4 Back-to-School Prayers for the New School Year
A band of blue jays awakens the dawn with a cacophony of cackles. It’s early, and I’m not ready to begin the day. Nevertheless, I brew the coffee and gather the kids for devotions. We talk about going back to school and embracing the last days of summer. We offer our back-to-school prayers and pray for God’s peace to go before us into the new school year.
As I process a dozen different scenarios for what this year might look like, I thank the Lord for going with us.
The kids name their greatest fears, and we pray through an array of prayers that go something like this:
Back-to-School Prayers
1. Pray that challenges will help your family develop a deeper trust in God.
Pray that every challenge this year will help your family develop a deeper trust in God.
Our family has learned that difficult times are God’s signposts indicating that we’re about to grow in our faith!
Use challenges this year to remind you to lift your eyes to the hills, where your help comes from. Acknowledge God’s sovereign hand over the upcoming months, and trust that he will use this time for his good and his glory. Your role is to follow him one small step at a time, one day at a time.
2. Thank God that he knows what lies ahead.
We don’t know what’s coming next, but God does. He will use this school year to accomplish his shaping work in your heart if you will live yielded to his plans.
Remind your children that God won’t miss a minute. He will go with them into every new situation this year.
Pray together and thank him that nothing will surprise him this year.
3. Pray every struggle will send you running to the arms of Jesus.
Every school year, my back-to-school prayers begin with praying that every struggle will send my children running to the arms of Jesus (for a full post on this subject, join me here).
Whether education takes place in a building down the street or in our dining rooms, there will be struggles. There will be moments when all is not well, patience is tested, and frustrations arise.
Pray these struggles will send your children to Jesus as they seek answers, wisdom, and comfort. Pray this prayer for yourself as well. Lastly, pray that the challenges of the year will prompt you to press closer to the Father and rely more closely on his guidance and love.
4. Pray you will find your safe place in the shelter of the Most High God.
As we begin the new school year, let’s remember where we find our security. Let’s stand on these words:
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions . . . Psalm 91:1-4
Keep returning to the promise that when you abide in the shadow of the Almighty, he covers you in protection and delivers you. These are more than thoughtful poetic words; they are truth and life. Trust in the One who shields and covers you as you walk with your children into this new school year.
Additionally, for a list of 8 ways to pray for the start of a new school year, join me here.
Pray that every challenge this year will help your family develop a deeper trust in God. #back-to-schoolPrayers #PrayersforSchool #SchoolPrayers #PrayersforKids Click To TweetAttention, all moms and daughters!
Lastly, in addition to writing to adults, I am also passionate about ministering to the next generation.
My 12-year-old daughter Bekah and I wrote a mother-daughter devotional book together. We hope to help moms and daughters connect and grow in faith together. Girl to Girl: 60 Mother-Daughter Devotions for a Closer Relationship and Deeper Faith includes 60 devotions with Scripture, commentaries from both of us, conversation starters, and even a shared journaling section.
Our vision is for girls ages 7-17 to enjoy it with their moms, grandmas, or older women they look up to. However, mothers and daughters of all ages are using this book to grow closer together! This book makes a wonderful gift for a mother or daughter you care about!
You can buy your paperback or eBook on Amazon right here. 
