Encouragement for Today - Jan. 1, 2010
January 1, 2010
A New Year's Prayer for You
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me." Matthew 28:18 (NIV)
Devotion:
New Year's Resolutions.
What comes to mind when you hear these three words?
Everywhere you turn the media bombards us with the latest and greatest New Year's Resolution ideas. Diet. Lose Weight. Exercise. Change your look. Change your life. A new year, a new you! Sounds great, doesn't it?
For many years, I made New Year's Resolutions, but I could never keep them. Oh, I succeeded for a few months, but then it was over. I felt worse about myself than I did before the year began because I had failed. So a few years ago, I quit making New Year's Resolutions. Instead, I wrote a prayer. Throughout the year, I watched in amazement as God worked in my life and in the lives of others through my simple prayer.
Today, I would like to pray for you. As you read this prayer, I invite you to use it as a model for writing out your own New Year's prayer.
Father in heaven, thank You that You are All Authority in heaven and on earth. Thank You that You led each woman here today. You know her every need, her deepest desires, and her hurting places. Lord, as she seeks to know You more, would You open the eyes of her heart to see the wonderful things in Your law?
Father, we confess that so often we live lives that do not honor You. Our actions and our Words seem so far from You. But, we do want to live lives that please You, so we ask today for You to soften our hearts to receive what Your sweet Spirit has to speak to us. Give us a hunger and a thirst for Your Word. As You reveal it to us, help us through the power of Your Holy Spirit to listen and obey. You tell us Your Word is living and active, like a double-edged sword. Father, we invite You to use it now to penetrate the deepest recesses in our hearts.
Give us hearts that desire You and Your Truth above all else. Your Word tells us that if we lack Wisdom, we need only ask and You will give it liberally. So we ask today for a fresh filling of Your Wisdom. Give us the strength to walk in Your Truth, no matter the cost. Guard our hearts and keep our eyes fixed on You. Grow in us the fruit of Your Spirit…those things that will make us more like You. As we study Your Word, fill us and saturate us with more of You!!
Today, Father, we surrender our past and look to the future, thanking You that we are a new creation. No matter what we have done before today, we have Hope in You to take all things and use them for Your good and the good of Your Kingdom. Thank You that You are Faithful. Thank You that we can make our plans but You will direct our steps. We trust in You to do a mighty work in us through us this year and carry it on to completion until the day we step into eternity with You.
Lord, we love You. Make our lives a living testimony of Your Love. We ask this in the powerful and mighty name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord who will do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. AMEN.
Related Resources:
Hidden Joy in a Dark Corner: The Transforming Power of God's Story by Wendy Blight
The one-year Chronological Bible (NLT)
Visit Wendy's blog-Living Truth to find steps to help you personalize your prayers
God answers prayers! Read Desperate Prayers, Divine Answers for more encouragement
Application Steps:
Personalize this prayer for you and your own life.
As you do, ask the Lord if there is an area of your life in which you consistently struggle.
If the Lord made you aware of a struggle, surrender that area today. Boldly ask God to speak Truth into this area, no matter the cost. Ask Him to teach you His way, give you a mind to understand, and a heart to obey. Hold fast to what you hear so that your walk in that area will be established and ordered according to His will, not your own.
Reflections:
Read Proverbs 4:20-27, then meditate and reflect on its meaning in relation to what you have learned through this devotion.
Power Verses:
Hebrews 4:12 "For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (NIV)
2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone and the new has come!" (NIV)
© 2009 by Wendy Blight. All rights reserved.
Proverbs 31 Ministries
616-G Matthews-Mint Hill Road
Matthews, NC 28105
