A prayer for our hands and feet:
Lord, bless our hands to serve you more faithfully in the year to come. Guide our feet to walk in your steps, imitating the example you set for us during your time on earth. Help us to follow and obey you. Empower us by your Spirit to love one another in consistent and creative ways.
Source: Ten Prayers for the New Year (Dennae Pierre) -
Christianity Today
Dear Lord Jesus,
I rejoice in your glorious victory over death.
Thank you for the cross and the empty tomb.
These give me hope for the future.
And a knowing that my present sufferings have a purpose.
Help me to live in the reality of your resurrection.
Bless me to spread your love and light to those around me.
Because you live, I know that light overcomes darkness.
All praise be to you O Risen Lord!
In Your name, I pray. Amen.
A prayer for the Christian community:
Lord, help us not to be consumers in our local churches, or to think transactionally about our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith. Instead, show us how to nurture true Christian community in our lives this year. Give us the initiative and insight to know how to cultivate a greater love for God’s people. Help us to share our lives with one another in such a way that the people we meet are ultimately drawn closer to you.
Source: Ten Prayers for the New Year (Dennae Pierre) -
Christianity Today
Only you, O Lord, know how deeply this dismissal cuts into my sense of self. I've been turned away from something I desired, and thought was best for me.
You are sympathetic to my sadness and distress, for you also knew rejection. You knew betrayal as well, and the way it hits deep into the soul.
In the late night moments of the garden and the darkness of Good Friday, rejection and betrayal moved across your heart and through your body.
Remind me that in the end, no rejection awaits me in Christ - only a glad and unending welcome into his arms.
Amen.
Lord of Light and Love,
Empower me with your Spirit to love, not just with words, but with actions. Give me the strength to show kindness, patience, and compassion. even to those who are difficult to love or who have hurt me.
Teach me to see others through your eyes and to love them as you love me. Help me to abide in you, so that your love is perfected in me, and I can be a true witness of your grace in this world.
In Jesus’ name, I pray.
Amen.
Heavenly Father,
The scriptures tell us that you are a safe and powerful protector.
Protect me from the fear and anxiety I am experiencing these days.
Send the calming of the Holy Spirit to help me with these strong feelings.
I believe that you can be strong in my weakness and my struggles.
You are with me, and I lean on You.
I am praying in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
A prayer for our work:
Lord, you have placed Christians in every industry and city. Help us to steward our work this year—not only for our families, but also for the flourishing of others. Allow us to be a restorative presence in our places of work. Align our organizations to reflect your creativity, goodness, and justice. Help us to act righteously and generously to those whose work is often marginalized by society.
Source: Ten Prayers for the New Year (Dennae Pierre) -
Christianity Today
A prayer for our neighbors:
Lord, help us to notice our neighbors more this year. May we learn the names of those who live next door to us, the people who serve us coffee and gas each week, and the families we run into at the park. Remind us to be a source of blessing, even in the most ordinary and simple ways, as we learn to abide in your love and extend it toward our neighbors.
Source: Ten Prayers for the New Year (Dennae Pierre) -
Christianity Today
O Lord, you are as the shadow
of a great rock in a weary land,
who behold your weak creatures,
weary of labor,
weary of pleasure,
weary of hope deferred,
weary of self.
In your abundant compassion
and unutterable tenderness, bring us,
we pray,
into your rest.
Amen.
(From Prayers Ancient and Modern, by Christina G. Rossetti)
Dear Lord,I come to you today feeling overwhelmed by fear and anxiety.
I confess that I have been trying to carry my burdens on my own.I ask that you quiet my racing mind and soothe my anxious heart.
I surrender every "what if" and every fear to you, laying them at Your feet.Please replace my fear with a peace that passes all understanding.
I choose to trust in your power rather than my own worries.
Remind me that you are with me, that you are my refuge and strength.
You have not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and discipline.Give me courage as I walk forward, trusting that I am never alone.In Jesus’ name, I pray.Amen.
Lord God Almighty, shaper and ruler of all creatures, we pray for your great mercy, that you guide us towards you, for we cannot find our way.And guide us to your will, to the need of our soul, for we cannot do it ourselves. And make our mind steadfast in your will and aware of our soul’s need.Strengthen us against the temptations of the devil, and remove from us all lust and every unrighteousness, and shield us against our foes, seen and unseen.Teach us to do your will, that we may inwardly love you before all things with a pure mind. For you are our maker and our redeemer, our help, our comfort, our trust, our hope.
Praise and glory be to you now and forever.
Amen
A prayer for those suffering:
Lord, bring to mind those in our lives who are suffering, and help us to be faithful in prayer for and service to them. We also ask that you strengthen your servants, scattered around the world, to be the hands and feet of Jesus—especially in places where war, violence, famine, and sickness are devastating families and communities.
Source: Ten Prayers for the New Year (Dennae Pierre) -
Christianity Today
