A Prayer for Goals in the New Year - Your Daily Prayer - January 1

A Prayer for Your Goals in the New Year
By Molly Law 

“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” - Psalm 139:16

The year is over and done with, and the new year, as it always does, has begun in earnest. Every year, as New Year’s Day draws closer, we all want to imagine that a prosperous and optimistic future awaits us. So much so that we alienate ourselves from all the bad that we experienced during the past year and look forward to a new beginning. 

But let us not forget the good we also experienced in the past year and continue to seek the Lord’s guiding presence in the new year. For we know that God has been with us this past year, just as He has been from the beginning, and will be there until the end. Immanuel, God with us, is a promise that endures.

When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we received His constant joy and hope in His enduring promise. We can feel His presence through the gospel and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There are so many in this world who will enter the next year without hope and without peace that can only come through Christ.

When that hope is not found in Christ, people seek to find a way to fill the void in their hearts with what they envision this new year will do for them. The most popular New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight.

People tell themselves that if they lose ‘x’ number of pounds, then their lives will be better: they will get that promotion, they will go on dates, and they will become the person they were always meant to be.

This is a lie from the world — from the enemy — but the truth the Lord wants us all to know is that you, right now, are the person that God created you to be. Just as you are: not 10 pounds smaller, not “healthier,” not anything that an influencer told you on Instagram. 

Many diet books and influencers (some even Christian influencers) send mixed messages: “you’re beautiful the way you are right now,” “healthy is beautiful,” “so do this and lose weight” (subtext: “to change who you are despite what I originally said”).

Please know that you are beautiful, wonderfully made, and exactly who God created you to be. No additions, no caveats, and no subtexts to that message. Full stop. The New Year is a passage of time that does not have to signify a radical change, and it will not fulfill the hope that many place in its inanimate hands. 

So, before we focus on our appearances, goals, and vision boards for the New Year, let us remember our true calling to be fishers of men (Mark 1:17) and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) by loving others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:29).

Let’s Pray:

Dear Lord, 
I pray for everyone this New Year. I pray that the hope for a better future will not be placed in an inanimate object that has no conscious thought or care for the ones putting all their hope and faith into it. My God, I pray that they will find you, to place their joy, fear, hope, and faith in you and in you alone. I pray for the lost, the hurt, and the jaded. I pray for the pain and rejection that the world inflicted on them. 

Lord, may we gain compassion and understanding from you so that we may shine your love and light in a darkened world as we leave the old behind and embrace the new with you, our Alpha and Omega, our Prince of Peace, Lord of lords, and King of kings. Help us to not only remember the hardships of the past year, but also the wonderful memories. I pray that we not only embrace the good in the New Year but lean on you when hard times eventually come. 

Thank you, Prince of Peace, for drawing close to us with your comforting presence, guiding us in this fallen and messy world. We love and trust you with all of our hearts, our Savior and King.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Creative-Family

Molly Law is the former Editor of C.com. She has a Master of Arts in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling, UK, where she studied and lived for a year in Scotland. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English Professional Writing from Gardner-Webb University. Her editorial career includes Senior Editor of a bimonthly magazine for the nonprofit ACA and Editorial Assistant at Luath Press in Edinburgh, UK. She enjoys reading 18^th-century British Literature, creative writing, and traveling. 

Editor's Note: We're proud to announce we've just launched a new nighttime companion to Your Daily Prayer: the Your Nightly Prayer devotional. You'll soon be able to subscribe to receive Your Nightly Prayer via email, or as a podcast, but for now you can find it on the website at crosswalk.com/devotionals/your-nightly-prayer. We hope it's a relaxing and soothing way to wind down your day with rich meditations on who God is.

Related Resource: Jesus Calling - Stories of Faith

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Inspired by Sarah Young's classic devotional book, the Jesus Calling podcast has brought encouragement and peace to millions. New episodes drop every Thursday! Listen today on LifeAudio.com or wherever you find your podcasts.

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