As we close out a difficult year, we wanted to spend some time in prayer for the next one. We asked a few of our colleagues at Lifeway to contribute a short prayer for us to read as we head into 2021. Happy New Year from Lifeway Voices!
Loving Father, we come to You with humble and grateful hearts. Lord, we thank You for Your love, grace, mercy, and protection which has kept us throughout this year. As we look to 2021, we know that You make all things new. So we are filled with excitement and anticipation for the fresh start You have planned for us. Open our eyes to Your purpose in this new year. Let us seek Your wisdom in all things we say and do. Father, we ask that You keep Your Word in our hearts so that we may delight those that we serve each day. Lord, teach us how to truly love and let us live in peace and harmony as we shine the light of Christ into the world so that others may be drawn to You. May all that we do be for Your glory and the building of Your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
– Connia Nelson, Senior Vice President & CHRO
Lord Jesus, as we turn the page on another year we seek wisdom from the One whose years have no end. While the date on our calendars will change, we are reminded we serve the One who never changes.
Before You went to the cross, You prayed that Your followers would be one as You—Father, Son, and Spirit—are one. In Your resurrection, You have called us to one body, one Spirit, and one hope. In the gospel, You have given us peace with You and with each other. This year we confess that we have allowed many things to divide us, yet none of those things are as important as the gospel that unites us.
In the new year:
Lead us to be people of peace, submitting to the Prince of Peace.
Give us the desire to understand one another.
Help us to accept one another despite our differences on nonessentials.
Unify us so that we may be a balm for our divided culture.
May we love, honor, and serve You all the days of our lives.
Amen.
O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.
The year 2020 has brought to us sickness, grief, death, financial crisis, strife, polarization, and mistrust. We have been caused to see with 2020 vision that we need You.
So in 2021, remind us that we do not have to carry the burdens of life alone. Your Word says we can cast all our cares on you, because you care about us (1 Peter 5:7). So right now, we are casting out all the cares of 2020, and we are asking that You would fill 2021 with Your blessings. Please fill our spirits with hope; fill our bodies with health and strength; fill our minds with Your Word; fill our passion with a desire for time with You; fill our resolve to be Your people; fill our mouths with praise; fill our hearts with joy; fill our witness with zeal; and fill our year with Your glory!
This is our prayer, in Jesus’ name, AMEN!
– Mark Croston, National Director, Black Church Ministries
Jesus. Often in 2020 I had no idea how to pray, and I would just call out Your name, trusting Your Spirit to intercede for my heart when I was so weak and weary and had no idea how to pray (Romans 8:26-27). You, Jesus, were so faithful throughout 2020 in the midst of heartache, loss, grief, brokenness, and sorrow. With a gentle and tender whisper from Your Word, You would provide the comfort and peace needed at just the right moment. Lord, I ask You to do it again in 2021. I trust You to be the Hope for the hopeless, the Healer of the sick, and the very Breath for the broken. God, You alone know the hopes, prayers, and expectations of Your people for 2021. I pray that Your Spirit will once again advocate the exchange of our wishes for Your will, and I trust that You will work it all out for our good and Your glory.
– Michelle Hicks, Content Editor, Lifeway Women