A former teacher from Texas is taking the Biblical mandate to “pray without ceasing” to schools across the nation by kickstarting an initiative that seeks to spark revival at every school, in every city.
Keli Caraveo is the founder of “Lock the Shields”, a ministry on a mission to pray for students and bring God back into the school system.
“We know a spiritual problem demands a spiritual solution. And in Ephesians, we know that the Word says ‘We do not war against flesh and blood, but against rulers, powers, and principalities in higher places’ and I just kept hearing God saying, ‘I need watchmen on the wall’…and to watch means to guard over, to protect. To literally save lives and I believe God is calling us to…spiritually stand up and pray for our children,” she shared.
Caraveo recalls that in 2019 God gave her the “battle plan” for prayer as she prepared to send her sons to a large public school for the first time.
“It was definitely a God wake up. I could see families praying over schools, also the church coming together as the family, (united) as one, covering schools in prayer,” Keli told The Beacon. “I kept hearing ‘watchmen on the wall’ over and over. I could hear the roar of shields coming together, locking in formation over cities.”
Caraveo says she ran with the vision that God gave her and that was how “Lock the Shields” was born.
Interested parents can sign up on the website, adopt a school, and access a prayer guide, that includes scriptures for students, parents, teachers, administrative staff, and the school board.
In the ministry’s first year, they had a handful of churches and ministries participate, but it has grown over the years.
At the start of the 2023 school year, Lock the Shields had more than 325 schools in over 20 states receiving prayer daily.
Caraveo says her goal for this year is to teach children how to pray for their school, each day.
“We must teach children to pray with the authority of Jesus. We are also praying for unity within the body of Christ for us to move together as one,” she told Intercessors for America.
She continued, “Our goal is to be more active outside the four walls of the church. We are seeing grassroots movements spring up on campuses, and we believe that this will continue. My hope is NOT that the ministry will be known or grow or anything like that, but that people will realize that they can do something, have an impact in the spirit realm, and we can watch the enemy’s grip loosen as strongholds come down.”
Answers to Prayer
Caraveo says since the start of the ministry she has seen God answer prayers.
She told The Beacon that teaching her son how to pray for his school changed the atmosphere.
“I told [my son] ‘when you walk into that cafeteria, I want you to invite angels into that room with you, [Dad and I] are going to ask for the presence of God to fill that place,'” Caraveo shared.
After her family started praying, her son shared that children who used to use profanity at lunch stopped doing so.
“Your prayers matter, God hears you and answers your prayer, and we can pray in authority,” Caraveo explained.
She told the outlet about a group in San Antonio that felt led to pray at a local high school.
“This school has the highest suicide rate in [its district], there’s a lot of issues,” Caraveo said. “Community partners, parents, and some staff members and alumni joined us. We had about 25 to 30 people show up. We didn’t even go on campus; we walked around the campus. We prayed together as a group, and then we just quietly prayed individually as we walked the perimeter of the campus.”
A few weeks later, the principal invited a Christian ministry to hold a student-led club on its campus each week – something that the ministry had been barred from doing for five years.
“We’re expecting great things to come out of that unlikely place,” Caraveo said. “We felt like we heard the Father’s heart for the kids there and for revival – which, who would look at that school and say revival is going to come out of it? We really believe it. We’re believing and expecting even more prayers to be answered.”
Intercessors for America is encouraging parents to join the grassroots movement.
“Lock the Shields is not only giving hope to praying parents but even to parents who feel alone. It gives them fresh hope to know that others are praying for them and their children. These days we need to impart hope to others. As long as we have Jesus, we have the remedy for hopelessness,” writes IFA contributor Gloria Robles.
“God uses ordinary people like you and me to accomplish extraordinary things. One woman prayed for help to spread this message and raise up intercessors for our schools and God answered. Our children and youth campuses are being saturated in prayer. Intercessors are now praying on-site more than ever, and you can be a part of what God is doing,” she added.
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