Lesson 195: Succeeding in School

Involving the Lord in Your Learning

“I Will Be with Thee”

teen praying

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want to help us in every aspect of our lives, including our efforts to learn and gain formal education. This lesson can help students involve the Lord in every aspect of their education as they seek learning by study and by faith.

Possible Learning Activities

Difficult situations

You could begin class by sharing the following situations and discussing them as a class. As needed, adapt the situations to better fit the needs of your students.

Imagine yourself in one or more of the following situations:

• You are discouraged in a class at school and want to give up.

• You have questions about continuing your education in your young-adult years. You don’t know where you should continue attending school or even if you should.

• It is your first week in a new job, and you don’t feel adequate for the work or tasks.

What would you do if you were in one of these situations? Who would you turn to for help?

Consider asking students if they or people they know have experienced situations similar to these. You could invite them to share what they or others did to receive help.

Explain that in this lesson, students will learn about the importance of involving the Lord in every aspect of their lives, including their education. To help them prepare to study this topic, display the following questions and invite the students to answer them in their study journals.

Take time to reflect on the following statements using a scale of 1 (never) to 5 (very often):

1. I pray to Heavenly Father for help before I study or start a project for school.

2. In my personal prayers, I express a desire to my Heavenly Father to have the Spirit with me as I’m learning at school.

3. I regularly try to improve in my efforts to learn with the help of Jesus Christ.

4. I rely on and recognize the Spirit’s help in my learning and education.

Invite students to look for teachings that can help them more fully involve the Lord in their learning and education.

Learning from learners in the scriptures

Explain that the scriptures contain many examples of people who involved the Lord to help them gain understanding and overcome challenges. Consider dividing the students into groups to complete the following study activity. Assign each group one of the following examples to study, and then discuss the two questions that follow.

Study the following scriptures about people who faced difficult and uncertain situations. Look for examples of how these individuals involved the Lord as they sought understanding.

• Joseph Smith (Joseph Smith—History 1:10–18)

• Nephi (1 Nephi 11:1–9)

• The brother of Jared (Ether 1:38–42; 2:22–25; 3:1–6)

• How did these people involve the Lord in their learning?

• In what ways did the Lord help them?

  After students have had sufficient time to study and discuss, invite members of each group to report on what they discussed by sharing their answers to the previous questions.

• Based on what you have learned, how would you complete the following statement? As we involve the Lord in our learning, He can …

  Students could complete this statement in ways similar to the following: As we involve the Lord in our learning, He can give us understanding that we could not have obtained on our own.

• What do you know about the Lord that gives you confidence that He will help you in your education?

Ways to involve the Lord in your learning

• When it comes to your schoolwork, when would it be helpful to involve the Lord?

If needed, help students think of answers to the previous question. Examples could include while doing homework, taking tests, learning in class, and working on class assignments or projects. Consider listing students’ ideas on the board.

Then give students the following instructions to help them think of ways they can involve the Lord in the examples they identified. Students could do this individually, with a partner, or in a small group.

Write the phrase I can involve the Lord in my learning by … on a page in your study journal. List as many ideas as you can think of for involving the Lord in the school-related activities you identified.

After students generate their lists, invite them to share their ideas with the class. You could create a list on the board and add students’ ideas to it.

If needed, you could offer some examples of ideas: pray for help with remembering what you have studied before tests, projects, or assignments; express gratitude for God’s help and the opportunities He has given you to learn; record the experiences you’ve had as you involved the Lord in your learning; fast and pray for a greater desire to learn; put God first by making time for daily prayer and scripture study.

• What experiences have you had as you have involved the Lord in your education?

As part of the discussion, consider showing “Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of the Slope” from time code 0:00 to 1:05. This video is available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. In the video, Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Seventy describes his experience with involving the Lord in his learning.

Reflect and act on truths

Consider inviting students to reflect on ways they can apply what they have learned about how to involve the Lord in their learning. They might respond to the following in their study journals.

• What have you learned or felt about the Lord that makes you want to involve Him in your learning?

• What are one or two actions you could take to involve the Lord in your learning?

Consider inviting students to share what they have felt and learned. Testify of the truths you have discussed, and encourage the students to work on their plans and act on impressions they receive from the Spirit.

Additional Resources

How will involving the Lord in my learning help me to succeed in my education?

Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Elder D. Todd Christofferson

You need to remember always that you are not alone in this. There are people who love and pray for you. Maybe there are some skeptics who tell you that you can’t do it or who, for some reason, don’t want you to succeed. But they can’t stop you, and there are more who support you. Most importantly, your Heavenly Father and your Savior know you and can and will grant you heavenly help. Make God your partner. …

Your Heavenly Father and His Beloved Son love you as much as They do me, and you are entitled to Their help just as much as I am. With Their help, you can succeed in [your education] and every other worthy endeavor in your life. You do not labor and study alone. (D. Todd Christofferson, “The Will to Prepare” [BYU–Pathway Worldwide devotional, Nov. 12, 2019])

Elder Kim B. Clark of the Seventy taught:

Elder Kim B. Clark

If you stop learning, you cannot become more knowledgeable, more effective, more useful, more faithful, or more like your Father in Heaven.

Your experience with learning in your youth and young adult years lays the foundation for a lifetime of learning. If you develop the ability to learn deeply in the Lord’s way—through the Spirit and with diligent, active study—it will be a great blessing to you. (Kim B. Clark, “Learning for the Whole Soul,” Ensign, Aug. 2017, 29).

What type of learning should be my highest priority?

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

President Russell M. Nelson

In your pursuit of knowledge, know that the most important truth you can learn comes from the Lord. In His Intercessory Prayer to His Father, the Savior Himself confirmed this. He said, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Above everything else you are seeking to learn, seek to know God, your Heavenly Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. Come to know Them and love Them, as I do. (Russell M. Nelson, “What Will You Choose?,” Ensign, Jan. 2015, 32)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Putting the Lord first

After students have created a list of ways they can involve the Lord in their learning, consider showing “The Soul’s Sincere Desire” (3:28), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Invite the students to look for examples of how the young woman in the video involved the Lord in her learning.

Create personal learning patterns to involve the Lord

At the end of the lesson, consider giving students an opportunity to create a visual representation that summarizes what they have learned about involving the Lord in their education. Consider inviting students to write Involving the Lord in Your Learning in the middle of a piece of paper. Then invite them to list specific behaviors and attitudes that represent how they could involve the Lord in their learning and education. Invite them to draw a visual or create a digital learning pattern to share with their peers during the lesson. (See the following graphic from the October 2016 Liahona for an example.)

experience the joy of learning graphic

Invite students to create a personal learning statement

Students could benefit from creating a “personal learning statement” that they can use throughout their lives to help remind them of their educational goals. Their statements could begin with a phrase like “I will …” or “I am …” or “My hope is …”

To help students create statements, consider inviting them to reflect on areas of their learning they want to improve or develop. Ask questions like “How could you involve the Lord in your learning?” or “How can the Lord help you in your plan?” Students can identify actions and attitudes they would like to include in their statements.

Learning statements are usually short and powerful. Students might include educational goals or wishes and things they’ll do to reach their goals.

Here are two examples of student learning statements:

• I will be humble and teachable as I seek the Lord’s help to improve as a learner.

• Before school, I will pray to my Heavenly Father and express my desire to have the Spirit with me in my learning.