The New Year's Prayer

Matthew 7:7-8 – Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (NIV)

I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions. I don't know why I don't make any; I just never do. Last New Year's Day, however, I did offer a prayer for the coming year. I asked, if it be God's good and perfect will, that He would supply me with 52 devotional ideas for 2011. It was the kind of prayer I wanted to pray, but at the same time, I didn't want to pray it because I was a little bit afraid that God would grant a "yes" to my prayer, and then I would have a whole lot of work to do that I wasn't really sure that I had time or wanted to do. At the same time, however, because I really felt led in my heart of hearts to offer up this New Year's prayer, I did so.

And God answered. He not only supplied me with 52 new devotional ideas but also the time and desire to write them with joy and gratitude. And most amazingly, they were all completed, along with a short Bible study follow-up to go with each one, by mid-October. Wow! Was I impressed with the way God had answered my rather reluctant, hesitant prayer.

So this New Year's Day, I urge each and every one of us to look deep into our heart of hearts and see if perhaps there isn't a God-planted seed there (not necessarily writing devotionals!) that He would like us to offer up to Him for 2012.

Perhaps it is a hope or a dream that you would like to pray for, but for one reason or another, just like me, you feel hesitant and reluctant to do so. You don't want to be disappointed. You don't want to be stressed. But remember at the same time, if you don't ask, you won't get; if you don't seek, you won't find, and if you don't knock, the door will not be opened.

Who knows what exciting and marvellous joys, accomplishments, and dreams may be achieved in 2012 if all of us just have the hope, faith, and courage to ask, seek, and knock, and then, to be prepared for the joy and thrill of receiving, finding, and having the door opened.

Prayer: Father God, what a marvellous and wondrous God You are, and how You desire to bless us with all good things if we only have the faith and courage to ask for them. Inspire and encourage each of us this New Year's Day to look into our heart of hearts that we might discover a precious seed of hope that You have planted within — a seed that will enable us, through the power of prayer, to receive, to find, and to open the doors that You have placed before us. In Christ's name, we ask. Amen.

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