By Cheryl Sacks
Cheryl Sacks is the author of Reclaim a Generation, 21 Days of Prayer for Schools available at prayershop.org. Her newest book, Fire on the Family Altar: Experience the Holy Spirit’s Power in Your Home, available at Amazon.com, is a handbook to ignite revival fire in your home and nation and disciple the next generation to be reformers of culture.
Across the nation, a wave of fervent prayer for our schools is rising like never before. But what’s unprecedented is the extent to which intercessors are also “putting feet” to their prayers.
This past school year, record numbers of parents showed up to speak out at city councils and school board meetings, joined education action groups, or ran for office. And, for the first time ever, the crisis in our classrooms is superseding political affiliations and uniting fathers, mothers, and grandparents.
Concerned parents and grandparents are running for every position, from mayor to governor, in order to protect children and the rights of parents to know what is happening in their children’s classrooms. Politicians, school board members, and school officials who are not listening to their concerns are being removed from their positions and voted out of office.
In Virginia, school administrators refused to talk to parents upset by pornographic and sexually explicit material in public school libraries! Then-governor Terry McAuliffe stated in response, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” This cost him the governor’s mansion.
In Wisconsin, the Eau Claire Area School District was recently sued in federal court by parents objecting to school policies that promote students’ gender transitioning without the notification or involvement of their parents! Shockingly, the district’s official Gender Support Plan states: “Remember, parents are not entitled to know their kid’s identities. That knowledge must be earned . . . we must not act as stand-ins for oppressive ideas/behaviors/attitudes, even and especially if that oppression is coming from parents.”[1]
One mother in the Phoenix area spoke out and stepped up in a dramatic way. Dressed as a cat, she addressed her local school board meeting and voiced her concerns about a male school board member who was dressing in his deceased wife’s clothing and identifying as a woman. The mom asked the parents and members of the school board who were attending the meeting whether they would address her as a cat if she identified as one.
“Wearing ears, whiskers, and a tail does not make me a cat; neither does wearing lipstick and a skirt make this man a woman,” she pointed out. Her efforts paid off. She later received a surprising amount of community support after confronting the school board. Ultimately, the male school board member was removed from his post.[2]
Do you think these destructive efforts against our children can’t happen in your school district? Chances are, they already have.
Now, that’s not to say concerned parents should show up at school board meetings dressed as a cat. However, if we don’t speak up and step in to push back against ungodly, destructive values in our schools, those with evil intent—who are pushing harmful agendas upon our children—will speak up, step in, and prevail.
Do you think these destructive efforts against our children can’t happen in your school district? Chances are, they already have.
Of course, we need to pray. Prayer should always be our first response, not our last resort. But often, as we intercede, God will call us to be the answer to our own prayers. Prayer will open up the way, but someone must come in and “occupy” the territory (physical or spiritual) for which we are praying. We must do more than fight a few battles; we must be present inside of, and bring godly values into, the places we want to see transformed.
This is what God told Joshua when he was getting ready to lead the people to go in and take possession of the land God had promised them. God told Joshua, “Every place where you set your foot will be yours.”
We praise God for the victories already won as believers around our nation have stepped into the fray and taken back territory for God’s Kingdom. For example, just recently, in a significant “religious freedom” decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, the high court ruled six to three that a public high school in Washington State violated Coach Joe Kennedy’s rights when he was disciplined and ultimately fired for taking a knee and praying quietly at the 50-yard line after football games.
A lawsuit followed, and seven years later, our nation’s highest court agreed with our U.S. Constitution that Kennedy’s religious rights had been violated.[3] This decision importantly corrects the mistaken impression of many that religious speech and actions must be suppressed to avoid the First Amendment’s prohibition of “establishment of religion.” The majority opinion, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch says, “That reasoning was misguided.”
This ruling should give hope and encouragement to Christian employees of our public schools, clarifying a First Amendment issue that has troubled our education system for decades. It will, for example, protect teachers who bow their heads to give thanks over their lunch in the cafeteria or wear a cross around their neck. The Supreme Court’s majority opinion mentioned those examples specifically.
This ruling would also apply to students who wish to pray at sporting events or on school campuses, on their own time, or who desire to place a Christian sticker on their backpack or binder.
We can rejoice in this tremendous victory to uphold religious liberty in our public schools on behalf of believers—parents, students, teachers, coaches, administrators, support staff, and concerned citizens alike—who are “speaking up and stepping in.” This results not only from excellent legal representation and the application of godly justice by the Supreme Court, but because of the concerted, fervent intercession of the Body of Christ—which, in Coach Kennedy’s case, persevered for over seven years as his lawsuit made its way through the courts!
Let’s continue to intercede together and reclaim this young generation. Our prayers are making an incredible difference. Praise God! But we must not only pray for our schools; we need to “speak up and step in”!
The Church is not supposed to be a “holy huddle”—rather, we are called to be agents of societal transformation. One primary way we do this is by using the spiritual authority we’ve been given in prayer, declaration, and godly action. Where followers of Jesus are absent, a vacuum is created. If the Church doesn’t get involved on both a spiritual and practical level, this vacuum will surely be filled by the philosophies and values of the world.
