*First published December 2023 in Christian Living Magazine
Lord, You are more glorious than we can imagine or conceive. Thank You for being our Creator. Thank You for creating a world for us to dwell in, providing light, air, water, food, and clothing for our physical needs. Beyond that, You give us sunsets and sunrises and starry night skies; sweet and savory smells; waterfalls, pools and rivers; chocolate and queso, sushi and steak, watermelon and crisp apples; sweaters and fuzzy socks and sandals and shorts (and pockets!).
You don’t just provide, LORD, You lavish.
Your goodness is beyond searching out. May we praise You as You are worthy to be praised, in increasing greatness and thankfulness. May we tell the next generation of Your grace and steadfast love (Psalm 145).
May we obey You in fullest measure, living out the “one anothers” in Your Word, serving You with joy and gladness in our local churches, seeking the lost and telling them of Your coming wrath and the salvation You have provided. May we remember all year that our greatest need—forgiveness from sin—has been bought and paid for by Jesus Christ, Your Son. He not only died the death we deserved, taking the penalty that we deserve for our sin, He lived the life we couldn’t. He came to be our Example, our Advocate, our Propitiation. Our Savior.
Even more, You’ve given us Your Spirit to lead us in truth and equip us with Your power to obey, to praise, to declare Your greatness, to be Your grateful servants.
Thank You, that You have not left us on our own, but have given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). May we remember this as we live in this world.
This year, may You give us enough hardship to keep us humble; to drive us to You in complete submission and dependence on You. May we rejoice in trials of every kind, knowing that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness that will in turn make us perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-3).
Write Your Word on our minds through the discipline of memorization, but even more on our hearts as we seek to not only know and agree with Your Word, but to do what it says (Psalm 119:11). Put biblical sense into our minds and mold our thinking in such a way that it aligns with Yours.
In our joys this year, may we turn and praise You, “singing psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts” (Colossians 3:16), that all who see our rejoicing would turn and praise You as well.
May we invite all who are lost to the marriage supper of the Lamb, to live in fellowship with You for all eternity (Revelation 19).
May we be known by our love for one another, our denial of ourselves, to see others as more important, following the example of Christ our Lord (Philippians 2).
May this year be one that draws us closer to You day by day, measure by measure, by the cooperative work of our obedience and the power of Your Spirit.
May Your name be praised and may our anthem this year be, “…Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS…” (Revelation 19:1,2)
Amen.
Leave a Reply