3 Things To Pray For This New Year

The New Year is here and everyone is setting goals and making wishes on what they want this year. So here are 3 things to pray for this new year.

Years ago when I was a working at a camp for a summer, I began to practice praying for long periods of time. I spent the first part of my morning in prayer. And this time with God transformed my ministry that summer and changed my life.

Since prayer transforms lives, here are 3 things to pray for this year.

Pray For God’s Boldness This New Year

Pray that God will give you boldness to share your faith with your friends and family. God has been challenging me through others to share my faith with those around me.

In the first 200 years of the church, over 1/2 of the known world’s population became Christians. They did so primarily through relationships since Christianity was illegal at that time.

Matthew 28:19-20

¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Go and make disciples. Remember that God will be with you the whole way.

Pray For Your Spiritual Growth This New Year

As you share your faith you will quickly realize an added need for more spiritual growth in your life. Many people do not realize that spiritual reflect our knowledge of God and spiritual growth.

I finished reading Insanity of God this summer (more on this in another post). The book shares stories of the persecuted church. In China, being thrown into prison became the equivalent of being sent to seminary for pastors because of the knowledge and spiritual growth gained through trials and other prisoners. Two pastors, who were recently released when interviewed for Insanity, they were made pastors but they did not know anything about the Bible and did not grow in their faith while in prison. Nik Ripken, who was interviewing,  quickly came to the conclusion that the people grew in their faith while in prison were those that came in with knowledge and growth in God.

So pray that your faith would grow this year.

Pray For Your Rest In Christ This New Year

In your life, you will quickly discover that it is impossible to live the Christian life. If you are striving to live a perfect Christian life, not only will you fail (Romans 3:23), but you will be miserable trying.

Recently I listened to the book, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. After spending years as a missionary and stressing out over the weight of leading a mission board, he discovered a secret to help him. The secret was relying on God for everything.

John 15:1-5

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

We are to abide or live our lives with Christ, letting Him guide, direct and empower our lives. In Romans 6:13, Paul uses the vision of yielding ourselves to God.

¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

When I would go to a camp as a teen we would often play the game Trust. In this game, you would stand on a ledge and fall back with your team below ready to catch you.

The same picture is here. Take the trust fall, take a step and let Christ empower you the rest of the way.

There are many more things that we could be praying for this year.

Please Share Your Thoughts In The Comment Section Below:

What are some things you will be praying for?

How can I pray for you?