Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:18, 19a
Isaiah could have been writing these verses specifically for this time of year – the end of one year and the beginning of a new year. If you’re like me, there are things from 2024 that you would rather totally forget and have hopes and dreams for 2025. In the verses above, God is speaking and pointing us to what He is doing, reminding us that He is the one in control. As I set out to begin the new year with a daily reading plan, I also like to begin the New Year with a prayer, not always my own. I came across the following prayer on the Billy Graham website.
The prayer was written by Billy Graham in 2008, and I was shocked at how relevant it is as we step into 2025. I would like to invite you to join with me wherever you are and say this prayer quietly or out loud to our God who hears every prayer.
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 and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year.
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 friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33).
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. Be with their families also and assure them of Your love and concern for them.
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 and centre of our lives this year.
And so, our 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 Saviour, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come. Amen.
May God bless us all in our parish as we begin another New Year.
Denise.
Published in the Parish magazines January 2025
Image courtesy of Unsplash