may not be deceived
The devil is a deceiver. He deceives men to sin against God with the hopes that God will get angry and destroy us. This is why you need to pray that God may keep you safe from the deception of the evil one.
Jesus taught us to say ‘Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one’ in the Lord’s Prayer. It is very important to pray that God may keep us from the evil one.
When others are being deceived to ban prayers in school, do not join their camp. Being in that camp will make you liable for punishment from God. Do not say you were never warned because I have warned you.
2. Accept that prayer will not be allowed in School
You may want to pray that God may cause prayer to be allowed in school but it has already been prophesied that wickedness will increase in the last days.
The best you can do is to keep yourself away from the camp of the wicked but there is nothing you can do to stop the advancement of wickedness.
Therefore, instead of praying that prayers may be allowed in school, pray that your children may be kept safe by the Lord while they are in school. When they come home, pray for them and teach them how to pray.
We are in the last days and these occurrences were prophesied. Do not be alarmed.
3. Warn others against banning prayer in school
After you have put your house in order by standing against those who ban prayers in school, help others who are deceived. You can pray for them secretly or you can speak to them if you have the chance.
If you have a friend working in school or in a position directly involved in the debate of prayer in school, advise them to stand for God. They may suffer in the moment but God will reward them for their stand.
I am doing my part by writing this article to help you know what to do. Do your part by educating your neighbor. Remember we are the body of Christ and we are called to help one another to overcome the wicked plans of the enemy.
Pray for the innocent children who don’t have the privilege to pray in school that God may make a way for them to learn to pray in some other way.
Pray that God may watch over the teachers who have taken a stand to defend prayer in school. The devil will seek to persecute them but when we pray for them, they will endure.
Do not be swayed by the reports of the people of the world. Do as I have instructed and God will keep you safe.
Peace!