You probably pray before and after your teaching time. That’s important, because Great Bible Teaching must be saturated with prayer. Unless God is at work, your teaching is in vain.

How much do you pray during your teaching time? Paul commanded us to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17), right?

The reality is that you may be really pumped as you teach. Your brain is going 400 mph. Your adrenals are zooming; the sweat is going. “Pray now, are you kidding me?”

Or perhaps you’re really enjoying the discussion and happy people are getting involved, almost tripping over one another in their excitement to add to the conversation.

Honestly, most teachers don’t think about praying very much during the lesson time because we’re thinking about a lot of other things.

What I recommend you do is create reminders to pray silent, short, “arrow” prayers at multiple times as you teach. You can do this (really, you can) even while you are speaking or listening to someone else speak. Our Lord engineered us to be able to operate on multiple levels simultaneously.

Here are some example “arrow” prayers you might use:

“Make me a great conduit of your truth and grace, Lord.”

“Help everyone hear clearly.”

“Steady me, Father, so I won’t get ahead of the lesson.”

“Change lives, Jesus!”

“Be their real Teacher, Lord, just use me.”

“Save their souls, Lord! Rescue them!”

“May the glory be yours alone.”

“Glorify yourself, Lord.”

“Open their minds, open their hearts.”

“Come, Holy Spirit, come.”

“Let your Words come through me now.”

“Nothing is too hard for you, Lord.”

“Feed your people, and draw them to Yourself.”

“Don’t let Satan blind or deafen them, Lord.”

Easy, quick –and wonderfully effective!

Now, how do you remember to do this during the lesson time? I’ve got an easy solution for you to try.

Take a copy of the handout or your lesson outline and put a special symbol by at least two or three parts. You can use a checkmark, or a little smiley, or an asterisk. Space these out through the lesson.

Each mark will be your reminder to pray. When you get to that part of the lesson, pray an arrow prayer! (If you’re new to this, just pick one arrow prayer for the lesson, and pray that same prayer each time.)

Simple, easy, effective. And you’re building a foundational habit.

About the Author:

Glenn is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

Kevin DeYoung gives some excellent answers to the question, “Are Christians Meant to Feel Guilty All the Time?”

In short, he reasons “NO!” But why do we feel guilty so often?

1. We don’t fully embrace the good news of the gospel.
2. Christians tend to motivate each other by guilt rather than by grace.
3. Most of our low-level guilt falls under the ambiguous category of “not enough.”
4. When we are truly guilty of sin it is imperative we repent and receive God’s mercy.

This problem of persistent guilt is a genuine issue today, and if you haven’t encountered it amongst your students yet you will. Teachers, I strongly recommend you review this article and use the material here to help you respond to people’s situations. You could even create a good lesson on this topic from what’s in Kevin’s article.

Create the habit of reading good articles, and imagining yourself using the information in the articles to help your teaching. You’ll retain the information longer if you imagine yourself using it. Print things like this off, and file them for future reference.

There’s a whole world of great information like this, if you’re open to finding and using it.

To learn more about how to teach the Bible you should take a look at Glenn Brooke’s course Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

Great Bible teaching will leave you excited and tired at the same time. Reality: it takes significant energy to teach well.  I believe far too many teachers are ignoring this truth and should be more intentional to make sure they have energy available when it’s time to teach. Here are some suggestions to increase your energy for teaching God’s Word.

1. Get a good night’s sleep. No amount of stimulants substitute for real sleep. God “grants sleep to those He loves.” (Psalm 127:2 ) Use God’s gift!

2. Eat right. Don’t load up on something sugary right beforehand. You’ll feel fine for a few minutes, but then you’ll really struggle when your blood sugar drops half way through your lesson. Get some protein and complex carbohydrates in. Make sure you’re well hydrated on water.

3. Worship before you teach. This is essential! You’re a minister of the Word, but worship comes first. On Sunday morning I recommend you go to worship service before you teach, if you can. Pray and sing and praise and give thanks, in whatever time you have. Make sure you have cleaned up all your short accounts before the Lord, asking forgiveness for any sins.

4. Get some oxygen! Take a few deep breaths before you begin teaching. Oxygenate your blood!

5. Make a big smile. This does wonders for you physically and emotionally.

These suggestions should all increase your energy level and help you teach better.

Glenn Brooke is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

One of my biggest problems in teaching (and I don’t think I’m alone in this) is trying to cover too much material in a lesson. I’m excited! There’s enormous depth in God’s Word, and I want people to get this! There are moments of silence in the group and I’m eager to fill it with more information! I want everyone to be impressed with how much I know!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it here: Teach less material, and teach it well.

Study how Jesus teaches. He gives people information in progressive stages, and does not try to pack in everything that could be known at any one subject in one session. For example, how much more could Jesus have said about the Holy Spirit in John 14:16-17? “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” Jesus could have spent hours on the Holy Spirit, but He didn’t. He gave His disciples what they needed to know for the moment.

Later Jesus tells His disciples: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:12-13) Note that key phrase “more than you can now bear.” It’s one of the challenges that we teachers face, to discern how much a person or a group can bear at this time.

The Bible story is filled with progressive revelation. God doesn’t tell Noah everything, or Abraham, or David. He gives them commands and expects obedience. God reveals only what is necessary for each stage of His people’s experience of Him. And He builds on the foundations of what came before.

When you’re making decisions about how much to cover in a lesson, err on the side of teaching less information, and teaching it well. Finish with time to spare, rather than diving into something they cannot absorb.

Glenn Brooke is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

God invented humor, and you should use it occasionally when you teach. We’re teaching a serious subject, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use humor to get key points across in memorable ways.

When you’re teaching believers and seekers, you can help people work through the humor and understand biblical truth. (This approach doesn’t work as well, in my experience, with people without apparent spiritual interest.)

Here’s a nice example for you to try out. You should be able to help them see immediately the truth, and can even invite them to look up verses as references for each part.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Major Recall Notice

The Maker of all human beings (GOD) is recalling all units manufactured, regardless of make or year, due to a serious defect in the primary and central component of the heart.

This is due to a malfunction in the original prototype units code named Adam and Eve,
resulting in the reproduction of the same defect in all subsequent units. This defect has been technically termed “Sub-sequential Internal Non-Morality,” or more commonly known as S.I.N., as it is primarily expressed.

Some of the symptoms include:

Loss of direction
Foul vocal emissions
Amnesia of origin
Lack of peace and joy
Selfish or violent behavior
Depression or confusion in the mental component
Fearfulness
Idolatry
Rebellion

The Manufacturer, who is neither liable nor at fault for this defect, is providing factory-authorized repair and service free of charge to correct this defect.

The Repair Technician, JESUS, has most generously offered to bear the entire burden of the staggering cost of these repairs. There is no additional fee required.

The number to call for repair in all areas is: P-R-A-Y-E-R.

Once connected, please upload your burden of SIN through the REPENTANCE procedure. Next, download ATONEMENT from the Repair Technician, Jesus, into the heart component.

No matter how big or small the SIN defect is, Jesus will replace it with:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self control

Please see the operating manual, the B.I.B.L.E. (Believers’ Instructions Before Leaving Earth) for further details on the use of these fixes.

WARNING:
Continuing to operate the human being unit without correction voids any manufacturer warranties, exposing the unit to dangers and problems too numerous to list and will result in the human unit being permanently impounded. For free emergency service, call on Jesus.

DANGER:
The human being units not responding to this recall action will have to be scrapped in the furnace. The SIN defect will not be permitted to enter Heaven so as to prevent contamination of that facility. Thank you for your attention!

- GOD

P.S.
Please assist where possible by notifying others of this important recall notice, and you may contact the Father any time by ‘Knee mail’.

Glenn Brooke is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

One of the most helpful questions you can ask yourself is “What can I do to make my students’ lives better?”

It’s a common temptation of teachers to only teach what’s interesting to us at the moment, or at least fun to teach. And this lets us more easily avoid conflicts and “messy” ministy to “real” people.

I do believe you should teach out of what God is teaching you. That’s natural and effective. But don’t do this at the expense of pushing yourself to answer the question “What can I do to make my students’ lives better?” Answering that question requires thought, and probably some work. You’ll now be thinking and planning from the perspective of their needs, not your convenience and personal interest. Be prepared: you’re going to hit some nerves.

Ask and answer “What can I do to make my students’ lives better?”, and you’ll be teaching the Bible to change lives!

Glenn Brooke is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

Great Bible teaching is based on thorough study of the Word. Period.  Yes, you can plagiarize lessons or sermons from someone else. You can get pretty far “borrowing” from others. Yes, if they’re available to you, you can just follow along with the pre-made lesson plan or study guide. You might even look pretty knowledgeable and smooth. 

But I am steadfast in my conviction that the best lessons and sermons — the ones which most change you as well as your hearers — are based in persevering study of the Word.

Teaching from Ephesians 1 this week? Read it 10 times a day. Create a markup copy of the text using your favorite text editor, and liberally mark it up with underlines, comments, connecting arrows, and insights as they come to mind.

Teaching on forgiveness? Decide on the passage(s) to use, and read them 10-20 times a day. Read them, chew on them, meditate on the meaning, pray over every word, and never be satisfied that you have drawn out all the understanding. When you can close your eyes and see the text in your mind, when you can hear it in your mind, you’ve started well. This is the no-shortcut path to teaching the Bible to change lives.

To help you think about the importance of detailed observation…and repeated study of the same passage, in order to extract the most possible from it, read this famous story:

Agassiz was the founder of the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and a Harvard professor. The following account was written by one of his students, Samuel H. Scudder, under the title “Agassiz and the Fish, by a Student” (American Poems, 3rd ed. [Boston: Houghton, Osgood & Co., 1879], pp. 450-54). Thanks to David Howard’s site for the reproduction of the original story.

Agassiz and the Fish
by a Student

It was more than fifteen years ago that I entered the laboratory of Professor Agassiz, and told him I had enrolled my name in the scientific school as a student of natural history. He asked me a few questions about my object in coming, my antecedents generally, the mode in which I afterward proposed to use the knowledge I might acquire, and finally, whether I wished to study any special branch. To the latter I replied that while I wished to be well grounded in all departments of zoology, I purposed to devote myself specially to insects.

“When do you wish to begin?” he asked.

“Now,” I replied.

This seemed to please him, and with an energetic “Very well,” he reached from a shelf a huge jar of specimens in yellow alcohol.

“Take this fish,” he said, “and look at it; we call it a Haemulon; by and by I will ask what you have seen.”

With that he left me. . . . I was conscious of a passing feeling of disappointment, for gazing at a fish did not commend itself to an ardent entomologist. . . . .

In ten minutes I had seen all that could be seen in that fish, and started in search of the professor, who had, however, left the museum; and when I returned, after lingering over some of the odd animals stored in the upper apartment, my specimen was dry all over. I dashed the fluid over the fish as if to resuscitate it from a fainting-fit, and looked with anxiety for a return of a normal, sloppy appearance. This little excitement over, nothing was to be done but return to a steadfast gaze at my mute companion. Half an hour passed, an hour, another hour; the fish began to look loathsome. I turned it over and around; looked it in the face—ghastly; from behind, beneath, above, sideways, at a three-quarters view—just as ghastly. I was in despair; at an early hour, I concluded that lunch was necessary; so with infinite relief, the fish was carefully replaced in the jar, and for an hour I was free.

On my return, I learned that Professor Agassiz had been at the museum, but had gone and would not return for several hours. My fellow students were too busy to be disturbed by continued conversation. Slowly I drew forth that hideous fish, and with a feeling of desperation again looked at it. I might not use a magnifying glass; instruments of all kinds were interdicted. My two hands, my two eyes, and the fish; it seemed a most limited field. I pushed my fingers down its throat to see how sharp its teeth were. I began to count the scales in the different rows until I was convinced that that was nonsense. At last a happy thought struck me—I would draw the fish; and now with surprise I began to discover new features in the creature. Just then the professor returned.

“That is right,” said he, “a pencil is one of the best eyes. I am glad to notice, too, that you keep your specimen wet and your bottle corked.”

With these encouraging words he added,  “Well, what is it like?”

He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal of the structure of parts whose names were still unknown to me; the fringed gill-arches and movable operculum; the pores of the head, fleshly lips, and lidless eyes; the lateral line, the spinous fin, and forked tail; the compressed and arched body. When I had finished, he waited as if expecting more, and then, with an air of disappointment

“You have not looked very carefully; why,” he continued, more earnestly, “you haven’t seen one of the most conspicuous features of the animal, which is as plainly before your eyes as the fish itself. Look again; look again!” And he left me to my misery.

I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of that wretched fish? But now I set myself to the task with a will, and discovered one new thing after another, until I saw how just the professor’s criticism had been. The afternoon passed quickly, and when, towards its close, the professor inquired,

“Do you see it yet?

“No,” I replied. “I am certain I do not, but I see how little I saw before.

“That is next best,” said he earnestly, “but I won’t hear you now; put away your fish and go home; perhaps you will be ready with a better answer in the morning. I will examine you before you look at the fish.

This was disconcerting; not only must I think of my fish all night, studying, without the object before me, what this unknown but most visible feature might be, but also, without reviewing my new discoveries, I must give an exact account of them the next day. I had a bad memory; so I walked home by Charles River in a distracted state, with my two perplexities

The cordial greeting from the professor the next morning was reassuring; here was a man who seemed to be quite as anxious as I that I should see for myself what he saw.

“Do you perhaps mean,” I asked, “that the fish has symmetrical sides with paired organs?

His thoroughly pleased, “Of course, of course!” repaid the wakeful hours of the previous night. After he had discoursed most happily and enthusiastically—as he always did—upon the importance of this point, I ventured to ask what I should do next.

“Oh, look at your fish!” he said, and left me again to my own devices. In a little more than an hour he returned and heard my new catalog

“That is good, that is good!” he repeated, “but that is not all; go on.” And so for three long days, he placed that fish before my eyes, forbidding me to look at anything else, or to use any artificial aid. “Look, look, look,” was his repeated injunction

This was the best entomological lesson I ever had—a lesson whose influence was extended to the details of every subsequent study; a legacy the professor has left to me, as he left it to many others, of inestimable value, which we could not buy, with which we cannot part. . .

The fourth day a second fish of the same group was placed beside the first, and I was bidden to point out the resemblances and differences between the two; another and another followed, until the entire family lay before me, and a whole legion of jars covered the table and surrounding shelves; the odor had become a pleasant perfume; and even now, the sight of an old six-inch worm-eaten cork brings fragrant memories!

The whole group of Haemulons was thus brought into review; and whether engaged upon the dissection of the internal organs, preparation and examination of the bony framework, or the description of the various parts, Agassiz’s training in the method of observing facts in their orderly arrangement, was ever accompanied by the urgent exhortation not to be content with them.

“Facts are stupid things,” he would say, “until brought into connection with some general law.”

At the end of eight months, it was almost with reluctance that I left these friends and turned to insects; but what I gained by this outside experience has been of greater value than years of later investigation in my favorite groups.

Glenn Brooke is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

As a Bible teacher you’ll need to help people recognize there are two kinds of brokenness before God, and distinguish between them. 

Scott Rodgers gives very helpful counsel:

“First, brokenness can be the result of sin. We’ve messed everything up and now, life is just broken. Second, brokenness can be the result of surrender. We’ve submitted ourselves to the purposes of God so much that we are experiencing pain; the pain of selflessness, submission, being misunderstood, etc.

It’s critical we don’t confuse the two. We need to stop saying, “God is breaking me,” when we’re really just breaking ourselves by repeating destructive, sinful behavior. And, if you’re experiencing brokenness as the result of surrender, lean into it; you’re going through a process of transformation.

Help. I’m broken and I can’t get up. I’m flat on my back. My sin is great. Lord, please forgive me and restore me.

Help. I’m broken and I can’t get up. I’m on my knees. My surrender is great. Lord, please give me the strength to stay the course.”

To some degree the people you minister to will experience both, though not at the same time. It’s important to help people see which is the proper response to their situation — and in neither situation do we have the right to blame God for anything.

Keep on teaching to change lives!

About the Author:
Glenn is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.

There’s an issue with Bible teachers that can drive you to distraction.

It’s the need for the kind of feedback that tells you “I did a good job.” It’s basically the personal need (which we all share) for affirmation and validation. 

Sometimes I don’t get any feedback about a class or a series of classes, or at least feel I should get more. So I will ask leading questions like “Was that helpful?” [Go ahead, I dare you to say "No" to my face!]

Intellectually we know that in ministry the only true and lasting affirmation comes from the Lord. And we definitely look forward to that great day when we hear Him tell us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Luke 19:17)

Take a giant step toward spiritual maturity. Let’s make our hearts congruent with our minds.

Let me challenge you to deal with yourself plainly and simply on this matter, and as often as needed: “It’s not about you. Not even a little bit. It’s about the part God designed for me and empowered me to fulfill to build His Kingdom for His glory. I am teaching His people according to His great purpose. Amen? Amen!”

Let us grow up in maturity and seek the Lord for affirmation and validation. If we hear affirmation from men, keep it in its place.

Keep on teaching to change lives!

About the Author:
Glenn is the author of several books for Bible teachers, including Teach the Bible to Change Lives. He has coached thousands of Bible teachers to be more effective.