A Prayer for This New Year

"Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us..." Eph 3:20  

        Lord, we thank You for fresh starts, for fresh days even in our calendar system where we especially 'feel' there is a blank canvas in front of us (even though it is true every day- "For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning." Lam. 3:22,23)
      
      Lord would You paint a beautiful picture with our lives this year. We give to You this blank slate and give our lives as the paint and tools in Your mighty hands and say,  'Here am I. Use me.'  
      
       Lord, we press in, BEYOND. Enable us and work in and through us according to your will. We know and choose to truly believe that You are able to do beyond what has been done before in our lives, in the world, in the church, and in our families.  We choose to believe that there is a beyond out there, and in faith, we seek to grab hold of it.

      May this be a year of beyond, beyond what we think we are able and beyond what we think You are able to do with us.  MOVE Lord.  Be big. We press against the boundary of what has been before.  We press beyond all our 'befores'.  Instill a big faith and hope and perseverance in us that reaches beyond what we fear, beyond what we think we are capable of, and beyond what we even dream or imagine.   We take You up on that promise that You are able to do beyond that, through Your power working in us. 

     We are not ashamed of the gospel.  We will not shrink back from declaring the whole purpose of God.  Acts 20:20,27  We believe that You are a rewarder of those who seek you. Hebrews 11:6 You said, "Seek My face," and Your face we shall seek. Psalm 27:8  Eyes on You, Lord.

We serve a big God;  may we live a big life!

      This year, may we not bow down to fear or be silenced. Through Your power flowing freely through us, we are able.  We boldly, confidently proclaim that in You, "I am able." Because You are able and You live in us, we are able to DO all that You call us to and all that you set before us.  Lord, in faith (you tell us to ask according to Your will) we ASK for MORE, for BEYOND: for more faith- powerful, mountain moving faith.  ("You do not have because you do not ask." James 4:2b)

     Lord, we confess and repent and turn away from any doubt and any fear and any worry.  We do not want to be one of 'little faith'.  Be done your will, and Your will IS BEYOND all that we could ask or imagine - to You "be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."  Eph 3:21

Open Our Eyes

             "And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, 'What do you want Me to do for you?'  

           They said to Him, 'Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.'  

             Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him."  Matthew 20:32-34

Oh, may that be our plea and desire.  

           Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.  And may regaining our sight result in fully following You.

          Open our eyes to see You for all that you are and all that You are willing and able to do in and through us.  Open our eyes to Your purposes in this present age and where You have called us to shine for Your glory.  Open our eyes to see the people You have placed us among as You see them, and may we be moved with Your compassion to love and act on their behalf. 

 Open our eyes to see Your perfect love, to SEE You, to see that You are with us, and to see that that changes EVERYTHING.  Lord, we invite you to change everything.

"...I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.........Woe is me, for I am ruined!........For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.........Here am I. Send me!.........."  Isaiah 6

Ruin us, Lord.  Open our eyes.  May we regain our sight and follow You.

Faith-filled Obedience

“…God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!..…Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.’  So…” (And notice the time phrase that shows his immediate obedience)  “So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” 

        The book of Hebrews gives us even more insight into what was going on in Abraham’s mind saying, “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son…He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”  Hebrews 11:17,19

      Abraham followed through to the point of stretching out his hand and taking the knife, but the angel of the Lord stopped him, saying, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God (are a fearer of God), since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  Genesis 22:12

      What a powerful example of a heart of faith-filled obedience.

Now, at this point, let us ask ourselves how much evidence do we give the world (and the angels and God) that we are a fearer of God (that we fear/reverence God)?  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments.."  Psalm 111:10


   Abraham had a promise of descendants through Isaac, yet there were no descendants, so how could Isaac die?  Abraham had even suggested shortcuts to that promise, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” (Genesis 17:18,19- Abraham, like us at times, would have settled for another plan, one that was easier and required no waiting or faith) ‘But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.”

      The scene continues, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies.  In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”  v.16-18 

       We too need to know God’s promises; clinging to those promises and to faith in Who God is, will enable us to walk in confident obedience. Abraham, knowing the promise, immediately 
obeyed this illogical assignment, and because he did, he was allowed to be a part of blessing all the nations of the earth. 

“Because you have obeyed My voice.”

We have no way of knowing what our acts of obedience will bring about and who they will affect.  God has a great plan in asking for each act of obedience, and there ARE consequences to our obedience that bless us and many others and potentially many, many after us down the halls of time.

Abraham was even allowed to be a part of THE greatest plan:       “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith…….. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.  He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as referring to many, but rather to one, ‘And to your seed,’ that is, Christ.” Galatians 3:13,14,16

What promises do you need to cling to so that you may walk forward in confidence faith-filled obedience to all that He calls you to?