Having been a teacher for almost a decade, I have learnt that it is “not by power nor by might but by the spirit of the Lord.” I still recall my first job vividly. It was at a high school in an inner-city community. Within the first two weeks, I learned that three years of teacher’s college and months of teaching practices weren’t going to cut it. The only way this was going to be possible was through divine intervention.
Apart from experiencing culture shock due to my new environment, I also felt exhausted because as soon as I fixed one breach, another would soon appear. I knew it was the LORD’s calling to go to this school, as He had instructed me to fast and pray before the interview, and that was all I needed to do. I started working the very same day I was interviewed.
It didn’t take long for me to realise this was no easy road I was on. The young men at the school hated each other. While trying to part two who were fighting one day, it ended in a reprisal that attracted a huge crowd.
SOMEONE WANTS TO QUIT
When the dust finally settled and the students had gone home, I sat in an empty classroom, asking God why. In the stillness, He reminded me that the same hour I had tried to fix this dispute was the same hour (lunch time) that I had scheduled to meet with Him. But I never turned up; not even had I called on Him during the melee, and this had caused things to explode the way they did.
I was too frustrated to listen to reason and told Him I was going to quit the job. It was just too much.
Afternoon stretched into evening, and God still continued speaking to me, reminding me of a notice I had glimpsed somewhere of a meeting for teachers at a Baptist church on Molynes Road. It wasn’t my church, but what did I have to lose by turning up? With all that had occurred earlier that day, I thought to myself, “Why not?”
As the session drew to a close, the speaker called all the teachers to the altar, and while we were standing there she said she felt an urge to pray for someone who felt like ‘throwing in the towel’.
“I can’t be the only one here with that thought,” I mentally argued.
Seconds turned into minutes and probably would have added up to hours had I not indicated that I was the one who felt that way. It turned out I was the only one she needed to pray extra fortitude for that day.
I left church invigorated with the prayers extended over my life, as well as with a token that I still have, even to this day. It is a reminder that God has a sense of humour and that He cares.
ENCOUNTERING AND COUNTERING A WITCHCRAFT SPIRIT
Subsequent days were marked with nothing but signs and wonders. As the issues emerged, I would say, “LORD, you know how to reach the students; please show me,” and without a doubt, He would.
One day, after school, I remember a student stopping by my classroom, seeking my assistance with mathematics. I was not a maths teacher, but because it was my favourite subject, I agreed. Let’s call the student Eric.
Eric’s main problem was identifying numbers within their place value. At first, I found this strange for a 5th former, but, after explaining the same thing to him several times that evening and giving him some problems to solve, only to end up with the same wrong answers, I realised we had a huge issue. His memory concerning maths was completely gone.
I began praying under my breath, listening for the Holy Spirit’s direction. Suddenly, Eric blurted that he used to love maths a lot when he was younger.
That got my attention! “And then what happened?”
Eric wasn’t sure, but he remembered that his problem started after he saw two men carrying a corpse one day, when he was travelling home from primary school. He said it was a man and he seemed to have been drowned elsewhere. His description of the person’s skin was horrific. When he asked the two men what was happening, they ignored him.
I knew I had to pray. I asked Eric if he wanted to join me in asking the LORD to remove any and every thing that might prevent him from learning. He agreed and we proceeded.
MILLIONS, BILLIONS!
Immediately after I prayed a simple prayer, Eric began calling out the numbers I had written on the board before which had stumped him—numbers in millions and billions and he could rapidly write the value of each digit. We had a grand time that evening challenging him and laughing as he triumphed each time. What had previously taken the teen hours to complete was now done in minutes, and I did not need to assist him any further!
It was my mother who cracked the code for me that night when I got home. She said that the men who were carrying the dead person Eric had seen could have been practicing occultism, and because they knew they had been observed, they did something to Eric to retard his learning. This was in an effort to prevent others from wanting to listen to him.
But Eric was led by God to share his problem with me, and on the very same day we met, He delivered this student from a curse that had followed him for years. The LORD had intervened, and what He did was marvellous in my and Eric’s eyes. Hallelujah!
Eric returned to thank me several times throughout the school year, and on one occasion, it was to report that he had passed his maths mock test, thereby qualifying for the external exam in the subject. He also turned up several days before he was to migrate to a foreign country with his stepfather. He said he was going to be working in plumbing.
Years have passed, and I continue to see that with GOD, nothing is impossible for a teacher. The task of teaching today’s generation is still attainable through Christ Jesus. “It’s not by might nor by power but by my spirit,” says the LORD.
W. Forbes has been a teacher in Jamaica for a little over 10 years now and is a deacon in his church.
