This prayer from Billy Graham, written for The
Saturday Evening Post in 2008, is just as relevant this year.
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 center 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 Savior, who by His death and resurrection has
given us hope both for this world and the world to come.
Amen
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