Beginning the New Year
As we begin 2018, wouldn’t it be great if we could all have a fresh
start? Hardly anyone ends the old year without a regret or two.
For those of us who want “do-overs,” there is good news! No one is
forcing us to repeat last year’s mistakes. And our decisions that turned
out well are just waiting to be reinforced and repeated. God is giving
us a blank slate, ripe with potential and bursting with opportunities.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote, "Thus says the LORD: 'Stand in the ways and
see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it;
then you will find rest for your souls'" (Jeremiah 6:16).
Billy Graham wrote this beautiful and still-relevant prayer for the
Saturday Evening Post in
2008:
Our Father and our God,
As we stand at the beginning of this new year we
confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the
future.
We each have our hopes and expectations for the
year that is ahead of us—but You alone know what it holds for us, and
only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet
its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and
to trust You.
In the midst of life’s uncertainties in the days
ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love. In the midst
of life’s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to
You for the stability and comfort we will need.
In the midst of life’s temptations and the pull of
our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the
courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost. And
in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to
the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond
with compassion and sacrifice to those who are in need.
We pray for our nation and its leaders during
these difficult times, and for all those who are seeking to bring peace
and justice to our dangerous and troubled world. We pray especially for
Your protection on all those who serve in our armed forces, and we thank
You for their commitment to defend our freedoms, even at the cost of
their own lives.
Bring our divided nation
together,
and give us a greater vision of what You would have us to be. Your Word
reminds us that “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm
33:12)
As we look back over this past year we thank You
for Your goodness to us—far beyond what we have deserved. May we never
presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may
they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You
the foundation of our lives.
And so, Father, we thank You
for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it
with expectancy and faith. This I ask in the name of our Lord and
Savior, who has given us hope both for this world and
the world to come.
Amen
We can’t see exactly what situations we’ll encounter in the next twelve
months. We don't know what changes are coming; some will be welcomed,
some not. We are unable to imagine what blessings the Lord has planned
for each of us. But whatever 2018 holds, we don't have to be afraid.
Jesus Christ is waiting there for us.
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