Ineke Laning and her daughter Danielle are both teachers and both attended the teachers’ breakfast in Hobart last year.

So it was wonderfully appropriate for Ineke to accept the invitation to be the guest speaker this year.  Ineke is Dean of Students (in charge of discipline) at Calvin Christian School and has 4 sons as well as the gorgeous Danielle.

Ineke knows she is called to teach.

She stated that the Lord has anointed her.

She seeks His face, because without doing that she is lost.

She listens to Him and she does her utmost to obey Him.  Though she admits that sometimes she appears deaf!

Ineke then gave a testimony regarding a recent school camp which is aimed at training students in leadership.

As she drove to the venue she felt the Lord was directing her to pray specifically for the camp. 
Ineke felt the Lord said to her … you carry the anointing for leadership at the camp.

While at the camp, Ineke took every opportunity to pray.

The result was that teenage students initiated prayer at the camp and 2 students gave their heart to the Lord.  Ineke marvelled as kids invited her to come and pray with them.

Since that camp, some of the students have started a school prayer group and are continuing to ask Ineke to join them in prayer.

Although Ineke has always prayed with students at school, she feels there is a definite shift with students initiating the prayer.  She also thinks that her obedience to pray specifically for the camp was a key factor in this change.  She knows that even if she hadn’t prayed on the way to the camp God would still have moved but she would not have been part of it.

Ineke is in absolute awe of what God is doing in her school.

In 1997 there were 60 kids praying in a lunch time.

It hasn’t happened since, but with this change in the students at the camp she can “see” it happening again.

Ineke said that the best times in her life have been when she has drawn close to God.  They are the times when His anointing can flow.

Teaching is a privilege and a huge responsibility.

It should never be too heavy because God has equipped us.

God has sent Christian teachers to do something, with the promise of success.

He sends teachers not just to the broken hearted but to heal the broken hearted.

He sends teachers not just to the captives but to give them liberty.

They are sent to those who mourn; with the anointing to comfort.

Even in a Christian school there are kids who have mucked things up and need to exchange their ashes for beauty.

Ineke challenged the teachers with the following questions.  Do we believe that we are anointed with the Spirit of the Lord?  Do we really believe that God will use us?

God’s anointing is not limited by government schools.

Ineke urged teachers in state schools to pray and simply ask God “What can I do in my school?”

The anointing is available; we need to desire it and go after it, and seek His Face.

We need to ask for the anointing to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and in the case of schools to proclaim this to the youth who the enemy has plundered.

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.  I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Ineke believes we need to pray for children who are away from the Lord and in so doing take back what the enemy has stolen.

She has seen Christian students lose their strong faith because of the attacks from the enemy.

We must not forget that there is an enemy out there trying to destroy us.

The enemy works hard to keep us from praying.  He keeps us too busy, too tired and too distracted to pray.

Ineke then referred to Eph 3:20.  The Lord is able to do exceedingly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, (the Holy Spirit power, the anointing)…  Do we believe it?  Are we going to call out for Him?

Ineke urged those who are working in secular schools to find people who would pray for their schools and for them. Ineke said it is intimate fellowship with God that will release His power on us!

Ineke then quoted from Joyce Meyer’s book Knowing God intimately.

The passage she read referred to Ezekiel 47, where the prophet Ezekiel sees water coming from God’s temple.

Joyce believes the water represents an outpouring of the Holy Sprit.  She interprets the rising waters as four levels of commitment to God.

Some Christians stay in ankle deep water; they want to stay on solid ground so that they are in control.  They are not willing to abandon themselves to the river where God is in control.

Joyce says “the Lord wants us to enjoy the fullness of His plan for us but we must have His presence, His anointing, His grace and His power everyday to enjoy fully His work in us that is vitally necessary to our life.”

“How far up the mountain of God’s presence are you willing to climb?  How close to the heart of Jesus are you willing to lay your head?  How far into the river of life are you willing to let the Holy Spirit lead you?

Those who seek crave and long to see God will find Him and will enjoy His everlasting fruit of peace that passes all understanding.”

Ineke continually stressed our need to pray.

She said we must humble ourselves before the Lord and acknowledge our total dependence upon Him, to do the work for us and in us.

She encouraged teachers to pray for education in our nation.

Ineke’s final remark was,

Let us really crave the anointing.