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
