Prayer for the New Year

Here’s a New Year prayer from Billy Graham. It was written in 2008, but seems equally relevant today.

New Year’s 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 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

~ Copyright © 2008 Saturday Evening Post Society. Posted on the website of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. https://billygraham.org/story/billy-grahams-prayer-for-the-new-year-4/